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May 16th 2020

Editors note: The Economist is making some of its most important coverage of the covid-19 pandemic freely available to readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. To receive it, register here. For our coronavirus tracker and more coverage, see our hub

FOR A MAN acknowledged to be highly intelligent, Mike Pompeo has a long history of talking nonsense. As a greenhorn House member, brought to Congress by the Tea Party wave of 2010, he made his name by pushing conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton. He claimed, without evidence, that she was complicit in the murder of four Americans at an outpost in Benghazi, Libya, to a degree that was worse, in some ways, than Watergate. As Donald Trumps secretary of state, he has encouraged a comparison, popular with Trump-loving evangelicals, between the irreligious president and the Jewish heroine Esther. His recent insistence that covid-19 probably emerged from a Chinese laboratorya conclusion American spies appear not to sharewas of this pattern.

The world has taken that into account. While Mr Pompeo has enraged the Chinese, hardly anyone else outside the Republican base seems to have taken his allegation all that seriously. The other half of America discounted it on the basis that Mr Pompeo said it. Officials in Australia, Germany and elsewhere similarly cast doubt on it. It is hard to think the words of any previous American chief diplomat, a role traditionally considered supra-partisan to a degree, have carried less weight.

Yet, in an administration of mediocrities, Mr Pompeo remains a substantial figure. He is one of its last significant talents. Even his critics note his smartsfamously displayed in a stellar record at West Point and Harvard Law Schooland policy seriousness. His articulation of an America First foreign policy that engages with the world consistently but sceptically is a fair stab at making Trumpism coherent. Mr Pompeo, contrary to the impression he sometimes gives, is a serious grown-up, who has at least grudging respect from many in the foreign-policy establishment. His basic vision, of a confident America working with allies, is pretty standard foreign policy, suggests Leon Panetta, a former Democratic CIA director and defence secretary.

At the same time, almost uniquely among those who are neither related to the president nor rich, he has managed to retain Mr Trumps confidence. Since the sacking of John Bolton eight months ago, he has been the administrations foreign-policy tsar. Mark Esper and Robert OBrien, the defence secretary and national security adviser, are nonentities by comparison.

Hence his recent prominence, haranguing China and Afghanistans feuding leaders and this week flying to Israel to discuss annexation and Iran. Along the way he has secured a few small but worthwhile successes. Americas capitulation to the Taliban would have been even more hasty had Mr Pompeo not opened a diplomatic effort with Pakistan to slow it. This is a more nuanced record than Mr Pompeos conspiracy-theorising might suggest.

At the root of this is that he holds, and on occasion pushes, fairly conventional conservative views, yet is more willing to defer to Mr Trump than were Mr Bolton or any of the presidents other discarded advisers. Like Jim Mattis and John Kelly, the secretary of state has a bullish military manner that the president loves. But unlike the generals, Mr Pompeo, who served in the army for only a few years, is always ready to take orders. His China-baiting, an obvious effort to distract from Mr Trumps struggles with the pandemic, was a case in point. So, too, the many times he has found the words to defend presidential impulses he clearly abhorred: such as Mr Trumps threatened troop withdrawal from Syria.

Two particular reasons seem to explain Mr Pompeos flexibility. One is personal. After a promising early career, he spent 12 years in Kansas on a series of undistinguished business ventures. He then came to Washington, DC, hungry to make up for lost time. His attacks on Mrs Clinton were a statement of intent. Yet his subsequent climb is mainly due to Mr Trumps need for fresh faces for an administration that many Republicans were unwilling to join or, because of past criticism of the president, unwelcome in. Mr Pompeo could not otherwise have soared from a little-known congressman to a front-ranker with realistic presidential ambitions. No one in the administration owes Mr Trump more than he does.

The other explanation is that Mr Pompeo represents a broader politicisation of foreign policy, which predates Mr Trump. In 2013 he and Tom Cotton, then a fellow House member but since elected to the Senate, wrote a column urging Republicans to grant Barack Obamas request for congressional support for an attack on Syria. It is hard to imagine themtwo ultra-partisan Republicanssupporting any Democratic initiative now. This seepage of partisanship into one of the few remaining holdouts was perhaps inevitable. Yet it has accelerated under Mr Trump, in part because blaming the other side is the easiest way for establishment Republicans to justify his protectionism and other offences against conservative orthodoxy. It is no coincidence that Mr Pompeos signature concern, his extreme hostility to the Iranian regime and the nuclear deal Mr Obama made with it, is one of the most polarising there is. This makes it an issue the secretary of state might privately cite, if he ever felt the need back in Kansas one day, to justify any number of compromises for Mr Trump.

The hyper-partisanship of foreign policy Mr Pompeo has come to represent is a dreadful lookout, unworthy of his talents. It carries a risk of endless instability, with successive administrations seeking to undo their predecessors legacy, just as Mr Trump has sought to dismantle Mr Obamas. It also introduces a new rationale for American diplomacy as far removed from its expansive, globally minded strengths as it is possible to imagine. This wretched moment exemplifies that. On current form, Mr Pompeo will not be remembered for squeezing Iran. He will be remembered for undercutting the worlds reasonable case against Chinas handling of the virus by throwing mud for his boss in the midst of a pandemic. That is not American leadership.

Editors note: The Economist is making some of its most important coverage of the covid-19 pandemic freely available to readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. To receive it, register here. For our coronavirus tracker and more coverage, see our hub

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline "Mike Pompeos followership"

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Mike Pompeos politicisation of foreign policy is unworthy of him - The Economist

A shadowy right-wing nonprofit is helping coordinate coronavirus response strategy and promoting the lockdown protests.

Working alongside close allies that have helped coordinate the protests, including Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation and FreedomWorks, Council for National Policy Action (CNP Action) has been hosting conference calls and publishing action memos around reopening states' economies.

CNP Action is the 501(c)(4) nonprofit affiliate of the Council for National Policy (CNP), a coalition of far-right political advocacy and think tank figures that has worked largely behind the scenes since its founding in 1981. CNPs membership includes conservative Republicans and right-wing extremists who work together to shape policy.Trump allies, including senior adviser Kellyanne Conway and former chief adviser Steve Bannon, were CNP members as of 2014. Vice President Mike Pence and Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulew have also been members, according to arecently published bookby Anne Nelson.

Since last month, CNP Action has hosted weekly conference calls to coordinate coronavirus response tactics. Thefirst callfeatured Moore, who founded the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, the Heritage Foundations Ed Meese, and Al Regnery, chairman of CNPsConservative Action Projectand the cousin of prominent white nationalistWilliam Regnery.

Moore has called the lockdown protesters "the modern-day Rosa Parks" for "protesting against injustice and a loss of liberties."

Theemailannouncing the second call, which featured ALEC CEO Lisa Nelson and State Policy Network CEO Tracie Sharp, links to information about an April 21car protestat the Alabama Capitol Building in Montgomery, organized by the anti-LGBTQ group Eagle Forum. The forum's founder, the late Phyllis Schlafly, was a CNP member, and several current staffers are part of the CNP-connected "Save Our Country Task Force."

The announcement directed readers to the private Facebook page of the groupReOpen PA, which was one of three groups that organized anApril 20 lockdown protestat the Pennsylvania state capitol. The other two groups' Facebook pages have been deactivated.

In anannouncementof the third call, CNP Action directs allies to send links to op-eds, articles, and social media posts to a TeaPartyPatriots.org email address, indicating that the group is involved in CNP's organizing efforts. "The Save Our Country Task Force will send it out for others in the coalition to share and cross-promote for a multiplying effect," the announcement says.

"We need to share the stories of people who have been affected by the lockdowns, to show that we must be concerned with both sides of this crisis,"statesthe Tea Party Patriots Action website.

The Save Our Country Task Force is an overlapping group, tied closely to ALEC, that's chaired by Trump economic adviserArt Lafferand includes Moore and CNP's president Bill Walton, a trustee of the Heritage Foundation, in its leadership. Laffer sits on ALEC's Board of Scholars and co-authors ALECs annual Rich States, Poor States publication with Moore. Last year, TrumpgaveLaffer, a former Ronald Reagan adviser and a supply-side economics evangelist, a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

On the May 4 call, Robert Alt of the Charles Koch-fundedBuckeye Institutespoke, and his remarks were posted online.

An announcement for thefourth weekly CNP Action calllinks to the ReOpen PA Facebook page as well as to a "Zoom Grassroots Briefingon #ReOpenAmerica with Steve Moore and [conservative pollster] Scott Rasmussen." Moore and FreedomWorks have been helping coordinate on-the-ground lockdown protests.

The announcement links to the Open the States website, a project of Convention of States Action, which has alsohelped coordinate protests. "Check out the Open the States online community to connect with other Americans concerned about how the COVID-19 response is affecting our communities and liberties," it states.

The call took place on May 11 and featured Mercedes Schlapp, a lobbyist and senior advisor to Donald Trump's campaign, and her husband, Matt Schlapp, a lobbyist and the head of the American Conservative Union. No one mentioned the protests, but the speakers disputed the severity of the coronavirus. In one exchange, Walton and the Schlapps tried to downplay the risks of the deadly virus.

WALTON, introducing a caller's question: We're now discovering, as the science rolls out, that there are tens of millions more people infected with this virus than previously imagined.... It's decidedly reduced the lethality of it.

MERCEDES SCHLAPP: ...I think that the reality is, is that when they looked at the modeling...it depends what assumptions you put into the modeling to see, and so I think the thing is, let's go from millions of deaths to having more like, if you can get it down to not millions of deaths we're in better position.

MATT SCHLAPP: ...Even if youre in some of these really, really serious demographic categories, the survival rate is so high, so we should feel optimistic about it instead of pessimistic.

The call largely revolved around what the Trump campaign is doing to win the election in the face of the current crisis.

CNP did not respond to a request for comment.

The Southern Poverty Law Center published a leaked full roster of CNP from 2014, which identified 413 members. "The list is surprising, not so much for the conservatives who dominate it," wrote Heidi Beirich and Mark Potok, "but for the many real extremists who are included."

At the time, populating CNP's executive committee, board of directors, board of governors, and general membership werea number of extremistsfrom hate groups such as the anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council and Liberty Counsel; the neo-Confederate League of the South; and the anti-Muslim Center for Security Policy.

On the board of governors was Michael Peroutka, who was on the board of League of the South and appeared on a white nationalist radio show. Also involved with CNP were Liberty Councils Mat Staver, who has tried to re-criminalize gay sex; Alan Sears of the anti-LGTBQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom;Tim Wildmon, president of the anti-LGBTQ hate group the American Family Association; and conspiracy theorists Jerome Corsi, who was investigated in the Trump-Russia probe, and Joseph Farah.

The recent CNP Action announcements link to a Liberty Counsel initiative led by Mat Staver called ReOpen Church.

CNP's founders include multiple members of the conspiracist John Birch Society and Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation and ALEC.

As of2018, the most recent tax year on record for CNP, the board of directors included Tony Perkins, who was president at the time, and Kenneth Blackwell of the Family Research Council. The current board of governors and general membership rosters are unknown.

Perkins will be a speaker during next week's CNP Action call on May 18.

In 2018, CNP Action had asmall budget, having spent $127,000 and received only $95,000 in contributions. Bill Walton was chairman, and Blackwell, Adam Brandon-the president of FreedomWorks-and Perkins were directors.

CNP is a much larger operation, having spent $2.9 million and taken in a total of over $3.2 million in 2018.

Richard DeVos, the father-in-law of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, is a former president of CNP, and his family foundation has funded the group. DeVos's parents' family charity, the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, are regular donors, having given money in the 2018 fiscal year, the most recent on record.

The family foundation of Robert Mercer gave $75,000 to CNP from 2013-14. Another right-wing political megadonor, Foster Friess, has been part of CNP and likely funded the organization.

Tim Phillips, a Tea Party organizer and president of Koch's Americans for Prosperity, was listed as a member of CNP's Board of Governors in 2014. The Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, which is now defunct but was run by the Koch family, donated $75,000 to CNP from 2011-12.

Institutional donors include the Family Research Council, theHeritage Foundation, andJudicial Watch, as well as from the donor-advised fund sponsors the National Christian Foundation and National Philanthropic Trust.

Image from ReOpen PA's April 20 protest byPaul Weaveron Flickr.

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Secretive Right-Wing Nonprofit Plays Role in COVID-19 Organizing - PR Watch

TAMPA All over the country, the groups have grabbed headlines, storming state capitols, dramatically staring down law enforcement officers while forcefully declaring what they believe to be their rights.

Not so in Florida.

Sure, there have been rallies. In late April, some 200 showed up to a Tampa television station toting messages like Quarantine for the sick. Vitamins for the rest and End quarantine now! For hours, they waved signs on Kennedy Boulevard and disregarded social distancing recommendations.

There are Facebook groups: About 10,000 are signed onto a page called Reopen Florida.

But Floridas reopen movement has been a more modest affair compared to those that have disrupted other states. An analysis by the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, a non-profit watchdog of far-right extremists, found that Facebook groups dedicated to reopening Florida have just a fraction of the following of other states groups. For example, Michiganders against excessive quarantine had some 382,400 members as of Friday.

And unlike other states, such as Michigan or Ohio, denunciations of the governors safer-at-home order havent come from one of the states highest political offices.

Devin Burghart studies these movements for a living as the president of the institute. He said Gov. Ron DeSantis, a staunch conservative, hasnt gotten much pushback from the reopen crowd because he has built up years of good will fighting for many of their causes.

You have a much more sympathetic governor to these causes, Burghart said.

DeSantis has dedicated substantial portions of recent news conferences aiming fire at a favorite target of Trumps base: reporters and the experts they quote. He says they stoked panic at the pandemics outset. If the Reopen Florida Facebook group is any gauge, thats music to the ears of the most conservative Floridians some of whom doubt the coronavirus is any more dangerous than the seasonal flu. (It is.)

Yet, DeSantis record in handling the crisis shows hes taken the disease seriously. He did issue a shutdown order on April 1, after all. And, at least at first, DeSantis actions to reopen the state were more cautious than the recommendations from the White House and other Republican-led states. Movie theaters, for example, are still closed under the governors executive order. Not so in Texas.

Some in the Reopen groups have picked up on DeSantis caution.

Im not fully satisfied with his response, said Tara Hill, a moderator on the Reopen Florida Facebook group. However, I think his intentions are toward reopening the state.

So far, that viewpoint from the right is an exception. FreedomWorks, a conservative advocacy nonprofit that played a major role in the Tea Party movement, actively promotes Reopen protests on its website. Earlier this month, the group put out a scorecard which graded Americas 50 governors on their reopening plans. It was essentially a qualitative assessment: the better a governor balanced the health needs of their state with the daunting economic reality, the higher they scored. DeSantis was one of nine governors to score an A. Eight were Republicans. (Washington D.C. and its mayor were also included in the scorecard.)

Adam Brandon, the president of FreedomWorks, said the grades are subject to change with the evolving executive orders. But so far, Brandon says, DeSantis has closed what needs closing and started to open what can be safely opened.

You have to be smarter than just these blanket approaches, Brandon said. Its pretty clear when you look at the graphs who gets sick and who doesnt.

Although the state has significantly ramped up its testing capacity in recent weeks, experts say Florida is still not testing enough people to fully reopen the economy. Last week, the state tested about 18,600 people per day. Dr. Charles Lockwood, the dean of University of South Floridas College of Medicine who has said he supports the governors approach to reopening, said in April the state needs to be testing about 33,000 people every day.

Such numbers are unpersuasive to the reopen crowd.

A primary reason for that is the economic desperation brought about by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Burghart said. But, like the Tea Party before it, theres also more at play.

National conservative groups like Freedomworks are happy to help grassroots activists who align with their small government message. (Brandon said Freedomworks has not spent money to help organize the Reopen protests.) And like the Tea Party, the movement is uniting disparate factions skeptical of Big Government: Donald Trump superfans, conspiracy theorists and anti-vaccine crusaders.

However, there is one major difference between the two movements: timing. The Reopen campaign has already amassed an online following of over 2 million Facebook users across hundreds of groups, according to the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights analysis. It took months for the Tea Party to accomplish what the Reopen movement has in weeks.

Burghart said even if the Reopen movement isnt dictating the conversation in Florida yet standard bearers of the right like Ron DeSantis may have to tread carefully. If one lesson can be applied from the Tea Party, its that conservatives alienate the grassroots base at their own risk.

They have an outsized influence on the dialogue, Burghart said.

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The movement to reopen Florida has been somewhat subdued. Why is that? - Tampa Bay Times

This May 24 long weekend, dont settle for the standard 2-4 of lager. Instead, step up your fancy cocktail game with two special recipes from Whitney Rorison, co-author of Craft Cocktails and hospitality manager of Dillons Small Batch Distillers.

The Tea Party is the perfect cocktail for brunch if youre tired of the old mimosa, says Rorison. Plus, its so fitting for a weekend that celebrates Queen Victoria. You can use either gin or vodka depending on your preference, along with some of your favourite Earl Grey tea, simple syrup, fresh lemon juice, bitters and lavender. Its even one of those drinks that you can prepare ahead of time and chill in the fridge if youd rather have a lie-in on the long weekend.

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This is the ultimate spring cocktail using fresh rhubarb, says Rorison. It takes a bit more time to prepare as you need to make a rhubarb syrup and candied rhubarb garnish (completely optional garnish option, though), but the flavour combinations and taste are unbelievable. The Rhubarb Sour is gin-based, but you can easily sub in vodka, and it has the most refreshingly sweet but not-too-sweet taste. I would drink these all year if rhubarb was available in the dead of winter!

1. Prepare the candied rhubarb. Preheat the oven to 440 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Trim the ends off the rhubarb stalks, wash them (but dont dry them), and cut them into finger-length pieces. Pour the sugar onto a small plate. While the rhubarb pieces are still damp, roll them in the sugar, making sure that they are covered evenly. Arrange the sugar-coated rhubarb on the baking sheet, leaving space between each piece. Bake for 1 hour, or until almost all of the liquid from the rhubarb has evaporated and the stalks start to look crisp. Let cool on the baking sheet. The rhubarb pieces can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

3. Make the rhubarb syrup. Combine the rhubarb, sugar and water in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pot from the heat and leave the rhubarb to steep in the liquid for at least 1 hour, pressing the rhubarb occasionally with a wooden spoon to extract additional flavour. Once cooled and steeped, the liquid should have a pink hue to it. Strain the syrup into an airtight container. Stored in the refrigerator, it will keep for up to 2 weeks.

4. Make the cocktail. Add the gin, syrup, lime juice and bitters to a cocktail shaker. Add the ice and shake for 10 to 15 seconds.

5. Strain the cocktail into a rocks glass or a mason jar filled with fresh ice. Top with soda water and garnish with a piece of the candied rhubarb.

Keep them simple and fun. Crafting cocktails at home should be easy and relaxed. If you have a well-stocked bar cart and some fresh citrus, fruit and fresh herbs at home, there are so many wonderful cocktails you can make. If the weather is warm, its the perfect way to spend a long weekend: enjoying a tasty bevvie outside in the sun. Gin and/or vodka with some muddled fruit and herbs in a highball with loads of ice and a topping of soda water or sparkling wine sounds pretty good for a relaxing long weekend.

Balance. Making sure that your cocktails have a good balance of flavours on the palate is the most important thing. Make sure you have a sour and/or bitter component, a sweet note, and you definitely want to taste the spirit in the drink, too. Having a nice versatile set of bitters at home is always a smart option; you can change the flavour and balance in a cocktail so easily with the additions of a few dashes of bitters.

A well-curated home bar should have the basic spirits and the ones you use most often: gin, vodka, whisky, some sort of aperitivo (like Aperol or Campari), vermouth (sweet and dry), a nice rum and a good tequila/mezcal, a few liqueurs like our Rose Gin, Cassis or a sweeter schnapps and bitters. For tools, you should invest in a few pieces like a jigger (to help measure), cocktail shaker and mixing glass (although even a mason jar can work in a pinch), some fun vintage-style glasses and cocktail picks for garnishes. A good peeler from the kitchen comes in handy too for citrus peel and twist garnishes, because you want the drink to look as good as it tastes!

Prepared cocktails, whether in a can or bottle, even in kegs are big right now. We released a bottled Negroni last year and its been so well received. We took a different approach with our first prepared cocktail and went down the stirred cocktail road, which you dont see as much of quite yet (there are so many great light spritzy ready-to-drinks on the market right now). A well-crafted, balanced RTD cocktail allows the consumer to enjoy the best of the best, without all the fuss or work. I also think we are going to see more cocktails with a drier, bitter or acidic flavour profilemore salty, umami-like vibes. I personally love cocktails that focus on deep flavours with less sweetness. Adding anise and fennel notes to cocktails with fruit or citrus, garnishing with coarse salt, something like that is what Id love to see.

Link:
Fancy Cocktails You Can Make at Home This Long Weekend - The Kit

Marie Curies famous Blooming Great Tea Party is going virtual this year and the charity needs hosts more than ever before to make up for the devastating effect the coronavirus crisis has had on its income.

It is hoped people across Forth Valley will host a virtual tea party with family and friends as a fun way to stay in touch with loved ones and support nurses working on the frontline of the crisis.

In homes all over the district, the charity is caring for people with terminal illnesses, as well as people with Covid-19, and is protecting the NHS by keeping

patients away from hospital.

However, as the charity has stepped up its support for the nation, its fundraising income has been devastated by the impact of lockdown measures it had to cancel its Great Daffodil Appeal in March and closed all its charity shops shortly after.

The charity needs to raise a quarter of a million pounds to fund its Scottish services.

That is why the charity and its celebrity ambassador, Mel Giedroyc, are encouraging everyone to connect virtually with friends and family while raising some money at the same time.

Mel said: You can bake it, fake it, brew it or stew it whatever your cup of tea, Marie Curies Blooming Great Tea Party is going virtual this year and its a simple way to keep in touch with your chums, while raising money for a wonderful cause, which, I think youll agree, we all need right now".

Marie Curie needs to raise a massive 2.5 million each week to care for the tens of thousands of people who need its nursing and hospice care. This year, the amazing nurses and frontline staff need you more than ever, as the fundraising events they rely on have all been cancelled.

Ive met their nurses before. They are inspiring, kind, caring and loving people who are currently caring for people at the end of their lives and keeping people out of hospital,helping the NHS cope with the coronavirus crisis.

Every last crumb of the money you raise will help people at the end of their lives. So please join me by raising a cuppa, and some money, in your lounge or garden for the Marie Curie Nurses on the front line.

Jim Stewart, community fundraiser for Forth Valley, said: Our Blooming Great Tea Party looks a little different this year but I think everyone needs an excuse to meet up with their friends and family online of course and check in on the people they love. If you can do that while raising some money for Marie Curie, then your generous donations will enable us to help even more people at the end of their lives get the care they need in this time of uncertainty.

We rely on the support of the amazing public to ensure our nurses can keep caring for people. And while the coronavirus crisis has badly impacted our fundraising events, we hope by going virtual well be able to raise the vital funds we need to keep supporting people in our communities across Forth Valley.

To register as a Blooming Virtual Tea Party host visit here or call 0800 716 146 for you fundraising pack.

Read more here:
Marie Curie charity hopes Falkirk tea lovers will host a virtual party - Falkirk Herald