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Thank Trump for Ebola Outbreak - the Wednesday AM Quickie 5/20/26

By Corey Pein —

Spare a moment for Bumpy the baby hippo, the latest adorable orphaned animal to captivate the internet. - Corey

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THE BIG NEWS

DOGE Cuts to African Aid Leave World 'Dangerously Exposed' to New Ebola Outbreak

The head of the United Nations' World Health Organization, which Donald Trump withdrew support for in January, yesterday expressed alarm at the "scale and speed" of an Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo that has already killed at least 134 people. The first person to die in the latest outbreak did so on April 24; by May 5, more than 50 were dead from the rare Ebola variant known as Bundibugyo. The outbreak, which is expected to last months, is an international threat. "The virus knows no border and knows no race and knows no tribe," Congo's health minister, Dr. Samuel-Roger Kamba, tells the New York Times.

The US State Department – whose head, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has the audacity to complain that the WHO was "a little late" to tackle the outbreak – has so far contributed a paltry $13 million to contain the spread of Bundibugyo. But "on the ground," the Associated Press reports, "the response is complicated by lack of resources." But the truth is worse than that, and more damning of the Trump regime.

Politico reports that Trump's March 2025 cuts to the US Agency for International Development are "contributing to the rapid escalation" of the Ebola outbreak. "Funding cuts have left the region dangerously exposed," says Heather Reoch Kerr, Congo director for the International Rescue Committee. "The sharp rise in reported cases over the last few days reflects the reality that surveillance systems are now catching up with transmission that has likely been occurring for some time."

In past Ebola outbreaks, the Washington Post reports, experts from USAID and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deployed to outbreak zones. No more. "This is the most striking example so far of how much the dissolution of USAID and destruction of CDC's role around the world is threatening our national security," Stephanie Psaki, who was US coordinator for global health security in Joe Biden administration, tells the Post. Trump and his Nazi-saluting South African billionaire compatriot Elon Musk, who led the regime's budget-slashing DOGE task force, have a lot of blood on their hands – and Rubio isn't looking so clean, either.

Elections Roundup: Full Results from Six States

  • Democratic Socialist Chris Rabb Wins Philly House Primary in 'the Bluest District in the Country' "While [state Sen. Sharif] Street’s campaign, as of April, raised the most money in the race, Rabb saw a fundraising surge in recent months — collecting the most in both large- and small-dollar donations while also benefitting from roughly $1 million in television ads orchestrated by progressive groups." via the Philadelphia Inquirer, Politico, and the Associated Press.
  • Trump's Picks Defeat Lonely GOP Critics in Multiple Primaries "Fuck around, find out," grotesque White House communications director Stephen Cheung gloated on social media. via Politico, HuffPost, and NBC News.
  • GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, Who Helped Force Release of Epstein Files, Defeated in Kentucky Former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, described by Trump as "a warm body" he recruited to challenge Massie, handily defeated the libertarian farmer, whose supporters are hoping he runs for president in 2028. via Politico, the Washington Post, and HuffPost.
  • Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms Could Be the First Black Governor of Georgia Meanwhile, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who challenged Trump's 2020 election lies, lost his party's gubernatorial primary. via NBC News, NPR, and Politico.
  • AOC and Other Democrats Condemn 'Bigoted Garbage and Antisemitism' from Texas House Candidate Secretly Financed by GOP Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are perturbed that Trump endorsed corrupt Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over inclumbent Sen. John Cornyn. via NBC News, the Texas Tribune, and the New York Times.
  • 'I'm Skeptical of Billionaires,' Says Billionaire California Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Tom Steyer A new poll shows Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra "effectively tied" for the lead in the state's crowded open primary. via the Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, and HuffPost.
  • Oregon Voters Approve GOP Referendum Rolling Back Democratic Legislature's Gas Tax Increase Meanwhile, Republican state Sen. Christine Drazan, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2022, won her party's nomination for a second time, defeating, among others, the state Rep. who put the gas tax repeal on the ballot and a Jan. 6er arrested for storming the US Capitol. via the Associated Press and Willamette Week.
  • With Midterms Looming, Democrats Are Making a Break from Joe Biden's Placid, Down-the-Middle Politics "We have to be as ruthless as our opposition," California Gov. Gavin Newsom told wonks at the Center for American Progress's Washington, DC, conference yesterday. "I'm sick of just winning arguments, with all due respect to the niceties. It feels good, but we’re going to lose our republic." via HuffPost and NBC News.

QUICKEST QUICKIES

  • Must Be Nice: Justice Department Grants Trump Crime Family Immunity to IRS Audits, Saving Donald from $100 Million Penalty Brandon DeBot, a senior attorney adviser at New York University’s Tax Law Center, says Attorney General Todd Blanche's order is unlawful and "a breathtaking abuse of the tax and legal system." via the New York Times, Politico, and NBC News.
  • Putin Is the Latest Great Power Leader to Kiss Xi's Ring in Beijing "The bilateral relationship that Russia touted four years ago as a 'no limits friendship' — a partnership that would challenge US hegemony and shape a new, multipolar world order — increasingly shows Moscow on the back foot." via the Washington Post and NBC News.
  • Incel Nazi Teens Who Shot Up San Diego Mosque Met Online; Islamophobic Rhetoric Blamed The three slain victims of Monday's shooting – security guard Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha, and Nadir Awad – "protected children inside the center and school and there is no doubt that the casualties would have been much worse without their heroism." via the New York Times, the Washington Post, and NBC News.
  • Senate Advances Resolution to Stop Trump's Illegal War on Iran Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who lost his primary over the weekend, was one of four Republicans to vote with Democrats for the war powers resolution, which will soon be debated on the floor. via Politico, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.

SOME NUMBER

3,600

That's how many stock trades Donald Trump disclosed during the first three months of the year, the New York Times reports. The trades offer yet more evidence of Trumpian corruption, and raise "questions among critics about the timing of some trades, which coincided with the president appearing to endorse some of the companies in his public comments."

ON THE SHOW TODAY

5/20: Sam will be hosting solo. The guests will be Leo Martinez, community organizer in Ventura County, California, and a member of VC Defensa, an ICE watchdog and immigrant rights group, discussing his house being raided by Homeland Security; and Gabi Finlayson and Jackie Morgan, senior partners at Elevate Strategies, a political consulting firm that works with progressive campaigns in Utah, discussing Kevin O'Leary attacking them on Fox News over their organizing against a data center.

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

Trump's Insider Trading Makes CNBC Host Go Non-Verbal

Jim Cramer is a broadcasting professional like none other.

AOC Rallies for Working-Class Alliance In Southern States

Hell yeah.

PARTING WORDS

"If I managed to make Trump laugh, I can achieve other things too. You can't just give up."

-- Leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, speaking to the Washington Post about his friendly meeting with Donald Trump, in which Lula adopted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's approach of strategic amicability. After their White House meeting, Trump called Lula, whose assassination he once backed through support for the insurrectionist fascist Jair Bolsonaro, "a good man" and "a smart guy."

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