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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

The Senate will vote today on a new stimulus package to help the American people cope with the coronavirus, but Mitch McConnell is up to his usual tricks -- largely trying to push through a bill that mostly helps big corporations.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice is quietly asking for new, draconian powers in the middle of the crisis, including the ability to indefinitely detain people without a trial.

And lastly, our wise president fired off an all-caps tweet late on Sunday night that appears to be catering to a new right-wing theory that saving the lives of millions isn’t worth tanking the economy through quarantines and lockdowns.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

The Senate is currently in open conflict over a bill to provide much-needed emergency relief to American people and businesses during the coronavirus crisis.

The bill, introduced by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is currently set up to heavily favor the classic GOP side.

It does include some Democratic concessions, however, including direct payments of $1,200 to most Americans and $500 to children. But Democrats aren’t happy with the rest of the bill, which includes hefty bailouts for corporations, including a massive $500 billion loan program that’s basically left up to the Trump-controlled Treasury department’s discretion.

Considering how the big industry CEO’s running airlines, cruise ships, casinos and oil have already been barking up Trump’s tree for bailout cash, the bill in its current state probably wouldn’t be a great deal for, you know, actual American people.

Late on Sunday night, however, McConnell tried to ram it through anyway, calling a procedural vote to advance the bill, knowing that he could blame Democrats when they voted it down. And guess what? Both of those things happened.

The blocked vote gives Democrats a bit more time to try to hammer out more concessions from the GOP that might actually help ordinary Americans, but the Senate is expected to see more procedural action later today.

We’ll have to wait and see how that shakes out, and what the bill’s final form looks like.

Amidst all the Washington infighting, Trump’s Department of Justice is quietly trying to do a little bit more fascism on the side.

Per Politico, the DOJ is asking Congress for the ability to ask judges to indefinitely detain people without trial quote “during emergencies,” endquote.

The justification for these powers, of course, is the current coronavirus crisis.

The bill essentially asks for the power to pause court proceedings, the statute of limitations on crimes, and basically any procedure the government wants until the end of whatever emergency is happening.

While it’s pretty unlikely that a bill like this would make it through the Democrats in the House, it’s still a troubling sign that the Trump Administration is continuing to use the crisis to expand its own power.

It doesn’t take a particularly active imagination to see how a bill allowing indefinite detentions and postponement of a fair trial could very quickly be abused by authoritarians in government. And as we know from everything after 9/11, there’s nothing like a national crisis to get our elected representatives to hand over civil rights in the name of collective safety.

The president was up late Tweeting last night, which is a relatable experience, except in this case he decided to fire off an all-caps screaming message that appears to fall right in line with a prominent far-right theory.

At 11:50 on Sunday night, Trump tweeted quote:

WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!

Endquote.

While that may be at first glance the ramblings of delusional egomaniac, the message behind the tweet is distressing.

The language about the cure being worse than the problem seems to imply support for a common far-right position, which largely boils down the argument that saving American lives from the disease is not enough to justify the crippling economic blow of mandatory lockdowns and quarantines.

Trump knows that a scientifically sound response to the disease, even with a stimulus package from Congress, is going to tank the economy. There’s almost no way around it now, although some progressive options could help spare everyday Americans from some of the pain.

So instead, it sounds like he might lean in to the truly inhuman option, which would be to half-ass the quarantine response and then relax restrictions to try to bump the stock market up before the general election.

Great Britain under Boris Johnson briefly tried this, before having to backpedal wildly once they realized it was a terrible idea.

We’ll see if Trump gives it a shot! After all, the only thing at stake is millions of American lives.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

A 42-year-old Mexican man died while in ICE custody on Saturday, the tenth death in the 2020 fiscal year. In 2019, there were only eight deaths total -- and we still have more than six months to go this time.

Harvey Weinstein tested positive for the coronavirus while behind bars in the New York State prison system, and has been placed in isolation pending his treatment.

Save for a few audio-only phone calls with the press, Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden has been completely absent from the national conversation since last Tuesday’s primaries, the last time he was seen on video.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Saturday proposed a groundbreaking plan to boost the economy during coronavirus which included at least $3000 in payments to every American and also, the minting of two $1 trillion dollar platinum coins. Sounds pretty sweet.

That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie. Stay tuned for the full show under lockdown later this afternoon.

#AMQuickie: March 23, 2020

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn