Man-o-man, this is some high-stakes poker playing, and it’s the United States economy on the table.   Mitch McConnell is going to put S.3548 The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or the CARES Act, back on the senate floor at 9:45am ET tomorrow, 15 minutes after the stock market starts collapsing.

[Read Bill Here]

[Link To Tweet]

Sweet Baby Jesus… I can’t remember ever seeing anything like this.  A $20 trillion U.S. economy, and tens-of-millions of American jobs and businesses on the line….  And McConnell is calling Pelosi’s bluff.    P.U.B.L.I.C.L.Y!

Talk about seriously high stakes politics.   Yikes.  McConnell is going to make every democrat senator vote again to close debate and advance the bill; putting them on record for negotiating a deal and then walking away from the deal they assembled.

I would imagine Senator McConnell has talked to President Trump about this….

White House Trade and Manufacturing Policy Advisor Peter Navarro discusses some of the more granular details behind the COVID-19 mitigation strategy.   The policies are designed to counter the economic impacts, and then use a tactical approach toward the challenges in the supply chain for medical supply needs.

Navarro discusses some of the private sector shifts in production and manufacturing to generate medical supply needs as an outcome of the defense production act.

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President Trump and the coronavirus task force will be updating the public and answering questions from the Brady press room at the White House today at 5:00pm ET.

There may be questions about the DOJ requests for increased authorities to arrest and detain non-compliant citizens without judges/lawyers – Livestreams Below:

WH Livestream Link – Fox News Livestream Link – State Dept. Livestream Link

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Steve Bannon appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the U.S. response to the coronavirus.   Bannon advocates for a military style shut-down of the U.S. to shut down everything now and get through the crisis as quickly as possible.

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appears on Fox News to discuss the financial legislation (likely vote tomorrow) to support workers and businesses immediately impacted by President Trump’s proactive shut-down of the U.S. economy.

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The Deep State is playing COVID-19 perfectly.  With the intention to create/instill extra fears amid center-right Americans; and timed to emphasize the center-left narrative of authoritarian Trump; U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr steps in to execute his role.

U.S. AG Bill Barr asks legislators to empower him with more legal authority to take actions within the justice department amid the crisis known as the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic.

(Via Politico) The Justice Department has quietly asked Congress for the ability to ask chief judges to detain people indefinitely without trial during emergencies — part of a push for new powers that comes as the coronavirus spreads through the United States.

Documents reviewed by POLITICO detail the department’s requests to lawmakers on a host of topics, including the statute of limitations, asylum and the way court hearings are conducted.

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Earlier today President Trump, Vice-President Pence and members of the coronavirus task force held a briefing to update on the latest COVID-19 mitigation efforts.

[Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. A lot of things going on, and we’re going to be going over to the Hill, and we’re having a lot of meetings. And, from the financial — this is a medical situation, not a financial situation. The financial, though, is moving along very nicely.

I want to thank you for being here and update you on the progress we’ve made after a week of extraordinary mobilization in our war against the virus. Governors, mayors, the businesses, charities, and citizens are all working with urgency and speed toward one common goal, which is saving American lives.

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CTH analyzes data to assemble unemotional models that reflect/predict outcomes.  If this type of government mandate expands much further, there WILL be rationing – it is an inescapable conclusion.  It’s not a matter of “if“, it’s a matter of when… where… and how.

Perhaps that explains all the National Guard deployments and pre-staging:

Kansas/Missouri – Today the CORE 4 partners of Jackson County, Missouri; Johnson County, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri, and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, based on the urgency of the COVID-19 public health emergency and the imminent rapid progression of the pandemic in our area, announce that beginning Tuesday, March 24, residents will be directed to stay at home except for essential needs.

All jurisdictions will issue orders that will stay in effect for 30 days from the effective date of March 24, with consideration after 30 days of whether to prolong these orders beyond that date, based on public health and critical care metrics available at that time.

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First, regardless of what the poll numbers reflect, based on a three-year track record of doing whatever it takes, it is safe to say President Trump would do whatever was the best approach while considering polling of those hard decisions irrelevant.

Second, even with the constant back-biting, snark and transparent attacks from the mainstream media, President Trump’s strength as a leader and manager of crisis is well identified by the majority of Americans. The media hate us, he’s just in their way.

(LINK TO POLL)

(Via ABC) As a deepening public health crisis rocks the nation, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll released Friday shows a far different portrait of a country than from only one week ago, as nearly three in four Americans now say their lives have been upended in some way by the novel coronavirus and President Donald Trump’s approval for his handling of the outbreak is on the rise.

In the new poll, 55% of Americans approve of the president’s management of the crisis, compared to 43% who disapprove. Trump’s approval on this issue is up from last week, when the numbers were nearly reversed. (read more)

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announces via Twitter the IRS has delayed the deadline for tax filing to July 15th. However, anyone expecting a refund should file asap for obvious reasons.