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A NOTE FROM FRED
Coronavirus was first reported in China in December 2019.
Today it dominates the United States and everything that is going on in Washington, not to mention dominating the world.
President Trump and his administration have been completely unprepared to deal with this pandemic, aided and abetted by President Trump firing the White House pandemic response team in 2018 and never replacing it.
Trump and his administration were also slow to move into action once the virus became known, aided and abetted by President Trump’s efforts to pretend it was not a problem.
On February 26, Trump said, “[W]hen you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that's a pretty good job we've done.” Pure nonsense.
Trump kept trying to make the virus go away by saying “it is going away” and that it was "very well under control." Not the case.
Trump has met his match in dealing with the virus.
His lies, his dissembling, his con jobs, and his tweets cannot erase the reality of this dangerous disease that has spread throughout the country.
Congress is finally moving after getting a slow start itself. House Speaker Pelosi, a real leader, is once again filling the national vacuum created by a President who lives in an alternative universe.
Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin are trying to work out an agreement today on legislation to directly and immediately address the health crisis facing the country, while Trump sits in the White House fiddling with his Twitter account.
Trump has defined his presidency by the growth of the stock market and is now encountering the reality of the saying “live by the sword, die by the sword.”
Trump is learning that he can no more bluster a pandemic out of existence than he can talk the stock market into staying high when it decides to crash.
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MUST READS
D21 NEWS
One Year Later, The Battle For H.R. 1 Goes On
D21 President Fred Wertheimer: “We have a once in a generation opportunity to enact an historic package of democracy reforms that will repair our political system and renew our democracy.” Read more.
D21 Joins Reform Groups Letter Opposing Republican FEC Nominee And Urging Bipartisan Nominees
GOP nominee Trey Trainor has been an advocate for deregulating campaign finance laws, and GOP Senators are refusing to consider a Democratic nominee in tandem as has been done in the past. Read more.
H.R. 1, ONE YEAR LATER … STILL NO SENATE ACTION
The Moral Call For Repairing Our Broken Democracy
Sister Quincy Howard, OP: “Sometimes it feels like the democratic experiment is failing. As a Catholic Sister, I see this as a moral call to find a way to heal our broken democracy,” opinion via Medium.
A Campaign Finance Solution Has Been Sitting On McConnell’s Desk For A Year
“Countering the undue influence of big money in our elections is a civil rights issue. H.R. 1, the For the People Act, would be a giant step forward,” opinion via Inequality.org.
Our Broken Democracy Has Blocked Progress on Issues Voters Care About, Jana Morgan of the Declaration for American Democracy, via Medium.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Remarks On One-Year Anniversary Of House Passage Of H.R. 1
Pelosi: “[B]ecause of what is in our Constitution and what people have risked their lives for, some have lost their lives, we have an obligation in this Congress to make sure that policy exists that empowers the people. Again, to weaken the stranglehold of special interest dark money and instead of it being for special interests, it’s for the people’s interest,” via Yuba.Net.
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MEANWHILE, AT THE FEC
GOP Moves To Stack FEC In Its Favor, via Center for Media and Democracy.
Trump’s FEC Nominee Has Questioned The Value Of Disclosing Political Donors, via The Washington Post.
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TRUMP & FRIENDS
Trump’s Mismanagement Helped Fuel Coronavirus Crisis
“Current and former administration officials blame the president for creating a no-bad-news atmosphere that stifled attempts to combat the outbreak,” via Politico.
“He’s Definitely Melting Down Over This”: Trump Struggles To Control The Covid-19 Story, via Vanity Fair.
Intelligence Officials Temper Russia Warnings, Prompting Accusations Of Political Influence
An aide to acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell “met with intelligence officials and imposed limits on what they could tell Congress about foreign influence operations,” via The New York Times.
Trump’s Intel Power Play Spooks The Spooks, via Politico.
Fourth Time’s The Charm? Mark Meadows Takes Over As Trump Chief Of Staff, via The New York Times.
Erik Prince – A Contractor With Close Ties To The Trump Administration – Recruits Ex-Spies To Infiltrate Liberal Groups, Including Campaigns And Unions, via The New York Times.
The True Danger of the Trump Campaign’s Defamation Lawsuits
“Outside of court, these lawsuits are a real danger to democracy. They abuse the American justice system to attack and intimidate America’s journalists,” via The Atlantic.
Court: House Entitled To Mueller Probe Grand Jury Testimony, via Associated Press.
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MEANWHILE, ON CAPITOL HILL
Members Of Congress Have A New Strategy For Ethics Investigations: Stonewalling
“House Members and staffers of both parties are increasingly dodging ethics investigators. The last decade showed a sharp drop in cooperation starting in mid-2016. … full cooperation has plummeted to just 33% of cases.”
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236 DAYS …
How The Trump Campaign Took Over The GOP
“The president’s campaign manager and his allies commandeered Republican voter data and fundraising engines, consolidating power – and profiting – in ways never before possible,” via The New York Times.
Coronavirus Threatens To Pose An Unprecedented Challenge To The 2020 Elections, via The Washington Post.
Trump, GOP Allies Move Quickly To Discredit, Attack Biden, via Associated Press.
Biden To Get Cover From Major Super PAC As GOP Attacks Ramp Up, via Politico.
Russia Trying to Stoke U.S. Racial Tensions Before Election
“Russian intelligence services are trying to incite violence by white supremacist groups to sow chaos in the United States, American intelligence officials said,” via The New York Times.
Report: Russian Election Trolling Becoming Subtler, Tougher To Detect, via National Public Radio.
An “Election Meltdown” In Texas
“How voter suppression, poor planning, incendiary rhetoric, and fear of coronavirus could erode public confidence in elections,” via Texas Observer.
Watchdog Warns Of Election Security Issues This Year And Chides Federal Agency
“The GAO report indicates the federal government was not fully prepared to deal with the challenges that have developed in this still young election season,” via The Washington Post.
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