Chad Verrall

PS/ I know we don't get shocked about anything anymore, but there are over 250 US dead in Washington and Michigan—a number that's rapidly climbing—and here's the President of the United States openly saying he wants to shut down communications with them because they insulted him.

PS3/ Trump made clear the governors of New York (Cuomo), New Jersey (Murphy), and California (Newsom) are sufficiently appreciative that he's willing to call them or have the Coronavirus Task Force head call them. But with Michigan and Washington, he doesn't want calls to happen.

PS4/ Whether we realize it or not, we've become *so immune* to *real* judgment of Donald Trump—not just exasperation, but a sort of we-have-to-do-something-here judgment—that we hear a statement that could get other presidents impeached and even we as Trump critics sort of shrug.

PS5/ Trump's presser today made his quid pro quo clear, and was *intended* to do so: If you're a governor and your state receives federal aid during the coronavirus pandemic, you WILL NOT criticize Trump publicly. If you criticize Trump publicly, your state MAY lose aid.

PS6/ Keep in mind, this is a matter of Trump's pride but *more importantly* a matter of *Trump's re-election*. What Trump is saying is that if you're a governor and you say things publicly that could hurt Trump's re-election... well... maybe a few more of your citizens will die?

PS7/ Trump's manner of running a pandemic response is *100% transactional*. He believes that governors—much like him—are motivated solely by staying in power, so he assumes threatening their aid means threatening their reelection and thus will be effective at keeping them quiet.

PS8/ Today Trump *praised* media for being largely "fair" to him. And many people were like... why did he do that? But folks, he's 100% transparent: he's having the highest approval ratings of his term. He assumes—rightly—much of that results from coverage. So he praises media.