Speaker Nancy Pelosi is attempting to exploit the coronavirus issue to pass a litany of permanent laws inside what was supposed to be a temporary legislative bill to assist those economically impacted by the coronavirus mitigation efforts.

Two issues are stark: (1) permanent and mandatory paid sick leave; and (2) a massive and permanent increase in medicare spending to benefit health insurance companies.

(Via The Hill) […] “There’s a couple major problems with it. Here’s one glaring problem: Under [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi’s bill, the Social Security Administration will be set up to administer the paid sick leave program. Now this will take more than six months, so it won’t work in time. It will also hamper the administration from putting out Social Security for those who need it right now that are in harm’s way,” he added.

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Elania Plott is a CNN analyst who notes in her conversations with supporters of President Trump the disdain and distrust in media is worse than any time she can remember:

Perhaps this short recap video will help explain.  CNN is now claiming that anyone who uses the term “Wuhan Virus” or “Chinese Corona Virus” is being xenophobic and racist.  The Media Research Center looked into it and captured some rather stark hypocrisy:

The stock market is not the U.S. economy.  The stock market is an investment instrument.
Yes, the downstream consequences from coronavirus mitigation efforts means there is likely going to be temporary, very specific, fluxes within the Main Street economy.  Entertainment, hospitality and leisure are likely to see the strongest initial impacts. However, as noted by the release of weekly jobless claims the U.S. economy is very strong.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week as employers continued to hold on to their workers.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 211,000 for the week ended March 7, the Labor Department said. Jobless claims are the most timely labor market indicator. They have declined for two straight weeks.

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The level of media opposition and snark against President Trump is simply so ridiculous at this point there’s a desperation to it.  So let us consider…
From the outset of Donald Trump’s entry into the world of politics he espoused a series of key tenets around what he called his “America-First” objectives:

1. The U.S. needed to have control over our borders, and a greater ability to control who was migrating to the United States.  A shift toward stopping ‘illegal’ migration.
2. The U.S. needed to stop the manufacture of goods overseas and return critical manufacturing back to the United States.  A return to economic independence.
3. The U.S. needed to decouple from an over-reliance on Chinese industrial and consumer products.  China viewed as a geopolitical and economic risk.

Donald Trump was alone on these issues.  No-one else was raising them; no-one else was so urgently pushing that discussion. In 2015, 2016 and even 2017, no-one other than Trump was talking about how close we were to the dependence point of no return.
Given the status of very consequential issues stemming from the Chinese Coronavirus threat; and the myriad of serious issues with critical supply chain dependencies; wasn’t President Trump correct in his warnings and proposals?
In early 2017 President Trump and his administration coined the phrase: “economic security is national security”, and the economic team set about starting a very complex process to ensure the past three decades of trade policy was reversed.
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Tonight President Trump delivered an address to the nation on the issues surrounding the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. [Transcript and video below]

[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: My fellow Americans: Tonight, I want to speak with you about our nation’s unprecedented response to the coronavirus outbreak that started in China and is now spreading throughout the world.

Today, the World Health Organization officially announced that this is a global pandemic.
We have been in frequent contact with our allies, and we are marshaling the full power of the federal government and the private sector to protect the American people.
This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history. I am confident that by counting and continuing to take these tough measures, we will significantly reduce the threat to our citizens, and we will ultimately and expeditiously defeat this virus.
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President Trump previously took executive action under sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, to restrict entry from China, Hong Kong, Iran and South Korea.  Today President Trump is extending entry restrictions to the EU “Schengen Area”.
The EU nations impacted include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
This is a prudent step because these are EU nations, under their collective assembly, who permit unrestricted travel without border enforcement or containment measures.

[The Proclamation ] – On January 31, 2020, I issued Proclamation 9984 (Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Persons Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting 2019 Novel Coronavirus and Other Appropriate Measures To Address This Risk). I found that the potential for widespread transmission of a novel (new) coronavirus (which has since been renamed “SARS-CoV-2” and causes the disease COVID-19) (“SARS-CoV-2” or “the virus”) by infected individuals seeking to enter the United States threatens the security of our transportation system and infrastructure and the national security.
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Tonight at 9:00pm ET, President Donald Trump will address the nation on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the Oval Office.  The address will be carried live on most major news broadcasts with additional livestream links below.

RSBN Livestream Link – Fox Business Livestream – Alternate Livestream

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Earlier today President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Munchin held a meeting of key banking executives to discuss the economic impacts of COVID-19, banking stability and financial mitigation.   [Video and Transcript Below]
Attendees include: Rob Nichols, President and CEO, America Bankers Association; Brian Moynihan, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Bank of America; Stephen Schwarzman, Chairman and CEO, Blackstone; Ken Griffin, CEO, Citadel; Michael Corbat, CEO, Citigroup; Richard Hunt, President and CEO, Consumer Bankers Association; David Solomon, Chairman and CEO, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.;Rebeca Romero Rainey, President and Chief Executive Officer, Independent Community Bankers of America; Gordon Smith, Co-President and COO, JPMorgan Chase; Kelly King, Chairman and CEO, Truist Financial Corporation; Andrew Cecere, Chairman, President and CEO, U.S. Bank and Charlie Scharf, CEO and President, Wells Fargo & Company.

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. And we are having a meeting — a very important meeting — with the, I would say, the greatest bankers in the world, the most important banks in the world, financial centers, and having a good discussion. We’re discussing the economy. We’re discussing how it relates to jobs and all of the things that are happening right now with the virus that we’ve become so familiar with.
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Earlier today President Trump and VP Mike Pence traveled to Capitol Hill to brief congress on the efforts of the Coronavirus task force and hold discussions on what legislative measures might be needed.  [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: So we just had a great meeting. Tremendous unity in the Republican Party. And we’re working on a lot of different things. We’ve also had some very good updates on the virus. That’s working out very smoothly. Tremendous people. It’s a tremendous task force. They have done a great job — not a good job, a great job.
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Earlier today President Trump met with a group of health insurance executives to discuss the ongoing Coronavirus mitigation effort.   [Video and Transcript Below]
Participants include: Gail Bourdreaux, President & CEO of Anthem, Inc.; Dave Wichmann, CEO UnitedHealth Group; Bruce Broussard, President and CEO Humana; Michael F. Neidorff, Chairman, President, and CEO Centene Corporation; Matt Eyles, President and CEO Americas Health Insurance Plans (AHIP); Tim Wentworth, CEO of Express Scripts and Cigna Services; Justine Handelman, Senior Vice President, Office of Policy and Representation, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association; Karen Lynch, President of Aetna Business Unit, Executive Vice President, CVS Health; Gregory Adams, Chairman and CEO Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. We’re meeting with the top executives of the health insurance companies, the biggest companies in our country — probably the biggest companies in our country, probably the biggest companies in the world. I can’t imagine being much bigger.
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