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On the roster: Fauci pleads for caution in reopening – Dems look to hold the line in L.A. – Biden catches Trump in April fundraising – Justices weigh release of Trump taxes – Not your average bear
FAUCI PLEADS FOR CAUTION IN REOPENING
Fox News: “Dr. Anthony Fauci, the face of the White House coronavirus task force, warned in testimony Tuesday before the Senate Health Committee that reopening the economy before certain ‘checkpoints’ … are met could bring ‘serious’ consequences. ‘As I have said many times publicly, what we have worked out is a guideline framework for how to open America again,’ Fauci said, referencing a set of guidelines the White House has released for states and localities to begin opening their economies. In order to proceed to the first of three stages, states would need to see an uninterrupted decrease in coronavirus cases over a 14-day period. … ‘If some areas – cities states or what have you – jump over those barriers, checkpoints and prematurely open up without having the capability of being able to respond effectively, and efficiently, my concern is that we will start to see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks.’”
Pelosi short of support for new $3 trillion bailout – Fox News: “The House Democrats’ coronavirus relief proposal will reach about $3 trillion in new spending, amounting to the biggest and most expensive aid package yet to deal with the global pandemic, Fox News has learned. Of the roughly $3 trillion, about $1 trillion would go to state, local and tribal governments, according to two sources briefed on the proposal. Then a flurry of cash would be allocated to struggling Americans, including more direct payments, unemployment insurance and a new benefit that would subsidize rent and mortgage payments for Americans. House Democrats called the legislation the HEROES Act. The text of the sprawling plan was circulated Tuesday. … But the price tag shows that Democrats have gone big — rather, huge — for the fifth round of coronavirus legislation. And it’s a figure sure to face deep skepticism from cost-conscious lawmakers growing uncomfortable with the historic pace of massive spending legislation.”
McConnell skeptical – Politico: “Hopes are fading on Capitol Hill for a deal on the next round of coronavirus relief before an approaching Memorial Day recess, raising the prospect that Congress won’t clinch a new spending agreement until June or beyond. While the Democratic-controlled House is aiming to pass a multitrillion-dollar package as soon as this week without GOP or White House input, the Senate Republican majority has no timeline for delivering its own bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the party is still ‘assessing what we’ve done already,’ referring to the nearly $3 trillion in aid delivered by Congress thus far. … The GOP has little regard for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s legislation and in interviews Republican senators said it does nothing to pressure them to act. Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said in an interview the House bill is ‘more like a messaging document than anything else.’ McConnell has offered Republican senators no timeline on the next bill, according to a GOP senator.”
Where does the Fed get all that money? – USA Today: “In its frantic scramble to save the American economy, the central bank of the United States seems to have the ultimate superpower. It works like magic. With a few strokes on a computer, the Federal Reserve can create dollars out of nothing, virtually ‘printing’ money and injecting it into the commercial banking system, much like an electronic deposit. By the end of the year, the Fed is projected to have purchased $3.5 trillion in government securities with these newly created dollars, one of many tools it is using to help prop up the ailing economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Oxford Economics. … The Fed’s goal: To keep markets functioning after they had seized up in fear. The strategy also makes credit easier to obtain, with a bigger money supply and lower interest rates. Without these and the Fed’s other emergency measures, the economy would have crashed already, experts say. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a recent news conference that these purchases have helped market conditions improve ‘substantially’ in recent weeks.”
Baseball players union may balk at starting season – St. Louis Post Dispatch: “[M]ajor league baseball owners agreed during a conference call on Monday to make a proposal [today] to the players’ union that could lead to the start of the season on the July 4 weekend with no fans in home ballparks, at first, but with a designated hitter in every lineup. … The owners have proposed that players receive their salaries for this season based on a roughly 50-50 split of revenues Major League Baseball receives during the regular season and postseason. The owners say they would be taking a bath with no fans coming through the gates, so revenue sharing, for this one time, anyway, is necessary. … Tony Clark, executive director for the Major League Baseball Players’ Association, told The Athletic, ‘A system that restricts player pay based on revenues is a salary cap, period. This is not the first salary cap proposal our union has received. It probably won’t be the last.’”
Hot spots bloom around meat packing plants – Bloomberg: “The coronavirus spread at more than twice the national rate in U.S. counties with major meatpacking plants in the first week after President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing that they be reopened. Confirmed Covid-19 cases jumped 40% during the week following the order in counties with major beef or pork slaughterhouses, compared with a 19% rise nationally, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The counties accounted for 10% of new confirmed cases from April 28 to May 5 while representing just 7.5% of the U.S. population. Infections climbed even faster where slaughterhouses were outside major population centers, and may have a greater impact. The disparity underscores the extent to which the areas around meat processors — many located in rural regions far away from initial hot spots — have become epicenters of the virus.”
THE RULEBOOK: YES, PLEASE
“As the accuracy of the census to be obtained by the Congress will necessarily depend, in a considerable degree on the disposition, if not on the co-operation, of the States, it is of great importance that the States should feel as little bias as possible, to swell or to reduce the amount of their numbers.” – Alexander Hamilton or James Madison, Federalist No. 54
TIME OUT: FOR YOUR POST-QUARANTINE TRAVELS
Garden & Gun: “When you enter the grounds of Winston-Salem, North Carolina’s Old Salem Museums & Gardens, it’s easy to feel transported; from the authentic colonial architecture to the period-dressed men and women practicing traditional Moravian crafts, the site is as close to a time-travel destination as it gets in the modern South. Salem was settled in 1766, and today, this living history attraction immerses visitors in the lives of the town’s early settlers, with a special focus on the craftsmanship that developed there. Throughout Old Salem, blacksmiths, cobblers, and carpenters produce wares while others cook over open hearths or bake bread in historic dome ovens. A passion for craft of all kinds is abundantly clear, but this is just the beginning. Beyond the perimeter of Old Salem, Winston-Salem has continued its rich makers’ tradition; today, the Piedmont Triad city is known as a growing hub of creativity and innovation.”
Flag on the play? – Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with your tips, comments or questions.
SCOREBOARD
PRESIDENTIAL POWER RANKINGS
(270 electoral votes needed to win)
Toss-up (103 electoral votes): Wisconsin (10), Ohio (18), Florida (29), Arizona (11), Pennsylvania (20), North Carolina (15)
Lean R/Likely R: (186 electoral votes)
Lean D/Likely D (249 electoral votes)
[Full rankings here.]
TRUMP JOB PERFORMANCE
Average approval: 44.6 percent
Average disapproval: 50.8 percent
Net Score: -6.2 points
Change from one week ago: ↓ 1.4 points
[Average includes: CNN: 46% approve – 51% disapprove; CNBC: 46% approve – 54% disapprove; Monmouth University: 44% approve – 51% disapprove; PRRI: 43% approve – 54% disapprove; IBD: 44% approve – 44% disapprove.]
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DEMS LOOK TO HOLD THE LINE IN L.A.
NPR: “The first competitive congressional race of the coronavirus era takes place Tuesday in Southern California, where Republican Mike Garcia and Democrat Christy Smith are vying to fill the vacancy left by former Rep. Katie Hill, who resigned last year because of a personal scandal. The winner will serve out Hill’s current term through November, when the same two candidates will be on the ballot again for a full two-year term. The Democratic-leaning 25th District seat is a toss-up, with Garcia showing signs of strength in the closing weeks of the campaign. The race has provided a snapshot of what stay-at-home orders and socially distanced campaigning could look like all across the country this year if the pandemic continues to disrupt the 2020 election season. California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a stay-at-home order on March 19, forcing Garcia and Smith to abandon the pillars of traditional campaigning: door-knocking, meet-and-greets, rallies and fundraising events. The candidates instead debated via live video conference call, and directed their campaign volunteers to do exclusive phone work.”
Voters head to the polls in Wisconsin and Nebraska too – Fox News: “There’s a lot less drama in the other special election – in Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District – which is solidly Republican. The race is to fill the seat left open by 5-term GOP Rep. Sean Duffy – a major Trump supporter who stepped down from Congress last September to spend more time caring for his newborn baby, who was born with health complications. … It’s primary day in Nebraska, where the state becomes just the second in the nation to hold a predominantly in-person contest during the coronavirus pandemic – following Wisconsin. …[Officials] say an unprecedented 300,000 people have already requested absentee ballots. But they note that state law requires that polling stations be open. On the ballot is the Democratic presidential nomination, as well as a battle between the Democratic Party’s centrist and left wings in a primary for a competitive House seat controlled by the GOP. There are also down-ballot races.”
Trump’s virus response may cause issues down ballot – PBS: “Vulnerable House and Senate Republicans began the 2020 election cycle navigating the impeachment of an unpopular president at a time when the economy showed signs of slowing down. And that was before the coronavirus pandemic. … The most vulnerable Republican incumbents are Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Martha McSally of Arizona, Cory Gardner of Colorado, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. All four races are rated a toss-up by the Cook Political Report. Recent polls show the Democratic challenger leading by a narrow margin in Maine and North Carolina. Mark Kelly, the astronaut and husband of former Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords, has a comfortable lead over McSally in Arizona, and former Gov. John Hickenlooper has opened up a double-digit lead over Gardner in Colorado.”
BIDEN CATCHES TRUMP IN APRIL FUNDRAISING
Politico: “President Donald Trump‘s political operation narrowly outraised Joe Biden in April, according to fundraising totals released Monday. The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee raked in $61.7 million, they said late Monday, while Biden and the Democratic National Committee announced they took in $60.5 million. The total raised in April — Biden’s first as the lone Democratic candidate — has helped fuel the former vice president’s recent hiring spree and nearly matched the combined $61.8 million that was raised in April 2016 by Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders. … The consolidation of support allowed Biden to strike a joint-fundraising agreement with the Democratic National Committee, giving his campaign a big financial boost. The month before, Biden’s campaign reported raising $46.7 million. April is the first month the campaign and the DNC reported their totals together.”
Trump approval declines in Wisc., Biden maintains narrow lead – Marquette University: “A new Marquette Law School Poll surveying Wisconsin registered voters finds increased division over response to the coronavirus pandemic, although majorities continue to support social distancing and other restrictions. … Approval of President Donald Trump’s handing of the coronavirus outbreak has also declined to 44 percent, with 51 percent disapproval, compared to March when approval was 51 percent and disapproval 46 percent. … A general-election matchup between Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee former Vice President Joe Biden indicates a close race. In the May poll Biden receives 46 percent and Trump receives 43 percent. In March, Biden had the same edge with 48 percent to Trump’s 45 percent.”
Kristen Soltis Anderson: Trump reelection struggles with seniors – WashEx: “For the last decade, I have been one of the loudest voices preaching that Republicans are in trouble with this massive cohort of younger voters… I am here to tell Republicans that while their struggle with younger voters still remains a critical long-term challenge, an even graver short-term threat has emerged: declining support among seniors. Despite double-digit losses among young voters over the last decade, Republicans have still maintained some electoral successes due to their support among older voters. The generation gap has cut both ways, with poor showings among the young being matched by strong showings among the old. And though millennials now outnumber boomers in raw numbers, older voters remain more likely to show up at the polls (increases in youth participation in the last midterm elections notwithstanding).”
Dems make progress toward virtual convention – AP: “Democrats are making new moves toward a virtual presidential nominating convention this August. Party officials are preparing to grant convention organizers in Milwaukee the authority to design a convention that won’t require delegates to attend in person. The influential Rules & Bylaws panel will start the process Tuesday with a resolution that grants ‘maximum flexibility’ to the convention organizing committee to set up a gathering that ‘guarantees every delegate can accomplish their official business without putting their own health at risk.’ The resolution underscores how much the COVID-19 pandemic has upended the 2020 presidential election and every aspect of American life.”
Philbrick: Will the Coronavirus Crush the Resistance? – NYT: “This ‘resistance’ of volunteer organizers, many of them new to activism, is ideologically and geographically diverse, spanning progressives, moderate liberals and even some anti-Trump conservatives. And while the resistance includes youth-led groups like Sunrise, many of its most committed and longest-active organizers are middle-aged or older. Many, also, are women. … But now the coronavirus crisis is threatening the civic resurgence the Trump presidency inspired, transforming marches, town halls and door-knocking from the building blocks of liberal organizing into potential vectors for disease. So until social distancing lifts, Zoom meetings like Sunrise NYC’s have emerged as the idling engines of pent-up activist energy. … Activists nationwide have pivoted to online meetings, Slack trainings and a renewed focus on social media. … But some fear that too much online activism risks depersonalizing — or defanging — their work.”
JUSTICES WEIGH RELEASE OF TRUMP TAXES
Fox News: “The Supreme Court waded uneasily Tuesday into a politically-charged fight over executive accountability as justices held oral arguments in cases dealing with subpoenas of President Trump’s personal tax and financial records. First up was a constitutional showdown testing the separation of powers between the White House and the federal legislature, as President Trump’s legal team challenged subpoenas from Democrat-led House committees seeking financial records from him and his businesses, including his tax returns. ‘How can we both protect the House interests and obtain information it needs to legislate, but also protect the presidency?’ asked Justice Brett Kavanaugh, summarizing the conflict. … Justice Sonia Sotomayor questioned the validity of using the president as a ‘case study’ for potential future legislation. She said this could violate restrictions against exposing for the sake of exposure. … Justice Neil Gorsuch said that normally law enforcement measures are taken to investigate evidence of a particular crime, not to look into an individual to see if a crime had been committed.”
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Trump intel chief declassifies Obama officials who ‘unmasked’ Flynn – WSJ
Pergram: D.C. turmoil echoes life before coronavirus pandemic – Fox News
AUDIBLE: HE WENT TO JARED
“Brad said, ‘Blame the people Jared brought in.’” – An anonymous source who claimed to Vanity Fair that Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale told President Trump to blame the campaign’s struggles on Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
FROM THE BLEACHERS
“How do you reconcile the apparent discrepancy between the polling data which appears to favor Biden at this point and the various betting odds which appear to favor Trump? Further, though less clear, it appears to me that the stock market (where the real money is) is forecasting a Trump win in November. You’re the expert on this. Do you rely solely on polling data?” – Matt Lincoln, Portola Valley, Calif.
[Ed. note: Good question, Mr. Lincoln! First, I have no idea what Wall Street is betting on. There are some political effects on markets that seem pretty obvious — e.g. Bernie Sanders dropping out — but mostly it does me no good to guess at what traders, individuals and algorithms that drive stock prices are up to. After all, they’re buying and selling based not on their views alone, but rather what they think others will do. If the market goes up, Republicans will say that it’s because investors are optimistic Trump will get reelected and Democrats will say that investors are optimistic that he will be replaced. Political betting markets are another matter, and I do check them regularly. The one I visit the most is Predictit, which currently favors Trump to win a second term but contradictorily favors Biden to win the Electoral College. Bettors can place a wager on a future outcome in the same way commodities traders can bet on the future price of gold, pork bellies or oil. If you buy a Trump future today, it will cost you 49 cents, while a Biden future is 44 cents. So, what do those price signals tell us? That a self-selected group of probably affluent, highly politically engaged individuals who feel comfortable with online betting think Trump is more likely to win. That’s the kind of group you would expect to favor Trump in their own votes, especially when we think about the male skew in gambling generally. It’s hard to separate one’s wishes and expectations, so there may be a lean there in the same way that conventional media wisdom may reflect underlying preferences for Democratic success. But the combined wisdom of a group may be more predictive than an individual and, presumably, political junkies who care enough to do such things are more informed than average voters. But these markets are really lagging, not leading indicators. Hillary Clinton hit her top price on the day before the 2016 election. She went from 82 cents to 3 cents as her defeat unfolded in slow motion in the early morning hours of Nov. 9. Bettors base their wagers on the same things that political pundits do: Campaign spending, endorsements, voter enthusiasm, debate performances and, most of all, polls. You can find pundits today who say that Trump will win, and you can find some who will say Trump will lose. But who cares? If someone is fool enough to think they know how an election six months away in an utterly unprecedented environment is going to turn out, I’m not going to argue with them. Of course, I’m not going to listen, either. If I had to bet on what bettors would do, I’d wager on them continuing to overcorrect based changes in polls, news narratives and the conventional wisdom. Polls are designed to tell us how people are voting. Political betting is designed to tell us how bettors think people will vote. Both have their deficiencies, but both can be useful if you know what you’re working with.]
Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE BEAR
WATE: “Michelle Eberhart came to Gatlinburg [Tennessee] to enjoy a weekend with her husband and a group of their friends. Friday morning, while their husbands were out golfing, Michelle and her friend noticed an unexpected visitor leaning on the back door of the cabin. … Just that quickly, the bear broke right through the locked door and was inside the cabin. … [Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency] spokesperson Matt Cameron says this is not typical bear behavior. … ‘That means those bears have been around humans and have received handouts or have found a food source around a dwelling,’ Cameron said. The police were called, eventually getting the bear out of the cabin and the other three bears away from the porch, but the bears did not leave without taking a few souvenirs with them. ‘They got 5 pounds of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and a pound of M&M’s and two pounds of Sour Patch Kids and two bags of potato chips… two beers and two Diet Cokes and about 20 Zyrtecs.’ Eberhart said.”
AND NOW A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“There are only two times when you may fight. You may only fight when someone has started a fight with you — you are allowed to fight back — or when you are coming to help somebody who is weak and is being hit and needs your help.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the Washington Post on Feb. 23, 1990.
Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.
