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POLITICS

Coronavirus Recriminations Come First House Democrats tee up virus investigations before the election.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-recriminations-come-first-11585869942?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

“It’s an election year, so politics was always going to fill up that space in congressional brains where the frontal lobe is supposed to be. But couldn’t Democrats at least wait for the intensive-care units to empty?”

While most Americans under coronavirus lockdown are worrying about their jobs, their groceries, and their local doctors and nurses, congressional Democrats have other priorities. To wit, pin blame on the Trump Administration before the November election.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she will appoint a House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis. Its task will be to oversee—meaning investigate—the government’s aid efforts, which so far run to more than $2 trillion. “Where there’s money there’s also frequently mischief,” Mrs. Pelosi said. “We want to make sure there are not exploiters out there.”

Some Members of Mrs. Pelosi’s caucus think that every corporation is an “exploiter” of one kind or another. Their goal will not be to protect federal dollars but to highlight unpopular companies that get a grant or loan and then claim it’s the result of political favoritism. The only question is which ones will become the next Halliburton (Dick Cheney during Iraq) or Koch brothers (all-purpose villains).

Former Obama adviser Plouffe predicts ‘historical level’ of turnout by Trump supporters BY JOE CONCHA

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/490810-former-obama-adviser-plouffe-predicts-

Former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe on Thursday predicted that supporters of President Trump will turn out “at a historical level” on Election Day, creating a “very dangerous” scenario for former Vice President Joe Biden.

Plouffe, speaking on the “Fox News Rundown” podcast shortly after record-high jobless claims were announced, said Trump voters will head to the polls to cast their ballots for the president despite the coronavirus pandemic and economic fallout.

“You look at the economic situation and say, ‘How can an incumbent win in that?’ But, you know, no one’s blaming Trump for the damage,” Plouffe said. “I think if you can lay his crisis response at his feet and connect that to the economy, I do think that’s some headwind he’s got to run into.”

Plouffe, who was considered the architect of former President Obama’s successful 2008 White House bid, said Trump is still well positioned for repeat victories in Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin “because his base is so solid.”

Blundering Pelosi, Irrelevant Biden Fade As Shrewd Cuomo Rises by Thomas McArdle

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/04/02/blundering-pelosi-irrelevant-biden-fade-while-shrewd-cuomo-rises/

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Joe Biden may have spent their lives rising to power within the Democratic Party, but clearly somewhere back in their early days they were absent for Politics 101. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, on the other hand, was obviously sitting attentively in the front of the classroom, probably with his father and predecessor, Mario, the late three-term chief executive of the Empire State, serving as professor.

Far worse than letting a serious crisis go to waste, per Democrat hatchet man Rahm Emanuel’s infamous maxim, is being seen as exploiting a global emergency for the sake of petty politics. On CNN on Sunday, Pelosi did just that, charging that President Donald Trump’s management of the coronavirus pandemic is costing American lives and talking up an eventual congressional probe.

This week, she actually used the most famous line from the Watergate hearings: “What did he know and when did he know it?” Pelosi asked, echoing the late Sen. Howard Baker, the Republican who signaled that President Richard Nixon’s own party was not going to be able to protect him.

Pelosi also compared Trump to Nero, the corrupt first century emperor who allowed Rome to burn – if he didn’t actually instigate the fire – then blamed Christians: “As the president fiddles, people are dying,” she charged.

Democrats Plan Star Chamber Investigation into Trump Response to Pandemic By Rick Moran

https://pjmedia.com/trending/democrats-plan-star-chamber-investigation-into-trump-response-to-pandemic/

People are still getting sick and dying from the coronavirus, but when did that ever stop a politician from trying to score points against the political opposition?

With the country on its knees, Democrats want to kneecap Trump and the Republicans by trying to blame the president for however many deaths result from the pandemic. They will investigate the administration response to the crisis — especially the earliest days of the outbreak when no one knew how bad things were going to get.

That won’t matter to Democrats who will say Trump should have known and spent billions of dollars preparing for something that might not have happened.

Pelosi Pitches a Blue-State Bailout She wants to use virus relief to aid progressive state governments.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pelosi-pitches-a-blue-state-bailout-11585697310?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held up last week’s coronavirus relief bill with demands related to corporate diversity, carbon emissions and election reform. But Democrats are far from finished using the crisis to try to force through partisan priorities they couldn’t pass in normal times. Mrs. Pelosi is now hinting the price for further economic relief may include expanding a regressive tax deduction for high-earners in states run by Democrats.

On Monday Mrs. Pelosi told the New York Times she wanted Congress to “retroactively undo SALT.” In the 2017 tax reform, Republicans limited the state and local tax deduction to $10,000. That raised federal tax revenue mostly from high-tax parts of states like California, New York and New Jersey and helped pay for the rate cuts on corporate, small business and individual incomes. According to the Tax Foundation, the cap raised almost $33 billion in 2018 from those earning more than $1 million per year and had little impact for those earning less than $100,000.

Obama Frets About Trump’s ‘Climate Denial’ Amid Coronavirus Pandemic By Tyler O’Neil

https://pjmedia.com/trending/chicken-little-obama-frets-about-trumps-climate-denial-amid-coronavirus-pandemic/

On Tuesday, former President Barack Obama ripped into President Donald Trump’s decision to loosen environmental standards, comparing “climate denial” to the original skepticism officials expressed at reports of the coronavirus pandemic. Yes, in the midst of a pandemic that is choking the economic life out of this country, Obama focused on climate change.

Obama shared an article from The Los Angeles Times entitled, “Trump rolls back biggest U.S. effort to combat climate change.” The article details Trump’s move to loosen fuel efficiency standards as the oil and gas industry struggles with extremely low prices amid an oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia. This oil war has hit companies particularly hard during the coronavirus crisis. Obama instituted the higher standards in 2012 and he likely sees this move as a blow to his legacy.

Dems Need a Coronavirus Hero/Victim and It Isn’t Biden Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2020/03/dems-need-coronavirus-herovictim-and-it-isnt-biden-daniel-greenfield/

While Biden is lurking in the Bidenbunker, emerging occasionally to spot his shadow, spout some forgettable talking points, and then vanish back into the bunker, the Democrats need someone who is an actual elected official to pit against President Trump.

That’s occasionally been Governor Andrew Cuomo, unfortunately he’s a white male, and then there’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who at least isn’t a man. 

As the coronavirus spreads, the Democrats might have a few more options, but they are basically stuck with a governor (and if things get desperate, mayor or two) to use as a counterweight against Trump. 

Cuomo and Whitmer, despite being headline acts in the media circus, are not exactly leading the war effort. Cuomo’s big gimmick thus far was claiming to be making hand sanitizer. The provenance of the hand sanitizer continues to be up for debate. 

Mainly, Cuomo has managed to build up his brand with combative press conference that don’t actually accomplish anything.

What Is Wrong With Biden–Jill Biden ? By Joan Swirsky

https://newswithviews.com/what-is-wrong-with-biden-jill-biden-that-is/

Millions of times a day not only across the United States but the entire world––women taking care of their husbands, doing everything possible to protect them from harm or hurt.

No doubt, that was Jill Biden’s intention when she married the senator from Delaware in 1977, and raised not only the daughter they had together, but his young sons, Beau and Hunter, after the senator’s first wife and baby daughter were killed in a horrific car accident in 1972.

As the years elapsed, Senator Biden became Vice President Biden––for eight years––and the power couple Jill and Joe gained worldwide fame and huge wealth.

But before that, Jill juggled raising their three children with earning a doctoral degree in education and then teaching for years in a psychiatric hospital where her students were emotionally disturbed children and adolescents.

Surely, in both her education and clinical work, she was aware of, sensitive to, knowledgeable about––and protective of––the students whose limitations rendered them incapable of higher function.Surely she became capable of detecting, even diagnosing, thought and speech disorders, dissociative thinking, and incoherent ramblings.

The following examples are sad to witness and once again raise the very serious question: What is wrong with Jill Biden?

Biden Accused of Sexual Assault And the eerie – and expected – silence of #MeToo. Joseph Klein

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/03/biden-accused-sexual-assault-joseph-klein/

Former Vice President Joe Biden admitted back in December 2018 that “I am a gaffe machine.” That’s a gross understatement, to say the least. The Democrat establishment and the mainstream media continue to treat Biden’s endless stream of gaffes as just harmless patter from good old Uncle Joe. His supporters make excuses for Biden’s obvious mental decline and lash out at anyone who expresses concerns about his fitness to take on the rigors of the presidency. Now, however, they are circling the wagons after a story recently emerged that Joe Biden allegedly committed sexual assault against a former staffer, Tara Reade, when Biden was a vigorous 50 year-old senator. The Biden campaign has denied the allegation, claiming “these accusations are false.” Other women had come forward previously to report inappropriate touching by Biden. But Ms. Reade’s allegation shines a much harsher light on Biden’s possible predatory sexual behavior against one or more females on his staff.

Joe Biden is a self-professed champion of women who has supported the #MeToo movement’s presumption of guilt against the accused. “For a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus, nationally,” Biden said during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearing, “you’ve got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she’s talking about is real, whether or not she forgets facts, whether or not it’s been made worse or better over time.” Now Biden himself stands accused of sexually assaulting Tara Reade in 1993. “He said ‘come on man, I heard you liked me,'” Ms. Reade told an interviewer. “I couldn’t believe it was happening. It was surreal.” According to Ms. Reade, Biden kissed her without her consent, proceeded to push her up against a wall, and used his fingers to penetrate her. Afterwards, Ms. Reade said, “He took his finger. He just like pointed at me and said you’re nothing to me.” There presumably were no witnesses to the alleged assault, although Ms. Reade’s brother and friend recall her contemporaneous account of the incident.

Trump’s Approval Is Spiking, And The Left Can’t Stand It By David Marcus

https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/28/trumps-approval-is-spiking-and-the-left-cant-stand-it/

Over the past two weeks, President Trump’s overall approval rating and specifically approval of his handling of the Chinese virus have been spiking. You would think that most people would view this as good thing, I mean, in the middle of a crisis, having faith in leadership is better than not having faith in leadership, right? For many on the left, though, these numbers are cause for consternation.

Here’s a not particularly sane response from supposed one-time conservative Ana Navarro:

Ana Navarro-Cárdenas ✔ @ananavarro

“Who are these 51% of Americans who approve of the way this lying, narcissistic, science-denying, petty, partisan, infantile, intellectual wasteland, lame excuse for a President with the vocabulary of a 4 year-old (apologies to 4 year-olds), is mishandling this crisis? Really. https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1243651278560989184 …”

There are plenty more examples, but suffice it to say, to those for whom hating Trump has become the passion of a lifetime, the president’s relative popularity is infuriating. It is also confounding to them, and it’s worth thinking about why.