theguardian--2020-11-21--Let's count the ways Donald Trump has tried to subvert this election, shall we? | Richard Wolffe

Donald Trump is the kind of populist who hates the people : specifically , the clear majority of the people who voted him out of office .
So he has set about one last gambit – what Dick Cheney liked to call “ the last throes ” – to steal the election he lost by gumming up the electoral college .
He will fail in his crass attempts to corrupt the election , just as he has failed in his crass lawsuits to challenge the vote counts .
Just as he has failed in his entire presidency .
But let @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because of its grotesque ineptitude and corruption .
It ’ s not just another Trump tantrum .
It may not be a coup , but it is an attempt to destroy American democracy forever .
So let us count the ways this loser of a president has tried to Trumpify America ’ s elections .
And let us never forget that he did so in cahoots with the formerly Grand Old Party that used to belong to Republicans but now belongs to the Trumpistas .
Here are some of the most slimy steps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of America As We Know It .
It started in the bunker , with a few dozen of his closest cronies , watching the voters overrun every defensive position across a country he thought he knew well .
When Trump finally spoke to the cameras in the East Room of the White House on election night , he declared that he was on track to win in Georgia , Pennsylvania and Michigan .
He claimed it would be “ nice ” to win Arizona , but he didn ’ t even need it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ four states , and the presidency .
But he set in motion the narrative that the fraud was not perpetrated by him , the brave defender of democracy .
He was the victim , not the wannabe autocrat .
“ This is a fraud on the American public , ” he said .
“ This is an embarrassment to our country .
We were getting ready to win this election .
Frankly , we did win this election .
We did win this election .
So our goal now is to ensure the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This is a very big moment .
This is a major fraud in our nation .
We want the law to be used in a proper manner .
So we ’ ll be going to the US supreme court .
We want all voting to stop.
” Marco Rubio could see this coming .
He warned us to be prepared .
Sadly he couldn ’ t warn himself to do anything about it .
But that ’ s the Florida senator – and Trump ’ s Republican party – for you .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ forecast a close election with delayed vote counting .
The kind of delayed counting that would be manipulated by the most un-American forces imaginable .
“ Beijing and other hostile foreign actors would throw their full weight behind a misinformation campaign , complete with falsified evidence , asserting that the results are rife with fraud and the election is in the process of being ‘ stolen ’ .
They would use unassuming , but fake social media accounts to spread and magnify allegations that some mail-in ballots are being removed from the post @ @ @ @ @ @ @ falsified , ” he wrote .
“ By the time the election officials would be ready to announce the results , there would already be widespread doubt cast on the election ’ s legitimacy .
It is a nightmare scenario for our nation , which was founded on a revolutionary promise of peaceful transitions of civilian leadership.
” What a nightmare .
Especially when the hostile foreign actor is your own party leader .
Never fear !
Rubio was here with some wise words of advice .
“ Every single American has a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of our elections and securing yet another peaceful transition of power , ” he wrote , stirringly .
“ Your country needs you .
Are you prepared to rise to the occasion ?
” In Rubio ’ s case , the answer was : no .
The Oklahoma senator James Lankford likes to think of himself as a smart , independent conservative with a deep concern for the nation ’ s security .
So when he appeared on Oklahoma radio a couple of weeks ago , it seemed pretty safe to insist that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get intelligence briefings by the end of the week – some 10 days after the election .
Otherwise the mighty Lankford would intervene to protect America .
“ There is no loss from him getting the briefings and to be able to do that , ” he said .
Wrong !
There is a loss – to the ego of one Donald Trump .
Faced with this insurmountable opponent , Lankford collapsed .
He said he was in “ no hurry ” to help the transition , but also insisted that he did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Normally actions speak louder than words .
But in the dying days of the Trump era , nothing speaks louder than Trump .
There are times when this former US attorney is astonishingly incompetent .
There are other times when he is just bizarrely incoherent .
As the Biden team ’ s Bob Bauer likes to point out , Giuliani and company are not just losing cases , they are losing lawyers .
In their own minds , they are “ an elite strike force team ” of lawyers .
That ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elite strike force ” is what they call a bunch of geezers playing soccer on a Sunday morning .
If you thought that Four Seasons Total Landscaping was the greatest metaphor for all their legal woes , you didn ’ t tune into the sequel at the Republican National Committee on Thursday .
At the landscaping joint last week , Giuliani was arguing about poll watching .
So what if his leading witness was a sex offender and perennial candidate in a different state ?
This week , he was arguing about a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ socialists , a live philanthropist and some voting software .
The effort caused his hair dye , or possibly mascara , to dribble down his cheeks .
It was pretty emotional .
Beyond the cosmetics , the challenge comes in the place they call the courts , where things like facts and details matter .
Including whether you know the difference between Michigan and Minnesota , when you file affidavits that purport to prove voter fraud .
There are so many states , but so little time .
This much we know : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s secretary of state to talk about throwing out ballots in the closely-contested state that he has nothing to do with .
The state official – a Republican , who has received death threats for defending democracy – said he was stunned by the effort to throw out legally cast votes .
Graham said he was just concerned about the integrity of the election in Georgia , Arizona and Nevada .
Which is reassuring , unless you remember that the only votes being questioned are the ones for president .
Not the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the same election that has so many questions about its integrity .
Lindsey Graham is a former military lawyer who currently chairs the Senate judiciary committee .
He is also the Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter walk of shame .
6 The president of the United States browbeats state officials This kind of thing might be expected in some parts of the world where American election observers would shake their heads in disbelief .
But coming from a losing American president , it ’ s something close to a complete rupture @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the last couple of hundred years .
Trump is plainly trying to stop Michigan ’ s election officials from certifying his drubbing at the polls , in the hope of throwing the electoral college into disarray .
He first called two Republican officials in Wayne county , Michigan , to get them to disavow their vote to certify the election results .
Then he met with Michigan ’ s statehouse leaders on Friday to press his case .
Both are Republicans .
Both have also said the law does not allow them to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ select their own electors .
The Democratic governor agrees .
Of course this is just a flesh wound to Trump , whose next threat involves biting their legs off .
For a man whose every turn has been blocked by his own incompetence – if not his own bureaucracy – there are a remarkable number of well-placed Trumpistas doing their best to stymy the incoming Biden administration .
There ’ s the obscure administrator Emily Murphy , who leads the General Service Administration , and has the power to trigger government support for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so , and apparently feels really bad about this .
Not as bad as the Biden team , who can ’ t get access to federal officials or national security briefings .
But still bad .
There ’ s the less obscure , but no less sincere , Secretary of State Mike Pompeo whose department has been hoarding foreign leader messages for Biden .
These pesky foreigners still find a way to reach Biden , so the move is as pointless as it is petty .
But nobody accuses Pompeo of being a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s the treasury secretary , Steve Mnuchin who has decided – against the wishes of the Federal Reserve – to end several emergency lending programs .
Whatever Mnuchin ’ s motive , his sneaky move will stop his successor from supporting the economy early next year .
Because if you can ’ t stop the next president in the courts or the electoral college , you can surely overturn it by nobbling the next president in office .

Donald Trump is the kind of populist who hates the people: specifically, the clear majority of the people who voted him out of office.
So he has set about one last gambit – what Dick Cheney liked to call “the last throes” – to steal the election he lost by gumming up the electoral college.
He will fail in his crass attempts to corrupt the election, just as he has failed in his crass lawsuits to challenge the vote counts. Just as he has failed in his entire presidency.
But let’s not brush aside this moment because of its grotesque ineptitude and corruption. It’s not just another Trump tantrum. It may not be a coup, but it is an attempt to destroy American democracy forever.
So let us count the ways this loser of a president has tried to Trumpify America’s elections.
And let us never forget that he did so in cahoots with the formerly Grand Old Party that used to belong to Republicans but now belongs to the Trumpistas.
Here are some of the most slimy steps down the slippery slope towards The End of America As We Know It.
1 The founding myth of election night
It started in the bunker, with a few dozen of his closest cronies, watching the voters overrun every defensive position across a country he thought he knew well. When Trump finally spoke to the cameras in the East Room of the White House on election night, he declared that he was on track to win in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan. He claimed it would be “nice” to win Arizona, but he didn’t even need it.
In fact, he lost all four states, and the presidency. But he set in motion the narrative that the fraud was not perpetrated by him, the brave defender of democracy. He was the victim, not the wannabe autocrat.
“This is a fraud on the American public,” he said. “This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. We did win this election. So our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation. This is a very big moment. This is a major fraud in our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we’ll be going to the US supreme court. We want all voting to stop.”
2 The solemn gravitas of spineless senators
Marco Rubio could see this coming. He warned us to be prepared. Sadly he couldn’t warn himself to do anything about it.
But that’s the Florida senator – and Trump’s Republican party – for you.
Writing in Medium in August, he forecast a close election with delayed vote counting. The kind of delayed counting that would be manipulated by the most un-American forces imaginable.
“Beijing and other hostile foreign actors would throw their full weight behind a misinformation campaign, complete with falsified evidence, asserting that the results are rife with fraud and the election is in the process of being ‘stolen’. They would use unassuming, but fake social media accounts to spread and magnify allegations that some mail-in ballots are being removed from the post office and destroyed, while others are falsified,” he wrote.
“By the time the election officials would be ready to announce the results, there would already be widespread doubt cast on the election’s legitimacy. It is a nightmare scenario for our nation, which was founded on a revolutionary promise of peaceful transitions of civilian leadership.”
What a nightmare. Especially when the hostile foreign actor is your own party leader.
Never fear! Rubio was here with some wise words of advice.
“Every single American has a role to play in preserving the integrity of our elections and securing yet another peaceful transition of power,” he wrote, stirringly. “Your country needs you. Are you prepared to rise to the occasion?”
In Rubio’s case, the answer was: no.
3 The solemn gravitas of spineless senators part deux
The Oklahoma senator James Lankford likes to think of himself as a smart, independent conservative with a deep concern for the nation’s security.
So when he appeared on Oklahoma radio a couple of weeks ago, it seemed pretty safe to insist that the president-elect, Joe Biden, should get intelligence briefings by the end of the week – some 10 days after the election. Otherwise the mighty Lankford would intervene to protect America.
“There is no loss from him getting the briefings and to be able to do that,” he said.
Wrong! There is a loss – to the ego of one Donald Trump.
Faced with this insurmountable opponent, Lankford collapsed. He said he was in “no hurry” to help the transition, but also insisted that he did intervene – to no discernible effect.
Normally actions speak louder than words. But in the dying days of the Trump era, nothing speaks louder than Trump.
4 Everything Rudy Giuliani does
There are times when this former US attorney is astonishingly incompetent. There are other times when he is just bizarrely incoherent. As the Biden team’s Bob Bauer likes to point out, Giuliani and company are not just losing cases, they are losing lawyers.
In their own minds, they are “an elite strike force team” of lawyers. That’s on the alternate planet Earth where “elite strike force” is what they call a bunch of geezers playing soccer on a Sunday morning.
If you thought that Four Seasons Total Landscaping was the greatest metaphor for all their legal woes, you didn’t tune into the sequel at the Republican National Committee on Thursday.
At the landscaping joint last week, Giuliani was arguing about poll watching. So what if his leading witness was a sex offender and perennial candidate in a different state?
This week, he was arguing about a global conspiracy involving a couple of dead socialists, a live philanthropist and some voting software. The effort caused his hair dye, or possibly mascara, to dribble down his cheeks. It was pretty emotional.
Beyond the cosmetics, the challenge comes in the place they call the courts, where things like facts and details matter. Including whether you know the difference between Michigan and Minnesota, when you file affidavits that purport to prove voter fraud.
There are so many states, but so little time.
5 Everything Lindsey Graham does
This much we know: Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called Georgia’s secretary of state to talk about throwing out ballots in the closely-contested state that he has nothing to do with. The state official – a Republican, who has received death threats for defending democracy – said he was stunned by the effort to throw out legally cast votes.
Graham said he was just concerned about the integrity of the election in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. Which is reassuring, unless you remember that the only votes being questioned are the ones for president. Not the ones for the successful Republican congressional candidates in the same election that has so many questions about its integrity.
Lindsey Graham is a former military lawyer who currently chairs the Senate judiciary committee. He is also the Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter walk of shame.
6 The president of the United States browbeats state officials
This kind of thing might be expected in some parts of the world where American election observers would shake their heads in disbelief. But coming from a losing American president, it’s something close to a complete rupture with the founding principles and culture of the last couple of hundred years.
Trump is plainly trying to stop Michigan’s election officials from certifying his drubbing at the polls, in the hope of throwing the electoral college into disarray.
He first called two Republican officials in Wayne county, Michigan, to get them to disavow their vote to certify the election results. Then he met with Michigan’s statehouse leaders on Friday to press his case.
Both are Republicans. Both have also said the law does not allow them to overturn the will of the people and select their own electors. The Democratic governor agrees.
Of course this is just a flesh wound to Trump, whose next threat involves biting their legs off.
7 The deep state of Trump lackeys
For a man whose every turn has been blocked by his own incompetence – if not his own bureaucracy – there are a remarkable number of well-placed Trumpistas doing their best to stymy the incoming Biden administration.
There’s the obscure administrator Emily Murphy, who leads the General Service Administration, and has the power to trigger government support for the transition. Murphy refuses to do so, and apparently feels really bad about this.
Not as bad as the Biden team, who can’t get access to federal officials or national security briefings. But still bad.
There’s the less obscure, but no less sincere, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo whose department has been hoarding foreign leader messages for Biden. These pesky foreigners still find a way to reach Biden, so the move is as pointless as it is petty. But nobody accuses Pompeo of being a big thinker.
And then there’s the treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin who has decided – against the wishes of the Federal Reserve – to end several emergency lending programs. Whatever Mnuchin’s motive, his sneaky move will stop his successor from supporting the economy early next year.
Because if you can’t stop the next president in the courts or the electoral college, you can surely overturn it by nobbling the next president in office.


theguardian--2020-11-21--Spy Jonathan Pollard expected to fly to Israel after US lifts parole

Jonathan Pollard , a US citizen jailed for 30 years after being convicted of spying in one of the most dramatic espionage cases of the cold war , is expected to fly to Israel after being released from parole .
The Israeli prime minister , Benjamin Netanyahu , welcomed the lifting of travel restrictions , his office said in a statement on Saturday , adding that he had “ consistently worked towards securing Pollard ’ s release ” .
“ The prime minister hopes to see Jonathan Pollard in Israel soon , and together with all Israelis , extends his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Esther , ” the statement said .
The US justice department on Friday announced Pollard ’ s parole would not be renewed , freeing the former spy from strict restrictions that have kept him in the country since he left jail five years ago .
Pollard ’ s lawyer , Eliot Lauer , also suggested his client would soon depart for Israel : “ We are grateful and delighted that our client is finally free of any restrictions , and is now a free man in all respects .
We look forward to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been arrested by FBI agents in 1985 after unsuccessfully seeking refuge at the Israeli embassy in Washington , Pollard was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 .
He had pleaded guilty to handing thousands of classified documents to Israel .
The initial shock between the US and its close ally , and Pollard ’ s continuing imprisonment , has long strained relations between the two countries .
Pollard ’ s release was the latest in a series of gestures by the departing Trump administration towards Netanyahu ’ s government .
This week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pompeo , became the first top US diplomat to officially visit an Israeli settlement in the West Bank .
He later declared that products from settlements – considered illegal under international law – could be labelled “ Made in Israel ” , despite being made in the occupied Palestinian territories .
Netanyahu has long pushed for Pollard ’ s release .
During the longtime leader ’ s first term in the late 1990s , Pollard was granted Israeli citizenship .
Netanyahu later made a personal plea to allow him to attend his father @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that request .
Repeated attempts to persuade US presidents to grant him clemency have failed .
In his statement on Saturday , Netanyahu thanked his ambassador to the US , Ron Dermer , for “ responsibly and sensitively leading the contacts with the [ Trump ] administration ” .

Jonathan Pollard, a US citizen jailed for 30 years after being convicted of spying in one of the most dramatic espionage cases of the cold war, is expected to fly to Israel after being released from parole.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, welcomed the lifting of travel restrictions, his office said in a statement on Saturday, adding that he had “consistently worked towards securing Pollard’s release”.
“The prime minister hopes to see Jonathan Pollard in Israel soon, and together with all Israelis, extends his best wishes to him and his wife Esther,” the statement said.
The US justice department on Friday announced Pollard’s parole would not be renewed, freeing the former spy from strict restrictions that have kept him in the country since he left jail five years ago.
Pollard’s lawyer, Eliot Lauer, also suggested his client would soon depart for Israel: “We are grateful and delighted that our client is finally free of any restrictions, and is now a free man in all respects. We look forward to seeing our client in Israel.”
Having been arrested by FBI agents in 1985 after unsuccessfully seeking refuge at the Israeli embassy in Washington, Pollard was sentenced to life in prison in 1987. He had pleaded guilty to handing thousands of classified documents to Israel.
The initial shock between the US and its close ally, and Pollard’s continuing imprisonment, has long strained relations between the two countries.
Pollard’s release was the latest in a series of gestures by the departing Trump administration towards Netanyahu’s government.
This week the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, became the first top US diplomat to officially visit an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. He later declared that products from settlements – considered illegal under international law – could be labelled “Made in Israel”, despite being made in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Netanyahu has long pushed for Pollard’s release. During the longtime leader’s first term in the late 1990s, Pollard was granted Israeli citizenship. Netanyahu later made a personal plea to allow him to attend his father’s funeral. The US denied that request. Repeated attempts to persuade US presidents to grant him clemency have failed.
In his statement on Saturday, Netanyahu thanked his ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, for “responsibly and sensitively leading the contacts with the [Trump] administration”.


theguardian--2020-11-21--Trump’s last-ditch efforts to overturn results fail to make dent in Biden victory

Desperate efforts by Donald Trump and his Republican allies to overturn the result of the American election are facing an ever narrowing range of options as court cases and recounts have repeatedly failed to make any dent in the convincing victory of Democratic challenger Joe Biden .
Now that states are certifying their election results , it appears the president ’ s last-ditch efforts will entail desperate pleas to Republican state lawmakers in hopes they will ignore their state laws and somehow skew the election to favor his reelection in the all-important electoral college .
It has been two weeks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the presidential election , and since then , Republicans and Trump ’ s campaign have made multiple attempts to take the election results to the courts and woo state Republican officials into helping them subvert the votes of their constituents .
But the effort has largely failed to make meaningful headway with any of the lawsuits in key swing states , and state officials have mostly stuck by the original counts .
In just the past few days , Trump ’ s dream of overturning the results of the election has significantly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Arizona ’ s largest county in Biden ’ s favor on Friday .
The states were two of six that the Trump campaign and Republicans were targeting in efforts to push slim margins that favored Biden over Trump .
Their haphazard plans have fallen apart as judges across the country halted legal challenges that cried fraud in an election that experts and public officials have said showed no evidence of widespread fraud .
Three other swing states , Michigan , Nevada and Pennsylvania , are set to join Georgia in certifying their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week .
Arizona and Wisconsin , the last of the state ’ s targeted by the Trump campaign , have certification deadlines the week after .
On Saturday the Trump effort suffered another blow when a federal judge ruled that Pennsylvania officials could certify election results that showed Biden winning the state by more than 80,000 votes .
US middle district judge Matthew Brann in Williamsport , Pennsylvania , turned down the request for an injunction by Trump ’ s campaign , spoiling the incumbent ’ s hopes of overturning the results of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations , ” Brann wrote .
Brann added that he “ has no authority to take away the right to vote of even a single person , let alone millions of citizens ” .
After the judgement , Pennsylvania attorney general , Josh Shapiro , said on Twitter : “ I ’ ve been telling everyone who will listen : these suits are baseless.
” Faced with such realities , Trump ’ s effort seems to be pivoting to try and persuade @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the verdict of the popular vote and send electors for Trump , not Biden , to the electoral college , which is the body that actually selects the new president .
Sidney Powell , one of Trump ’ s lawyers , told Fox Business Network that “ legislatures should make sure that the electors are selected for Trump ” .
As states move closer to certify their election results , the legal pathways that even the most impassioned state lawmakers have to meaningfully change the results in their state are slim .
Nor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are willing to go along with changes to normal practices in regards to the electoral college .
That fact was highlighted by a statement from Michigan ’ s top two Republican lawmakers who visited Trump at the White House on Friday .
“ As legislative leaders , we will follow the law and follow the normal process regarding Michigan ’ s electors , ” wrote Mike Shirkey , the leader of the state ’ s senate , and Lee Chatfield , the speaker of the state ’ s House of Representatives .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election ” , a blow to Trump showing that , despite consistently claiming the election was rigged against him , at least some Republicans believe the evidence of the claim is slim .
All Michigan ’ s counties have certified the results , so it is up to the state ’ s board of canvassers to certify the results for the entire state .
The board , made up of two Democrats and two Republicans , is set to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Republican board members suggested that the state should conduct an audit of the election , the board ’ s power is narrow and election lawyers in the state have said the path to fighting certification is complicated .
Trump may attempt to invite other Republican state lawmakers from the targeted swing states .
The White House is undergoing discussions on inviting Pennsylvania state legislators to the Oval Office , likely in attempts to court their support in sidestepping the people ’ s vote , CNN reported Saturday morning .
Pennsylvania ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Monday , after which it will go to the Democratic secretary of state , Kathy Boockvar .
While Trump ’ s closest allies are making public appearances decrying the results of the election and calling for an overturn of its results , Trump has largely kept out of the public eye , seemingly sulking as his loss becomes an unshakeable reality .
But in a possible sign that some Republican resolve might be shifting Elizabeth Cheney , a senior figure and the party and congresswoman from Wyoming , issued a statement calling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fraud or accept that he has lost .
“ If the president can not prove these claims or demonstrate that they would change the election result , he should fulfil his path to preserve , protect and defend the constitution of the United States by respecting sanctity of the electoral process , ” Cheney said .

Desperate efforts by Donald Trump and his Republican allies to overturn the result of the American election are facing an ever narrowing range of options as court cases and recounts have repeatedly failed to make any dent in the convincing victory of Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
Now that states are certifying their election results, it appears the president’s last-ditch efforts will entail desperate pleas to Republican state lawmakers in hopes they will ignore their state laws and somehow skew the election to favor his reelection in the all-important electoral college.
It has been two weeks exactly since Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election, and since then, Republicans and Trump’s campaign have made multiple attempts to take the election results to the courts and woo state Republican officials into helping them subvert the votes of their constituents.
But the effort has largely failed to make meaningful headway with any of the lawsuits in key swing states, and state officials have mostly stuck by the original counts. In just the past few days, Trump’s dream of overturning the results of the election has significantly narrowed after results were certified in Georgia and Arizona’s largest county in Biden’s favor on Friday.
The states were two of six that the Trump campaign and Republicans were targeting in efforts to push slim margins that favored Biden over Trump. Their haphazard plans have fallen apart as judges across the country halted legal challenges that cried fraud in an election that experts and public officials have said showed no evidence of widespread fraud.
Three other swing states, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania, are set to join Georgia in certifying their results as their certification deadlines approach next week. Arizona and Wisconsin, the last of the state’s targeted by the Trump campaign, have certification deadlines the week after.
On Saturday the Trump team said it was filing a petition for a full recount in Georgia, but its efforts suffered another blow when a federal judge ruled that Pennsylvania officials could certify election results that showed Biden winning the state by more than 80,000 votes.
US middle district judge Matthew Brann in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, turned down the request for an injunction by Trump’s campaign, spoiling the incumbent’s hopes of overturning the results of the presidential contest.
“This Court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations,” Brann wrote.
Brann added that he “has no authority to take away the right to vote of even a single person, let alone millions of citizens”.
After the judgement, Pennsylvania attorney general, Josh Shapiro, said on Twitter: “I’ve been telling everyone who will listen: these suits are baseless.”
Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said Trump had “exhausted all plausible legal options” to challenge the result in Pennsylvania. He called on Trump to concede the election and congratulated Biden on his victory.
Trump’s lawyers said they would appeal the ruling, with the hopes of quickly reaching the US supreme court.
“We are disappointed we did not at least get the opportunity to present our evidence at a hearing. Unfortunately the censorship continues,” Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis said in a statement.
Faced with such realities, Trump’s effort seems to be pivoting to try and persuade Republican politicians in some states to ignore the verdict of the popular vote and send electors for Trump, not Biden, to the electoral college, which is the body that actually selects the new president.
Sidney Powell, one of Trump’s lawyers, told Fox Business Network that “legislatures should make sure that the electors are selected for Trump”.
As states move closer to certify their election results, the legal pathways that even the most impassioned state lawmakers have to meaningfully change the results in their state are slim. Nor are there many signs that local officials are willing to go along with changes to normal practices in regards to the electoral college.
That fact was highlighted by a statement from Michigan’s top two Republican lawmakers who visited Trump at the White House on Friday.
“As legislative leaders, we will follow the law and follow the normal process regarding Michigan’s electors,” wrote Mike Shirkey, the leader of the state’s senate, and Lee Chatfield, the speaker of the state’s House of Representatives.
They also said that they have “not yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election”, a blow to Trump showing that, despite consistently claiming the election was rigged against him, at least some Republicans believe the evidence of the claim is slim.
All Michigan’s counties have certified the results, so it is up to the state’s board of canvassers to certify the results for the entire state. The board, made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, is set to meet on Monday. While one of the Republican board members suggested that the state should conduct an audit of the election, the board’s power is narrow and election lawyers in the state have said the path to fighting certification is complicated.
Trump may attempt to invite other Republican state lawmakers from the targeted swing states.
The White House is undergoing discussions on inviting Pennsylvania state legislators to the Oval Office, likely in attempts to court their support in sidestepping the people’s vote, CNN reported Saturday morning. Pennsylvania’s counties need to certify their election results by Monday, after which it will go to the Democratic secretary of state, Kathy Boockvar.
While Trump’s closest allies are making public appearances decrying the results of the election and calling for an overturn of its results, Trump has largely kept out of the public eye, seemingly sulking as his loss becomes an unshakeable reality.
But in a possible sign that some Republican resolve might be shifting Elizabeth Cheney, a senior figure and the party and congresswoman from Wyoming, issued a statement calling on Trump to prove his allegations of fraud or accept that he has lost.
“If the president cannot prove these claims or demonstrate that they would change the election result, he should fulfil his path to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States by respecting sanctity of the electoral process,” Cheney said.


theguardian--2020-11-21--Biden's popular vote lead over Trump stretches to more than 6m

Joe Biden ’ s popular vote lead over Donald Trump has now stretched to more than 6m as he continues to rack up the highest number of votes in American history .
The Democratic challenger , and now president-elect , currently has 79,823,827 compared to the president ’ s 73,786,905 – itself a record for a losing candidate in terms of sheer number of votes cast .
Biden ’ s win in the popular vote tally has also delivered him a convincing mandate in the all-important electoral college , which actually decides who becomes the next occupant of the White @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Arizona and the midwestern rust belt states of Wisconsin , Michigan and Pennsylvania .
However , it has not stopped Trump and many of his Republican allies from seeking to undermine the result of the election by launching a series of lawsuits and technical objections and asking for recounts .
None of the tactics have shown any evidence to back up Trump ’ s false claims of widespread ballot fraud .
Biden , who has denounced Trump ’ s attempt to reverse the election results as “ totally irresponsible ” , was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he draws up his administration .
Trump was scheduled to participate virtually in his last summit of the 20 biggest world economies .
Senior Republicans have remained largely silent about Trump ’ s unsubstantiated claims of election fraud or have defended his right to seek redress , but pressure was building after several voiced doubts on Friday .
Two Republican sources said a press conference on Thursday at which Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani accused Democrats of engaging in a “ national conspiracy ” to manipulate vote totals , while conceding that he had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ turning point for some former allies .
The General Services Administration , run by a Trump appointee , still has not recognized Biden ’ s victory , preventing his team from gaining access to government office space and funding normally provided to an incoming administration ahead of inauguration day on 20 January .
The president-elect spent his 78th birthday on Friday in his home state of Delaware at work on the government transition , including a meeting with Congress ’ top two Democrats : the House speaker , Nancy Pelosi , and Senate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two months , he will take the reins of a politically fractured nation facing the worst public health crisis in a century , high unemployment and a reckoning on racial injustice .
As he wrestles with those issues , Biden will be attempting to accomplish another feat : demonstrating to Americans that age is but a number and he ’ s up to the job .
Biden will be sworn in as the oldest president in the nation ’ s history , displacing Ronald Reagan , who left the White House in 1989 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days old .
The age and health of both Biden and Trump – less than four years Biden ’ s junior – loomed throughout a race that was decided by a younger and more diverse electorate .
Out of the gate , Biden will be keen to demonstrate he ’ s got the vigor to serve .
“ It ’ s crucial that he and his staff put himself in the position early in his presidency where he can express what he wants with a crispness that ’ s not always been his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a political scientist at Rutgers University who has advised legislators from both parties .
“ He has got to build up credibility with the American people that he ’ s physically and mentally up to the job .
”

Joe Biden’s popular vote lead over Donald Trump has now stretched to more than 6m as he continues to rack up the highest number of votes in American history.
The Democratic challenger, and now president-elect, currently has 79,823,827 compared to the president’s 73,786,905 – itself a record for a losing candidate in terms of sheer number of votes cast.
Biden’s win in the popular vote tally has also delivered him a convincing mandate in the all-important electoral college, which actually decides who becomes the next occupant of the White House, after flipping states like Georgia, Arizona and the midwestern rust belt states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
However, it has not stopped Trump and many of his Republican allies from seeking to undermine the result of the election by launching a series of lawsuits and technical objections and asking for recounts. None of the tactics have shown any evidence to back up Trump’s false claims of widespread ballot fraud.
Biden, who has denounced Trump’s attempt to reverse the election results as “totally irresponsible”, was spending Saturday meeting with transition advisers as he draws up his administration. Trump was scheduled to participate virtually in his last summit of the 20 biggest world economies.
Senior Republicans have remained largely silent about Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of election fraud or have defended his right to seek redress, but pressure was building after several voiced doubts on Friday.
Two Republican sources said a press conference on Thursday at which Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani accused Democrats of engaging in a “national conspiracy” to manipulate vote totals, while conceding that he had no evidence, may have been a turning point for some former allies.
The General Services Administration, run by a Trump appointee, still has not recognized Biden’s victory, preventing his team from gaining access to government office space and funding normally provided to an incoming administration ahead of inauguration day on 20 January.
The president-elect spent his 78th birthday on Friday in his home state of Delaware at work on the government transition, including a meeting with Congress’ top two Democrats: the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer.
In two months, he will take the reins of a politically fractured nation facing the worst public health crisis in a century, high unemployment and a reckoning on racial injustice.
As he wrestles with those issues, Biden will be attempting to accomplish another feat: demonstrating to Americans that age is but a number and he’s up to the job. Biden will be sworn in as the oldest president in the nation’s history, displacing Ronald Reagan, who left the White House in 1989 when he was 77 years and 349 days old.
The age and health of both Biden and Trump – less than four years Biden’s junior – loomed throughout a race that was decided by a younger and more diverse electorate.
Out of the gate, Biden will be keen to demonstrate he’s got the vigor to serve.
“It’s crucial that he and his staff put himself in the position early in his presidency where he can express what he wants with a crispness that’s not always been his strength,” said Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University who has advised legislators from both parties. “He has got to build up credibility with the American people that he’s physically and mentally up to the job.”


theguardian--2020-11-21--Covid rampages across US, unifying a splintered nation as cases surge

The Disunited States of America are united once more .
After a brutal election that exacerbated bitter partisan divisions and left the country feeling as though it had been torn in two , it has at last been thrown back together .
For all the wrong reasons .
The great leveler is coronavirus .
Covid-19 is rampaging across the US as though it were on a personal mission to unify the splintered nation in an unfolding catastrophe .
Of the 50 states of the Union , all but one – isolated Hawaii – is seeing alarming surges in new cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so uniformly across the vast landmass of the US , that records are being shattered daily .
Almost 12m cases have been recorded .
In just one day the US notched up 184,000 new cases – six times the total number of infections in South Korea since the pandemic began .
Almost 80,000 Americans are currently in hospital fighting for their lives , and the death rate is soaring inexorably towards 2,000 a day – close to the peak reached in April .
This week the country passed the grimmest landmark so far @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the total has gone up significantly beyond that tragic milestone .
As Michael Osterholm , a member of the coronavirus advisory team assembled by Joe Biden , put it : “ We are in the most dangerous public health period since 1918.
” The result of this terrifying march of untrammeled disease is that panic has begun to set in at state level .
Governors and mayors from coast to coast have been scrambling to batten down the hatches , from New York City where the country ’ s largest public schools system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after it reopened , to California where governor Gavin Newsom announced he was “ pulling the emergency brake ” .
It is in the heartland states that the true horror of the current crisis is unfolding .
Here Donald Trump ’ s historic mishandling of the pandemic is coming home to roost .
Across the midwest , Trump ’ s playbook towards Covid-19 has been avidly embraced by Republican governors , from Kristi Noem in South Dakota , to Pete Ricketts in Nebraska , Kim Reynolds in Iowa , and Mike Parson in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s relentless downplaying of the virus , lying about the pandemic being under control , and spurning of mask wearing .
The results are now plain to see – runaway infection levels , staggering positivity rates and hospitals at breaking point .
Only now , when the virus is pummeling the midwest like a tornado , have some of the Republican governors begrudgingly begun to change tack .
Take Reynolds , the pro-Trump governor of Iowa .
She has pulled back from her refusal to impose a mask mandate after her state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deaths to at least 40 .
Iowa is now struggling with one of the worst outbreaks in the US with hospitals jammed with Covid-19 patients .
Reynolds spent months resisting calls from health specialists and doctors to require masks on the grounds , saying they were “ no silver bullet ” .
That ’ s a position that ’ s hard to hold when new infections are running at about 100,000 a month .
Reynolds finally shifted after the White House coronavirus taskforce called the state ’ s measures to combat the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nothing would cost thousands more lives .
“ The spread in Iowa is exponential and unyielding , ” the taskforce said in a report this week .
The governor ordered people to wear masks in indoor public spaces with some exceptions such as eating in restaurants .
She also banned gatherings of more than 15 people indoors and twice that outdoors , except in the “ ordinary course of business ” , while requiring bars and restaurants to close by 10 pm .
Despite it all , Reynolds remains firmly attached to her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iowans to “ err on the side of caution ” and wear one yet continues to question their value by saying there is “ science on both sides ” .
“ If you look , you can find whatever you want to support wherever you ’ re at , ” she said at a press conference to announce the mask mandate .
Reynolds ’ limited measures , and the seeds of doubt she continues to plant around the science , have been criticized by some healthcare workers .
Eli Perencevich , a doctor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Iowa , derided them as insufficient .
“ Ask yourself this : 1 ) does the virus only spread after 10pm 2 ) if you don ’ t need to wear a mask unless you will be next to someone for 15 minutes , will you ever need wear a mask ?
The answer to both of these questions is no , ” he tweeted .
In her controversial mini-Trump stance , the governor has enjoyed consistent backing from the Republican US Senator from Iowa , Joni Ernst .
The senator has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doctors were exaggerating fatalities by pinning deaths from other causes on Covid-19 as a ruse to claim extra payments from the government .
The Iowa Medical Society described Ernst ’ s comments as “ incredibly disappointing ” and “ mistruths ” .
But it is a sign of how closely aligned many midwest Republicans are with Trump that he , too , has run with the lie about doctors cashing in on Covid deaths .
In the final days of his presidential campaign , Trump caused widespread offense within the medical world by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every death down as Covid-19 so they could grab more money .
Even Trump ’ s mendacious pronouncements on the pandemic could arguably be seen as preferable to his current posture .
Since the election , he has spent his time fixating on the baseless claim that victory was stolen from him , firing top officials who refused to go along with his conspiracy theories about voter fraud , and playing golf .
As for Covid , his leadership has consisted of resounding silence .
The last time he attended a meeting of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ least five months ago .
The combination of soaring disease and an awol president has left the 50 states to cope with a mounting disaster as best they can .
The result is an even more extreme form of what has emerged since the start of the pandemic – the patchwork of individual state responses , some aggressive , others nonchalant – that have been cobbled together as the virus slams in .
Wisconsin is another midwest state that has quickly emerged as a major hotspot , with almost 3,000 deaths .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , hospitalizations and deaths almost daily , with public health officials warning that it “ is at a critical juncture right now ” .
“ Our hospitals are overwhelmed , our healthcare workers are exhausted , and too many families have lost a loved one , ” the DHS deputy secretary , Julie Willems Van Dijk , said .
On the empty streets of downtown Milwaukee , hotel staff take extended breaks outdoors while parking enforcement officers keep warm inside their vehicles .
With the city experiencing an especially punishing spike in cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ residents or visitors to serve .
Like Iowa , Wisconsin has lacked basic coronavirus measures designed to curb the continued spread of the virus – though in this case , it is not for want of trying by the Democratic governor , Tony Evers .
He attempted to enact a “ Safer at Home ” order only to have the move struck down by the state supreme court last spring .
The court now weighs whether the last remaining mask mandate should be blocked .
Meanwhile , leaders across the state have urged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a difficult ask at the start of the holiday season in a state whose often bitingly cold winters force families indoors .
Milwaukee resident Caroline Gaeta , 58 , has heeded the call .
She usually travels to Indianapolis to share Thanksgiving with her 81-year-old mother , but decided to stay home citing the risk of exposing elderly loved ones .
“ Traveling would not be a good option right now given the uptick in numbers in both Wisconsin and Indiana , ” she said .
Since the beginning of the outbreak , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ along political and racial lines .
When the disease first struck , devastating mostly Black and Latino communities in Democratic cities like Milwaukee , Madison and Green Bay , white residents in surrounding suburbs and rural areas took aim at Ever ’ s state orders meant to combat the spread .
The backlash has been amplified by Republican lawmakers who have pushed to block coronavirus legislation .
Such sharp partisan battles in Wisconsin are being repeated in states across the country .
They are a measure of the challenges that lie ahead for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nationwide heave to contain the disease .
Biden , who put combatting Covid as the top priority of his presidential campaign , has moved swiftly to convene a 13-member advisory panel on coronavirus .
The group has been doing all it can to ensure it hits the ground running on inauguration day , 20 January , but its work is impaired by the willful lack of any cooperation coming from the Trump administration .
Biden has warned that Trump ’ s refusal to share intelligence on such critical matters as how to distribute @ @ @ @ @ @ @ means that “ more people may die ” .
The vacuum at the center of the most powerful nation on Earth in grappling with the pandemic is not only being felt in the largely Republican-controlled states of the midwest .
On the coasts , where Covid-19 first struck in January , Democratic leaders are also feeling the heat .
In California , cases have skyrocketed after weeks of low transmission rates and loosened restrictions , and the state now has the distinction of being only the second besides Texas to surpass 1m cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the last 10 days , Newsom has announced that 94 % of Californians will come under severe coronavirus restrictions yet again .
That includes requiring masks to be worn outside the home with rare exceptions .
Newsom issued a travel advisory last week asking that all Californians cancel out-of-state travel .
To add insult to injury , Newsom was forced to apologise on Monday after attending the birthday of a friend and lobbyist at the upscale French Laundry restaurant in Napa county , north of San Francisco .
Political reputations are also being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The governor of New York , Andrew Cuomo , was so self-satisfied with the way the virus was brought under control in his state after its terrifying surge in April that he wrote a book bragging about his leadership skills .
In American Crisis , Cuomo describes in glowing terms how he became a national sensation in his daily coronavirus briefings .
The knack was , he writes , that he was “ authentic and real ” .
“ I felt the same emotions so many people were feeling , and I would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was then .
At Wednesday ’ s coronavirus briefing he was so tetchy about being asked routine questions about the decision to close New York City schools as the virus gathers force once again that he lashed out at a reporter , snapping : “ I don ’ t really care what you think ” .
You can understand why Cuomo would be on edge .
Hospitalizations in New York state are at their highest levels since June .
In the city , lines outside Covid testing facilities have grown as the infection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 28 , had been waiting for two hours for a Covid-19 test outside a City MD clinic in Greenpoint , Brooklyn .
She estimated she had another hour before she would make it inside .
Shiau said she was wary of what was to come after having been in the city during the first wave , when hospitals were overwhelmed and almost 20,000 people died in less than two months .
“ I ’ ve been here since March and there ’ s like a collective trauma .
Hearing sirens 24 hours , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bodies outside funeral homes .
I ’ m pretty freaked out that it ’ s going to get back to that.
” Sydney Spence , 30 , said he would not be traveling home for Thanksgiving this year .
It will be the first time she has not spent the holiday with family .
“ Obviously I miss them , ” she said .
“ It ’ s sad .
But I ’ d much rather know they ’ re safer .
There will be more Thanksgivings .
”

Chris McGreal in Kansas City, Kenya Evelyn in Milwaukee, Vivian Ho in Oakland and Adam Gabbatt and Ed Pilkington in New York

The Disunited States of America are united once more. After a brutal election that exacerbated bitter partisan divisions and left the country feeling as though it had been torn in two, it has at last been thrown back together.
For all the wrong reasons.
The great leveler is coronavirus. Covid-19 is rampaging across the US as though it were on a personal mission to unify the splintered nation in an unfolding catastrophe. Of the 50 states of the Union, all but one – isolated Hawaii – is seeing alarming surges in new cases. The virus is on the rise so uniformly across the vast landmass of the US, that records are being shattered daily.
Almost 12m cases have been recorded. In just one day the US notched up 184,000 new cases – six times the total number of infections in South Korea since the pandemic began.
Almost 80,000 Americans are currently in hospital fighting for their lives, and the death rate is soaring inexorably towards 2,000 a day – close to the peak reached in April.
This week the country passed the grimmest landmark so far: 250,000 dead Americans. And already the total has gone up significantly beyond that tragic milestone.
As Michael Osterholm, a member of the coronavirus advisory team assembled by Joe Biden, put it: “We are in the most dangerous public health period since 1918.”
The result of this terrifying march of untrammeled disease is that panic has begun to set in at state level. Governors and mayors from coast to coast have been scrambling to batten down the hatches, from New York City where the country’s largest public schools system was closed on Thursday barely two months after it reopened, to California where governor Gavin Newsom announced he was “pulling the emergency brake”.
It is in the heartland states that the true horror of the current crisis is unfolding. Here Donald Trump’s historic mishandling of the pandemic is coming home to roost.
Across the midwest, Trump’s playbook towards Covid-19 has been avidly embraced by Republican governors, from Kristi Noem in South Dakota, to Pete Ricketts in Nebraska, Kim Reynolds in Iowa, and Mike Parson in Missouri. They have mimicked the president’s relentless downplaying of the virus, lying about the pandemic being under control, and spurning of mask wearing.
The results are now plain to see – runaway infection levels, staggering positivity rates and hospitals at breaking point.
Only now, when the virus is pummeling the midwest like a tornado, have some of the Republican governors begrudgingly begun to change tack. Take Reynolds, the pro-Trump governor of Iowa.
Kim Reynolds speaks about Iowa’s response to the coronavirus outbreak during a news conference Thursday. Photograph: Charlie Neibergall/AP
She has pulled back from her refusal to impose a mask mandate after her state confronted its largest one-day increase in coronavirus deaths to at least 40. Iowa is now struggling with one of the worst outbreaks in the US with hospitals jammed with Covid-19 patients.
Reynolds spent months resisting calls from health specialists and doctors to require masks on the grounds, saying they were “no silver bullet”. That’s a position that’s hard to hold when new infections are running at about 100,000 a month.
Reynolds finally shifted after the White House coronavirus taskforce called the state’s measures to combat the pandemic “inadequate” and warned that doing nothing would cost thousands more lives. “The spread in Iowa is exponential and unyielding,” the taskforce said in a report this week.
The governor ordered people to wear masks in indoor public spaces with some exceptions such as eating in restaurants. She also banned gatherings of more than 15 people indoors and twice that outdoors, except in the “ordinary course of business”, while requiring bars and restaurants to close by 10 pm.
Despite it all, Reynolds remains firmly attached to her cultivated ambivalence over masks. She urged Iowans to “err on the side of caution” and wear one yet continues to question their value by saying there is “science on both sides”.
“If you look, you can find whatever you want to support wherever you’re at,” she said at a press conference to announce the mask mandate.
Reynolds’ limited measures, and the seeds of doubt she continues to plant around the science, have been criticized by some healthcare workers. Eli Perencevich, a doctor and professor of epidemiology at the University of Iowa, derided them as insufficient.
“Ask yourself this: 1) does the virus only spread after 10pm 2) if you don’t need to wear a mask unless you will be next to someone for 15 minutes, will you ever need wear a mask? The answer to both of these questions is no,” he tweeted.
In her controversial mini-Trump stance, the governor has enjoyed consistent backing from the Republican US Senator from Iowa, Joni Ernst. The senator has gone one step further, speculating that doctors were exaggerating fatalities by pinning deaths from other causes on Covid-19 as a ruse to claim extra payments from the government.
The Iowa Medical Society described Ernst’s comments as “incredibly disappointing” and “mistruths”. But it is a sign of how closely aligned many midwest Republicans are with Trump that he, too, has run with the lie about doctors cashing in on Covid deaths.
In the final days of his presidential campaign, Trump caused widespread offense within the medical world by claiming without evidence that doctors were marking every death down as Covid-19 so they could grab more money.
Even Trump’s mendacious pronouncements on the pandemic could arguably be seen as preferable to his current posture. Since the election, he has spent his time fixating on the baseless claim that victory was stolen from him, firing top officials who refused to go along with his conspiracy theories about voter fraud, and playing golf.
As for Covid, his leadership has consisted of resounding silence. The last time he attended a meeting of the White House coronavirus taskforce was at least five months ago.
The combination of soaring disease and an awol president has left the 50 states to cope with a mounting disaster as best they can. The result is an even more extreme form of what has emerged since the start of the pandemic – the patchwork of individual state responses, some aggressive, others nonchalant – that have been cobbled together as the virus slams in.
Nurse Alex Krajek hangs up his air-purifying respirator after working in a patient room in a wing housing coronavirus patients at UW Health University hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, Wednesday. Photograph: Daniel Acker/Reuters
Wisconsin is another midwest state that has quickly emerged as a major hotspot, with almost 3,000 deaths. The state now breaks records in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths almost daily, with public health officials warning that it “is at a critical juncture right now”.
“Our hospitals are overwhelmed, our healthcare workers are exhausted, and too many families have lost a loved one,” the DHS deputy secretary, Julie Willems Van Dijk, said.
On the empty streets of downtown Milwaukee, hotel staff take extended breaks outdoors while parking enforcement officers keep warm inside their vehicles. With the city experiencing an especially punishing spike in cases, there simply aren’t the residents or visitors to serve.
Like Iowa, Wisconsin has lacked basic coronavirus measures designed to curb the continued spread of the virus – though in this case, it is not for want of trying by the Democratic governor, Tony Evers. He attempted to enact a “Safer at Home” order only to have the move struck down by the state supreme court last spring.
The court now weighs whether the last remaining mask mandate should be blocked. Meanwhile, leaders across the state have urged Wisconsinites not to gather or travel, a difficult ask at the start of the holiday season in a state whose often bitingly cold winters force families indoors.
Milwaukee resident Caroline Gaeta, 58, has heeded the call. She usually travels to Indianapolis to share Thanksgiving with her 81-year-old mother, but decided to stay home citing the risk of exposing elderly loved ones.
“Traveling would not be a good option right now given the uptick in numbers in both Wisconsin and Indiana,” she said.
Since the beginning of the outbreak, the response in Wisconsin has largely fallen along political and racial lines. When the disease first struck, devastating mostly Black and Latino communities in Democratic cities like Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay, white residents in surrounding suburbs and rural areas took aim at Ever’s state orders meant to combat the spread.
The backlash has been amplified by Republican lawmakers who have pushed to block coronavirus legislation.
Such sharp partisan battles in Wisconsin are being repeated in states across the country. They are a measure of the challenges that lie ahead for Biden as he struggles to effect a nationwide heave to contain the disease.
Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware Thursday. Photograph: Office Of The President Elect/EPA
Biden, who put combatting Covid as the top priority of his presidential campaign, has moved swiftly to convene a 13-member advisory panel on coronavirus. The group has been doing all it can to ensure it hits the ground running on inauguration day, 20 January, but its work is impaired by the willful lack of any cooperation coming from the Trump administration.
Biden has warned that Trump’s refusal to share intelligence on such critical matters as how to distribute the vaccines that are close to fruition means that “more people may die”.
The vacuum at the center of the most powerful nation on Earth in grappling with the pandemic is not only being felt in the largely Republican-controlled states of the midwest. On the coasts, where Covid-19 first struck in January, Democratic leaders are also feeling the heat.
In California, cases have skyrocketed after weeks of low transmission rates and loosened restrictions, and the state now has the distinction of being only the second besides Texas to surpass 1m cases.
With daily case rates doubling over the last 10 days, Newsom has announced that 94% of Californians will come under severe coronavirus restrictions yet again. That includes requiring masks to be worn outside the home with rare exceptions.
Newsom issued a travel advisory last week asking that all Californians cancel out-of-state travel. To add insult to injury, Newsom was forced to apologise on Monday after attending the birthday of a friend and lobbyist at the upscale French Laundry restaurant in Napa county, north of San Francisco.
People stand in line at a food distribution event ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday on Friday in Brooklyn, New York. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images
Political reputations are also being frayed over on the east coast. The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, was so self-satisfied with the way the virus was brought under control in his state after its terrifying surge in April that he wrote a book bragging about his leadership skills.
In American Crisis, Cuomo describes in glowing terms how he became a national sensation in his daily coronavirus briefings. The knack was, he writes, that he was “authentic and real”. “I felt the same emotions so many people were feeling, and I would acknowledge them and show them.”
That was then. At Wednesday’s coronavirus briefing he was so tetchy about being asked routine questions about the decision to close New York City schools as the virus gathers force once again that he lashed out at a reporter, snapping: “I don’t really care what you think”.
You can understand why Cuomo would be on edge. Hospitalizations in New York state are at their highest levels since June. In the city, lines outside Covid testing facilities have grown as the infection rate ticks up.
Jordana Shiau, 28, had been waiting for two hours for a Covid-19 test outside a City MD clinic in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. She estimated she had another hour before she would make it inside.
Shiau said she was wary of what was to come after having been in the city during the first wave, when hospitals were overwhelmed and almost 20,000 people died in less than two months.
“I’ve been here since March and there’s like a collective trauma. Hearing sirens 24 hours, seeing the freezer trucks full of dead bodies outside funeral homes. I’m pretty freaked out that it’s going to get back to that.”
Sydney Spence, 30, said he would not be traveling home for Thanksgiving this year. It will be the first time she has not spent the holiday with family.
“Obviously I miss them,” she said. “It’s sad. But I’d much rather know they’re safer. There will be more Thanksgivings.”


theguardian--2020-11-21--If you think Biden's administration would rein in big tech, think again | John Naughton

Before the US presidential election I wondered aloud if Mark Zuckerberg had concluded that the re-election of Trump might be better for Facebook than a Biden victory .
There were several reasons for thinking this .
One was the strange way Zuckerberg appeared to be sucking up to Trump : at least one private dinner in the White House ; the way he jumped on to Fox News when Twitter first placed a warning on a Trump tweet to say that Facebook would not be doing stuff like that ; and the majority report of the House subcommittee on tech @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the Democrats had it in for the companies .
But the most significant piece of evidence for the belief that a Biden administration would finally tackle the tech giants , and Facebook in particular , came in the long interview Biden gave last January to the New York Times , in which he was highly critical of the company .
“ I ’ ve never been a big Zuckerberg fan , ” Biden said .
“ I think he ’ s a real problem … I ’ ve been in the view @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the concentration of power , we should be worried about the lack of privacy and them being exempt , which you ’ re not exempt .
[ The New York Times ] can ’ t write something you know to be false and be exempt from being sued .
But he can .
The idea that it ’ s a tech company is that Section 230 should be revoked , immediately should be revoked , number one .
For Zuckerberg and other platforms.
” As readers of this column know only too @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US Telecommunications Act is the clause that exempts tech platforms from legal liability for anything that users post on their platforms .
It ’ s the nearest thing social media has to a kill switch .
Pull it and their business models evaporate .
Trump had been threatening to pull it before the election , but he lacked the attention span to be able to do anything about it .
Biden , on the other hand , had already talked about it in January and would have people around him who knew what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were going to get some real progress in getting tech giants under control .
And then he gets elected and what do we find ?
Biden ’ s transition eam is packed with tech industry insiders .
Tom Sullivan , from Amazon , is earmarked for the Department of State .
Mark Schwartz , also from Amazon , is heading for the Office of Management and Budget , as are Divya Kumaraiah from Airbnb and Brandon Belford from Lyft , the ride-hailing company .
The US Treasury gets Nicole Isaac from LinkedIn , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Will Fields , who was Sidewalk Labs ’ senior development associate .
( Sidewalk Labs was the organiser of Google ’ s attempt – eventually cancelled – to turn Toronto ’ s waterfront into a data-geyser for surveillance capitalism . )
The Environmental Protection Agency , a body that Trump looted and sidelined , gets Ann Dunkin , who is Dell ’ s chief technology officer .
And so on .
Well , I thought , perusing this sordid list , at least there ’ s nobody from Facebook on it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ reveals that the joint chair of Biden ’ s transition team , Jeff Zients , is a former Facebook board member .
Another former board member is an adviser .
And two others , one who was a Facebook director and another who was a company lobbyist , have , according to Politico “ taken leadership roles ” .
And then , to cap it all , it turns out that Biden himself has a friendly relationship with a guy called Nick Clegg , who was once a serious politician and now doubles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ representative on Earth .
Truly , you couldn ’ t make this up .
And just to add a touch of satire to it , the woman who is now a heartbeat away from the presidency , Kamala Harris , has a career-long record of cosying up to Silicon Valley .
She participated , for example , in the marketing campaign for Lean In , Sheryl Sandberg ’ s anthem of capitalist feminism , even though at the time Harris was California ’ s law enforcement official most responsible for overseeing Facebook .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , she took a semi-comatose view of the way the big tech companies were allowed to gobble up potential rivals and bulldoze their way into new industries .
Facebook ’ s controversial acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram , perhaps the most obvious anti-competitive mergers in the short history of the tech industry , happened on her watch and triggered no regulatory reflex .
If Silicon Valley could be said to have a darling , then Ms Harris is it .
And all those campaign donations from tech companies and moguls may turn out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all .
Given these sobering circumstances , how should we calculate the odds of a Biden administration taking on the power of the tech giants ?
The answer : slightly better than those of a snowball staying cool in hell .
But only slightly .
Is 2020 just a taster ?
Graeme Wood has written a riveting essay , titled The Next Decade Could Be Even Worse , on the work of Peter Turchin , a quantitative historian who believes he has discovered iron laws that predict the rise and fall of societies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we viewed tech giants as countries ?
A thoughtful essay in Tortoise Media considers Apple as a one-party state as secretive as China .
But more liberal .
Phew !
Is less Moore ?
I enjoyed a lovely post by Venkatesh Rao on the Ribbonfarm blog , about the mindset induced by living in a world governed by Moore ’ s Law .

Before the US presidential election I wondered aloud if Mark Zuckerberg had concluded that the re-election of Trump might be better for Facebook than a Biden victory. There were several reasons for thinking this. One was the strange way Zuckerberg appeared to be sucking up to Trump: at least one private dinner in the White House; the way he jumped on to Fox News when Twitter first placed a warning on a Trump tweet to say that Facebook would not be doing stuff like that; and the majority report of the House subcommittee on tech monopolies, in which it was clear that the Democrats had it in for the companies.
But the most significant piece of evidence for the belief that a Biden administration would finally tackle the tech giants, and Facebook in particular, came in the long interview Biden gave last January to the New York Times, in which he was highly critical of the company.
“I’ve never been a big Zuckerberg fan,” Biden said. “I think he’s a real problem … I’ve been in the view that not only should we be worrying about the concentration of power, we should be worried about the lack of privacy and them being exempt, which you’re not exempt. [The New York Times] can’t write something you know to be false and be exempt from being sued. But he can. The idea that it’s a tech company is that Section 230 should be revoked, immediately should be revoked, number one. For Zuckerberg and other platforms.”
As readers of this column know only too well, section 230 of the 1996 US Telecommunications Act is the clause that exempts tech platforms from legal liability for anything that users post on their platforms. It’s the nearest thing social media has to a kill switch. Pull it and their business models evaporate. Trump had been threatening to pull it before the election, but he lacked the attention span to be able to do anything about it. Biden, on the other hand, had already talked about it in January and would have people around him who knew what they were doing. So maybe we were going to get some real progress in getting tech giants under control.
And then he gets elected and what do we find? Biden’s transition eam is packed with tech industry insiders. Tom Sullivan, from Amazon, is earmarked for the Department of State. Mark Schwartz, also from Amazon, is heading for the Office of Management and Budget, as are Divya Kumaraiah from Airbnb and Brandon Belford from Lyft, the ride-hailing company. The US Treasury gets Nicole Isaac from LinkedIn, Microsoft’s department of spam, and Will Fields, who was Sidewalk Labs’ senior development associate. (Sidewalk Labs was the organiser of Google’s attempt – eventually cancelled – to turn Toronto’s waterfront into a data-geyser for surveillance capitalism.) The Environmental Protection Agency, a body that Trump looted and sidelined, gets Ann Dunkin, who is Dell’s chief technology officer. And so on.
Well, I thought, perusing this sordid list, at least there’s nobody from Facebook on it. How innocent can you be? Politico reveals that the joint chair of Biden’s transition team, Jeff Zients, is a former Facebook board member. Another former board member is an adviser. And two others, one who was a Facebook director and another who was a company lobbyist, have, according to Politico “taken leadership roles”. And then, to cap it all, it turns out that Biden himself has a friendly relationship with a guy called Nick Clegg, who was once a serious politician and now doubles as Mark Zuckerberg’s bagman and representative on Earth.
Truly, you couldn’t make this up. And just to add a touch of satire to it, the woman who is now a heartbeat away from the presidency, Kamala Harris, has a career-long record of cosying up to Silicon Valley. She participated, for example, in the marketing campaign for Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg’s anthem of capitalist feminism, even though at the time Harris was California’s law enforcement official most responsible for overseeing Facebook. As the state’s attorney general, she took a semi-comatose view of the way the big tech companies were allowed to gobble up potential rivals and bulldoze their way into new industries. Facebook’s controversial acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, perhaps the most obvious anti-competitive mergers in the short history of the tech industry, happened on her watch and triggered no regulatory reflex. If Silicon Valley could be said to have a darling, then Ms Harris is it. And all those campaign donations from tech companies and moguls may turn out to have been a shrewd investment after all.
Given these sobering circumstances, how should we calculate the odds of a Biden administration taking on the power of the tech giants? The answer: slightly better than those of a snowball staying cool in hell. But only slightly.
What I’ve been reading
Is 2020 just a taster?
Graeme Wood has written a riveting essay, titled The Next Decade Could Be Even Worse, on the work of Peter Turchin, a quantitative historian who believes he has discovered iron laws that predict the rise and fall of societies.
Birth of an iNation
What if we viewed tech giants as countries? A thoughtful essay in Tortoise Media considers Apple as a one-party state as secretive as China. But more liberal. Phew!
Is less Moore?
I enjoyed a lovely post by Venkatesh Rao on the Ribbonfarm blog, about the mindset induced by living in a world governed by Moore’s Law.


theguardian--2020-11-22--The shadow of Obama: what influence will the ex-president have on Biden?

He ’ s back with a vengeance .
After four years lying low as Donald Trump occupied the White House , Barack Obama is suddenly everywhere again – on TV , on radio , online and in bookshops .
The 44th US president ’ s memoir , A Promised Land , was published this week and , shifting nearly 890,000 copies in its first 24 hours , is likely to become the bestselling presidential memoir in modern American history .
It topped his wife Michelle Obama ’ s book , Becoming , which sold 725,000 copies on day one .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Obama is being asked what influence he and his allies may wield when his former deputy , Joe Biden , assumes the presidency in January .
It is a double-edged sword .
Biden knows that he will always be able to call on his old boss for advice – but he has big shoes to fill and could suffer by comparison .
“ I ’ m certain Barack would be happy to react to any question or request Biden put to him , ” said David Garrow , author of Rising Star : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But I wonder , having spent eight years as VP [ vice-president ] , whether Biden would hesitate to rely on Barack in any meaningful way because of a feeling that it would be like relying on your older brother.
” At 59 , Obama is still in his political prime .
He writes in the book that , in the month after he and Michelle Obama left the White House , they “ slept late , ate leisurely dinners , went for long walks , swam in the ocean , took stock @ @ @ @ @ @ @ love , and planned for a less eventful but hopefully no less satisfying second act ” .
That second act will include another volume of memoirs and a $ 500m presidential centre in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago .
Obama demonstrated a model of it to the 60 Minutes programme on the CBS network , explaining that it will include a mock-up of the Oval Office as well as Michelle Obama ’ s dresses , “ which will be very popular no doubt ” .
But the former commander-in-chief ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ piercing diagnosis of how division and disinformation threaten democracy – has also reminded supporters of his rare political gifts and raised the tantalizing prospect of a return to the arena .
In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning , Obama said Biden “ doesn ’ t need my advice , and I will help him in any ways that I can .
Now , I ’ m not planning to suddenly work on the White House staff or something.
” Asked if he would consider a cabinet position , Obama replied : “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be doing because Michelle would leave me .
She ’ d be like , ‘ What ?
You ’ re doing what ?
’ ” Biden , 78 , was a senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009 , then Obama ’ s vice-president until 2017 .
Obama has this week lavished praise on Biden and his running mate , Senator Kamala Harris of California , as the country ’ s best hope of restoring stability after the turmoil of the Trump years .
But he did not always see Biden as his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said to have anointed Hillary Clinton and discouraged Biden from entering the race .
When Biden did run in 2020 – his third attempt – Obama was reportedly sceptical again and did not endorse him until he was the presumptive nominee in mid-April .
And now Obama ’ s book has confirmed that Biden advised against the Navy Seal raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 , an issue that Trump sought to exploit on the campaign trail .
Garrow observed : “ They ended up disagreeing privately so much on various @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bin Laden takedown .
I somehow think Biden would feel it diminishes him to be calling Barack .
But I ’ d say that about almost any former VP , so it ’ s a role function more than an individual personality.
” Even so , as Biden contemplates a daunting inbox that includes the coronavirus pandemic , an economic slump and racial unrest , Obama could prove an invaluable source of advice .
That would be in keeping with John F Kennedy consulting Dwight Eisenhower during the Cuban missile crisis and a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Trump – sharing the burden with their predecessors .
David Litt , a former speechwriter for the 44th president , said Obama and Biden “ had a very strong working relationship and a lot of personal respect and trust and so I do think it ’ s an interesting situation .
“ I ’ m sure President Obama would have been supportive in whatever way asked with any Democratic president but you ’ re going to see more continuity among staff than you might otherwise because so many people worked in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign and presumably will join the Biden administration.
” Obama alumni reportedly being considered for key positions under Biden include Susan Rice , former national security adviser , and Michèle Flournoy , ex-under defence secretary for policy .
But it would be a mistake to regard the Biden presidency as Obama ’ s third term , according to Litt , author of Democracy in One Book or Less .
“ If you look at Biden ’ s speeches and campaign and his team , they were very clear that Joe Biden ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was an important part of his biography , but Joe Biden was running his own campaign and this is going to be the Joe Biden presidency.
” To underline the point , the Axios website reported that Biden ’ s transition team has told Obama veterans that they are welcome to apply for jobs but people who worked on the Biden campaign will take priority .
One potentially crucial factor in Biden ’ s thinking could be how Obama is perceived not by the Democratic base but the 73m people who voted for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ politics by pushing the racist conspiracy theory that Obama was not born in America .
The pragmatic Biden has pledged to heal the bitter schism between red and blue states .
Larry Jacobs , director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota , predicted : “ Obama is very popular with Democrats but a mixed bag with Republicans .
It ’ s quite possible , in terms of at least the public presentation , that we might see a bit of George W Bush .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Republican leader that Joe Biden is going to need on inauguration day and other key moments to signal normalcy after the deranged presidency of Donald Trump.
” Other commentators suggest that Obama could be a valuable bulwark for the moderate Biden as he faces pressure from his left flank on issues such as police reform and the climate crisis .
Pointing to Democratic losses in the House of Representatives , Michael Steele , former chairman of the Republican National Committee , said : “ I think Obama ’ s going to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ somewhat at bay .
“ I believe the country is a centre-right country .
Democratic friends may believe it ’ s a centre-left country .
What ’ s common there is the country by and large centres itself around policy and I think Obama can be helpful at times in threading certain needles that otherwise could be problematic for the Biden administration.
” Biden spent eight years in Obama ’ s shadow .
He is about to discover whether , even with the powers of the presidency , he can truly emerge from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he faces from the moment he steps into the Oval Office , it could prove a nice problem to have .
Moe Vela , a former senior adviser to Biden when he was vice-president , said : “ Joe Biden is a very secure man .
He ’ s very comfortable in his skin .
He knows who he is and frankly he loves and admires Barack Obama .
He ’ s not threatened by the adoration of Barack Obama .
If anything , he ’ s equally a big fan of his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ imagine him being threatened by that at all .
The task at hand is so severe and so serious that the last thing Joe Biden is worried about , I ’ m sure , is whether Barack Obama is getting attention with his book tour .
This is not even on his radar screen .
He ’ s happy for Barack Obama .
He ’ s got bigger fish to fry .
”

He’s back with a vengeance. After four years lying low as Donald Trump occupied the White House, Barack Obama is suddenly everywhere again – on TV, on radio, online and in bookshops.
The 44th US president’s memoir, A Promised Land, was published this week and, shifting nearly 890,000 copies in its first 24 hours, is likely to become the bestselling presidential memoir in modern American history. It topped his wife Michelle Obama’s book, Becoming, which sold 725,000 copies on day one.
As he promotes the 768-page tome, Obama is being asked what influence he and his allies may wield when his former deputy, Joe Biden, assumes the presidency in January. It is a double-edged sword. Biden knows that he will always be able to call on his old boss for advice – but he has big shoes to fill and could suffer by comparison.
“I’m certain Barack would be happy to react to any question or request Biden put to him,” said David Garrow, author of Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama. “But I wonder, having spent eight years as VP [vice-president], whether Biden would hesitate to rely on Barack in any meaningful way because of a feeling that it would be like relying on your older brother.”
Barack Obama and Joe Biden meet for lunch in the White House on 8 January 2014. Photograph: Aude Guerrucci/Getty Images
At 59, Obama is still in his political prime. He writes in the book that, in the month after he and Michelle Obama left the White House, they “slept late, ate leisurely dinners, went for long walks, swam in the ocean, took stock, replenished our friendship, rediscovered our love, and planned for a less eventful but hopefully no less satisfying second act”.
That second act will include another volume of memoirs and a $500m presidential centre in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago. Obama demonstrated a model of it to the 60 Minutes programme on the CBS network, explaining that it will include a mock-up of the Oval Office as well as Michelle Obama’s dresses, “which will be very popular no doubt”.
But the former commander-in-chief’s run of interviews – including a piercing diagnosis of how division and disinformation threaten democracy – has also reminded supporters of his rare political gifts and raised the tantalizing prospect of a return to the arena.
In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Obama said Biden “doesn’t need my advice, and I will help him in any ways that I can. Now, I’m not planning to suddenly work on the White House staff or something.”
Asked if he would consider a cabinet position, Obama replied: “There are some things I would not be doing because Michelle would leave me. She’d be like, ‘What? You’re doing what?’”
Biden, 78, was a senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009, then Obama’s vice-president until 2017. Obama has this week lavished praise on Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris of California, as the country’s best hope of restoring stability after the turmoil of the Trump years.
But he did not always see Biden as his heir apparent. In 2015 he is said to have anointed Hillary Clinton and discouraged Biden from entering the race. When Biden did run in 2020 – his third attempt – Obama was reportedly sceptical again and did not endorse him until he was the presumptive nominee in mid-April.
And now Obama’s book has confirmed that Biden advised against the Navy Seal raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, an issue that Trump sought to exploit on the campaign trail.
Barack Obama meets in the Situation Room with his national security advisers on 31 August 2013. Photograph: Pete Souza/The White House
Garrow observed: “They ended up disagreeing privately so much on various foreign policy things, like the Osama bin Laden takedown. I somehow think Biden would feel it diminishes him to be calling Barack. But I’d say that about almost any former VP, so it’s a role function more than an individual personality.”
Even so, as Biden contemplates a daunting inbox that includes the coronavirus pandemic, an economic slump and racial unrest, Obama could prove an invaluable source of advice. That would be in keeping with John F Kennedy consulting Dwight Eisenhower during the Cuban missile crisis and a tradition of presidents – with the exception of Trump – sharing the burden with their predecessors.
David Litt, a former speechwriter for the 44th president, said Obama and Biden “had a very strong working relationship and a lot of personal respect and trust and so I do think it’s an interesting situation.
“I’m sure President Obama would have been supportive in whatever way asked with any Democratic president but you’re going to see more continuity among staff than you might otherwise because so many people worked in the Obama administration and then on the Biden campaign and presumably will join the Biden administration.”
Joe Biden was running his own campaign and this is going to be the Joe Biden presidency. David Litt
Obama alumni reportedly being considered for key positions under Biden include Susan Rice, former national security adviser, and Michèle Flournoy, ex-under defence secretary for policy.
But it would be a mistake to regard the Biden presidency as Obama’s third term, according to Litt, author of Democracy in One Book or Less. “If you look at Biden’s speeches and campaign and his team, they were very clear that Joe Biden’s role as President Obama’s vice-president was an important part of his biography, but Joe Biden was running his own campaign and this is going to be the Joe Biden presidency.”
To underline the point, the Axios website reported that Biden’s transition team has told Obama veterans that they are welcome to apply for jobs but people who worked on the Biden campaign will take priority.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden on stage during a mobilization event at Northwestern high school in Flint, Michigan, on 31 October. Photograph: Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post/Getty Images
One potentially crucial factor in Biden’s thinking could be how Obama is perceived not by the Democratic base but the 73m people who voted for Trump – a man who broke into politics by pushing the racist conspiracy theory that Obama was not born in America. The pragmatic Biden has pledged to heal the bitter schism between red and blue states.
Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, predicted: “Obama is very popular with Democrats but a mixed bag with Republicans. It’s quite possible, in terms of at least the public presentation, that we might see a bit of George W Bush. He could well be just the kind of Republican leader that Joe Biden is going to need on inauguration day and other key moments to signal normalcy after the deranged presidency of Donald Trump.”
Other commentators suggest that Obama could be a valuable bulwark for the moderate Biden as he faces pressure from his left flank on issues such as police reform and the climate crisis. Pointing to Democratic losses in the House of Representatives, Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said: “I think Obama’s going to be important in order to keep the progressives somewhat at bay.
“I believe the country is a centre-right country. Democratic friends may believe it’s a centre-left country. What’s common there is the country by and large centres itself around policy and I think Obama can be helpful at times in threading certain needles that otherwise could be problematic for the Biden administration.”
Biden spent eight years in Obama’s shadow. He is about to discover whether, even with the powers of the presidency, he can truly emerge from it. But given the multiple crises he faces from the moment he steps into the Oval Office, it could prove a nice problem to have.
Moe Vela, a former senior adviser to Biden when he was vice-president, said: “Joe Biden is a very secure man. He’s very comfortable in his skin. He knows who he is and frankly he loves and admires Barack Obama. He’s not threatened by the adoration of Barack Obama. If anything, he’s equally a big fan of his.
“I can’t even imagine him being threatened by that at all. The task at hand is so severe and so serious that the last thing Joe Biden is worried about, I’m sure, is whether Barack Obama is getting attention with his book tour. This is not even on his radar screen. He’s happy for Barack Obama. He’s got bigger fish to fry.”