How did it come to this

SPIN THIS MAGATs: Trump Let Contract With Ventilator Firm Lapse

WASHINGTON — President Trump has repeatedly assured Americans that the federal government is holding 10,000 ventilators in reserve to ship to the hardest-hit hospitals around the nation as they struggle to keep the most critically ill patients alive.

But what federal officials have neglected to mention is that an additional 2,109 lifesaving devices are unavailable after the contract to maintain the government’s stockpile lapsed late last summer, and a contracting dispute meant that a new firm did not begin its work until late January. By then, the coronavirus crisis was already underway.

The revelation came in response to inquiries to the Department of Health and Human Services after state officials reported that some of the ventilators they received were not operational, stoking speculation that the administration had not kept up with the task of maintaining the stockpile.

In fact, the contract with a company that was maintaining the machines expired at the end of last summer, and a contract protest delayed handing the job to Agiliti, a Minneapolis-based provider of medical equipment services and maintenance. Agiliti was not given the $38 million task until late January, when the scope of the global coronavirus crisis was first becoming clear.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/us/politics/coronavirus-ventilators.html

Crimes Agains Humanity

In case anyone needs a gif of John Roberts's "whatever, old man, just shut the fuck up" wave

OMG! DeSantis: Religious Services Are "Essential Business" & Exempt From Stay At Home Order

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said religious services conducted in churches, synagogues and houses of worship are “essential business” and therefore exempt from this stay-at-home executive order
https://twitter.com/DavidCornDC/status/1245500998325501952?s=20


Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said religious services conducted in churches, synagogues and houses of worship are “essential business” and therefore exempt from this stay-at-home executive order announced this afternoon.

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-04-01-20-intl/h_b2d27eeaa15e3e082511fb168c63575d?utm_content=2020-04-01T23%3A35%3A03&utm_source=twCNN&utm_term=link&utm_medium=social

WTF?!? DeSantis now says he'll save Floridians ONLY - No other Americans or Canadians

Governor DeSantis now says he'll take the 49 Floridians off the cruise ship sitting of his shores. He won't take the other 250 Americans or the 400 Canadians. So much for the country pulling together. Thanks for the national leadership @realDonaldTrump

https://twitter.com/joelockhart/status/1245433038915481602?s=20

Trump wasn't just IGNORING COVID month after impeachment-he was fostering spread at his properties

Trump was not just IGNORING COVID a month after impeachment ended--he was fostering its spread on his own properties.
https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1245384585090826240?s=20

Trump only shifted his tone as the coronavirus virus spread to "Trump country."

Why Trump Changed Tack on the Pandemic

Gabriel Sherman reports that President Trump only shifted his tone as the coronavirus virus spread to “Trump country.”

Said one former White House official: “The polling sucked. The campaign panicked about the numbers in red states. They don’t expect to win states that are getting blown to pieces with coronavirus.”


MORE:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/04/inside-trumps-decision-to-back-off-of-his-easter-coronavirus-miracle
https://politicalwire.com/2020/04/01/why-trump-changed-tact-on-the-pandemic/

[yes, photoshopped, but so fitting]

Another day in isolation!