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Chalk it up to whatever you want an overly-involved DNC, a belief in his electability, maybe even a passion for his policies whatever the reason, former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenThe Hill's Morning Report - Biden commits to female VP; CDC says no events of 50+ people for 8 weeks 5 takeaways from the Democratic debate Media figures praise audience-free debate format MORE had a very good night Tuesday.

What looked like a campaign on the edge of collapse just a few weeks ago now seems to have the privilege of being the one to beat. Michigan, a state that gave Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersThe Hill's Morning Report - Biden commits to female VP; CDC says no events of 50+ people for 8 weeks 5 takeaways from the Democratic debate Media figures praise audience-free debate format MORE (I-Vt.) hopes in 2016 and became a big moment for his campaign in 2020, fell into Bidens hands more easily than MSNBC ever could have hoped. As for the other big prizes on the so-called Second Super Tuesday, voters in Mississippi and Missouri absolutely trounced Bernie in favor of the former VP, as Bernie once again failed to match Bidens appeal to African American voters and more moderate white voters outside city centers.

All these happenings have some in the mainstream media pushing their latest narrative that Joe Biden is reassembling the so-called Obama coalition of working-class white and African-American voters that drove the 44thpresident to victory in 2008 and to reelection in 2012.

Its an interesting thought, and one not entirely without grounding. Joe Biden was, after all, President Obamas guy (regardless of his eulogizingSen. Robert Byrd, who was an organizer for the KKK as a young man). One would imagine that, with similar policies, hed appeal to the same general types of voters.

However, something that many in the media tend to miss a lot is the idea of context. No statement, fact, or finding exists independently of the world around it. And here, the context of the Obama coalition support lies in something, I argue, which Biden lacks.

President Obama was able to appeal to a broad swath of the electorate in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis largely because he crafted a narrative that his policy commitments were in the best interests of the working middle class. Even more, his campaign (both times around) was able to successfully align his Republican opponent with the interests of big business that would threaten the stability of noble working-class jobs. This was a president, people thought, who would work against bad policy decisions of the past establishment to bring about a new era of hope and change.

Joe, simply, is not like this.

Trade deals unfair to U.S. workers barely show up in any of Bidens public statements, coherent or otherwise. The commitment to protect struggling American industries like coal mining and steel manufacturing and to enact policies to make them thrive is notably absent from Bidens campaign. Even Joe Biden himself is a product of the establishment, something Bernie voters and Trump voters both understand as abhorrent. With the DNC and candidates for president throwing wholehearted support to Biden before the most important races, its hard to understand this guy as anything less than an establishment puppet.

All of these things, just as they were in 2016 when tied to Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders seeks to move Biden toward his issues at debate Former Pennsylvania governor: Biden nomination will be 'virtually clinched' after next Tuesday Sanders wins Northern Mariana Islands caucus MORE, are stances that the working middle class distrust.

Then-candidate Trump was able to pluck away at components of the Obama coalition with his insistence on doing right by the American worker in trade and industrial policy both at home and abroad. In many ways, he had to buck the GOP establishment to stand for these policies as a Republican and in that, the people saw a leader committed to their well-being over party doctrine: a prime example of the hope and change President Obama had promised.

It is in these broader contexts that coalitions form. In 2016, Donald Trump showed the context of the Obama coalition to be one fundamentally built on the economic security of the working middle class. Around this general policy outlook a commitment to preventing the ravages of globalization from affecting middle class jobs different sets of voters join in supporting a candidate of their common interest. And without this grounding for his campaign, Biden is trying to reuse a script without understanding any of its meaning.

Simply, there is no way Biden will have anywhere close to the pure and enthusiastic support Obama could generate.

But thats what happens when your partys identity is centered around hating Donald Trump.

Maybe theyll learn; maybe not. But if I were to guess, the Obama coalition may soon need to change its name.

Corey R. Lewandowski isPresident Trumps former campaign manager and a senior adviser to the Trump-Pence 2020 campaign. He is a senior adviser to the Great America Committee, Vice PresidentMike Pence's political action committee. He is co-author with David Bossie of Trumps Enemies and of Let Trump Be Trump: The Inside Story of His Rise to the Presidency. Follow him on Twitter@CLewandowski_.

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Biden's 'coalition' is not Obama's | TheHill - The Hill

Pences public schedule, by comparison, consisted of a noon conference call with governors about the outbreak, a medal ceremony, and a meeting with the coronavirus task force he leads along with an on-camera press briefing on the outbreak.

Trump made a last-minute appearance at the White House briefing, where he promised financial assistance to incentivize sick workers to stay at home. He said he would propose a possible temporary payroll tax cut and paid sick leave for hourly workers who get the disease. It is the most concrete step Trump has taken so far to combat the virus' spread.

Reporters peppered Trump with queries on whether he had been tested for coronavirus as he left the briefing. Pence said he himself had not been tested and would check in the evening to see whether Trump had been. Both Pence and Trump used the briefing to laud members of the administration working to combat the diseases spread, as well as private health care and transportation companies for working with the White House to get things under control.

Early Monday afternoon the World Health Organization warned that despite the outbreak not yet reaching the level of a pandemic, such a threat remains very real, though the organizations director general added that it would be the first pandemic in history that could be controlled.

The New York Stock Exchange cratered upon opening Monday morning, with the Dow quickly falling more than 1,800 points and the S&P 500 falling more than 200 points, or 7 percent. And just as the market opened, the Federal Reserve announced a pair of new measures aimed at calming investors' jitters and shielding consumers from economic fallout. The sell-off continued throughout the day, led by a sharp decline in oil prices. The Dow closed down nearly 8 percent more than 2,000 points.

While the market selloff came amid growing fears over the economic impact of the virus, it was also fueled at least in part by a plunge in oil prices triggered by Saudi Arabia and OPEC.

That dip, Trump argued, "and the Fake News, is the reason for the market drop!" Still, he maintained, the drop in oil prices is "Good for the consumer, gasoline prices coming down!"

Those efforts by Trump to minimize the severity of the outbreak came moments after Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declared on TV that nobody is trying to minimize what he called a very serious public health threat.

Azar was one of the first Trump officials to appear Monday morning on TV, promising in an interview on Fox News that the Trump administration has been on this from day one and defending the availability of testing around the country, which he said was quickly ramping up.

Azar also claimed that rapid work is underway on a possible vaccine that should go to clinical trials very soon while a therapeutic treatment is already in clinical trials.

While he said he hadn't spoken to the president about the plunging stock market, he sought to calm fears of a wider economic fallout from the virus' spread.

"His No. 1 concern across the whole of government along with Vice President Pence is leading the public health preparedness and response effort here," Azar said. "Our economic team will work on economic aspects of this, and President Trump, having delivered the best economy in modern history has the tools and knows the tools to keep this economy going but his first focus is public health."

Trump is scheduled to work through some of those tools with his top economic advisers at the White House ahead of a meeting with Wall Street executives on Wednesday.

Paid leave for workers, relief for small businesses and aid to certain sectors that are facing diminished business because of the virus were options floated before Trumps appearance at the Monday evening briefing. Economic officials have also been weighing the idea of providing government-backed relief to specific geographic regions in the country hit hard by the coronavirus.

But despite Azars expression of confidence, after his appearance on Fox, the secretary delivered a brief, roughly one-minute statement mostly focused on the economy to reporters gathered nearby. He then retreated to the West Wing without taking questions.

Trumps off-topic messages on Monday morning also came as a cruise ship carrying nearly two dozen passengers who have tested positive for coronavirus was set to dock at the Port of Oakland in California. The Defense Department announced Monday that it will provide four facilities to support the roughly 3,000 travelers coming off the Grand Princess cruise ship.

At the evening briefing, Pence said that the ship had docked, that all people aboard would be tested and that officials hoped some of the passengers would be taken off the ship by the end of the day.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), whose congressional district includes the city of Oakland, said in an interview Monday that state and local officials have been working with federal partners to make sure that this becomes the safest and the most high-level public health response that we have seen yet.

Lee also sharply criticized Trump's suggestion on Friday that the infected passengers should remain on board so as not to increase the number of coronavirus cases in the U.S.

"The president, I don't believe he has a clue," she said. "And so I wish that he would allow our health officials and the CDC and all of those who know what they're talking about, who are being transparent, to conduct this response. This is an emergency, and the experts know exactly how to respond. The president of this United States of America does not."

Over the weekend, the number of Americans infected with the virus surpassed 500, with cases popping up in D.C. and its suburbs in Maryland and Virginia.

And at least four congressional Republicans have announced they would self-quarantine out of an abundance of caution after interacting with an attendee at the Conservative Political Action Conference, attended by numerous Trump officials, who tested positive for the virus. One of those members, Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, had accompanied Trump as he visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday and was present for a White House meeting with top House and Senate Republicans last week before he learned of the CPAC interaction. Another, Florida Rep.Matt Gaetz, was spotted boarding Air Force One earlier Monday before he learned of the contact in midflight. In addition, California Democrat Julia Brownley also announced a self-quarantine Monday after meeting with someone last week who tested positive for coronavirus.

In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan announced that two more residents tested positive for the virus, bring the state's cases to five. Hogan said he signed emergency legislation allowing his administration to draw down up to $50 million from the state's rain day fund.

As the president was beginning his day Monday, a church back home in Washington announced that it would temporarily close after its rector tested positive for the virus. Farther up the East Coast, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York announced that the head of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a major transportation hub, had also tested positive for the virus.

And in Florida, five state lawmakers and a staffer are in self-quarantine after attending D.C. events last month where they could have come in contact with people who have tested positive for coronavirus.

In the mid-morning, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham rapped the media, shooting down reports that the White House had issued guidance instructing staff to limit in-person interactions and meetings as completely false.

While we have asked all Americans to exercise common-sense hygiene measures, we are conducting business as usual. I want to remind the media once again to be responsible with all reporting, she said in a statement. White House press pool reports noted that Trump shook hands with supporters and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in defiance of advice from health officials, upon his arrival in Orlando for the days events.

Get the latest on the health care fight, every weekday morning in your inbox.

Despite the White House denying that it had ordered such drastic precautions, that is exactly what played out across at least part of the government on Monday.

At a press briefing at the Pentagon, Defense Department chief spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said the department is trying to practice common sense measures like so-called social distancing, and held a high-level meeting in the morning that was spread over multiple rooms and linked via video conference rather than cramming officials into the same room. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and other senior leaders attended, standing six feet apart in accordance with CDC guidelines Hoffman said.

Additionally, the Defense Department is evaluating whether to cancel tours of the Pentagon and limit leadership travel, Hoffman said.

Later Monday, Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy disclosed in a statement that the commander of U.S. Army Europe, along with several staff members, may have been exposed to COVID-19 during a recent conference. Out of an abundance of caution and following recommended protocols, the commander and others potentially affected are self-monitoring and working remotely to fulfill their command duties and responsibilities, McCarthy's statement said.

And in Italy, which has emerged as one of the global hotspots for the virus, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte ordered a nationwide lockdown limiting movement for the countrys 60 million people.

Quint Forgey, Lara Seligman, Dan Goldberg and Matthew Choi contributed to this report.

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While market sinks, Trump tweets on Obama, 'fake news' and the Dem primary - POLITICO

President Donald Trump eating with members of the military in a dining facility during a surprise Thanksgiving Day visit, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019, at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan.Photo: Alex Brandon (Associated Press)

The Meglomaniac-In-Chief s continuous war on the poor has hit a snag.

In his quest to Make American Hate Again, President Donald Trump and his administration were planning to make life even worse for food-insecure families when the sought to proceed with measures to remove nearly three-quarters of a million people from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits program.

But a judge appointed by Forever President Barack Hussein Obama pumped the brakes.

One of the good things to come out of the Coronavirus pandemic was Chief U.S. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell ruling that the planned strict work requirements were unlawful and blocked the administration from proceeding with them.

Especially now, as a global pandemic poses widespread health risks, guaranteeing that government officials at both the federal and state levels have flexibility to address the nutritional needs of residents and ensure their well-being through programs like SNAP, is essential, Howell wrote in her 84-page ruling.

The decision resulted from a lawsuit brought by 19 states, including Washington D.C. and The Big Apple on Friday, NPR reported.

In December, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it was adopting the rule change requiring able-bodied adults without children to work at least 20 hours a week in order to qualify for SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, past three months.

To go one step further with their skullduggery, it wouldve also limited individual states usual ability to waive those requirements depending on economic conditions.

Her honors preliminary injunction will preserve that flexibility.

Howell is the top judge on the Washington, D.C. federal district court and she seems not to mind setting the record straight.

Just last month, the 63-year-old Fort Benning, Georgia native said that the courts sentencing of Trump consigliere Roger Stone would not be swayed by public criticism or pressure.

On Feb. 20, the GOP operative was sentenced to more than three years in prison after a jury found guilty on seven felony counts including lying to authorities, obstructing a congressional investigation and witness intimidation, Politico reported.

Trump has called Stones treatment a miscarriage of justice, raising questions about whether he will grant clemency to his longtime political confidant.

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Obama-Appointed Judge Blocks Donald Trump's Plan to Kick Nearly One Million Americans Off of Food Stamps - The Root

The U.S. response to COVID-19 has garnered heavy criticism, ranging from the lack of preparedness to contradictory statements made by government officials.

The coronavirus has killed over 4,000 people across over 100 countries, infected more than 120,000 more, and ravaged global markets. In response, paid sick leave has been suggested as a way to ease the burden on some of Americas workforce. However, this would need to be passed through Congress.

And the likelihood of Congress agreeing on legislation regarding coronavirus is not high, according to Austan Goolsbee, former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama administration.

In the spirit of anything that slows the spread of the virus is the best stimulus, paid sick leave is one of the best forms of stimulus, Goolsbee said on Yahoo Finances On the Move. That Congress cannot even agree on that, and youve got people saying: Wait a second, we should have to cut other things in order to that, Im flabbergasted. But at this moment of total crisis, both the president and Congress are utterly failing in their responsibilities.

Over 4,000 people have died around the world from coronavirus. (Graphic: David Foster/Yahoo Finance)

On Wednesday, Senate Democrats tried to pass emergency legislation that would require employers to provide their employees with 14 days of paid sick leave during a public health emergency amid the ongoing spread of coronavirus. However, it was stalled after Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) opposed it on the grounds that businesses would be required to pay for the leave, not the federal government.

Meanwhile, Trump has proposed suspending all Social Security and Medicare taxes throughout the end of the year. Democrats have indicated they would not support the cut.

Things as simple as Should we have paid sick leave for everyone temporarily? to me, its obvious that we should because before there ever was a coronavirus, when we were just looking at flu infections, paid sick leave is one of the most effective ways to keep sick people from going to the workplace and infecting everyone else, Goolsbee said.

President Trump has directly contradicted public health officials on several occasions. While touring the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, he said: Anybody that needs a test can have a test. However, access to coronavirus tests is still extremely limited, an issue thats borne heavy criticism.

Trump also asserted that the completion of the border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border would help protect Americans against coronavirus, despite the fact that the CDC director said a wall would not be effective.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, Vice President Mike Pence, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield listen during a news conference. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Goolsbee said that Trumps statements have undermined the credibility of the U.S., and that its worse than just missing presidential leadership.

Paul Volcker was a dear friend, Goolsbee said. In the Financial Crisis of 2008, he would always say to me again and again that in a crisis, the only true asset you have is your credibility. And that is true for this every bit as much as a financial crisis.

Story continues

He continued: And when I say its worse than just a lack of leadership, the president of the United States himself has actively gone out and presented false and damaging information to people, saying we only have 14 cases and pretty soon its going to go down to zero, and a lot of people are finding that this isnt so bad and they can just go to work anyway.

WHO currently has the coronavirus mortality rate at 3.4%. But during an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Trump expressed skepticism at those numbers on a hunch.Goolsbee stressed that the the stock market plunge is very much connected to President Trumps words and actions.

I dont think its a coincidence that the stock market had the day it had yesterday and the experience it had overnight after hearing the president talk, because in a way, they are passing judgment on the one asset we have, which is our credibility, Goolsbee said. And so far, were failing that. Were not getting a bad grade were absolutely failing.

There have been over 1,300 cases of coronavirus so far in the U.S. (Graphic: David Foster/Yahoo Finance)

Between January 18 and March 10, there have been 11,079 tests for COVID-19 in the U.S. In comparison, South Korea has conducted over 100,000 tests, and the U.K. has tested nearly 25,000 people.

If you look at Korea, if you look at Japan, the rate of spread of the virus there is half the rate that it has been in places like the United States, in Italy, and in others, Goolsbee said. So I think, No. 1, weve got to start establishing credibility, getting out testing, so that not everybody feels like Maybe I have it and I dont know. I dont want to go see my grandma. I dont want to go to the NBA game. My kids cant go to school.

A woman wearing a face mask and gloves pulls her luggage as she walks through Manhattan on March 12, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

Lax coronavirus policies in the U.S. contributed to the stock market's worst week since the 2008 Financial Crisis, ending the historic bull market and bringing intense volatility. The Federal Reserve announced an over $1 trillion liquidity operation to help support markets, but according to Goolsbee, the best thing to do for the economy is simple.

Virus economics is different from regular business cycle economics in that the most important thing you can do for the economy has nothing to do with the economy, and that is slow the rate of spread of that virus, Goolsbee said. The thing is, we are going to experience a significant hit to GDP, to our standard of living.

We have already had a huge hit on our standard of living by all the restrictions and the equivalent of a giant tax on our normal way of life, he added. Anything that slows the rate of the virus will reduce the fear factor and thats the predicate. That is necessary for us to recover.

Adriana is a reporter and editor for Yahoo Finance. She can be reached at adriana@yahoofinance.com. Follow her on Twitter@adrianambells.

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Former Obama official on coronavirus: 'Both the president and Congress are utterly failing' - Yahoo Finance

Among the four of us, one of us served in President Trumps administration and two of us served in President Obamas administration. Two of us are doctors and two of us are economists. All four of us strongly believe that one of the many critical steps Congress should take to slow the spread of the COVID-19 disease, help the families and communities most affected by it, and aid the overall economy would be to increase the federal matching rate for the Medicaid program.

Currently the federal government pays about 60 percent of the cost of Medicaid, over 70 percent of the cost of the Childrens Health Insurance Program, and 90 percent of the cost the Medicaid expansion population, with the remaining costs paid by states. In a normal economic downturn, states face budget constraints as their revenue falls, forcing them to cut back on Medicaid and other spending to meet their balanced budget requirements. During the novel coronavirus outbreak, the burden on public health systems in states experiencing severe outbreaks could make these financial pressures even worse. That is why Presidents Bush and Obama both signed increases to the federal share of Medicaid, the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), to help fight the last two recessions.

Today the need for increasing the federal share of Medicaid is even more urgent and important than it was when Presidents Bush and Obama did it. State spending needs are mounting rapidly as they are forced to shoulder a substantial share of the burden of the response to the spread of COVID-19. As consumers pull back on spending, sales tax revenues will start to fall. Now is not the time for states to cut back on public health efforts, support for communities, or treatments for the sick. Raising the FMAP will allow states to immediately address public health needs, make it possible for states to use Medicaid to cover COVID-19 related needs, prevent states from reducing eligibility in the middle of a public health crisis, and would also provide macroeconomic stimulus by preventing contractionary cutbacks by states affected by the virus.

Jason Furman is a professor of the practice of economic policy at Harvard University and was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (20132017). Scott Gottlieb is a physician and a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and was the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (20172019). Kavita Patel is a physician and fellow at the Brookings Institution, and was director of policy for the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement (20092010). Michael R. Strain is the director of economic policy studies and the Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute.

Their article first appeared in AEIdeas.

Image:A woman wears a face mask on the subway as thecoronavirusoutbreak continued in Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S., March 13, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

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Obama and Trump Administration Veterans Agree: This Is How You Help States Stop Coronavirus - The National Interest