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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Aging white people with guns are demanding the right to speak to the manager once more. Astrotuf rallies around the country set the stage for Donald Trump’s push to reopen the economy, even as COVID-19 claims more lives.

Meanwhile, the last of Joe Biden’s Democratic primary challengers lends him her endorsement. But some party progressives are still waiting to be wooed.

And lastly, companies that want a coronavirus bailout will be asked to make major concessions – in Europe. Why can’t we do that?

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Donald Trump said a few weeks ago that, virus or no virus, he wanted the country to be back to business as usual by Easter. Well, that day has come and gone. With lockdowns still in place in many states, Americans were treated to the spectacle of coordinated, Tea Party- style protests around the country yesterday. Crowds of mostly white, middle-aged supporters of Donald Trump showed up to state capitols in Michigan and Ohio -- some with guns and Confederate flags -- to demand restrictions on retail businesses be lifted. That’s right, they’re demanding the right to shop, no matter who suffers. They certainly weren’t protesting for front- line workers who are most at risk. In Michigan, members of the pro-Trump Proud Boys street gang blocked traffic – and ambulances. After a while, doctors reportedly walked into the street to ask them to let emergency patients reach the hospital.

Scenes like that played out during the day. In the early evening, Trump went on television for another lengthy monologue and announced yet a new task force – this one aimed at reopening the economy. To Fox News viewers, the president would’ve shown up just in time to give the people what they are demanding. How about that. Among the members of this new group, which seems dedicated to putting more lives at risk, is the chairman of Carnival Cruise lines -- an offshore corporation that’s based, for tax purposes, in Liberia. More pro-Trump, pro-coronavirus rallies are being planned in other states.

There should be no question any question that, as policy, this is insane. The pork-processing plant in South Dakota we told you about last week, that kept its workers on the job even as the virus spread, has emerged as a new national hotspot for deadly coronavirus cases. Trump wants this everywhere? As if it’s not bad enough already? In New Jersey, an anonymous tip about a corpse being stored in a shed led police to discover seventeen bodies crammed into a morgue made for four in one of the state’s largest nursing homes. The facility made an urgent call for body bags. Local members of Congress have pleaded for National Guard medics. Families of the dead were prevented from contacting relatives before their deaths. Many were never tested for coronavirus. Locals near the nursing home took it upon themselves to solicit donations. That is Trump’s coronavirus response in a nutshell. He has failed catastrophically. And now Republicans are sending in paramilitaries to demand that people who can’t even get healthcare get back to serving them. You can bet they don’t tip.

Warren endorses Biden

Massachussetts Senator Elizabeth Warren endorsed Joe Biden for president yesterday. She did so one day after their formal rival for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders, also endorsed Biden. Neither favorite reportedly asked for or received any promises or concessions from Biden before throwing him their support. However, other progressive Democrats aren’t yet ready to lend their credibility to the establishment favorite – at least not without something they can take home to show constitutents. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of the Bronx said, when asked about whether she’d be endorsing Biden, QUOTE we’ll see ENDQUOTE. These decisions always get people talking, although it’s unclear how much weight any of these endorsements will carry with general election voters in November. And for Democratic voters in the majority of states that have yet to hold primaries, the nomination process is already effectively over, with all former Democratic contenders now publicly asking their supporters to get behind Biden.

If it wasn’t already clear, there are not going to be a lot of normal elections this year. In Texas, a state district judge ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union and others who argued that everyone affected by the coronavirus is entitled to vote by mail. But the state’s Republican Attorney General, Ken Paxton, interpreted the ruling a little differently. Paxton was criminally indicted for fraud in 2015 but has yet to face trial. Yesterday he said groups that encourage people to apply for mail-in ballots because they don’t want to contract COVID-19 could face QUOTE criminal sanction ENDQUOTE. Would that include the judge?

Europe restricts executive bonuses

It’s a relief to know in these difficult times that somewhere, something is being done to protect the public, or at least the public treasury. Corporations that receieve bailouts from the European Union to cover their losses during the pandemic will be held to certain standards.

This is according to a planning document from the European Commission, obtained by the Guardian. The EU will demand shares in companies in exchange for bailout funds. That means ordinary Europeans will be, through their elected institutions, part owners of the companies that get bailed out. In the US, Boeing executives said they would refuse any bailout funds that required company shareholders to give up equity – suggesting their urgent need for government cash was not so urgent after all.

The other things to know are that companies that take the EU bailout won’t be able to grant bonuses to their executives. Until the government gets its money back, corporate executives will receieve their base salaries only. And, further, companies that get bailout funds in Europe will be prohibited from aggressively acquiring other companies. So, they can’t use emergency funds handed out by the government to put smaller competitors out of business. Imagine that.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

A huge wildfire is spreading through the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine. The government is warning about radioactive contaminents in smoke from the fires, which has already been in the air for a week. Hundreds of firefighters are working – reportedly without adequate equipment – to keep the flames away from the most heavily contaminated sites. The nuclear meltdown in Chernobyl happened in 1986, but just keeps on giving.

Federal, state and local police arrested a man arrested a man for a planned attack on a Jewish nursing home in Longmeadow, Western Massachussetts. The US attorney noted that the accused arsonist, John M. Rathburn, thirty-six, coordinated his plans in advance on white supremacist online forums. Federal investigators found one shared calendar included an entry for QUOTE Jew-killing day ENDQUOTE on this April 3, when Rathburn showed up to the nursing home in Longmeadow with a five-gallon gas canister.

More states that allow marijuana use are declaring the dispensaries that sell it to be essential businesses during the pandemic, the Washington Post reported. And a few members of Congress, led by Colorado Democrat Ed Perlmutter, are pushing for marijuana businesses to be covered in the next federal stimulus package. Many providers say they’ve been struggling to stay afloat, as they haven’t had access to the same federal benefits as other businesses deemed essential by states.

Masks now the rule in New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an executive order yesterday requiring people to cover their mouths and noses when in public, in any situation when they’re unable to stay at least six feet away from other people. Masks are advised but bandanas, scarves, and the like will do. Violators could face fines but that isn’t settled yet. Other states and countries are taking similar measures to slow the spread of disease.

That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report.

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn