| THE BIG STORY Our terrifying economic future
More than 30 million people have lost their jobs since the coronavirus pandemic began, and nothing like this has ever happened before — you’d have to go back to the Great Depression in the early 1930s to see an unemployment rate as high as it is today, and even that unfolded over years, not weeks.
Data released yesterday helped to put a number on exactly how scary things are right now. About 32% of Americans think their household will be worse off financially a year from now, according to the New York Federal Reserve Bank's April Survey of Consumer Expectations. That’s the highest it has been in the seven years the monthly survey has been running.
When asked how likely they think it is that they’ll lose their job in the coming year, respondents replied with an average of 21%, Venessa Wong reports — and those earning less than $50,000 a year thought it was even more likely than that.
That reflects the reality of the job market right now: the monthly jobs report released last week showed the hardest hit job categories have been predominantly low paying work in restaurants, bars and hotels, and the people most likely to have lost jobs have been women and people of color.
Paul Ratje / Getty Images STAYING ON TOP OF THIS A new distraction for Trumpworld
President Trump and his favorite cable news network have a new story they’re pushing, and they’re pushing it hard. On Saturday alone, the president tweeted out five separate clips from various Fox News opinion shows, all discussing the story Fox hosts are calling “Obamagate.”
The stories center around a claimed “coup d’état,” as the Fox anchors called it — a plot by President Obama and his staff to undermine the 2016 election. "Obamagate, that's the subject of tonight's 'Watters Words' segment”, Fox News host Jesse Watters said in one of the clips. "The Obama people got caught this week and it looks like it goes straight to the top.”
The story has become a favorite on right wing social media in recent days, amplified by the White House and its media allies. And like every wild theory emerging from Trumpworld, it can be hard to understand exactly what the story really is, aside from a lot of heat and light.
One reporter asked Trump himself to explain what exactly Obamagate means during yesterday’s press briefing, and the response was perfectly Trumpian. "Obamagate, it's been going on for a long time, it's been going on from before I even got elected,” the president said. "You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody. All you have to do is read the newspapers, except yours.”
Fox News SNAPSHOTS YouTube star Corey La Barrie died in a car accident on Sunday night. It was the day of his 25th birthday. The car was being driven by tattooist and Ink Master star Daniel Silva, who police say will be arrested once he is released from hospital.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the country will ease its national lockdown. The news came on the day Russia reported a record number of new coronavirus cases, with its total number of infections overtaking Italy.
Mexican doctors are in a standoff with the country’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, after he accused some of being greedy. The comments, for which he has since apologized, were “offensive to the entire medical guild,” the Mexican Association of General Surgery said.
A Colorado restaurant owner is defending her decision to pack her dining room with dozens of customers this weekend. "People wanted their freedom," she said.
Alexey Druzhinin / Getty Images HELP US KEEP QUALITY NEWS FREE FOR ALL
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DO YOU EVEN LIFT? Push-ups for freedom
A group of about 30 protesters calling on Florida lawmakers to reopen the state’s gyms put on a show for a news helicopter hovering over them yesterday: They dropped to the ground and started doing push-ups.
The protest, taking place outside a county courthouse, has since gone viral. A livestream of the event shows one demonstrator putting an American flag in their mouth to free up their hands before dropping to the ground and getting to work. But the organizer of the event, Travis LaBazzo, told BuzzFeed News he’s worried the push-ups will distract from what the protest was about.
"I'm glad it got out there, but it completely lost the message," LaBazzo said. "People out there saying, 'You just proved you don't need the gym,' but it's not about that. It's about thousands of employees that are out of work in Florida."
Open Tampa Bay / Via Facebook: OpenTampaBay NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES An official endorsement
A specific corner of social media has been on fire in recent days after beloved food personality Alison Roman took a shot at equally beloved food personality Chrissy Teigen. This newsletter is the Switzerland of the Roman-Teigen dispute, and takes no position, urging all parties to attend talks in Geneva and reconcile. But the drama is a good reminder of a deeper truth, Scaachi Koul writes: Guy Fieri is awesome.
“In a world where everyone’s struggling through the quicksand of reality, Fieri is a king among slugs. During the height of #MeToo, he escaped unscathed. There are remarkably few stories about him being a dick in public; in fact, the majority of public opinion is just that he’s the nicest guy,” she writes.
And his food — the Waka Waka salad, the Mac Daddy Mac ‘n’ Cheese — is an idea whose time has come, perfectly filling and numbing and hedonistic and deranged quarantine fodder. “It’s big, it’s flavorful, it’s easy to make, and it’s dumb as hell,” Koul writes. “Is any other chef making food so perfectly attuned to this current moment?
Take a trip to flavortown today,
Tom P.S. If you like this newsletter, help keep our reporting free for all. Support BuzzFeed News by becoming a member here. (monthly memberships are available worldwide) 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Tom Gara and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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