Notable Quote of the Day

“Guns. Climate change. Immigration reform. Financial reform. Education reform. Criminal-justice reform. Spending proposals. Tax proposals. The Democratic presidential race was the thickest any race had ever been on policy. Every candidate had an advisory team; every advisory team had white papers and bullet points and ideas of what could, theoretically, happen once its candidate was in the White House and Congress was ready to play along.

Thanks to the coronavirus, that’s all gone. Aside from health-care reform, the pandemic has almost completely overtaken the presidential campaign—and the health-care arguments are mired in the same dug-in pleas for and against Medicare for All that they were over the past year. The coronavirus crisis has rewritten the rules about the scope of the bills Congress can pass, sucked up trillions of dollars in government money, driven the economy into a recession and possibly a global depression, and made clear that its aftermath will define the next four years, no matter who wins in November.”

– Edward-Isaac Dovere, The Atlantic

Democrats

• In an interview on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Joe Biden said the Democratic Party should consider holding a virtual convention. He also said Capt. Brett Crozier should have received a commendation for raising concerns about the spread of coronavirus on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. “I think it’s close to criminal the way they’re dealing with this guy,” Biden said.

• Biden said during a virtual fundraiser on Friday that he is vetting candidates for vice president. He said he informed Bernie Sanders that he had begun the process.

• Sanders released his “Priorities for the Next Coronavirus Relief Package” on Friday, which includes monthly direct payments of $2,000 to every person in the United States regardless of immigration status. He also called for guaranteed paid medical and sick leave for all workers and hazard pay for essential and frontline workers. He also said the Defense Production Act should be used for the production of personal protective equipment. Sanders called for canceling all student loan payments and suspending monthly payments like rent, mortgages, medical debt, and consumer debt collection.

• The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir and other senior advisers have encouraged Sanders to withdraw from the presidential race.

Republicans

• During the coronavirus briefing on Friday, Donald Trump recommended that Americans wear face masks in public where social distancing is not possible to maintain. The White House also said that anyone coming into contact with the president would be tested for coronavirus first.

• Trump said the NFL season should begin in September as usual during a conference call with officials from major sports leagues on Saturday.

Flashback: April 6, 2016

Donald Trump held a rally on Long Island with 15,000 attendees.