Stop the Insanity

Floor Fights: Well things got really testy on the Senate floor yesterday before erupting into sheer lunacy during the White House’s daily Coronavirus news conference, the forum that Trump is now using as a surrogate for his campaign rallies.  First the Senate,  members of that body really went at each other, throwing expletives and cutting into each other’s speechifying all while questioning each side’s motives after Democrats voted against Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s too partisan for them stimulus package.  That the package went down in flames couldn’t have been a surprise to McConnell, with five of his Senators in quarantine, he had to know that he couldn’t get his package passed so it’s fair to assume that putting it up for a vote was just more partisan political shenanigans.  McConnell, who is himself up for reelection this year, further demonstrated that when he took to the podium to blame the Democrats for failing to put differences aside in this dire time making it sound like everything, including the virus itself, was their fault, just another plot to wrest control from Trump and Republicans.   While he was pontificating and pointing fingers at those radical leftists and their partner in socialism Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader Schumer, who also got in some speaking time, was actually negotiating changes to the legislation with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin with input from Speaker Pelosi. It may well be that the idea that the three were actually compromising and making progress without him was part of what was so infuriating McConnell.  Anyway, sometime around midnight Schumer and Mnuchin reported that they were very close to resolving their differences, that they had made changes to satisfy Democratic concerns that the stimulus package had been too skewed to large corporations over real people and that they had agreed to impose some restrictions on how a $500 billion discretionary slush fund can be used, making the funds less easilty available to friends of the administration, including the Trump businesses, because to no one’s surprise Trump refuses to rule out tapping into those funds for his resorts. One indication that they’ve come to a resolution, one that Trump reportedly has signed off on, is that stock futures are up this morning, or at least up as I write this.     

The Stable Epidemiologist:  Now to that insanity.  During the daily virus news conference/political rally, Trump made it clear that he was over the whole quarantine, shut down the country thing; that as far as he’s concerned the efforts to smooth the virus infection curve were killing his economy and by that, though he didn’t say it, he means his chances of reelection in November, or whenever the election actually takes place.  Following up on a tweet he made earlier in the day he said he wants to open up in a week or so because “we cannot let the cure be worse than the problem.”  Apparently that is now a view among a growing number of conservatives and red state governors but NO scientists or medical experts which probably explains why everyone except Trump’s favorite immunologist, Dr Fauci, was not one of the presenters.  Yesterday’s doctor in residence was instead Deborah Birx, who reported that the reason she’d been missing in action over the weekend was because she had a case of bad bellyitis and had been running a fever, an announcement that kind of freaked out the room until she reassured everyone that she had a passed a COVID 19 test with flying colors.  As an aside, German Chancellor Angela Merkel passed her test too, but plans to stay in isolation until she passes a second one.  Anyway, the somewhat loopy Birx went on and on about virus hotspots and curves and other such things but never directly contradicted Trump’s “science”, leading many, including me, to believe that she’s eaten some weird Jello.  As to that idea of opening up the country sooner rather than later, Trump appeared to recognize that some places like NY,  California, and Illinois are going to get worse before they get better, but it’s not like anyone in any of those places are going to vote for him anyway.  As to some of those red states, or red until now states, Texas Lieutenant Governor  Dan Patrick pretty much explained Trump’s theory, saying hell lots of older and vulnerable people will die if we don’t stick with the shutdowns, but hell who cares about them anyway.  Patrick went so far as to say that he’d be willing to die to get the economy going for his grandkids.  Does anyway really believe that?  And Florida’s Governor DeSantis who has been taking heat for not imposing adequate restrictions in his state has finally come up with one, he wants anyone flying in from NYC to self-quarantine for 14 days, it’s not clear what concerns him more, their political views or the virus.  Getting back to Trump, he reminded everyone that the country’s Asian-American community ought to be "totally" protected" in light of xenophobic attacks during the coronavirus pandemic saying "They are amazing people, and the spreading of the Virus is NOT their fault in any way, shape, or form."  I wonder where anyone ever got the idea that it was okay to blame Chinese people for the coronavirus?  And because repetition is his thing, Trump also continued to attack that certain prior administration for handing him a woefully obsolete system, he continued to assert that ventilators are currently being produced by the auto makers, who report that they are not yet doing so yet and insisted that medical supplies and virus tests are widely available though they’re still not.  He also weighed in again on potential cures, hyping them despite the absence of scientific data, a bigly problem because some of his fans have started self-medicating with dire consequences.  On the drug front maybe we will have some real data soon as “virus idol” Governor Cuomo reports that New York has been authorized to start using and reporting back on the safety and effectiveness of the  chloroquine/Zithromax combination.  And though its hard to believe Trump about anything, it does appear that some quicker and easier to administer virus test will be coming down the pike soon, as will more supplies, the problem is with quantifying soon.  As to that open the country up next week thing, don’t go all in on using up your toilet paper supplies yet and don't try to buy tons of it for resale either because AG Barr has your number and he promises that he'll be at your door arresting you if you try.

Et Cetera:  Though as of this writing no Democratic Senators have tested virus positive, Amy Klobuchar’s husband, a Washington area university professor, has apparently been sick for a while and is now hospitalized.  Boris Johnson has closed down the UK, Italy might be starting, just starting to turn a corner, Wuhan China is opening up and Bernie Sanders, who missed a few of those Senate votes, is still running for president.