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On the roster: Bleak March economy numbers hint at dire April - Warren, long resistant, embraces Biden - Whitmer faces backlash over hardline stance - Florida, man



BLEAK MARCH ECONOMY NUMBERS HINT AT DIRE APRIL

WSJ: “Two major economic releases Wednesday – the Commerce Department’s report on retail sales and the Federal Reserve’s report on industrial production – gave one of the most complete pictures yet of how bad the hit to the economy from the novel coronavirus crisis was in March. … Retail sales fell by a seasonally adjusted 8.7% from a month earlier, dwarfing the previous record decline of 3.9% registered in November 2008… Last month’s drop came even as sales in some categories rose sharply as people stocked up on provisions. Grocery store sales rose 26.9%. Industrial production – the combined output of the country’s factories, utilities and mines – fell 5.4% from February. That was the biggest drop since January 1946… Since most of the coronavirus crisis effects occurred in the second half of March, it is reasonable to expect that the retail sales and industrial production declines for the full month of April will be of at least a similar magnitude.”



Kraushaar: Trump won’t have a v-shaped recovery, either - National Journal: “For all the political chaos of the last four years, American politics in the Trump era have been awfully consistent and predictable. Trump has the support of a loud and passionate base, but it hasn’t been enough to win many elections outside the most conservative parts of the country. Even during a pandemic, he still won’t seek to broaden his support beyond his hardcore supporters. Here’s the harsh reality: Trump is down in the polls, and may still slip further back. With Biden expanding the map into Arizona and the president losing ground in the Midwest, Democrats have more plausible paths to an Electoral College majority. And as a recession becomes a reality, the president will bear the brunt of the blame.”



In a first, Trump’s name will be on IRS checks - WaPo: “The Treasury Department has ordered President Trump’s name printed on stimulus checks the Internal Revenue Service is rushing to send to tens of millions of Americans, a process that could slow their delivery by a few days, senior IRS officials said. The unprecedented decision, finalized late Monday, means that when recipients open the $1,200 paper checks the IRS is scheduled to begin sending to 70 million Americans in coming days, ‘President Donald J. Trump’ will appear on the left side of the payment. It will be the first time a president’s name appears on an IRS disbursement, whether a routine refund or one of the handful of checks the government has issued to taxpayers in recent decades either to stimulate a down economy or share the dividends of a strong one. Treasury officials disputed that the checks would be delayed.”



Trump makes federalism flip-flop - AP: “President Donald Trump said he’s open to some states ‘reopening’ before federal social distancing guidelines expire at the end of month, as he appeared to back off his claim of absolute authority to decide when the time was right to act. Hours after suggesting that the bipartisan concerns of governors about his assertion of power would amount to an insurrection, Trump abruptly reversed course Tuesday, saying he would leave it to governors to determine when and how to revive activity in their states. … ‘The governors are responsible,’ Trump said. ‘They have to take charge.’ Still, he insisted, ‘The governors will be very, very respectful of the presidency.’”



Collins cuffs Trump for press conference antics - Politico: “Susan Collins hasn’t decided whether to endorse or oppose President Donald Trump’s reelection bid. But she has reached a conclusion on his public performance during the coronavirus pandemic: ‘Very uneven.’ The Maine Republican senator, who is up for reelection herself this November, said in an interview on Tuesday that Trump has been effective when he’s focused on the coronavirus response and the recommendations of public health experts like Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the U.S. But when he’s beefing with governors and journalists, far less so. ‘It’s been very uneven. There are times when I think his message has been spot on and he has really deferred to the public health officials who have been with him at these press conferences,’ Collins said.”



THE RULEBOOK: PUDDING PROOF

“It has been observed in a former paper, that ‘the true test of a good government is its aptitude and tendency to produce a good administration.’ If the justness of this observation be admitted, the mode of appointing the officers of the United States contained in the foregoing clauses, must, when examined, be allowed to be entitled to particular commendation.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 76



TIME OUT: OLDIES, GOODIES

Garden & Gun: “There’s no telling how many road-trippers have exited I-95 near Wilson, North Carolina, and started in on a plate of chopped pork at Parker’s Barbecue without realizing their proximity to another Southern treasure: Boone’s Antiques. A mere half mile from the famous ’cue joint, fronting a lonely stretch of U.S. Route 301, the sixty-five-year-old business occupies a compound of nondescript showrooms and warehouses. … The buildings were just as humble during Boone’s heyday, but the hordes of buyers they drew are the stuff of legend. … But the real excitement happened during Edgar Boone’s infamous tag sales. The two-day events were a cross between a tweedy academic conference and a pro-wrestling cage match. The tag sales started in 1961, when Boone, a former tobacco auctioneer, imported his first boatload of British antiques. … On sale Saturdays, doors opened precisely at 8:00 a.m. Dealers rushed the door, jockeying for position and staking their claims.”



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SCOREBOARD

TRUMP JOB PERFORMANCE

Average approval: 46 percent

Average disapproval: 49 percent

Net Score: -3 points

Change from one week ago: ↓ 1.6 points

[Average includes: Fox News: 49% approve - 49% disapprove; Monmouth University: 46% approve - 49% disapprove; Quinnipiac University: 45% approve - 51% disapprove; CNBC: 46% approve - 43% disapprove; CNN: 44% approve - 53% disapprove.]



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WARREN, LONG RESISTANT, EMBRACES BIDEN

Fox News: “Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday endorsed Joe Biden for president more than a month after ending her own presidential bid, becoming the latest prominent Democrat to fall in line behind the presumptive nominee in a bid to show unity. ‘In this moment of crisis, it’s more important than ever that the next president restores Americans’ faith in good, effective government—and I’ve seen Joe Biden help our nation rebuild. Today, I’m proud to endorse,’ she tweeted, along with a video. The Massachusetts senator had withheld an endorsement ever since ending her campaign in early March, even as the race narrowed to essentially a contest between Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders. But with Sanders dropping out last week, Biden became the presumptive nominee. … The populist senator with a plethora of progressive policy plans ended her White House bid on March 5, two days after she came in a disappointing third in the primary in her home state of Massachusetts.”



Sanders draws the line at fundraising - WSJ: “Bernie Sanders will use his campaign’s live streaming platform and social media channels to promote Joe Biden’s presidential bid and help unify the Democratic Party, but he said he doesn’t plan to fundraise on the former vice president’s behalf. Mr. Sanders said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal one day after endorsing Mr. Biden that he would hold in-person events for the presumptive nominee after the coronavirus pandemic abates. … Mr. Sanders, who raised the most money of any Democratic candidate this cycle, said there had been no discussions about using his powerful email lists to fundraise for Mr. Biden. Instead, Mr. Sanders said he would use his database of supporters to solicit donations for progressive candidates down-ballot.”



Givahn: Biden needs Obama’s producers, not just his endorsement - WaPo: “[Virtual campaigning is] heavily dependent on whether he can get the lighting right, keep the background from being impersonal but not distracting and dress in a manner that’s just right for his home office as well as your living room. It’s no easy feat, and it’s Biden’s challenge. … The tight focus on Obama’s face [in his endorsement video] makes the tone more conversational and less like a speech; but it also gives his words a sense of importance. … This is stagecraft for your mobile device. It has been tough for Biden to get it right. All too often in his online campaign videos, there’s just too much stuff behind Biden. Or some ill-placed object that draws focus. The lights are too hot. There’s a reason Realtors tell home sellers to declutter before putting their property on the market. People need air, space, oxygen in a room before they can get a clear picture of what’s for sale.”



WHITMER FACES BACKLASH OVER HARDLINE STANCE

Detroit Free Press: “Demonstrators drove their vehicles — many draped with protest signs — to Michigan's state Capitol Wednesday, loudly protesting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home order intended to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Police watched as horns honked and commercial and private vehicles from around the state jammed Capitol Avenue and other streets surrounding Michigan's seat of government. ‘Liberty once lost is lost forever,’ read a sign draped across a commercial van. ‘Security without liberty is called prison,’ read another, stretched across the Capitol's front lawn. ‘Recall Whitmer,’ a third sign said. Organizers said they expected thousands of vehicles, and while police estimates were not immediately available, those projections appeared accurate. Though demonstrators appeared to want to keep one lane of Capitol Avenue open, both that major street and Allegan Avenue were mostly at a standstill for many blocks. By mid-morning, ahead of the publicized non start time, hundreds of vehicles had converged on Lansing.”



Trump super PAC jumps in Georgia Senate primary fight - Fox News: “A pro-Trump super PAC announced Wednesday that it is endorsing Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., for Georgia's U.S. Senate seat as the congressman continues his controversial campaign to unseat incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., in a special election this November. The endorsement from Great America PAC, which boasts that it has ‘raised and spent $40 million in support of Donald Trump's candidacy, presidency, and agenda,’ follows an endorsement of Collins earlier this week by Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., who became the first member of the Georgia congressional delegation to back Collins' Senate bid. Collins is seeking the seat vacated by retired Sen. Johnny Isakson at the end of 2019. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp appointed Loeffler to temporarily fill the seat late last year despite reports that President Trump appealed to him directly to him to appoint Collins instead.”



Republicans worry about Dems’ voter intensity - WaPo: “A number of Republicans said too many factors were at work last Tuesday to draw conclusions about November, notably the presence of a competitive Democratic presidential primary. Scott Walker, a former Republican governor, said in an email that November turnout will be twice as large as it was last week. It’s a “completely different model,” he said. But some Republicans said the results show a worrisome enthusiasm gap. … Democrats are also delighted — and Republicans worried — about the geographic sweep of [Jill Karofsky’s state Supreme Court] victory. She dominated not only in the states’ two liberal strongholds, Milwaukee and Madison, but also in its suburbs and even some of its rural areas. Charles Franklin, who conducts the Marquette University Law School poll, said the results underscored how changing voting patterns have increasingly cut into Republican margins in suburban counties around Milwaukee.”



Limited in-person voting for Maryland special election April 28 - Baltimore Sun: “With 15 days remaining until the special general election for the 7th Congressional District, the Maryland Board of Elections reversed itself yet again Monday, clearing the way for limited in-person voting in April in spite of the new coronavirus outbreak. Meeting for the second time this month and the third time in as many weeks, the board was sharply divided Monday on the issue of whether to offer any polling places for an election it is conducting largely by mail. … Now, based on a 2-2 vote Monday, voters who cannot vote by mail, including those with disabilities and those who do not receive ballots by mail, will have the option to vote in person on the April 28 election day. Voters are choosing between Democrat Kweisi Mfume and Republican Kimberly Klacik to fill the rest of the term of the late U.S. Rep. Eljiah Cummings, a Baltimore Democrat who died in October.”



In a switch, Nevada Dems protest all-mail election - Nevada Independent: “Attorneys representing the Nevada State Democratic Party are firing a warning shot and threatening potential litigation without requested changes to the state’s plan to hold an all-mail primary election in June amid ongoing COVID-19 concerns. Attorneys Bradley Schrager and Marc Elias — a nationally prominent attorney for Democrats, including former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign — said in an email to the office of Republican Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske last Friday that the party was concerned about details of the planned all-mail election and that it could violate constitutional protections and normal election procedure. The letter outlines a number of concerns about the announced election process, including concerns that limiting in-person voting to one site per county would pose ‘certain risks and hardships’ to voters not typically accustomed to voting by mail.”



PLAY-BY-PLAY

Trump punishes World Health Organization for alleged China bias - Fox News



Matt Labash: Leave the fishermen out if this - NYT



AUDIBLE: BETTER THAN A FLOWBEE

“Do you really want to know? It’s a mirror with a thing. One of those barber kit things.” – Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when asked how he maintains his crew cut now that Army barbers aren’t cutting hair.



FROM THE BLEACHERS

“If this is equivalent to a war effort, why don't we float or develop the idea/program to sell ‘war bonds’ to help spread the cost of national recovery?” – Don Sanislo, Auburn, Wash.



[Ed. note: I love it, Mr. Sanislo! But that idea presupposes that our political leaders gave a tinker’s dam about deficit spending. They don’t. And I’m sorry to say that all signs suggest we will keep right on doing it until the consequences become impossible to bear. The major concern now isn’t whether we hit the wall on borrowing, but when and how.]



“I don't remember you ever publishing an approval rating of 49.6% so how could it have dropped 3.6 pts to 46%.” – Al DiStefano, Cumming, Ga.



[Ed. note: There are four numbers in our readout on average presidential job approval: The percentage of voters who approve, the percentage that disapprove, the difference between the two -- the “net score” -- and the change in that score from one week before. The president recorded what I believe was his first-ever positive net score on March 31 with +0.6 points. He dropped back under water on April 8, but the day before was still on the positive side. So the difference between his score this Tuesday (-3 points) and his score one week prior (+0.6 points) is 3.6 points. Hope that clears it up!]



“I am surprised you did not do the math on Charles prophetic quote about Halley’s Comet, in your 14 April Halftime report. Charles was 68 when he passed. He wrote that quote when he was 35, just a few months after half his lifespan.” – Jon Phillips, Burlington, Iowa



[Ed. note: So many math questions today! Usually checking my sixth grader’s homework is about as much of a workout as that part of my brain gets. I thought the numbers rather spoke for themselves. Here’s the line from Charles that Brianna lovingly selected: “Halley’s [Comet] speaks to me especially acutely. As it turns around the sun, the midpoint on its journey, I will be marking the midpoint in mine, or so say the Metropolitan Life tables. Our perihelions match.” The listed date of the column, Dec. 12, 1985, and his listed birth date of 1950 made him 35 when he wrote the piece ahead of the comet’s return. His point was that he was reaching the midpoint of his life expectancy as the comet was to arrive. And since it won’t be back until 2061, he was reflecting on mortality. It is more poignant for us now because Charles did not live to see his 71st year but was taken from us at 68. He is missed here every day, and I guarantee that those alive who remember him will very much think of Charles, who loved the wonders of the cosmos, 41 years from now when the comet marks its return.]



Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.



FLORIDA, MAN

NY Post: “A Florida judge has urged attorneys in the state to get out of bed and put some clothes on before they appear in hearings via video conference — after one lawyer signed on while ‘still under the covers.’ Judge Dennis Bailey, who works at the Broward Circuit Court, admonished the lazy lawyers in a letter published by the Weston Bar Association. ‘We’ve seen many lawyers in casual shirts and blouses, with no concern for ill-grooming, in bedrooms with the master bed in the background, etc,’ Bailey wrote in the letter. ‘One male lawyer appeared shirtless and one female attorney appeared still in bed, still under the covers,’ he added. Courthouses across the country have moved hearings to video conferences amid the coronavirus outbreak to limit the amount of people gathering in one room. … Bailey added that despite the hearings being virtual, attorneys need to treat them as they would any in-person hearing. ‘Putting on a beach cover-up won’t cover up you’re poolside in a bathing suit. So, please, if you don’t mind, let’s treat court hearings as court hearings, whether Zooming or not,’ he wrote.”



AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…

“‘Optimism’ is the perfect way to trivialize everything that [Ronald] Reagan was or did. Pangloss was an optimist. Harold Stassen was an optimist. Ralph Kramden was an optimist. Optimism is nice, but it gets you nowhere unless you also possess ideological vision, policy and prescriptions to make it real, and, finally, the political courage to act on your convictions.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the Washington Post on June 11, 2004.



Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.