Trump reached a new level of horrifying in today’s nightmare “press conference.”

Trump prematurely declares victory on the coronavirus: "We have met the moment and we have prevailed." pic.twitter.com/YhmwI2BwA3

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 11, 2020

Prevailed? We still have the highest rate of infection per capita on the whole planet, don’t we? Along with the highest number of deaths per capita? If that’s prevailing, what would abject failure look like?

Turns out he meant we have prevailed in testing. We haven’t, of course, but that’s what he meant.

TRUMP: "You never prevail when you have 90,000 people [dead], 100,000 people, 80,000 people as of today." pic.twitter.com/6i6Bg07SUZ

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 11, 2020

.@PhilipRucker: You appeared to

The Guardian has details on the truth or otherwise of Trump’s “virus going down everywhere!!” tweet:

Trump says “coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere.”

Here’s what we know. Nearly 1,330,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus in the US, more than any other nation on the planet, and at least 79,500 have died, according to a Johns Hopkins database.

…

According to a New York Times database, new cases are decreasing in just 14 states of 50 states. Among them are densely populated states like New York and Michigan, which were among the hardest hit. The list also includes sparsely-populated states like Montana and Alaska.

New cases are still rising in nine US states,

The tweet.

Coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere. Big progress being made!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2020

The reality:

US Coronavirus Cases:

1,377,408

Deaths:

81,190

If that’s better, what would worse look like?… Read the rest

Oh but laydeez are supposed to be kiiiiiiiiiiind.

I’m with the judge. Calling trans females “male” is pointlessly offensive. “Trans female” is more accurate. Why does the opposition have to be so callous and hurtful? Their case remains solid without any hurtful slurs. https://t.co/s90joPCEuE

— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) May 11, 2020

That’s like saying it’s pointlessly offensive to call a murder “homicide” in court. It’s like saying it’s pointlessly offensive to call forcible uninvited penetration “rape.” It’s like saying it’s pointlessly offensive to call Trump a liar.

The whole point of the case is that whether or not you think that Yearwood and Miller “feel” female inside, the reality remains that they have male bodies and for that reason should … Read the rest

When The National Review is on the sanity side of the argument…

Attorneys representing three female high school track athletes in their effort to bar biological males from competing against them filed a motion on Saturday calling for the presiding judge to recuse himself after he forbid the attorneys from referring to the transgender athletes at issue as “males.”

[Editorial correction: it’s “after he forbade the attorneys to refer”]

The ADF filed suit in February against the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) on behalf of three girls — Selina Soule, Alana Smith, and Chelsea Mitchell. The suit challenges the CIAC policy allowing students to compete in the division that accords with their gender identity on the grounds that it disadvantages

60 Minutes reports:

An American scientist who collaborates with the Wuhan Institute of Virology had his grant terminated in the wake of unsubstantiated claims that COVID-19 is either manmade or leaked out of a Chinese government lab.

Because if there’s anything we need right now it’s to cut off the funding of virology research.

Peter Daszak is a British-born American Ph.D. who’s spent a career discovering dangerous viruses in wildlife, especially bats.

In 2003, in Malaysia, he warned 60 Minutes a pandemic was coming. 

Peter Daszak in 2003 interview: What worries me the most is that we are going to miss the next emerging disease, that we’re suddenly going to find a SARS virus that moves from one part

We’re now in the “let’em die” phase of Trump’s regime.

The message from President Trump and Republicans on the novel coronavirus has gone through multiple phases, each as misleading and/or bizarre as the last. First they told us the virus would barely touch us. Then they said it was serious but Trump’s management would quickly make it disappear. Then they said it could have been worse, and anyway it isn’t Trump’s fault.

And now they’re saying “Yes yes yes many thousands will die, now get back to your job!”

“There’ll be more death” as we resume economic activity, says President Trump, but “we have to get our country back.”

You know, the one where hospitals are full and … Read the rest

Speaking of how heeding medical advice makes Macho Men feel weak…

Happy Mother’s Day from C& C in Castle Rock, where the owner said this is almost double a normal Mother’s Day. pic.twitter.com/cPSzjmAfAg

— Nick Puckett (@nick__puckett) May 10, 2020

This was on their Facebook page. pic.twitter.com/b3HsWFgIfV

— Andrew Huff (@Denverhuff) May 10, 2020

There you go. Not wanting to die gasping for air in an ICU equals you’re SCARED, you’re AFRAID, you’re a COWARD and a WEAKLING and UNAMERICAN.

The Denver Post has more:

A Castle Rock restaurant saw big crowds Sunday when it fully reopened for Mother’s Day in open defiance of the statewide public health order that limits restaurants to takeout and delivery services.

Customers

Why do guys like Trump and Pence refuse to wear masks?

Perhaps because they see them as emasculating:

Why the reluctance to model safe behavior? My research with Jennifer Berdahl and others suggest one critical reason, which is that appearing to play it safe contradicts a core principle of masculinity: show no weakness. In short, wearing a mask emasculates.

There’s an irony here, which is that Trump shows his weakness whenever he talks, and he talks constantly and endlessly. He clearly thinks he comes across as a macho guy, but…no.

Leaders who are more concerned with preserving a macho public image put our lives at risk as they prove their manhood by showing resistance to experts’ opinions, hypersensitivity

In South Dakota news:

Gov. Kristi Noem sent letters Friday to the leaders of both the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe demanding that checkpoints designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus on tribal land be removed, the governor’s office said in a statement.

“We are strongest when we work together; this includes our battle against Covid-19,” Noem said. “I request that the tribes immediately cease interfering with or regulating traffic on US and State Highways and remove all travel checkpoints.”

“We are strongest when we work together therefore I am telling the tribes to stop protecting themselves from the virus.” I guess the virus if it doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?

In response, Cheyenne

An item from Friday:

U.S. President Donald Trump said he had spoken to a number of world leaders in recent days, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and “they all view us as the world leader” when it comes to fighting coronavirus, “and they’re following us.”

Nope. No they don’t, no they aren’t, no they haven’t, no they won’t. Not even a little tiny bit.

Trump was speaking to Republican members of the U.S. Congress on Friday. Citing calls with Merkel, Japan’s Shinzō Abe and other, unnamed leaders, he said “so many of them, almost all of them, I would say all of them” believe the U.S. is leading the way when it comes to tackling the virus.

That progression … Read the rest

They are getting nervous.

The Trump administration is racing to contain an outbreak of Covid-19 inside the White House, as some senior officials believe that the disease is already spreading rapidly through the warren of cramped offices that make up the three floors of the West Wing.

…

The discovery of the two infected employees has prompted the White House to ramp up its procedures to combat the coronavirus, including daily tests for some senior staff, increased usage of masks and more rigorous screening of people entering the complex.

The concern about an outbreak of the virus at the White House — and the swift testing and contact tracing being done to contain it — underscores the broader challenge

Robert Reich presents some blunt truths:

With 4.25% of the world population, America has the tragic distinction of accounting for about 30% of pandemic deaths so far.

And it is the only advanced nation where the death rate is still climbing. Three thousand deaths per day are anticipated by 1 June.

No other nation has loosened lockdowns and other social-distancing measures while deaths are increasing, as the US is now doing.

Much of this is because we’re not really an advanced nation, not in all senses. Technologically we’re hot shit, but socially and politically we’re a disaster.

We now know Donald Trump and his administration were told by public health experts in mid-January that immediate action was required to

It turns out Obama has not been hugely impressed with Trump’s recent work. He

delivered a blistering critique of the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus crisis, describing it as “an absolute chaotic disaster” during a private call Friday night with people who worked for him in the White House and across his administration.

…

In a 30-minute conversation with members of the Obama Alumni Association, the former president said the response to the coronavirus outbreak served as a critical reminder for why strong government leadership is needed during a global crisis. The call was intended to encourage former Obama staffers to become more engaged in Biden’s presidential campaign.

“This election that’s coming up — on every level

Well now there’s an essential industry.

Community spread of the coronavirus in California began in a nail salon, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday, as other states allow their manicurists to reopen.

Why allow nail salons of all places to open during a pandemic? Are women unable to function without long painted fingernails?

State health directors have put some “red flags” on nail salons as a high-risk business, Newsom added, likening them to gyms and hair salons. He announced Monday that the state will allow some low-risk businesses, including bookstores, warehouses, florists and more, to begin reopening with modifications and offering curbside pick up as soon as Friday.

One salon owner was shocked to hear it.

Saunders James said she

Remind you of anything?

It reminds me of all those cartoons and advertisements featuring cute animals, in which the one female animal is shown to be such by…a hair bow.… Read the rest

Poor Don. He was this close to getting away with it.

A day after breaking his White House self-isolation for a cross-country trip meant to signal the country’s readiness to restart, Trump received word that one of his Oval Office valets tested positive for the virus.

Two days later, Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary also tested positive, setting off another round of tests, delaying the vice president’s trip to Iowa and causing more hand-wringing inside the White House about who might be infected.

Which didn’t prevent Wee Donnie from going out to say howdy to some WW2 veterans without a mask.

Even the nightly deep cleanings, regular testing and a lot of wishful thinking couldn’t prevent the virus

Oh goody, a new stupid word to show off with.

Publishing is, by and large, white, allocishet, and privileged. For marginalized people in particular, finding the right agent for their health, well being, and work is pretty pivotal to their success.

— Hillary Monahan (@HillaryMonahan) May 4, 2020

Not to be confused with the cishet greeting: “Allo cishet!”… Read the rest

Oops.

Meanwhile, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany sought to reassure the news media that the White House testing procedures are sound. I wanted to draw attention to this quote from McEnany:

“We have put in place the guidelines that our experts have put forward to keep this building safe, which means contact tracing,” McEnany told reporters during Friday’s news briefing. “All of the recommended guidelines we have for businesses that have essential workers, we are now putting them in place here in the White House. So as America reopens safely, the White House is continuing to operate safely.”

Oh contact tracing. That’s important, is it? Then…

Greg Sargent underlines it:

The careful reader will note a jarring juxtaposition here.

Is anyone explaining this to him? https://t.co/poCNSRFdYd

— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) May 8, 2020

She tested positive, out of the blue – this is why the whole concept of tests aren’t necessarily great. The tests are perfect, but something can happen between a test where it’s good and then something happens [gesture of hand up and over and then down on the table] and all of a sudden. She was tested very recently and tested negative, and then today I guess for some reason she tested positive.

Well…yes…that would be how it works. Things happen over time. One day you don’t have the virus, and the next day you do. One day the test is negative, and the next day … Read the rest