Congressional approval ratings jumped to 35 percent in April according to a Fox News poll, the highest score in more than a decade. Sure, handing out $2 trillion in coronavirus aid — including $1,200 stimulus checks — probably didn’t hurt. But we believe the reason Congress suddenly became beloved is simple: They’re sheltering in place. Away from Washington drama, many embraced a customer service role of aiding constituents directly while sharing epidemic information. For many, this is the most consecutive time they’ve spent in their district in years. Congress should take the hint. When this is over, they should convene in D.C. for just a week every couple months to get the big stuff done, coordinated in advance by phone. Otherwise, #stayhome.

She doesn’t pull punches. The first female cadet graduate from The Citadel, Mace is now running for Congress in South Carolina. The single working mother of two made waves after revealing her childhood sexual assault while pushing for rape and incest exceptions in a bill banning abortion after six weeks. Her Charleston-based district is one of the best Republican pickup opportunities in America, with Democrat Joe Cunningham a surprise blue wave winner in 2018. And backed by everyone from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to the fiscally conservative Club for Growth, Mace seems poised to break boundaries again — this time as the Palmetto State’s first female member of Congress since 1989.

Following months of painting the Democratic Party as tied to the “radical socialist agenda” of Bernie Sanders, the Donald Trump campaign took a victory lap after the Vermont senator dropped out last week. “Feeling Berned ... Join the Winning Team!” one ad read, playing into (mostly media-fueled) theories that Sanders supporters may jump ship and start swimming to the Trump team. And yet, tellingly, there were no signs that the campaign actually targeted Berners with the ads — which were well-distributed nationally. It suggests that after having outspent Biden $50 million to $15.5 million on Facebook and Google ads so far, the president still has cash left for some old-fashioned trolling.

A whopping 92 percent of Americans say they are practicing social distancing, shocking public health experts who predicted maybe half would actually comply. Then again, they’ve been wrong about everything from the efficacy of masks to the ability for the virus to be transmitted by air, so what’s new. It turns out a nation born in revolution is remarkably obedient when Uncle Sam says lives are at stake — so far, anyway. And while Trump clearly deserves criticism for his muddled crisis response, can you imagine nine-tenths of the nation obeying the much-demonized Hillary Clinton if she was president today? Yeah, we can’t either. 

This week, Sanders and Barack Obama both endorsed Joe Biden. Seemed obvious: Who else would they have backed … Joe Exotic? Still, it made us wonder: whose endorsement actually would actually move the needle for you now, if they were to back Biden or Trump? Could Mark Cuban shift his criticism and make the intelligent case for Trump? Is Lizzo the last hope for Biden to look hip (without throwing a hip)? Send us your dream endorsee at [email protected]. 

Last week we asked how Biden could best unite the party going forward. Daryle A. says to bring in the top 10 presidential also-rans for a committee to choose Biden’s running mate. Sadie M. turned the question on its head, replying: “In a rare moment of lucidity, realize the damage he's doing to Americans and our democracy, and go the hell away.”

As a worker in a hazmat suit holds a fumigation spray gun, another grabs a foreigner by his T-shirt, lifts him up and dumps him into a garbage can as punishment for ostensibly contributing to the spread of the coronavirus. The racist and violent cartoon could have come straight from the Trump meme playbook — but it’s actually from China. Posted on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Facebook, earlier this month, the cartoon was part of a series titled “An illustrated handbook on how to sort foreign trash.” It exposes a disturbing pattern with consequences that may linger even once the pandemic passes: competitive racism from the world’s two biggest powers.

The progressive digital outfit ACRONYM is lampooning Trump’s pandemic response with some of the most hilariously awful disaster responses from Hollywood … including bits from Jaws and Ghostbusters, among others. Check out the video.