alternet--2020-11-18--North Dakota is facing the world’s worst outbreak as Native communities condemn the COVID response

As COVID-19 rampages through the U.S. , we look at how the rapid spread of the disease is affecting Native American communities , which have already faced disproportionate infection and death rates throughout the pandemic .
`` We 're having a lot of people perish .
We 're having a lot of death , a lot of hospitalizations , '' says Jodi Archambault , a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and former special assistant to President Obama for Native American affairs .
We also speak with Allie Young , founder of Protect the Sacred , who says the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flatten the curve '' of COVID-19 infections but is still vulnerable due to lax public health measures in nearby areas .
`` We have to travel to these territories where they 're not wearing masks , they 're not thinking about their neighbors who 've been impacted , '' says Young .
This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
I 'm Amy Goodman , with Juan González .
This is The Quarantine Report , as we go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the highest COVID-19 death rate of any state or country in the world , with one in every thousand residents dead from the virus .
South Dakota 's death rate is nearly as bad , after both state governments spent months downplaying the crisis , the Republican governors refusing to issue mask mandates , until just recently in North Dakota .
Over the weekend , facing rapidly spiking numbers , North Dakota 's Governor Doug Burgum finally declared a statewide mask mandate , limited indoor restaurant capacity , and shut down high school @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week after he said infected but asymptomatic healthcare workers should still work and treat COVID-19 patients at hospitals .
Meanwhile , the right-wing South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem , a close Trump ally , who welcomed him to Mount Rushmore , continues to deny the crisis , will not issue a mask mandate .
A South Dakota emergency room nurse told CNN she 's treated many patients who deny COVID-19 is making them ill , even as they 're hospitalized and die of the disease .
As COVID-19 ravages the Dakotas , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rapid spread of COVID-19 is affecting Native American communities , which have already faced disproportionate infection and death rates throughout the pandemic .
We 're joined by Jodi Archambault .
She 's a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe , the former special assistant to President Obama for Native American affairs for the White House Domestic Policy Council .
She is in the capital of North Dakota ; she 's in Bismarck .
She 's also the sister of the former chair of the Standing Rock Sioux , Dave Archambault .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 're joined by Allie Young , a citizen of Navajo Nation , founder of Protect the Sacred .
We welcome you both to Democracy Now !
Jodi , let 's begin with you .
North Dakota has the deadliest COVID death rate in the world .
Can you talk about its effect on the Native American community there , of which you are a part ?
JODI ARCHAMBAULT : Thank you , Amy .
Sure .
I would just like to say that this has been a tough several months , just hoping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state government , the way that they behave and the way that they react affects our people directly , mostly because we have some of the highest rates of the underlying conditions that make COVID-19 a deadly disease .
And so , we 're having a lot of people perish .
We 're having a lot of death , a lot of hospitalizations .
And it 's affecting us in ways that is not widely known by the rest of America .
We have very few years — we have about maybe a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we have to save our language , our Lakota language , our Dakota language .
We also have other tribes in North Dakota , like the Arikara , the Mandan and the Hidatsa .
Most of the speakers of our languages are over the age of 70 .
And we do n't have very much time to spend with them and learn and protect and revitalize our languages .
And COVID-19 has put on an additional layer of risk , that is just putting us into a very difficult time .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did it get to this stage , especially in the Native communities of the state ?
How did the pandemic spread so rapidly in your community ?
JODI ARCHAMBAULT : It did n't spread very rapidly at first .
As you know , the COVID-19 hit the cities first , and hit Seattle and New York City .
In North Dakota and South Dakota , we shut down the businesses and took a lot of precautions early on , until about May .
And North and South Dakota were the first states to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — restaurants .
People were shy at first .
But at this point , there 's a lot of people who have followed the line of thinking that COVID-19 is a hoax , or it 's some kind of Democrat conspiracy .
And a lot of people refuse to wear masks , even with a mask mandate .
This has all accelerated on the reservations .
Reservations or tribal nations , such as Eagle Butte , the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Oglala Sioux Tribe , the Sisseton , Wahpeton , Rosebud @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They 've all implemented roadblocks to stop traffic and outsiders from coming on the reservation .
And the response to their action to protect tribal members , elders and the like was for the governor , Noem , to torture them and hold them hostage with funding .
She has coordinated with the Trump administration to make it difficult to receive the federal resources that are allocated to the tribal governments , and have used that as a stick for them to try to force them to take the roadblocks down .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for trying to address the lack of health services available on the reservation , she has made it more and more difficult for people , for our tribes to protect ourselves .
AMY GOODMAN : North Dakota governor — can you talk about his originally saying that people who are healthcare workers who test positive for COVID should remain working if they are asymptomatic , and treat COVID-19 patients , and Governor Burgum then being forced to back down after the outcry , saying no to a mask mandate , then saying yes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tell you that from — we do n't have — it 's really hard to speak up in North Dakota .
The news sources out here do n't cover an alternate perspective .
But I will say that the Nurses Association , an advocacy group , did issue a press release after Governor Burgum said that they could go back to work while they were testing COVID-positive .
That was last week on Wednesday .
And within hours , there was a pushback from the Nurses Association .
None of the hospitals have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And it 's ridiculous that the leadership 's response to being the worst COVID rates in the world would be to allow nurses to infect other nurses , other doctors and other patients by coming to work with COVID .
It 's the most preposterous type of government action that I 've ever heard of .
So , the business is — the business of the hospital is asking for this kind of , I guess , allowance , to allow sick people without symptoms to come and spread ?
But actually , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we 're talking about is the lack of compassion for those elders , not just Native elders , but all elders , all people with underlying health conditions , like cancer .
It is an absolute choice , a clear choice , to choose profit over people .
So , the governor is n't putting people first ; he 's putting profit first .
And the same with Governor Noem down in South Dakota .
They have been — she has been actively asking people to come to South Dakota , come to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world and have your vacation , because we do n't care if you wear a mask or not .
That 's what her response is , and to increase the risk that tribal governments — by forcing them to take down their barriers , or trying to force them down — they have n't taken them down .
It 's remarkable that they 're able to stick to that governance decision , that is saving lives on the reservations .
It 's still spreading .
It 's still spreading on the reservations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and cities .
And so it 's getting in .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : Yeah , I 'd like to bring in Allie Young to the conversation , a citizen of the Navajo Nation and founder of Protect the Sacred .
Allie , welcome to Democracy Now !
Could you talk about the situation in Navajo Nation in terms of COVID ?
And also maybe comment on the fact that not all Native areas have gaming , but quite a significant percentage do , and often it 's the gaming revenues that help provide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you talk about the impact of the shutdowns on the ability of Native peoples to provide health services , as well ?
ALLIE YOUNG : Yeah .
Yá'át'ééh , hello , everyone .
Thank you for having me .
Yeah , right now we are seeing another surge in Navajo Nation , as we expected .
We , as you all know , were the number one hot spot in the country per capita in the spring .
And we worked hard to flatten the curve , and we were able to .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ zero reported cases .
But recently , because of the spikes across the country , what we 've been seeing throughout the nation , with some of the rallies — I mean , you know , some of our border towns around here are Trump territory , and so there were rallies that I witnessed .
And a lot of our people come into these border towns to do their shopping , because on Navajo Nation , you know , we have like 13 grocery stores .
So we have to travel to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about — they 're not wearing masks , and they 're not thinking about their neighbors who have been impacted .
And then , to your point about the gaming industry in Native communities , at Navajo Nation we have some casinos and hotels , as well , and they 've all been shut down .
And it has impacted us economically , financially .
And as far as healthcare , we 've had to — you know , I worked on a PSA through Protect the Sacred that called out for medical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that we were in , that we had to make that call out for PPE supplies , medical volunteers , because we just lack all of those resources and funding in our tribal communities , when we 're supposed to be guaranteed quality healthcare through our treaties with the federal government .
AMY GOODMAN : And , Allie Young , you 've talked about feeling that so many Native elders are suffering as a result of the decades of uranium mining , particularly of pulmonary and respiratory diseases , making them even more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over 600 people just on the Navajo Reservation have died as of this weekend of COVID .
ALLIE YOUNG : Yes .
That is something that I am trying to connect the dots to anyone I speak to : Let 's not forget about how the federal government greenlit these companies coming in to extract our minerals on tribal reservations .
In Navajo Nation , for 30-plus years , we had Peabody up in the northwestern region of Navajo Nation , which was our hot spot within the nation .
And a lot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ waters and our lands are contaminated by uranium .
And our elders had to work through — and even my own uncles — you know , they just shut down last year , in 2019 .
So , a lot of our people have worked through those unsafe environments and certainly have those preexisting and underlying conditions , that we need to consider in why we 're so vulnerable to this virus .

As COVID-19 rampages through the U.S., we look at how the rapid spread of the disease is affecting Native American communities, which have already faced disproportionate infection and death rates throughout the pandemic. "We're having a lot of people perish. We're having a lot of death, a lot of hospitalizations," says Jodi Archambault, a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and former special assistant to President Obama for Native American affairs. We also speak with Allie Young, founder of Protect the Sacred, who says the Navajo Nation has "worked hard to flatten the curve" of COVID-19 infections but is still vulnerable due to lax public health measures in nearby areas. "We have to travel to these territories where they're not wearing masks, they're not thinking about their neighbors who've been impacted," says Young.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I'm Amy Goodman, with Juan González. This is The Quarantine Report, as we go to North Dakota, which currently has the highest COVID-19 death rate of any state or country in the world, with one in every thousand residents dead from the virus. South Dakota's death rate is nearly as bad, after both state governments spent months downplaying the crisis, the Republican governors refusing to issue mask mandates, until just recently in North Dakota.
Over the weekend, facing rapidly spiking numbers, North Dakota's Governor Doug Burgum finally declared a statewide mask mandate, limited indoor restaurant capacity, and shut down high school sports. The move came just a week after he said infected but asymptomatic healthcare workers should still work and treat COVID-19 patients at hospitals.
Meanwhile, the right-wing South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem, a close Trump ally, who welcomed him to Mount Rushmore, continues to deny the crisis, will not issue a mask mandate. A South Dakota emergency room nurse told CNN she's treated many patients who deny COVID-19 is making them ill, even as they're hospitalized and die of the disease.
As COVID-19 ravages the Dakotas, we turn to look at how the rapid spread of COVID-19 is affecting Native American communities, which have already faced disproportionate infection and death rates throughout the pandemic. We're joined by Jodi Archambault. She's a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the former special assistant to President Obama for Native American affairs for the White House Domestic Policy Council. She is in the capital of North Dakota; she's in Bismarck. She's also the sister of the former chair of the Standing Rock Sioux, Dave Archambault. And in Farmington, New Mexico, we're joined by Allie Young, a citizen of Navajo Nation, founder of Protect the Sacred.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Jodi, let's begin with you. North Dakota has the deadliest COVID death rate in the world. Can you talk about its effect on the Native American community there, of which you are a part?
JODI ARCHAMBAULT: Thank you, Amy. Sure. I would just like to say that this has been a tough several months, just hoping that the government takes action. The state government, the way that they behave and the way that they react affects our people directly, mostly because we have some of the highest rates of the underlying conditions that make COVID-19 a deadly disease. And so, we're having a lot of people perish. We're having a lot of death, a lot of hospitalizations.
And it's affecting us in ways that is not widely known by the rest of America. We have very few years — we have about maybe a decade, maybe 15 years, where we have to save our language, our Lakota language, our Dakota language. We also have other tribes in North Dakota, like the Arikara, the Mandan and the Hidatsa. Most of the speakers of our languages are over the age of 70. And we don't have very much time to spend with them and learn and protect and revitalize our languages. And COVID-19 has put on an additional layer of risk, that is just putting us into a very difficult time.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Jodi Archambault, how did it get to this stage, especially in the Native communities of the state? How did the pandemic spread so rapidly in your community?
JODI ARCHAMBAULT: It didn't spread very rapidly at first. As you know, the COVID-19 hit the cities first, and hit Seattle and New York City. In North Dakota and South Dakota, we shut down the businesses and took a lot of precautions early on, until about May. And North and South Dakota were the first states to open their doors to business as usual — restaurants. People were shy at first. But at this point, there's a lot of people who have followed the line of thinking that COVID-19 is a hoax, or it's some kind of Democrat conspiracy. And a lot of people refuse to wear masks, even with a mask mandate.
This has all accelerated on the reservations. Reservations or tribal nations, such as Eagle Butte, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the Sisseton, Wahpeton, Rosebud, they've all installed roadblocks. They've all implemented roadblocks to stop traffic and outsiders from coming on the reservation. And the response to their action to protect tribal members, elders and the like was for the governor, Noem, to torture them and hold them hostage with funding. She has coordinated with the Trump administration to make it difficult to receive the federal resources that are allocated to the tribal governments, and have used that as a stick for them to try to force them to take the roadblocks down. And rather than supporting them and thanking them for trying to address the lack of health services available on the reservation, she has made it more and more difficult for people, for our tribes to protect ourselves.
AMY GOODMAN: North Dakota governor — can you talk about his originally saying that people who are healthcare workers who test positive for COVID should remain working if they are asymptomatic, and treat COVID-19 patients, and Governor Burgum then being forced to back down after the outcry, saying no to a mask mandate, then saying yes?
JODI ARCHAMBAULT: I'll just tell you that from — we don't have — it's really hard to speak up in North Dakota. The news sources out here don't cover an alternate perspective. But I will say that the Nurses Association, an advocacy group, did issue a press release after Governor Burgum said that they could go back to work while they were testing COVID-positive. That was last week on Wednesday. And within hours, there was a pushback from the Nurses Association. None of the hospitals have taken him up on the offer. And it's ridiculous that the leadership's response to being the worst COVID rates in the world would be to allow nurses to infect other nurses, other doctors and other patients by coming to work with COVID. It's the most preposterous type of government action that I've ever heard of.
So, the business is — the business of the hospital is asking for this kind of, I guess, allowance, to allow sick people without symptoms to come and spread? But actually, this has always — the situation that we're talking about is the lack of compassion for those elders, not just Native elders, but all elders, all people with underlying health conditions, like cancer. It is an absolute choice, a clear choice, to choose profit over people. So, the governor isn't putting people first; he's putting profit first.
And the same with Governor Noem down in South Dakota. They have been — she has been actively asking people to come to South Dakota, come to the hottest spot — second-hottest spot in the world and have your vacation, because we don't care if you wear a mask or not. That's what her response is, and to increase the risk that tribal governments — by forcing them to take down their barriers, or trying to force them down — they haven't taken them down. It's remarkable that they're able to stick to that governance decision, that is saving lives on the reservations. It's still spreading. It's still spreading on the reservations because there is active commerce between reservations and cities. And so it's getting in.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, I'd like to bring in Allie Young to the conversation, a citizen of the Navajo Nation and founder of Protect the Sacred.
Allie, welcome to Democracy Now! Could you talk about the situation in Navajo Nation in terms of COVID? And also maybe comment on the fact that not all Native areas have gaming, but quite a significant percentage do, and often it's the gaming revenues that help provide health services or social services. Could you talk about the impact of the shutdowns on the ability of Native peoples to provide health services, as well?
ALLIE YOUNG: Yeah. Yá'át'ééh, hello, everyone. Thank you for having me.
Yeah, right now we are seeing another surge in Navajo Nation, as we expected. We, as you all know, were the number one hot spot in the country per capita in the spring. And we worked hard to flatten the curve, and we were able to. There was a day where we had zero reported cases. But recently, because of the spikes across the country, what we've been seeing throughout the nation, with some of the rallies — I mean, you know, some of our border towns around here are Trump territory, and so there were rallies that I witnessed. And a lot of our people come into these border towns to do their shopping, because on Navajo Nation, you know, we have like 13 grocery stores. So we have to travel to these territories where they're not thinking about — they're not wearing masks, and they're not thinking about their neighbors who have been impacted.
And then, to your point about the gaming industry in Native communities, at Navajo Nation we have some casinos and hotels, as well, and they've all been shut down. And it has impacted us economically, financially. And as far as healthcare, we've had to — you know, I worked on a PSA through Protect the Sacred that called out for medical volunteers. And that's the state that we were in, that we had to make that call out for PPE supplies, medical volunteers, because we just lack all of those resources and funding in our tribal communities, when we're supposed to be guaranteed quality healthcare through our treaties with the federal government.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Allie Young, you've talked about feeling that so many Native elders are suffering as a result of the decades of uranium mining, particularly of pulmonary and respiratory diseases, making them even more vulnerable. We're talking something like over 600 people just on the Navajo Reservation have died as of this weekend of COVID.
ALLIE YOUNG: Yes. That is something that I am trying to connect the dots to anyone I speak to: Let's not forget about how the federal government greenlit these companies coming in to extract our minerals on tribal reservations. In Navajo Nation, for 30-plus years, we had Peabody up in the northwestern region of Navajo Nation, which was our hot spot within the nation. And a lot of our people up there — the waters and our lands are contaminated by uranium. And our elders had to work through — and even my own uncles — you know, they just shut down last year, in 2019. So, a lot of our people have worked through those unsafe environments and certainly have those preexisting and underlying conditions, that we need to consider in why we're so vulnerable to this virus.


alternet--2020-11-18--Trump and Tucker Carlson got caught falsely accusing a living woman of voting while dead

As decisive a victory as President-elect Joe Biden has enjoyed — 306 electoral votes and a nationwide lead of at least 5.8 million in the popular vote — President Donald Trump and his allies are still hoping to overturn the election results in key battleground states .
One of them is Georgia , where Trump 's campaign and Fox News ' Tucker Carlson wrongly accused a voter named Deborah Jean Christiansen of voting fraudulently .
But CNN interviewed Christiansen , ascertaining that her vote was perfectly legitimate .
Trump 's campaign and Carlton both accused Christiansen of voting in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , CNN reporters Konstantin Toropin , Daniel Dale and Amara Walker explain that in Georgia , there were two different women named Deborah Jean Christiansen .
One of them died in 2019 , but the other is alive and well and had every right to vote in the 2020 presidential election .
The two Georgia-based women , according to CNN , were `` born in the same year and month but on a different day . ''
And CNN interviewed the Deborah Jean Christiansen who is still living and voted for Biden .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` Christiansen answered the door when CNN showed up on Tuesday evening .
Christiansen , a retired mental health counselor who moved from Nebraska to Georgia in September , said she voted for Trump in 2016 but came to regret the decision , then voted for Joe Biden in 2020 .
Christiansen said the false accusation from the Trump campaign is 'just ridiculous , ' part of an effort by a 'narcissist ' president to deny the obvious reality of his defeat . ''
Christiansen told CNN , `` The guy lost the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about taking care of people , with this COVID-19 going on .
He 's got a pandemic .
Come on , Biden won .
Let 's move on .
Let 's help him transition . ''
The following misleading tweets were posted by Trump or members of his campaign , and one of them has been flagged by Twitter as `` disputed '' : According to Toropin , Dale and Walker , `` It is not clear whether the Trump campaign intentionally or unintentionally mixed up the living Deborah Jean Christiansen and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its motive , though , the president 's team was falsely alleging a crime had occurred — and needlessly putting private citizens in the national spotlight .
And it was not the only time the Trump campaign did so . ''

As decisive a victory as President-elect Joe Biden has enjoyed — 306 electoral votes and a nationwide lead of at least 5.8 million in the popular vote — President Donald Trump and his allies are still hoping to overturn the election results in key battleground states. One of them is Georgia, where Trump's campaign and Fox News' Tucker Carlson wrongly accused a voter named Deborah Jean Christiansen of voting fraudulently. But CNN interviewed Christiansen, ascertaining that her vote was perfectly legitimate.
Trump's campaign and Carlton both accused Christiansen of voting in the name of a dead woman. However, CNN reporters Konstantin Toropin, Daniel Dale and Amara Walker explain that in Georgia, there were two different women named Deborah Jean Christiansen. One of them died in 2019, but the other is alive and well and had every right to vote in the 2020 presidential election.
The two Georgia-based women, according to CNN, were "born in the same year and month but on a different day." And CNN interviewed the Deborah Jean Christiansen who is still living and voted for Biden.
Toropin, Dale and Walker explain, "Christiansen answered the door when CNN showed up on Tuesday evening. Christiansen, a retired mental health counselor who moved from Nebraska to Georgia in September, said she voted for Trump in 2016 but came to regret the decision, then voted for Joe Biden in 2020. Christiansen said the false accusation from the Trump campaign is 'just ridiculous,' part of an effort by a 'narcissist' president to deny the obvious reality of his defeat."
Christiansen told CNN, "The guy lost the election. He should be worried more about taking care of people, with this COVID-19 going on. He's got a pandemic. Come on, Biden won. Let's move on. Let's help him transition."
The following misleading tweets were posted by Trump or members of his campaign, and one of them has been flagged by Twitter as "disputed":
According to Toropin, Dale and Walker, "It is not clear whether the Trump campaign intentionally or unintentionally mixed up the living Deborah Jean Christiansen and the deceased Deborah Jean Christiansen. Regardless of its motive, though, the president's team was falsely alleging a crime had occurred — and needlessly putting private citizens in the national spotlight. And it was not the only time the Trump campaign did so."


alternet--2020-11-18--John Bolton fears that Trump has an 'enemies list' that he is working through

Critics of President Donald Trump predicted that after the presidential race , he would be firing some prominent officials he considered non-loyalists — even if he lost the election .
Trump did lose the election , and just as those critics predicted , he has been firing non-loyalists — and former National Security Adviser John Bolton , during a C-SPAN appearance on Wednesday , told the Washington Post 's Robert Costa that he fears Trump has an `` enemies list '' of more people he plans to fire .
Trump 's post-election firings have included former Defense Secretary Mark Esper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security 's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency .
Krebs ' unforgivable sin , in Trump 's mind , was arguing that the election was free and fair and that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud or errors as the president has been claiming .
When Costa asked Bolton for his reaction to the firing of Krebs , the former national security adviser responded , `` I thought it was another bad mistake .
There 's absolutely no justification for it .
There was n't @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the other top Defense Department officials… .
There 's no reason to decapitate your national security team with less than ten weeks to go until the transition . ''
Bolton added that Trump is causing `` disruptions '' to the United States ' national security when Biden 's inauguration is only two months away — and he predicted that more firings will be coming soon .
`` What I fear is… .
That 's there 's an enemies list in the White House of people still to fire and that there 's more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
When the Post reporter asked Bolton if he knew for certain that such a list exists , Bolton responded , `` No , no , I 'm worried that there 's an enemies list .
There probably is in Donald Trump 's head ; I doubt that he 's written it out . ''
Costa asked Bolton if he had any thoughts on the president 's `` intent '' and motivations for firing top officials like Esper and Krebs — to which Bolton responded , `` There 's no legitimate reason for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he fired Chris Krebs is that Krebs said there is no evidence , in cyberspace , of fraud , election hacking or other malfeasance — which is completely contrary to the fantasy world the president lives in .
That 's there a conspiracy so vast and so successful that it 's proceeding without leaving any evidence behind .
And under that kind of theory , you can posit evildoing forever . ''

Critics of President Donald Trump predicted that after the presidential race, he would be firing some prominent officials he considered non-loyalists — even if he lost the election. Trump did lose the election, and just as those critics predicted, he has been firing non-loyalists — and former National Security Adviser John Bolton, during a C-SPAN appearance on Wednesday, told the Washington Post's Robert Costa that he fears Trump has an "enemies list" of more people he plans to fire.
Trump's post-election firings have included former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Christopher Krebs, who served as director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Krebs' unforgivable sin, in Trump's mind, was arguing that the election was free and fair and that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud or errors as the president has been claiming.
When Costa asked Bolton for his reaction to the firing of Krebs, the former national security adviser responded, "I thought it was another bad mistake. There's absolutely no justification for it. There wasn't any justification to fire Mark Esper or the other top Defense Department officials…. There's no reason to decapitate your national security team with less than ten weeks to go until the transition."
Bolton added that Trump is causing "disruptions" to the United States' national security when Biden's inauguration is only two months away — and he predicted that more firings will be coming soon.
"What I fear is…. That's there's an enemies list in the White House of people still to fire and that there's more to come," Bolton told Costa. When the Post reporter asked Bolton if he knew for certain that such a list exists, Bolton responded, "No, no, I'm worried that there's an enemies list. There probably is in Donald Trump's head; I doubt that he's written it out."
Costa asked Bolton if he had any thoughts on the president's "intent" and motivations for firing top officials like Esper and Krebs — to which Bolton responded, "There's no legitimate reason for it. I'm sure the reason he fired Chris Krebs is that Krebs said there is no evidence, in cyberspace, of fraud, election hacking or other malfeasance — which is completely contrary to the fantasy world the president lives in. That's there a conspiracy so vast and so successful that it's proceeding without leaving any evidence behind. And under that kind of theory, you can posit evildoing forever."