What A Day - Trump Gets De-Pressed

Episode Date: April 27, 2020

President Trump might be doing away with his hour-plus daily coronavirus briefings, which is a relief for so-called “privately concerned Republicans” who think they might scare away voters in November. The White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Birx hit the Sunday shows this weekend in Trump’s absence. In states like Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Indiana, Tennessee, and Minnesota, a mix of Republican and Democratic governors are preparing to ease some restrictions on businesses starting this week. And in headlines: Hungary may pass a new law to end the legal recognition of trans people, Taiwan’s “Home Alone” baseball games, and the end of horse-drawn carriages in Chicago.

it's monday april 27th i'm gideon resnick and i'm aaron ryan filling in for akilah hughes for today and this is what a day coming to you on a day when you would be coming back from another rootin tootin stagecoach music festival uh gideon venn diagram between people who listen to what a day and people who would go to Stagecoach. What do you think that looks like? It's just a circle. It's just a circle. On today's show, a look at which states are reopening when and how they're doing it, plus some headlines.

But first, the latest. This is a recording of the Met Orchestra performing from their homes at this weekend's at-home gala. Yeah, it's almost exactly what our pre-show Zoom calls sound like here at WOD. But in news, over the weekend, President Trump skipped his daily coronavirus briefings following a disastrous 48 hours brought on by his own musings about injecting disinfectants into people to combat COVID-19. By the way, Trump's Surgeon General, the FDA, the CDC, and the makers of Lysol all agree,

it's bad to put chemicals intended for tile floors inside your body. And now it's possible that Trump might stop holding these daily press conferences in the future. What's the latest on all this, Gideon? Yeah, so for a long time, there have been reports of the so-called, quote-unquote privately concerned Republican, as Trump was holding hours-long press conferences and just spreading dangerous misinformation and using this bully pulpit to defend himself during a pandemic he has totally lost control of. And one of the tangible results of all of that has been prescriptions surging for anti-malarial drugs, that's chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine,

both have dangerous side effects, including death, and aren't proven to work on COVID-19. Now, the New York Times found that prescriptions went from around 700 a day to over 30,000, and that's hinged largely on Trump's remarks about them. But the disinfectant UV light business that Trump tried to claim as sarcasm last week appeared to be a breaking point. The backdrop here is that according to reports over the weekend, Republicans have seen some ominous signs in public and private polling for both the presidential contest in November and even key Senate races. Now, this is of course a snapshot just months out. But with the crisis ongoing, the election is likely to still be a referendum on the administration's handling of the pandemic. So that's what's happening for now as they try to recalibrate after this insane couple of days.

But we'll have to see if Trump stays the course here. And in Trump's absence, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, hit up some Sunday shows. In an interview with Meet the Press, she said, among other things, that the country needs a, quote, huge technology breakthrough on testing. But at the same time, we have to realize that we have to have a breakthrough innovation in testing. We have to be able to detect antigen rather than constantly trying to detect the actual live virus or the viral particles itself and to really move into antigen testing. And I know corporations and diagnostics are working on that now. We have to have a breakthrough. This RNA testing will carry us certainly through the spring and summer, but we need to have

a huge technology breakthrough. And we're working on that at the same time. Right. So Berks there is talking specifically about an antigen diagnostic test that would be quick, scalable and wouldn't rely on the same supplies that our current diagnostic tests are using and running short on. That is still in development. But the underlying thing here is that it's a tacit acknowledgement that the United States is still behind on testing. And it comes from a member of the team that has both dangerously sidestepped some of the president's more absurd comments while attempting to present a more scientific view of the state of the country. And yesterday, she also appeared to counter a claim from Vice President Pence about the coronavirus being largely in the rearview mirror by Memorial Day. Birx said that social distancing would be necessary throughout the summer, a comment that comes as some states begin the process of reopening. And on that topic, Georgia, South Carolina, Alaska, and Oklahoma

were among the earliest states to begin lifting lockdowns last week. But we've got another set of states that are also making plans at the moment. Erin, take us through what we know so far. Right. So in states like Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Indiana, Tennessee, and Minnesota, governors are planning to ease some restrictions on businesses starting this week. For example, between 80 and 100,000 Minnesotans who work in industrial manufacturing and some office settings will return to work today with strict guidelines in place. Montana is going to allow retail businesses to reopen with restaurants and breweries following suit

in early May, also with some restrictions. And in Colorado, retail businesses will be allowed to reopen for curbside pickup. So, you know, drive-through jeans, I guess, are now a possibility in Colorado. The governor said it was about making the social distancing measures, quote, sustainable. Right. And so at this point now, we've got a mix of Republican and Democratic governors that are starting to lead these reopens with questions from health experts and officials in their states if they are actually ready to do this. As we mentioned, states like Georgia have begun experimenting with this process since last Friday. How is that going? Right. Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp allowed his state's gyms, bowling alleys, tattoo parlors, hair and nail salons to open last Friday with caveats. Caveat to me feels like don't open something where people are touching you during a pandemic,

but you know, I'm not the governor of Georgia. This week, he's giving the go-ahead to theaters and restaurants. It's kind of a strange way to open things back up, back to back without enough time between to see if infections go up. But the virus will let us know in about 10 to 14 days if that was a good idea.

If not in Georgia, we'll get some evidence from South Carolina or maybe from Oklahoma. Oklahoma's Republican Governor Kevin Stitt, who also reopened salons last week, plans to open sports venues, but with strict social distancing and sanitation guidelines this Friday. There aren't too many sports you can play while respecting social

distancing guidelines. So I guess it's just solo figure skating. Maybe a little yo-yoing if you're inclined. Yeah, solo yo-yo. I mean, go ahead and ignore scientists' opinions about fashion or music. Fine. But don't ignore their opinions on science. Anyway, Gideon, that's a look at the U.S., but what's going on around the world? I would like to hear Dr. Fauci critique some modern music, though, as a side note. But for the look around the world today, we're going to focus on Europe

and the process of their own reopening over there. Three of the countries with some of the highest rates of cases and deaths, that's Italy, Spain, and France, are all in the process of loosening restrictions. So let's start with Italy, which has experienced the longest lockdown of any country in Europe. After some regional lockdowns, Italy entered a countrywide lockdown on March 10th, but beginning on May 4th, that's a week from today, the country will begin to ease up. Prime Minister Conte cautioned that it would be important to retain social distancing

and that gatherings would still be banned and travel heavily regulated. But one of the immediate changes would be the ability to visit relatives. Funerals would be allowed, but with a maximum of 15 people. Residents can exercise more than 200 meters from their homes. Restaurants can start doing takeout. Some manufacturing and construction will restart with strict safety measures in place. Hearing all of those relaxations of rules really brings to light how much stricter it was in Europe than it ever was anywhere in the U.S. Right, exactly. And the same is true in Spain, where

they're also easing their lockdown. As of yesterday, the country is allowing kids to go outside for the first time in six weeks. Specifically, the rules allow for children accompanied by an adult to go outside for an hour within a kilometer of home. Spain's prime minister said that adults could do the same starting May 2nd if they see continued improvement. So, again, a real slow easing out compared to what we're doing. And in France, the prime minister said that he planned to present a lockdown exit strategy to parliament on Tuesday, which will then debate and set guidelines. So a little bit longer there to determine exactly where they're going to go. Other countries like Austria and Denmark, where cases and deaths haven't been as high, had already begun easing some of their restrictions. And in Germany,

where fatality rates are low, schools are going to reopen for some students next Monday. Now, later this week, we'll take a look at the state of coronavirus responses in other regions throughout the world, but that's the latest of another week, and it's time to check in. We've been talking about how much we miss sports, big sports players, big sports watchers at WOD. But at least some parts of sports are still going on. The NFL draft was this weekend. It was virtual, and 55 million people tuned in, which is a record number. That's kind of crazy. We're not even sure there's going to be a season this weekend. It was virtual and 55 million people tuned in, which is a record number. That's kind of crazy. We're not even sure there's going to be a season this fall. But Aaron, did you

watch any of it? Absolutely. I watched not for the kind of fanfic about a season that is probably never going to happen. But I watched for the voyeuristic pleasure of seeing just how crappy everybody else's living room is in America. It felt so nice and validating in a world of Instagram of like fiddly figs and perfect millennial pink accent walls and well-placed little framed prints on the wall. It was nice to look and say like, you know what? Most people's living rooms are like overstuffed sectionals with cup holders and pillows from the collection from Target that they make for kids that are about to go off to college. It felt like such a relief to see how little of a shit these millionaires gave about

how they decorated their homes. Cup holders in a sectional is honestly a vibe, like a real, like we're going to relax and have buffalo wings in the den type feeling that like takes me back to being a slightly heavier, like 11 to 13 year old. So I definitely, I definitely fuck with that. But these are, these are like the parents' houses. They're not the children's houses. They're not the children's houses.

These are not the children's houses, but you did see a lot of like the owner's houses. And you saw like Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, he tuned in from his yacht. His yacht, which even with all the money he has, he still could not buy the sense to not decorate the inside of his yacht

like a deconstructed tampon it's all white puffy like somebody should have been like jerry this looks like a bleached cheesecake factory don't decorate your yacht this way jerry yeah i mean look i think that we're all in a good place i think that's a good reset for us to put us in our place. Cup holders, deconstructed tampons. Jerry, we hope you're listening. You take some of our advice. That was today's temperature check.

Along with everyone else that you're checking in on, definitely make sure that your sports friends are coping and watching The Last Dance at the very least. Oh, so good. It's so good. So good. As soon as we hop off, that's what I'm doing. Fill your whiskey glasses full as Michael's

and talk to us about Jerry Krause. Decorate your yacht, and we'll be back with some headlines. Headlines. Hungary's government will likely pass a new law to end the legal recognition of trans people. The law makes it impossible for people to legally change their gender by defining gender as, quote, biological sex based on primary sex characteristics, end

quote. Critics say the timing of the bill was deliberate, allowing the government to quietly push an anti-LGBTQ agenda while the rest of the world focuses on the pandemic. Legal experts think that the law will face challenges in the Hungarian Supreme Court and in the European Court of Human Rights. The move is in line with the far-right politics of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has used the global health crisis to give himself near-dictatorial powers. Real shock doctrine guy. Yeah. An increasing number of privately owned hospitals in rural areas have been shutting down,

leaving some communities without easy access to hospitals during the pandemic. The New York Times followed three formerly non-profit or community-owned hospitals in West Virginia and Ohio that were acquired by for-profit group Electo Healthcare Services. In recent months, these hospitals closed their doors, leaving towns to fight COVID-19 with way fewer vital hospital beds. A recent study found that for-profit hospitals are more likely to shut down than others, forcing people in surrounding communities to travel for miles to get professional medical help. Electo Healthcare Services sounds like a subsidiary of Acme, the company from Looney Tunes that makes bombs that malfunction and

blow up Wile E. Coyote instead of his intended target, the Roadrunner. Anyway, while in the U.S. the main active sport right now is competitive supply hoarding, Taiwan's five-team baseball league is up and running and has been since April 11th. That's possible because Taiwan responded early to coronavirus with swift travel bans, island-wide testing, and contact tracing, and have kept the total number of cases below 450. Taiwan's baseball league isn't letting their guard down, though. Players still walk through body temperature scanners before they take the field,

and no spectators are allowed in stadiums. To make the stadium feel crowded, the league took the time-honored home-alone approach, filling the seats with life-size cardboard cutouts of fans. An added benefit is if the wet bandits come through, they will be too scared to commit a crime. Is it funnier to imagine Macaulay Culkin or Joe Pesci on a Taiwanese baseball field? Pesci.

Oh, Pesci currently or Pesci circa home alone? Let's say currently. Macaulay Culkin. Oh, interesting answer. Okay, I'll get back to you. In Chicago, you'll no longer be able to go on a romantic carriage ride with your lover while bathing in a thick fog of horse stink after last friday city council vote horse-drawn carriages will be banned in that city

starting in 2021 now this follows years of advocacy by animal rights groups who consider the horse-drawn carriage industry to be inhumane. Other cities like Salt Lake City, Camden, New Jersey, and Palm Beach, Florida have taken the same step. During New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's mayoral run in 2013, he made the extremely common boast that he would outlaw horse-drawn carriages on his first day in office. Now, that didn't happen, but he did make moves in 2018 on behalf of our shiny, muscular friends, like outlawing carriages in inhospitable weather and moving boarding locations within Central Park. Gideon, you lived in Chicago, right? Correct.

The whole time you were there, did you ever once see a horse? No, I never saw wildlife of any kind. I lived there for seven years and I never saw a horse. And good for the horses that no longer have to work, but I didn't realize this was even a thing in Chicago. I'm glad they're going to be able to retire somewhere comfortable though learning about forced labor and then learning about forced labor being shut down in the same day is it's kind of a win-win on the same in the same 10 seconds it's great yeah i feel great

that's what we do here and those are the headlines that's all for today if you like the show make sure you subscribe water our fiddle leaf fig and tell your friends to listen and if you are into reading and not just custom engravings on the back of iPods

like me what a day is also a nightly newsletter check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe I'm Erin Ryan.

I'm Gideon Resnick. And beware of the wet bandits. We're both speaking very slowly because the wet bandits have dropped air conditioners on our heads. We're scared of them. They're scary.