If you have ANY doubts that the Coronavirus pandemic is “not that bad”, or even “a hoax”, read this dispatch from northern Italy.  If it doesn’t send chills down your spine, you’re not paying attention.

Trump spent the day attacking political opponents and defending convicted felon Michael Flynn.

The Fed slashes rates to near zero, announces purchase of $700 billion of debt.  This is a correct move, IMHO.

Cuomo announces cut by half for NY restaurants and bars.

Italy’s death rate explodes, 368 yesterday.

Harris County working to expand testing.

Trump FINALLY declares national emergency over CV.

Great read from the Atlantic, The Trump Presidency is Over.

Italians sing together from their windows during the CV lockdown.

CDC estimates that Americans who could die from CV is 200,000 to 1.7 million.

No one will win the Saudi-Russian oil price war.

Coronavirus effects based on government response.  An interactive chart.

Trump lied today (and other times) that Obama bungled the H1N1 flu contagion in 2009.  He forgot that Republicans mocked Obama’s warnings and called THAT outbreak “a hoax”.  Sound familiar?

And finally, Katie Porter (D-CA) beat Dr. Redfield, Director of the CDC, about the face and neck with questions until he finally committed to guaranteeing free testing to all Americans.  It’s sweet…

Trading has been halted on the NYSE with the market down another 1,700 points.  It’s clear that investors are not happy with Trump’s response.  Trump offered no specifics last night short of pulling up the drawbridge from Europe after the virus already got in.  He hinted at economic relief with no specifics.  His payroll tax cut, which is only a thinly disguised effort to kill Social Security and Medicare, was DOA on the Hill.  There was no discussion of increasing availability of test kits, no information on how local jurisdictions should respond, no words of wisdom on how individuals should prepare.

I’m convinced that Trump is intentionally slowing the distribution of kits because that would “make my numbers go up”.  He doesn’t want to know how many people have it, because he’s playing a global television gameshow and he’s determined to declare victory over whoever his fellow contestants are.

The Coronavirus doesn’t give a shit who Donald Trump is or that he’s president and a famous gameshow host.  It’s doing to do what it’s going to do.  All Trump’s happy talk is doing nothing but more damage.

25th Amendment anyone?

All the numbers and demographics are moving against Republicans and have for years.  They have clung to power by tilting the field in their favor with gerrymandering and voter suppression using harsh voter ID laws, moving and closing polling locations, shortening early voting periods, making ballots confusing, and sending out deceptive campaign materials that are designed to keep voters off balance.  Recently Trump has taken use of the mass voter rally and raised it to an art form; those rallies are dutifully covered by the media that always amplify it to make it look bigger than it is.  The Republicans have always out maneuvered Democrats on virtually every front, legal and illegal.

So, think about what could be an equalizer that could blunt most of these tactics.  Something that would threaten not just one side, but both sides, something that doesn’t care if you’re a Democrat or Republican, Social Democrat or Trumpist.  Enter the Coronavirus that is rapidly becoming a global pandemic and growing very quickly in the US accelerated by Trump’s incompetent and incoherent early response to the threat.  The resulting condition called COVID-19 is life threatening to some and contagious, passed by human to human exposure.  One of the greatest tools that we have now to fight it is social distancing. Add to that the fact that development of a distributable vaccine will not occur until AFTER the election.  So, as we go deeper into the year, the threat is growing, not getting better.

What does all this mean?  It means that it’s very likely that there will be no in person campaigning, no rallies, no in person voting including early voting.  It means that, in order to have an election, the entire country must use remote voting online or by mail.  By far the safest is online, and the next best is mail in ballot.  Three states vote exclusively by mail, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado.  Republicans HATE remote voting because that vote is much more difficult to suppress, so only states that have balanced or Democratic government control are the ones that have converted to remote voting.  Online makes the most sense and can be secured; today I bank online, shop for groceries online, even buy our tea and coffee online.  I can send money almost anywhere in the world online.  Surely, we can develop a secure way to vote online.  Short of that, though, voting by mail works and is being used today.

So, for the first time, Republicans are facing the exact same obstacle to voting that Democrats are facing.  The Coronavirus can’t tell who you support for President and doesn’t care.  In the face of a national election where their candidate is weak (and nuts), they know that the election is very tight or even a loser for them; that’s why they’ve refused to improve voter security and continued to restrict access to voting.  Suddenly, THEY are facing a voter suppression threat that they didn’t create and can’t control.  Will the Coronavirus threat to Republicans finally be the tipping point where they will be forced to make voting more fair and by mail or online?  I can only hope so, and they better get off their asses and get to work on it.

Short of Trump trying to cancel or delay the election, remote voting is the only answer to make the election happen on time and according to the Constitution.  Could it actually be a global health threat that helps repair a broken system?  The irony would be sweet.

Ted Cruz has announced that he “briefly interacted” with someone at CPAC who has now tested positive for Coronavirus, so he is self quarantining here in Texas.  Unfortunately, he was not in his hometown of Calgary, Alberta when he was informed of his exposure to the virus.  Let’s hope he doesn’t expose any Americans to the virus while he’s here.