Today’s edition of quick hits:
* What a mess: “Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly on Monday delivered a scathing attack against the captain who sounded the alarm over the spread of the coronavirus on his ship.”
* In the U.K.: “Prime Minister Boris Johnson was taken into an intensive care unit for coronavirus, his office announced Monday.”
* Expect a Trump tweet: “Wall Street surged on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing up almost 1,600 points as a decline in death rates in Europe led to optimism that social distancing measures are having an impact.”
* A highly damning AP article: “After the first alarms sounded in early January that an outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China might ignite a global pandemic, the Trump administration squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster the federal stockpile of critically needed medical supplies and equipment. A review of federal purchasing contracts by The Associated Press shows federal agencies largely waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers.”
* Relevant details: “Since Chinese officials disclosed the outbreak of a mysterious pneumonialike illness to international health officials on New Year’s Eve, at least 430,000 people have arrived in the United States on direct flights from China, including nearly 40,000 in the two months after President Trump imposed restrictions on such travel, according to an analysis of data collected in both countries.” * The Trump Organization “has laid off or furloughed about 1,500 employees at hotels in the United States and Canada as the coronavirus pandemic inflicts further pain on the president’s private business.” * A big step from the State Department: “The Trump administration on Monday designated a Russian white supremacist group a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ and hit its members with sanctions. The move against the Russian Imperial Movement is the first time the designation has been made for a white supremacist group and comes amid doubts the administration believes extremist organizations of that type merit such sanctions.” See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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