;)
The Commentariat -- December 29, 2020
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Alexandra Jaffe of the AP: "President-elect Joe Biden criticized the Trump administration Tuesday for the pace of distributing COVID-19 vaccines and predicted that 'things will get worse before they get better' when it comes to the pandemic. 'We need to be honest -- the next few weeks and months are going to be very tough, very tough for our nation. Maybe the toughest during this entire pandemic,' Biden said during remarks in Wilmington, Delaware on Tuesday."
Mike DeBonis & Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday blocked consideration of a House bill that would deliver $2,000 stimulus payments to most Americans -- spurning a request by President Trump even as more Senate Republicans voiced support for the dramatically larger checks. McConnell's move was just the beginning of a saga that is likely to engulf the Senate for the rest of the week. Democrats are pushing for an up-or-down vote on the House bill, while more Republicans acknowledge a need for larger stimulus checks. Tension within the Republican party spilled into public view on Tuesday, with Trump leveling pointed attacks at GOP leaders for failing to act, accusing them of being 'pathetic' and suggesting they had a 'death wish.'... 'WE NEED NEW & ENERGETIC REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP,' he wrote. New proponents of the $2,000 checks include Georgia's two embattled Republican senators -- David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler...." The AP's story is here. ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE, the Third Branch Weighs in. Matt Naham of Law & Crime: "A senior U.S. District judge called Donald Trump a 'criminal' during a phone call with the Associated Press as he discussed the 45th president's recent pardons of political allies who were convicted in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Senior U.S. District Judge Robert W. Pratt, a Bill Clinton appointee who had been the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa before assuming senior status in 2012, said..., 'It's not surprising that a criminal like Trump pardons other criminals.'" The AP story is here."
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "Colorado officials on Tuesday reported the first known case in the United States of a person infected with the mutation-laden coronavirus variant that has been circulating rapidly across much of the United Kingdom and has led to a lockdown of much of southern England. The case involves a male in his 20s who is currently in isolation ... and has no travel history, according to a tweet from the office of Gov. Jared Polis."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "Dozens of research papers published over the past few months have found that people whose bodies were teeming with the coronavirus more often became seriously ill and were more likely to die, compared with those who carried much less virus and were more likely to emerge relatively unscathed.... The results suggest that knowing the so-called viral load -- the amount of virus in the body -- could help doctors...."
Whiney-Prez* Knocks Congressional Republicans. Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday sharply criticized Republican leaders for allowing a vote to override his veto of a must-pass defense policy bill, calling them'weak' and 'tired' and accusing them of a 'disgraceful act of cowardice.' The House on Monday evening voted 322-87 to override Trump's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), teeing up what may be the first and only veto override of Trump's presidency. 'Weak and tired Republican "leadership" will allow the bad Defense Bill to pass,' Trump tweeted Tuesday morning, apparently referring to GOP Senate leadership."
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Amy Wang & Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "President-elect Joe Biden on Monday accused President Trump and his political appointees of obstructing the transition of power to his incoming administration, particularly on national security issues, an escalation in tone after reports of isolated difficulties in the transition process last week. In remarks from Wilmington, Del., Biden specifically called out the Office of Management and Budget and the Defense Department as agencies where his transition team had encountered 'roadblocks' from political leadership. Biden's remarks came shortly after he attended a briefing with nearly two dozen of his national security advisers. '... It's nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility,' Biden said.... He warned that such delays could allow enemies of the United States to take advantage of vulnerabilities, citing a massive cybersecurity breach that compromised several U.S. agencies earlier this month.... Biden was careful to distinguish between political appointees in the agencies and the career professionals who he said had cooperated fully.... Biden opened his remarks by addressing the Christmas Day explosion in Nashville...." MB: Trump, BTW, is too busy golfing to remark on the Nashville explosion. The Guardian's story is here. The New York Times' story is here. More on this linked under "Last Days...."~~~
~~~ MB: The audio is low on all the videos of Biden's remarks, so this is the best I could do.
Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The House mustered enough votes Monday to reject President Trump's veto of a $741 billion defense authorization bill, setting up the first congressional override of his presidency just days before he exits office.... The bill now heads to the Senate, which must also pass the measure with a two-thirds majority in order for it to become law. That vote could happen as soon as Wednesday." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) CNBC's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Then, Along Comes Bernie. Burgess Everett of Politico: "Sen. Bernie Sanders will filibuster an override of ... Donald Trump's defense bill veto unless the Senate holds a vote on providing $2,000 direct payments to Americans. 'McConnell and the Senate want to expedite the override vote [on the defense bill] and I understand that. But I'm not going to allow that to happen unless there is a vote, no matter how long that takes, on the $2,000 direct payment,' Sanders said in an interview on Monday night.... Under Senate rules, Sanders has the ability to keep the chamber in during the holiday week and likely mess with the campaign schedules of Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.)." ~~~
~~~ David Dayen in the American Prospect: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), with the backing of the Senate Democratic caucus, is prepared to make life miserable for Senate Republicans if they do not put a clean vote on the floor to increase one-time emergency payments to most Americans approved in the recent COVID relief package from $600 to $2,000. Sanders has the procedural means at his disposal to keep the Senate in session all the way to New Year's Day, inconveniencing Senators of both parties, particularly the incumbent Republicans from Georgia, who are in their final full week of campaigning for runoff elections...." Dayen explains how the maneuver would work. More on the Covid bill linked under "Last Days..." & "The Trumpidemic" below.
The Last Days of the Mad Kaiser
Michael Shear & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "For five days, starting before Christmas, Mr. Trump virtually held the nation hostage, delaying the extension of unemployment benefits for millions of out-of-work Americans, holding up the delivery of $600 checks, and dangling the possibility of a total government shutdown even as officials raced to distribute a coronavirus vaccine.... As an exercise in raw presidential power, it was a flop. As a political tactic, it backfired. And as a coda to his final weeks in office..., [it] merely underscored his tumultuous tenure in the Oval Office.... The veto threat was the latest attention-getting maneuver by a president who appears unwilling to accept the reality that Washington is moving on without him." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Part of the report reveals how Lindsey Graham & Kevin McCarthy had to engage in hours of "handholding ... to assuage the president's concerns." Aw, too bad. Lindsey & Kevin didn't make the Trumpenstein monster, but they were eager & able lab assistants. ~~~
~~~ We Shall Coddle Him on Palm Beach, We Shall Grovel on the Golf Course, We Shall Flatter in the Beast.... Mike DeBonis & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post write a story on how intrepid Lindsey rushed to Palm Beach to help negotiate Trump's "complete surrender."
David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "As of Monday, three days after authorities identified the [Nashville] bomber as a 63-year-old Nashville-area resident, Trump still had not commented personally on the event. He spent the day at Trump International Golf Club.... Trump's silence has offered another example of a president who, since his election defeat last month, has been consumed by his own political troubles and detached from the duties of his office as he wages a baseless assault on the integrity of the U.S. election system. But it is also consistent with a commander in chief who has, over nearly four years, quickly sounded alarms about violence he has connected to Muslim groups, foreigners or left-wing social movements in the United States --; but been slower to denounce attacks from right-wing actors or others who do not serve his political agenda." More on the bombing linked under "Beyond the Beltway."
Stupid Crazy People Have Another Stupid Crazy Plan. Justin Rohrlich of the Daily Beast: "A group of Republicans including Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas and Kelli Ward of Arizona is suing Vice President Mike Pence in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The Electoral College is scheduled to certify the win on Jan. 6, a procedural task overseen by the sitting vice president.... In the lawsuit, details of which reporter John Kruzel of The Hill posted on Twitter, Gohmert, Ward, and 10 other plaintiffs such as Students for Trump COO Tyler Bowyer, Arizona Republican Party Executive Director Greg Safsten, and Maricopa County Republicans Second Vice Chair Nancy Cottle, are asking federal Judge Jeremy Kernodle, a Trump appointee, to declare Pence legally authorized to pick pro-Trump electors on Jan. 6." Here's Kruzel's story in the Hill. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and ... Donald Trump's defeated electors from Arizona may force Vice President Mike Pence to publicly pick a side in Trump's bid to overturn his 2020 election loss.... Though the lawsuit itself is unlikely to gain legal traction, it does put Pence in the position of having to either contest the suit -- putting him on the opposite side of Trump and his GOP defenders -- or support it and lay bare the intention to subvert the will over the voters in the 2020 election. Pence has engaged with GOP lawmakers seeking to reverse the election results but has avoided publicly taking a side in the matter, and he has given no indication how he intends to handle his role presiding over the Jan. 6 session of Congress set to certify Biden's victory. Though Biden was the certified winner in states like Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and others, the Republicans who would have been Trump's electors met anyway and purported to cast their votes for Trump's reelection. They're counting on Pence and congressional Republicans to treat those informal votes as equal to the slates certified in those states where Trump was defeated." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), appearing on MSNBC, said the suit was nonsense & predicted it would be thrown out of court like the other 80-some nonsense election-results suits. ~~~
>The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The House on Monday voted to beef up stimulus checks set to go out to American households in the coming weeks from $600 to $2,000. The chamber acted swiftly after President Trump demanded the larger payments in the last week.... Forty four Republicans joined the vast majority of Democrats on Monday in passing the bill on a 275-134 vote. The measure's fate is much less certain in the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans. Approving stimulus checks of $2,000 would add several hundred billion dollars to the price of an aid bill that congressional Republicans had sought to keep under $1 trillion." An NBC News story is here.
William Feuer of CNBC: "President-elect Joe Biden plans to invoke the Defense Production Act after he takes office next month to boost production of coronavirus vaccines, a member of his Covid-19 advisory team said Monday. 'You will see him invoking the Defense Production Act,' Dr. Celine Gounder, a member of Biden's Covid-19 advisory board, said ... on CNBC's 'Squawk Box.' 'The idea there is to make sure the personal protective equipment, the test capacity and the raw materials for the vaccines are produced in adequate supply.' The wartime production law, which allows the president to compel companies to prioritize manufacturing for national security, could help the U.S. secure components and specialized products that manufacturers need to produce the Covid vaccines.... The New York Times reported last week that Pfizer ... began asking the Trump administration in September to help the pharmaceutical giant obtain some supplies needed for production but was disappointed by a lack of response.... The Times ... reported that as part of [a] deal, [struck last week], the U.S. government agreed to invoke the Defense Production Act to 'help Pfizer get better access to around nine specialized products it needs to make the vaccine.'"
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.
Americans Celebrate the Birth of the Baby Jesus by Condemning Themselves & Others to Death. Brittany Shammas & Reis Thebault of the Washington Post: "Despite weeks of increases in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, U.S. air travel hit a pandemic record this weekend as Americans crisscrossed the country for the holidays -- a sign, some public health experts warn, that yet another surge could be on the horizon. The Transportation Security Administration said Monday that it had screened 1,284,599 passengers Sunday. Travel is down 55 to 65 percent compared with before the coronavirus pandemic, but Sunday marked the highest number of travelers since mid-March and the sixth time in 10 days the daily volume exceeded 1 million."
Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) tweeted an attack on Dr. Anthony Fauci, accusing Fauci of lying about the efficacy of masks & distorting information about herd immunity. "As usual, the real answer is a little more nuanced than Rubio seems capable of understanding or he's the one who's outright lying to Americans about the facts to score political points. As for the 'elites' Rubio [accuses of tricking the American people], is one of the 'elites' who has already received the vaccine." Burris includes tweeted criticisms of Rubio. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
Tennessee. Rick Rojas, et al., of the New York Times: "Anthony Warner had a solitary job as an information technology specialist.... He was 63. He was not married. His neighbors barely knew him. He sent an email to one of his clients three weeks ago to say he was retiring. He started shedding possessions: He told his ex-girlfriend that he had cancer and gave her his car. Records show that he signed away his home on the day before Thanksgiving. But he made sure to hold on to ... his R.V., a Thor Motor Coach Chateau that he kept in his back yard. He parked the vehicle around 1:22 a.m. Christmas morning on Second Avenue North in downtown Nashville, in the heart of a district of honky-tonks, restaurants and boot shops that would often be packed but was quiet in the small hours of a holiday morning. The R.V. had been rigged with explosives and a speaker set to play a warning and a song: 'Downtown' by Petula Clark, a hit released in 1964 celebrating the bright lights and bustle of a vibrant city.... Just before dawn, the R.V. exploded, its concussion reverberating for blocks." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
News Lede:
New York Times: "Pierre Cardin, the visionary designer and licensing pioneer who invented the business of fashion as it is conducted today, has died in France. He was 98.... He clothed the famous -- artists, political luminaries, tastemakers and members of the haute bourgeoisie -- but he was also a merchant to the masses with an international brand...."
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Reader Comments (15)
Could it be the OMB and the Defense Dept. (and the entire national security apparatus) are where the Pretend administration has the most to hide?
I would have to wonder about the EPA and its parent, the Interior Dept. too.
Ah hell, I'm sure after four years nothing was immune to the infection.
Bless Bernie Sanders heart! I love to think Moscow Mitch is finally bested by the boy from Brooklyn.
Milbank on the Pretender as Lear.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/28/trump-his-final-days-goes-full-king-lear/
The Lear thing has become a common meme that I don't like. When "Newsweek" termed the Bush II presidency a tragedy, I objected. Dubya was no tragic figure because he lacked the necessary initial heroic qualities that tragedy requires.
From the beginning the Pretender was all flaw. A clown, and not even funny.
Milbank does point to some neat t-shirts, though...
Not sure what all this adds up to--or will when a decision is issued --or even why the SCOTUS took such a potentially explosive case, but plenty to think about here.
One of my thoughts: If the law can reach across the borders of both space and time, those lines on maps and the walls we build really don't mean much, do they?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-supreme-court-considers-when-the-us-can-judge-other-nations-human-rights-violations/2020/12/28/d0f0b02e-492e-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html
Very sorry to hear that David Greene is leaving NPR. He made Morning Edition bearable. Best wishes to him and his next gig.
Our idiotic newspaper headline said "Smucker bucks Trump" for his vote AGAINST the $2000. Somehow, that implies how noble this loser, our congressrat, is. I immediately wrote him and called him a scumbag...He has voted for every cockamamie thing that is possible to vote for, proposed by repugs or the king of all. Every time I feel like things are improving, something comes along to level me out. An R is an R, regardless. No caring for people's welfare allowed in their makeup. They are forever and always SCUM.
One of my sons gave me a disk, years ago, of Petula Clark's many hits and I wondered why since we were both into very different kinds of music. His answer–-"because you love to dance." He was right–-I'd put Petula on and prance around and dance my way straight into a broadway play in my mind.
Now we learn the terrorist that blew up the block in Nashville used that song as his signature farewell. The words, reading them from his point of view, belie its upbeat message; for him it meant the end of a life that failed. That he destroyed not only himself but property and people reveals not only his terrible sickness but his desire to finally be known. I have forgotten what it is already.
DOWN TOWN
[Marie: Lyrics removed because copyright violation. You can read them here.]
@Ken: I totally agree re: the Lear image–-Fatty is as far from that old man as he is from a decent human being. We could conjure up a whole lot of comparisons but why bother––it's tick tock time and his sorry ass is about to be kicked out the door. Then we can let the historians write about the worst president in U.S. history.
@Ken Winkes: As I've written before, Trump cannot stand as a tragic fallen hero because there was never anything heroic about him. Maybe someone could zero in on something that happened to him as a toddler that explains his narcissism, before which he was a sweet-tempered baby. That would make him a tragic toddler, I guess. The story could end with, "And that, boys and girls, is how Donald Trump became such a colossal jerk."
But I doubt it; I think the story of Baby Donnie is that he never developed psychologically past the id stage. No ego, in the Freudian sense, & certainly no superego. He's just a blubbery mass of "gimme."
@Marie: you bet! One of the pieces that has stuck in my mind about Baby Donny, is the mother's distant relationship with him right from the start. If you ain't got Mommy's love you are gonna get it one way or another. Remember the mouse experiments that found newborn mice that were licked a lot by their mothers performed very well as adults; low licked began to bite themselves, chew on their fur and performed badly in acuity experiments. We could, and why not, conclude Fatty done got low licked therefore spent the rest of his life pretending what a well-licked mousie he was––the one lie that surpasses all his others.
More Ulysses than Lear I fear:
It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel.
Marie,
You made my day.
"Tragic toddler." What an image!
K2Crew,
I’m thinking that, in regards to the whiny baby traitor, I’d prefer to press a different Tennyson poem into service:
“Crossing the Bar”. Can’t happen soon enough.
(Interesting name, by the way. Might you be a climber of mountains? Very big mountains?)
Ken and Marie,
One line from “Lear” works perfectly at this point in American history, especially when considering that Fatty is still refusing to accept the truth and threatening to hang on as long as possible:
“Out, vile jelly!”
Maybe McConnell doesn't like Perdue or Loeffler any more than I do.
Maybe he's tired of being majority leader...
Who the hell is he trying to please?
Ken,
I’ve met three senators from Kentucky. Up close and personal. The most obnoxiously self-aggrandizing and ridiculously smarmy was Li’l Randy. He showed up accompanied by a phalanx of giant (ie, bigger than him, eg taller than 5 foot 7) bodyguards arriving in a small armada of huge, black SUVs, the better to announce his Aqua Buddha-hood. He spoke to no one he considered inconsequential, and stomped out the same way.
The Turtle showed up with three consultants and a single bodyguard. He didn’t acknowledge anyone he thought couldn’t help him.
The one guy I met, a Ky senator, whose ideology and political stances I was firmly against, was Jim Bunning. He was, in person, a really nice guy. He showed up alone, no giant SUV battalion like Li’l Randy and no cotillion of consultants.
Being a baseball fan, I asked him some baseball questions. He paused and asked if I had voted for him. I felt a little funny telling him “No way” since he had been so amicable, but he laughed and said, “Well, it’s America, ain’t it?”
We went on to have a great conversation for another ten minutes or so.
And thinking of that makes me realize how different things are in the age of Trumpian Treason.