This is the week things get serious with the coronavirus. The WHO calls it a pandemic, states start shutting down schools and other gathering places and tell people to restrict their social activities. Trump stops holding rallies, but not to worry—he finds an outlet by making his pandemic briefings into a new version of political rally.

Here’s what happened in politics for the week ending March 15…

Shootings This Week:

1. There were 7 mass shootings in the U.S. this week (defined as killing and/or injuring 4 or more people). Shooters kill 17 people and injure 18 more.

Russia:

1. Following a federal judge’s criticism last week of Attorney General William Barr’s handling of the Mueller report, a federal appeals court rules that the House Judiciary Committee is entitled to see grand jury testimony from Robert Mueller’s investigation.
2. Putin is working to implement changes to Russia’s constitution to allow him to remain in office past his term limit, which is up in 2024. The new rules would let him run for two additional six-year terms.
3. The Russian parliament approves the bill to allow Putin to stay in power the extra 12 years.
4. Russia starts prodding hate groups to spread and amplify racist messages while also pushing Black extremist groups to commit violence ahead of our elections.
5. Trump’s new acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, declines to meet with Congress about Russia’s interference in our elections because he doesn’t know enough about it.

Legal Fallout:

1. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) drops his efforts to subpoena Andriy Telizhenko, a former official of the Ukrainian Embassy, in the Homeland Security Committee’s investigation into Hunter Biden. He wants to investigate more first.
2. Two New York City employees say they accepted bribes from the Trump Organization in return for lowering their assessments of Trump properties for property tax purposes.

Healthcare/Coronavirus:

Healthcare:

1. The Kentucky House passes a bill that would amend its constitution to explicitly state that women don’t have a legal right to an abortion. Kentucky voters would have to pass a referendum in order for the change to be made.
2. A handful of states, including Ohio and Texas, take advantage of the pandemic to include abortion as non-essential services that can’t be performed at this time, with certain exceptions for life-threatening circumstances.
3. When Trump is asked to reconcile White House efforts to kill the ACA with trying to guarantee coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions, Trump can’t come up with an answer.
4. A few weeks ago, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said they’d come up with a healthcare plan after the Supreme Court makes the final judgment on the ACA. The White House budget director said they just weren’t ready to reveal their plan. This, after 10 years of trying to kill the ACA and having time for the GOP to come up with their own plan.

Coronavirus:

1. Starting in mid-January, the Trump administration ordered all coronavirus discussions to be classified. This prevented people who should’ve been informed from taking part, slowing down the response.
2. The New York attorney general’s office orders televangelist Jim Bakker to stop selling a fake cure for the coronavirus, threatening legal action. He sells his snake oil for $125 a bottle.
3. The Grand Princess cruise ship is finally allowed to dock in Oakland, CA, but the passengers remain quarantined aboard. Twenty-one passengers have tested positive so far.

• • The DoD provides four quarantine facilities for the passengers.
  • Remember that last week Trump didn’t want to let the ship dock saying, “They would like to have the people come off. I’d rather have the people stay… because I like the numbers being where they are. I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault.”

• • Health officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, urge the administration to shut down the cruise ship industry, but some White House officials argue that they don’t want to hurt Florida’s economy this close to the election.
  • The four biggest cruise lines in the world suspend their excursions that originate in the U.S. Trump says he requested this. Princess Cruises had previously suspended all trips for 60 days.

4. Administration officials start blaming each other for the lack of planning and subsequent scattershot response to the coronavirus.
5. The World Health Organization designates the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic due to its rapid spread in multiple countries and the exponential growth of new cases.
6. Satellite images show new football-sized sections of graveyards in Iran dug out to handle the vast number of deaths from COVID-19.
7. Trump calls Washington Governor Jay Inslee a snake while talking about how beautiful the coronavirus tests are and about that “monster” ship sailing around off the West coast with infected passengers. Washington is the first state with reported cases and deaths from COVID-19.
8. After New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declares a state of emergency in New York, Trump accuses him of politicizing the pandemic.
9. Last week while trying to compare COVID-19 with the flu, Trump expressed shock at how many people die from the flu and said he didn’t know people died from the flu.

• • Trump’s grandfather died from the flu.

10. Trump comes under fire for disbanding the pandemic team that Obama put in place following the Ebola epidemic. Word from the White House is that the team was part of a reorganization that included a merger of three different groups.

• • Trump indicates that he thought he could reassemble the team “very quickly.”
  • There’s been some disagreement over whether it’s correct to say that he disbanded the team when some team members were merged into other national security positions. But the facts are that the office was disbanded, some team members were let go, and the office no longer exists.
  • As Anthony Fauci diplomatically describes the change, “I wouldn’t necessarily characterize it as a mistake. I would say we worked very well with that office. It would be nice if the office was still there.”

11. The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) delays the annual threat assessment report, which warns that the U.S. isn’t prepared for a pandemic. The details of the report aren’t public yet.
12. While health experts say testing is one of the most important things for slowing down the spread of the virus, there’s still a shortage of tests available in the U.S. Doctors are meeting with resistance from health departments over whether patients should be tested.
13. Private labs don’t have to report their numbers to the government, so we don’t really know how many people have been tested.
14. Insurance companies, Medicare, and Medicaid agree to cover the full cost of coronavirus testing.
15. Representative Katie Porter (D-CA) gets CDC director Redfield to commit to free coronavirus testing for everybody. She had to break down the full out-of-pocket cost to the consumer for testing.
16. While the average citizen with COVID-19 symptoms is still having a hard time getting tested for the virus, it’s a different story for professional athletes, celebrities, and elected officials.
17. Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass) and dozens of members of the House urge the Trump administration to invoke the Defense Production Act to mobilize businesses to produce testing kits, gowns, masks, ventilators, and other equipment needed by our medical workers to handle this pandemic.
18. Healthcare providers across the country start asking how they can access the critical equipment stored in the Strategic National Stockpile for emergencies such as this.
19. After resisting pleas from Democrats to declare a national emergency, Trump finally issues an emergency declaration.

• • This could allow states to use Medicaid funding to respond to the pandemic, something states have been begging for. States still have to negotiate the details, though, which will take time we don’t have.
  • It makes the national stockpile available and provides disaster-level assistance to states.
  • It allows FEMA to provide and coordinate assistance to individual states and their efforts.
  • States can start applying for federal assistance.

    Mixed Messages:

1. The Trump administration says that every American can get a test for the virus if a doctor deems it necessary. Trump himself says anyone who wants a test can get one. It’s uncertain whether there are enough tests for that. He later says we don’t want to test everyone.

• • Trump says we’re getting millions of test kits, and that they’re perfect just like his call with the Ukraine president was perfect (forgive me if that doesn’t make me feel more confident). He says we’ll have 5 million test kits within a month but that we probably won’t need that many.
  • Last week, Mike Pence said we wouldn’t have enough test kits to meet the demand.

2. Doctors and patients complain that the tests aren’t available to them. The CDC revises its guidelines so that more people can qualify to be tested.
3. A shortage of test kits hampers our ability to trace infections, which would help slow down the spread of the virus.
4. Trump goes from playing down the effects of the virus to suddenly taking it very seriously for some reason. He gives an Oval Office address to explain what’s going on.

• • Trump says that health insurance providers will waive all co-payments for treatments for COVID-19. Health insurers have to clarify that, no, they’ll fully cover testing, not treatment.
  • He says he’s suspending all travel between the U.S. and Europe (except the U.K.) for 30 days, including trade and cargo.

• • • His administration later clarifies that trade and cargo are not currently suspended and that the restrictions only apply to foreign nationals who’ve been to the Schengen area. It doesn’t apply to U.S. citizens nor their immediate families.
    • His exception of the U.K. means that people can still travel to his resorts. Also, the U.K. is looking to be one of the worst-hit.
  • He literally read the speech directly off the teleprompter and still, he could not get it right.

5. Trump begins a series of press conferences, no doubt meant to inform and calm the masses. But he makes so many misstatements and spends so much time boasting about his presidency that the masses are more confused than ever. He even brings up Fox News ratings, because that’s super important when we’re dealing with a pandemic.

• • The administration continues to send out mixed messages, even within the press briefings, as health officials and experts contradict Trump frequently in the middle of the briefings.
  • Health officials and experts intermingle compliments for the administration’s response to soften their corrections of Trump. After all, they don’t want to piss him off.

6. Democratic Senators send Mike Pence a letter asking for clarification of Trump’s comments from the briefings.
7. Trump accuses Democrats of inflaming the coronavirus situation and says the risk to the average American is very, very low. At the same time, Mike Pence says people are irresponsibly downplaying the seriousness of the pandemic.
8. While expressing understanding for the severity of the pandemic, Trump also downplays it by tweeting, “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”
9. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt sends out a memo giving Interior officials talking points to downplay the seriousness of the coronavirus. Two days later, Bernhardt praises Trump for taking decisive and unprecedented measures to protect the American people from the coronavirus.

   Exposures:

1. Two-thirds of U.S. Senators are over 60, putting them in the high-risk group for contracting the virus.
2. Even though Members of Congress are anxious about going into work, and some have already started self-isolating, it’s business as usual, with members coming in to work.

• • Senator Ted Cruz and Representatives Mark Meadows, Paul Gosar, Doug Collins, and Matt Gaetz self-isolate after coming into contact with someone infected with the coronavirus at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
  • When Gaetz was alerted about it, he was on Air Force One with Trump.
  • It turns out that the infected person at CPAC met with high-profile speakers at the conference, took photos with several of them, and hung out in the green room for the event.

3. Trump hosts a gathering where some guests later test positive for the coronavirus. He refuses to be tested or to self-isolate. Eventually, he relents and tests negative, according to his doctor.

• • Senators Rick Scott (R-FL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) self-isolate after they interact with Trump.

4. Days after meeting with Bill Barr, Ivanka Trump, and Kellyanne Conway, the Australian minister for home affairs tests positive for the coronavirus.
5. Two Mar-a-Lago guests test positive.
6. Last week, nine cases of COVID-19 were linked to attendees of a Biogen conference in Boston. Now two major Boston hospitals have set up temporary testing facilities to test all attendees.
7. A physician in Washington State tests positive for COVID-19 and is in critical condition.

   Closures:

1. Colleges and universities move their classes online to protect students from the coronavirus.
2. With no clear guidance from the Trump administration, mayors and governors in Washington, California, and New York start to issue recommendations about cutting down mass gatherings—first recommending we stay away from gatherings of more than 250 people and then lowering that to 50 people.
3. States start closing schools, including the Los Angeles Unified School District—the second largest district in the U.S.
4. States restrict visiting senior homes and nursing homes.
5. States start extending the tax deadline past April 15.
6. All large venues, including Broadway theaters, amusement parks, casinos, and sports arenas, close down.
7. The Council on Foreign Relations cancels their coronavirus conference because of coronavirus.
8. Italy locks down the entire country for the next month to curb the spread of the virus. The EU questions whether they can even do that, but Spain follows suit and France shuts down nonessential businesses.
9. The NBA suspends its games until further notice after a player for the Utah Jazz tests positive for COVID-19. The NCAA cancels March Madness; the NHL, MLS, and MLB suspend their seasons; the Indian Wells tennis tournament cancels; and the PGA will not allow fans to come watch.
10. St. Patrick’s day celebrations and parades are canceled in Ireland and cities worldwide.
11. Melania cancels a fundraiser in California and Trump cancels all of his political rallies. This is how we know things are serious.
12. China begins to allow factories and other businesses to reopen in Wuhan province. Closing down businesses has been a blow to their economy.

   The Numbers:

1. The CDC says that the worst-case scenario is that 200,000 to 1.7 million people in the U.S. could die from the pandemic. Those projections do not take into account the mitigation enacted in multiple states so far, which should bring those numbers down.
2. Trump says the pandemic will go away, and that it’s about 600 cases and 26 deaths in the U.S. He says the risk to Americans is very, very low. Here are the numbers by the end of the week :

• • 1,678 people in the U.S. are infected so far (that we know of), with 41 deaths. Tests are ramping up, but still number only in the thousands.
  • 153,517 people worldwide have been infected, with 5,735 deaths.

3. More than 3 dozen states report cases of coronavirus infection.

International:

1. Trump receives strong condemnation from European officials after he announces a ban on travel between the U.S. and Europe with the exception of Great Britain. Trump didn’t give them any warning, and Great Britain is having problems with COVID-19 as well.

• • The surprise announcement causes Americans abroad to panic and scramble to get flights home.

2. I have no problem with the ban, other than that it excludes the U.K for no good reason. But the WHO calls the move “entirely unwise” and says there’s no evidence that it will reduce transmission since it’s already a pandemic.
3. In the midst of a pandemic, the U.S. military finds time to carry out airstrikes against militia sites in Iraq that are backed by Iran in retribution for an attack that killed two U.S. troops and one British troop.

Border Wall/Shutdown/National Emergency:

1. Trump says that building a wall will contain the coronavirus. The director of the CDC says it won’t.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. The Supreme Court allows Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy to stay in place while the court considers whether or not to hear the case against it. A federal judge previously found the policy illegal. Human rights groups argue that this places asylum seekers in even greater danger with the spread of COVID-19.
2. ICE scales back their operations, only making arrests that are critical to national security.
3. For the second straight year, white terror suspects outnumber terrorists of any other ethnic group in the U.K.

Climate:

1. The Trump administration formally restricts the type of research that can be used as the basis for environmental and public health regulations. The restrictions prevent agencies from using studies that use certain personally identifying or confidential information, like that on which a great deal of medical science is based.

Budget/Economy:

1. Markets take a dive around the world, including a 2,000-point drop in the Dow Jones in just one day. Trump gives a speech meant to calm the market, but it drops another 1,700 the following day.

• • The low for the Dow Jones this week is close to 21,000—down nearly 8,000 points from the peak. So far the Dow Jones has fallen 20% from its height.
  • U.S. markets slide so hard that we’re now in a bear market, putting an end to the 11-year bull market run.
  • Trump administration implements emergency financial measures after his announcement of a ban on travel from Europe contributes to one of the stock market drops. The markets rally a bit after Trump’s declaration.

2. Trump considers a stimulus package to help businesses and workers that will be hit in the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.
3. Democrats try to pass emergency paid sick leave legislation, but Republicans in the Senate block it because they don’t think either the federal government or businesses should have to pay for it.
4. The White House and Congress start talks about ways to provide a relief package to rescue the U.S. economy even as health officials debate which parts of the economy should shut down to slow down the spread of the coronavirus.

• • They’ll look at cutting payroll taxes, providing loans to small businesses, and providing paid leave for workers.
  • At this point, Trump is willing to dive into relief measures, but top Republicans say it’s too soon.

5. In the end, Democrats and the White House reach a deal on an economic relief bill, which includes tens of billions of dollars in funding for things like paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, and coronavirus testing, as well as relief for businesses.
6. Russia and Saudi Arabia continue their oil war, glutting the market and causing oil prices to plunge 25%. If they drive the prices low enough, it will affect U.S. shale oil producers.
7. White House officials block former national security advisor Tom Bossert from reaching Trump to warn him about how dire the economic picture is in light of the pandemic. Several of Trump’s other advisers, including Jared Kushner, think the problem is more about public psychology that health.
8. Companies begin their first round of layoffs in the U.S. over coronavirus pandemic concerns.
9. The Federal Reserve cuts interest rates to zero and announces a buyback of at least $700 billion in government and mortgage bonds. They also provide an additional, temporary $1.5 trillion for the repo market.
10. The GOP-led Senate passes a rebuke of Betsy DeVos over her refusal to provide the required student loan forgiveness for victims of fraud by for-profit colleges.

Elections:

1. Louisiana and Georgia postpone their upcoming presidential primaries over coronavirus fears.

Miscellaneous:

1. Former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who Trump said would go through some very bad things, receives yet another award for her service. This one is from Indiana University.
2. Less than nine hours after Trump asks Congress to stop the bipartisanship and come together, he tweets out attacks against Schumer and Pelosi.