Sidebar: Ranting and Raving (v4): It's not the Impeachment, Stupid

I wanted to share some additional information related to my earlier post on how it's not impeachment that's messing up the president's response to the coronavirus crisis.  

That post was prompted by a Henry Olsen column from about a week ago in the Washington Post. One of Olsen's points was that the impeachment process was slogging along back in January and February, and that was the same time China was in the thick of battle with the virus, and (emphasis added)

Despite the near certainty that Republicans would not vote to convict the president, Democrats and most of the major media were almost entirely focused on impeachment. As a result, the White House was focused on addressing this threat to its survival, not on preparing for a threat from China that might never even materialize.

I wanted to see if what Olsen suggested - that the White House was basically consumed with trying to survive, and so couldn't also focus on the potential COVID-19 threat, so I did a little digging. Here's what I found.

I reviewed the activity just on the president's primary Twitter account (there's also the White House account, the @POTUS account, his campaign account, and others who reliably talk about whatever he wants them to) and found that he tweeted or retweeted 1,834 times in January and February - around 30 times a day. I searched that activity for a few keywords, to see what was on his mind.

In case you were wondering, he mentioned coronavirus/virus 28 times, and COVID-19 once.  When it comes to topics likely related to impeachment, he was much more active: 

• 197 mentions of impeach/impeachment
• 197 mentions of Democrats
•  99 mentions for Adam Schiff
•  65 mentions of some kind of hoax
•  65 mentions of Nancy/Nancy Pelosi
•  60 mentions of Dems
•  49 mentions of fake (most of them fake news)
•  29 mentions of Biden (Joe or Hunter)
•  26 mentions of Russia
•  24 mentions of Ukraine
•  15 mentions of FISA
•  14 mentions of whistleblower
•  12 mentions of Romney

But, it's not like he was slacking on other subjects, including calling Democratic presidential candidates names, endorsing Republicans, and other presidential things:

• 57 mentions of Bernie/Bernie Sanders
• 40 mentions of debate/debates
• 37 mentions of poll/polls/polling
• 35 mentions of Michael Bloomberg (including Mini Mike)
• 25 mentions of China
• 25 mentions of endorsement (my complete and total endorsement, e.g.)
• 11 mentions of Stone/Roger Stone
• 10 mentions of Pocahontas/Warren

As expected, whether he was talking about impeachment things or non-impeachment things, he was definitely focused on himself. But here's the thing: when you have over 57,000,000 legitimate Twitter followers (and another 15,000,000 fake ones) you can push any message you want, and before you know it, what you are talking about becomes what the media is talking about. 

Would you be surprised that, as the White House was fighting for its very survival, the president managed to attend 10 rallies - or, on average, one every six days? 

During this very trying time for White House, the president managed to make nine trips to the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, which averages just under one trip every seven days.  

He also attended four fundraisers, two each month, or one every 15 days, on average. These were important to the president's own survival instincts, and raised tens of millions of dollars. One of them would have cost me and My Sweet Baboo a pretty $580,600 to attend, if we wanted the full treatment. One of the fundraisers was all the way across the country in California, not at all near his beloved Palm Beach. 

And finally, I looked at media coverage, just from Olsen's own paper, the WaPo. Would it surprise you that, in January alone, there were over 200 articles or posts that included the word 'coronavirus', and in February, there were over 600?  Or that the articles and videos were across all categories of the news spectrum? Politics, health, technology, finance, the economy, opinion, travel/leisure, lifestyle, entertainment and more?

That's an average of just over 13 mentions a day, compared to the president's average of around 2 per day.

Olsen can say that the focus was on impeachment, but I'd say that, as always, Trump was focused on his favorite subject: the one he sees in the mirror. The one who likes to golf, who likes to visit his own properties (and charge us dearly for the privilege), who likes to raise money for his own political survival, and who loves to be the center of attention.

And, of course, who loves to make everything bad good again, or at the very least, point the blame fingers in someone else's directions.

Again, it's not impeachment that drags him down. It's him.

Ranting and Raving (v4): It's not the Impeachment, Stupid

So, there's this WaPo column, "Let's be honest. Impeachment hurt Trump's response to coronavirus," making the rounds on social media.

 The column was written by Henry Olsen., who joined the paper last year, and, according to the announcement that he'd be a daily columnist, he's "a widely respected thought leader in American politics and conservatism... His work will offer a steady stream of new ideas, informing and challenging readers to explore issues from his unique perspective."

OK - challenge accepted. Here's Olsen's premise:

President Trump has been roundly criticized for allegedly failing to prepare for the coronavirus crisis before it arrived in the United States. Those critics conveniently overlook something else that could have been distracting the president’s attention during that crucial period: impeachment.

It seems forever ago, but Trump’s impeachment was the major story in January and early February — the same time that disease was forcing China to lock down cities. Despite the near certainty that Republicans would not vote to convict the president, Democrats and most of the major media were almost entirely focused on impeachment. As a result, the White House was focused on addressing this threat to its survival, not on preparing for a threat from China that might never even materialize.

Olsen admits that "Trump's efforts to prepare the nation for this pandemic ha(ve) been far from perfect," and I think that's a fair assessment. No one, not even a Never Trumper like me, expects any president to be perfect. I mean, that would be even sillier than expecting My Sweet Baboo to be perfect, or any of our cats.

Trump did ban travel from China, as Olsen indicates - and he did take flak for that from many quarters: unions, medical professionals, the ACLU, members of Congress, the international community, etc. GOP hardliners agreed with it; Dem hardliners did not, which should be to no one's surprise. But Olsen takes a huge leap at this point, saying

Given that impeachment managers were regularly calling Trump a king or incipient dictator, a more forceful response against the virus in January or early February likely wouldn't have gone well.

That one made me laugh out loud. We're talking about Donald Trump, who blurts out whatever he feels like blurting, whether it's a policy change, a threat against a Republican who dares disagree with him, any number of insults at any number of Democrats or just random crap directed at random citizens. He doesn't shrink away from anything - he tells us that all the time. If you need an example, ask the McCain family.

Olsen moves on to suggest that

In fact, the situation could be even worse today had the Democrats gotten their way. Imagine if Republicans had buckled under the pressure and backed the Democratic move to subpoena witnesses. The Senate would have spent most of February interviewing witnesses in depositions and probably fighting in court to force recalcitrant witnesses to testify.

Four witnesses. Four witnesses. That's what the Democrats wanted.

If the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees can't depose four people (some of whom publicly stated their willingness to testify, and for whom the questions basically wrote themselves) in a matter of days, not weeks, shame on them. And if the other 50-some-odd Senators not on those two committees can't find something to do during that time, shame on them, too.

Yes, I understand that after the depositions, there would be a continuation of the trial in the Senate, and that would have occupied all of the Senators, I get that. But to pretend that these men and women are incapable of, say, legislating in the morning and listening to testimony in the afternoon, or that they are incapable of doing anything at all while their colleagues are doing their work, is an insult to all of them.

And, do you remember the issue with the witnesses who testified before the House Committees?  None of them, we were told repeatedly by House lawyers and GOP Representatives, had any direct conversations with the president on any relevant subject. Not one of them was truly a 'fact witness' the GOP said, because they didn't talk to Trump. That being the case, there was no need for any of them to testify in the Senate trial.

And that's exactly why, if you're like Olsen and looking for a reason that it would be "extremely unlikely that the matter would have been over by the end of (February)" look no further than the Senate witness list, which included these people: Adam Schiff, the whistleblower, Joe Biden, Hunter Biden - for Pete's sake, they'd be as relevant as the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Easter Bunny, a unicorn or two, and Bigfoot (or Darryl). Hypocrisy much, GOP?

I do agree with Olsen on some things, though, including that "impeachment's lingering stain is damaging the country even today." We just disagree on why - and who - contributes to that stain.

Olsen suggests that Trump and Pelosi not speaking during the COVID-19 crisis is an indicator of the lingering stain, but it's a completely different stain, one painted with layers and layers of Trump's and Pelosi's actions starting before the impeachment ever happened.

Not only that, but Trump's failure to invite Pelosi - or a single Democrat - to any number of bill signings (including the recent one for the pandemic stimulus package) is indicative of a deeper stain on the country than impeachment: the president is a petulant belligerent child, a narcissist, and a jerk, He knows it, Olsen knows it, and so does everybody else.

Olsen laments that "any action (Trump takes) is subject to criticism." Seriously? Seriously??

Name a single politician, in the history of this or any other country, who has not been in the same boat? And don't forget that Trump, by his words and actions, rains criticism upon his own head - regularly, under normal circumstances. During the coronavirus crisis? Almost daily.

And then, Olsen continues,

Had he acted decisively in February when he had time, many surely would have accused him of manufacturing a crisis to distract the public from impeachment. Now that we are suffering from that month’s relative inaction, he is attacked for failing to act in advance. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. 

To drive home that point, he lists out the things that other world leaders - including "the sainted Canadian Prime Minister" - also didn't do in advance of the pandemic. I wouldn't say Trudeau is 'sainted' but I would accuse him of being an empathetic human being, an accusation that has never been made about Trump. Olsen continues, "the rational analyst sees these facts and notes that it is extremely difficult for politicians to foresee an event unprecedented in modern times and act accordingly."

Funny how it we haven't seen it presented as being "extremely difficult" for politicians not to act like bastards when it comes time for them to respond to such an unprecedented event. You know, like going to the CDC and saying that he prefers a couple thousand people stay on a cruise ship so that his numbers don't look bad. Or that we haven't seen it presented as being "extremely difficult" for politicians to not say these other things.

Why is it not presented as "extremely difficult?"  Because it's not difficult  at all for any politician, other than Trump.

Yes, "it must end," Olsen says, the "hyper-partisanship that views any act that (Trump) could possibly take as presumptively tainted and wrong. " And, I'll note, Olsen did not, the lockstep marching by the GOP, which started well before impeachment and continues through whatever day it is that you're reading this, also must end, as must the GOP view that any act Trump takes is presumptively correct, as if each and every one is individually the greatest thing since sliced bread.

So, too, must Trump's insistence that he be showered with truckloads of flattering flatulence at every occasion. That is another lingering stain on our country.

It's not the failed impeachment that brought us here; impeachment is the icing on the cake, the dressing on a salad, the salt on the caramel, the... you get the drift. It's the whole of the Trump that has brought us here, and the whole of those Democrats who are their own worst enemies.

Yes, it's surely time to "put country over party." That applies to Democrats, whether they're Never Trumpers or not. It applies to Never Trumpers like me, who have left the Democratic Party in our rear -view mirrors. It also applies to Independents.

And it most assuredly also applies to Republicans. Asking only people on the left to make the "country over party" declaration is as absurd as expecting the president to suddenly start acting like some who was elected leader of the free world. Don't tell me that - tell him that. He acts as if he doesn't believe it to be true, and he still has a laser focus on all who suggest he was undeserving.

Nope. It's not impeachment that's making it harder for Trump, but I know what is: people like Olsen, who set the bar so much higher for people like me, than they do for the president they so adore.

Sunday School Extra Credit 3/29/20

Also making classroom visits yesterday were Drs. Anthony Fauci, who chatted with Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union, and Deborah Birx, who talked with Chuck Todd on MTP, which is where we'll start.

Responding to Todd's question on the growth in the death rate (17 days or so to get to 100, nine more days to get to 1,000 and only 72 hours to get to 2,000) and "where this is headed in the next few weeks, Birx noted "this is the way pandemics work" and that

No state, no metro area will be spared. And the sooner we react and the sooner the states and the metro areas react and ensure that they've put in full mitigation, at the same time understanding exactly what their hospitals need, then we'll be able to move forward together and protect the most Americans.

She also referenced some new modeling that's available, which predicts how COVID-19 might spread. Todd wondered what the model showed, in particular if the plan to create the county-by-county risk map wasn't going to happen, since the models show no area is safe. She said the two pieces come together, and we need both of them.

One of them is ensuring that we have full capacity for full diagnosis...that is still going on, and we do have enough tests for that. The other piece of this is surveillance. So we're looking across the US for counties that do have lower case numbers right now to see what we can do in order to really put into place full surveillance, full contact tracing, and full diagnostic capacity to ensure cases are found and we contact trace while the metros and other areas go through clearly important mitigation efforts to spare as many American lives as possible. 

She also said that they're studying what's going on in New York "very carefully" - hospital needs, how to do testing better, how to keep less sick patients out of the hospital, and how to keep hospitals stocked with critical supplies, among other things. On that last part, she noted,

It's not enough for us to get materials to warehouses. We have to be working with the state and local governments comprehensively to ensure that equipment and supplies are getting to each hospital. Hospitals are so busy taking care of the people who are ill. They can't be spending time doing inventory. And so we need to help and support that. 

On supplies and competition between states and the feds, Todd asked if the feds were going to take over procurement and disbursement, and he also asked what role Birx plays in where supplies are going, vs. what FEMA is responsible for. She talked about all the things other people should be doing (know where the hospitals and surgical centers are, where the anesthesia ventilators are, how to move those things around, etc.). Which is what governors and local folks ARE doing, and they're running into problems, still. So Todd asked it again: "who should be trying to acquire new equipment, states or the federal government?"

Well, I think the federal government right now is working very hard on looking at where all the ventilators are and where production can be. But we need states at the same time to look where all of their ventilators are, including outpatient surgical centers, which is a really important place to be looking because you get staff plus ventilator. They also have the cardiac monitoring, they'll be able to monitor oxygen levels. All of that can come into the hospitals to care for patients. So both of those pieces need to come together. The government looking to increase procurements and states looking for every single option that they have.

They talked about the potential quarantine for the NY/NJ/CT area, and she said that when New York City started getting bad, the data showed more cases on Long Island and in Southern Florida, presumably because people were leaving NYC for safer areas. And, she added.

What we're trying to say to everyone is when this virus comes to your metro area, please stay in your metro area where your care can be provided because it's spreading virus more quickly around the United States. 

In the same vein, Todd asked about shutting down domestic air travel, noting it seems odd that NYC airports "are wide open for people to leave." Birx noted that air travel in and out of New York is down by 90% and by more than 90% in the NYC metro area.

And they talked about a possible extension of the 15-day guidelines, which we now know have been extended through the month of April. Her job, she said, was putting the data together to brief the president and VP. She wouldn't share her recommendation with Chuck first, she said. Silly boy. 

Over in the CNN classroom, Jake Tapper asked Dr. Fauci about the change from a quarantine in the NYC metro area to a requirement that folks "refrain from nonessential domestic travel from that area for 14 days, and whether it would help stop the spread of the virus. Fauci spoke of "very intensive discussions" with the president, and that

we made it clear, and he agreed, that it would be much better to do what's called a strong advisory. And the reason for that is that you don't want to get to the point where you're being - enforcing things that would create a bigger difficulty, morale and otherwise, when you could probably accomplish the same goal. 

Tapper asked if, based on the numbers (and an assumption that the numbers are correct), the US "is now the epicenter" of the outbreak. That led to some discussion on what things could look like, regardless of whether you call it the 'epicenter', or just "the focus of what's going on right now" which is what Fauci said it certainly is. He spoke of the difficulty of the problem, places like New York of course, but other cities like Detroit that are "starting to get into trouble."

It putters along a while, and then it just goes way up. And when it does that, you're really in full mitigation. It's difficult to do containment, So we want to strongly do mitigation in those areas like NYC and the surrounding metropolitan area, at the same time that we don't neglect other areas of the country where it looks like there are just relatively few infections, because we have a window of opportunity there... to get out there and test. 

He and Birx were pretty much in lockstep on that messaging, about doing contact tracing and containment to prevent the need for massive mitigation efforts. Tapper asked how many cases Fauci thought we could have, "a million cases, 10 million cases? Or are these - we - or do we not even have any idea?" Fauci was refreshingly honest.

You know, Jake, the honest - to be honest with you, we don't really have any firm idea. 

But don't worry - we've got those models that Birx mentioned, and they use assumptions, and you get a best case and a worst case scenario, and Fauci says the answer is usually somewhere in the middle. And those scenarios are only as good as the assumptions, he cautioned.

So, when you use numbers like a million, a million-and-a-half, two million, that almost certainly is off the chart. Now, it's not impossible, but very, very unlikely. So, it's difficult to present.

I mean, looking at what we're seeing now, I would say between 100,000 and 200,000 cases. But I don't want to be held to that, because it's -- excuse me -- deaths. I mean, we're going to have millions of cases.

And, he said, we don't really need to be making projections, "when it's such a moving target, that you can so easily be wrong and mislead people." 

They also talked about how much longer social distancing guidelines would remain in place, and of course we know his overarching recommendation was to let the virus tell the politicians what to do. And, he said, if you do it, you need to have tools in place to keep an eye on things, to make sure you continue testing, contact tracing, and so on, 

Because if you release the restrictions before you have a good eyeball on what's going on there, you're going to get in trouble. So, I'm not against releasing the restrictions. I'm actually for it in an appropriate place. But I don't recommend it unless we have the tools in place in real time to do the things I just said. 

Tapper asked if we have the tools, quoting the VP's figures on testing - there had been more than 600,000 tests across the country, which is certainly an improvement from where we were a month ago. But there are 330 million Americans; 660,000 or 600 -- whatever the number is -- 600,000-plus - and asked "how many tests need to have been done, need to be done before you will feel comfortable knowing where the hot spots are, so then some restrictions can be loosened in the future?"

Jake, I don't think it's the quantitatively -- how many tests you need. I mean, obviously, you want to get tests out there that one can get a test easily, in real time, with a result right away... So, right now, if you compare a couple of weeks ago to where we are right now, we have an amazingly larger number of tests than we had before.

But what I want to see and I want to be satisfied is that those tests are being implemented on the ground where we need them. That's the connection I want to make sure, not just tests out there, but are the tests being able to be implemented? If we can do that, Jake, I think we could reasonably, with the safety of the American people in mind, pull back on some of the restrictions.

But you got to have all the players and all the material in place. That's what we're trying to do.

And, he said, in some places everything is in place, but in other places, they're not.

It still is not a perfect situation, because I'm sure people will be calling up and saying, I needed to get a test, and I couldn't get it. Hopefully, that's much, much less frequently than we saw a week or two ago.

Fauci also said when we get the rapid tests, the ones that let you know if a matter of minutes whether or not someone's infected, and you can get them out of circulation, we'd be closer to being able to lift the restrictions. It's good to know that's the kind of stuff he's bringing to the task force table.

On other subjects, he said based on his experience, he tends to believe my Sonofa Gov, so when he said he needed 30,000 ventilators, again there's the potential issue of accessibility to existing ventilators, but if he says he needs more, give him more.

One way or the other, he needs the ventilators that he needs. And, hopefully, we will get him the ventilators that he needs. They may be closer to him than is realized. But if they're not, we will get them there. And if they are, we will try to help him get access to the ones that are there. 

Bottom line, he's got to have the ventilators, period.

The last question was about Trumpian rhetoric, his saying that people are not being appreciative of him, the Army Corps, FEMA, and so on, and whether the American people will get what they need from the federal government regardless of whether or not their governors are "appreciative enough of the federal help or flattering enough of the Trump Administration?

Jake, I think the reality, not the rhetoric, but the reality is that the people who need things will get what they need. There's the reality and the rhetoric. I think that -- I mean, I know the spirit of the task force, and when we talk about, when people need things, doesn't matter who they are. We try to get them what they need.

Three cheers for having an adult in the room, right? 

See you around the virtual campus.

Sunday School 3/29/20

I thought that we might have two presidential candidates making the rounds this morning, but I guess the early reports were incorrect. We only had one: Papa Joe Biden, who dropped in virtually to Chuck Todd's Meet the Press classroom. Let's listen in.

Todd started out by pointing out how much things have changed since Biden's last appearance on March 1st. Biden "dominated the Super Tuesday primaries and beyond... and basically wrapped up the Democratic nomination."  Meanwhile, he added, 

• more than 2,000 Americans though have died from the Coronavirus; 
• 3.3 million people filed for first-time unemployment claims; and
• the government just had to pass a $2 trillion plus rescue package. 

But throughout the pandemic, "Biden has struggled to make his voice heard." And now, Todd said, Biden's here from his Delaware home studio for "one of the more odder appearances I think these days of Meet the Press."

The first question? Set aside Trump's rhetoric, is there anything he hasn't done that Biden would be doing right now as president? Biden said there were two things he'd be doing, "at least."

One, I would make sure that he uses the Defense Production Act, not only to deal with the issue of whether or not there are ventilators but I would do the same thing for mask and gowns and masks and all -- and shields. All the things that our first responders and our doctors and nurses need. Why are we waiting? We know they're needed. They're going to be increasingly needed. You just heard the president spokesperson talk about the increasing need. And so I would be moving rapidly. I'd also be talking about what the next stage of the funding we're going to need. We've gone through three stages. That's not going to be enough to get us all the way through this. There's a number of things I'd be doing, Chuck, that are not being done right now.

Todd asked him about scientists Biden is talking to who are saying "realistically, we're looking at June at the earliest" to get thing opened back up, whereas we're not hearing "a consistent message nationally" on what people are supposed to do, and asked how Biden would handle telling people they've got another 60 days of home confinement. 

Well, look, the American public is really strong and tough. The first thing we should do is listen to the scientists. Secondly, we should tell them the truth, the unvarnished truth. The American people have never shied away from being able to deal with the truth. The worst thing you can do is raise false expectations and then watch them get dashed. Then they begin to lose confidence in their leadership. So we should just tell the truth as best we know it. As best the scientists know it. We should let them speak.

And we should be doing all in our power right now to deal with being able to confine the spread of this disease. For example, we need significantly more testing kits across America. They should be -- we should be rushing the supply of those all over the country. It's gotten better. It's gotten better. But look at what's happening here. You have nurses showing up wearing garbage bags as -- over their bodies as protection. I mean, we need to get them the help they need right away. And we know there's going to be more need for not just ventilators but ICU units. There's going to be more need for beds, et cetera. We should be telling the American people the truth. They're strong. They'll get through it. They've never let their country down, never, ever, ever.

So, after asking Biden to go on record with things he thinks Trump should have done but didn't, Todd asks

You've been around government a long time. And you know there's a fine line between constructive criticism and backseat driving that can be disruptive. What do you believe that line is for you when it comes to critiquing President Trump right now?

Biden says that line is telling the truth, and he pointed to something he said a while back that he didn't think was a criticism, but "just a straightforward response."

I argued several weeks ago we should be using the Defense Production Act. It was there. I've been arguing for it for some time. If I see something that's not happening I think it's my obligation to step up and say, "This is what we should be doing." Rather than -- look, the Coronavirus is not the president's fault. But the slow response, the failure to get going right away, the inability to do the things that needed to be done quickly, they are things that are -- they can't continue. We're going to go through another phase of this. And we have to be ahead of the curve, not behind the curve like we were last time.

And, to drive home the point that he's so very aware of the fine line between constructive criticism and backseat driving, Todd says

Your campaign put out -- in a critique of President Trump and says, "If he doesn't do these things he could cost lives." Do you think there’s already -- do you think there is blood on the president's hands considering the slow response? Or is that too harsh of a criticism?

Biden knew better than to go all in on this one. 

I think that's a little too harsh. I think what's happening is that failure to, as I watched a prelim to your show where someone said, made the phrase, used the phrase that the president just thinks out loud. He should stop thinking out loud and start thinking deeply. He should start listening to the scientists before he speaks. He should listen to the health experts. He should listen to his economists. He should, for example, the United States Congress passed a significant piece of legislation to help deal with the incredible financial crunch that's going to affect working families and all families, the whole economy. So we should be right now thinking about how do we get those small business loans out the door? Because right now you’re not -- that's not the strong point of banks, focusing on getting small business loans out. That's for most of the employees. You should be focusing on making sure we're in a situation where we're able to see to it that unemployment benefits can get to people. What's the IRS doing to get those $1,200 checks to people, et cetera? That's where the focus should be. And it should be laser-focus.

Switching gears, Todd asked if he'd temporarily lift sanctions on Iran during the pandemic. I'm not sure if that was an attempt to catch Biden off guard - a gaffe-causer, if you will - or if it was simply Todd being his usual self. I thought Biden handled the question pretty well. 

I don't have enough information about the situation in Iran right now. And I'm not sure there’s any evidence that -- there's a lot of speculation from my foreign policy team that they're in real trouble and they're lying. But I would need more information to make that judgment. I don't have the national security information available.

And, another sharp turn, to whether we "have to conduct an all-mail ballot election...given the likelihood this comes back in the fall?"

We may get there, Chuck. I don't want to go that far ahead. But that is possible. I think we should be looking to all-mail ballots across the board to begin with because it's an easier way for people to vote. But whether or not that's required across the board in all 50 states and territories, I'm not sure yet. I think we can make that. But we should be beginning to plan that in each of our states. I think you have -- anyway, there's some legislation in the Senate that suggests that. I think it's worth looking at quickly.

And, wrenching back in the opposite direction, Biden was asked whether there's "a point where Bernie Sanders is no longer playing a productive role in this Democratic primary?"

Well, look, Bernie Sanders has poured his heart and soul into this campaign. He has moved the ball along on a number of issues that relate to what government's responsibilities are. And I think it's up to Bernie to make the judgment whether or not he should stay in the race or not stay in the race. That's not my judgment to make for him. But I think he's had a real impact. He's brought a lot of people into the process that weren't in it before. And so I think it's a tough decision for Bernie to make.

And careening into the rails again, the question turned to "What do you make fo the fact that the president's job rating has bumped up during this crisis?"

Well, I think, you know, I think that's a typical American response. In every single crisis we've had that I've been around going back to Jimmy Carter and the hostages, all the way through to this moment, president's ratings have always gone up in a crisis. But you know that old expression, the proof of the, you know, is going to be in pudding. What's it going to look like? I hope we're in a situation going into the fall where this is under control, where we've done all the right things and things are beginning to move. And the president is listening to the scientists, as I said, and stopping the personal attacks on, on people who disagree with him. Let's get away from the childishness of this and focus on the problem.

And finally, "do you feel a little bit frustrated and powerless right now?"

No, you know, it's interesting. I, you know, we have a makeshift studio here in my basement. I guess like you're doing it now as well. But the point is that I was surprised to find out just the events we did this past week, I mean beginning last Monday, over 20 million people have viewed them and listened. So I guess it's just a different way of learning how to try to communicate with people, what you're concerned about and what you would do if you were in the situation, the present situation.

Continue practicing social distancing. Avoid gatherings. Support your local businesses as much as you can. Don't hoard things. Check on your neighbors. Don't touch your face. And of course, wash your hands. 

I'll have some extra credit for your tomorrow.

See you around campus.

In Case You Missed it (v29)

What was on my mind here in social-distancing land last week? Here's the week in review, in case you missed it.

My visit to the Sunday School classrooms brought us interviews  with Dr. Anthony Fauci on Face the Nation, and with New York City's Mayor Bill De Blasio, a Democrat,  and Maryland's Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, on Meet the Press.  

Chuck Todd asked them both, starting with De Blasio, what progress would look like.

Real, consistent social distancing being enforced, people living with it. And hospitals that can function. People seeing that their health care system is actually holding because we have the supplies and the personnel. And I think that's going to be a national reality, Chuck... If people see the system holding, that will be progress..

And here's Hogan's response.

...progress is going to be if we can somehow bend this curve down, wherein we can start to stop that spike that's going so we don't overload the health care system. You know, people are just going to -- look, it's very disconcerting. People's lives are disrupted. It's scary. And I understand people out there are concerned about when is it going to look better... What it takes is every one of our citizens is a part of this. And we can't stop it without them cooperating -- but it's going to be a while...

In the Sunday School Extra Credit entry, I shared part of a somewhat challenging conversation between Martha Raddatz and FEMA head Peter Gaynor on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Raddatz had a hard time pinning him down on pretty much anything, including whether FEMA was shipping much-needed supplies from the strategic stockpile.

Again, there are still supplies in the stockpile. We are shipping all those supplies to all the demands, all the asks from all the governors every day. We are -- we're prepared to go to zero in the stockpile to meet demand. Again, this is a whole of government effort. And if could -- if I could just, you know, and this is shared responsibility. I know the president, Dr. Fauci talked about testing. You know, if you don't need a test, if you don't have symptoms, please don't get a test. Because the demand for PPE on unnecessary testing is -- is something that's working against us. So we're all in it together. Every American has a role to play. And we ask you, if you need to get a test and you have symptoms, go get it. If you just want to test to make yourself feel better, please don't do that.

To which I noted that  VP Mike Pence is just one person who had an unnecessary test, so I guess Gaynor was right - this IS "a whole of government effort."

In addition to his classroom appearance, Dr. Fauci also did a phone interview with Jon Cohen of Science magazine, which I capture in Quick Takes (v49) Fauci, Frankly. He spoke a little more freely in this one, Fauci did, out of view of the cameras, even showing a little exasperation at times. And, he gave us some insight on what it's like for the Task Force before those daily briefings we've come to love to hate.

Also interesting? The process of what happens before the daily press conferences.  Fauci said that the task force sits down for 90 minutes or so, then move to the anteroom near the Oval Office to talk about the messages that they want to emphasize. And then?

Then we go in to see the president, we present [our consensus] to him and somebody writes a speech. Then he gets up and ad libs on his speech. And then we're up there to try and answer questions.

Prompted by some memes floating around on social media, I published Quick Takes (v50): Chinese Things, addressing the issue of Trump and his minions referring to the China virus or the Chinese virus, which we know is done in a derogatory manner, no matter how hard he and they doth protest.  

One of the 'reasons' or 'excuses' given for Trump's choice of words is that in the past, we have used terms like Ebola and MERS and SARS and, of course the favorite of all, the Spanish Flu. Here's a bit of history on that.

The article also talked about the stigma of using an ethnic designation, using the 'Spanish Flu' as a parallel to Trump's 'Chinese virus.' 

This strain of flu, thought to have killed roughly 50 million people between 1918 and 1919, did not originate in Spain, and it killed more British, French, Germans, and Americans than Spaniards. However, those other countries censored coverage of the pandemic, while Spain did not, so it became known through Spanish media accounts. 

The Times of London, refusing to report the flu’s death toll among British troops, christened the illness “the Spanish flu,” and the name stuck. (Incidentally, many Spaniards dubbed it “the French flu.”) Today health authorities have recognized the misnomer and typically call it the 1918 flu pandemic. 

But hey - when we have two legitimate terms we can use, and we have experts telling us the right way to do this, we'll ignore them and go with the president. Sigh. 

My Wondering on Wednesday post was mostly full of good news stories coming out of quarantines and social distancing and ingenuity, which was fun. But there was also this passing reference to the president's need for adulation, which is not a good thing, especially during a pandemic. 

I can't help wondering what the president is really going to do if a governor "doesn't treat him well" but at the same time, comes knocking for federal help. Do you think Trump will get away with not helping? Do you think we're that partisan, or have we come together with love for each other as True Patriots and Warriors against this, horrible, SAD, invisible ENEMY? He's the guy, remember, who during that same Fox Town Hall meeting, shared a debunked conspiracy theory about my Sonofa Gov, Andrew Cuomo, and some mysterious 15,000 or 16,000 ventilators he should have bought several years ago.  I wonder, does Trump really even knows what 'nice' is?

I ended the week with a note from The Update Desk on the earlier Chinese Things post. It seems the G-7 foreign ministers had a conference call, and one of the things they wanted to do was issue a joint statement on the pandemic. The US was tasked with drafting the statement, and the whole thing fell apart because Secretary of State Mike Pompeo couldn't bring himself to use the term 'coronavirus' or 'COVID-19' - he insisted that it be referred to as the 'Wuhan virus." The six other Gs? Yeah, they were not having it.

Pompeo said in a presser later that "everyone" on the call knows that the virus came from Wuhan, as if what's the big deal?

And I'd suggest that every one of the nations that was at the meeting was "deeply aware" of other deflection going on, coming from a place other than China, would you agree?  In fact, according to the article,

Other foreign ministers were not nearly as emphatic in their own comments about the meeting, with at least one leaving open the suggestion that China is not the only country trying to use the outbreak to advance political points.

And, it seems, the French foreign minister was not shy in his own statement, in which he

underscored the need to combat any attempt to exploit the crisis for political purposes and expressed the view that the unity of all in order to effectively combat the pandemic must now take precedence over any other considerations.

Wouldn't that be interesting, if we could just fight the darn thing without the pejorative labeling?

That's it - the full and veritable pastiche for last week.  I'll be back later today with Sunday School, for sure, and who knows what else.  If you're so inclined, subscribe by dropping your email in the Instant Gratification box on the right sidebar. 

The Update Desk: Chinese Things

The other day I did a Quick Take on Chinese Things, noting the reason why it's unnecessary and inflammatory to continue referring to COVID-19 as the Chinese virus or the China virus, as the president and many in the GOP have been doing. After all,

I know the virus originated in China - everyone in the world knows it, protestations on China's social media or within the Chinese government notwithstanding...

And I wondered why we never referred to anything else by the Chinese point of origin.

So, why treat the virus so differently from every other product or object that originate there that are never referred to as 'Chinese' things or 'China' things.  I mean, when was the last time you heard anyone refer to their iPhone as their Chinese Phone? 

Of course you haven't. We don't do that, because it doesn't fit the narrative. But, we learned yesterday, when the G-7 foreign ministers were unable to come to terms on language for a joint statement about the global pandemic, because Secretary of State Mike Pompeo couldn't bring himself to not push the damn narrative.

That's right. According to the linked Politico article,

European officials said Pompeo had insisted in identifying the COVID-19 virus as the "Wuhan virus" even though the World Health Organization (WHO) and others have cautioned against giving it a geographic name because of its global nature.

Nor only has he not backed down from it, the article noted that Pompeo has actually been "stepping up" his use of the language. And It appears that Pompeo might not have gotten the message from his boss that it was no longer necessary to associate the virus with China.

On the other hand, maybe the message from the president as that he would no longer call it that, but for everyone else, the name-calling was still fair game.

After the meeting, Pompeo noted that everyone there was aware of what the Chinese had done in their messaging and, I would assume, in their downplaying of the virus in the beginning

Every one of the nations that was at that meeting (yesterday) was deeply aware of the disinformation campaign that the Chinese Communist Party is engaged in to try and deflect from what has really taken place here. 

And I'd suggest that every one of the nations that was at the meeting was "deeply aware" of other deflection going on, coming from a place other than China, would you agree?  In fact, according to the article,

Other foreign ministers were not nearly as emphatic in their own comments about the meeting, with at least one leaving open the suggestion that China is not the only country trying to use the outbreak to advance political points.

France's foreign minister, in fact, said that he had

underscored the need to combat any attempt to exploit the crisis for political purposes and expressed the view that the unity of all in order to effectively combat the pandemic must now take precedence over any other considerations.

Wouldn't that be something, if it happened?

Wondering on Wednesday (v201)

Ready... Set... Wonder!

Let's dive in and get some wonderful-filment, shall we? 

I can't help wondering what the president is really going to do if a governor "doesn't treat him well" but at the same time, comes knocking for federal help. Do you think Trump will get away with not helping? Do you think we're that partisan, or have we come together with love for each other as True Patriots and Warriors against this, horrible, SAD, invisible ENEMY? He's the guy, remember, who during that same Fox Town Hall meeting, shared a debunked conspiracy theory about my Sonofa Gov, Andrew Cuomo, and some mysterious 15,000 or 16,000 ventilators he should have bought several years ago.  I wonder, does Trump really even knows what 'nice' is?

Speaking of the Sonofa Gov, it seems his response to the COVID-19 outbreak here in the Empire State is drawing raves not just from regular folk, his peers, and many pundits. Nope - there's a whole nother thing going on: the #cuomocrush - seriously! I'm not really wondering why this is happening, just that it's covering such a broad demographic. Take a look. 

How could I not fall in love with him? He doesn’t use notes or screens, he’s smart, his voice is strong,” said (one woman)... I’m almost 85 and finally think I know about men. He’s a keeper.”

In addition to that, we've got the Brothers Cuomo comedy show, which we got a peek at earlier when the Gov appeared on his brother's CNN show for the second time in a few days.  

Throughout the roughly 20-minute interview, the brothers struck a balance between weighty and sometimes grim conversation about the coronavirus outbreak sweeping the nation, with New York particularly hard hit, and keeping each other’s egos in check with teasing, slinging mock insults in a practiced manner befitting two guys who have spent decades honing their skills.

Here's my favorite comment from the article, which made me chuckle, not wonder.

After the coronavirus thing is over, can we please make @ChrisCuomo & @NYGovCuomo a nightly TV show?” one person tweeted. “The Cuomo Comedy Hour would be like an Italian family reunion rap battle. 

Other wonder-full things?  As we wait for a vote in the Senate on the stimulus package (there'll be plenty of time to wonder about that later), here's a scattering of good things that are happening, all over the place, during this time of social distancing and non-gathering.

• The National Cowboy Museum put the head of security in charge of social media, and it's one of the nicest things you'll read this week, I kid you not. He's engaging, he's sweet, and he's learning on the fly how to "engage" with his audience. 
• Animals in shelters across the country are being placed with foster families "in droves" even as shelters are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Right here in my neck of the woods, a small business is now 3D printing face shields for health care workers - and have recruited thousands of others to do the same. 
• A Lodi, WI kindergarten teacher delivered hand-painted signs to her students, telling them she missed them, since they didn't have time to say goodbye before schools were closed due to the virus. 
• Neighborhoods are stepping up to entertain children who are getting their daily exercise; many are holding bear hunts. 

There are tons more of these good news stories -- I wonder if you can share some?

And finally, I'll leave you today with the Rotterdam Philharmonic's socially distanced version of Beethoven's Ode to Joy. If you ever wondered if there's any benefit to that 'thinking outside the box' thing, here's proof that it sometimes works. 

Quick Takes (v50): Chinese Things

It probably would come as no surprise to regular readers that I'm not a fan of the president's penchant for referring to COVID-19 or the coronavirus as the 'Chinese virus.'

I'm not convinced that this is anything other than purposeful, inflammatory rhetoric designed to satiate his base and to deflect from negative press he's been getting on how the administration is handling the COVID-19 pandemic response. Truth be told, I'll never be convinced otherwise.

I know the virus originated in China - everyone in the world knows it, protestations on China's social media or within the Chinese government notwithstanding. But there's no need to give the virus a geopolitical tag, when there are two perfectly acceptable terms that the rest of the world is using without issue. 

So, why treat the virus so differently from every other product or object that originate there that are never referred to as 'Chinese' things or 'China' things.  I mean, when was the last time you heard anyone refer to their iPhone as their Chinese Phone? 

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post 
via Getty Images

Have you ever heard anyone refer to their favorite pair of China Jordans? What about all of the clothes that are made in China?  Pretty sure no one, ever, said "Honey, have you seen my China Jacket? You know, the one with the logo on the shoulder, on the back?" Of course you haven't. 

Because we simply don't do that. One, it would be almost impossible, and two, it doesn't fit the narrative, does it? 

Not only does it not fit the narrative, but it's also wrong. I happened to find an article in Sapien, an online anthropology magazine, which noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) does not use the geographic indicators any longer (Mongoloidism), names associated with animals (bat flu, mad cow disease, bird flu, etc.), and does not support naming diseases after individuals (Parkinson's) - and the organization regrets that some are still in circulation (MERS, West Nile, etc.)

The article also talked about the stigma of using an ethnic designation, using the 'Spanish Flu' as a parallel to Trump's 'Chinese virus.' 

This strain of flu, thought to have killed roughly 50 million people between 1918 and 1919, did not originate in Spain, and it killed more British, French, Germans, and Americans than Spaniards. However, those other countries censored coverage of the pandemic, while Spain did not, so it became known through Spanish media accounts. 

The Times of London, refusing to report the flu’s death toll among British troops, christened the illness “the Spanish flu,” and the name stuck. (Incidentally, many Spaniards dubbed it “the French flu.”) Today health authorities have recognized the misnomer and typically call it the 1918 flu pandemic. 

And, the article echoes my thoughts on Trump's hostility towards foreigners (which his base loves) and my contention that this is about deflection, too.

Representing COVID-19 as invasively foreign also enables Trump to distract attention from his own administration’s dismal response to the spread of the disease in the U.S., implicitly affixing the blame to an ethnically defined “other.”

Further, it notes that Trumps pejorative use of China or Chinese in this manner has other implications, including accounts of 

Asian American adults and children being assaulted, verbally abused, bullied, and spat on by strangers accusing them of bringing the virus to the U.S. In one case, a man on the New York subway sprayed an Asian passenger with the deodorizer Febreze. Meanwhile, in an astonishing display of ignorance that endangers the health of those he represents, one elected official in Kansas said that social distancing was unnecessary because so few Chinese people live in Kansas.

Earlier today, I polled social media friends to see if they owned anything they regularly referred to as "the Chinese" whatever.  Here are the results of my informal data-gathering:

• Chinese food, Chinese takeout
• Chinese checkers
• Chinese finger trap
• Chinese jump rope
• Chinese silk 
• Chinese lanterns
• Chinese Almond Cookies
• the 'good' china
• Chinese yoyo 
• 'the Chinaman,' a small multi-purpose tool

The only thing there that might be remotely derogatory would be the last, I think. The rest of them don't impart any sense of racism, any negative connotation, and more importantly, those are the actual product names in many cases, not an adjective attached to an object that has its own name. 

So - we know what the president was doing, the rest of the GOP went along with him, with many of the alleged leaders of the party choosing to use that descriptor. And his fans? Yeah, they picked up on it too, as they were supposed to. 

But here's the thing: Trump himself admits it served his purpose, and now he's done with it. That's right, Trump said today that he's not going to call it that any more.

"Look, everyone knows it came out of China, but I decided we shouldn't make any more of a big deal out of it," Trump told Fox News. "I think I've made a big deal. I think people understand it." 

Yasssssss, people understand it, for sure.

Trump's change comes a day after he tweeted that the spread of the novel coronavirus in the US is not the fault of Asian-Americans... He also denied last week that "Chinese virus" or "China virus" was a racist term to use. "It's not racist at all, no, not at all. It comes from China, that's why. I want to be accurate," Trump said at the time.

"I want to be accurate," said the liar-in-chief, who, according to the folks at the Washington Post, has made over 16,400 false or misleading statements in just the first three years of his administration. (If you think they're biased, halve the number, and you're still going to be disgusted.) And January 20th was a lifetime of lies ago, before he really started kicking things into gear on the pandemic.

What's going to be interesting now? How long will it take the Trumpeters to back off the terminology.  Think it'll happen any time soon?

Quick Takes (v49): Fauci, Frankly.

Quick Takes

Many people, me included, have been looking to Dr Anthony Fauci as the voice of reason - the adult in the room, if you will - during the word salad explosions that are the White House Coronavirus Task Force press conferences.

Fauci did an interview over the weekend with Jon Cohen, of  Science magazine, and it's an interesting read, for sure. Here are a few excerpts for you.

He started by letting people know he's "sort of exhausted" but doing well otherwise, adding a laugh on the second part below.

I'm not, to my knowledge, coronavirus infected. To my knowledge, I haven't been fired.

Cohen asked how he's managing the not getting fired part.

Well, that's pretty interesting because to his [Trump’s] credit, even though we disagree on some things, he listens. He goes his own way. He has his own style. But on substantive issues, he does listen to what I say.

He also said that although it looks like he is disagreeing with Trump, he "doesn't disagree in the substance." Rather,

It is expressed in a way that I would not express it, because it could lead to some misunderstanding about what the facts are about a given subject.

He also talked about having to push messaging, sometimes repeatedly, whether it's on hand-shaking, or meetings, or the press conferences. He said the VP is "really pushing" for physical separation during the task force meetings, keeping people out of the room if more than 10 or so try to cram in.  But,

The situation on stage [for the press briefings] is a bit more problematic. I keep saying, ‘Is there any way we can get a virtual press conference?’ Thus far, no. But when you're dealing with the White House, sometimes you have to say things one, two, three, four times, and then it happens. So, I'm going to keep pushing.

And, he said as far as the press conferences go, when there are sometimes more than 10 people on stage and more than that many reporters in the room,  "I’m trying my best. I cannot do the impossible."

And there was this exchange on travel restrictions.

Cohen: What about the travel restrictions? Trump keeps saying that the travel ban for China, which began 2 February, had a big impact [on slowing the spread of the virus to the United States] and that he wishes China would have told us 3 to 4 months earlier and that they were “very secretive.” [China did not immediately reveal the discovery of a new coronavirus in late December 2019, but by 10 January, Chinese researchers made the sequence of the virus public.] It just doesn't comport with facts.

Fauci:  I know, but what do you want me to do? I mean, seriously Jon, let’s get real, what do you want me to do?

Cohen:  Most everyone thinks that you’re doing a remarkable job, but you're standing there as the representative of truth and facts, but things are being said that aren't true and aren't factual.

Fauci: The way it happened is that after he made that statement [suggesting China could have revealed the discovery of a new coronavirus 3 to 4 months earlier], I told the appropriate people, it doesn't comport, because 2 or 3 months earlier would have been September. The next time they sit down with him and talk about what he’s going to say, they will say, ‘By the way, Mr. President, be careful about this and don't say that.’ But I can't jump in front of the microphone and push him down. OK, he said it. Let's try and get it corrected for the next time.

On the current process of state-by-state social distancing or shelter-in-place orders ,and whether it's a mistake to not have this be a national plan, Fauci pointed to the "delicate balance" and to discussions about the "overall impact of shutting everything down completely," and of finding a compromise.

If you knock down the economy completely and disrupt infrastructure, you may be causing health issues, unintended consequences, for people who need to be able to get to places and can't. You do the best you can. I've emphasized very emphatically at every press conference, that everybody in the country, at a minimum, should be following the fundamental guidelines. Elderly, stay out of society in self isolation. Don't go to work if you don't have to. Yada, yada, yada. No bars, no restaurants, no nothing. Only essential services.

When you get a place like New York or Washington or California, you have got to ratchet it up. But it is felt—and it isn't me only speaking, it’s a bunch of people who make the decisions—that if you lock down everything now, you're going to crash the whole society. So, you do what you can do, as best as you can. Do as much physical separation as you can and ratchet it up at the places you know are at highest risk.

Also interesting? The process of what happens before the daily press conferences.  Fauci said that the task force sits down for 90 minutes or so, then move to the anteroom near the Oval Office to talk about the messages that they want to emphasize. And then?

Then we go in to see the president, we present [our consensus] to him and somebody writes a speech. Then he gets up and ad libs on his speech. And then we're up there to try and answer questions.

Cohen mentioned seeing the creative ideas that we're not doing here that other countries have tried, such as taking everyone's temperature before letting them into a grocery store, and wondered if that's something we should be considering. Fauci noted that things others are doing have been discussed, but not all of them can be implemented. Specifically to the temperature-taking, he noted

I think the logistics of that have to be worked out... This is something that should be considered. I will bring it up at the next task force meeting and see whether there’s some sort of a logistical, bureaucratic reason why it can't be done. The rationale for doing it is at least worth serious consideration.

He also said that it's premature right now to talk about what went wrong, and that there'll be time to do that later after it's over.

It's almost like the fog of war. After the war is over, you then look back and say, ‘Wow, this plan, as great as it was, didn't quite work once they started throwing hand grenades at us.’ It really is similar to that. Obviously, testing [for the new coronavirus] is one clear issue that needs to be relooked at. Why were we not able to mobilize on a broader scale? But I don't think we can do that right now. I think it's premature. We really need to look forward.

And finally, the question that everyone wants to know the answer to?

It was asked, and it was answered. Kind of. Take a look.

Getty Images

Cohen: At Friday’s press conference, you put your hands over your face when Trump referred to the “deep State Department,” [a popular conspiracy theory]. 

It’s even become an internet meme. Have you been criticized for what you did?

Fauci: No comment.

Maybe we'll get the real story after the fog of war has cleared.