Left Coast Sports Babe

By the time Major League Baseball comes back, will anyone remember what the Astros and Red Sox got punished for?

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As theaters begin to reopen in some states, remember, what many of them made most of their money on was not the films themselves, but things like that jumbo shared bucket of popcorn. Oops.

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“Indecent Proposal”- 1993 – rich man offers couple $1 million to save dream home if wife will spend night w/ him. Now it’s “Indecent Proposal 2020” – GOP offers you chance to save democracy IF you risk your life to vote. Time for Senate to vote on Klobuchar-Wyden #VotebyMail bill

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The GOP District Attorney in Georgia who initially refused to prosecute killers of Ahmaud Arbery is up for re-election in November.   There is no Democrat running against her but an independent is trying to gather enough signatures to make the ballot.

If you needed any reminder, state & local elections matter.

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Of course stores can do mail only delivery but still felt sad today seeing bookstores classified as “nonessential.”. Books are essential. Period.

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If one of those amazing and wonderful WWII veterans who Donald Trump possibly exposed to COVID-19 today for a photo-op actually dies of coronavirus, do you think the White House would tell us?

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I try not to personally wish harm on anyone. But you have to admit two people at White House testing positive for COVID-19, a day after “National Prayer Day,” kind of makes you wonder whose prayers God might have been listening to.

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Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s senior adviser Stephen Miller, has now tested positive for the coronavirus. So researchers will now get a high profile case to study possible inter-species transmission.

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And then, while news outlets understood that Katie Miller had tested positive, but kept it quiet out of concern for her privacy,  Trump just blurted it out at a meeting.

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To be fair, if someone asked Trump if he “violated HIPAA” Donald would almost certainly respond “Whatever she says, I barely knew the woman. And she wouldn’t have been my first choice.”

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You know Trump has been seriously stressed out by two cases of COVID-19 in the West Wing. He forgot to fire someone this week late on a Friday night.

A simple question – if Ivanka Trump’s personal assistant is teleworking then why did she need to be tested?

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If Trump thinks masks aren’t necessary and testing is “overrated,” then why doesn’t he show the American people by example and not have anyone around him masked or tested? Asking for a country.

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Would be funny if not so disgusting. Trump fundraising email. “We want all our top Trump supporters to be protected as states are starting to re-open for business. For next 12 hrs we’re offering 3 FREE face masks w/ any contribution of $20 or more.” No joke. #DoAsISayNotAsIdo

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been scheduled for  five prime-time games, the NFL’s maximum allowed.  Okay, can anyone, even Bucs fans remember five prime-time games in one season?

-But at least this should dispel any notion that the league treats Sir Brady differently?

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NCAA enforcement staff said Kansas’s men’sbasketball program, including coach Bill Self,  committed “egregious” and “severe” rules violations that “significantly undermine and threaten the NCAA Collegiate Model. The school is charged with five “Level 1” (the worst) violations.

So with March Madness canceled this year will the #1 ranked Jayhawks be the first team to vacate a championship they didn’t even win?

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Baltimore Ravens Earl Thomas’s wife was arrested for pointing a gun at his head after she caught him in a three-way with a woman and Earl’s brother.

Darn, I miss the days when this would have been one of the biggest headlines of the week.

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So since Megyn Kelly has done an interview with Tara Reade anyone got a copy of the schedule of the 25 next interviews she is doing with all Trumps accusers?

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Texas Supreme Court orders the release of Shelley Luther, who’d been sentenced to 7 days in jail for keeping her hair salon open in defiance of a state order. So they’re saying it’s her health and women can make their own choices. Got it.

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I’m so old that I remember when GOP wanted to remove an Attorney General from office just for having a private conversation with a former president in her plane on the tarmac. #LorettaLynch #BillClinton

Bill Barr today asked how history would remember him dropping Flynn case: “History is written by the winners, so it largely depends on who is writing the history.” There’s a reason Trump hates history.

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Folks, I want Bill Barr out of office as much as anyone. But doesn’t matter how many people sign the petition – he’s NOT going to resign. We win the White House, Flip the Senate, and then President Biden can put a decent woman, or man, in Barr’s place.

So how many men and women in jail are now calling their lawyers to demand a new trial because pleading guilty is no longer an admission of actually being guilty?

Judge Sullivan does have discretion regarding Barr and DOJ’s attempt to kill Flynn case, although apparently it would be highly unusual. Since we passed “highly unusual” a while ago, can someone please keep Emmet G. Sullivan away from windows?

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Per Rachel Maddow – , we don’t even have all test results from many Midwestern states especially meatpacking plants:

Per Washington Post – even without those numbers, Three states newly in top 15, & bidding to crack top 10 for cases per capita. – South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska

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Lost in this week’s craziness was Trump’s veto of the War Powers Resolution passed by the House and Senate. Wonder if Donald figures the way he’s screwed up Coronavirus he may need to wag a really big dog.

ESPN reports that, MLB expects to offer a return-to-play proposal to the MLB Players Association within a week. The current best hope is some spring training in June, and actual games in July.

Or at least maybe taking away headlines from NFL for a week?

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One of the stranger non-Coronavirus, non-political semi-sports entences of 2020 that I vaguely somehow now understand is “People think the rhino is Barry Zito.”

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RBG, 87, arguing to protect women’s right to birth control from her hospital bed. And there’re still people who call themselves liberal who won’t vote for Biden because he’s not “progressive” enough. If you don’t like Biden-Trump choice, how about RBG-Kavanaugh choice? 

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Trump now says the Coronavirus task force will “continue on indefinitely” but “we may add or subtract people ….” Speaking of which, Donald’s not mentioning the 71,000 people who’ve been permanently subtracted.

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Among the businesses allowed to reopen on Friday in Iowa are… tanning facilities?! Guess Governor Reynolds figures, if you’re willing to risk COVID, you might as well also be able to risk skin cancer?

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Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds praising Dear Leader today at White House “The partnership and collaboration as we went through this pandemic has been incredible.” “WENT” through? Once again time for the question, evil or stupid?

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Someone asked new White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McNany who are world leaders who have praised Trump’s Coronavirus response, and she says she won’t reveal confidential information. Translation – none of them.

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Fox reports Texas Lt. Gov Dan Patrick vowed to pay fines for a woman sent to jail because she kept her hair salon open, & volunteered to go under house arrest on condition she be freed. Uh, instead of house arrest why doesn’t Patrick volunteer to visit a COVID ICU ward?

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A so-called “pro-life” Trump supporter proudly saying “you can call me a Grandma killer,” because she doesn’t want to stop going to museums and zoos, just about sums up what Hillary meant by “deplorables.”

Officials say 54 people in Milwaukee County alone who voted in person on April 7 have tested positive for the coronavirus.
“How many deaths will it take till he knows, that too many people have died?”
Mitch McConnell – call for a damn vote on the  #VoteByMail bill.

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If there were no easy rapid COVID-19 test that Trump has access to every single day, does anyone think he’d be doing these vanity events on a regular basis?

On COVID Trump has zero shame.

Sad numbers become just a game.

For as people die

Don will just turn and lie

Then choose a new person to blame

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No joke, but since there’s no real baseball today. –  happy  89th Birthday Willie Mays.

You think you’re having a bad day at work. Imagine being a Wendy’s worker when you run out of hamburgers and it’s nonstop “Where’s the Beef” jokes?

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On Twitter tonight, there was a serious debate about the merits, or non-merits, of Fritos.   I  miss the days when that  debate  would have been the most contentious thing on social media. But I’m having serious chili cheese Fritos flashbacks.  And now I want some.

Ousted vaccine director Dr. Rick Bright today formally filed an extensive whistleblower complaint. I hope he stays away from windows.

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Again, ANYONE thinking of casting a protest vote this November. Four words: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Four more words in an acronym: GTFU

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Kellyanne said Trump is the “healthcare” President. Like Hoover was the stock market President?

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Trump claims in ABC interview that he doesn’t sleep at night. But of course he does. Upside down, hanging from a branch.

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Trump – “Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open, and we have to get it open soon.” Guessing he figures those affected badly won’t complain too much, because they will be like, you know, dead.

Trump tweeting about his great testing “miracle” compared to other countries. Is that like “One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear?” Asking for a tired, and sick, country. #WhereAreTheDamnTests

If whoever at the Honeywell plant played “Live and Let Die” while Trump was visiting gets fired over it, guessing he/she won’t have a shortage of job offers.

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While Trump was visiting someone at Honeywell plant played “Live and Let Die” over loudspeakers. Donald’s next trip this week is to Ohio. Too late for “Ohio” since Kent State anniversary was Monday, but- “You’re So Vain, ” “Fool on the Hill,” “Psycho Killer…?” Ideas welcome.

Florida “now allowing eateries, stores, museums & other businesses in 64 counties to welcome customers at 25% capacity.” So since that’s business as usual what time this weekend is the Marlins game?

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You know it’s been too much politics and too little sports when you see NC Dinos trending on Twitter, and instead of realizing they’re a South Korean baseball team you think it’s North Carolina Democrats acting like Republicans.

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And yes, the VP race is the only game in town… and look, not a big believer in polls anyway, but with recent CBS poll showing most Democrats prefer Elizabeth Warren as Joe Biden’s running mate, wouldn’t you think if Dems really felt that way more of them would have voted Warren (or Sanders) in the Primary?

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In the “small mercies” department, just guessing that tomorrow USA will set one good record – lowest number in recent memory of DUI arrests and death on Cinco De Mayo.

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Another small mercy I didn’t see coming.  After CNN interview with Anderson Cooper, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine  a longtime opponent of LGBTQ rights, on Monday night gave Anderson an unsolicited, and seemingly heartfelt  “Congratulations on the baby. It’s a great thing.”

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Trump is now attacking Joe Biden in fundraising emails as a “BIG GOVERNMENT SOCIALIST.” Seriously? But hey, maybe Donald should use that phrase on Twitter, might get Joe a few more Bernie Sanders supporter votes.

Wild tweet storm at 1am from Donald Trump, attacking all the Republicans he perceives to be against him.

“Hello, Washington DC 911 – I wish to report an elderly man in distress. Possible OD?

I fully expect President Biden to have a verbal gaffe, or two, every week. But pretty darn sure he won’t be calling his political opponents “LOSERS” & “deranged losers,” and  “Moonface.”

Per ESPN, apparently Rays Blake Snell (who?)  won the inaugural MLB The Show Players League on Sunday with a three-game sweep in the video game against the White Sox’s Lucas Giolotto. (also who?)

Now, any nice sporting news these days is cool. But that this was an actual ESPN HEADLINE?

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Christian Laettner was trending yesterday morning because people feel very strongly about whether he was or was not a great basketball player. I miss the days when Sunday Twitter was largely about sports arguments.

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Someday in a post-pandemic world, imagining grownup children asking “Mom, what was a potluck?”

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Wonder how much PPE the federal government could buy for the cost of all their recent Blue Angels and Thunderbirds flyovers?

Looking at pictures of crowded beaches and marveling at fact that some people were more scared in late 1970s by a movie featuring a mechanical shark than they are now by the serious chance of dying.

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Dr. Birx on “Reopen” protesters “if they go home & infect their grandmother or grandfather…..& they have a serious or unfortunate outcome, they will feel guilty for the rest of their lives.”  Nah, they’ll probably blame it on Obama.

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From Trump fundraising email-“Dems never going to stop coming after me, 1/2 of them complain we’re opening up Country too fast & other 1/2 gripe we’re not opening it up fast enough. They’ll never be happy no matter what I do.” Not true. We’ll be VERY happy if you resign.

“That’s one of the reasons we’re successful, if you call losing 80 or 90,000 people successful.I used to say 65,000 and now I’m saying 80 or 90 and it goes up and it goes up rapidly.” No, you used to say, “15 and it’s going to go down to zero.”

If the Trump “town hall” charade on Fox News Sunday night isn’t scary enough to make you a Biden supporter, think on this: State TV isn’t being obsequious enough so Donald is now cheating on them with OANN.

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Finally, nonsnark.  There are so many reasons I’m a Democrat. And why I really don’t like guns. May 4, 1970 – I was in 5th grade. Allison Krause was only 19 years old.
50 years ago today…

https://www.cincinnati.com/in-depth/news/history/2020/05/01/kent-state-shootings-allison-krause-killed-national-guard/3055246001/?fbclid=IwAR1k9FxAQIWy9iZ6GmXi1WcNbWP9ejB_o2utyMv4yGovmPuLHgkfrjQuOYk

Was hoping it wouldn’t end this way…. but as we stagger into May, the streak remains, it has been since 1997 since an April without  the San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs.

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Does this matter in the grand scheme of things? No. But I can’t remember, going back to being a child a long time ago, when the first Saturday NIGHT in May after Kentucky Derby  didn’t bring that at least brief dreamy anticipation of having a potential Triple Crown winner.

And NBC redid the 2015 Kentucky Derby today, and did a computer-simulated Derby between 13 Triple Crown winners. Okay, we’re all so starved for sports that the computer generated races was fun. But as we all knew, there was no way any horse would have beaten Secretariat.

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(yeah, there was the 1973 Wood Memorial.  Many theories on that. But  Secretariat didn’t let it happen again.)

Yes, many of us Democratic women believe Joe now. But what gets me is how many Republican women who believe over TWENTY-FIVE women who accused Donald Trump were all lying now claim to believe Tara Reade.

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Dr. Anne Schuchat, #2 official at CDC, told AP the US government was too slow to respond to coronavirus pandemic & stop travel from Europe. So what Friday night will Trump fire Dr. Schuchat?

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Today from Camp David, Trump  showed more real empathy today for Kim Jong Un than he has done for the 65,000 plus Americans who have died. There is no punchline. There is no bottom.

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While millions of elderly Americans are confined and at risk in crowded nursing homes, taxpayers this weekend are paying for very expensive isolated assisted-living for a ranting old man at Camp David.

Donald Trump has been defending ReOpen protesters as “good people.” Wonder what he’ll say if people show up to protest his Lincoln Memorial virtual town hall tomorrow?

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All this talk about “excitement” on Democratic ticket: Here’s what I would really find exciting right now – idea of enjoying a Saturday night, not checking news & waking up Sunday morning without first thought being “WTF did POTUS and/or VP do now?”

The NBA is talking about delaying start of 2020-2021 season until December.

“Wait, and eliminate all those gripping first 20-30 games of the regular season?” said almost no one.

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Mitch McConnell –  ” I think the country needs sports. We’ve all missed that during the pandemic.”

While I actually agree with Mitch this one and perhaps only  time, I wish I didn’t have the feeling he wants sports to distract from the judicial appointments he wants to ram through before November.

I know SNL AT Home isn’t live this week, but oh please oh please would Kate McKinnon just consider doing a two minute virtual skit playing new White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany?

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As reports indicate black people are getting sick and dying at a much higher rate from COVID-19, anyone else notice that just about ALL the “ReOpen” protesters are white?

Don’t think they’ll wear bracelets. But in a week or so, can Southern California healthcare workers look for bathing suit tan lines and send all those Huntington Beach protesters home to cure themselves with sunlight?

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Gallup, NM, has 1,027 cases of COVID-19 in a town of about 22,000 people. But wait, wait, Trump likes to act like coronavirus isn’t a rural problem, maybe he could stop in Gallup and show support next week on his way to Arizona?

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Late Friday, Trump chose replacement for HHS IG who reported PPE shortages/coronavirus testing delays. Nominee Jason Weida represented feds in 2017 to allow employers “w/ religious/moral objection to block employees from getting health care for contraception.” This will go well.

Actually, we don’t need to know anything about Trump’s new nominee for HHS inspector general except this: A POTUS obsessed with “Bachelor Finale/MNF ratings” wouldn’t announce ANYTHING late Friday night he is proud of. Period.

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Trump is heading to Camp David this weekend. If he wanted to model “re-open America” behavior why doesn’t Donald head to Michigan to support and shake hands with some of those “very good people?”

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So still waiting for Donald Trump to explain to Americans why his visit this weekend to Camp David was “essential travel.”

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Random thought, upwards of 20 women have accused Trump of sexual assault. Surely at least one of them is willing to talk to a media that seems in desperate need of making such allegations part of the 2020 Presidential campaign?

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Of course we don’t know, but if I had to bet on another credible woman accuser coming forward I’d bet on a 26th for Trump rather than a second for Biden.

Former Cubs/Expos star  Andre Dawson now runs a funeral home in South Florida. Where he is unfortunately having a spike in business.  Yeah, we don’t have baseball right now. But wonder how many people crowding beaches in the state may have their next-of-kin meet this Hall of Fame player?

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NASCAR says they will resume season on May 17 with seven races in 10 days. So good news for since Trump stopped his daily press briefings for anyone who’s feeling withdrawal from watching wrecks.

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Macy’s says they will reopen all their US stores within six weeks. Of course new clothes retail therapy would be a lot more appealing if we had anywhere to wear them.

Contrary to what the Mayo Clinic itself said, Karen Pence said VP Mike didn’t know about the clinic having  a mask rule.

Got it.  So Karen  is the mom who writes a note for her son after he gets sent home for a school field trip dress code violations… and blames the teacher for not being clear?

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Joe Biden called for Trump to lower the White House flag to honor COVID-19 pandemic dead,. When asked today Donald responded:  “I would not mind doing that, I would say not only the White House flag. We could do that. In fact, it’s something I will be talking about later.”

Translation, in a week Trump will claim it’s his idea.

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Very confused, do some of these armed right-wing protesters in Michigan think you can just shoot the Coronavirus?

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Tonight Rachel Maddow told a story reported by Washington Post that Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland needed to have plane from Korea with test kits land at BWI Airport, rather than Dulles so feds wouldn’t confiscate them.  And that the Maryland  National Guard is guarding the supplies. This documentary version of “24” s*cks.

Ooh, I may have gotten the link to work here. In any case. It’s a nice antidote to the insanity out of the Oval Office.  Two former rivals doing “Midwestern Nice,” mostly.

For anyone who says we need “excitement” on the ticket, I dream of the day when the biggest controversy involving a Vice President might be that she gets overly competitive at Scrabble.

Trump today ” People don’t realize. New Jersey, believe it or not, is the single most dense area in the country.” Uh, not even close. The single most truly “dense” area in the country is whatever room in which Donald calls a meeting of his cabinet.

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Latest lousy limerick

On COVID Trump wasn’t prepared.
So Don bet he could show that he cared.
But to tell Putin “danke”
Or placate Ivanka?
He threw all his chips in on Jared.