Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump, Biden Strike Different Tones On Memorial Day Reflecting Partisan Divide On Pandemic
The Wall Street Journal: Trump, Biden Place Opposing Bets On Voters’ View Of Coronavirus
President Trump visited a golf course for the first time in two months on Saturday, as he pushes the nation to reopen for business. Joe Biden, remaining at his Delaware home since mid-March, has urged caution about public outings. As the nation looks to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 presidential rivals are placing bets on how voters will view the outbreak by November. Their conflicting strategies show that the two campaigns believe the race will turn on very different outcomes. (Thomas and Bender, 5/23)
The Wall Street Journal: Biden And Trump, At Separate Memorial Day Events, Show A Contrast In Style
President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden made public appearances on Memorial Day, approaching the day differently amid the coronavirus pandemic. It was the first time Mr. Biden was seen outside his Delaware neighborhood in two months. In an unannounced stop at the Delaware Memorial Bridge’s Veterans Memorial Park near his hometown of Wilmington, Mr. Biden was accompanied by his wife and a Secret Service detail, all of whom wore masks. He spoke briefly with a local elected official from a distance in a visit that lasted less than 10 minutes. (Restuccia and Siddigui, 5/25)
The New York Times: Joe Biden, Wearing Mask, Appears In Public At A Veterans Memorial
Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has been campaigning from his home for more than two months during the coronavirus crisis, on Monday made his first public appearance since mid-March, visiting a veterans memorial in Delaware. He and his wife, Jill Biden, wearing black masks, laid a wreath of white flowers in a Memorial Day commemoration that had not been publicly announced before the trip. Mr. Biden, a practicing Catholic, made the sign of the cross. (Glueck and Haberman, 5/25)
The Wall Street Journal: Trump Pays Tribute To Veterans, Coronavirus Victims At Baltimore’s Fort McHenry
President Trump paid tribute Monday to veterans and victims of the coronavirus pandemic as the U.S. death tally neared 100,000, ignoring calls by the city’s mayor to reconsider making an appearance here. “Tens of thousands of service members and national guardsmen are on the front lines of our war against this terrible virus, caring for patients, delivering critical supplies and working night and day to safeguard our citizens,” Mr. Trump said. “As one nation, we mourn alongside every single family that has lost loved ones, including the families of our great veterans.” (Restuccia, 5/25)
The Washington Post: On Weekend Dedicated To War Dead, Trump Tweets Insults, Promotes Baseless Claims And Plays Golf
In a flurry of tweets and retweets Saturday and Sunday, Trump mocked former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams’s weight, ridiculed the looks of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and called former Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton a “skank.” He revived long-debunked speculation that a television host with whom Trump has feuded may have killed a woman and asserted without evidence that mail-in voting routinely produces ballot stuffing. (Gearan, 5/24)
The Washington Post: In Crucial Florida, Some Senior Voters Cast A Skeptical Eye Toward Trump’s Reelection
Allen Lehner was a Republican until Donald Trump became his party’s nominee in 2016. The 74-year-old retiree says he couldn’t bring himself to vote for someone who lied, belittled others, walked out on his bills and mistreated women — but he also couldn’t bring himself to vote for Hillary Clinton. So he didn’t vote. Trump has done nothing since to entice Lehner back. (Johnson and Rozsa, 5/25)
NPR: Voter Registration Plummets Due To Pandemic, Reshaping 2020 Electorate
No door to door canvassing. Public gatherings are canceled. Motor vehicle offices are closed. Naturalization ceremonies are on hiatus. Almost every place where Americans usually register to vote has been out of reach since March and it's led to a big drop in new registrations right before a presidential election that was expected to see record turnout. (Fessler, 5/26)
The Wall Street Journal: Voting By Mail In November? States Need To Prepare Now
Americans are expected to vote by mail in record numbers in November, but authorities are running out of time to secure the vast number of ballots and ballot-processing machines needed to ensure a smooth process, election and industry officials say. Many Americans will likely want or need to avoid polling stations in the fall because of the coronavirus pandemic. A Department of Homeland Security-led working group said weeks ago that local governments should have started preparing in April if they want to ready their vote-by-mail systems for the November election. (Corse and McMillan, 5/23)
Boston Globe: Vote-By-Mail Advocates Growing Anxious
Legislation outlining vote-by-mail procedures for the September and November elections in Massachusetts “absolutely cannot wait another month,” electoral reform advocates say, as they renew their push for action on Beacon Hill. Under normal circumstances, local departments need several months to prepare fully for major statewide elections, particularly in a presidential year. But with the COVID-19 pandemic upending most aspects of public life — and with voters broadly supporting mail-in ballots — reform advocates argued it is critical for lawmakers to quickly find consensus on the myriad proposals before them. (Lisinski, 5/25)
The Associated Press Fact Check: Faulty Trump Claims On Virus Drug, Vote Fraud
When President Donald Trump doesn’t like the message, he shoots the messenger. So it was this past week when he took very personally a scientific study that should give pause to anyone thinking of following Trump’s lead and ingesting a potentially risky drug for the coronavirus. He branded the study’s researchers, financed in part by his own administration, his “enemy.” (Yen, Marchione and Woodward, 5/25)
The Hill: Poll: Majority Of Voters Support Mandatory Face Masks In Some Public Settings
A majority of voters in a new Hill-HarrisX poll support mandatory face masks in at least some public settings during the coronavirus panemic. Forty percent of registered voters in the May 18-19 survey said wearing face masks should be required in both indoor and outdoor public spaces, while another 28 percent said facial coverings should be mandatory in public indoor spaces only. (5/22)
CIDRAP: US Polls Show Partisan Divide In Attitudes To COVID-19
New results from an ongoing health tracking poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation show Americans' attitudes about how and when to resume activities after stay-at-home mandates lift are starkly divided along political lines, with Republicans more than Democrats saying they intend to go to the salon, attend large gatherings, and eat in restaurants in the coming months. (Soucheray, 5/22)
Politico: The General Election Scenario That Democrats Are Dreading
In early April, Jason Furman, a top economist in the Obama administration and now a professor at Harvard, was speaking via Zoom to a large bipartisan group of top officials from both parties. The economy had just been shut down, unemployment was spiking, and some policymakers were predicting an era worse than the Great Depression. The economic carnage seemed likely to doom President Donald Trump’s chances at reelection. Furman, tapped to give the opening presentation, looked into his screen of poorly lit boxes of frightened wonks and made a startling claim. (Lizza and Lippman, 5/26)
