Way back at the beginning of the Trump Administration I signed onto the Trump email list. I thought it would offer some insight into the campaign. As election day passed it signaled panic with notes of scam. There was always evidence of the latter. Phrases like, “One of my strongest supporters,” “You've never let me down before,” and “The Trump team is sending me a list of every patriot who contributes.” Every fundraising letter from a politician contains a gimmick (they want your money), but none were every so transparent about their attempt to swindle the reader. On a single day just after the election I received two emails from Newt Gingrich, two from Trump and Pence, one from Mike Lindell, one from Pence, three from Trump Jr., and seven from the President. They included pleas, threats, boasts, embellishments, and lies. Some had no words, only buttons listing the contribution values. They referenced Sleepy Joe and Crooked Hillary. The newer emails, which still arrive four a day, support the Official Election Defense Fund, and claim the fundraising will help, “Stop the steal.” Since the election I received over one hundred emails asking for money, from a wide range of characters in the MAGA world.
Anyways, the Presidential Events of November 2020.
Staffing:
In November, the President fired his fourth Defense Secretary, Mark Esper. He also installed partisan hacks at the Pentagon even though he had lost the election.
The Senate rejected Trump's nomination to the Federal Reserve. Judy Shelton was blocked by a 47 – 50 vote, but Republicans could try again before the end of the year.
International Relations:
The President withdrew more soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq, reducing the United States' 7,500 footprint to 5,000. When Obama left office between 13,000 to 15,000 soldiers remained in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Shortly after the President fired Mark Esper, sources inside the White House claimed Trump was considering bombing Iran. At the end of the month, someone assassinated an Iranian nuclear scientist. Israel was the most likely culprit, not the United States, but both countries fostered aggression together. Israel drafted plans to aid a United States strike on Iran.
Despite his claims otherwise, Trump isolated the United States internationally, allying with dictators over democracies. The United States was the sole vote against a health amendment because it mentioned the World Health Organization, and repeatedly tried to remove references to reproductive health.
Immigration and Hate:
A judge ruled that the former acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security did not have the authority to suspend DACA, because he was later found to not be eligible for his position.
According to the FBI, hate crime murders were the highest ever in 2019, and hate crimes rose by 55% between 2017 and 2019. Right-wing, white supremacists targeted African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, and LGBT individuals.
The Republican Senate:
The Republican Senate broke with tradition, and confirmed Trump's sixth judicial appointment since he lost the election. The Senate had not confirmed judicial nominees of a lame duck president in over 123 years. Meanwhile Mitch McConnell's Senate prohibited a vote on the many coronavirus relief bills already passed by the House. Democrats passed a three trillion dollar relief bill, and were willing to compromise to a 2.1 trillion dollar bill. Mitch McConnell won't even agree to the 900 billion dollar deal in the Senate now. His $500 billion plan shields companies from liabilities related to the coronavirus, is packed with military pork, and makes business lunches 100% deductible. It doesn't help the unemployed, assist state governments, or include a stimulus check.
The people of Georgia have a simple decision. They get to decide if the United States passes coronavirus relief or not.
The Coronavirus
The coronavirus wasn't even the biggest issue of November. That's astonishing considering the country continued to set infection milestones. On November 5th the United States recorded a new peak of 121,200 cases. Three days later it reached 126,000. On November 11th cases climbed to 130,989. According to the NYT, the highest day in November was the 27th with 205,462 coronavirus infections. During the summer and early fall Republicans pointed to the “low” death total to dismiss rising cases. But November saw daily deaths double from 800 to 1600, with a high of 2,313. Hospitals surpassed their previous coronavirus patient records, with over 90,000, compared to 60,000 in April. As of November 250,000 people in the United States died from the coronavirus. That's more than from accidents or stroke. It's more than from Alzheimers and diabetes combined. In Texas, 230 inmates died from the coronavirus, and nearly 80% of them hadn't been convicted.
At the White House, a second coronavirus cluster infected Mark Meadows, Ben Carson, Lewandowski, and numerous aides. Over 130 Secret Service agents quarantined after they became infected or were close to infected persons.
As the United States passed four million cases in the month of November, the CDC urged people to avoid travel for Thanksgiving. Republican officials mocked the idea.
The 2020 Election:
The biggest news of November was the election. A month later the results remain uncertain. Joe Biden won with 306 electoral votes, every court case argued by the Trump campaign was laughed out of court, and the states will certify the electoral count on December 8th. But it remains unclear if Trump will have to be dragged from the White House on Inauguration day.
Trump engaged in the most outright deceitful language leading up to, and following, the November 3rd election. Two days after the election, as the states of Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia, and Arizona continued to count mail in ballots the President tweeted, “STOP THE COUNT!” At a press conference the same day, the President said, “If you count the legal votes, I easily win.”
“Count the legal votes,” became the rallying cry of the fringe right, Yes, of course. That's what officials are doing. It sounds oddly similar to the chant “All Lives matters”. Yes, of course. But you're using it to bolster a political conspiracy theory. The Republican governments of Georgia and Arizona aren't secretly manipulating vote counts to help Joe Biden, and Caucasians aren't dying by police at the same rate as African Americans.
The next day he tweeted, “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” When the Press Secretary gave a press conference where she accused Democrats of rigging the election, major news sites cut away. On November 16th the President still claimed, “I WON THE ELECTION!” With this cacophony coming from the White House, 73% of Republican voters refused to accept the results.
The Attorney General and Secretary of State both winked and nudged the President. Pompeo “joked” “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.” Barr told prosecutors to investigate “substantial allegations,” in spite of a lack of evidence. A DOJ official stepped down following Barr's order.
It's unclear who believes the lies they are spreading. Does Trump? Do his top promoters? Or are they in it to cause chaos, raise money, or just spite the Libs? In leaked calls Trump officials continued to deny the results.
On November 6th and 7th most major sites called the 2020 United States Presidential Election for Joe Biden. I've already written about that. Trump didn't concede. Instead his lackeys orchestrated a series of bizarre press conferences and unsuccessful court cases. The crackpot lawyer Sidney Powell found herself separated from the Trump campaign days after she was promoted by the Republican National Committee.
The Trump campaign lost court case after court case. On the 17th of November by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, when it said observers were not blocked from viewing ballots. A federal judge threw out another suit in Pennsylvania, because enforcing it would disenfranchise seven million voters. A three member court of the Circuit Court of Appeals rejected another case saying, “Calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require … proof. We have [none] here.” On November 29th the Pennsylvania Supreme Court refused to hear another case to invalidate more than a million mail-in ballots.
On the 23rd the General Services Administration finally acceded to the reality and formally began the transition process for Joe Biden.
Meanwhile the Republican party backed the President over the country. On November 8th most elected Republicans refused to acknowledge Biden as the winner. Prominent Republicans encouraged the President to fight the result. Mitch McConnell stood cheering on the sidelines, supporting the President, if not agreeing with his conspiracies. By the 12th, more foreign leaders (eight) had congratulated Biden than Republican Senators (four).
When Trump's head of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said, “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history,” the President fired him.
Republican officials even attempted to overthrow the results. Georgia's Secretary of State (a Republican) said that Republican Senator Lindsey Graham suggested he throw out legally cast ballots. In Michigan, which Biden won by 150,000 votes, and by more than 2%, local Republican officials blocked the certification for Wayne County, but then reversed themselves. The Republican National Committee Chair urged Michigan's Board of State Canvassers to adjourn for 14 days and not certify the results.
Under this barrage of lies, misinformation, and conspiracies, GOP officials received death threats. My sympathy for these officials is limited. They refused to condemn Trump when he said he wouldn't conceded before the election. They laughed it off as a joke. They probably even voted for the guy that's now calling them crooks and liars. My empathy is reserved for the regular workers that suffer harassment because of the President.
At this point it seems likely Trump may be the first President to not concede since the tradition began over a hundred years ago. While his public acknowledgment would still be preferable to not, at this point it's a bit like his condemnation of white supremacists; too little, too late.
President Elect Biden:
Biden began to announce his preferred staff. He named Louisiana congressman Cedric Richmond as a senior advisor to oversee the legislative agenda on climate change. But Richmond received extensive donations from oil and gas industries. Seven of the ten most polluted census tracts in the United States exist in his congressional district.
Biden's choice for Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, supported the Iraq War, supported the Saudi invasion of Yemen, and made big money in private equity firms after working in the Obama Administration.
Some choices are merely meh. Biden's economic team is palatable, except for Neera Tanden. Picked to head the Office of Management and Budget, Tanden repeatedly pushed to cut Social Security.
That's the shortest Presidential Events in quite awhile. One can only hope that the next two months retain a similar slow flow.
One can only hope!
But Trump
pardoned Michael Flynn, with more to follow...
Recent:
Fallout 4: Traveling the Wastes of Massachusetts and Bethesda
Relevant:
Charlie Baker's Coronavirus Conceit
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