Good lord is it painful listening to that clown speak. Even though I disagree with much of what Pence stands for he can at least speak in public without sounding like an 8th grader giving an oral book report.

Also, Chinese Virus? Really?

How different could things be right now if we had a reliable test in early Feb and could have started using it right away?

I watched the last part of the news conference and that Fauci is a talented guy. He knows how to say Trump is full of BS without saying Trump is full of BS.

Still my Person of the Year (US version) right now.

Short-term thinking plagues Trump’s coronavirus response - POLITICO

Attention Required! | Cloudflare

Remember to vote against the GOP in every election at every level of government until the end of time.

I could see how, in fifty years or so, you might be tempted.

Don't give in.

I vote for the person as much as the party.

In other words, I didn't consider voting Trump for a second.

Cuomo is doing a much better job than Trump in his news conference.

At this point, they should do the thing where they let Pence and the doctors give the news conferences and just show Trump the news stories saying he's doing a good job and keeping him from feeling like he needs to say or do things.

Yes truly great display of leadership.

Rand Paul, one of eight senators to vote against the corona relief bill has karma bite him in the ass. Of course he got tested without any of the symptoms:


https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/22/polit...rus/index.html

Harvey Weinstein apparently has it too. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Trump's shot at Romney was gross.

It is the completely unnecessary shit like this that makes him such a horrible human being, among many other things of course.

I'm going to be the devil's advocate here for why I don't think testing Congress folks is a big deal.

A) These are the one hundred men and women that make up one-sixth (half of one third) of our ruling government. A pandemic taking them out would be crippling to the nation.

B ) because of the natural herd nature of Congress, if one asymptomatic carrier spends a week in close proximity, to other Congresscritters, then it will spread VERY rapidly. Close proximity, like, say hammering out a $2 Trillion stimulus.

C) Members of government are generally what's called "rapid spreaders" meaning that they can be the infection point for many many people (especially with the nature of fundraising trips and "pressing the flesh"). Finally, in this specific case,

D) Rand Paul is specifically at risk for COVID-19, as he already has lung capacity issues (due to his previous issues). They would REALLY need to be careful with him, for reasons A-C.

I think this should push toward remote voting, but we'll see if that happens. (Protip: It won't. the lobbyists like having everyone in one place)

I think the issue is that the people who are responsible for the shortage in tests are the one's getting it.

So, he's going off now on how he wasn't thanked for not taking a salary (and at the same time seemed to up that salary to $450k).

He really needs to let Pence handle these and just stay in his bed. Too bad Cuomo isn't in charge nationally.

Almost anyone would be better than Trump, but New York appears to be the biggest potential disaster zone right now. Granted there are things endemic to NYC (large population, tons of visitors in/out, people actually use mass transit & streets are crowded), but I think clearly that is another state that was behind the curve early on. Cailfornia (and the Bay Area) went draconian earlier, Ohio seems to have, Massachusetts & Washington state seem to have had very good responses considering they were at the leading edge.

I'm ok with testing major members of the government, much as I dislike many of them, especially right now.



SI

I don't know what Biden has been up to but they need to find a way to get him in the public view.

Senate Dems showing uncharacteristic spine, rejecting GOP proposal because it does not contain enough job protections.

it needed 60 votes, and with 5 (?) GOP Senators in self-quarantine (or in Rand Paul's case actively being treated), it failed 47-47.

Seems like the Turtle tried to smash it through but didn't read the room too well.

Biden says he will broadcast regular coronavirus briefings | TheHill

I have not seen the details, so I really don't know who has the better argument in terms of what would be a better bill. I'm just surprised that McConnell said "Jump" and the Dems didn't ask "How high?" A real change from how things have been.

A $500 billion slush fund for companies with no oversight seems like a bad idea.

Probably would've been better if they would've introduced their own House bill at the same time. Most Americans will only care about the $1,000 checks, and this looks like the Democrats delaying that.

This is how Politico's reporter tweeted it out: (pretty factual from what I can tell)

Special edition of PLAYBOOK to keep you up to date on where things are stand on Capitol Hill.

IF YOU WERE COUNTING ON WASHINGTON to come together quickly and without drama to combat the coronavirus, you haven’t been reading Playbook, and you’ve probably been ignoring reality.

THE SENATE failed to clear a key procedural hurdle tonight on the massive $1.6-trillion coronavirus package, a major blow to the government's efforts to immediately inject money into the economy during this global health crisis.

SENATE MINORITY LEADER CHUCK SCHUMER (N.Y.) held the entire Democratic caucus against the measure after two days of marathon negotiations. The motion failed, 47-47.

REPUBLICANS are calling the Democrats’ efforts irresponsible -- they blamed Speaker NANCY PELOSI. Democrats say Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL (R-Ky.) didn’t accede to their demands.

DEMS: The main issue is a $500bn “slush fund” that is aimed at helping companies that have suffered due to the economic slowdown. Ds say it has little oversight and does not help workers.

They also say MNUCHIN would have too much influence over the disbursement of the money with insufficient oversight.

DEMOCRATS believe they now have tremendous leverage to change the package. Negotiations will continue, of course. But if they don’t make discernable progress before the U.S. stock exchange opens tomorrow, they could be in for a very tumultuous day.

BUT SUNDAY’S VOTE was a blow to McConnell, who had wanted to have final passage on the legislation on Monday. That timetable is in serious jeopardy at this point.

CHOOSE YOUR NEWS: MCCONNELL seemed especially irate at PELOSI, and said she’s the speaker of the House, not the Senate -- suggesting she scuttled the negotiations late in the process.

BUT: SCHUMER and PELOSI called for direct negotiations between congressional leaders early on, and MCCONNELL resisted.

NEW REPORTING: HOUSE Rs have encountered some resistance from lawmakers who do not want to allow the House to UC the Senate, and would prefer a vote of some sort. ONE LAWMAKER can mess this up. GOP LEADERSHIP believes they can soften the opposition.

Giving control of this fund to Mnuchin, who ran a fraudulent bank, seems like a bad idea too.

He's not usually one to do something like this. He has a plan. He always has a(n evil) plan.

SI

So the Dems can point out that the two big sticking points are that they want the companies to commit to not reducing payroll and that they don't want to give this guy access to a half-trillion dollars of taxpayer money with no oversight:



That's a winnable hand if they want to play it . . .

I realize this reporter seems a little over the top, but what gives Democrats the idea they have "tremendous" leverage now? The Republicans proposed a bill that (had other problems with it) but also offered every American $1000 in a time of national uncertainty, and the Democrats voted it down without offering up an alternative of their own. That's an oversimplification, but that's exactly how it will be received by many voters the longer this drags out.

Basically that Trump owns the economy, and that the message that Republicans are screwing over Joe Average to give bailouts to their buddies is a winning one, I guess.

The Dems need to have a competing bill ready by tomorrow morning.

They control one house of Congress, so I don't see why they could not just pass one and make the narrative about the Senate taking that bill up.

Maybe McConnell thought Dems didn't have the guts to vote against it. They should have been working with Pelosi from the start instead of the Senate GOP writing their own bill. Why not just vote on the stimulus checks, unemployment and small business relief in one bill immediately? Save the large corporate bailouts for later.

because then they wouldn't have a hostage to threaten for the corporate bailouts.

That makes sense, but if you are in favor of the corporate bailouts, you want them attached to goodies. I don't know if they would pass on their own.

Can someone explain to me how the Senate gets to start this anyway? I know the House didn't want to be around until there was something for them to vote on, but is it just because Republicans want to craft something Trump would sign and then get it passed or whatever? I know we don't always follow such things but the Constitution does still hold that all spending bills must originate in the people's House.

Basically, this vote was a "we're going to take this bill, throw all the text out, and replace it with this" It somewhat gets around that rule.

Cuomo delayed the shelter-in-place order because of a spat with the Mayor. He just looks better because he's being compared to people who fucked up even worse.

I have no idea what the context of that picture is, but I'm guessing that's not Ernie Johnson in the background.

SI

Trump is up there every day because he can't have his rallies and this is his outlet right now.

Very interesting conversation going on Twitter about how, if self-quarantine continues to disproportionate effects Republican Senators, they can lose control. Could put the 300+ bills being prevented to hit the floor by Moscow Mitch in play. And of course it was Turtle McConnell who denied voting any other way but in person. You know he'd usurp control if the roles were reversed.

There's a good chance the McConnell will lose control of the Senate over the coming hours because of self-quarantines. Rs currently have a 1-vote majority, but more quarantines, disproportionately impacted the Rs, are expected.

— David Segal (@DavidSegalRI) March 22, 2020

And the next step of the turtle's plan is to hold a revote at 9:45 (15 minutes after the markets open, and probably after the first circuit breaker is tripped)

It's gonna suck, here's hoping the D's won't cave.

Trump is going batshit insane and looks like as the economy gets worse he is going to push to try and get back to normal. What a disaster

WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2020

dola- he is also going after every media outlet

I watch and listen to the Fake News, CNN, MSDNC, ABC, NBC, CBS, some of FOX (desperately & foolishly pleading to be politically correct), the @nytimes, & the @washingtonpost, and all I see is hatred of me at any cost. Don’t they understand that they are destroying themselves?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2020

The Russian twitter troll farms are certainly getting their overtime this morning. I guess every economic downturn will still have its winners.

He is now retweeting things from his usual trolls such as "flatten the curve, not the economy"

I think the Fauci interview has set him off.

I don't think he understands how an 'economy' works.

The thing is, November is still a while off in our warp-speed media ecosystem. If Trump were willing to take some more short term pain this Spring, then things would probably be better by November. But the more half-assed he handles this now, the more of a chance it really will still be bad come November.

But his brain just cannot think long term enough to understand a difference between today and next month (let alone months from now).

I think Trump has been positioning himself to give all the blame to the states for any of the response issues. Thus the statement that states need to handle getting supplies for themselves, no national pronouncements about quarantine or distancing (which many of his ardent supporters HATE), and general lack of concern.

He's trying to seem like a leader to the national economy, but is not leading any of the response to the disease itself. Not sure how you can have it both ways, but he's trying.

This is going like everything else he has done. His supporters are defending him ardently, claiming he gets a 10/10 and not blaming him or holding him accountable despite mountains of evidence. The rest of us know he is full of shit.

I would say the one difference is FOX News isn't sucking him off quite as much as usual.