Covid-19 and the "End" of Capitalism?

The financial indices are plummeting largely because Covid-19 may prove very disruptive. But they're also diving because the markets don't trust Donald Trump to provide the truth or to execize effective leadership.

It's a shitshow.

For example, yesterday Trump tells everybody things are just fine, and he doubles down today. But the World Health Organization issues the alert nothing is particularly fine. Covid-19 is a "very high" risk. Markets had begun to moderate after a scary morning until the WHO provided the truth that Trump doesn't want out.

The Trump administration constantly reminds that unfettered capitalism may not be an absolute good. For one thing, they clearly don't believe in unfettered capitalism with the way they manipulate markets and trade. But this week Health Secretary Alex Azar also refused to promise an affordable coronavirus vaccine.

We would want to ensure that we work to make it affordable, but we can't control that price, because we need the private sector to invest.. Price controls won't get us there.

Oh. So with free markets and Covid-19, we're pretty much fucked, is that it?

Then there's yesterday's interchange between CNN Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta and Trump. Trump thoroughly demonstrated that he has no grasp of the public health situation and no desire to understand it. After all, it's inconvenient. First he gets things badly wrong. Then, confronted with legitimate medical information, Trump doubles down on his error. Covid-19 is twenty times more deadly than the flu: Trump says the flu is more dangerous. You can watch it as it happened.

So does it make you feel better that Mike Pence is now controlling the messaging from the CDC and other public health services? From the New York Times, NIH infectious disease expert Tony Fauci says he hasn't been "muzzled" but that he can't exactly speak freely either:

Today White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney goes to CPAC and suggests coronavirus is a hoax from media hoping the epidemic will "bring down the president." Here's the full Mulvaney quote:

The press was covering their hoax of the day because they thought it would bring down the president. The reason you’re seeing so much attention to [the coronavirus] today is that they think this is going to be what brings down the president. That’s what this is all about.”

In this context Secretary of State Pompeo won't even refute the claim that the coronavirus is a hoax.

It's all okay, though. At CPAC today we also saw the first proclamation of "Seven Mountains" dominionism in a major public forum, along with the notion that all our universities are churning out Marxists. For more on that, check out the incisive John Fea.

Banana Republic Stuff

Can't remember who said it, but we're not in danger of becoming a banana republic: we already live in one.

Trump is already purging "disloyal" members from his administration and from non-partisan government offices. Ideally, our government relies upon a blend of partisan political appointees and career professionals who accumulate expertise. We already see how that's going out the door. According to this report, we're only seeing the beginning.

The director of George Mason's Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security writes, "The kind of purge we are seeing at the top of the US intelligence community I’d expect to see in an authoritarian regime. We seem to be only missing the executions by antitank missile."

Bananas? California Republicans have sent out a fake census document. Because no way Republicans want California fully counted. (What is it with Republicans and fake information? They tried to confuse people here in Lancaster about elections.)

Thank goodness Trump's Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney keeps talking. He's admitted that Republicans only care about deficits when Democrats have power, and that our economy needs immigrants in order to grow. Apparently all in one speech! His loose talk sent Trump proxies to the morning news shows to tamp down expectations: "All we really want to do is create jobs."

Up to Us

There comes a moment when little Kevin McAllister realizes he’s home alone and it’s all up to him.

Authoritarian regimes don’t work as dramatically as The Wet Bandits. Step by step, lie by lie, they transform the abominable into the ordinary. The day arrives when you realize everything is corrupt, all the way down, and the only chance to recover freedom, truth, or dignity requires dramatic action. But here we are.

Donald Trump openly claims he has the authority to do whatever he wants, and whatever he wants has nothing to do with “America First.” It’s all about corruption. Trump always confesses his crimes one way or another, but now he’s wide open. It’s just that we’ve gotten used to it, and we tolerate it. We think we can wait till November, but maybe we can’t.

Maybe we didn’t notice because we don’t live in New York and we don’t plan to travel, say, this Saturday. Claiming it’s because New York allows undocumented immigrants to apply for drivers’ licenses, Trump cut off New York residents from the Global Entry program. Just a little Fort Lee inconvenience for frequent international travelers.

But of course it’s not about policy. Trump told us—yes, by tweet—he want New York to stop investigating his finances. Not that he has anything to hide. This isn’t entirely new: Trump has already gone after Jeff Bezos and Amazon, California, and Puerto Rico when their leadership has vexed him. But it may be the first time he’s openly suggested his behavior was a cover-up.

Who said cover-up? Did you say cover-up? Now Trump wants all the Mueller convictions thrown out, on the grounds that the investigations revealed the depth of his corruption are so compromised.

Nobody believes William Barr would really quit, and nobody trusts FoxNews on anything, but even the FoxWorld is asking “what the hell?” about the recent spate of pardons. How corrupt do you have to be to get one? My guess is, you have to be really rich, powerful, or famous to get one. More to the point: one set of crazy pardons softens the blow for the ones about to come (see above paragraph). But haven’t we crossed the line—like, for sure this time—when Trump pardons his TrumpRussia accomplices?

Oh, pardons. In a British court Julian Assange’s lawyer claimed there’s evidence Trump offered the WikiLeaks Russian agent a pardon if he’d just say Russia had nothing to do with the hacked material he released. And the judge will admit the evidence.

Remarkably, FoxNews keeps reporting Trump’s corruption, all in the name of calling out media bias. Now we have an acting Director of National Intelligence who has zero expertise in the field. He’s just a Trump tweeter. He’s done communications at the UN for the Bush 43 administration. Early in his time as ambassador to Germany, he announced he’d try to help “other conservatives” in Europe, a clear offense to his hosts. The only thing this guy will do is tamp down accountability. No America First here.

It’s the kind of world where Border Patrol special tactics teams might be deployed to sanctuary cities because, you know, there’s so much violence among undocumented immigrants there. (No, there isn’t.)

I’m all about the November elections. But given this level of corruption, why would we expect a fair election? Remember, Trump has already told us he doesn’t believe in fair elections.

We Know Where This Train Stops

It's not possible for democracy to thrive if Trump gets away with punishing people who have caused him trouble. This ends one of two ways: with us driving Trump out of office, or with the United States dissolving into another Russia. And as John Kelly put it, Russia is "a society in collapse."

(By the way, remember how Trump has gone after Jeff Bezos: attacks on Twitter, steering Pentagon business away from Amazon, when Amazon is the top provider, and the National Enquirer bit on Bezos' affair.)

Also, Jessie Liu, the attorney who led the Roger Stone prosecution (and Andy McCabe investigation, which has not led to charges), resigned today, joining four other prosecutors who resigned over the rollback of Stone's sentencing recommendation. Trump had nominated Liu to a key Treasury Department position, then rescinded her nomination when the Stone rollback occurred. A key part of the story (new news):

On the day Liu left [having been nominated], the Justice Department submitted a softer sentencing recommendation for Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. 

 Pretty damn crooked, I'd say.

Nostalgic for Jeff Sessions?

Who could have imagined we'd miss Jeff Sessions? 

Ok, that's a dumb question. We all knew Donald Trump threw Sessions to the curb because the little racist just wasn't corrupt enough. Racist as hell, but not a crook, apparently.

I suppose we have to revise the cliche: There's honor among Klansmen? Before we get too nostaglic, we might remember that Sessions was still in office when Andrew McCabe was fired. Still, the Attorney General who couldn't be a federal judge because of his racism had his limits.

But there's no honor with Donald J. Trump. If William Barr has limits, we have yet to find them. With Barr in place, we are 100% out of control. We're in Turkey territory, where resisting the dictator can mean going to jail--and where the dictator looks after his "friends"--so long as they're still friends.

A lot has happened this, and still more was revealed, about the corruption of our Justice Department. Set aside misrepresenting the Mueller report, then challenging the Inspector General's report on the Russia investigation. 

Yesterday was dramatic, perhaps more dramatic than the Senate's impeachment verdict. First Trump tweeted that the sentence recommended for Roger Stone was too harsh. Let's count the factors.

1. A sentence recommended by his own Justice Department.
2. A sentence that was actually pretty damn harsh.
3. And a sentence for a guy convicted of covering up for Trump himself.

In other words, Trump's tweet was itself part of the cover-up. And what do you know? The Department of Justice did something it basically never does, criticized the recommended sentence and revised it. The White House denies that Trump intervened, but seriously. Mixed in with denials, Trump routinely broadcasts his crimes. He did so this morning.

In what is actually a shocking response, all four prosecutors involved in recommending Stone's sentence resigned from the case yesterday. All four. Trump's response?

They were "rogue prosecutors." Let's hold our breath until Barr defends them. Trump also attacked the judge in this case yesterday.

Is this the Judge that put Paul Manafort in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, something that not even mobster Al Capone had to endure? How did she treat Crooked Hillary Clinton? Just asking!

What's more, Trump also tweeted that Stone never should have been prosecuted, in this case shitting on the verdict of a jury. The case was "totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought." Perhaps. (Cough.)

Was it just Stone, a lifelong mentor to Trump? Apparently not. Now we're learning that the downward revision of former NSA Michael Flynn's sentence came down from above as well. 

Oh. That's two #TrumpRussia accomplices.

And retaliation. Federal prosecutor Jessie Liu had run the Roger Stone case. Having once nominated her as under secretary for terrorism and financial crimes in the Treasury Department, Trump yesterday rescinded her nomination. She's out of a job.

It's bad. Really bad. So bad Trump's allies are suggesting Trump might nominate for the Supreme Court the grifter Jay Sekulow, the "religious freedom" warrior who manages to funnel the private donations of Christians to himself, his brother (millions), his wife (millions), and his private jet.

All this right after Trump removed NSC staffer Lt. Col. Vindman, along with his brother, and Ambassador Gordon Sondland for testifying against him in the Ukraine matter--even after senators tried to talk him down. Yesterday Trump continued to taunt Vindman by tweet and called for him to be punished by the Pentagon. So far the Secretary of Defense has not spoken out to defend his decorated and faithful staffer.

If we wondered about retaliation....

Where's Jeff Sessions when we really need him?

Learning His Damn Lesson

Senator Susan Collins has backed off her claim that Donald Trump has learned a lesson through the impeachment process. Not that she ever meant it.

But what has Trump learned? Apparently, that he can do anything he damn well pleases.

From now on, politically sensitive investigations must go through the Attorney General. In other words, Trump's appointed AG rather than through nonpartisan investigators. We've already seen Barr lie about the Mueller Report, launch an international investigation against the people who looked into Russia's interference in the last political election, and dig for dirt on Turmp's political rivals.

Effectively, this means Trump is immune from criminal justice, while his opponents had better duck and cover.

The Treasury Department has sent confidential bank records belonging to Hunter Biden to Senate committees, which are of course led by Republicans.

By the way, "reassignment" counts as retaliation according to the law.

Update: They even fired Vindman's brother (!!!) from the NSC today.

On the current level of crazy: the National Association of Manufacturers today chose Ivanka Trump for its Alexander Hamilton award: "Like no one in government has ever done, she has provided singular leadership and shown an unwavering commitment to manufacturing."

In other news, Secret Service has paid as much as $650 a night for rooms at Trump properties.

Landmines and Other Atrocities

Comedian Bill Maher put it something like this: "If you want to understand Trump's policies, just ask yourself, 'What would an asshole do?'"

That standard explains Trump's decision to loosen restrictions on our use of land mines. I mean, why even comment, other than to point out that over 160 other countries ban their use?

It accounts for extending the travel ban. Of course, Trump's loyalty to Saudi Arabia shows through in their exemption.

And how else to make sense of restricting Medicaid funding?

Other notes....

Looks like Andy McCabe may have really good reasons for suing the DOJ over his dismissal. Of course his firing was about politics, not about misconduct -- which probably never occurred. Notice the source here: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

And poor Marco Rubio, who seems to concede Trump's guilt yet thinks impeachment would have been too divisive. "Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a President from office."

Looks like the coverup continues, by the way, as the Justice Department acknowledges but won't share about 25 emails that show Trump's control of the Ukraine mess all along.

Does it matter that Trump doesn't know where Kansas City is? Compared to other problems, no. But yes, it does matter. Here's some of why.

How do we assess fascism when we experience it? Observations on Stefan Zweig, who survived the Nazis, and Ece Temelkuran, author of How to Lose a Country in Seven Steps. 

It's time for vigilance. Vanity Fair reports that Trump has an enemies list, and he's willing to use the Justice Department to hunt them down. (See Andy McCabe above.)

Finally, strongly recommend you skim through these pieces from Politico on what's changed with respect to elections.