;)
The Commentariat -- November 12, 2020
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Chimamanda Adichie, a Nigerian fiction & non-fiction writer, reviews Barack Obama's memoir A Promised Land for the New York Times: "It is not merely that this book avoids being ponderous, as might be expected, even forgiven, of a hefty memoir, but that it is nearly always pleasurable to read, sentence by sentence, the prose gorgeous in places, the detail granular and vivid. From Southeast Asia to a forgotten school in South Carolina, he evokes the sense of place with a light but sure hand. This is the first of two volumes, and it starts early in his life, charting his initial political campaigns, and ends with a meeting in Kentucky where he is introduced to the SEAL team involved in the Abbottabad raid that killed Osama bin Laden." ~~~
~~~ Martin Pengelly of the Guardian writes more of a book report. ~~~
~~~ The Atlantic publishes an "adapted & updated" excerpt from Barack Obama's memoir, which is to be published Tuesday. It includes audio of the preface, as appears in the book, read by President Obama. (Firewalled.)
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here: "The United States set a record for new coronavirus cases and blew past the record for hospitalizations on Wednesday as the pandemic continued to balloon unabated, and a long list of cities and states imposed new restrictions on public life. More than 142,000 new cases were detected on Wednesday for the first time, according to data compiled by The New York Times, continuing a harrowing increase as the Northern Hemisphere enters a period of cold weather, indoor life, colds and flus that are expected to add fuel to the contagion."
Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Corey Lewandowski, a senior adviser to President Trump's reelection campaign, has tested positive for coronavirus, a source familiar with the matter confirmed on Thursday.... Lewandowski was at a White House party on the night of the election, and he has mostly been in Pennsylvania in recent days as part of an effor to challenge the outcome there.... The White House election night party has emerged as the latest super-spreader event inside the building...."
Ted Barrett of CNN: "Sen. Lindsey Graham [R] told CNN Thursday he thinks President-elect Joe Biden should get intelligence briefings starting now. 'Yeah, I think he should,' said Graham, a close ally of President Trump.... Another influential Republican, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, said, 'yeah, I don't think that would hurt,' for Biden to start getting the briefings now, as a handful of other Republicans have said they support this."
Manu Raju & Ted Barrett of CNN: "Two top GOP senators told CNN on Thursday that Joe Biden should have access to classified briefings, the latest indication that Republicans acknowledge the President-elect is likely on his way to the White House despite ... Donald Trump's refusal to accept the results. 'I would think -- especially on classified briefings -- answer is yes,' said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who as president pro tempore is the most senior Republican in the chamber. Senate Majority Whip John Thune of South Dakota also told CNN that Biden should have access to classified briefings. Those comments follow GOP Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma who made a similar comment Wednesday on a local radio station, and several other Republicans have signaled it's time to begin the transition process."
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Benjamine Wittes of Lawfare notes in an analysis also linked below, "The administrator of the General Services Administration, Emily Murphy, has refused to 'ascertain' (in the language of the law) that Biden is the 'apparent' winner of the election, thus blocking transition funding and preventing certain other transition activity from beginning." This has been annoying me all morning. Murphy and the media don't "declare" a winner, as Republicans have said or implied; Murphy just has to acknowledge that Biden is the "apparent" winner. That's obvious to anyone with access to a newspaper, a TV or the Internet. Even if you think Biden didn't win and Trump's goofy lawsuits will prove it, Biden is -- according to 50 state top election officials -- the apparent winner. Unlike Trump, who won by fewer Electoral College votes than Biden already has got, both Biden & Harris have or have had high-level security clearances, so there's no danger whatsoever in giving them access to national security briefings. In the past, these transition accommodations have been accorded to Trump & to other incoming administrations several weeks before the last states have certified their results. The only excuse for withholding them is to assuage Donnie's widdle feelings. That's corrupt. ~~~
~~~ Here's the segment PD Pepe mentions in today's Comments, wherein Brian Williams tries (in vain, we can be sure) to explain to Donald Trump "how graciousness works": ~~~
Bianca Quilantan of Politico: "A federal appeals court on Thursday agreed with a lower court ruling that Harvard University does not intentionally discriminate against prospective Asian American students. Two judges from the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the district court was correct in ruling that Harvard's limited use of race in its admissions process in order to achieve diversity 'is consistent with the requirements of Supreme Court precedent.'"
~~~~~~~~~~
The President-Elect
Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will name Ron Klain, a veteran Democratic operative and a decades-long confidant, to be his White House chief of staff as early as Thursday morning, according to several people familiar with Mr. Biden's decision. Mr. Klain, a lawyer with deep experience on Capitol Hill, advising President Barack Obama and in corporate board rooms, has been seen for months as the likeliest choice to manage Mr. Biden's team in the White House. Known for steady nerves, he also has a fierce wit, which he has frequently unleashed on President Trump on Twitter. He was particularly critical of Mr. Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, having served as the 'Ebola czar' under Mr. Obama during an outbreak of the deadly disease in his second term. A video of Mr. Klain lecturing Mr. Trump about the pandemic was widely seen during the campaign." A CNN story is here.
Lankford Steps Up. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "GOP Sen. James Lankford (Okla.) said that there was 'nothing wrong' with President-elect Joe Biden getting intelligence briefings and pledged to 'step in' if the former vice president doesn't have access by Friday. Asked about Biden not getting the briefings, Lankford told Oklahoma radio station KRMG, in an interview that aired Wednesday, that it 'should be resolved' by Friday. 'There is no loss from him getting the briefings and to be able to do that and if that's not occuring by Friday I will step in as well, and to be able to push and to say this needs to occur so that regardless of the outcome of the election ... people can be ready for that actual task,' Lankford said.... Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Lankford noted, is also a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, meaning that 'she has all the clearances that she needs.' Lankford is a former member of the Intelligence panel...."
The Farce Be with Us
How is it, she asked rhetorically, that a person who prides himself on being the ultimate macho strong man is spending his days in hiding where he sulks, whines & tweets preposterous conspiracy theories & makes absurd claims of victory?
Georgia. The Washington Post's live election updates Wednesday are here: "Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced a hand-counted audit of the vote in his state, where President-elect Joe Biden currently leads by more than 14,000 votes.... The goal is to have the recount completed by Nov. 20, the state deadline for certification. President Trump is projected to win Alaska and its three electoral votes, and Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan is projected to hold onto his seat in the state, according to Edison Research. That means Republicans are ensured 50 seats in the Senate, with the two runoffs in Georgia determining the majority." The page is free to non-subscribers. (Also linked yesterday.)
Alaska. CNN projects that Trump will win Alaska. No surprise there. (Also linked yesterday.)
Arizona. Another Law Firm Dumps Trump. David Thomas of Reuters: "The largest law firm representing the Trump campaign or its allies in post-election litigation challenging votes in key states has withdrawn from an election lawsuit in Maricopa County, Arizona. Associate Presiding Civil Judge Daniel Kiley on Tuesday granted Snell & Wilmer's request to withdraw as counsel of record for the Republican National Committee." Mrs. McC: My guess is they quit because they have no case. As Michigan AG Dana Nessel reminded me when she appeared on MSNBC yesterday, judges may sanction & fine lawyers who clog their courts with completely frivolous suits. ~~~
~~~ So Then Comes This. Maria Polletta of the Arizona Republic: "An attorney representing ... Donald Trump's reelection team, in a lawsuit alleging poll workers 'incorrectly rejected' Election Day votes, asked a Maricopa County Superior Court judge on Tuesday to seal the evidence he says will support that claim. But attorneys representing the election officials being sued convinced the judge to reject the request after arguing the public 'has a right to know how flimsy Plaintiffs' evidence actually is.'" Mrs. McC: Sure enough, one of the firms representing the plaintiffs in the case is Snell & Wilmer.
Michigan. Trump's Election Challenges Are Racist. Dave Boucher of the Detroit Free Press: "Michigan's top law enforcement officer [-- Attorney General Dana Nessel --] blasted the legal efforts of ... Donald Trump in the state on Wednesday, saying they include no evidence of misconduct, unfairly attack Black voters and workers in Detroit and will not change the outcome of the election.... 'Really the themes that we see, that persist, are this: Black people are corrupt, Black people are incompetent and Black people can't be trusted. That's the narrative that is continually espoused by the Trump campaign and their allies in these lawsuits,' Nessel said during a press call. Nessel noted the lawsuits focus on allegations of misconduct in Detroit, a city that typically votes for Democrats and that has a majority Black population." The Trump campaign has not brought suit against counties with majority-white populations that heavily favored Biden. ~~~
~~~ David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: :On Wednesday, President Trump's campaign asked a federal judge to take a drastic step: block the state of Michigan from certifying the results of its presidential election. President-elect Joe Biden now leads Trump by about 148,000 votes there. To back up that lawsuit, Trump's campaign had promised 'shocking' evidence of misconduct. Instead, the campaign produced 238 pages of affidavits from Republican poll watchers across Michigan containing no evidence of significant fraud but rather allegations about ballot-counting procedures that state workers have already debunked -- and in some cases, complaints about rude behavior or unpleasant looks from poll workers or Democratic poll watchers.” The complaints were in the vein of "That big Black man is looking at me" and "The loudspeaker is too loud." ~~~
~~~ Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post has more examples of the contents of the affidavits, which don't seem to address voter fraud but do illuminate how the Black people hurt their feelings. The GOP poll watcher who came closest to addressing the issue at hand was a guy who estimated that 80% of the military ballots he saw were for Biden. "I had always been told that military personnel tended to be more conservative, so this stuck out to me as the day went on," the guy wrote. Mrs. McC: You know, Sherlock, I'll bet 80% of the military ballots of Detroit residents were not completed by your traditional "conservatives." ~~~
~~~ Jon Ward of Yahoo! News: "The city of Detroit has rejected claims of cheating brought by Trump supporters, stating in a court filing that ... 'Most of the objections raised in the submitted affidavits are grounded in an extraordinary failure to understand how elections function,' wrote attorneys for the city in a response filed Wednesday in Wayne County Circuit Court. The lawyers pointed out that President Trump received almost three times as many votes in Detroit in the 2020 election than he did four years ago: 12,654, up from 4,972 in 2016." The article includes the whats & why-fors.
Pennsylvania. Shawn Boburg, et al., of the Washington Post: "In an interview this week with federal agents, a Pennsylvania postal worker walked back his allegation that a supervisor had tampered with mailed ballots, saying he had made 'assumptions' based on overheard snippets of conversation, according to an audio recording of the interview posted online Wednesday by activists who have championed his cause. The two-hour recording shows that Richard Hopkins recanted claims he had made in a sworn affidavit that top Republicans cited over the weekend as potential evidence of widespread election irregularities and fraud. Hopkins told federal investigators on Monday his allegations were based on fragments of conversation among co-workers in a noisy mail facility in Erie, Pa., according to the recording.... On Tuesday, following a story in The Washington Post [also linked here yesterday] that quoted officials as saying Hopkins had recanted his earlier claims, Hopkins said in a YouTube video that he had not done so, and that the recording of the interview would show as much." It did not do so. And here's the coup de grâce: Hopkins, in explaining how he came to make his allegations in his original affidavit, "He told agents the affidavit was written by Project Veritas." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: A neighbor stopped by to ask me if Pennsylvania could just send a troop of "faithless Electors" to the Electoral College who would give the state's votes to Trump., even though Biden won the popular vote. This is a rumor that's going around the Internets. I told him no & sort of explained why. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post has a fuller explanation here: "What happens if, say, the GOP legislature in Pennsylvania goes rogue and appoints a separate pro-Trump slate of electors for the electoral college, in defiance of the state's popular vote?... The relevant state law ... assigns the role of certifying the electors chosen by that statewide vote count to the governor, who is also a Democrat." Sargent then goes through scenarios in which multiple Republican states tried to send their own slate of Electors to the Electoral College. He concludes: "Everyone absolutely should remain on alert, to be clear. But a Trump win along these lines is absurdly, monumentally implausible." ~~~
~~~ Ben Wittes of Lawfare offers his own analysis of the likelihood of any state legislature fielding a slate of faithless Electors & explains why that's highly implausible. However, he too warns that in the age of Trump, one has to watch out for implausible outcomes.
Texas. Almost Too Stupid to Believe. Richard Luscombe of the Guardian: "An ultra-conservative Texas politician who believes seniors would rather die from Covid-19 than allow the pandemic to harm the economy is pushing another baseless theory, and dangling a million-dollar bounty for proof that Donald Trump is being cheated of victory in the presidential election. Dan Patrick, the lieutenant governor of the lone star state, says he is offering the money to 'incentivize, encourage and reward' citizens who can provide evidence of voter fraud, even though the president beat Joe Biden in Texas by almost 650,000 votes."
~~~ Thanks to RAS for the link.
The Man with No Plan. Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump declared Wednesday on Twitter, 'WE WILL WIN!' But, in fact, the president has no clear endgame to actually win the election -- and, in an indication he may be starting to come to terms with his loss, he is talking privately about running again in 2024. Trump aides, advisers and allies said there is no grand strategy to reverse the election results, which show President-elect Joe Biden with a majority of electoral college votes, as well as a 5 million-vote lead in the national popular vote.... Republican officials have scrambled nationwide to produce evidence of widespread voter fraud that could bolster the Trump campaign's legal challenges, but no such evidence has surfaced. And Biden's lead in several states targeted by the Trump campaign has expanded as late-counted votes are reported. In all-important Pennsylvania, the Democrat now leads by more than 50,000 votes." ~~~
~~~ Oh, Wait. There Is a Plan. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "President Trump isn't really trying to overturn the election. He's simply running one more scam before he leaves office that would enable him to enrich himself. That's the way it appears, at least, from the scores of fundraising emails his campaign has sent out since the election. He seems to be asking for funds to challenge the election, but the fine print shows that the money could let him line his own coffers. The tin-pot-dictator routine looks more as if it's about passing the tin cup." Read on.
Bad Company. Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: "When [Aleksandr G. Lukashenko,] the strongman ruler of Belarus, declared an implausible landslide victory in an election in August, and had himself sworn in for a sixth term as president, the United States and other Western nations denounced what they said was brazen defiance of the voters' will. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month [that Lukashenko's 'victory'] was 'fraud.'... Just a month on, Mr. Pompeo's boss, President Trump, is now borrowing from Mr. Lukashenko's playbook, joining a club of truculent leaders who ... declare themselves the winners of elections.... When [autocrats] do hold genuinely competitive votes and the result goes against them, they often ignore the result, denouncing it as the work of traitors, criminals and foreign saboteurs, and therefore invalid. By refusing to accept the results of last week's election and working to delegitimize the vote, Mr. Trump is following a similar strategy.... The United States has never before had to force an incumbent to concede a fair defeat at the polls. And merely by raising the possibility that he would have to be forced out of office, Mr. Trump has shattered the bedrock democratic tradition of a seamless transition. The damage already done by Mr. Trump's obduracy could be lasting."
Josh Feldman of Mediaite: "Karl Rove ... wrote in the Wall Street Journal Wednesday that the election outcome is not likely to be overturned, saying, 'The president's efforts are unlikely to move a single state from Mr. Biden's column, and certainly they're not enough to change the final outcome.'... He closes by advising Trump to 'do his part to unite the country by leading a peaceful transition and letting grievances go.'" Rove's WSJ opinion piece is here. Firewalled, of course.
AWOL. Betsy Klein of CNN: "The President of the United States is absent without leave.... Donald Trump is set to make his first public appearance in six days Wednesday when he visits Arlington National Cemetery to commemorate Veterans Day alongside first lady Melania Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. But as he mounts a fierce battle to remain in office and refuses to concede the election he lost, Trump has shown little interest in the work of being President. Since he vowed to fight the election results in the wee hours after Election Day, Trump ... has made few efforts to show the American people he is still governing. Instead, he is firing off inflammatory and baseless claims on his social media accounts, many of which have been flagged by Twitter as misinformation, and hitting his golf course." Mrs. McC: Yeah, any of those veterans he is supposedly honoring today could have been courtmartialed for being AWOL, but Trump gets atta-boys from the same senators who refused to courtmartial him for attempting to consort with a foreign government. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I thought pence was AWOL, too, but the NYT reports that "Vice President Mike Pence canceled a vacation at the last minute this week as the virus numbers grew worse, but the White House coronavirus task force that he leads has been all but publicly silent."
Crazy Becomes the GOP Norm. David Siders of Politico: "It was just noise when it started -- Donald Trump spouting wild, unsubstantiated claims about election fraud, his lawyer seething at an almost comical press conference in the parking lot of a Philadelphia landscaping business. But one week after an election in which Joe Biden received close to 5 million more popular votes than Trump and captured more than 270 electoral votes, the president and top Republican Party officials are nowhere near conceding. And with his posturing -- and statements of Cabinet officials like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo -- Trump is fueling a bonfire that's consuming the GOP and disrupting the traditional transfer of power.... A majority of Republicans, according to new polling, are convinced the election wasn't fair. Party officials are attacking one another for failing a litmus test of defending Trump's interests.... Many top GOP officials ... often [suggest] to the party rank-and-file that the election was stolen, or that the outcome stands to be reversed." (Also linked yesterday.)
Stephen Collinson of CNN: "... Donald Trump's administration is taking on the characteristics of a tottering regime -- with its loyalty tests, destabilizing attacks on the military chain of command, a deepening bunker mentality and increasingly delusional claims of political victory. In response, a visibly confident President-elect Joe Biden is going out of his way to project calm amid the deepening chaos, even as Trump and senior Republicans still refuse to acknowledge the President's defeat in a stunning break with America's democratic traditions.... Biden said he had a simple message for all the world leaders: 'I am letting them know America is back.'... But the Trump team only dug itself deeper into a bizarre parallel universe -- one where the President has already secured a second term -- consistent with the embrace of misinformation and alternative facts that has characterized the last four years." (Also linked yesterday.)
More Trump Paranoia. Laurie McGinley, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump is lashing out at the Food and Drug Administration following a disclosure Monday that an experimental coronavirus vaccine from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is more than 90 percent effective, convinced the timing -- six days after Election Day -- proves the 'medical deep state' deliberately tried to sabotage his electoral prospects by delaying the results. Shortly after Trump heard the news Monday, he demanded Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar 'get to the bottom' of what happened with Pfizer.... A few hours later, the issue was front and center at a meeting of the White House coronavirus task force when FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn briefed members about the vaccine data.... [At the meeting, Azar blamed Hahn for delaying the Pfizer announcement & implied Hahn and/or Pfizer had manipulated the timing for political reasons.] Trump weighed in Monday night, tweeting without evidence that the FDA and Pfizer intentionally withheld the news until after the election.... There is no proof decisions were made with the intent of imperiling Trump's reelection prospects." Pfizer didn't have access to the data until the Sunday following the election.
Erin Banco, et al., of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump continues to refuse to cede the election. His national security adviser Robert O'Brien is enabling the mayhem, four senior officials told The Daily Beast.... O'Brien -- once viewed as a potential check on Trump's erratic national security demands -- endorsed the installation of a pair of Trumpists at the Pentagon's highest levels, while a defense secretary O'Brien has long opposed was fired by tweet.... Officials familiar with the matter noted that O'Brien has also pushed national security officials to publicly embrace the absurd Trump message that the election has not been certified and that there are still legal battles playing out across the country that could turn in the president's favor. 'If you even mention Biden.s name ... that's a no go. You'd be fired,' one national security official said. 'Everyone is scared of even talking about the chance of working with the [Biden] transition.'" Not firewalled.
Insane Pettiness. "President Macron Calling"; "Sorry, He's Not In & He Never Will Be." Kylie Atwood of CNN: "A stack of messages from foreign leaders to President-elect Joe Biden are sitting at the State Department but the Trump administration is preventing him from accessing them, according to State Department officials familiar with the messages. Traditionally, the State Department supports all communications for the President-elect, which is why many countries began sending messages to State over the weekend. But with Biden prohibited from accessing State Department resources by the Trump administration, because ... Donald Trump refuses to accept Biden's victory, dozens of incoming messages have not been received. Biden's team is in touch with foreign governments without State Department involvement, and he has held numerous calls with leaders, including Germany's Angela Merkel and Canada's Justin Trudeau. But they are operating without the logistical and translation support that the State Department operations center provides." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It is true that there are some important elements of a transition that these petty people are withholding: classified briefings, funds, office space, phone messages, and perhaps most important, the ability to have candidates for office vetted, which is quite time-consuming. But even if the little Trumpettes allow the Biden administration access where access is due, this won't be an ordinary transition, because the people who holds the top jobs are not only hostile, they're also stupid. They might be able to show the Biden people where the paperclips & restrooms are, but after that, faggedaboudit.
Barr v. Public Integrity. Katie Benner of the New York Times: "As the scandal over President Trump's dealings with Ukraine unfolded in Washington last fall and prompted his impeachment, public corruption prosecutors in the Justice Department ... [intended] to pursue a potentially explosive inquiry into whether he had broken any ... laws. But Attorney General William P. Barr and other top officials held them back while Congress investigated the same matter during impeachment hearings.... Compounding the prosecutors' dissatisfaction was a stalled case around that time against a member of Mr. Trump's cabinet, the former interior secretary Ryan Zinke.... The boiling frustration was a critical moment in the long-running tensions between the Public Integrity Section and the Trump administration that ... spilled into the open this week Mr. Barr issued a memo authorizing prosecutors to investigate voter fraud claims before the results of the presidential race are certified, prompting the section's lawyer who oversees voter fraud investigations, Richard Pilger, to step down from the post in protest.... The encounters were the latest example of Trump appointees ... overruling career prosecutors, drawing criticism that the administration was eroding the department's typical separation from politics."
The Confederate Nation of Mississippi. Ted Armus of the Washington Post: "Instead of being governed by President-elect Joe Biden, Mississippi state Rep. Price Wallace (R) reportedly said on Twitter that Mississippi should 'succeed' from the rest of the United States and form its own country." (Also linked yesterday.) Mrs. McC: Mississippi has found itself another country to be part of:
But What About Don Junior? Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Ronna [Romney] McDaniel is expected to seek a third term as Republican National Committee chair, according to a person familiar with her thinking, and she has ... Donald Trump's backing to keep her post. McDaniel, who[m] ... Donald Trump picked to lead the RNC after he won the 2016 election, received Trump's endorsement for another term on Wednesday evening, all but guaranteeing her reelection. Trump's endorsement shows how he is determined to play a central role in Republican Party politics even after losing his bid for reelection." Mrs. McC: Yesterday, we learned that Donnie Junior & his Lapdance Lady friend were considering taking over the RNC; now we find out Senior has shut down that coup attempt. Must be that Daddy doesn't think the Boy Wonder is up to the job.
Rachel Sharp of the Daily Mail & the AP: "Donald Trump is being offered book and TV deals worth around $100 million as part of a 'plan B' if his election legal battle fails to secure him a second term, according to a source close to the president. The source told Page Six Tuesday the president is being 'bombarded' with lucrative book deal offers about his time in the White House as well as offers from right-wing TV outlets.... Former-President Barack Obama and Former First Lady Michelle Obama are rumored to have bagged a $65 million deal with Crown in 2017...." Mrs. McC: A friend pointed out these stories to me yesterday, but she also noted that this sounded like just another White House plant designed to make it appear Trump had bested president Obama. I would note that Michelle Obama's book was a super-best-seller, far exceeding expectations. Barack Obama's book is scheduled to come out next week and based on PD Pepe's review of one chapter, it should do well, too. The amount of the advance does not determine the payoff; it's an estimation of the publisher's worst-case bet on what the author will earn in royalties. Besides, the Obamas also have at least one TV deal, so I'm not sure Trump could "beat" them in the numbers game. And I'll bet the Obamas could not care less either way.
Here's another huge downside of the Republicans' likely retention of Senate control: ~~~
~~~ Kyle Cheney & Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "In the Senate, where GOP control hinges on two Jan. 5 runoffs in Georgia, Republican lawmakers are plotting ways to expand and intensify their investigations targeting the former Obama administration and President-elect Joe Biden and his son Hunter, with Senate Republicans saying they will use the lame duck period to ramp up their probes. 'We're not going to stop,' Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said as he concluded a hearing this week on the FBI's handling of its investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign's ties to Russia.... 'Because this is fundamental to democracy that the law enforcement community acts based on evidence, not based on bias.'"
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
** The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "In one week, new daily coronavirus cases in the United States went from 104,000 to more than 145,000 on Wednesday, the latest all-time high. Almost every metric is trending in the wrong direction as states add restrictions and health officials warn of a dangerous fall ahead. The rise in infections comes with new highs in the number of deaths reported in a single day at 1,549, the highest since May 14. Tennessee, Alabama and Minnesota all reached new highs in the number of deaths reported in a single day."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "Covid-19 hospitalizations in the United States hit an all-time high of 61,964 on Tuesday, and new daily cases passed 139,000 for the first time, as the raging pandemic continued to shatter record after record and strain medical facilities." (Also linked yesterday.)
Amy Walker & Matthew Conlen of the New York Times: "Three more White House staffers have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the latest outbreak among President Trump's aides and advisers to 12 people. At least four of them -- Mr. Trump's chief of staff, his political director, a campaign adviser leading the efforts to challenge election results and the housing secretary — attended an election night party at the White House where hundreds of people mingled for hours, many without masks. They join at least 20 members of Mr. Trump's administration, campaign and inner circle who have contracted the virus since late September, after an earlier outbreak among White House residence staff.... The recent spate of cases reflects a lax approach to preventing infections at the nation's highest level of government -- including an overreliance on rapid testing and the dismissal of mask-wearing and social distancing -- that did not appear to change even after the president himself was hospitalized with Covid-19 in early October." The article names those who have been infected.
Sheryl Stolberg, et al., of the New York Times: "... as the country enters what may be the most intense stage of the pandemic yet, the Trump administration remains largely disengaged. President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is trying to assume a leadership mantle, with the appointment of a coronavirus advisory board and a call for all Americans to wear masks, but until his inauguration on Jan. 20, he lacks the authority to mobilize a federal response.... Mr. Trump is at war with his own health officials. He was furious after the drug maker Pfizer announced Monday that early clinical trial data suggested its coronavirus vaccine was more than 90 percent effective.... White House aides were particularly incensed that Mr. Biden publicly said his public health advisers knew of Pfizer's results on Sunday, before aides said the news had reached the White House.... Meantime, the Strategic National Stockpile, the nation's emergency reserve, has only 115 million N95 masks, far short of the 300 million the administration had hoped to amass by winter.... Governors are once again competing with one another and big hospital chains for scarce gear. Nursing homes are grappling with staff shortages, which have left hospitals unable to discharge patients to their care." (Also linked yesterday.)
All the Best People, Florida Edition. DeSantis Hires "Crackpot" Anti-Masker to Do Covid-19 Research. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "Last week, Kyle Lamb, a little-known sports blogger who moonlights as an anti-masker, announced he had been hired to do data analysis, 'including but not limited to Covid-19 research,' for the governor of Florida. Lamb would be joining a team of analysts under Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times reported, many of whom have been working to monitor the coronavirus pandemic. Lamb, 40, is not a data scientist by trade or training. In his own words, he is 'not an "expert."' His public statements about the pandemic have frequently contradicted advice from public health officials, and he has dedicated much of his coronavirus commentary to undermining experts.... Ryan Donnelly, a former sportswriter who worked with Lamb at a sports publication in 2018, told The Washington Post in a Twitter direct message that the podcast host has no background in data analysis or epidemiology. 'He is totally unfit for the role and appears to have been hired because he enjoyed posting charts and graphs on Twitter and offering misleading analysis alongside them,' Donnelly told The Post.... Lamb's former colleagues in the Ohio sports world, where he previously worked as a blogger and podcast host, have characterized him in interviews with the Herald and Tampa Bay Times as 'a nobody,' 'an amateur,' an 'Internet weirdo,' and a 'crackpot.'"
A Civil War Among Trump's Favorite Racists. Ewan Palmer of Newsweek: "Infighting has broken out between two leading members of the Proud Boys group, with one announcing he will be taking control of the far-right organization to address 'White Genocide' and the 'failures of multiculturalism.' White nationalist Kyle Chapman -- who set up the 'tactical defense arm' of the Proud Boys, the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights (FOAK) -- has criticized the group's chairman Enrique Tarrio while announcing a so-called rebranding of the organization. Writing on encrypted messaging app Telegram, Chapman used racial slurs against Tarrio and other neo-Nazi rhetoric while announcing that ... the group would be renamed the Proud Goys.... 'We will no longer cuck to the left by appointing token negroes as our leaders. We will no longer allow homosexuals or other 'undesirables' into our ranks. We will confront the Zionist criminals who wish to destroy our civilization. We recognize that the West was built by the White Race alone and we owe nothing to any other race.'... Elsewhere, the Proud Boys and other far-right groups are planning a 'Million MAGA March' in Washington on Saturday in support of ... Donald Trump's baseless claim that he lost the election because of voter fraud."
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. It's Not So Neat to Beat Your Meat on the Electric Zoom Machine. Dominick Mastrangelo of the Hill: "Journalist Jeffrey Toobin has been fired by The New Yorker after being placed on suspension following an incident in which he exposed himself to colleagues during a virtual meeting last month. Toobin confirmed he had been fired in a tweet on Wednesday.... Toobin also serves as a legal analyst for CNN and did not appear as part of the network's coverage of the 2020 presidential election."
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: A neighbor stopped by to ask me if Pennsylvania could just send a troop of "faithless Electors" to the Electoral College who would give the state's votes to Trump., even though Biden won the popular vote. This is a rumor that's going around the Internets. I told him no & sort of explained why. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post has a fuller explanation here: "What happens if, say, the GOP legislature in Pennsylvania goes rogue and appoints a separate pro-Trump slate of electors for the electoral college, in defiance of the state's popular vote?... The relevant state law ... assigns the role of certifying the electors chosen by that statewide vote count to the governor, who is also a Democrat." Sargent then goes through scenarios in which multiple Republican states tried to send their own slate of Electors to the Electoral College. He concludes: "Everyone absolutely should remain on alert, to be clear. But a Trump win along these lines is absurdly, monumentally implausible."
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Widespread election fraud!!! RECOUNT!
But only in states he lost. Right? What’s “widespread” about that? If the election is illegitimate and fraud was everywhere, why should we only be demanding to check states Trump lost? What about states he won? In fact the only—ONLY—provable election fraud on any kind of scale larger than the odd single ballot incorrectly filled out (ie, not fraud) was perpetrated byTrump supporters.
So why shouldn’t we be looking at states he won?
Does anyone else find it odd that GOP bigmouths who, on November 3rd were screaming “Stop the count! Stop the count!” are now shouting “Count every vote!”?
No, it’s just the usual confederate scam: heads we win, tails you lose.
And I entirely buy the idea that the Fat Traitor is only interested in making money here. He has no problem throwing the entire system under the bus, threatening national security, and undermining the basic fabric of American democracy for...a few extra bucks in his pocket.
He would destroy the country...for money.
That’s what this whole thing has been about from day one. What can little Donald make out of this presidency scam?
That’s not impeachable, that’s imprisonable.
Some preliminary numbers in a WAPO post-election autopsy of who voted and why? The way I read it, most voted in 2020 the way they did four years earlier, but there were some interesting shifts.
Especially the reported movement in "independents" toward Biden, because I sometimes doubt they really exist; and the numbers among Catholics made me wonder if abortion is as big an issue for them as Miss Amy and Black Robes would have made me believe.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/elections/exit-polls-changes-2016-2020/?
Someone has to convince the Orange One to go on the TV and give his great concession speech with all his best words and tell him he will get the world's highest ratings, astronomical (asstronomical) ratings (rantings). But then there's no money in that unless he can turn it into a fundraiser and maybe collect a dollar from each of those seventy million idiots who voted for him. Heck, I'd even kick in a dollar to shut him up.
SMELL THE SMOKE!
Barbara Res, the ex-Trump executive who worked for Fatty for years says: "The notion of being a loser is something he couldn't possibly conceive or believe; if all else fails, he'll burn down the house.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3eC35LoF4U
Even Karl Rove weighs in and in effect says get your shit together, man, and rise to the occasion.
I would think––but of course I consider myself a rational human being–-that Donny's display of refusing to let go of his "play things" would alarm even the most ardent supporters and like an embarrassed parent, would yank the kid out of the mayhem and put him in "time out" until he calmed down and agreed to the rules of the game.
I so applaud the Biden team that is going forth and doing the best they can to facilitate the transition. They appear to have the best extinguishers to put out Fatty's fires–––so far, so good but the good is gonna get bad if this goes on too long.
@Ken Winkes: I saw that analysis, too, and I think it backs up my theory that Democrats need to do some educatin'. They have to quit letting Republicans, for instance, get away with labeling everybody a socialist. And the way to do that isn't all that hard: "Don't you want your grandchildren to have the same access to healthcare that you have?" and "Wouldn't you like to have the same access to healthcare that your (elderly) parents do?" The answers are yes and yes.
But the study also shows that Democrats need to do a better job reaching out to people of color, and that will be harder to do when Trump is not the center of the universe. Most Republicans know better than to express openly racist sentiments, and now they won't have to try to defend Trump's open racism with the "rapist & criminal Mexicans" & the fake Charlie Chan imitations. So Democrats have to go in with an economic message. I think it was unwashed the other day who protested she didn't need any educatin', & I'd agree with that. But I'm telling ya, her neighbors are clueless.
@Forrest Morris: I think you've hit on a plan: convince Donald his concession speech would be the "best one anyone has ever heard," throw in some cash somehow, and he'll race to the podium.
Chance of a Lifetime
Here’s the thing. Republicans take all kinds of stuff away from people but they give them plenty to be pissed about (Democrats!) so they won’t be pissed at them for stripping them of jobs and healthcare and a future for their kids.
Democrats give Americans all kinds of things they need (jobs, healthcare, a future for their kids), but they don’t provide much of a concerted presentation on the idea front. Rather than the stale bread and mendacious circus Republicans have to offer, Democrats need to beef up the positive ideas that can offer a sense of hope and solidarity to Americans to go along with the fresh bread, veggies, healthcare, and clean water, as Marie suggests.
There will be millions who won’t bite. They’ve been at the Wingnut Hate & Ignorance school for too long. Forget them. If you think there are too many rotten apples in the barrel, go to the tree. Get the kids on your side.
We have an unusually fecund moment in history following years—decades—of right wing hatred, lies, and chicanery. Trump did us all a service by dragging these essential elements of confederate scheming to center stage and doing a tarantella around them. Many of us out here in RC Land came of age in the turbulence of the 60s. Our political outlook was molded in those fires. Millions of young Americans right now, this minute, are going through something similar. Democrats need to give these young people a place to live, politically speaking, and a reason to stay there and help keep up the fight.
If they don’t, apathy could set in. Or worse, they could be tempted to go to the Dark Side and vote with the traitors.
It’s a great chance. We should not waste it.
My wife and I were talking this morning about the huge number of people out there who believe the bullshit about the stolen election blah blah, and it got me thinking about oral arguments in the SC way back on Tuesday (yes, really only 48 hours ago) where the wingnuts were trying to get the court to overturn the ACA.
The wingnut argument was that the Mandate was referenced in several parts of the law as being essential, but later the penalty was reduced to zero, therefore the mandate isn't there, therefore the law must fall.
The mandate was included because the writers (that is, the Democrats) were protecting the government and the insurance companies against bad actors who would not sign up for insurance until they needed it, skewing (skewering?) the premium pool. But evidence has shown that there are really very few assholes out there trying to game the system in that way. Even without a penalty, people seem to be signing up for insurance as a precautionary measure. So in fact, in this context, Americans are doing the right thing.
NiskyGuy,
(Most...many?) Americans are about doing the right thing. Confederates are not. They are never about doing the right thing, unless “the right thing” results in huge benefits for them. I’ve been reading about how John Roberts has had enough of these weak-ass, largely merit less attempts to shiv the ACA.
You know who hasn’t? Kavanaugh, Barrett, Gorsuch, and, I’ll bet, Alito and Thomas. Know who else? Scheming, evil wingers like Mitch McConnell and the Bible bangers.
Republicans are nothing if not resilient when it comes to demanding that they get their own way. There must dozens of suits trying to overturn this election. There’ll be dozens more. They have a deep well of oligarch money and they don’t care how many suits they lose. They only need to win one.
Just look at their attacks on a woman’s right to choose. They’ve been hammering at this for decades. Little by little, they chip away. Supreme Court not fully invested in the cause yet? Fine. We’ll attack the states. Now there are many states where abortion (and any kind of healthcare for poor women) is impossible.
They are indefatigable. They believe that they are the only ones who should be able to make the rules. And they are outraged if they don’t get their way.
Something to think about as this “election was stolen” scam picks up speed.
One other thing (only one, Ak?) about this election that fries my tail feathers is this wonderment expressed by many Very Serious People about how amazingly well Trump did. “Oh my! He did so well. He got soooo many votes.”
Yeah. And he lost. By about five million votes. But he was the incumbent! He used, illegally, the power of the state to try to steal this election, and he had the elements of vote suppression, tireless propaganda, and the threat of armed thugs challenging non-Trumpy voters all arrayed on his side.
And he still lost. How is that “doing so well”?
When Clinton lost in the Electoral College, even though she beat his fat ass by three million votes, hers was deemed an historic defeat. An ignominious loss for the ages. But this treasonous criminal gets his ass kicked around the block like a scuffed up soccer ball and all we hear about is “how well he did”.
Ridiculous.
I just wrote a note to the guy running the House in the bloated, self-satisfied do-nothing PA legislature. He has acceded to the whiners on the right, who lost the presidency but won everything else, to name a committee to "audit" the election process, to insure that future elections will be done smoothly. As this one was. Democrats will be token members on the committee. Probably not permitted to speak. I told him he was obnoxiously looking for nonexistent problems, in hopes of finding SOMETHING, and that he is giving in to the nutcases in the lege. And there are a lot. So far, no fraud. By god, in that case, they will go buy some.
We all know that the lumpish baby crying in the woodshed is not going to give his speech or be comforted by the insane 70 million who love him. We don't care. If the congress isn't going to do anything, the team had better go to the courts. Our security is fleeing. What day number is this that Fatso has not mentioned the pandemic?
Brian Williams always ends his show with a note of "something good" at the end of the day and last night he showed us the letters/notes that outgoing presidents leave for the newly elected one–-all done with class. He also showed us clips of the Bush girls showing the Obama girls the secret slide in the White House. It leaves one misty eyed and at the same time disgusted knowing there will be no letter from Trump nor will Barron be showing Biden's grandchildren anything.
On the ACA enrollments and why the "mandate" didn't seem to be critical/essential to its success.
One might think Americans are doing the "right thing" because having health insurance is beneficial to them....and ah, those subsidies....
In other words, health insurance is an obvious life/death and pocketbook issue, so obvious that even Republicans get it.
Sign of hope for the future?
Something I find extremely interesting is the election result in Texas. Here’s how a good friend of mine put it this morning in a text he sent me:
“Sure, in places like Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana etc, Trump has 20-point margins. But with the combination of growing urban /suburban educated populations and Hispanics in Texas you have only a 5-point margin. Bigger-than-life, brash, every man for himself, Texas Ranger, Remember the Alamo, shoot JFK...Texas? A freaking 5-point margin? Why not 20 or at least 10? I’m not saying they are going to be a Blue state but it’s also looking like you could win Texas at some point without having an LBJ.”
And just think of all the ratfucking that went on in Texas in the attempt to help Fatty and screw Biden: a single drop box for ballots in Democratic counties the size of Connecticut, for instance.
Even at that, the traitors could only muster a (I think it’s actually a six point) lead that should have been much higher.
Now, it may be that Texas traitors will find ways to “fix” the problem of allowing too many Democrats to vote in “their” state, but combined with Arizona and the squeaker in Georgia, it looks hopeful for the future.
Which is why Democrats have to build on this NOW. They can’t go to sleep for four years again.
I've got to disagree with the rationale of Biden getting the Presidential Daily Briefs "so that both sides are up to date". We've heard since the first week of Trump in office that he doesn't read them and has a hard time staying focused on anything over a few paragraphs in length. It would allow the incoming administration to have a clue what's going on. That's why this is important.
Yes, I have been wondering if they will start producing real PDBs again, something longer than the placemats at Friendly’s, for Biden and Harris. The downside to real briefings is that trump might start paying attention so he can start selling the intel on January 21.
...and speaking of Texas: John Fetterman (Lt. Govenor, D-PA) seeks $1-million reward payment from Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick:
https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/lt-gov-fetterman-seeks-claim-of-1m-voter-fraud-reward-from-texas-lieutenant-governor/
Politico has a run down of people Biden is looking at to fill out his administration.
A thought on the Right's claim of voter fraud allowed by mail in ballots because they make it easier for "dead people" to vote:
Don't know why they're complaining.
It is a truth univerfsally acknowledged (thanks, Miss Austen) brain dead people are very likely to vote Republican.
@Nisky Guy: Hadn't thought of what a shock the cartoonish PDBs will be Biden & his staff. After all, they are familiar with "real" PDBs. Maybe the intel briefers will come up with two PDBs, both of them conveying the same information, but one filled with big photos & few words besides capitalized "PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP" and the other one produced in a "normal" format.
Will they still supply the little box with the four crayons?