Shambolic Governance

COVID Tour:  Overall the number of new cases of the coronavirus is rising in the US with new infection rates reaching particularly alarming levels in Arizona, Texas and Florida.  Yesterday CDC Head Redfield told Congress that “the virus has brought this nation to its knees,” while  Virus guru Fauci described a “disturbing surge” of infections in some parts of the country, as Americans “ignore social distancing guidelines and states reopen without adequate plans for testing and tracing the contacts of those who get sick.”  Though both of them, as well as the others testifying before the House said that they hadn’t been directly told to cut back on virus testing, Trump, who continues to blame testing for the rise in infection rates, said that he never jokes, confirming that when he says that we test too much, he means it.  He doubled, or at this point I should say quadrupled down on that point while on his COVID Tour, this time during a presentation to 3000 young adults/fans in a crowded, unmasked crowd in a Phoenix, Arizona church yesterday.  During that speech/campaign rally he once again used an ethnic slur, referring to COVID 19 as the Kung Flu questioning where that 19 comes from anyway, he called Democrats totalitarians, extolled the country’s Confederate history, threatened long jail time for those thuggish demonstrators, especially the ones tearing down statues celebrating the heroes of slavery and Native American massacres (and a few other statues that should probably be left standing) and called for the crowd to rise up and take back their America.  It’s worth mentioning that one of the warm-up speakers, a picture perfect blondette, expressed her deep distress over how the country could possibly move forward now that Quaker Oats was changing the name of Aunt Jemima maple syrup. Apparently the virus is of no concern to her nor is the woeful lack of testing capability in Arizona, but the loss of a racist brand name, that keeps her up at night.  While Trump was traipsing around Arizona, Joe Biden held a virtual fund raiser with former President Obama.  Obama called out Trump’s shambolic governance, promising that if “we do our work right help will be on the way.”  The two raised a total of $11 million.  This morning’s NY Times/Siena national poll shows Biden leading Trump 50% to 36% with a widening advantage among women and nonwhite voters, making “deep inroads with some traditionally Republican-leaning groups, like male voters and older Americans.  However, voters still believe that Trump is better for the economy despite the current environment and his woeful handling of the coronavirus epidemic, so though Trump is down now, it’s way too early to predict where he’ll be come election day.   

Primaries: The results of many of yesterday’s key primaries remain undecided as a large number of absentee ballots, the ones that Trump has been attacking as illegal, counterfeit and/or sourced from foreign players, have not yet been counted.  After a smoother than expected start, things got crazy in Kentucky as those who did not take advantage of the state’s expanded absentee ballot provisions amassed outside of the limited number of voting sites in minority heavy Louisville.  A judge refused to extend polling hours from 6 to 9PM but relented a little, allowing the polls to stay open until 630 PM permitting a rush of voters to get into the polling locations before the doors slammed shut for good.  As of now the much watched race between establishment candidate Amy McGrath and progressive insurgent candidate Charles Booker to run against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is too close to call.  One time Congressional candidate/retired Marine Lt. Col. McGrath leads State Representative Booker, the African American progressive, who was endorsed by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman AOC, by about 8 points, a lead that could go away once absentee ballots are counted.  Final results aren’t expected for a week.  The same results delay holds true for New York, where absentee ballot totals won’t be made available until next week.  As of now, long time Congressman Eliot Engel is lagging behind progressive Jamaal Bowman while Oversight Committee Chair and long term Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney has a small but not insurmountable lead over challenger Suraj Patel.  On the MSNBC front, the results are split, it looks like SDNY alum Mimi Rocah is well on her way to beating incumbent Anthony Scarpino in the race to become the Westchester District Attorney while former Obama staff member Evelyn Farkas appears out of the money in the race to succeed long time retiring Congresswoman Nita Lowey.

Injustice: On the what in the world is going on at the DOJ front, Andrew Zelinsky, the former Mueller team prosecutor who withdrew from the Roger Stone case after senior Justice Department officials “intervened to recommend a lighter sentence” will testify before Congress that he and his colleagues were repeatedly pressured to cut Stone "a break," and were told that it was because of his relationship with Trump. Zelinsky who is testifying even though he is still with the Department of Justice will be joined by also current antitrust prosecutor John Elias, who will testify that Attorney General Barr personally ordered the Department's Antitrust Division to launch politically motivated reviews of 10 cannabis mergers because of his personal anti marijuana bias.  To no one’s surprise, AG Barr will not be testifying and as of now is expected to ignore the subpoena expected to be issued by Judiciary Chair Nadler.  His excuse is that he’s too busy dealing with the virus outbreak, particularly flimsy given that Drs Redfield, Fauci, and the FDA’s Hahn, the people actually dealing with the virus, found time in their schedules to appear before Congress.  The NY Bar has called on Congress to investigate Barr for his conduct and ethical lapses.  Good luck with that.  

Et Cetera:  As expected the Trump family is suing to prevent the publication of niece Mary Trump’s tell all book, claiming that it violates her NDA with them. Doesn’t everyone have an NDA with their family?