monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
· 7h
I watch and listen to the Fake News, CNN, MSDNC, ABC, NBC, CBS, some of FOX (desperately & foolishly pleading to be politically correct), the @nytimes, & the @washingtonpost, and all I see is hatred of me at any cost. Don’t they understand that they are destroying themselves?

Judy Woodruff
@JudyWoodruff
· 12h
asked if he's called former Presidents for advice during coronavirus crisis, Pres Trump says no; "if I thought it would save one life, I would"

We've got some tremendous people in the National Guard...

he's a very poor communicator

‘Extraordinary change’: How coronavirus is rewiring the Republican and Democratic parties

The pandemic could alter politics for a generation — or even longer.

...Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a former Agriculture secretary in the Obama administration, said in an email that the “song of ‘government is the problem not the solution’ and the ‘era of big government is over’ may not be [an] underlying theme from this point forward.”

And former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said “some of the issues that are being proposed and voted on now are going to become the norm in our political system, both with Republicans and Democrats.”

He predicted that new normal including paid sick leave, and even guaranteed income of some kind. “In other words,” Richardson said, “the era of big government is back, and both parties are going to embrace it to resolve problems. And [the change] is caused by the virus.”

Citing a threat to Israeli democracy, opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the Supreme Court on Sunday to block what they described as a power grab by the caretaker government under the guise of combating the coronavirus epidemic.

The petitioners asked the court to restore the full powers of Parliament, which has been largely blocked from functioning by a Netanyahu ally, Yuli Edelstein, the speaker. He has claimed public health concerns.

A new Parliament was sworn in last week, but among the key votes Mr. Edelstein has prevented is one on replacing him as speaker.

The paralysis in Parliament has only compounded the country’s political deadlock and chaos in the wake of three inconclusive elections in the past 12 months.

Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has every interest in remaining in power, if only to gain leverage in negotiating a plea deal after being indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. The coronavirus outbreak has provided him with a new opportunity to try to maintain his grip on power.

How politicians are using the coronavirus to seize control

...In a time of crisis, such action is vital. But some leaders also appear to be exploiting the pandemic for their own political ends.

Numerous Arab monarchies and autocracies, including some under serious political pressure, have invoked public health imperatives to secure themselves a reprieve from mass protests. A widely criticized interim regime in Bolivia postponed planned elections in May as part of a slate of emergency measures, including a 14-day national quarantine. From Hong Kong to India to Russia, authorities cited the risk of spreading coronavirus as grounds to disperse anti-government demonstrations and bar large public gatherings.

Crisis management, like war, is politics by other means. The most glaring example of this right now may be in Israel. Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a pliant Justice Ministry postpone his arraignment on corruption charges, while coronavirus-induced paralysis has stalled the formation of Israel’s new government after elections this month. The absence of a functional government has prevented the country’s newly elected parliament from pushing through legislation that could prevent an indicted politician like him from becoming prime minister.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu is playing up his role as commander in chief, staging daily national security briefings alongside allies. “If Trump’s aim is to rally his voters for the upcoming election, Netanyahu’s is to make opposition voters forget the results of the previous one,” wrote Bernard Avishai in the New Yorker.

“Netanyahu, who, for the past ten years, has severely underfunded hospitals, doctors’ salaries, and medical education, has largely succeeded in escaping such criticism by flaunting his mastery of the stringent guidelines imposed by the health bureaucracy,” he added...

Aaron Rupar
@atrupar
· 1h
KUDLOW teases that Trump will try to send people back to work next week: "We can't shut in the economy... POTUS is right: The cure can't be worse than the disease, & we're gonna have to make some difficult trade-offs... I spoke w/ POTUS about this very subject late last evening."