DAILY KOS | The Brief | By Markos Moulitsas, Founder

Poll: Republicans aren't doing the isolation necessary to stop the coronavirus

Barack Obama delivers a big, fat, Elizabeth Warren 'hint'

While Trump shreds our Democracy can Democrats rise as a functioning loyal opposition?

We must contest Nebraska's Omaha-based electoral vote, because a 269-269 tie is way too possible

Poll: Republicans aren't doing the isolation necessary to stop the coronavirus

I'll keep this summary short, since the full story is rich in information and data, and will read best in its entirety.

Given that 40% of Republicans remain unconcerned about the coronavirus pandemic, will you be surprised that 45% of them continue to go out of their house whenever they want? I dig into some depressing polling numbers, showing not just a partisan split, but also a rural-urban split.

Read the whole piece to get an idea of how vast the disconnect is, and how deadly that is to rural America. Republicans and rural people (the overlap is obviously large) are still refusing to take this seriously, taking cues from their Fox News/Rush Limbaugh heroes, their Trump-loving governors, and their own ignorance and anti-science upbringing. They already lead unhealthy lives—remember them sneering at Barack Obama for eating arugula, and Michelle Obama for merely encouraging children to eat healthy? And here are we, the liberals, screaming at them to take this seriously so they don’t die.

Barack Obama delivers a big, fat, Elizabeth Warren 'hint'

Full story here.

President Barack Obama ain't wrong:

It’s not every day that our last real president singles out a former presidential candidate like this, and we know that “impulsive” is not a thing former president Barack Obama does. So what is this really about?

Sure, we can take it at face value—Obama is merely pointing out that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren just happens to have a great plan. Supporting evidence? Warren has a great plan .

Thing is, Obama knows darn well that anything he says will carry extra importance, it will be analyzed to death (by pieces like this one, and comments like the ones below). As noted, he is measured, cautious in his words, and methodical in his approach. He didn’t write those words for the fun of it. He doesn’t do casual fun.

Also, note that Joe Biden has a coronavirus plan . Obama didn’t endorse it. He didn’t even mention it. But he mentioned Warren’s.

Here's my theory. (Hint: it's about party unity, and Warren delivers better than any other of our great possible options.)

We must contest Nebraska's Omaha-based electoral vote, because a 269-269 tie is way too possible

I'm proud of this story, even though it got buried under more pressing news. It's important. Not now, not given the challenges we face with the coronavirus pandemic, but we still have a presidential election in November, and Nebraska will need to play a role.

You see, 48 states and Washington, D.C., have winner-take-all presidential contests. Whoever wins the state gets all of its electoral votes. The exceptions are Maine and Nebraska—both of which apportion an electoral vote to the winner of each of their congressional districts. As such, Democrats need to contest the Omaha, Nebraska electoral vote. Because believe it or not, there are several realistic scenarios that get us to a 269-269 tie. And in that scenario, we lose the election.

This is another deep analytical piece—I look at how the House of Representatives would pick the president in a 269-269 scenario (and what we can do to reverse the current Republican advantage in state delegations). I look at the most realistic 269-269 maps, like this one:

Yes, this is very much possible. So we must fight for every single possible electoral vote, and that includes the one attached to Nebraska's 2nd congressional district, in the Omaha area. Again, I dig into the numbers in that district, and it's very winnable. Barack Obama won it in 2008, and if we can get our people to turn out (always a challenge, everywhere), we can take it this November.

Read the full analysis here. There is no reason to not contest this district, and there is every reason to fight for it like hell. Hopefully, Biden wins, and does so with a nice unambiguous cushion. But we can’t assume that going into the election, and we have to make sure that we fight for every single winnable electoral vote.

Other News

'Welcome to the Shit Show!' Wisconsin lt. governor tweets as long lines form at WI voting locations

by Jen Hayden, Daily Kos
On Monday, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued an executive order postponing the election—which includes a presidential primary and races for state and local office—to June 9. Republicans in the state fought the order, insisting the election go on despite the pandemic sweeping the world ... And yet, not only have Republicans insisted on going forward, the Republican-dominated United States Supreme Court sided with Wisconsin Republicans (big surprise!) and forced the election. The result? Wisconsin residents lined up, literally around the block (see the videos below), to exercise their constitutional right to vote. As for residents who are immunocompromised, elderly, disabled and/or can’t otherwise get out to stand in a long line during a pandemic, risking their very lives? Too bad. Republicans have even worked to limit absentee voting in the state.

Keep in your dead! The true toll of COVID-19 is being undercounted, including in New York

by Mark Sumner, Daily Kos
From the beginning, there has been an urge to undercount what’s happening with COVID-19. In some cases, that may be trying to paint the official response in a better light. In others, it may be confusion over how to handle an event that’s overwhelming state or local officials. And in the end it may be a simple inability to acknowledge the genuine scale of the disaster. In any case, there are reasons to believe the actual number of COVID-19 deaths in New York is much higher than the official number.

Drug pusher Trump has a share in the malaria drug he keeps overselling for coronavirus

by Mark Sumner, Daily Kos
From the moment he pivoted from “soon down to zero” to claiming that killing a quarter of a million Americans would show that he has done “a very good job,” Donald Trump has been pushing America to swallow a megaton of chloroquine. The drug is potent against malaria, and a regular treatment against inflammatory diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Trump has pushed the drug in the face of almost no evidence that it has any positive effect helping against coronavirus. He has pushed it even though chloroquine is a serious drug with serious side effects including heart attacks. He has pushed it even though people have already died from following his suggestion to gobble down the pills.... And he’s pushed it without revealing that he has a personal stake in the company that manufactures the drug.

The cast of Hamilton shocked a young fan with the most uplifting Zoom chat of the week

by Jen Hayden, Daily Kos
This week John Krasinski pulled off an amazing feat to surprise Aubrey, a young fan of the musical Hamilton. Aubrey’s mother tweeted they were disappointed their long-awaited trip to see Hamilton had been cancelled because of the coronavirus and they were spending their time watching Mary Poppins instead. That big screen reboot of the Disney classic happens to star Krasinksi’s wife, Emily Blunt, alongside Hamilton creator and star, Lin-Manuel Miranda. To the surprise of Aubrey, not only did Emily Blunt herself pop into the discussion, Aubrey noticed a whole lot of people had simultaneously entered the Zoom video chat. And that’s when the magic happened.

Trump lashes out at inspector general who dared report on failures in COVID-19 response

by Laura Clawson, Daily Kos
Donald Trump is having the predictable temper tantrum over the Health and Human Services inspector general's report finding that hospitals face huge challenges—many of them caused by the Trump administration—in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. The report confirmed much of what we’ve learned from news reports about hospitals receiving unusable masks and other personal protective equipment, facing a “severe shortage of test kits,” and struggling with a lack of clear guidance from the federal government.

Keep fighting!

Markos Moulitsas
Founder, Daily Kos

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Twitter: @markos
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