Most Republican Governors Are Getting This All Wrong-- Democratic Governors Are Mostly Doing A Better Job Handling The Pandemic, But Almost Everyone Is Doing Better Than Trump

The big news out of Trumpland yesterday was that America's number one enemy-- let's say, number, one, number two and number three all rolled up into one giant, oozing, pustulent orange blob-- is threatening to wind down the coronavirus task force in coming weeks... "It's gradual demise, which officials said might never be formally announced, would only intensify the questions about whether the administration is adequately organized to address the complex, life-and-death decisions related to the virus and giving adequate voice to scientists and public health experts in making policy." And as if that wasn't enough-- as the U.S. death toll blew through 72,000, just days after the stable genius predicted 60,000 deaths would be the end of it-- CNN reported that Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority head Rick Bright, who was working on a vaccine when Trump fired him "formally filed an extensive whistleblower complaint Tuesday alleging his early warnings about the coronavirus were ignored and that his caution at a treatment favored by President Donald Trump led to his removal." He also charged that he was "pressured to steer contracts to the clients of a well-connected consultant." Sounds like anyone you know-- even if just from the TV?

Señor Trumpanzee's alma mater, Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania-- there are serious questions about whether he actually attended or not-- has a model about the costs of reopening states. One giant cost Republicans don't care much about is an extra 233,000 deaths (give or take). This is worse than it sounds because that number is under a scenario in which "states don’t reopen at all and with social distancing rules in place... [I[f the states were to reopen, 350,000 people in total would die from coronavirus by the end of June." The end of June is soon. 300,000 more deaths between now and then... sounds criminal to me.

Kent Smetters, the Penn Wharton Budget Mode director, said the decision to reopen states is ultimately a “normative judgement that comes down to the statistical value of life.”

He explained: “That’s not a crude way of saying we put a dollar value on life, but it’s the idea that people will take risks all the time for economic reward.”

That figure far surpasses estimates and models that the White House has cited from the University of Washington, which put the death toll at roughly 73,000 by the start of August.

...[P]artially reopening would also cause the death toll to rise, the university’s data found. An additional 45,000 lives would be lost, according to Wharton’s Budget Model, bringing the U.S.’s death toll from COVID-19 to 222,000.

...Keeping stay at home orders in place would result in a growth contraction of 11.6% year over year, the data found, but opening the states would curb some of that decline somewhat, paring back the downturn to 10.1% year over year.

However, Wharton’s data found that the state lockdowns will result in a more dramatic increase in unemployment, boosting the total of unemployed to nearly 50 million. A partial reopening would partly blunt that impact, but not by much.

In a bright spot for the plan to open states, the PWBM projects that almost all net job losses would be eliminated.

The model aims to quantify the trade-off to the economic benefits of reopening states amid the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 240,000 people worldwide, with some 60,000 deaths in the United States.

  The PWBM shows that when it comes to states’ plans to reopen their economies, not all states are created equal. One state’s decision could cause more damage than another.

If Colorado were to fully open, for example, the PWBM projected that by the end of June over 10,000 would die from coronavirus. That’s much higher than neighboring Kansas, where roughly 1,300 would lose their lives to COVID-19 under the same scenario.

And when it comes to economies, if Wisconsin stays closed, GDP would decline by 13%, compared to 10.8% in Maine.

  “You may look at some states and say ‘You know what, they’re not ready to reopen yet,’” Smetters said.

You think? Maybe that's why Señor T's overall job rating continues to tick down. A new Monmouth poll, released yesterday, "finds widespread concern about the country reopening too quickly rather than too slowly with most Americans prioritizing public health over the economy in lifting current restrictions." Trump's approval is now 43% (51% disapprove) and when asked specifically about how he's handling the pandemic, his approval is 42% say he's doing a good job (down from 50% in March).

When asked about the advice Trump has given about how to prevent and treat the coronavirus, 42% say it has been harmful, 33% say it has been helpful, and 23% say it is not particularly harmful or helpful. Two-thirds of Republicans (68%) say the president’s advice has been helpful while a similar number of Democrats (72%) say it has been harmful.

...Most Americans say the president has been largely inconsistent (55%) in his coronavirus press briefings from day to day, while 36% say he has been largely consistent. Majorities of Democrats (85%) and independents (58%) say Trump has been inconsistent, but only 18% of Republicans feel that way.

“It is difficult to look at the briefing transcripts and not see inconsistency from one day to the next. These poll results are just another reminder of how people filter information to reframe some facts and dismiss others in order to maintain their own internal consistency when it comes to perceptions of Trump,” said [Monmouth poll director Patrick] Murray.

  When presented with a potential situation where the president and CNN provide conflicting information about the coronavirus outbreak, 51% of Americans say they would be more likely to believe the cable network and 38% would be more likely to believe Trump. Another 8% volunteer that they would not believe either source and 2% say they would trust both equally. If conflicting information was presented by Trump and Fox News, 34% of the public would believe Fox and 33% would believe Trump. Another 25% volunteer they would not believe either source and 5% say they would trust both equally.

...Democrats are much more likely to prioritize health concerns (80%) over economic ones (12%) in lifting current restrictions. Independents are also more likely to stress public health (49%) over the economy (36%). Republicans, on the other hand, say preventing an economic downturn (54%) should be more important than preventing the spread of Covid (36%) when making the decision to lift outbreak restrictions.

Yesterday, 5 of the most clueless governors in America wrote an OpEd for the Washington Post. They wrote that "The core reasons our states are open for business are the tenacity, grit and heart of our residents. Their clear-eyed, common-sense approach helped keep our states on track and have set us up to come out of this pandemic stronger than ever. We look forward to leading the way." They will be responsible for immense numbers of their citizens needlessly dying. These are the numbers of people in their states each Republican governor is responsible for giving COVID-19 to so far. Next to the raw number is the number of cases per million people:

• Pete Ricketts (Nebraska)- 6,083 (3,380 per million)
• Kim Reynolds (Iowa)- 10,111 (3,228 per million)
• Mike Parson (Missouri)- 8,916 (1,494 per million)
• Asa Hutchinson (Arkansas)- 3,496 (1,179 per million)
• Mark Gordon (Wyoming)- 604 (1,038 per million)