2020 Day 1166: The U.S. could see 100,000 to 200,000 coronavirus deaths even "if we do things almost perfectly"; Trump raised the idea of issuing an “enforceable” quarantine of New York, New Jersey, and parts of Connecticut only to back away from it hours later; Trump blamed hospitals for the shortage of masks and ventilators; Trump bragged about the ratings of his coronavirus task force briefings; and the EPA stopped enforcing environmental regulations because of the coronavirus pandemic. Mar 30, 2020
2021 Day 70: Biden announced a “trailblazing” set of 11 judicial nominees; Biden signed a two-month extension of the Paycheck Protection Program; a group of 21 Senate Democrats urged Biden to include recurring direct payments and an extension of jobless benefits in his infrastructure and economic recovery plan; WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the joint mission to study the origins of the coronavirus in China didn’t adequately analyze the possibility of a lab leak before deciding the virus most likely spread from bats to humans via another animal; and several civil rights groups have filed at least three legal challenges to Georgia's new voting limitations. Mar 30, 2021
2022 Day 435: U.S. intelligence officials believe Putin is "being misinformed by his advisers" who "are too afraid to tell him the truth" about his military’s struggles in Ukraine and the effect of sanctions on the Russian economy; Trump called on Putin to release information regarding Hunter Biden's alleged dealings with Eastern European oligarchs; Susan Collins said she will vote for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court; the White House launched a Covid-19 website to help Americans navigate access to testing, treatment, vaccines, and masks; the Biden administration plans to end Trump-era pandemic border policy restrictions that largely blocked migrants from entering the U.S.; Biden is expected to invoke the Defense Production Act to help secure the minerals needed for the batteries used in electric vehicles and power storage on the electric grid; the Biden administration will spend $3.16 billion to retrofit hundreds of thousands of homes in low-income areas, with the goal of making them more energy efficient; and 30% of Americans say inflation is the most urgent issue facing the country today, followed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine (14%), immigration (9%), climate change (7%), and Covid-19 (3%). Mar 30, 2022
2023 Day 800: The Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump for his role in the hush-money payment to a porn star during his 2016 campaign; a federal judge in Texas invalidated the Affordable Care Act's mandate that insurers and employers offer certain preventive health care services; House Republicans passed legislation that would increase oil drilling and mining on public lands and waters; a train hauling ethanol derailed and caught fire in Minnesota, triggering an evacuation of residents living near the crash site; the Senate passed a bill to end the national Covid-19 emergency; and Kevin McCarthy – again – declined to say whether the House would consider an assault weapons ban following the Nashville school shooting. Mar 30, 2023
2026 Day 1896: Trump said his “preference” would be to “take the oil in Iran” and floated seizing Kharg Island; hackers linked to Iran accessed FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email account; House Republicans are considering cutting health care spending to help pay for a reconciliation bill that could provide as much as $200 billion for the Iran war and immigration enforcement; the Department of Homeland Security remained shut down after 44 days, setting a record for the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history; the Trump administration’s Supreme Court case against birthright citizenship relies in part on legal arguments advanced by white supremacist and anti-Chinese activists in the late 1800s; Trump's White House ballroom project includes a “massive” military complex under the site of the demolished East Wing; and 33% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president, the lowest rating of his second term in office. Mar 30, 2026