newrepublic--2020-04-03--Corporations Are Salivating Over the Coronavirus Pandemic

While many Americans worry about how much longer they can pay rent and avoid contracting Covid-19 , corporations are within striking distance of controlling our basic political institutions .
The recent congressional stimulus package has been criticized as a sweetheart deal that will only make the rich richer , giving the airline industry a cool $ 60 billion while individual Americans facing job loss , eviction , and illness get at most $ 1,200 a piece .
But beyond resource allocations , there are many other ways corporations could benefit from the current coronavirus pandemic .
Throughout history , companies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ profit , but also social control .
And already there are signs of that in the present moment , the coronavirus being used to curb environmentalism and other forms of behavior inconvenient for corporate interests .
The very land on which Congress now sits was first colonized by the Virginia Company of London , a joint-stock company chartered by King James I and his fellow shareholders .
From London , these investors directed the colonists ’ violent theft of the land from the Piscataway and Nacostine peoples .
On their land , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and brought in enslaved Africans and indentured Europeans to produce tobacco for the emerging world market and to defend the territory militarily .
The world of business continued to set the terms of politics well after the United States won independence from the British Empire .
Slavery , claimed Southern planter elites , was the “ greatest material interest of the world.
” Securing this valuable system of production required securing the entire global racial order of social domination it was premised upon .
It required control of personal conduct , so plantation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ positions in Congress and the military , and pushed U.S. foreign policy in a pro-slavery direction that included imperial invasions and annexations which they hoped would expand and protect slavery in the Western hemisphere .
Back then , the connection between violent social control and profit was unmistakable .
The current moment may feel very different , but as recent events have made clear , we ’ re not as far removed from the power dynamics of centuries past as many people like to assume .
Modern corporations know that their survival depends @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but also on broad control over the institutions and practices that organize our lives .

The coronavirus crisis may result in stronger corporate influence on basic political and social institutions. Already, corporations have played an outsize role in crafting the Trump administration’s pandemic response. The White House’s press briefings are full of executives from companies like Walmart and underwear manufacturer Jockey International, who often get even more speaking time than the medical professionals on the White House virus task force.
On March 18, the Plastic Industry Association requested that the federal Department of Health and Human Services issue a national pronouncement discouraging the use of reusable grocery bags in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. They insinuated that reusable grocery bags are a health risk, despite the questionable grounds for the claim (the risk appears to vanish if the bags are washed) and further evidence that suggests that single-use plastics might be quite dangerous themselves: “SARS-CoV-2 was more stable on plastic and stainless steel than on copper and cardboard, and viable virus was detected up to 72 hours after application to these surfaces,” a group of epidemiologists wrote in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine a day prior to the plastic lobby’s request. Nevertheless, governors of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts have prohibited or discouraged people from using reusable grocery bags.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency has issued a sweeping declaration allowing power plants and factories to decide for themselves whether they are meeting environmental regulations—in effect, a direct transfer of the responsibility of environmental stewardship from the government’s regulatory office to the businesses themselves. This move has been sharply criticized by scientists, who argue that the rollback will encourage yet more pollution of communities of color whose environmental justice concerns are routinely ignored. The fossil fuel industry is likely to benefit financially from the emergency coronavirus legislation despite its role in causing and distorting the ongoing climate crisis, which available evidence suggests will make future pandemics more likely and costly and hurt communities of color worst. Meanwhile, state legislatures in Kentucky, South Dakota, and West Virginia have quietly criminalized protests against pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure. They joined five states that have already passed legislation strongly resembling a model drafted by the conservative American Legislative Executive Council, which in turn is partly funded by the Koch Industries. Fossil fuel companies like Exxon and BP have only exited ALEC in the past few years as ALEC’s notorious climate change denial became a liability.


Kiwi

As if the flesh had come apart in my hands to tell of it—light come through the vague furred frame @ @ @ @ @ as I cut the skin away , so that it seemed deep green was an @ @ @ @ @ , what wrought at the center among seeds , its issue , could be revealed @ @ @ @ @ going toward , all this time .
All this time , sharing a part of @ @ @ @ @ keeping the most for selfishness , trying to get to the generous heart—which tastes the @ @ @ @ @ , quite , but adheres to the same principles : you won ’ t lose @ @ @ @ @ says , while another : pass into it and when the arrow hurts yield , @ @ @ @ @ no not to pain : to knowing you are the arrow too .

As if the flesh had come apart
in my hands to tell of it—light
come through the vague furred frame
then coming through deeper, as I cut
the skin away, so that it seemed deep green
was an order of light unto itself,
what wrought at the center
among seeds, its issue, could be
revealed as the system
I was going toward, all this time.
All this time, sharing a part
of the fruit with distraction
but keeping the most for selfishness,
trying to get to the generous
heart—which tastes the same
or doesn’t, quite, but adheres
to the same principles: you won’t
lose yourself inside of me
one says, while another: pass into it
and when the arrow hurts yield,
but not to pain, no not to pain:
to knowing you are the arrow too.


newrepublic--2020-04-03--The States Are Stepping Up

The States Are Stepping Up

During the early days of the coronavirus crisis , President Donald Trump couldn ’ t make up his mind about the governors who were closing schools , banning large gatherings , and shutting down businesses across the country .
He veered between admiration and resentment , praising governors for working with “ urgency and speed , ” while calling one a half-wit and another “ a snake.
” As Trump staged elaborate stunts to goose the markets , governors made no secret of their anger .
J.B. Pritzker of Illinois tweeted that “ the federal government needs to get its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Jay Inslee of Washington fumed at the president in a private call in late March .
Still , they recognized that they had no choice but to proceed on their own .
The states are turning into real-life laboratories , conducting 50 different experiments in how to halt a pandemic .
Andrew Cuomo of New York has won accolades for his on-point daily press briefings .
In Kentucky , Andy Beshear has reassigned state employees to work at food banks .
Pritzker has launched a state website that matches healthy residents with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ David Ige of Hawaii threatened those who leave their homes before April 30 with a year in jail .
( Other states have been less aggressive about social distancing ; in Arizona , Republican Governor Doug Ducey stepped in to make sure golf courses could stay open during the crisis . )
In that sense , and maybe that sense alone , the coronavirus response represented political business as usual .
The Trump presidency as a whole has accelerated a long-standing trend of state officials taking action while dysfunction in Washington grinds the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

That investment has paid off. Many of the Republicans elected in the 2010s struggled to deliver tangible results or even master the basics, such as paving the roads and running the schools. (Rauner couldn’t pass a budget for half his four years as Illinois governor, and Matt Bevin of Kentucky insulted teachers and fired two infection control directors during a recent hepatitis outbreak in which his state suffered a third of the nation’s fatalities.) All told, Democrats have won back nine governorships since Trump took office, and now control the governorship and legislature in 15 states.
Democrats have used this newfound power to challenge Trump—and provide protections for American workers who can’t get past the gate in a divided Congress. A dozen states now have paid sick leave. Thirty have increased the minimum wage above the federal level. And while Trump has rejected the Paris accord’s goals on climate change, more than half of all Americans live in states that have pledged to meet them anyway. Meanwhile, the 24 Democratic state attorneys general checked Trump in court on everything from immigration to the environment. The coronavirus has now rendered elections a safety hazard, and even though Congress hasn’t been able to pass legislation to allow people to vote by mail, multiple states are making the shift themselves. And although Trump has trapped many states in a bidding war for essential medical equipment, states have found creative ways to protect the public, such as designating grocery store workers emergency personnel to grant them access to free childcare.
It’s the nature of states that achievement is not uniform. Republicans still control a majority of legislatures and governorships. But even where Democrats are shut out of office, liberals have dusted off a tool from the Progressive era: Thanks to ballot initiatives, red states in recent years have raised the minimum wage, expanded Medicaid, taken redistricting out of the hands of lawmakers, and legalized marijuana.


newrepublic--2020-04-03--The Pandemic’s Shameless Profiteers

The Pandemic’s Shameless Profiteers

To treat the Black Death , some doctors in the Middle Ages recommended ingesting “ potable gold , ” a vile tonic of gold compounds dissolved in ether .
One might think that we had progressed past such bogus remedies , but in the age of the coronavirus , quacks and pseudoscientists are now pushing colloidal silver , long touted in wellness circles for its antimicrobial properties .
( Gwyneth Paltrow , for instance , once said she sprays a little in her mouth and around her seat on planes to fend off germs . )
One day after the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic , New York ’ s attorney general sent a cease-and-desist letter to a number of vendors hawking colloidal silver as a treatment .
They included the Silver Edge Company , whose Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator ( $ 250 ) had already sold out , and the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones , whose special silver toothpaste , he promised , would obliterate “ the whole SARS-corona family at point-blank range.
” Other coronavirus remedies still available from various “ holistic ” practitioners include oil of oregano and “ Spirit Dust , ” an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and roots from the LA cult brand Moon Juice .
The global crisis has inspired plenty of non-woo profiteering and price-gouging .
In New York , a Midtown hardware store raised prices on hand sanitizer to nearly $ 80 a bottle before the city slapped the store with a fine .
One enterprising English schoolboy was caught selling squirts of hand sanitizer to his peers for 50 pence a pump .
At LAX , officials seized a shipment of fake at-home coronavirus testing kits .
And email inboxes continue to flood with pandemic-pegged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ maps of the virus ’ s spread if you ’ ll just click on this link and enter all your bank information .
For the vaguely less craven , the pandemic has also provided some prime marketing opportunities .
P.volve—a high-end fitness program that sells a proprietary ball that , when strapped between the legs , ( the company claims ) sculpts the buns—offered a 20 percent discount on said ball with the line , “ Looking for a safer alternative to crowded gyms ?
” Finally , some are raking in money @ @ @ @ @ @ @ celebrity tabloid TMZ , the rapper Soulja Boy , who had fortuitously invested in a business called the Soap Shop prior to the onset of the coronavirus , has seen his profits explode due to the upsurge of handwashing .
Despite the proliferation of low-level hucksterism , when the pandemic eventually dissipates , the people sitting atop mountains of cash are more likely to be the usual suspects .
Along with other pharma giants , the drug manufacturer Gilead Sciences has already received federal funding to pursue a coronavirus treatment .
Oscar Health—Jared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health care start-up—announced it was launching coronavirus testing centers , open to all , but free only for members .
Then there are the industries that took a hit when the stock market tanked , but were almost immediately promised lifelines by the government .
Trump has so far pledged bailouts for air and cruise lines , and while Democrats fought to include provisions in the stimulus package limiting stock buybacks , money could still end up in the pockets of wealthy shareholders .

Despite the proliferation of low-level hucksterism, when the pandemic eventually dissipates, the people sitting atop mountains of cash are more likely to be the usual suspects. Along with other pharma giants, the drug manufacturer Gilead Sciences has already received federal funding to pursue a coronavirus treatment. Oscar Health—Jared Kushner’s brother Joshua’s health care startup—announced it was launching a free coronavirus testing center locator tool (but that free coronavirus-related treatment would, of course, be limited to its members).* Then there are the industries that took a hit when the stock market tanked, but were almost immediately promised lifelines by the government. Trump has so far pledged bailouts for air and cruise lines, and while Democrats fought to include provisions in the stimulus package limiting stock buybacks, money could still end up in the pockets of wealthy shareholders.
Even international disaster relief could become a windfall for those already on top. After the 2014 Ebola crisis, the World Bank issued “pandemic bonds” to Third World countries struck by disease. Yet the guidelines concerning the payout were so byzantine that when Ebola roared back four years later, killing more than 2,200 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, investors somehow escaped without paying a cent. Perhaps after all is said and done, we’ll know the coronavirus is truly winding down when the quack cures recede, the off-brand Purell is shelved, and the only scam left is just the one known as business as usual for get-rich-quick opportunists of all stripes. What a relief that will be.


newrepublic--2020-04-03--The Enduring Delusion of a Chastened Trump

Even that , though , is not something that comes naturally to Trump , both because he can ’ t quite feel any of the concern he ’ s supposed to presidentially evince and because his all-devouring narcissism guarantees he ’ ll always be more put out by the obligation to try than he would be troubled by whatever thing he might otherwise be supposed to care about .
Trump ’ s careening and chaotic approach to the world has not been tempered or focused or in any way changed as a result of him assuming the highest office in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ true and essential thing about Trump beyond his reflexive cruelty and wild avarice , it is that there is nothing in the world , government epidemiologists very much included , that could or would ever cause him to change .
To change , or grow , or even learn something new would to some extent be an admission of defeat for someone who lives so deliriously , delusionally in the moment .
Trump ’ s bizarre , blustering approach during the first months of the coronavirus crisis was not so much tactical as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lie and pick weird fights all day long in hopes of Making The Numbers Go Up—and to do that every single day , was less a decision than it was simply Trump doing the only thing he knows how to do .
In the same way , his unwillingness to direct ventilators or PPE equipment toward states that don ’ t yet need them reflects his lifelong incapacity to understand the relationship between things done today and things that happen tomorrow .
He has always lived in a sort of weightless suspension between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He ’ s focused on nothing more than whatever is in front of him at that moment , inhabiting no identifiable reality but the one blurring in front of his nose .
Trump understands the scope of his job , and it seems likely that this is what appeals to him about it .
But it ’ s fundamentally not in him to grasp the scale of it .
“ The grim-faced president who appeared in the White House briefing room for more than two hours beside charts showing death projections of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a reality he had long refused to accept , ” Peter Baker wrote in The Times on Wednesday .
As it happened , Trump ’ s sobriety didn ’ t even get all the way through the press conference , which saw him pointing to the specious miracle cures that have beguiled him over the weeks since he grudgingly admitted that Covid-19 was not under control .
“ I knew everything , ” Trump responded when asked if he knew how bad the situation could become back when he was still claiming there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virus in the U.S. “ I knew it could be horrible .
And I knew it could be maybe good.
” It is not news , at this point , that Trump is fundamentally incapable of doing any of the important and urgent things required of him as president in this moment .
Baker , in the allusive and opaque house style of Times political reportage , doesn ’ t quite suggest that Trump has developed that capacity .
Instead , he does what the political press has done with Trump from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scene—they described not what he does , but how he appears .
“ Experts have been warning of a possibility like this for weeks , ” Baker allowed .
“ But more than ever before , Mr. Trump seemed to acknowledge them .
”

By dialing back the Bannon-scented comic-book-villain dada of his inaugural address, Trump managed to spin the first of his many tossed-off executive cock-ups into the media praise he craves above all other things. He cleared the low and lazy bar of Appearing Presidential by appearing, if only briefly, not to care about the actual human cost of his whim-tossed laziness but to appreciate the grand seriousness of it all. In the context of televised presidential performances, Trump’s standard-issue posture of executive indifference is understood by all sides to be an “all in the game” thing that’s as fundamentally unmanageable as the weather. It’s the latter simulation of gravitas—projecting some Olympian appreciation of the somber significance of it all—that our political media has decided a president does.
Even that, though, is not something that comes naturally to Trump, both because he can’t quite feel any of the concern he’s supposed to presidentially evince and because his all-devouring narcissism guarantees he’ll always be more put out by the obligation to try than he would be troubled by whatever thing he might otherwise be supposed to care about. Trump’s careening and chaotic approach to the world has not been tempered or focused or in any way changed as a result of him assuming the highest office in the land. If there is any true and essential thing about Trump beyond his reflexive cruelty and wild avarice, it is that there is nothing in the world, government epidemiologists very much included, that could or would ever cause him to change. To change, or grow, or even learn something new would to some extent be an admission of defeat for someone who lives so deliriously, delusionally in the moment.
Trump’s bizarre, blustering approach during the first months of the coronavirus crisis was not so much tactical as it was instinctual.
Trump’s bizarre, blustering approach during the first months of the coronavirus crisis was not so much tactical as it was instinctual—the decision to bloviate and lie and pick weird fights all day long in hopes of Making the Numbers Go Up—and to do that every single day, was less a decision than it was simply Trump doing the only thing he knows how to do. In the same way, his unwillingness to direct ventilators or personal protective equipment toward states that don’t yet need them reflects his lifelong incapacity to understand the relationship between things done today and things that happen tomorrow. He has always lived in a sort of weightless suspension between his last lie and his next one. He’s focused on nothing more than whatever is in front of him at that moment, inhabiting no identifiable reality but the one blurring in front of his nose. Trump understands the scope of his job, and it seems likely that this is what appeals to him about it. But it’s fundamentally not in him to grasp the scale of it.


newrepublic--2020-04-03--The Coronavirus Coups Are Upon Us

The Coronavirus Coups Are Upon Us

“ In the long term , the pandemic might undermine autocratic leaders—as the usual tactic of blaming scapegoats fails and citizens come to appreciate the value of expertise and functioning institutions , ” political scientist Florian Bieber predicted in Foreign Policy this week .
“ But if strongmen are threatened with a loss of legitimacy , they ’ re likely to double down on their authoritarian practices and take advantage of the state of emergency to consolidate power.
” That ’ s borne out so far : Orbán ’ s coronavirus coronation is just the most egregious of many global @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the disease , the rules of completely new relationships will apply , ” Ilham Aliyev , the president of Azerbaijan , warned his people in mid-March , promising action against “ enemies who are among us , the elements calling themselves opposition , the traitors who … seem to want riots to happen.
” Serbia ’ s right-wing leader , former Milošević aide Aleksandar Vušić , has flooded the streets of Belgrade with armed soldiers to enforce his own emergency rule by decree .
Turkey , Thailand , and Cambodia are arresting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and random social media posters for making public complaints about lax screenings or government malfeasance .
Ethiopia postponed its first election in five years ; Bolivia , too , has canceled a key election .
Turkmenistan has reportedly criminalized utterances of the word coronavirus .
But let ’ s not pick on small states .
Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte , a bloodthirsty Trump ally , publicly threatened to shoot dead anyone who violates the nation ’ s lockdown Wednesday .
“ Do not intimidate the government .
Do not challenge the government .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Duterte has also been granted emergency powers similar to Orbán ’ s , though Philippines supporters of Duterte failed in getting him his desired powers over private businesses .
Longtime Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , who should be out of government and in jail , has initiated a “ coronavirus coup ” by instituting invasive cellphone surveillance of suspected coronavirus carriers ; closing the parliament and blocking his main rival ’ s attempts to form a government ; and shutting down Israel ’ s courts , which had the side benefit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bribery and corruption .
Underscoring all this chaos is the naked cynicism , incompetence , and corrupt opportunism of the ruling parties in China , Russia , and the United States , once the most formidable three-fifths of the United Nations Security Council , now reduced to an axis of weasels .
China ’ s suppression of the basic facts about its outbreak—and its targeting of tellers of those facts—will cost millions of lives .
So , too , may the virus denialism of Vladimir Putin , who is in the middle of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arabia and was forced to postpone a referendum to rig the Russian constitution so that he could stay in power into his eighties .
Both nations have attempted to position themselves as the real global grownups , urging the world to accept their shipments of substandard medical equipment and their professions of competent leadership , when the deficiencies of both are clear to all .

That’s borne out so far: Orbán’s coronavirus coronation is just the most egregious of many global power-grab examples. “During the existence of the disease, the rules of completely new relationships will apply,” Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, warned his people in mid-March, promising action against “enemies who are among us, the elements calling themselves opposition, the traitors who … seem to want riots to happen.” Serbia’s right-wing leader, former Milošević aide Aleksandar Vušić, has flooded the streets of Belgrade with armed soldiers to enforce his own emergency rule by decree. Turkey, Thailand, and Cambodia are arresting opposition organizers, bloggers, artists, and random social media posters for making public complaints about lax screenings or government malfeasance. Ethiopia postponed its first election in five years; Bolivia, too, has canceled a key election. Turkmenistan has reportedly criminalized utterances of the word coronavirus.
But let’s not pick on small states. Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, a bloodthirsty Trump ally, publicly threatened to shoot dead anyone who violates the nation’s lockdown Wednesday. “Do not intimidate the government. Do not challenge the government. You will lose,” he vowed. Duterte has also been granted emergency powers similar to Orbán’s, though Philippines supporters of Duterte failed in getting him his desired powers over private businesses. Longtime Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who should be out of government and in jail, has initiated a “coronavirus coup” by instituting invasive cellphone surveillance of suspected coronavirus carriers; closing the parliament and blocking his main rival’s attempts to form a government; and shutting down Israel’s courts, which had the side benefit of postponing Netanyahu’s trial for bribery and corruption.
Underscoring all this chaos is the naked cynicism, incompetence, and corrupt opportunism of the ruling parties in China, Russia, and the United States, once the most formidable three-fifths of the United Nations Security Council, now reduced to an axis of weasels. China’s suppression of the basic facts about its outbreak—and its targeting of tellers of those facts—will cost millions of lives. So, too, may the virus denialism of Vladimir Putin, who is in the middle of a recession-fueling gas price war with Saudi Arabia and was forced to postpone a referendum to rig the Russian constitution so that he could stay in power into his eighties. Both nations have attempted to position themselves as the real global grownups, urging the world to accept their shipments of substandard medical equipment and their professions of competent leadership, when the deficiencies of both are clear to all.


Impeach Him Again

It is crucial not to think of Trump ’ s mistakes as purely failures of competence , though they are that too .
They are , just as importantly , failures of ideology .
So it would be ideal for Democrats to use this moment to make the case against conservatism itself , instead of acting like this would all be basically fine if the Republicans of a decade ago were in charge .
Joe Biden ’ s much-praised TV ad about Trump ’ s poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic flashed an image of George W. Bush standing on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s “ handling ” of that crisis included starting the Iraq War , to say nothing of his government ’ s handling of Hurricane Katrina .
There would be nothing to stop Democrats from painting Trump ’ s failed response to the pandemic as both a natural result of his revolting personality and incompetence , and in tune with a party propped up by the sorts of corporate monsters who would rather send you to work in a pandemic than hurt profits—other than their steadfast commitment to playing by the rules of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Aaron Sorkin ’ s addled imagination .
If anyone did not already know that impeachment is a political process , the experience of this year should have clarified things for them .
This means that , yes , the same problems that prevented Trump being convicted for corruption—most importantly , a Republican majority in the Senate with no interest in giving up power—would likely prevent Trump being convicted on this issue .
Early as it is , the fact that Trump ’ s approval ratings are going up does not bode well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will to remove him .
Yet it is hard not to think that the political calculus could look a little different once the hundred thousand body bags that the federal government has sought start to fill up ; that this would have a far greater political effect than a story in which the major practical impacts were some withheld military aid for a foreign country and lost jobs for Beltway diplomats .
Over time , more and more of us will know someone who has become gravely ill or died because of this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the damage this will do to an already broken country , and what that damage might do to our politics .
But perhaps the best argument against impeaching Trump for his handling of the coronavirus is simply the way the Democrats handled it last time around , and their handling so far of the current crisis .
Pelosi pushed for a quick impeachment on a limited number of charges , and got what she wanted .
The story came and went .
It ’ s almost funny , now , to remember it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those “ Ah !
Nevertheless , ” moments in the long story of Democrats ’ cries of protest about Trump misconduct leading to nothing ; not even a dent in his approval ratings .
This is a party that can not find its way to proposing adequate measures to help poor and middle-class Americans who are about to go through the most violent economic shock in decades , perhaps in the country ’ s entire history , but can find their way to floating a repeal of a tax on the rich .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ as millions lose their health coverage , to acknowledge the stupidity of employer-sponsored insurance .
In a sensible world , where the actions of the president have some consequences , Trump would have been impeached a month into his term ; in a less-sensible but still vaguely understandable world , there would be some feasible way to remove a president whose actions are causing thousands of preventable deaths .
The plain fact that there isn ’ t , and that the party tasked with running this opposition is still struggling to tie its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the truth that this crisis has revealed from the beginning : America is very , very bad at being a country .

If anyone did not already know that impeachment is a political process, the experience of this year should have clarified things for them. This means that, yes, the same problems that prevented Trump being convicted for corruption—most importantly, a Republican majority in the Senate with no interest in giving up power—would likely prevent Trump being convicted on this issue. Early as it is, the fact that Trump’s approval ratings are going up does not bode well for the prospects of marshaling the political will to remove him. Yet it is hard not to think that the political calculus could look a little different once the hundred thousand body bags that the federal government has sought start to fill up; that this would have a far greater political effect than a story in which the major practical impacts were some withheld military aid for a foreign country and lost jobs for Beltway diplomats. Over time, more and more of us will know someone who has become gravely ill or died because of this disease. It is impossible to imagine the damage this will do to an already broken country, and what that damage might do to our politics.
But perhaps the best argument against impeaching Trump for his handling of the coronavirus is simply the way the Democrats handled it last time around, and their handling so far of the current crisis. Pelosi pushed for a quick impeachment on a limited number of charges, and got what she wanted. The story came and went. It’s almost funny, now, to remember it even happened; just another one of those “Ah! Nevertheless,” moments in the long story of Democrats’ cries of protest about Trump misconduct leading to nothing; not even a dent in his approval ratings. This is a party that cannot find its way to proposing adequate measures to help poor and middle-class Americans who are about to go through the most violent economic shock in decades, perhaps in the country’s entire history, but can find their way to floating a repeal of a tax on the rich. It cannot even bring itself, as millions lose their health coverage, to acknowledge the stupidity of employer-sponsored insurance.
In a sensible world, where the actions of the president have some consequences, Trump would have been impeached a month into his term; in a less-sensible but still vaguely understandable world, there would be some feasible way to remove a president whose actions are causing thousands of preventable deaths. The plain fact that there isn’t, and that the party tasked with running this opposition is still struggling to tie its shoelaces, is just another glimpse of the truth that this crisis has revealed from the beginning: America is very, very bad at being a country.


newrepublic--2020-04-03--Sneering While the South Is Dying

Sneering While the South Is Dying

At a press conference Thursday morning , Georgia ’ s Republican Governor Brian Kemp made the astonishing claim that until the “ last 24 hours , ” he and his team were unaware that asymptomatic people can carry and spread the coronavirus .
This , despite a White House press room warning from the country ’ s top medical expert issued a full two months ago and consistent mainstream news reports repeating this fact day after day after day .
One would imagine that the governor has other resources at his disposal beyond CNN , but even that should have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his power as secretary of state to delay nearly 40,000 Black voters from participating in the 2018 gubernatorial election—is either truly , dangerously ignorant , or he is lying .
As the virus tore through Georgia ’ s rural , urban , and incarcerated communities over the past week , Kemp refused to shut down the state , saying as recently as three days ago that such action was never “ on the radar.
” Similarly , Florida Governor Ron DeSantis , another dyed-in-the-wool Republican , recently said that he has not yet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government hasn ’ t officially recommended it to him .
And then there ’ s Mississippi ’ s Republican Governor Tate Reeves , who in mid-March issued an executive order to override local ordinances and block access to abortion while keeping gun shops open .
The response to this level of malice and incompetence has been easy and necessary outrage .
Of the 17 states without stay-at-home orders in place , seven are in the South ( eight if you count Oklahoma ) .
And as is usually the case , the justified @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by sneering condescension about the region ’ s population .
On the same day as Kemp ’ s comment , The New York Times published a report based on “ anonymous cellphone data from 15 million people , ” a chilling phrase I will set aside for the moment .
The Times article described how , from block parties in Jacksonville to bustling hardware stores in South Carolina and out-of-towners flocking to the Gulf Coast in Alabama , local state officials were struggling to curb the spread of the virus as people continued @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This information , in tandem with a graphic showing that people in the South are still traveling more than two miles per day , was quickly shared on social media by Times staffers and other high-up members of the media .
The subtext in since-deleted posts by those like Times star pupil Mike Barbaro—who posted an image of one of the graphs with the caption “ In a word … The South ” —was crystal clear : Get a load of these dumb motherfuckers .
This is broad-brush garbage as infuriating at this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the obvious snobbery at play , it ’ s also myopic as hell .
North Carolina ’ s Democratic Governor Roy Cooper has been among the swiftest actors to the pandemic , not just in the South but in the entire nation—shutting down nonessential businesses , limiting access to state parks , closing schools for an extended period , and issuing a stay-at-home order for all residents .
Compare that to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo , the Democrat with a state budget director who served as a financial adviser to Republican legislators @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a budget deal that included billions in cuts to Medicaid on Wednesday .
Cuomo also waited until the last day of March to shut down playgrounds , while New York City ’ s parks , now more crowded in the evenings than they typically are on a summer afternoon sans pandemic , remain open .
( And none of this has stopped Cuomo from shaming people for filling the public spaces he refused to close . )
But thanks to a combination of his daily televised press conferences , his position as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hotspot state , and the American political media ’ s long-standing devotion to family dynasties , it ’ s Cuomo—not Cooper or Washington state Governor Jay Inslee—who has been tentatively crowned the Great Leader We Need by the beltway press corps .

This broad-brush garbage is as infuriating as it is predictable. Beyond the obvious snobbery at play, it’s also myopic as hell. North Carolina’s Democratic Governor Roy Cooper has been among the swiftest actors to the pandemic, not just in the South but in the entire nation—shutting down nonessential businesses, limiting access to state parks, closing schools for an extended period, and issuing a stay-at-home order for all residents. Compare that to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, the Democrat with a state budget director who served as a financial adviser to Republican legislators for two decades, who just announced a budget deal that included billions in cuts to Medicaid on Wednesday. Cuomo also waited until the last day of March to shut down playgrounds, while New York City’s parks, now more crowded in the evenings than they typically are on a summer afternoon sans pandemic, remain open. (And none of this has stopped Cuomo from shaming people for filling the public spaces he refused to close.) But thanks to a combination of his daily televised press conferences, his position as the governor in the nation’s first hotspot state, and the American political media’s long-standing devotion to family dynasties, it’s Cuomo—not Cooper or Washington state Governor Jay Inslee—who has been tentatively crowned the Great Leader We Need by the beltway press corps.
This kind of wholesale dismissal of “The South” also erases the political conditions that have hijacked these states at the expense of most residents. When this is reflected upon in the decades to come, the region’s final death count will be tethered to the legacy of post-recession Southern Republican legislatures sweeping in during the Obama years and wholly reconfiguring the region’s politics to benefit the wealthy and attack the poor. For the past decade-plus, taxes for the one percent were slashed, budgets were gutted, and voter rolls were pruned of Black voters. The system of federalism was working exactly as these Republicans intended, all the way up until an emergency of unprecedented proportions came knocking and they realized that there would be a price to pay for stonewalling federal Medicaid expansion. But now, rather than use the moment to course correct and save lives, craven politicians—like Reeves with his abortion ban, or DeSantis and his decision to make it impossible for unemployed people to access benefits—are using their bully pulpit and state power to double down on their political prerogatives. Where density was the unavoidable multiplier in places like New York City, austerity politics, racist policies like redlining, and the chronic underfunding of social services will be the Achilles’ heel for Southern communities.