In today’s news headlines, right wing protests have broken out in various cities around the country, encouraged by President Donald Trump. The protesters are angry at state governors who have enacted quarantine orders to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus. President Trump, who fears that a depressed economy will ruin his chances of reelection defended them on Sunday saying, “These are great people.” He added, “they’ve got cabin fever. They wanna get back. They want their life back. Their life was taken away from them.” Days earlier Trump had shocked the nation with tweets of “Liberate” Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia which many interpreted as calls for violence and insurrection. 

Over the weekend reports emerged of the many protests that transpired of people ignoring quarantine and social distancing orders and gathering in large groups in the state capitals of Maryland, Texas, and Ohio. According to The Guardian, “Hundreds of people stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the Texas Capitol on Saturday, chanting “Fire Fauci!” as part of a protest organized by the conspiracy theory site InfoWars.” They were referring to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious diseases expert. Additionally, “In Maryland, protesters stayed inside their cars and honked their horns as they drove around the capital, Annapolis, to demand that Governor Larry Hogan “reopen Maryland”. In Columbus, Ohio, hundreds of protesters gathered, some chanting “We are not sheep”.” In California, pro-Trump protesters marched in Huntington Beach on Friday and in San Diego on Saturday. In Denver, Colorado healthcare workers wearing scrubs and masks stood in the middle of the street blocking cars filled with right wing protesters from passing. The right wing protesters seem to represent a minority view in the nation as a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll showed that 60% of Americans support “stay-at-home” orders. A majority of Americans worry that the US will move to reopen its economy too quickly. The results were mirrored by a Yahoo News/YouGov poll which found that 60% of Americans oppose the right-wing protesters. 

During his Sunday press briefing Trump once more reacted angrily to a reporter’s question about his month of inaction in February after having been briefed in January about the dangers of the disease. Trump asked Weijia Jiang of CBS News to “relax” and take it “nice and easy,” when she asked why he did not recommend social distancing before March 16th. Trump has railed against numerous individuals and institutions blaming them for the spread of the disease but never claimed any responsibility himself. Last week he cut off funding for the

FEATURING JEET HEER – More than 23,000 people have died from the novel coronavirus in the US so far – that’s nearly 20 percent of all deaths from the disease worldwide. 

As the rates of infections and deaths appears to be slowing down, the Trump administration is eager to spin this as a sign that the US economy is ready to re-open, rather than an indication that social distancing measures may be working and need to remain in place in order to keep the disease under check. 

Now there are indications that the deaths from Covid-19 might actually be an undercount. My guest says that is a “deadly mistake.”

Read Jeet Heer’s article in The Nation, ‘Undercounting Covid-19 Deaths Is a Deadly Mistake,’ HERE.

Jeet Heer, national-affairs correspondent at The Nation.

FEATURING KHURY PETERSEN-SMITH – With the United States becoming the hardest hit nation from Covid-19, concern for how the rest of the world copes with the deadly pandemic is eclipsed. Sadly the spread of a dangerous disease has not undercut war and militarism and in fact the preexisting regional tensions and incidents of state violence have left myriad populations far more vulnerable to Covid-19 than they would have been.

Read Khury Petersen-Smith’s latest article ‘How Wars, Sanctions, and Militarism Made the Coronavirus Crisis Worse,’ HERE.

Khury Petersen-Smith, Middle East Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. His latest piece in Foreign Policy in Focus is entitled, “Iran’s Not the Aggressor. The U.S. Is.”

President Donald Trump on Monday claimed “total authority” as President when asked about lifting state and citywide quarantines during the pandemic. He spelled out his interpretation of executive authority in response to a reporter’s question. It was the same position he had claimed on Twitter earlier in the day. But, when asked about whose responsibility it was to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, Trump weeks ago had laid it at the feet of state governors, even saying he didn’t take any responsibility. And on April 8th, former Gov. of South Carolina, Nikki Haley – a Republican who backs Trump – wrote an op-ed in the New York Times saying that it was up to governors to deal with the virus and that, “America is better served when presidents respect the diversity of states instead of dictating uniform solutions.” Now however, the President has a different view – one that legal scholars take huge issue with because the literal definition of a totalitarian government is one where a leader claims “total authority.” Meanwhile New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose state has been the worst hit by the virus vehemently countered the President’s claim. Trump lashed back on Twitter saying that Cuomo has been begging the federal government for medical equipment and, “I got it all done for him, and everyone else, and now he seems to want Independence! That won’t happen!”

Trump has continued spewing false claims at a breathtaking rate during his task force press briefings and on Monday even played a compilation of video clips of positive press coverage of his handling of the pandemic leading networks like CNN to cut away. In fact CNN labeled it with the startling headline, “Angry Trump Turns Briefing into Propaganda Session,” and the network’s anchor John King said, “To play a propaganda video at taxpayer expense in the White House briefing room is a new — you can insert your favorite word here in this administration.” Meanwhile on Monday Fox News announced the President’s “Council to Reopen America,” that included a list of 7 white millionaires and billionaires – all men except for the President’s daughter Ivanka Trump. Other members include his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Representative Mark Meadows, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. It is not clear if a single doctor or infectious disease expert is on the team. Trump later denied that Ivanka Trump and J...

FEATURING KALI AKUNO – The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted whose labor our entire society depends on and it’s not corporate executives. Grocery workers, migrant farmworkers, meat packers, delivery drivers, Amazon workers, postal carriers, nurses, and janitors – all those deemed “essential workers,” are required to show up to work even as the rest of us are quarantined at home for our own safety. 

But most these essential workers are not just keeping us fed and healthy – they are also often the least paid, most vulnerable workers. 

Now, there are growing calls for a General Strike on May Day – the same day that  President Donald Trump has insisted the US will restart its economy and return to business-as-usual. 

Kali Akuno, co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson. Also formerly the Co-Director of the US Human Rights Network and the Executive Director of the Peoples’ Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) based in New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. 

FEATURING MICHELLE RUIZ – Hundreds of people protested – in a manner consistent with social distancing – in Arizona on Friday to demand that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency immediately release undocumented detainees. About 700 people arrived in 200 cars outside Eloy Detention Center and La Palma Correctional Facility near Phoenix, Arizona. The two privately-run facilities are at great risk of Covid-19 spreading unchecked as there is evidence of a lack of hygiene by staff and several cases of infection. 

Michelle Ruiz, an organizer with Puente Human Rights Movement in Arizona.

President Donald Trump has urged an end to quarantines around the country in a bid to re-charge the economy pushing against state and city leaders who are urging caution. On Sunday he tweeted, “Governors, get your states testing programs & apparatus perfected. Be ready, big things are happening. No excuses! The Federal Government is there to help.” He also said, “We are testing more than any country in the World,” which is a blatant lie given that per capita the US has tested far less than most nations struggling with the coronavirus. In interviews on Sunday talk shows governors and mayors retorted that it was far too early to return to business-as-usual. Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland said, “But you can’t just pick a date and flip a switch. I don’t think it’s going to be that simple.” Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago said, “We’ve got to see a lot more progress on the health care front …before we can start talking about reopening the economy.” On Monday Trump claimed he and the federal government had the authority to reopen the economy, tweeting, “For the purpose of creating conflict and confusion, some in the Fake News Media are saying that it is the Governors decision to open up the states, not that of the President of the United States & the Federal Government. Let it be fully understood that this is incorrect.” But legal experts pointed out that it was state governors who retained such authority.

Even members of Trump’s own administration have pointed out that ending quarantines by May was too early. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in an interview on ABC, ”it’s just too early to be able to tell that we see light at the end of the tunnel.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on CNN, “It is not going to be a light switch…It is going to be depending where you are in the country, the nature of the outbreak you’ve already experienced, and the threat of an outbreak that you may not have experienced.” Many of Trump’s supporters have attacked Dr. Fauci for what they perceive as his undermining of the President. Dr. Fauci in the same CNN interview admitted that more lives could have been saved had the federal government acted sooner, prompting Trump to retweet a call by one of his supporters to fire the popular scientist. Meanwhile on Saturday Trump touted the fact that all 50 states in the US had a disaster declaration in place – the first time in history such a thing has happened. But the President attempted to spin the historic mark positively saying proudly, “For the first time in history there is a fully signed Presidential Disaster Declaration for all 50 States. We are winning, and will win, the war on the Invisible Enemy!” 

The President and his team still have no actual plan in plac...

FEATURING SARAH ANDERSON – Nearly 17 million Americans have lost their jobs since the Covid-19 pandemic was declared. The unemployment rate has already reached the levels it was during the Great Depression of the 1930s. And yet all that the administration of President Donald Trump has achieved along with Congress is a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus package that will give Americans up to $1,200 in a single direct payment that has yet to be sent out. 

Now, some lawmakers are asking why can’t the government simply put money directly into the hands of workers to stave off unemployment? Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal has introduced a new bill called the Paycheck Guarantee Act that will preserve paychecks until the Covid-19 emergency is over, thereby reducing the need for layoffs. The gist of Jayapal’s legislation was echoed in an op-ed by Republican Senator Josh Hawley.

Read Sarah Anderson’s article ‘Trump: Postal Workers Don’t Deserve a Financial Lifeline,’ HERE.

Sarah Anderson, Director of the Global Economy Project Co-editor of Inequality.org at the Institute for Policy Studies.

FEATURING JESSE WEGMAN – With the 2020 Presidential race reduced down to one candidate from each major party, the two presumptive nominees, Joe Biden and Donald Trump will face one another in a general election this November. 

Which means now is the perfect time to remind ourselves that Americans don’t actually vote directly for president – we vote in an electoral college that determines who the president will be. Given that our current president won the electoral college vote in 2016 and yet lost the popular vote by 3 million ballots, is there any more evidence needed that the current system is flawed? 

Jesse Wegman, member of the New York Times editorial board, writing editorials on the Supreme Court and legal affairs. He was previously a senior editor at the Daily Beast and Newsweek, a legal news editor at Reuters and the managing editor of the New York Observer. His new book is called Let The People Pick The President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College.

The official global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has hit 100,000 this week with the United States still leading in infections and deaths. Within the US, New York state, and in particular New York City remains the epicenter and on Friday morning headlines announced the grim news of mass burials of unclaimed bodies. A public cemetery called “potter’s field” on Hart Island, which is the largest taxpayer funded cemetery in the world, drone footage shows about 2 dozen bodies a day being laid into the ground. Burials on Hart Island are usually done by inmates from Rikers Island but the city has now contracted with outside workers to bury the dead. The cemetery usually sees about 25 burials a week of those whose families cannot afford funerals or whose bodies remain unidentified. New York City morgues have shortened the time bodies can remain in storage to 14 days to cope with the mounting death toll from Covid-19. 

The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University has been tracking the virus globally and as of Friday, the US had 473,093 confirmed infections and 17,836 deaths.  But the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in an interview on CNN that “aggressive social distancing” practices are working and that, “I think we’re coming to the peak. … We can see the other side of the curve.” Robert Redfield, echoing the eagerness of President Donald Trump to reopen the economy by next month said, “We’ve got to build within the community the sense of confidence that it’s the time to get back, it’s a time to go back to work, it’s time to open up some of the businesses.” But Redfield and Trump’s desires stand in contrast with the nation’s most trusted scientific expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who said that before reopening the economy, “We would want to see a clear indication that you were very, very clearly and strongly going in the right direction. Because the one thing you don’t want to do is you don’t want to get out there prematurely and you wind up back in the same situation.” He added, “Now is no time to back off,” from social distancing measures. 

During Thursday’s White House coronavirus task force press briefing a reporter asked Trump if the economy could reopen without mass virus or antibody testing but the President retorted such measures were unnecessary and falsely claiming that the US has conducted enough tests. In fact there have been only 2 million tests in a nation of 350 million and the US falls far behind other nations in per capita testing. New Y...