New York Times: “Roughly one year since the first known death by the coronavirus in the United States, an unfathomable toll is nearing — the loss of half a million people. … No other country has counted so many deaths in the pandemic. More Americans have perished from Covid-19 than on the battlefields of World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined.”
Behold, Donald Trump — Friend of the Worker!
To whom loyalty’s dear as the almighty dollar.
But on his return to New York,
There to greet the great jerk,
Were the news media and one lone supporter.
“To me, Donald Trump is sort of a cross between Jesse Helms, Ronald Reagan and P.T. Barnum. … He could make the Republican Party something that nobody else I know can make it. He can make it bigger. He can make it stronger. He can make it more diverse. And he also could destroy it.”
— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Axios that Donald Trump has a “dark side” but he tries to “harness the magic” because he succeeded where Republican candidates like John McCain and Mitt Romney failed.
“Neanderthals are hunter-gatherers, they’re protectors of their family, they are resilient, they’re resourceful, they tend to their own. So, I think Joe Biden needs to rethink what he is saying.”
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), on Fox Business, on President Joe Biden’s criticism of the governors of Texas and Mississippi. It’s not clear why she’s speaking in the present tense.
“You’d better be spending a lot more time developing an economic agenda that benefits working people than re-litigating a lost presidential election. The question is, how long will it take the Republicans to figure out that driving out heretics rather than winning new converts is a losing strategy right now?”
“So we live in a republic and we the people should have a voice and a choice about our own health. … I have done some research and would like to share with you the physical and emotional and even mental injuries to our bodies and possibly even our souls as healthy individuals are required to wear face masks.”
— Idaho state Rep. Karey Hanks (R), reported by KVTB-TV
Associated Press: “President Joe Biden is the first executive in four decades to reach this point in his term without holding a formal question and answer session. It reflects a White House media strategy meant both to reserve major media set-pieces for the celebration of a legislative victory and to limit unforced errors from a historically gaffe-prone politician.”
“Former President Donald Trump was spotted outside Trump Tower Sunday night in his first visit back to the Big Apple since leaving office,” the New York Post reports. “He was seated in a backseat of a black SUV. Upon his arrival, he waved to a lone Trump supporter who was across the street next to the media.”
CNN: “At the current pace of about 2 million shots per day — the latest seven-day average of doses administered reported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the US could reach herd immunity by summer through vaccinations alone. It will likely be even sooner, if factoring in individuals who may have some natural immunity due to prior infection. … Herd immunity thresholds for Covid-19 are only estimates at this point. But experts generally agree that somewhere between 70% and 85% of the population must be protected to suppress the spread.”
New York Times: “The average number of vaccine doses being administered across the United States per day topped two million for the first time on Wednesday… A month ago, the average was about 1.3 million.”