Forty-seven million

Every morning the governor of New York holds a press conference to deliver the latest terrible news -- basically, not enough of anything except new coronavirus cases.  The state is testing more people than any other, and of course discovering more with the virus.  Doctors are re-using masks.  Nurses are making gowns out of garbage bags.  The state needs to double its hospital beds and obtain 25,000 more ventilators.  Every day Cuomo reports that he asked the "president" to invoke the Defense Production Act, and every day he's told that the private sector will respond "voluntarily."  New York City's public hospitals are hard-pressed in normal times, and the mayor has said, "A lot of people are going to die who don't need to die if this doesn't happen quickly."  Even with inadequate testing, there are nearly 30,000 known cases in the country.

So it's --- I can't even say appalling, as I've been appalled more or less constantly for nearly four years -- it's astonishing to learn that Trump found time, amid his daily appearances to attack the media, disseminate racism and praise himself, to write to his good friend Kim Jong-un offering help with any coronavirus problems North Korea might be having.  Which is probably a lot, given its "decrepit public health system" and extensive interactions with China, not to mention a generally malnourished population.  This should be heartening to all the Americans standing in line (six feet apart) to be tested and wondering if they will die on a stretcher in a hallway like elderly Italians.

If this is supposed to be diplomacy, it's not working.  The testing of ballistic missiles continues because Kim's priorities are as skewed as Trump's -- human life comes last unless it has a personal connection to the Dear Leader.   If it's uncharacteristic humanitarianism, what sort of material help can our Dear Leader provide to theirs?  Unproven drugs, non-existent vaccine, precious ventilators, hoarded toilet paper?

What happened to "America First"?  Has it been overtaken by Trump's pursuit of that long-coveted Nobel Prize?

Here's a breakdown of what will happen by a doctor in Austin.  She made it clear even to this statistics-impaired blogger.  Be afraid.