Death’s Door: The death toll from the coronavirus in the US may reach as high as 100,000 people, President Trump said last night during an appearance on Fox News.

  “We’re going to lose anywhere from 75, 80 to 100,000 people,” he said during a virtual “town hall” meeting on Fox. “That’s a horrible thing. We shouldn’t lose one person over this,” he said.

  Trump also said he’s confident that there will be a vaccine by the end of the year.

  Only last week the official White House prediction was 74,000 deaths. This morning, it’s already up to 67,686, 1,301 of them in the last 24 hours.

  Despite the US doing worst in the world, and predicting this country will do worse yet, Trump claimed that his actions have saved millions of lives. “The minimum we would have lost was a million two, a million four, a million five, that’s the minimum,” he said. 

  Trump said during the conversation that he was warned of a virus in January, but was told, “it was not a big deal.” Trump said he decided to limit travel from China despite being given what he claims was a casual assessment of the danger.

  It’s part of his playbook to deny responsibility for failure and claim it for success.

  In the midst of all this, Trump blamed “Democrats” for the high number of deaths in this country. He said, “The Democrats, the radical left, whatever you want to … would rather see people … I’m going to be very nice. I’m not going to say die. I’m going to say, would rather see people not get well.” 

It Came from Wuhan: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday supported  President Trump’s claim that the coronavirus originated in a research laboratory in Wuhan, China, even though US intelligence agencies say they have no confirmation of that.

  Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Pompeo, the former CIA chief, said that “there’s enormous evidence” that the coronavirus came from the lab. He agreed that there’s no indication that the virus is man-made or genetically modified.

Econ 101: The pandemic crippled its first major retailer. The J. Crew chain, the clothier of preppies, filed for bankruptcy today.

  Sales of clothing and accessories in the US fell by half during the month of March even though stores were open for part of the month. The report on April is expected to be even worse. Neiman Marcus and J.C. Penney are also struggling.

  For the moment, the White House is resisting yet another financial aid bill. Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s top economic adviser, said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” that the administration wants to see how the trillions of dollars already injected into the economy are working before the government does anything more.

  The program has been heavily criticized for giving more money to big companies rather than small businesses. Among the big companies that accepted federal aid was the Ashford Group, which runs 130 hotels. Ashford  companies made more than 100 filings to ask for $126 million and received $76 million, according to The Washington Post.

  The company blamed inconsistent rules and misguidance from the federal government. They say they’re giving the money back.

The Russia House: A few weeks ago, it seemed that the coronavirus was giving  Russia a pass, but no longer. Yesterday was the fourth day in a row that Russia reported what for them is a record number of new cases. Yesterday it was 10,633 new cases and this morning Russia has a reported 145,268 people infected, with 1,356 deaths, making it the country with the 7^th most infections in the world.

  Russian President Vladimir Putin warned, “We are about to face a new and grueling phase of the pandemic.”

The Bulletin Board: Breaking with history, the Supreme Court is hearing cases by tele-conference today and allowing the public to listen in. The Court never does anything by electronics, but the pandemic has forced modernity. — “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl revealed last night that she had the coronavirus and spent a few days in the hospital. She’s 78 years old, but says she’s fine now. — Vice President Mike Pence now admits he should have worn a mask while visiting the Mayo Clinic. He claimed at the time he wasn’t told to wear one, even while everyone around him was. — North and South Korean soldiers traded gunfire between border posts yesterday. No one was hit.

Compared to Lincoln: Fox News staged its “town hall” at the Lincoln memorial with President Trump sitting in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln.

  Trump complains about his treatment in the press as tough it is arbitrary and somehow disconnected from his words and actions. Anything unfavorable he calls “fake news,” although he has admitted discrediting the press so no one will believe it when the reports are bad.

  Trump told host Brett Baier, “I am greeted with a hostile press the likes of which no President has ever seen. The closest would be that gentleman right up there. They always said Lincoln, nobody got treated worse than Lincoln. I believe I am treated worse.”

  It’s the only comparison Trump can make between himself and Lincoln.

Most Foul: Just when you thought it might be safe to go back to the park and the mall, a new threat has been discovered in the US; Murder Hornets.

  Officially called the Asian giant hornet, or Vespa mandarinia,

the hornets are over two inches long. They were first spotted in Washington State in December.

  They’ve been described as “something out of a monster cartoon with this huge yellow-orange face.” While murder hornets have been known to attack and kill humans in Japan and China, their primary target is nests of honeybees, which they kill by decapitation. They leave behind a nest of severed heads.

-30-