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Where things stand
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Internally, the Trump administration is projecting that the coronavirus could kill as many as 3,000 people a day by the start of next month. Externally, President Trump is pressuring states to reopen. This all raises a question that can feel hard to even ask out loud: Is the administration prepared for more Americans to die as it seeks a quicker economic recovery? The private predictions, presented on a chart by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, show the number of daily deaths nearly doubling by the start of June. And they have the number of total new cases per day skyrocketing, to 200,000 early next month from roughly 25,000 today. Defending Trump’s plans to reopen the country, a White House spokesman said the newly revealed government projection had not been vetted.
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In California, the state government is in no hurry to return to normal. Instead, legislators there have been hard at work during the crisis, passing a raft of progressive reforms that strengthen the social safety net — and that could point to more lasting solutions down the line. California lawmakers have already passed temporary measures resulting in the release of thousands of nonviolent offenders from state jails and prisons, the elimination of cash bail for most crimes, housing for thousands of homeless people, and the distribution of tens of thousands of laptop computers to children in poor and rural areas. Democratic leaders hope to make many of these moves permanent, an acknowledgment of a sentiment by many voters in the state that even the pre-virus political normal was far from ideal.
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Just eight months ago, when Trump selected John Ratcliffe to be his director of national intelligence, members of the president’s own party considered him too risky and extreme for the job. Trump withdrew his name before the nomination became official. But now Ratcliffe, a Republican congressman from Texas and a prominent Trump loyalist who appears regularly on Fox News, is back in the running for the same job. And his chances appear much rosier this time around. That’s partly because of a desire by some establishment Republicans to part ways with the acting intelligence director, Richard Grenell, also a vocal Trump backer, whose style has not exactly conformed to what was historically a relatively apolitical position. But there is little to indicate that Ratcliffe — whose confirmation proceedings today will be the Senate’s first hearing of any kind in more than a month — will be a less polarizing choice.
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The Supreme Court made history on Monday just by showing up to work — or, really, by not showing up. The court heard arguments by phone for the first time in history, with Chief Justice John Roberts presiding and Pamela Talkin, the marshal of the court, calling the court to order. Over the next two weeks, the court will hear 10 cases by phone, including three next week regarding subpoenas that seek to open Trump’s financial records, which could lead to a decision with major political consequences.
Photo of the day
A stroll in Liberty State Park in Jersey City on Saturday, when all state parks, golf courses and county parks reopened in New Jersey.
If the party conventions are called off, will they be missed?
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Political conventions, with all the attendant hoopla of nominating a candidate for the White House, have been a part of American campaign life for nearly 200 years. Politicians love them. Pundits love them. Reporters love them. And what’s not to like? Four days of talking and living politics in a hall filled with some of the biggest stars of politics and journalism. Did we mention the open bars and free food?
Not surprisingly, the idea of a convention — packing thousands of people into a crowded arena — seems a little less alluring these days. The Democrats are considering scrapping the event this year, and the Republicans might follow suit.
But would that really be so bad?
Even before the pandemic threatened to push the conventions off the 2020 stage, party members were wondering if their time had already passed. The days when real nominating decisions were made at conventions seem long gone. Live network coverage has dwindled to an hour a night.
But more than anything, the parties’ gatherings are a reminder of an old-school kind of politics that doesn’t seem to have the power to influence governance or ideas in this age of antiestablishmentarianism on both the left and the right. Trump’s victory in 2016 was very much a defeat of the Republican Party itself.
The open bars and free food are hard to resist, but the truth is, the Democratic and Republican Parties are no longer what they once were — and neither are their quadrennial conventions.
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