It’s Tuesday, March 10. Ordered here by the number of delegates up for grabs: Michigan, Washington State, Missouri, Mississippi, Idaho, and North Dakota vote (in ND’s case, by caucus) today.
In the rest of today’s newsletter: Out with the handshakes, in with the hand sanitizer—Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders have both canceled rallies planned for tonight. Plus: From “Never Trump” to “Why not Trump.”
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« TODAY IN POLITICS »
(Charlie Reidel / AP)
Out with the handshakes, in with the hand sanitizer.
The raucous rallies and intimate retail politics that have been a hallmark of presidential elections are running head-first into the coronavirus outbreak.
Both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders have criticized President Donald Trump for his handling of the outbreak, but neither candidate had before today taken any significant measures to minimize risk on the campaign trail and at their rallies. That changed today, when both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders cancelled their pit stops in Cleveland.
Welcome to the coronavirus campaign.
How is the Trump campaign reacting? The president’s general-election mantra has been to paint his opponent—whether that’s ultimately Biden or Sanders—as a socialist who is out to stifle the free market. But the president’s own response to the epidemic isn’t exactly textbook Adam Smith.
The COVID-19 outbreak demonstrates the emptiness of these sorts of ideological labels. Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, in a national emergency, there’s no truly laissez-faire government.