Hi John,

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Evan McMullin & Mindy Finn

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: The Topline <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, Apr 29, 2020 at 3:16 PM
Subject: US reaches two grim milestones
To: SUR <[email protected]>
In one of those “while you weren’t looking” stories that are easy to miss in this time of 24/7 coronavirus reporting, political operatives have shifted into high gear online to drive support for their candidate. Much like in 2016, both Democratic and Republican campaigns are hyper-personalizing content and relying heavily on Facebook and mobile to run sophisticated persuasion and turnout operations. This time, they're taking advantage of pandemic-era reduced prices and testing variations on coronavirus messaging. Unlike TV attack ads that leave no room for ambiguity, these stealthy tactics to inform, win over, and turnout voters rely much more on psychology and group behavior. And they’ve been proven to work.
 
—Mindy Finn
 

1. 'The food supply chain is breaking'

That ominous statement was made by board chairman John Tyson of Tyson Foods in a full-page advertisement in Sunday editions of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The meat-packing industry has been hobbled by the coronavirus pandemic. Farmers have been forced to cull their livestock, as the world’s biggest meat suppliers, including Smithfield Foods, Cargill, JBS USA, and Tyson, have halted operations at slaughterhouses and processing plants due to workers falling ill with COVID-19. Fears of a global meat shortage prompted President Trump to sign an executive order yesterday, invoking the Defense Production Act to keep meat processing plants open. Incidentally, it was the same day that U.S. deaths from COVID-19 surpassed the total lost in the Vietnam War, and cases topped 1 million. —TIME More: Inside Donald Trump and Jared Kushner's two months of magical thinking (Vanity Fair)
 
2. Mounk: Don't expect a miracle

"Some of what we have learned over the past few weeks has been positive. The fatality rate from COVID-19 is likely to be significantly lower than early estimates suggested. Americans have followed social distancing guidelines to an impressive degree. So far, we have succeeded in flattening the curve, and have not had to turn thousands of people in desperate need of medical treatment away from the emergency room. Even in New York City, the American epicenter of the pandemic, the number of new infections and new fatalities is ebbing. We are not in the worst of all possible timelines. And yet, our hopes for the pandemic's quick resolution should clearly be shelved." —The Atlantic

Ed. Note: Yascha Mounk is an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, and a senior adviser at Protect Democracy. He is the author of "The People vs. Democracy".

More: Gilead virus-drug trial signals hope, and Fauci sees 'good news' (Bloomberg)
 
 3. Political advertisers never stopped

If you're a Facebook user in Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, or North Carolina, you may have seen a sequence of political ads in your news feed in the past six months. Perhaps you've taken a survey or two. This specific experience is an intentional and coordinated effort to reach persuadable voters in critical presidential battlegrounds at a time when digital advertising has become one of the only viable avenues for reaching them. More: Can the Trump campaign rewrite the story of the Trump presidency? (The New York Times)
 
4. Stanton & Hasen: Avoiding a 'nightmare scenario'

"How do we ensure that elections are not only conducted fairly, but that people have confidence in them, when recent public opinion polling shows up to 40% of the public is not convinced that elections are conducted fairly? I think there's a role to play for elected leaders, social media companies, traditional media companies, lawyers, members of Congress, state and local election officials—there are steps that all can take to try to minimize the chances of a meltdown. And that's really where we have to focus our efforts, especially now in this COVID-19 era." —Politico

Ed. Note: Zack Stanton is the digital editor of Politico Magazine. Rick Hasen is a professor at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of "Election Meltdown".
 
5. Roger Stone has friends in low places

Newly unsealed search warrants reveal a deep web of contacts between Trump confidant Roger Stone and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Assange is currently free, awaiting a date to begin serving his sentence of nearly three-and-a-half years in prison for lying to House investigators and impeding their Russian interference probe. More: Judges worry Trump position on McGahn testimony could force Congress into extreme measures (Politico)
 
6. COVID-19 is no friend of human rights

As his first year in power comes to a close, El Salvador's popular President Nayib Bukele is fighting both the coronavirus and the country's street gangs with tactics some say put the young democracy at risk. Crime is down, but questionable detentions are up. The supreme court ruled such detentions unconstitutional without the legislative assembly passing a due process law. Bukele has ignored the court, leading to heightened concerns about the fate of the separation of powers in the Latin American nation. —ABC News More: Democracy 'weakened and undermined' worldwide: study (Deutsche Welle)
 
8. 2020 contest gets a new challenger

Independent Rep. Justin Amash announced yesterday via tweet that he has launched an exploratory committee to seek the Libertarian Party's 2020 presidential nomination. The former Republican from Michigan was once a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, but was disowned by the group for his sharp criticisms of President Trump. Amash was the only non-Democratic lawmaker in the House of Representatives to vote in favor of impeaching Trump. —Business Insider
10. An American Story: Alone but not lonely

The coronavirus has upended normal life for millions of people, including Bill Brennan, who used to donate his time to cheer up sick kids in Boston hospitals. Through volunteering, Brennan developed a friendship with Nancy Kleiman, the harpist at Brigham and Women's Hospital. The pair now FaceTime daily, maintaining their friendship and holding onto a bit of normalcy. Ed. Note: We are spotlighting ways that Americans are helping each other through the coronavirus crisis. Would you like to suggest an "American Story" from your local news? If so, please forward a link to the story to [email protected]. Thank you!
 
Approximately 58,200 American lives were lost during the Vietnam War over a period of 20 years. We've now lost the same number of lives in this country in a little over two months! This administration's arrogant and willful negligence in ignoring the potential threat and failing to make any preparations is an appalling dereliction of duty. This lack of preparation is the primary cause for drastic stay-at-home measures nationwide. These actions—taken by states with little federal assistance—have saved lives, but have also set back our national economy by 10 years and resulted in record numbers of unemployed Americans. History will consider this both a public health crime and an economic crime perpetrated by our federal government. Enough is enough—do your job!
 
—Mark M., Ohio

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