White House largely silent on health precautions for Thanksgiving

The Hill logo

The White House is struggling to offer a clear message on how Americans should approach Thanksgiving as coronavirus cases surge around the country and experts worry holiday gatherings could produce yet another spike in infections.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued guidance on best practices for holding Thanksgiving gatherings, and the agency followed that up on Thursday by advising against traveling for the holiday.

But the White House has done little to elevate the recommendations from the country’s top public health agency, while some administration officials have outright contradicted the CDC’s advice. Continue reading.

A vindictive Trump seeks to undermine Biden’s presidency

Washington Post logo

It has been almost three weeks since President Trump stepped to a lectern in the White House in the early hours of Nov. 4 to declare that the election was being stolen from him. It was a fabrication designed to turn President-elect Joe Biden into an illegitimate president and has continued apace ever since. It will not stop with Biden’s swearing-in on Jan. 20.

Any thoughts Trump might have had of overturning the election were a failed enterprise from the start. On Friday, those hopes were dealt twin blows when Georgia’s secretary of state certified Biden as the winner there and Republican legislative leaders from Michigan, after meeting with the president, signaled they would do nothing to try to undermine the results. Biden has an electoral college majority, and the certification process continues to gather steam.

Through these weeks, the president and his legal team have failed to produce credible evidence of systematic or widespread fraud. Now they are resorting to wild allegations of a grand conspiracy on the part of Biden and the Democrats — charges repeatedly debunked. This effort is being led by Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was once a reputable mayor of New York. These claims of fraud are in themselves a fraudulent and cynical enterprise. Continue reading.

The Memo: Trump plows ahead with efforts to overturn election

The Hill logo

A full two weeks after President-elect Joe Biden was projected as the clear winner of the 2020 election, the nation is steaming toward a collision.

President Trump, far from moving toward an acceptance of his defeat, has intensified his efforts to overturn the results.

But that effort is running up against the clock — and against legal and political realities. Continue reading.

McEnany Whines About 2016 Transition To Justify Trump’s Misconduct

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Friday justified Donald Trump’s refusal to concede that he lost the election by running through a list of grievances about how Democrats treated Trump in 2016.

Trump has refused to admit that he lost the 2020 election, instead tweeting debunked claims of voter fraud and election rigging. The General Services Administration, which is responsible for administering the transition to brief and prepare President-elect Joe, has refused to ascertain that Biden did indeed win the election and continues to block the transition.

The Trump administration’s refusal to cooperate in the transfer of power to the incoming administration is happening despite the increasing death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for a nationwide vaccine distribution plan. Experts say the refusal to cooperate could make the virus, now surging across much of the country, even worse. Continue reading.

Radical Trump aide who was fired for ties to white nationalists rehired to manage US Holocaust memorials

AlterNet logo

A former speechwriter for President Donald Trump who was fired after attending a white nationalist meeting has been rehired to manage the United States’ memorials to commemorate the Holocaust genocide.

Although Trump is now in the lame duck period of his presidency, the White House released a statement on Wednesday, confirming several key positions the president is now filling. The statement confirmed Trump nominated Darren Beattie to become a Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. The board, which was founded in 1985, has the responsibility of “seeking out, and overseeing, the preservation of overseas sites related to the Holocaust,” according to Business Insider.

In 2018, Beatie was hired by the White House as a speech writer. However, his time at the White House was short-lived due to CNN’s investigative findings that determined he was a keynote speaker at a white nationalist conference in 2016. According to the publication, CNN determined “Beattie spoke on a panel alongside Peter Brimelow, the founder of anti-immigration website Vdare, at a conferences hosted by the right-wing society the H.L. Mencken Club.” Continue reading.

Minnesota GOP claims election ‘abnormalities’ without evidence

Election officials on Friday swiftly rejected claims by Minnesota Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan that “extreme data abnormalities” might have influenced the state’s Nov. 3 election after her examples proved to be nothing more than instances of high voter turnout.

“The bottom line is you can’t just throw out conjecture and guesswork without real evidence,” said Risikat Adesaogun, spokeswoman for the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office. It was “hard to respond to allegations that are so vague and unformed.”

Nonpartisan election officials in Anoka and Wright counties, two main counties cited by Carnahan, said they found nothing that would call into question the integrity or validity of the vote. A Star Tribune analysis of Minnesota election data since 2000, for both presidential and gubernatorial elections, found nothing irregular about this year’s voting trends. Continue reading.

Historian: German denazification has lessons on how to deal with post-Trump America

AlterNet logo

Over the last four years, President Donald Trump’s White House has been riddled with scandals, lawsuits, and other incriminating claims with evidence to support wrongdoing. But due to presidential protections, no one has been able to hold Trump accountable for his actions. As more evidence continues to mount against the president and many White House officials within his administration, calls for prosecution have become more profound. 

In fact, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris weighed in on Trump’s legal battles as she admitted that if she were president, her administration would prosecute Trump. So is there a real possibility the president and his allies could face consequences for their actions? A Washington Post editorial breaks offers a realistic perspective on whether or not this could occur.

According to the op-ed, there are liberal concerns about President-elect Joe Biden taking the high road and moving forward without a backward glance at Trump and his administration despite repeated violations of the Hatch Act. The editorial also raises awareness about the dangerous precedent that could be established if Biden ultimately refuses to prosecute Trump and members of his administration. Continue reading.

Health experts dispute conservatives’ claim that new study finds masks are ineffective

Washington Post logo

Public health experts are raising alarms about a study that some conservatives claim reveals that masks are ineffective at preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Even the lead researcher argues that such an assertion is misconstruing science, while other public health experts assert that the study has serious design flaws.

Mask-wearing has remained a hot-button political issue even as more states, including those with Republican governors who long resisted such measures, are adopting mask mandates as case numbers rise across the United States. Numerous studies have found that masks, and perhaps even the mandates, reduce the risk of transmission. Continue reading.

GOP lawmaker patience runs thin with Trump tactics

The Hill logo

Republican lawmakers are running out of patience with President Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the election, which have failed to gain traction in court or the media.

Trump’s legal team has yet to back up its claims of widespread election fraud with enough evidence to convince Republican officials in Congress and in key states that they have any merit.

Instead, a growing number of Republicans are publicly acknowledging that Joe Biden is likely to be the next president and calling on the Trump administration to begin sharing intelligence and other transitions to allow for a smooth transfer of power.  Continue reading.

Anger builds in Black community over Trump’s claims of voter fraud in big cities

Washington Post logo

When Wisconsin Republicans opened an office earlier this year in the historical Bronzeville neighborhood, it was meant to be a physical symbol of President Trump’s commitment to urban voters. Signs on the window declared “Black Voices Matter,” and the address was on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

But on Friday, as state officials began recounting ballots in Milwaukee County at the request of Trump’s failed reelection campaign, the office had become, for many residents, a symbol of Republican hypocrisy. 

“The president kept talking about Black voices mattering when he attempted to make inroads with the African American community,” said Cavalier Johnson, president of the Milwaukee Common Council. “Then he loses the election, and turns right around and targets the same communities that these Black folks came from.” Continue reading.