The Senate’s relief bill failed on Sunday and again on Monday. Democrats objected to corporate give-aways and corruption concerns that Trump would give millions of dollars to his own resorts.
Trump changed his tone yet again on Monday, now pivoting to the idea that the economic harm is worse than the virus and that after 15 days the country will reopen. He set a date of April 12, Easter.
According to the Washington Post: “Trump predicted “we’re going to be opening our country” in a shorter time frame than months. He announced that the administration was developing new protocols to allow local economies outside of what he called “hot spots” of the coronavirus spread to resume activity and would make a decision at the conclusion of the current 15-day period.”
The Washington Post’s David Ferenhtold reports that the shutdown has closed six of Trump’s seven biggest earning properties: “That threatens to pull Trump in opposite directions, because the strategies that many scientists believe will help lessen the public emergency — like strict, long-lasting restrictions on movement — could deepen the short-term problems of Trump’s private business, by keeping doors shut and customers away.”
Also as Trump’s Sunday COVID-19 press conference: “Romney’s in isolation? Geeeeee – that’s too bad.” By Tuesday Romney reported that he tested negative but will remain quarantined on doctor’s advice.
Here is a New York Times media piece on how FOX News has handled the crisis: “There, for two crucial weeks in late February and early March, powerful Fox hosts talked about the “real” story of the coronavirus: It was a Democratic- and media-led plot against President Donald J. Trump. Hosts and guests, speaking to Fox’s predominantly elderly audience, repeatedly played down the threat of what would soon become a deadly pandemic.”
The Senate approved the $2 trillion relief package on Wednesday: “The legislation would send direct payments of $1,200 to millions of Americans, including those earning up to $75,000, and an additional $500 per child. It would substantially expand jobless aid, providing an additional 13 weeks and a four-month enhancement of benefits, and would extend the payments for the first time to freelancers and gig workers. The measure would also offer $377 billion in federally guaranteed loans to small businesses and establish a $500 billion government lending program for distressed companies…”
Here is a summary of some of the bill’s fine print and how it works to help businesses. For example: “loans from the federal government worth up to 2.5 times the firm’s monthly payroll that will not have to be repaid if the company uses them to keep paying employees during any coronavirus shutdowns.”
Of the $500 billion business loan program: “Rather than trying to negotiate that figure down, Democrats instead negotiated to have strings attached to it. Instead of giving the Trump administration broad discretion to make the loans, Schumer and Pelosi said there will likely be a new inspector general in the Treasury Department specifically to oversee these funds, as well as a congressional oversight panel to examine how the money is being used. Schumer’s office also announced they secured a provision that will “prohibit businesses controlled by the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, and heads of Executive Departments from receiving loans or investments from Treasury programs.” The children, spouses or in-laws of lawmakers and executive officials also cannot receive these loans.”
By Friday the House approved and Trump signed the 2 trillion dollar stimulus bill.
Although the bill provided strict oversight to keep Trump from giving money to his and his allies’s businesses, he overrode that oversight in a signing statement: “Immediately after signing the historic $2 trillion coronavirus aid package, President Trump sought to curb oversight provisions in the bill by asserting presidential authority over a new inspector general’s office.
There was confusion out of the White House about the federal government ordering GM to produce more ventilators: “The White House had been preparing to unveil the G.M.-Ventec joint venture this week, and had hoped to announce that upward of 20,000 ventilators would be available in weeks, and that ultimately 80,000 would be produced. But the company complained that FEMA would not commit to spending the $250 million or so it would take to retool the factory. And with FEMA still evaluating a $1.5 billion proposal from those companies, Mr. Trump got angry at news reports that described the bureaucratic maneuvering. He soon blamed G.M.”
Also this: “Mr. Kushner focused on the medical equipment shortages, working with the National Association of Manufacturers, the Business Roundtable and groups of former and current executives who gathered under the hashtag #StopTheSpread. Some of those executives now say they are operating on their own and no longer coordinating with the White House because they could not get clear signals about what the government wanted, or when.”
A report from mayors of 200 major cities lists their needs: “More than 90 percent — or 192 cities — told the conference that they did not have an adequate supply of face masks for police officers, firefighters or emergency workers. In addition, 92 percent of cities reported a shortage of test kits to diagnose who has contracted the virus — a problem Mr. Trump has said in recent days was all but solved — and 85 percent said they did not have a sufficient supply of ventilators available to health facilities.
Roughly two-thirds of the cities said they had not received any emergency equipment or supplies from their state, the report said. And of those that did receive state aid, nearly 85 percent said it was not enough to meet their needs.
In total, the conference tabulated that cities needed 28.5 million face masks, 24.4 million other items of personal protection equipment, 7.9 million test kits and 139,000 ventilators.”
Here is some harrowing reporting from Tuesday at one New York City hospital: “Elmhurst, a 545-bed public hospital in Queens, has begun transferring patients not suffering from coronavirus to other hospitals as it moves toward becoming dedicated entirely to the outbreak. Doctors and nurses have struggled to make do with a few dozen ventilators. Calls over a loudspeaker of “Team 700,” the code for when a patient is on the verge of death, come several times a shift. Some have died inside the emergency room while waiting for a bed.
A refrigerated truck has been stationed outside to hold the bodies of the dead. Over the past 24 hours, New York City’s public hospital system said in a statement, 13 people at Elmhurst had died.”
Peter Wehner warns about Trump: “the coronavirus pandemic may lead to a rapid and even more worrisome psychological and emotional deterioration in the commander in chief. … As one person who consults with the Trump White House on the coronavirus response put it to me, “He has chosen to imagine the worst is behind us when the worst is clearly ahead of us. As the health-care and economic crises worsen, Trump’s hallmarks will be even more fully on display. The president will create new scapegoats. He’ll blame governors for whatever bad news befalls their states. He’ll berate reporters who ask questions that portray him in a less-than-favorable light. He’ll demand even more cultlike coverage from outlets such as Fox News. Because he doesn’t tolerate relationships that are characterized by disagreement or absence of obeisance, before long we’ll see key people removed or silenced when they try to counter a Trump-centered narrative. He’ll try to find shiny objects to divert our attention from his failures.”
Here is another report from a day in a New York City hospital. Among many other harrowing details: “The emergency room phone rang again. It was a man who lived down the street, offering handmade masks. “Are you selling them or donating them?” Dr. de Souza asked. Donating. She took his number and thanked him. The hospital has received gifts of gloves, food and a brown bottle with a mysterious liquid concocted by a local artisanal deodorant maker, which said it could be used to disinfect face shields. For now, that would be put aside.”
And this: “Dr. de Souza dreads that possibility, haunted by accounts of Italian doctors denying lifesaving resources to older adults or providing inadequate care at overrun hospitals. “I’m asking myself if that’s where we’re going,” she said on Wednesday night. Some patients who were screened and went home have since returned with difficulty breathing, needing to be put on ventilators. “It’s getting really, really more difficult every day.””
Here is a report about job vacancies in the Trump administration that are adding to the breakdown in government response. One of many examples: “One example is the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is legally meant to back up the nation’s health care system in an emergency. On Thursday, the Office of Inspector General at the department released a report detailing red flags in its preparedness for the crisis. The secretary, Robert L. Wilkie, has no experience in emergency management… Mr. Wilkie recently fired his second in command, who had worked in past disasters, and his head of emergency preparedness retired.”
3.3 million people filed for unemployment insurance this past week, a record number.
Personal Log: We kept our daughter home this week, and by Wednesday the governor ordered that day care centers can only remain open to serve first responders starting April 1. You see a lot of kids and parents outside riding bikes and walking. I’ve seen more dads pushing strollers in these two weeks than I have ever seen here or anywhere. The nature reservation is also full of families. Some of them keep their sidestepped distance from you as you pass, but most don’t.
Our Trump-supporting Red State relatives are now taking the virus seriously, including following their states social distancing guidelines.
New Jersey cases/deaths: 8,825 / 108
Essex County: 826 positive cases
—
Trump’s Job Approval: 45.8%
US Covid-19 cases/deaths: 85,356 / 1,246