President Donald Trump sent the following letter [pdf here] to our nations’ governors in response to the national COVID-19 crisis:
You knew it was going to happen… The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (President Tom Donohue) begins having apoplectic fits at the thought of even stronger Trump administration policies that might undercut their Chinese manufacturing investments.
The U.S. CoC is the biggest stakeholder of U.S. multinational companies doing business in China. The Trump administration has been warning them for years to put America First in their business plans; and now with the Chinese Pandemic showing just how dangerous it is for critical manufacturing to be made in the U.S.A, chamber President Tom Donohue is pleading to keep the U.S. dependent on China.
Keep in mind, this is the EXACT SAME group who said the steel and aluminum tariffs were going to cause massive inflation driving up the price of all consumer goods and cars by thousands of dollars… It never happened; because the CoC are manipulative liars.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House plans to expand “Buy America” mandates to the medical equipment and pharmaceutical sectors could worsen shortages of urgently needed medicines and delay discovery of a vaccine for the new coronavirus, over 80 business groups warned.
President Trump, Vice President Pence and the COVID-19 task force hold a press briefing from the White House to provide updates and take questions from the media. The anticipated start time is 5:00pm ET. Livestreams Below
WH Livestream Link – Fox News Livestream Link – RSBN Livestream Link
On the heels of more than three million new unemployment claims, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin calls in to CNBC for a phone interview to discuss the coronavirus relief bill that passed last night.
Mnuchin was asked about his reaction to seeing the 3.28 million new unemployment claims reported for the past week during the interview. Mnuchin said, “To be honest, I think these numbers right now aren’t relevant whether they’re bigger or shorter in the short term.” WATCH:
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser closes the nation’s capital until April 25th, effectively closing all public gatherings for one month. [Order pdf Here]
There is a certain aspect to dèjá-vu showing up on the horizon… Welcome to an economic civil war. But first, the latest details.
WASHINGTON DC – The intent of the Order is to temporarily cease all non-essential business activities, including tour guides and touring services; gyms, health clubs, spas, and massage establishments; theaters, auditoriums, and other places of large gatherings; nightclubs; hair, nail, and tanning salons and barbershops; tattoo parlors; sales not involved in essential services; retail clothing stores; and professional services not devoted to assisting essential business operations.
The Order goes into effect on March 25, 2020, at 10 pm, through April 24, 2020 (link)
On the horizon it appears the state and regional shutdowns are going to mirror the shutdowns from Obama’s infamous sequester-fiasco from the spring of 2013. That looks like the road-map that will be followed as the coronavirus issue starts to level-off.
With caution applied, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced around 2:00am ET a deal had been reached for the nearly $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) bill.
The final language for “HR.748” (stripped and newly assembled) will take place today. Looks like the senate is using an old bill, previously passed by the House, so the House can deem and pass, without formally reconvening. There are ten republican amendments. Speaking from the floor, both McConnell and Schumer made remarks describing the bill.
[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Bill.
Q Unusual circumstances, where you’re trying to communicate with the American people and we’re trying to maybe bring the American people a little closer to you and get some answers.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that’s true.
Q To you, Mr. President, when was the moment that you thought, “We got to move on this”?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think when I started seeing and reading about China, and seeing what was going on in China — Wuhan, specifically. It seemed to come mostly out of there — that area, the province.
And when I saw that, and I saw the kind of death they were, you know, talking about on television, in the papers, and I started reading a lot about it. And, really, when I had to make a decision: Do I stop people from China and specifically that area — but from China — to come into the country? And everybody was against it. Almost everybody, I would say, was just absolutely against it. We’ve never done it before. We never made a decision like that.
“Rally to the standard” is a call to arms when a situation is critical, there is no time for lengthy debate, and optimal solutions are needed. Americans are rallying to the standard.
President Trump is subjecting himself to ridiculous attacks by an insufferable corporate media press corps during daily press briefings. The result is helping to expose a resistance ideology that rots the nation; and Americans are rallying behind him.
President Trump has surrounded himself with health experts, and subject expertise from the medical community; however, he also cuts through the complex aspects with common sense answers the American public can understand. POTUS is really good at skipping the pontificating elocution & relating, conveying, the challenges to middle-America on terms that everyone can see.
As a result of Americans seeing a direct and accountable, solution-driven, business approach being applied to a national emergency, the approval ratings for President Trump have jumped significantly. Optimal solutions are not always perfect; but in times of crisis, great leaders know to generate optimal solutions. The entire administration is focused on achieving optimal solutions for every part of the coronavirus challenge as they surface.
Earlier today New York Governor Andrew Cuomo blasted FEMA during a press conference for sending 400 medical ventilators when his state needs 30,000. WATCH:
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However, in 2015 the New York State Department of Health specifically studied the issue, warned about a critical lack of ventilators during a pandemic, and the New York Governor made a specific decision NOT to order them: [pdf link here]
So Andrew Cuomo is blasting FEMA today for not providing something he choose not to order and prepare for in 2015. That’s a little bit unfair and hypocritical, no?
President Trump and the COVID-19 Task Force will be holding a briefing from the White House at 5:30pm ET. [Livestream Links Below]
White House Livestream Link – Fox News Livestream Link – PBS Livestream Link
[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Been a very busy day. I want to thank the American people for the incredible sacrifices that they’re making on behalf of our nation. And I want to encourage everyone to keep following our guidelines on social distancing: avoiding large gatherings and hand washing, and all of the other things that everybody knows they’re supposed to be doing.
Ultimately, the goal is to ease the guidelines and open things up to very large sections of our country as we near the end of our historic battle with the invisible enemy. Been going for a while, but we’ll win. We’ll win.