theguardian--2020-11-08--Can Biden and Harris put a bitterly divided America back together again?

The end of the Trump era will in theory look like this .
At midday on Wednesday 21 January , Joe Biden will stand on the west front of the United States Capitol , place his left hand on a Bible , raise his right and utter 35 words : “ I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States , and will to the best of my ability , preserve , protect and defend the constitution of the United States.
” With that oath of office Biden will become the 46th @ @ @ @ @ @ @ predecessor , who will become a common citizen , an ex-president , number 45 , no longer commander-in-chief , head of state or Oval Office occupier .
The moment will thrum with pomp and pageantry .
There will be drums , a bugle , the Hail to the Chief anthem and a 21-gun salute .
A polished choreography , originating from George Washington ’ s inauguration in 1789 , to symbolise the continuity of democratic rule and the peaceful transition of power .
Of course , this assumes that , despite Donald Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s election , Biden and Kamala Harris will be able to take office the conventional way .
If that happens , millions of viewers around the world will celebrate and a socially distanced crowd on the National Mall will cheer the end of what they consider a four-year nightmare .
And then an urgent question will crystallise : can Biden and Harris put America back together ?
Can they end an era of hyper-polarisation and economic inequality that has degraded democracy and turned Americans against each other ; that has shredded the idea @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democrats believe the other side isn ’ t just mistaken but evil , ” says John Pitney , a Claremont McKenna College political scientist .
Cultural , ethnic , geographic and racial divisions underpin party affiliations as never before , producing ideological polarisation in Congress not seen since the civil war .
Trump set the tone of his administration with an inauguration speech in 2017 that depicted a dark , hellish America that he , and only he , could save .
He then promptly lied about the size of the crowd he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a rule of “ alternative facts ” .
Opponents hooted in derision but Trump ’ s supporters hailed their president as an unvarnished truth-teller who shattered a discredited status quo .
Over four tumultuous years he enjoyed remarkably stable approval ratings .
“ I don ’ t see how we do repair the fabric of society when we have people living in effectively different countries , especially when this is amplified by media platforms that have commercial incentives to drive misinformation , ” says Anne-Marie Slaughter , an author and the chief executive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to renewing American politics .
“ So much of what is happening is reflecting really big demographic and technological changes , secular trends that are much bigger than any one president.
” Huge challenges await the Biden-Harris administration .
It will inherit subverted institutions , deformed traditions , an economic crisis , extreme inequality , a rampant Covid-19 pandemic and a bitterly divided electorate churning with hope , expectation , suspicion and resentment .
It will also face an unprecedented crisis in the form of Trump , not so much a predecessor as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ baseless accusations of electoral fraud and effectively threatened to sue his way to re-election .
“ Frankly , we did win this election , ” he claimed on Tuesday while millions of votes remained to be counted .
Biden and Harris can also expect opposition from a supreme court that now leans conservative , and from Trump loyalists in federal and state posts .
Simultaneously , they will be under pressure from the Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wings of their own party to swerve the US towards progressive policies on taxes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ environment .
That sounds less a job description and more a doomed political mission .
The system , to paraphrase the incumbent , is rigged against concord .
Bridging division is akin to traversing a frayed tightrope smouldering at both ends , a challenge worthy of Machiavelli , Solomon and Houdini .
Are Biden and Harris up to it ?
In his nomination speech , Biden , who served 36 years in the Senate and eight as vice-president , said he would lead the US away from the path of shadow and suspicion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ path , and together , take this chance to heal , to be reborn , to unite .
A path of hope and light.
” He would work for all Americans , not just those who voted for him , he promised .
For those yearning for a more civil , tolerant America there is good and bad news .
The bad news is that Republicans are expected to greet any Biden-Harris administration with fire and brimstone , and that a combustible media landscape will be fanning those flames .
Julian Emanuel Zelizer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Princeton , says : “ The continued radicalisation of the Republican party – combined with the expansion of a vast conservative media infrastructure – has created a world where it is almost impossible to envision agreement on some of the biggest issues of the day .
President Trump has also legitimated and embraced divisive politics , which will fuel his supporters to continue along this path.
” Republicans reaped electoral dividends a decade ago when they opposed the Obama administration at every turn , says Geoffrey Kabaservice , the author of Rule and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Destruction of the Republican Party .
“ It worked out quite nicely for them , and certainly there ’ s a lot of raw material out there in Trump world for a Tea Party 2.
” Pitney , a former Republican congressional aide , says any member who shows moderation in dealing with a Biden administration risks incurring a primary challenge from party rivals .
“ Trumpism is the coronavirus of the Republican party .
It threatens to become endemic .
It may linger because Trump revealed there is a large segment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There is no vaccine.
” Despite the pandemic , the economic crisis and his attacks on democratic norms , more than 68 million Americans – close to half of all voters – voted for four more years of Trump .
Republicans also looked set to retain control of the Senate and narrowed the Democrats ’ majority in the House of Representatives .
Any illusions that a Biden-Harris administration will somehow break the toxic cycle , perhaps even enjoy a bipartisan honeymoon , don ’ t survive contact with Sabo .
A former marine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ peppers public spaces with images and slogans targeting liberals .
When I interviewed him in his Los Angeles apartment in 2017 it was decorated with a life-sized poster of Sanders with Soviet tattoos and a diaper “ full of free shit ” and a billboard-style portrait of Hillary Clinton as a maniacal queen .
His latest work shows Biden naked , save for a face mask around his groin , and Harris as a cop in suspenders .
“ They ’ ll be globalists .
It ’ ll be the Democrats being the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We ’ ll be a worse world.
” He blames polarisation on the left .
“ They never got over the fact Trump won [ in 2016 ] .
” In addition to Republican hostility , a Biden-Harris administration will face two other major obstacles .
The business model that has enriched Facebook and other social media companies , and propelled ratings for Fox and MSNBC at the expense of less obviously partisan networks , such as CNN , endures .
Talk of regulation and structural reform remains talk .
Even more ominous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unravelling even before Trump .
Wall Street excess , sub-prime mortgages , the opioid epidemic , manufacturing ’ s decline , unaffordable education and income inequality were all plucking at the threads of America ’ s social contract .
The New Yorker writer George Packer chronicled this alienation in his 2013 book The Unwinding .
The book included an unsettling portrait of Biden , who was then vice-president .
Folksy Uncle Joe , it suggested , was ungrateful and self-obsessed .
“ Don ’ t take this personally , ” a veteran Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden disappoints everyone .
He ’ s an equal opportunities disappointer.
” If all this sounds bleak and depressing and a terrible way to usher in a post-Trump era there are actually grounds for optimism – several plausible reasons , in fact , to think Biden and Harris can heal the nation and maybe some of the world .
They could placate some of Trump ’ s white , male base while giving voice to the young , multiracial left , says Kabaservice , who is the director of political studies at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suspect there will be a double act .
Biden is the guy who meets with Republican senators and brings the bonhomie , gives the appearance of bipartisanship .
Harris is the ambassador to the progressives who is attuned to minority and ethnic interests and can push Joe to the left , but not so far that it alarms the suburbanites.
” Some Republicans who study demographic and electoral trends may seek to dial down the polarisation to woo back college-educated , suburban voters , especially women , Kabaservice believes .
He advises the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , even with a continued majority in the House .
“ A cooling of the political temperature , to my mind , would be more desirable than forcing some hillbilly baker to make a gay wedding cake.
” Under this scenario the things that made Biden unexciting to many Democrats in the primaries – his age ( 78 ) , whiteness and congressional record – could make him the right figure to lead Americans out of the Trump era .
Rebecca Lissner , an assistant professor at the US Naval War College and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , says a Biden presidency could muster Republican votes for an infrastructure bill and on foreign policy , such as repairing overseas alliances and competing with China .
“ There could be a lot of bipartisan support in some areas.
” Complete harmony will never happen but it makes a difference whether you ’ re pouring fuel on the fire or trying to dampen it , says Slaughter , who is writing a book about US renewal .
“ Imagine Biden going on Fox once a week – even if hosts are determined @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what this is doing to the country .
The other thing he needs to do is engage us in big national projects , moving us to a green economy , investing in infrastructure , a sense that we ’ re doing great things.
” At this point in the pandemic Americans might settle for the government stopping doing daft , destructive things .
More than 240,000 people have died and cases are nearing 10 million .
Anthony Fauci , the country ’ s senior public health expert , has predicted a winter of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a rising death toll .
“ We ’ re in for a whole lot of hurt , ” Fauci has said .
A White House that projects a coherent , scientifically informed response to the crisis could ease the politicisation of masks and social distancing , says Kenneth McCallion , the author of Covid-19 : The Virus That Changed America and the World .
“ The function of the presidency is not necessarily raw political power but use of the bully pulpit , talking to the nation in a calm , conciliatory but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crushing the virus .
Americans expect that of their leaders.
” McCallion , a former federal prosecutor , says a Biden administration could swiftly replace Trump-appointed “ political commissars ” and restore trust in embattled agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
“ I don ’ t think it ’ ll be very difficult to roll things back .
The rank and file are professional civil servants who believe in their mission.
” A different path , a chance to heal , to be reborn , to unite , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden has set a high bar .
The republic ’ s founding fathers anticipated election rancour , which is why they imbued the inauguration ceremony with pomp and pageantry , a performative act to put balm on the transition of power .
For the democratic alchemy to work properly , however , one candidate must concede defeat .
Healing , in other words , requires Trump to do the almost inconceivable and admit that he lost ; that he is , in his own parlance , a loser .

The end of the Trump era will in theory look like this. At midday on Wednesday 21 January, Joe Biden will stand on the west front of the United States Capitol, place his left hand on a Bible, raise his right and utter 35 words: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States.”
With that oath of office Biden will become the 46th president and power will drain from his predecessor, who will become a common citizen, an ex-president, number 45, no longer commander-in-chief, head of state or Oval Office occupier. The moment will thrum with pomp and pageantry. There will be drums, a bugle, the Hail to the Chief anthem and a 21-gun salute. A polished choreography, originating from George Washington’s inauguration in 1789, to symbolise the continuity of democratic rule and the peaceful transition of power.
Many Republicans and Democrats believe the other side isn’t just mistaken but evil
Of course, this assumes that, despite Donald Trump challenging the results of last week’s election, Biden and Kamala Harris will be able to take office the conventional way. If that happens, millions of viewers around the world will celebrate and a socially distanced crowd on the National Mall will cheer the end of what they consider a four-year nightmare.
And then an urgent question will crystallise: can Biden and Harris put America back together? Can they end an era of hyper-polarisation and economic inequality that has degraded democracy and turned Americans against each other; that has shredded the idea of America?
“Many Republicans and Democrats believe the other side isn’t just mistaken but evil,” says John Pitney, a Claremont McKenna College political scientist. Cultural, ethnic, geographic and racial divisions underpin party affiliations as never before, producing ideological polarisation in Congress not seen since the civil war.
Crowds on the National Mall for the inauguration ceremonies of Donald Trump (L) in 2017 and Barack Obama in 2009. Photograph: Reuters Staff/Reuters
Trump set the tone of his administration with an inauguration speech in 2017 that depicted a dark, hellish America that he, and only he, could save. He then promptly lied about the size of the crowd he drew to the National Mall, launching a rule of “alternative facts”. Opponents hooted in derision but Trump’s supporters hailed their president as an unvarnished truth-teller who shattered a discredited status quo. Over four tumultuous years he enjoyed remarkably stable approval ratings.
“I don’t see how we do repair the fabric of society when we have people living in effectively different countries, especially when this is amplified by media platforms that have commercial incentives to drive misinformation,” says Anne-Marie Slaughter, an author and the chief executive of New America, a thinktank dedicated to renewing American politics. “So much of what is happening is reflecting really big demographic and technological changes, secular trends that are much bigger than any one president.”
Illustration: Eleanor Shakespeare/The Guardian
Multiple challenges
Huge challenges await the Biden-Harris administration. It will inherit subverted institutions, deformed traditions, an economic crisis, extreme inequality, a rampant Covid-19 pandemic and a bitterly divided electorate churning with hope, expectation, suspicion and resentment.
It will also face an unprecedented crisis in the form of Trump, not so much a predecessor as a wrecking ball. He has made baseless accusations of electoral fraud and effectively threatened to sue his way to re-election. “Frankly, we did win this election,” he claimed on Tuesday while millions of votes remained to be counted.
Biden and Harris can also expect opposition from a supreme court that now leans conservative, and from Trump loyalists in federal and state posts. Simultaneously, they will be under pressure from the Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wings of their own party to swerve the US towards progressive policies on taxes, undocumented migrants, criminal justice and the environment.
Biden is the guy who meets with Republican senators and brings the bonhomie. Harris is the ambassador to the progressives
That sounds less a job description and more a doomed political mission. The system, to paraphrase the incumbent, is rigged against concord. Bridging division is akin to traversing a frayed tightrope smouldering at both ends, a challenge worthy of Machiavelli, Solomon and Houdini. Are Biden and Harris up to it?
In his nomination speech, Biden, who served 36 years in the Senate and eight as vice-president, said he would lead the US away from the path of shadow and suspicion. “We can choose a different path, and together, take this chance to heal, to be reborn, to unite. A path of hope and light.” He would work for all Americans, not just those who voted for him, he promised.
For those yearning for a more civil, tolerant America there is good and bad news.
Relations with Republicans
The bad news is that Republicans are expected to greet any Biden-Harris administration with fire and brimstone, and that a combustible media landscape will be fanning those flames.
Julian Emanuel Zelizer, a professor of political history at Princeton, says: “The continued radicalisation of the Republican party – combined with the expansion of a vast conservative media infrastructure – has created a world where it is almost impossible to envision agreement on some of the biggest issues of the day. President Trump has also legitimated and embraced divisive politics, which will fuel his supporters to continue along this path.”
Republicans reaped electoral dividends a decade ago when they opposed the Obama administration at every turn, says Geoffrey Kabaservice, the author of Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party. “It worked out quite nicely for them, and certainly there’s a lot of raw material out there in Trump world for a Tea Party 2.”
Pitney, a former Republican congressional aide, says any member who shows moderation in dealing with a Biden administration risks incurring a primary challenge from party rivals. “Trumpism is the coronavirus of the Republican party. It threatens to become endemic. It may linger because Trump revealed there is a large segment of the electorate that demands it. There is no vaccine.” Despite the pandemic, the economic crisis and his attacks on democratic norms, more than 68 million Americans – close to half of all voters – voted for four more years of Trump. Republicans also looked set to retain control of the Senate and narrowed the Democrats’ majority in the House of Representatives.
The street artist Sabo at his LA studio. Photograph: Rory Carroll/The Guardian
Any illusions that a Biden-Harris administration will somehow break the toxic cycle, perhaps even enjoy a bipartisan honeymoon, don’t survive contact with Sabo. A former marine, he is a guerrilla artist who peppers public spaces with images and slogans targeting liberals. When I interviewed him in his Los Angeles apartment in 2017 it was decorated with a life-sized poster of Sanders with Soviet tattoos and a diaper “full of free shit” and a billboard-style portrait of Hillary Clinton as a maniacal queen. His latest work shows Biden naked, save for a face mask around his groin, and Harris as a cop in suspenders. “They’ll be globalists. It’ll be the Democrats being the Democrats,” Sabo says. “We’ll be a worse world.” He blames polarisation on the left. “They never got over the fact Trump won [in 2016].”
In addition to Republican hostility, a Biden-Harris administration will face two other major obstacles.
The business model that has enriched Facebook and other social media companies, and propelled ratings for Fox and MSNBC at the expense of less obviously partisan networks, such as CNN, endures. Talk of regulation and structural reform remains talk.
Fox News, the Rupert Murdoch-owned TV network, has acted as one of Trump’s staunchest allies in past years. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Even more ominous is that mainstream values and institutions were unravelling even before Trump. Wall Street excess, sub-prime mortgages, the opioid epidemic, manufacturing’s decline, unaffordable education and income inequality were all plucking at the threads of America’s social contract. The New Yorker writer George Packer chronicled this alienation in his 2013 book The Unwinding.
The book included an unsettling portrait of Biden, who was then vice-president. Folksy Uncle Joe, it suggested, was ungrateful and self-obsessed. “Don’t take this personally,” a veteran Biden hand told a long-suffering colleague. “Biden disappoints everyone. He’s an equal opportunities disappointer.”
Hopes for healing
If all this sounds bleak and depressing and a terrible way to usher in a post-Trump era there are actually grounds for optimism – several plausible reasons, in fact, to think Biden and Harris can heal the nation and maybe some of the world.
They could placate some of Trump’s white, male base while giving voice to the young, multiracial left, says Kabaservice, who is the director of political studies at the Niskanen Center in Washington. “I suspect there will be a double act. Biden is the guy who meets with Republican senators and brings the bonhomie, gives the appearance of bipartisanship. Harris is the ambassador to the progressives who is attuned to minority and ethnic interests and can push Joe to the left, but not so far that it alarms the suburbanites.”
Some Republicans who study demographic and electoral trends may seek to dial down the polarisation to woo back college-educated, suburban voters, especially women, Kabaservice believes. He advises the Democrats to go easy on cultural battles, even with a continued majority in the House. “A cooling of the political temperature, to my mind, would be more desirable than forcing some hillbilly baker to make a gay wedding cake.”
Complete harmony will never happen but it makes a difference whether you’re pouring fuel on the fire or trying to dampen it
Under this scenario the things that made Biden unexciting to many Democrats in the primaries – his age (78), whiteness and congressional record – could make him the right figure to lead Americans out of the Trump era.
Rebecca Lissner, an assistant professor at the US Naval War College and co-author of the book An Open World, says a Biden presidency could muster Republican votes for an infrastructure bill and on foreign policy, such as repairing overseas alliances and competing with China. “There could be a lot of bipartisan support in some areas.”
Complete harmony will never happen but it makes a difference whether you’re pouring fuel on the fire or trying to dampen it, says Slaughter, who is writing a book about US renewal. “Imagine Biden going on Fox once a week – even if hosts are determined to polarise. He can talk about what this is doing to the country. The other thing he needs to do is engage us in big national projects, moving us to a green economy, investing in infrastructure, a sense that we’re doing great things.”
At this point in the pandemic Americans might settle for the government stopping doing daft, destructive things. More than 240,000 people have died and cases are nearing 10 million. Anthony Fauci, the country’s senior public health expert, has predicted a winter of 100,000 or more cases a day and a rising death toll. “We’re in for a whole lot of hurt,” Fauci has said.
A White House that projects a coherent, scientifically informed response to the crisis could ease the politicisation of masks and social distancing, says Kenneth McCallion, the author of Covid-19: The Virus That Changed America and the World. “The function of the presidency is not necessarily raw political power but use of the bully pulpit, talking to the nation in a calm, conciliatory but firm manner to explain the importance of crushing the virus. Americans expect that of their leaders.”
Senior public health expert Anthony Fauci angered the Trump White House by predicting 100,000 Covid cases a day, but he says Biden is taking the pandemic seriously. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP
McCallion, a former federal prosecutor, says a Biden administration could swiftly replace Trump-appointed “political commissars” and restore trust in embattled agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “I don’t think it’ll be very difficult to roll things back. The rank and file are professional civil servants who believe in their mission.”
A different path, a chance to heal, to be reborn, to unite, a path of hope and light – Biden has set a high bar. The republic’s founding fathers anticipated election rancour, which is why they imbued the inauguration ceremony with pomp and pageantry, a performative act to put balm on the transition of power. For the democratic alchemy to work properly, however, one candidate must concede defeat. Healing, in other words, requires Trump to do the almost inconceivable and admit that he lost; that he is, in his own parlance, a loser.


theguardian--2020-11-08--Mary Trump on the end of Uncle Donald: all he has now is breaking things

This is how the most colossal and fragile ego on the planet deals with losing the US election : he does not deal with it at all .
My uncle ’ s speech late on election night wasn ’ t just entirely mendacious from beginning to end .
It was also deeply dangerous .
It ’ s one thing for random Republicans to call a legitimate election into question , but this was the head of the government .
The consequences of that action should not be underestimated .
This is what Donald ’ s going to do : he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ although who cares .
What ’ s worse is he ’ s not going to engage in the normal activities that guarantee a peaceful transition .
All he ’ s got now is breaking stuff , and he ’ s going to do that with a vengeance .
I ’ ve always known how cruel he can be .
Shortly after the 2016 election , when I ’ d see him being particularly cruel , I would think about how he treated my father [ Fred Trump Jr , Donald ’ s older @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 43 ] .
He took away our family health insurance after his father , my grandfather , died – this was when my nephew needed round-the-clock nursing care , which we then couldn ’ t afford .
That is the kind of man he is .
He ’ ll be having meltdowns upon meltdowns right now .
He has never been in a situation like this before .
What ’ s interesting is that Donald has never won anything legitimately in his entire life , but because he has been so enabled by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never lost anything either .
He ’ s the kind of person who thinks that even if you steal and cheat to win , you deserve to win .
But there is some poetic justice here because he has been cheating for months .
Now his tactics are coming back to bite him .
He told Republicans not to vote by mail and they didn ’ t , but the result is he has been experiencing this slow drip-drip of disaster over the past few days .
Oh , you have these huge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Oh , Joe Biden ’ s ahead .
Now his margins are growing .
It must have been like slow torture , but he set up this failure for himself .
The fact that the Republicans have done better than expected in Congress and the Senate will have made him extraordinarily angry .
It means that people were voting against Donald Trump in this election , but not necessarily against this party .
That will have added so much salt to his narcissistic wounds .
Also , his supporters are going away @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thing that really ruined his election night was Fox News – his safe zone – calling Arizona days earlier than everyone else .
That burst his bubble .
Then Twitter was flagging all his posts and deleting them , and other more legitimate news outlets were cutting away from his speeches .
But this begs the question : why weren ’ t they doing this a month ago , or even four years ago , before the last election ?
It ’ s good this is happening now because maybe the next two-and-half @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we expect , but it ’ s too late .
I worry about what Donald ’ s going to do in that time to lash out .
He will go as far as he can to delegitimise the new administration , then he ’ ll pass pardons that will demoralise us , and sign a flurry of executive orders .
Remember , he will also still be in charge of the US response to the pandemic .
There could be a million Americans dead by then under his watch .
After January , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has more than $ 400m of debt coming in the next four years .
Why at this point would his lenders cut him any slack ?
He has never paid anyone back .
His businesses are in the tank .
He has destroyed his brand .
He is going to be a factor in courtrooms in New York City more than he ’ s going to be a factor in politics , I think .
His secretary of defence has already submitted his resignation , and I think there will be more of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the January run-offs in Georgia , but he could be considered a liability .
If he ’ s acting like a crazy person , senators are going to keep their distance .
People will move away from him if there ’ s nothing in it for them any more .
It ’ s not like he has any friends , anyway .
It ’ s grim for him .
Donald Jr , Ivanka and Eric also know their relationship with their father is both conditional and transactional .
I have been saying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have to change my name .
I think they ’ re going to have to change theirs .
As for saying he ’ ll run in 2024 , that ’ s just a face-saving exercise .
It ’ s a way of distracting him from the fact that he ’ s probably going to prison .
But the worst thing Donald ’ s looking at isn ’ t financial difficulties or the prospect of jail .
It ’ s becoming irrelevant .
I don ’ t think he would ever recover from that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ author of Too Much and Never Enough

This is how the most colossal and fragile ego on the planet deals with losing the US election: he does not deal with it at all.
Mary Trump. Photograph: Peter Serling/Rex
My uncle’s speech late on election night wasn’t just entirely mendacious from beginning to end. It was also deeply dangerous. It’s one thing for random Republicans to call a legitimate election into question, but this was the head of the government. The consequences of that action should not be underestimated.
This is what Donald’s going to do: he’s not going to concede, although who cares. What’s worse is he’s not going to engage in the normal activities that guarantee a peaceful transition. All he’s got now is breaking stuff, and he’s going to do that with a vengeance. I’ve always known how cruel he can be. Shortly after the 2016 election, when I’d see him being particularly cruel, I would think about how he treated my father [Fred Trump Jr, Donald’s older brother, who died of alcoholism at 43]. He took away our family health insurance after his father, my grandfather, died – this was when my nephew needed round-the-clock nursing care, which we then couldn’t afford. That is the kind of man he is.
After January, things look bleak for Donald. He has $400m of debt coming. Why would his lenders pay him any slack?
He’ll be having meltdowns upon meltdowns right now. He has never been in a situation like this before. What’s interesting is that Donald has never won anything legitimately in his entire life, but because he has been so enabled by people along the way, he has never lost anything either. He’s the kind of person who thinks that even if you steal and cheat to win, you deserve to win.
But there is some poetic justice here because he has been cheating for months. Now his tactics are coming back to bite him. He told Republicans not to vote by mail and they didn’t, but the result is he has been experiencing this slow drip-drip of disaster over the past few days. Oh, you have these huge margins! Now your margins are shrinking. Oh, Joe Biden’s ahead. Now his margins are growing. It must have been like slow torture, but he set up this failure for himself.
The fact that the Republicans have done better than expected in Congress and the Senate will have made him extraordinarily angry. It means that people were voting against Donald Trump in this election, but not necessarily against this party. That will have added so much salt to his narcissistic wounds.
04:42 The path to Joe Biden’s victory: five days in five minutes - video highlights
Also, his supporters are going away. From what I understand, the thing that really ruined his election night was Fox News – his safe zone – calling Arizona days earlier than everyone else. That burst his bubble. Then Twitter was flagging all his posts and deleting them, and other more legitimate news outlets were cutting away from his speeches. But this begs the question: why weren’t they doing this a month ago, or even four years ago, before the last election? It’s good this is happening now because maybe the next two-and-half months won’t be the nightmare we expect, but it’s too late.
I worry about what Donald’s going to do in that time to lash out. He will go as far as he can to delegitimise the new administration, then he’ll pass pardons that will demoralise us, and sign a flurry of executive orders. Remember, he will also still be in charge of the US response to the pandemic. There could be a million Americans dead by then under his watch.
After January, things look bleak for Donald. He has more than $400m of debt coming in the next four years. Why at this point would his lenders cut him any slack? He has never paid anyone back. His businesses are in the tank. He has destroyed his brand.
He is going to be a factor in courtrooms in New York City more than he’s going to be a factor in politics, I think. His secretary of defence has already submitted his resignation, and I think there will be more of that. The Republicans might need him for the January run-offs in Georgia, but he could be considered a liability. If he’s acting like a crazy person, senators are going to keep their distance. People will move away from him if there’s nothing in it for them any more.
It’s not like he has any friends, anyway. It’s grim for him. Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric also know their relationship with their father is both conditional and transactional. I have been saying since 2016 that I was going to have to change my name. I think they’re going to have to change theirs.
As for saying he’ll run in 2024, that’s just a face-saving exercise. It’s a way of distracting him from the fact that he’s probably going to prison. But the worst thing Donald’s looking at isn’t financial difficulties or the prospect of jail. It’s becoming irrelevant. I don’t think he would ever recover from that.
Mary Trump is a psychologist and author of Too Much and Never Enough


theguardian--2020-11-08--'She's made us proud': Kamala Harris's ancestral village celebrates election win – video

The small Indian village of Thulasendrapuram burst into celebration after waking up to the news that Kamala Harris will become @ @ @ @ @ first person of south-Asian descent to become US vice-president .
People set off firecrackers , @ @ @ @ @ in the village , where Harris 's maternal grandfather was born .
'We take immense @ @ @ @ @ and who she has become , ' said one resident • Kamala Harris : joy @ @ @ @ @ for 'daughter of our village' • The meaning of Kamala Harris : the woman who @ @ @ @ @ vice-president

The small Indian village of Thulasendrapuram burst into celebration after waking up to the news that Kamala Harris will become the first woman and the first person of south-Asian descent to become US vice-president. People set off firecrackers, played music and shared food in the village, where Harris's maternal grandfather was born. 'We take immense pride in her victory, and who she has become,' said one resident


theguardian--2020-11-09--US election 2020: Biden announces Covid taskforce as Trump still denies defeat – live

Here ’ s a full list of the 12 members making up Joe Biden ’ s new transition Covid board : Dr David Kessler , co-chair .
Professor of paediatrics and epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California , San Francisco .
He was US Food and Drug Administration commissioner from 1990 to 1997 .
Dr Vivek Murthy , co-chair .
US surgeon general from 2014-17 , who commanded the public health force that dealt with the Ebola , Zika and Flint water crises .
Dr Marcella Nunez-Smith , co-chair .
Associate professor of internal medicine , public health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dean for health equity research at Yale ’ s medical school , specialising in health care for marginalised populations .
Dr Rick Bright .
Immunologist , virologist .
He was ousted as head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority after criticising the federal government ’ s response to the coronavirus under Donald Trump .
Bright filed a whistleblower complaint alleging he was reassigned to a lesser job because he resisted political pressure to allow widespread use of hydroxychloroquine , a malaria drug Trump pushed as a Covid-19 treatment .
Dr Luciana @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the In-Q-Tel strategic investment firm who until last year was a biodefense specialist on the Nnational security council .
Dr Ezekiel Emanuel .
Oncologist and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania who since 1997 has served as chair of the Department of Bioethics at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health .
Dr Atul Gawande .
Professor of surgery at Brigham and Women ’ s hospital and at Harvard Medical School .
Served as a senior adviser in the Department of Health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Dr Celine Gounder .
Clinical assistant professor at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine who served as assistant commissioner and director of the Bureau of Tuberculosis Control at New York City ’ s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene .
Dr Julie Morita .
Executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation who helped lead Chicago ’ s Department of Public Health for nearly 20 years .
Dr Michael Osterholm .
Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota , former science envoy for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ms Loyce Pace .
Executive director and president of the Global Health Council , who previously served in leadership positions at the American Cancer Society .
Dr Robert Rodriguez .
Professor of emergency medicine at the University of California , San Francisco , School of Medicine .
Dr Eric Goosby .
Infectious disease expert and professor of medicine at the University of California , San Francisco , School of Medicine who during the Clinton administration was the founding director of the largest federally funded HIV/Aids program .

10 Nov 2020 04.02 GMT Summary Here’s a recap of today, from me and Joan E Greve: Pfizer announced its coronavirus vaccine was shown to be 90% effective. US stock markets jumped after the Pfizer announcement was made, although it will likely take several months before a vaccine is widely available to the American public.
US stock markets jumped after the Pfizer announcement was made, although it will likely take several months before a vaccine is widely available to the American public. The US Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of Eli Lilly’s experimental Covid-19 antibody treatment for some patients. Per the FDA, clinical trials found that the treatment, bamlanivimab, reduced the need for hospitalization or emergency room visits for older and high-risk Covid-19 patients.
Per the FDA, clinical trials found that the treatment, bamlanivimab, reduced the need for hospitalization or emergency room visits for older and high-risk Covid-19 patients. President-elect Joe Biden announced the formation of his coronavirus advisory board. Speaking in Delaware today, Biden celebrated the Pfizer news but warned the coming months would still be very difficult for the country. “We’re still facing a very dark winter,” the president-elect said. “The challenge before us right now is still immense and growing.”
Speaking in Delaware today, Biden celebrated the Pfizer news but warned the coming months would still be very difficult for the country. “We’re still facing a very dark winter,” the president-elect said. “The challenge before us right now is still immense and growing.” Donald Trump fired the defense secretary, Mark Esper, by tweet. In recent months, the president and Esper had publicly clashed over proposals to rename military bases named after Confederate generals.
In recent months, the president and Esper had publicly clashed over proposals to rename military bases named after Confederate generals. Mitch McConnell defended Trump’s legal challenges in battleground states after being declared the loser in the presidential election. “President Trump is 100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options,” the Senate majority leader said. It’s important to remember that Trump’s team has produced no evidence of election fraud.
“President Trump is 100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options,” the Senate majority leader said. It’s important to remember that Trump’s team has produced no evidence of election fraud. Georgia’s two Republican senators called on the state’s Republican secretary of state to resign. “The Secretary of State has failed to deliver honest and transparent elections. He has failed the people of Georgia, and he should step down immediately,” David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler said in a joint statement. Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state, has fiercely defended the integrity of the Georgia vote count, and his office has provided multiple updates a day on the remaining number of ballots to be counted.
“The Secretary of State has failed to deliver honest and transparent elections. He has failed the people of Georgia, and he should step down immediately,” and said in a joint statement. the secretary of state, has fiercely defended the integrity of the Georgia vote count, and his office has provided multiple updates a day on the remaining number of ballots to be counted. The Trump campaign filed another meritless lawsuit against Pennsylvania’s secretary of state, reviving disproven claims that haven’t held up in the courts so far. The lawsuit baselessly alleges that voters who mailed-in ballots were subject to less rigorous verification standards than those who voted in person. Like the president’s other attempts to dispute his clear loss, it’s unlikely to get him anywhere.
The lawsuit baselessly alleges that voters who mailed-in ballots were subject to less rigorous verification standards than those who voted in person. Like the president’s other attempts to dispute his clear loss, it’s unlikely to get him anywhere. The attorney general also sent a memo to prosecutors, asking them to investigate election “irregularities” despite no evidence of irregularities. The move has little practical, legal implications, but it erodes norms and policies that typically prohibit the justice department from intervening before election results are confirmed by the electoral college, and it serves to sow confusion and distrust in the elections system.
10 Nov 2020 02.27 GMT Once again, Donald Trump’s schedule is clear. Trump waves to media across the Potomac River as he plays a round of golf at the Trump National Golf Club, on 8 November 2020 in Sterling, Virginia. Photograph: Samuel Corum/Getty Images He has no public events planned for tomorrow. The last time he spoke publicly was Thursday when he delivered a lie-filled press conference that several TV networks cut away from after Trump illegitimately declared victory.
Updated at 02.44 GMT
10 Nov 2020 02.20 GMT FDA authorized emergency use of Eli Lilly’s experimental treatment for Covid Helen Sullivan The US Food and Drug Administration on Monday authorized emergency use of Eli Lilly and Co’s experimental Covid-19 antibody treatment for non-hospitalized patients older than 65 or who have certain chronic medical conditions. The FDA said its emergency use authorization (EUA) was based on clinical trials showing that the treatment, bamlanivimab, reduced the need for hospitalization or emergency room visits in Covid-19 patients at high risk of disease progression.
It can now be used for treating mild-to-moderate Covid-19 in adults and pediatric patients over the age of 12, the FDA said. The antibody is not authorized for patients who are hospitalized due to Covid-19 or require oxygen therapy due to Covid-19. The FDA said the drug, which U.S. President Donald Trump has praised, had not been shown to benefit such patients and could worsen their clinical status.
A US government-sponsored study of the treatment in hospitalized Covid-19 patients was recently abandoned because the treatment was not shown to be helping. Catch up on global coronavirus news: Coronavirus live news: WHO warns Covid 'not tired of us' as top UK scientist says vaccine 'feels like watershed moment' Read more
10 Nov 2020 01.56 GMT Julian Borger The US is expected to fly Cameroonian asylum seekers back to their home country on Tuesday despite fears that their lives will be at risk and reports that deportees repatriated last month are now missing. Some of the deportees are activists from the country’s anglophone minority, who face arrest warrants for their political activities from government forces with a well documented record of extrajudicial killings. They and their lawyers refer to Tuesday’s flight as the “death plane”. Lawyers, human rights groups and Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen have appealed to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to halt deportation flights to Cameroon while political violence is still widespread there and while at least some of the detainees have cases pending or motions to reopen cases before the Board of Immigration Appeals. They expressed concern that the deportations were being rushed to clear African asylum-seekers out of the country by the end of the Trump presidency, as part of a scorched earth policy in the administration’s final weeks. There are also allegations of systematic abuse by agents of the DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), often to force the asylum seekers to sign their own deportation orders, and waive their right to pending immigration hearings. In one case, detainees were allegedly put under showers and then tasered by ICE agents, leaving some in need of hospital care. The deportations are taking place despite a finding last year by the US government that the Cameroon government “engages in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights”. About 38 men and 10 women are scheduled to be on Tuesday’s flight, 37 of them Cameroonian, but also six Angolan and three Congolese asylum seekers. In recent days they have been moved from prisons across the south to Prairieland Detention Centre in Alvarado, Texas, in preparation for a charter flight out of Fort Worth. Read more: US to send asylum seekers home to Cameroon despite 'death plane' warnings Read more
10 Nov 2020 01.22 GMT Vanita Gupta, a civil rights attorney who served in the Justice Department during the Obama administration, called the attorney general’s memo a “scare tactic”: Totally predictable – more DOJ scare tactics. Some points:
-Voters decided election & overwhelmingly picked Biden
-States in charge of elections, not fed govt
-Election was secure & fair. No factual basis for memo
-Scaremongering about opening investigations doesn't change result https://t.co/ez4pgmwzSU — Vanita Gupta (@vanitaguptaCR) November 10, 2020
10 Nov 2020 01.04 GMT In September, when the justice department publicized an investigation into whether nine mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania – including seven marked for Donald Trump – were allegedly “discarded”, elections experts warned that William Barr was using his department to provide fodder for the president’s baseless claims of fraud. The justice department had a longstanding policy against interfering in elections, and an earlier memo from Barr himself – obtained by ProPublica – directed department employees to be “particularly sensitive to safeguarding the Department’s reputation for fairness, neutrality, and non-partisanship” when it came to the elections.
Updated at 01.13 GMT
10 Nov 2020 00.51 GMT It’s unclear that the attorney general’s memo will have any practical implications. After all, there is zero evidence of widespread voter fraud – so it’s unlikely US attorneys will find anything credible to prosecute. Ellen Weintraub, the Federal Election Commissioner, told CNN on Saturday that “there really has been no evidence of fraud” in this election. “Very few substantiated complaints, let me put it that way. There is no evidence of any kind of voter fraud,” she said. “There is no evidence of illegal votes being cast.” But in Barr’s memo, the attorney general tells prosecutors that, “although the States have the primary responsibility to conduct and supervise elections under our constitution and the laws enacted by Congress, the United States Department of Justice has an obligation to ensure that federal elections are conducted in such a way that the American people can have full confidence in their electoral process and their government”. “Given this, and given that voting in our current elections has now concluded, I authorize you to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to the certification of elections in your jurisdictions in certain cases,” he continues. The memo primarily functions to erode norms and policies that typically prohibit the justice department from intervening before election results are confirmed by the electoral college, and it serves to sow confusion and distrust in the elections system.
Updated at 00.54 GMT
10 Nov 2020 00.29 GMT Another Trump press conference on unsubstantiated voter fraud allegations David Smith A hastily called Trump campaign press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington today recycled unproven claims of voter fraud but offered no specific proof.
“Do you know that fraudulent votes were actually cast?” a reported asked. “Or are you simply saying we don’t know because we couldn’t see it?” Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, could offer only: “What we are asking for here is patience.” Journalists crammed into the lobby of the Republican National Committee headquarters after taking temperature checks and heard first from McEnany, who has recently been blurring the line between federal government activity and political campaigning. “This election is not over – far from it,” declared Trump’s spokesperson, who at her first White House briefing promised never to lie from the podium. McEnany speaks during a press conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters. Photograph: Samuel Corum/Getty Images Without evidence, McEnany said: “There is only one party in America trying to keep observers out of the count room. And that party, my friends, is the Democrat party. You take these positions because you are welcoming fraud and you are welcoming illegal voting.” As she went on to claim that Republicans want “maximum sunlight” and “maximum transparency”, the baseless charge prompted the conservative Fox News network to cut away from briefing. Host Neil Cavuto said: “Whoa, whoa, whoa... Unless she has more details to back that up, I can’t in good countenance continue showing this.” Meanwhile Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, claimed the party had “thousands of reports of poll watchers being intimidated” in Michigan and highlighted a “whistleblower” allegation in Detroit about ballots being nefariously backdated. This has been debunked by fact checkers. Biden leads by more than 4m votes but McDaniel urged: “If it were this close the other way, if Trump was in the lead in all these states, the media’d be screaming, ‘This isn’t over ... We need more time to count and make sure it’s right.’” Challenged as to how there could be a conspiracy in “red counties” when in fact Republicans picked up House seats and performed well in the Senate, McDaniel failed to answer. And as McEnany left, a reporter shouted, “Is the president being a sore loser?” Again there was silence.
Updated at 00.46 GMT
10 Nov 2020 00.20 GMT House speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the president’s sacking of defense secretary Mark Esper: “The abrupt firing of Secretary Esper is disturbing evidence that President Trump is intent on using his final days in office to sow chaos in our American Democracy and around the world,” she said in a statement. “Continuity and stability are always important during a presidential transition; they are absolutely imperative at this moment, as this historically erratic Administration prepares for its departure.”
After Trump fired Esper via a tweet, several Democrats have said the move would leave the US vulnerable. House armed services committee chair Adam Smith, a Democrat of Washington state, said the dismissal “is a destabilizing move that will only embolden our adversaries”. “President Trump’s decision to fire Secretary Esper out of spite is not just childish, it’s also reckless,” he said.
Updated at 00.25 GMT
10 Nov 2020 00.13 GMT Barr tells prosecutors to pursue claims of irregularities despite lack of evidence William Barr, the US attorney general, has told prosecutors across the country to pursue “clear and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities” in the voting system, despite a lack of evidence that such fraud is occurring. In a memo obtained by the Associated Press, Barr – who has not shied away from violating norms in his efforts to prop up Donald Trump – told attorneys that investigations “may be conducted if there are clear and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual State”, the AP reports. States have another month to resolve election disputes before members of the electoral college finalize the outcome on 14 December.
Updated at 08.25 GMT
10 Nov 2020 00.01 GMT Cheri Bustos, House Democratic campaign chief, said today that she will not seek re-election to that position in the wake of the string of losses House Democrats faced during the election last week. Republicans gained five seats in the House last week. Though Democrats still hold the majority with 215 seats, their influence in the chamber will likely be weakened over the next two years. Bustos herself had a closer-than-expected race against her Republican opponent for her Illinois House district seat. The results were a sting to Democrats after they gained their majority in the House in 2018. Battleground Democrats have argued that Bustos’ team did little to defend them from Republican attacks and that her most aggressive strategies were used in districts in states like Texas and Arkansas that were harder to win, according to Politico. In a statement, Bustos said that she will be focusing her work “on exciting legislative possibilities” and that she is “well-positioned to turn my focus to strengthening infrastructure and health care in the cities, small towns and rural areas I serve”. https://twitter.com/kirk_bado/status/1325898443840233474 I’m signing off for now and will be handing the blog over to my Guardian colleague Maanvi Singh. Stay tuned for more live updates.
Updated at 00.16 GMT
9 Nov 2020 23.44 GMT White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany spoke at a Republican National Committee press conference earlier this evening, repeating Donald Trump’s refusal to accept Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election and making false claims about voter fraud. At Trump campaign press conference at Republican National Committee. Kayleigh McEnany: “This election is not over. Far from it... Unlike our opponents, we have nothing to hide.” pic.twitter.com/x5PSF1Yoq4 — David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) November 9, 2020 McEnany said that she is at the press conference, which is a campaign event as opposed to a White House event, in her “personal capacity”. Fox News apparently cut away from the press conference saying that they could not air McEnany’s false claims in good conscience. “Whoa, whoa, whoa – I just think we have to be very clear. She’s charging the other side as welcoming fraud and welcoming illegal voting. Unless she has more details to back that up, I can’t in good countenance show you this,” Fox News host Neil Cavuto told viewers as McEnany continued to talk. Watch Fox News cut away from Press Sec. McEnany: pic.twitter.com/SwW9cq9bJI — The Recount (@therecount) November 9, 2020
Updated at 00.00 GMT
9 Nov 2020 23.28 GMT Lawyers that have been working to reunite children who were separated from their families at the border say that the number of children still separated from their parents is higher than previously reported. According to an NBC News story, the lawyers say they still have not been able to find the parents of 666 children. The children were separated from their parents between April and June 2018, when Donald Trump had his “zero tolerance” policy at the US-Mexico border. Here’s more from NBC News: Lawyers working to reunite migrant families separated by the Trump administration before and during its “zero tolerance” policy at the border now believe the number of separated children for whom they have not been able to find parents is 666, higher than they told a federal judge last month, according to an email obtained by NBC News. Nearly 20 percent of those children were under 5 at the time of the separation, according to a source familiar with the data. In the email, Steven Herzog, the attorney leading efforts to reunite the families, explains that the number is higher because the new group includes those “for whom the government did not provide any phone number.” Previously, the lawyers said they could not find the parents of 545 children after they had tried to make contact but had been unsuccessful.
Updated at 00.00 GMT


theguardian--2020-11-09--US coronavirus cases near 10m with fears of more deaths as weather cools

The US recorded more than 100,000 coronavirus cases for a fifth day in a row on Sunday , as total cases neared 10m and the death toll passed 237,000 .
At the same time , Joe Biden named the members of his own Covid taskforce and planned to meet with the 12-person panel .
Some counts put the caseload over 10m but according to data from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland , 105,927 new cases on Sunday brought the total to 9,963,207 .
The daily case number was down from record highs on Friday and Saturday .
The death toll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ holding over 100,000 a day , public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci ’ s now infamous warning earlier this month still rings true .
“ We ’ re in for a whole lot of hurt , ” Fauci , the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease , told the Washington Post .
“ It ’ s not a good situation .
All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season , with people congregating at home indoors .
You could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Deaths are also expected to rise steeply .
“ The next two months are going to be rough , difficult ones , ” Dr Albert Ko , an infectious disease specialist and department chairman at the Yale School of Public Health , told the Associated Press .
“ We could see another 100,000 deaths by January.
” During the presidential election , Donald Trump repeatedly insisted the US was “ rounding the corner ” and refused to enforce mitigation measures at the White House and campaign events .
The president , members of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign aides and top Republicans in Congress have contracted the virus .
States across the US are struggling with rising case numbers , hospitalisations and deaths , putting pressure on health systems already subject to major strain .
On Sunday the Republican governor of Utah , Gary Herbert , declared a new state of emergency .
“ Due to the alarming rate of Covid infections within our state , tonight I issued a new state of emergency with several critical changes to our response , ” Herbert said .
“ These changes are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are absolutely necessary to save lives and hospital capacity.
” The governor said the entire state was being placed under a mask mandate until further notice and casual social gatherings were being limited to household-only for the next two weeks .
All extracurricular activities were being put on hold , he said .
Utah has had 132,621 total confirmed cases and 659 deaths from Covid-19 .
Fauci and other leading experts have described how the work of the White House coronavirus taskforce has stuttered and dwindled .
On Sunday , the day after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden made his first two appointments to his own panel of Covid advisers .
Former surgeon general Dr Vivek Murthy and former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr David Kessler will serve as co-chairs .
Other names on the panel , announced Monday , include Rick Bright , a scientist and Trump critic who quit the government in October ; the surgeon and New Yorker writer Atul Gawande ; bioethicist and former Obama aide Zeke Emanuel ; Luciana Borio , FDA acting chief scientist and National Security Council member under Trump ; and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the University of Minnesota .
Andrew Cuomo , the Democratic governor of New York , said he believed “ the political pressure of denying Covid is gone ” now Trump has been defeated .
Cuomo clashed often with Trump in the early days of the pandemic , when New York was hit hard .
“ I think you ’ ll see scientists speak with an unmuzzled voice now , ” Cuomo told ABC ’ s This Week .
“ And I think the numbers are going to go up , and Americans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is.
” A leading Democrat expected to be named to Biden ’ s cabinet said there was “ a sense of urgency throughout ” the president-elect ’ s team .
“ We know that every day is bringing more loss , more pain and more danger to the American people , ” Pete Buttigieg , a former mayor of South Bend , Indiana and candidate for the Democratic nomination , told Fox News Sunday .
“ And it ’ s why he ’ s not waiting until he ’ s taking office to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right kind of expertise and planning to actually listen to them.
” That said , Biden ’ s transition team will be limited in what it can do before taking power , particularly as Trump refuses to concede defeat .
A presidential appointee who controls when funding for the transition will be released has as yet refused to act .

Martin Pengelly in New York and agencies

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The number of US coronavirus cases passed 10m on Monday as the virus raged across many parts of the nation.
The US recorded more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases for a fifth day in a row on Sunday, and the death toll passed 237,000.
The numbers were released as Joe Biden named the members of his own Covid taskforce – and it was reported that Ben Carson, the housing and urban development secretary, had become the latest senior Trump aide to test positive for the virus.
Trump adviser David Bossie also tested positive as a new cluster of infections appeared to spring up in White House circles.
There was also promising news from Europe about the quest for a vaccine.
Some counts had previously put the US caseload over 10m but according to data from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, 105,927 new cases on Sunday brought the total to 9,964,540 earlier on Monday and the total did not pass the 10m mark until the afternoon.
The daily number was down from record highs on Friday and Saturday. The death toll stood at 237,409. But with cases holding at more than 100,000 a day, Dr Anthony Fauci’s infamous warning earlier this month still rang true.
“We’re in for a whole lot of hurt,” Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the Washington Post. “It’s not a good situation. All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors. You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.”
Deaths are expected to rise. “The next two months are going to be rough, difficult ones,” Dr Albert Ko, an infectious disease specialist at the Yale School of Public Health, told the Associated Press. “We could see another 100,000 deaths by January.”
During the presidential election, Donald Trump repeatedly insisted the US was “rounding the corner” and refused to enforce mitigation measures at the White House and campaign events. On Monday, Carson followed the president, members of his family, senior White House and campaign aides and top Republicans in Congress in contracting the virus.
Carson reportedly experienced symptoms and was tested at Walter Reed hospital, outside Washington DC, though he did not remain there for care. According to Bloomberg News, other attendees at a White House election night watch party last Tuesday included the attorney general, Bill Barr, the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, and the health secretary, Alex Azar.
On Monday morning, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that interim results in large-scale trials showed their Covid-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective. The companies touted “a great day for science and humanity”.
Biden heralded the scientists’ work, which will certainly be in demand. From Delaware, where transition planning continued, the president-elect said: “It is also important to understand that the end of the battle against Covid-19 is still months away.”
Even if the vaccine were to be approved by late November, as industry leaders predicted, Biden said “it will be many more months before there is widespread vaccination in this country.”
02:41 Joe Biden: US still facing 'very dark winter' despite promising coronavirus vaccine news – video
He also said that for now, “a mask remains a more potent weapon against the virus than the vaccine” and emphasized precautions such as face coverings, social distancing and contact tracing.
Mike Pence tried to take credit for the vaccine breakthrough, claiming Trump’s Operation Warp Speed initiative had spurred it – an assertion Pfizer rejected outright.
“We were never part of the Warp Speed,” said Kathrin Jansen, the head of vaccine research and development. “We have never taken any money from the US government, or from anyone.”
Fauci, speaking on Monday afternoon to CNN, said the vaccine news was promising and that the US pharmaceutical company Moderna, in partnership with the federal government in what’s been dubbed Operation Warp Speed, was expecting results soon from trials of a vaccine almost identical to Pfizer’s.
Fauci said that a vaccine was “right around the corner” and “help is on the way” for the world.
Meanwhile, states across the US are struggling. On Sunday. the Republican governor of Utah, Gary Herbert, declared a new state of emergency.
“Due to the alarming rate of Covid infections within our state, tonight I issued a new state of emergency with several critical changes to our response,” Herbert said. “These changes are not shutting down our economy, but are absolutely necessary to save lives and hospital capacity.”
The governor said the state was being placed under a mask mandate until further notice and casual social gatherings were being limited to household-only for the next two weeks. All extracurricular activities were being put on hold, he said.
Utah has had 132,621 total confirmed cases and 659 deaths.
In California, governor Gavin Newsom warned on Monday that the state’s positivity rate was on the rise, after a period of relative success in containing the virus. He also said some counties could move “backward” into more restrictive rules for reopening.
Fauci and other experts have described how the work of the White House coronavirus taskforce has stuttered and dwindled. On Sunday, the day after his victory over Trump was called, Biden made his first two appointments to his own panel of Covid advisers.
The former surgeon general Dr Vivek Murthy and the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr David Kessler will be co-chairs. Members include Rick Bright, a scientist and Trump critic who quit the government in October; the surgeon and New Yorker writer Atul Gawande; bioethicist and former Obama aide Zeke Emanuel; Luciana Borio, the FDA acting chief scientist and national security council member under Trump; and Michael Osterholm, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Minnesota.


theguardian--2020-11-09--Donald Trump’s refusal to concede sparks transition sabotage fears

Donald Trump ’ s refusal to acknowledge his loss in the 2020 election has fed concerns that the presidential transition would be sabotaged , as a Trump appointee refused to sign off on funding for the transition and the Trump campaign announced an expanded legal strategy in a quest to reverse the election result .
The Center for Presidential Transition , a nonpartisan advisory board , urged the Trump administration on Sunday to begin the handoff to staff supporting Joe Biden , whose victory continued to grow in magnitude as states completed their ballot counts .
“ We urge the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transition process and the Biden team to take full advantage of the resources available under the presidential transition act , ” the transition center said in a letter Sunday .
“ This was a hard-fought campaign , but history is replete with examples of presidents who emerged from such campaigns to graciously assist their successors.
” Neither Trump nor his campaign nor political appointees has the power to stop the transition , and there was no sign that the basic steps toward Biden ’ s installation as president were at risk of interruption @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the transition could slow the ability of some agencies to act on directives by Biden in essential areas such as pandemic response and the reinstatement of environmental regulations , protections for migrants and international accords .
A Trump appointee named Emily Murphy , who is administrator of the General Services Administration , has refused to sign a letter allowing the Biden team to formally begin its work , the Washington Post first reported .
The paperwork would release millions of dollars for use in the transition process and give Biden ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ space and equipment .
Action by Trump administration officials to initiate the transition seemed unlikely without the assent of Trump himself , who has made no in-person public statement in the days since the election was called but who has tweeted false accusations of fraud and pressured campaign staff to expand challenges to the election .
Members of Trump ’ s White House staff and even his campaign staff realise that he has lost , and top advisers including chief of staff Mark Meadows have urged Trump to consider a concession , CNN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani , his son-in-law , Jared Kushner , and others have urged him to hold rallies to challenge the election result , CNN reported .
Giuliani and others have laid out an expanded legal challenge to the election that would include previously debunked claims such as voting by dead people , Axios reported .
Trump ’ s legal strategy has gained zero traction so far , with judges throwing cases out of court for lack of evidence , and there was no indication that any new strategy would fare @ @ @ @ @ @ @ set up a “ voter fraud hotline ” , but instead of hot tips , aides taking phonecalls and emails have been subjected to a barrage of pranks from “ lefty teenagers ” and received “ disturbing unsolicited adult images , ” Axios said .
The false accusations of fraud were landing powerfully among Trump supporters , however .
The city commissioner ’ s office in Philadelphia , where counting took days owing to rules put in place by the Republican legislature , had been targeted by death threats , one commissioner , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ news programme on Sunday .
“ At the end of the day , we are counting eligible votes cast by voters .
The controversy surrounding it is something I don ’ t understand , ” he said .
“ Counting votes cast on or before election day by eligible voters is not corruption .
It is not cheating .
It is democracy .
“ From the inside looking out , it all feels very deranged .
”

Donald Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his loss in the 2020 election has fed concerns that the presidential transition would be sabotaged, as a Trump appointee refused to sign off on funding for the transition and the Trump campaign announced an expanded legal strategy in a quest to reverse the election result.
The Center for Presidential Transition, a nonpartisan advisory board, urged the Trump administration on Sunday to begin the handoff to staff supporting Joe Biden, whose victory continued to grow in magnitude as states completed their ballot counts.
“We urge the Trump administration to immediately begin the post-election transition process and the Biden team to take full advantage of the resources available under the presidential transition act,” the transition center said in a letter Sunday.
“This was a hard-fought campaign, but history is replete with examples of presidents who emerged from such campaigns to graciously assist their successors.”
Neither Trump nor his campaign nor political appointees has the power to stop the transition, and there was no sign that the basic steps toward Biden’s installation as president were at risk of interruption.
But non-cooperation by the Trump administration in the transition could slow the ability of some agencies to act on directives by Biden in essential areas such as pandemic response and the reinstatement of environmental regulations, protections for migrants and international accords.
A Trump appointee named Emily Murphy, who is administrator of the General Services Administration, has refused to sign a letter allowing the Biden team to formally begin its work, the Washington Post first reported. The paperwork would release millions of dollars for use in the transition process and give Biden’s team access to government officials and office space and equipment.
Action by Trump administration officials to initiate the transition seemed unlikely without the assent of Trump himself, who has made no in-person public statement in the days since the election was called but who has tweeted false accusations of fraud and pressured campaign staff to expand challenges to the election.
Members of Trump’s White House staff and even his campaign staff realise that he has lost, and top advisers including chief of staff Mark Meadows have urged Trump to consider a concession, CNN and the New York Times have reported
But Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and others have urged him to hold rallies to challenge the election result, CNN reported. Giuliani and others have laid out an expanded legal challenge to the election that would include previously debunked claims such as voting by dead people, Axios reported.
Trump’s legal strategy has gained zero traction so far, with judges throwing cases out of court for lack of evidence, and there was no indication that any new strategy would fare any differently. The Trump campaign has set up a “voter fraud hotline”, but instead of hot tips, aides taking phonecalls and emails have been subjected to a barrage of pranks from “lefty teenagers” and received “disturbing unsolicited adult images,” Axios said.
The false accusations of fraud were landing powerfully among Trump supporters, however. The city commissioner’s office in Philadelphia, where counting took days owing to rules put in place by the Republican legislature, had been targeted by death threats, one commissioner, Al Schmidt, told the 60 Minutes news programme on Sunday.
“At the end of the day, we are counting eligible votes cast by voters. The controversy surrounding it is something I don’t understand,” he said. “Counting votes cast on or before election day by eligible voters is not corruption. It is not cheating. It is democracy.
“From the inside looking out, it all feels very deranged.”


theguardian--2020-11-09--How Joe Biden won the presidency – a visual guide

Joe Biden has won the majority of electoral votes and defeated incumbent Donald Trump .
With a majority of the results now declared in the US presidential election , it is clear that while Biden won the popular vote by more than 4m votes , what mattered most was his performance in the battleground states of Wisconsin , Michigan and Pennsylvania – all of which voted for Trump in 2016 .
We can see a more granular picture of how Biden won the election by looking at how every county ’ s vote has changed compared to 2016 .
While @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will not be available for several days yet , we can get a clue as to how different people voted by looking at the profile of each county ’ s population and seeing how their vote changed from 2016 .
Biden gained votes in metropolitan areas – and crucially , the suburbs .
A big reason Biden won this election was because of the big turnouts in urban areas and his huge gains in their suburbs .
Of the 436 large metropolitan counties , 71 % saw increased support for Biden in this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gained votes in rural counties , with 54 % of them swinging to him after already favouring him by large margins in 2016 .
In Decatur county , Iowa – a rural place where about 93 % of residents are white – Trump had a 40-point advantage over Biden .
Just four years ago , Trump ’ s advantage was 30 points over Clinton and in 2012 Republican Mitt Romney ’ s advantage over Democrat Barack Obama was a mere four points .
Biden gained votes in and around large metropolitan areas .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ suburbs outweighed Trump ’ s gains in rural counties , helping him flip Pennsylvania and Michigan .
Biden also gained votes in smaller metropolitan areas , like Pima county , Arizona .
This result reveals the widening political polarisation between those who live in cities and suburbs and those in the rural areas around them .
Biden gained votes in the large majority of counties where at least 20 % of people have four-year college degrees .
The rest of the country swung the other direction , supporting Trump by even wider margins @ @ @ @ @ @ @ college-educated people swung to Biden For example , in Gwinnett county , Georgia – where one in three people have college degrees – Biden won by about 18 percentage points .
Just four years ago , Clinton only had a six-point advantage .
This represents a wider trend : among the counties with over 30 % of the population holding a college degree , some 87 % swung to the Democrats .
Trump rose to the presidency in 2016 by activating a patchwork of working class voters in rural America .
These voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump in 2020 , but that wasn ’ t enough to offset the increased turnout in areas with more college-educated people .
Young Americans , who traditionally don ’ t vote , turned out in large numbers for Biden in 2020 .
This has shifted the whole country over to the Democrats , especially areas with a higher proportion of young people .
Among the 366 counties where at least a quarter of people are aged under 35 , 67 % swung towards Biden compared to the 2016 presidential election .
This isn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Whitman county , Washington , where half the residents are under 35 , Biden won by about 10 points .
Just four years earlier Clinton had just a four-point advantage and in 2012 Obama lost the county by three points .
The pandemic likely had a part to play in this mobilisation .
It put a record number of young people out of work and shut down most college campuses .
Polarisation may have led to record turnout One of the clear takeaways of this election was that the places that convincingly voted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ again in 2020 by an even larger margin .
This wasn ’ t true for Democrats : the places Clinton won at least 60 % of the vote in 2016 didn ’ t give Biden a larger margin in 2020 .
But moderate counties – the ones where neither candidate won 60 % of the vote in 2016 – swung toward Biden in 2020 .
The election results reveal a deepening divide in America , not just along partisan lines but along along geographic boundaries .
Diverse metropolitan areas and their suburbs with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ politically activated by the last four years of the Trump presidency and turned out in record numbers .
More rural areas , often overwhelmingly white and working class , doubled down on their support for Trump – and their disdain for Democrats .
This increase in intensity on both sides of the political spectrum led to record turnout in this election , even amid a pandemic .
Some 64 % of eligible voters turned out to vote in this election with ballots still to be counted , the highest level in more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in this article is the percentage point difference in the Democrat-Republican vote margin between the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections .
Blank counties or states have no results at the time of publishing .
Data sources : AP for election results .
American Community Survey and National Center for Health Statistics for demographic information • The graph of voter turnout was amended on 9 November 2020 .
The 15th amendment granted non-white men the right to vote , not non-white people as stated in an earlier version .
Women did not gain the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was introduced , as the graph shows .

Ashley Kirk, Pablo Gutiérrez , Alvin Chang and Rashida Kamal

Joe Biden has won the majority of electoral votes and defeated incumbent Donald Trump.
With a majority of the results now declared in the US presidential election, it is clear that while Biden won the popular vote by more than 4m votes, what mattered most was his performance in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania – all of which voted for Trump in 2016.
We can see a more granular picture of how Biden won the election by looking at how every county’s vote has changed compared to 2016.
Loading... Biden Trump Swing from 2016. Larger arrows indicate larger swings Swing to Democrats Swing to Republicans Swing to Democrats Swing to Republicans Swing from 2016. Larger arrows indicate larger swings
Who swung to Biden?
While a full demographic breakdown of the results will not be available for several days yet, we can get a clue as to how different people voted by looking at the profile of each county’s population and seeing how their vote changed from 2016.
Biden gained votes in metropolitan areas – and crucially, the suburbs.
A big reason Biden won this election was because of the big turnouts in urban areas and his huge gains in their suburbs.
Of the 436 large metropolitan counties, 71% saw increased support for Biden in this election compared to 2016.
Urban-rural divide persists with cities swinging to Biden
Counties divided into three groups based on their level of urbanisation. Difference between Trump's presidential performance and the Republican candidates' House performance (pp).
Trump actually gained votes in rural counties, with 54% of them swinging to him after already favouring him by large margins in 2016. In Decatur county, Iowa – a rural place where about 93% of residents are white – Trump had a 40-point advantage over Biden. Just four years ago, Trump’s advantage was 30 points over Clinton and in 2012 Republican Mitt Romney’s advantage over Democrat Barack Obama was a mere four points.
Biden gained votes in and around large metropolitan areas. Democratic swing in the Philadelphia and Detroit suburbs outweighed Trump’s gains in rural counties, helping him flip Pennsylvania and Michigan. Biden also gained votes in smaller metropolitan areas, like Pima county, Arizona.
This result reveals the widening political polarisation between those who live in cities and suburbs and those in the rural areas around them.
Biden made large gains in college-educated areas
Biden gained votes in the large majority of counties where at least 20% of people have four-year college degrees. The rest of the country swung the other direction, supporting Trump by even wider margins than in 2016.
Areas with more college-educated people swung to Biden
Counties divided into four groups based on the proportion of people who have a four-year college degree. Swing is the percentage point change from 2016 results (pp).
For example, in Gwinnett county, Georgia – where one in three people have college degrees – Biden won by about 18 percentage points. Just four years ago, Clinton only had a six-point advantage. This represents a wider trend: among the counties with over 30% of the population holding a college degree, some 87% swung to the Democrats.
Trump rose to the presidency in 2016 by activating a patchwork of working class voters in rural America. These voters turned out in even larger numbers for Trump in 2020, but that wasn’t enough to offset the increased turnout in areas with more college-educated people.
Areas with younger voters swung heavily toward Biden
Young Americans, who traditionally don’t vote, turned out in large numbers for Biden in 2020. This has shifted the whole country over to the Democrats, especially areas with a higher proportion of young people.
Counties with more young people helped Biden
Counties divided into three groups based on the proportion of people aged between 18 and 34 years old. Swing is the percentage point change from 2016 results (pp).
Among the 366 counties where at least a quarter of people are aged under 35, 67% swung towards Biden compared to the 2016 presidential election. This isn’t just big cities. In Whitman county, Washington, where half the residents are under 35, Biden won by about 10 points. Just four years earlier Clinton had just a four-point advantage and in 2012 Obama lost the county by three points.
The pandemic likely had a part to play in this mobilisation. It put a record number of young people out of work and shut down most college campuses.
Polarisation may have led to record turnout
One of the clear takeaways of this election was that the places that convincingly voted for Trump in 2016 voted for him again in 2020 by an even larger margin. This wasn’t true for Democrats: the places Clinton won at least 60% of the vote in 2016 didn’t give Biden a larger margin in 2020.
But moderate counties – the ones where neither candidate won 60% of the vote in 2016 – swung toward Biden in 2020.
The election results reveal a deepening divide in America, not just along partisan lines but along along geographic boundaries. Diverse metropolitan areas and their suburbs with a higher density of college-educated people were politically activated by the last four years of the Trump presidency and turned out in record numbers. More rural areas, often overwhelmingly white and working class, doubled down on their support for Trump – and their disdain for Democrats.
This increase in intensity on both sides of the political spectrum led to record turnout in this election, even amid a pandemic.
Some 64% of eligible voters turned out to vote in this election with ballots still to be counted, the highest level in more than 100 years.
The swing figure used in this article is the percentage point difference in the Democrat-Republican vote margin between the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Blank counties or states have no results at the time of publishing. Data sources: AP for election results. American Community Survey and National Center for Health Statistics for demographic information


theguardian--2020-11-09--Republican governor wins in Montana, raising fears for beloved wilderness

Admirers of national parks and world-class trout streams in the state of Montana have expressed alarm over the election of a new Republican governor and his environmental plans .
The governor , former software developer Greg Gianforte , has in the past sought to strip protections from 700,000 acres of wilderness , and his conservative “ Montana Comeback Plan ” election platform promises to “ streamline ” permitting processes to increase logging , coalmining , and oil and gas production .
In May 2017 , while running for a Montana congressional seat that he won , Gianforte was charged with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ben Jacobs to the floor .
Gianforte pleaded guilty to assault and apologized for the incident , and also pledged to donate $ 50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists .
Donald Trump later praised Gianforte at a rally in Montana , saying “ Any guy that can do a body slam – that ’ s my guy.
” While in Congress , Gianforte made a habit of attacking protections for public lands and water .
“ I ‘ m concerned about loss of access [ to public lands and waters ] , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , rolling back environmental protections , wet-blanketing efforts to address the climate crisis and innovations in clean energy , and the loss of funding for management and maintenance of public lands , ” said Juanita Vero , a Missoula county commissioner and multi-generational rancher in the Blackfoot valley , who served as Montana Conservation Voters ’ board chair for a time .
A proposal formulated with Montana Senator Steve Daines would have stripped protections from more than a half-million acres of Wilderness Study Areas .
If the move had been successful , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of protected lands in Montana history .
Gianforte garnered headlines , many critical , in Montana for having sued the state to block stream access to a popular fishing access site on the East Gallatin River near Bozeman .
Kristen Juras , his running mate for his gubernatorial campaign , once also penned an article arguing that Montana ’ s law guaranteeing river access to anglers and boaters goes too far .
This year , Gianforte introduced a federal bill that would have amended the US Endangered Species Act and delisted the grizzly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ review , roll back and repeal ” regulations on extractive industries that he deems excessive or unnecessary , and is a proponent of exporting Montana coal and undoing emissions limits on power plants .
“ Gianforte is a major coal development booster , ” Robin Saha , an associate professor of environmental studies at the University of Montana , told E & E News recently .
“ He has been silent on climate and energy policy beyond wanting to promote coal development and protect the coalmining and coal-fired power plant industries in Montana.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ for comment .
Given the evidence , the League of Conservation Voters , a not-for-profit that evaluates the environmental records of politicians , listed Gianforte on its Dirty Dozen in the States list of “ the worst environmental candidates in the nation at the state and local level ” .
He has a lifetime score of just 5 % from the LCV .
A lifelong member of the National Rifle Association with a 92 % rating from the organization , he invited it to move its offices to Montana a few months before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up and down the ballot , delivering the Montana GOP the biggest landslide a single party has received in decades .
Gianforte rode his support for Trump to win by 16 points over his Democratic opponent .
So did Steve Daines , who beat current Governor Steve Bullock for his second term in the US Senate , and Matt Rosendale , who will take over from Gianforte in the US House .
Montana Republicans also swept the state downballot races .
“ If anything is going to get accomplished , the Democrats have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work with our Republican majority , ” said Vero , the rancher .
“ We ’ re not taking our marbles and going home .
We ’ ve got ta stay at the table and play the game .
”

Admirers of national parks and world-class trout streams in the state of Montana have expressed alarm over the election of a new Republican governor and his environmental plans.
The governor, former software developer Greg Gianforte, has in the past sought to strip protections from 700,000 acres of wilderness, and his conservative “Montana Comeback Plan” election platform promises to “streamline” permitting processes to increase logging, coalmining, and oil and gas production.
In May 2017, while running for a Montana congressional seat that he won, Gianforte was charged with assault after “bodyslamming” Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs to the floor. Gianforte pleaded guilty to assault and apologized for the incident, and also pledged to donate $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Donald Trump later praised Gianforte at a rally in Montana, saying “Any guy that can do a body slam – that’s my guy.”
While in Congress, Gianforte made a habit of attacking protections for public lands and water.
“I‘m concerned about loss of access [to public lands and waters], sales of public land to corporate interests, rolling back environmental protections, wet-blanketing efforts to address the climate crisis and innovations in clean energy, and the loss of funding for management and maintenance of public lands,” said Juanita Vero, a Missoula county commissioner and multi-generational rancher in the Blackfoot valley, who served as Montana Conservation Voters’ board chair for a time.
A proposal formulated with Montana Senator Steve Daines would have stripped protections from more than a half-million acres of Wilderness Study Areas. If the move had been successful, it would have been the single biggest rollback of protected lands in Montana history.
Gianforte garnered headlines, many critical, in Montana for having sued the state to block stream access to a popular fishing access site on the East Gallatin River near Bozeman. Kristen Juras, his running mate for his gubernatorial campaign, once also penned an article arguing that Montana’s law guaranteeing river access to anglers and boaters goes too far.
This year, Gianforte introduced a federal bill that would have amended the US Endangered Species Act and delisted the grizzly bear. He also pledged to “review, roll back and repeal” regulations on extractive industries that he deems excessive or unnecessary, and is a proponent of exporting Montana coal and undoing emissions limits on power plants.
“Gianforte is a major coal development booster,” Robin Saha, an associate professor of environmental studies at the University of Montana, told E&E News recently. “He has been silent on climate and energy policy beyond wanting to promote coal development and protect the coalmining and coal-fired power plant industries in Montana.”
Gianforte did not respond to requests for comment. Given the evidence, the League of Conservation Voters, a not-for-profit that evaluates the environmental records of politicians, listed Gianforte on its Dirty Dozen in the States list of “the worst environmental candidates in the nation at the state and local level”. He has a lifetime score of just 5% from the LCV.
A lifelong member of the National Rifle Association with a 92% rating from the organization, he invited it to move its offices to Montana a few months before the election.
Montanans elected Republican candidates up and down the ballot, delivering the Montana GOP the biggest landslide a single party has received in decades. Gianforte rode his support for Trump to win by 16 points over his Democratic opponent. So did Steve Daines, who beat current Governor Steve Bullock for his second term in the US Senate, and Matt Rosendale, who will take over from Gianforte in the US House. Montana Republicans also swept the state downballot races.
“If anything is going to get accomplished, the Democrats have got to figure out a way to work with our Republican majority,” said Vero, the rancher. “We’re not taking our marbles and going home. We’ve gotta stay at the table and play the game.”