Thank you, Greg Abbott. With Texas hospitals overwhelmed with COVID patients, the state’s governor abruptly — and finally, after four months — changed his Trump-loving mind and ordered all residents to don masks outside their homes. Join me and my podcast partner, Michael Houk, as we discuss why this may be a little too late:
On Wednesday, the state had 8,100 new cases, its highest single-day total. The average number of people hospitalized for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has tripled since late May….
Michael and I also talk about the governor of Florida, that ultimate Trump sycophant, Ron DeSantis. Remember how he snidely said, back in May, that FL won’t become like NY? Well, suddenly DeSantis smells worse than a hot Times Square subway station in August. The situation is so out of control that FL keeps shattering the record for the most cases in one day, a figure of more than 10,000. And now the GOP Convention, recently moved to Jacksonville, may be cancelled. Waaaah. Yep, I’m giddy with schadenfreude and I don’t feel bad at all. FL beaches are closed again, FL businesses are closed again; it seems listening to and trying to please our anti-science idiot president is hurting the FL economy and that of such red states as Oklahoma, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina. No wonder the polls are showing that some of those states are more purple than red.
And Michael and I talk about the fact that the European Union has decided to build its own (figurative) wall to keep out Americans. Who can blame them after the US reached the new milestone of 50,000 new COVID cases in just one day.
But by far the most alarming and horrifying item in the news last week was the discovery that US soldiers who were murdered by the Taliban had bounties on their heads paid for by the Russians. Former White House officials are saying that the impeached president knew about this. Ruh Roh! We know he doesn’t read his Presidential Daily Briefing, preferring to be briefed orally two or three times a week. And we know that his staff knows not to lead with a Russia story or, if possible, to leave out bad Russia stories altogether. So either the ignoramus president was told the intelligence and did nothing about it or no one on his staff told him. Which sounds worse?
There was good news, too, last week. The Supreme Court said that LGBTQ+ citizens are actually people! And as such, they can’t be fired because they love someone that someone else deems unacceptable. SCOTUS also struck down the Louisiana abortion law that would have required clinic physicians to have hospital admitting privileges. For one week, the conservative-tilting court gave us two incredible wins and something to celebrate.
Finally, Michael and I discuss IL Sen. Tammy Duckworth as Joe Biden’s potential VP pick. As we near the Democratic Convention, we’re getting closer to the big reveal! Michael and I agree that Biden (call him Lucky 46?) has a plethora of talent from which to choose.
Join us for a lively discussion as we drink wine and hope and pray that Trump doesn’t burn down Mt. Rushmore. If you enjoy this podcast, leave us a review and share this episode on social media. On Twitter, follow Liz at @burkelawNYC and follow CFR at @TheCFReport. Stay safe!
