truthout--2020-12-15--McConnell Acknowledges Biden’s Win, Tells GOP Senators Not to Contest It

Six weeks to the day after Election Day , and more than five weeks after most media outlets declared President-elect Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential race , Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R-Kentucky ) finally acknowledged Biden as the clear victor over President Donald Trump .
During those past several weeks , McConnell , a Trump loyalist , had refused to recognize that Biden had defeated the incumbent president , who continues to assert , without proof , that election fraud had played a significant role in Biden ’ s winning the election .
But one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which affirmed Biden had received 306 votes to Trump ’ s 232 , McConnell acquiesced to recognizing the Democratic candidate ’ s win .
“ The Electoral College has spoken .
So today , I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden , ” McConnell said in a statement on Tuesday .
After those remarks , Biden told reporters that he called McConnell to express his gratitude for acknowledging his win .
“ We ’ ve always been straight with one another and we agreed we ’ d get together sooner than later @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of McConnell sending his congratulatory remarks to Biden , he has also reportedly told his GOP colleagues in the Senate not to back any remaining attempts to deny the presidency to the president-elect .
During a conference call among Republican senators , McConnell pleaded with them not to back a plan by some Republicans in the House to contest the outcome of the Electoral College when Congress meets to certify the results on January 6 .
While McConnell said he wouldn ’ t try to stop anyone from joining that attempt , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an embarrassing moment for Senate Republicans .
It also would not accomplish much of anything , he reminded them , as the challenge would be blocked by the Democratic-controlled House .
Trump seems to be supportive of the effort by those few Republicans , however , to object to certifying the Electoral College results , as he tweeted an article on Tuesday detailing Rep. Mo Brooks ’ s ( R-Alabama ) plans to do so .
Brooks , in the article the president shared on social media , errantly claimed that Trump actually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only counted lawful votes cast by eligible American citizens.
” The assertions made by Brooks that suggest the election was rife with fraud , similar to all other claims made by Trump and his allies , have no basis in truth whatsoever and have been refuted by election officials , the media and Trump ’ s own Justice Department .
Although McConnell is lobbying his Republican colleagues not to contest the Electoral College outcome , and in spite of the niceties he and Biden shared on Tuesday , McConnell is set to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than an ally .
Indeed , sources close to the Kentucky Republican , speaking confidentially to Axios last month , indicated that the current Senate Majority Leader intends to block any non-centrist candidates to cabinet positions Biden intends to nominate to serve in his administration .
He will likely also attempt to block many of the legislative policies Biden and the Democrats will attempt to pass in the next term .
McConnell ’ s role as Senate Majority Leader , however , is not a foregone conclusion at this time .
Two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ month may result in Democrats taking control of the “ upper chamber , ” if Democratic candidates in those races , Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff , win against incumbent Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue , respectively .

Six weeks to the day after Election Day, and more than five weeks after most media outlets declared President-elect Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential race, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) finally acknowledged Biden as the clear victor over President Donald Trump.
During those past several weeks, McConnell, a Trump loyalist, had refused to recognize that Biden had defeated the incumbent president, who continues to assert, without proof, that election fraud had played a significant role in Biden’s winning the election.
But one day following the Electoral College vote count, which affirmed Biden had received 306 votes to Trump’s 232, McConnell acquiesced to recognizing the Democratic candidate’s win.
“The Electoral College has spoken. So today, I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” McConnell said in a statement on Tuesday.
After those remarks, Biden told reporters that he called McConnell to express his gratitude for acknowledging his win. “We’ve always been straight with one another and we agreed we’d get together sooner than later,” Biden said.
On top of McConnell sending his congratulatory remarks to Biden, he has also reportedly told his GOP colleagues in the Senate not to back any remaining attempts to deny the presidency to the president-elect. During a conference call among Republican senators, McConnell pleaded with them not to back a plan by some Republicans in the House to contest the outcome of the Electoral College when Congress meets to certify the results on January 6.
While McConnell said he wouldn’t try to stop anyone from joining that attempt, he made clear that doing so would be an embarrassing moment for Senate Republicans. It also would not accomplish much of anything, he reminded them, as the challenge would be blocked by the Democratic-controlled House.
Trump seems to be supportive of the effort by those few Republicans, however, to object to certifying the Electoral College results, as he tweeted an article on Tuesday detailing Rep. Mo Brooks’s (R-Alabama) plans to do so.
Brooks, in the article the president shared on social media, errantly claimed that Trump actually won the Electoral College “if we only counted lawful votes cast by eligible American citizens.” The assertions made by Brooks that suggest the election was rife with fraud, similar to all other claims made by Trump and his allies, have no basis in truth whatsoever and have been refuted by election officials, the media and Trump’s own Justice Department.
Although McConnell is lobbying his Republican colleagues not to contest the Electoral College outcome, and in spite of the niceties he and Biden shared on Tuesday, McConnell is set to be an oppositional force to the new administration more than an ally. Indeed, sources close to the Kentucky Republican, speaking confidentially to Axios last month, indicated that the current Senate Majority Leader intends to block any non-centrist candidates to cabinet positions Biden intends to nominate to serve in his administration. He will likely also attempt to block many of the legislative policies Biden and the Democrats will attempt to pass in the next term.
McConnell’s role as Senate Majority Leader, however, is not a foregone conclusion at this time. Two Senate runoff elections in Georgia early next month may result in Democrats taking control of the “upper chamber,” if Democratic candidates in those races, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, win against incumbent Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, respectively.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
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truthout--2020-12-15--Trump Shares Tweet Calling for Georgia Republicans to Be Jailed for Disloyalty

President Donald Trump retweeted a post this week from a conservative attorney that suggested two Republican officials in the state of Georgia deserved to be jailed because they refused to support the president ’ s efforts to overturn election results in that state .
President-elect Joe Biden received 11,700 more votes than Trump in Georgia in the election last month , becoming the first Democrat since 1992 to win the state .
Two recounts since the election have affirmed Biden ’ s win .
The tweet that Trump shared was originally produced by attorney Lin Wood , who has been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump overturn election results in a number of states across the country to help him attain a second term in office .
Trump retweeted Wood ’ s tweet on Tuesday .
“ President Trump … is a genuinely good man .
He does not really like to fire people .
I bet he dislikes putting people in jail , especially ‘ Republicans , ' ” the tweet from Wood read .
Wood went on to say that Georgia Republicans Gov .
Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger , who have refuted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ votes in the state , deserved imprisonment for not supporting Trump.. “ [ Trump ] gave @ BrianKempGA & @ GaSecofState every chance to get it right .
They refused .
They will soon be going to jail , ” Wood said in the tweet that Trump shared .
There is no evidence of election fraud of any kind in Georgia ( or in any other state in the U.S. ) that would warrant the overturning of results in that state ’ s presidential election .
Additionally , a number of claims that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recent weeks have been thoroughly debunked , including allegations that Kemp and Raffensperger were refusing to call a special session of the state legislature to demand an audit of absentee voter signatures .
In fact , signatures of absentee voters have already been checked and verified twice , during the election process .
Moreover , auditing the signatures at this stage would be impossible , as state law requires the ballots and the signature envelopes to be separated after the second check takes place , to ensure ballot secrecy .
Last week , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ urged the president to stop his errant and bogus claims of election fraud , and to discontinue his attacks on GOP officials — particularly because it was creating a rift within his own party in the state , and likely doing harm to the two Republican candidates in the upcoming runoff election for the Senate .
On NBC ’ s “ Meet the Press ” program earlier this month , Gabriel Sterling , the voting systems implementation manager for Georgia , said that Trump ’ s comments against officials in the state “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Duncan , appearing on CNN on the same day , also decried Trump ’ s efforts to overturn the results of the election , even though Duncan himself is a Republican .
“ On January 20th , Joe Biden is going to be sworn in as the 46th president .
And the Constitution is still in place , ” Duncan said .
Trump immediately went to Twitter to call Duncan a “ puppet ” for making that statement .
It would be virtually impossible at this point for Trump to overturn the election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extraordinary and unprecedented move from the Supreme Court , which seems very unlikely .
Electors within the Electoral College have already voted , securing a win for Biden to become president next month .
Objections to the outcome of the Electoral College in Congress , which could happen on January 6 , are also extremely unlikely to be successful .

Republicans in the state have warned Trump’s attacks threaten to harm the party in two upcoming Senate runoff elections.
President Donald Trump retweeted a post this week from a conservative attorney that suggested two Republican officials in the state of Georgia deserved to be jailed because they refused to support the president’s efforts to overturn election results in that state.
President-elect Joe Biden received 11,700 more votes than Trump in Georgia in the election last month, becoming the first Democrat since 1992 to win the state. Two recounts since the election have affirmed Biden’s win.
The tweet that Trump shared was originally produced by attorney Lin Wood, who has been part of several lawsuits seeking to help Trump overturn election results in a number of states across the country to help him attain a second term in office. Trump retweeted Wood’s tweet on Tuesday.
“President Trump … is a genuinely good man. He does not really like to fire people. I bet he dislikes putting people in jail, especially ‘Republicans,'” the tweet from Wood read.
Wood went on to say that Georgia Republicans Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who have refuted Trump’s anti-democratic attempts to dismiss votes in the state, deserved imprisonment for not supporting Trump..
“[Trump] gave @BrianKempGA & @GaSecofState every chance to get it right. They refused. They will soon be going to jail,” Wood said in the tweet that Trump shared.
There is no evidence of election fraud of any kind in Georgia (or in any other state in the U.S.) that would warrant the overturning of results in that state’s presidential election. Additionally, a number of claims that Trump and his allies have made in recent weeks have been thoroughly debunked, including allegations that Kemp and Raffensperger were refusing to call a special session of the state legislature to demand an audit of absentee voter signatures.
In fact, signatures of absentee voters have already been checked and verified twice, during the election process. Moreover, auditing the signatures at this stage would be impossible, as state law requires the ballots and the signature envelopes to be separated after the second check takes place, to ensure ballot secrecy.
Last week, a number of Republican officials from Georgia urged the president to stop his errant and bogus claims of election fraud, and to discontinue his attacks on GOP officials — particularly because it was creating a rift within his own party in the state, and likely doing harm to the two Republican candidates in the upcoming runoff election for the Senate.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press” program earlier this month, Gabriel Sterling, the voting systems implementation manager for Georgia, said that Trump’s comments against officials in the state “undermines democracy.” Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, appearing on CNN on the same day, also decried Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the election, even though Duncan himself is a Republican.
“On January 20th, Joe Biden is going to be sworn in as the 46th president. And the Constitution is still in place,” Duncan said.
Trump immediately went to Twitter to call Duncan a “puppet” for making that statement.
It would be virtually impossible at this point for Trump to overturn the election results in any state, barring an extraordinary and unprecedented move from the Supreme Court, which seems very unlikely. Electors within the Electoral College have already voted, securing a win for Biden to become president next month. Objections to the outcome of the Electoral College in Congress, which could happen on January 6, are also extremely unlikely to be successful.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-12-15--William Barr Achieved What He Set Out to Do — Grossly Expand Executive Power

William Barr is going out a winner .
When I wrote my obituary for the George W. Bush administration a few weeks before the Obama inauguration , I argued that Bush will go down in history as one of the most “ successful ” presidents of the modern age .
This contention was greeted with , shall we say , an adult dose of consternation and wrath .
Those ruinous tax cuts ?
September 11 ?
Iraq and the WMD ?
The racism ?
The obliterated economy ?
Dick Cheney ?
How can you say he was successful ?
!
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to the metrics of those he was actually representing .
The tax cuts and the wars simultaneously enriched his friends and allies while demolishing the government ’ s ability to serve the people , thus fulfilling Reagan ’ s fused-loop prophesy : “ See !
Government doesn ’ t work.
” None of Bush ’ s people lost kids in the wars .
None of them got crushed when the economic roof collapsed in 2008 ; in fact , they Hoovered up all those suddenly cheap stocks and sat on them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s what a recession is , see ?
All the money goes up to the few who can afford to ride it out .
Money doesn ’ t disappear like your lap when you stand up ; it changes addresses to an uptown manse , every time .
From 2001 to 2009 , one way or another the money moved in with George ’ s friends , and they were well pleased with their man .
By this same metric , William Barr will be leaving the office of the attorney general @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Hardly .
From the perspective of those who believe as he does , his time at the Department of Justice was the stuff of literal miracles .
Like Dick Cheney and other notables from the Reagan/Bush/Bush years , Barr is a life-long devotee of the “ Unitary Executive ” theory , which essentially states that a sitting president is all-powerful and shall not be restrained by oversight or law .
It is , in essence , the Divine Right of Kings theory come back to haunt us .
Among the other “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a defiant expansion of presidential power , primarily at the direction of Mr. Cheney .
Oversight was spurned , lawfully drawn congressional subpoenas were roundly ignored , and consequences for misdeeds were thoroughly avoided after the incoming president decided we needed to “ look forward , not backward.
” Thus , the seeds for a Donald Trump rampage administration were planted , and after a few false starts with lesser mortals like Jeff Sessions , Trump had the consigliere he wanted in Attorney General William Barr… but you have to ask , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end of all this : Was Barr working for Trump , or was Trump working for Barr ?
I strongly suggest the latter is true .
Trump has no philosophy beyond “ Gim me !
” and “ Look at me !
” Barr , on the other hand , seats his deep belief in the untouchable nature of presidential power in the stony soil of hard-right Catholicism , a deeply authoritarian belief system .
Service within Republican administrations going back to Bush Sr. left him frustrated with the constraints upon the executive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ motivations makes for a combustible stew .
In steps Trump and his rolling war against reality , a perfect fit for Barr .
The outgoing attorney general , you see , is also a crafter of reality , a warper of the visible truth .
When the Mueller Report was on the verge of its redacted release , Barr threw his body in front of it with a letter and press conference that said , in brief , “ Nothing to see here , folks.
” The fact that the report did bear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the Trump administration stalled out for two reasons : Almost nobody read the whole report , and almost everybody saw Barr ’ s stand-up act before its release .
His version of the report ’ s reality became reality , and the nascent impeachment effort was doomed before it ever peeked out of the nest .
This was not Barr ’ s first trip to this particular rodeo .
Back in 1989 when he was George H.W .
Bush ’ s attorney general , questions were raised in Congress about the arrest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regarding the invasion of Panama , which had been undertaken to topple and detain leader Manuel Noriega .
Another report was written that confirmed a number of legal lines were crossed , including Bush Sr. ’ s edict that U.S. forces ignore the United Nations charter .
Barr , again in his capacity as attorney general for that administration , drafted another “ cover ” letter that profoundly downplayed the concerns raised in the report .
Congress accepted the letter on its face , and did not get to see the actual report @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finally read it two years later , they were stunned and infuriated to see that Barr ’ s letter had been a snow job meant to derail any further investigation .
By that point , however , there was a great big distracting war going on , and Barr eventually left office untouched… after , of course , a blizzard of pardons he helped draft served to forever cover up the prior administration ’ s crime spree that was Iran/Contra .
“ People like you are still living in what we call the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ W. Bush official told Ron Suskind in 2004 .
“ You believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality .
That ’ s not the way the world really works anymore .
We ’ re an empire now , and when we act , we create our own reality .
And while you are studying that reality — judiciously , as you will — we ’ ll act again , creating other new realities , which you can study too , and that ’ s how things will sort out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actors , and you , all of you , will be left to just study what we do.
” Barr ’ s last and perhaps best trick ?
Doing his job the way it is supposed to be done .
He recently refused to dive into Trump ’ s fury-fantasy about stolen elections by claiming his department ’ s investigation found no evidence of fraud .
On the heels of this announcement , it came to light that Barr sat on a number of disturbing but questionable allegations against Joe Biden ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign .
In other words , Barr did not pull a Comey on the doorstep of the vote .
These actions are as laudable as they are shocking , given whom we are talking about .
Trump is reportedly furious at these disloyal acts — the first that undercut his election fictions , and the second that deprived him of the avenue of attack he ’ d been craving all throughout the campaign — which certainly led to the end of the show for the attorney general , but it ’ s no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He snipped the mooring lines to Trump ’ s sinking ship and gets to spend the rest of his life able to put daylight between himself and the shameful final act of this shameless administration .
In the meantime , the boundaries that define permissible uses of executive power have expanded almost beyond sight .
It would take too long to list the myriad ways William Barr served as Donald Trump ’ s contra-constitutional lawyer and body guard during his time at the Department of Justice .
Yet who served who ?
Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , albeit with historically disgusting reluctance , and with it the position that has afforded him the loudest microphone of his lifetime .
Though he will likely wield outsized power among Republicans after January 20 , it will not be what it was in the White House .
Only the fourth one-term president since Herbert Hoover lost in 1932 , Trump can also expect his pockets to fill with New York State subpoenas as soon as he leaves or is removed from federal property next month .
Ain ’ t no Barr gon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Barr is presently living in a Unitary Executive wonderland beyond his deepest cravings .
Trump tries to manipulate reality by bellowing bombastic bullshit until everyone just gives up .
It is a blunt weapon , but effective in the hands of a man like Barr , who let Trump light reality on fire while protecting him from the consequences… and when there are no consequences , executive power is expanded .
A new line is drawn , way out in front of the old one .
That , to the bone , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worked for over the entire term of his professional life .
It is done now , and he didn ’ t have to raise his voice even once .
I would call that very successful , by the ruinous metrics of the monstrous .
Unitary Executive theorists will be building statues of William Barr , whose bookish bespectacled mien belies a thirst for power that only a wrecker like Trump could quench .
Mission accomplished .

William Barr is going out a winner.
When I wrote my obituary for the George W. Bush administration a few weeks before the Obama inauguration, I argued that Bush will go down in history as one of the most “successful” presidents of the modern age. This contention was greeted with, shall we say, an adult dose of consternation and wrath. Those ruinous tax cuts? September 11? Iraq and the WMD? The racism? The obliterated economy? Dick Cheney? How can you say he was successful?!
Because he was, and wildly so, according to the metrics of those he was actually representing. The tax cuts and the wars simultaneously enriched his friends and allies while demolishing the government’s ability to serve the people, thus fulfilling Reagan’s fused-loop prophesy: “See! Government doesn’t work.”
None of Bush’s people lost kids in the wars. None of them got crushed when the economic roof collapsed in 2008; in fact, they Hoovered up all those suddenly cheap stocks and sat on them until they recovered their value. That’s what a recession is, see? All the money goes up to the few who can afford to ride it out. Money doesn’t disappear like your lap when you stand up; it changes addresses to an uptown manse, every time. From 2001 to 2009, one way or another the money moved in with George’s friends, and they were well pleased with their man.
By this same metric, William Barr will be leaving the office of the attorney general after a highly successful run. Nonsense? Hardly. From the perspective of those who believe as he does, his time at the Department of Justice was the stuff of literal miracles.
Like Dick Cheney and other notables from the Reagan/Bush/Bush years, Barr is a life-long devotee of the “Unitary Executive” theory, which essentially states that a sitting president is all-powerful and shall not be restrained by oversight or law. It is, in essence, the Divine Right of Kings theory come back to haunt us.
Among the other “accomplishments” of that second Bush administration was a defiant expansion of presidential power, primarily at the direction of Mr. Cheney. Oversight was spurned, lawfully drawn congressional subpoenas were roundly ignored, and consequences for misdeeds were thoroughly avoided after the incoming president decided we needed to “look forward, not backward.”
Thus, the seeds for a Donald Trump rampage administration were planted, and after a few false starts with lesser mortals like Jeff Sessions, Trump had the consigliere he wanted in Attorney General William Barr… but you have to ask, now that we’re at an end of all this: Was Barr working for Trump, or was Trump working for Barr?
I strongly suggest the latter is true. Trump has no philosophy beyond “Gimme!” and “Look at me!” Barr, on the other hand, seats his deep belief in the untouchable nature of presidential power in the stony soil of hard-right Catholicism, a deeply authoritarian belief system. Service within Republican administrations going back to Bush Sr. left him frustrated with the constraints upon the executive branch. The combination of these two motivations makes for a combustible stew.
In steps Trump and his rolling war against reality, a perfect fit for Barr. The outgoing attorney general, you see, is also a crafter of reality, a warper of the visible truth. When the Mueller Report was on the verge of its redacted release, Barr threw his body in front of it with a letter and press conference that said, in brief, “Nothing to see here, folks.”
Expanding executive power is what William Barr worked for over the entire term of his professional life. It is done now, and he didn’t have to raise his voice even once.
The fact that the report did bear a broad array of legally actionable behaviors by the Trump administration stalled out for two reasons: Almost nobody read the whole report, and almost everybody saw Barr’s stand-up act before its release. His version of the report’s reality became reality, and the nascent impeachment effort was doomed before it ever peeked out of the nest.
This was not Barr’s first trip to this particular rodeo. Back in 1989 when he was George H.W. Bush’s attorney general, questions were raised in Congress about the arrest powers of U.S. forces and the FBI regarding the invasion of Panama, which had been undertaken to topple and detain leader Manuel Noriega. Another report was written that confirmed a number of legal lines were crossed, including Bush Sr.’s edict that U.S. forces ignore the United Nations charter.
Barr, again in his capacity as attorney general for that administration, drafted another “cover” letter that profoundly downplayed the concerns raised in the report. Congress accepted the letter on its face, and did not get to see the actual report until 1991. When members of Congress finally read it two years later, they were stunned and infuriated to see that Barr’s letter had been a snow job meant to derail any further investigation.
By that point, however, there was a great big distracting war going on, and Barr eventually left office untouched… after, of course, a blizzard of pardons he helped draft served to forever cover up the prior administration’s crime spree that was Iran/Contra.
“People like you are still living in what we call the reality-based community,” an anonymous George W. Bush official told Ron Suskind in 2004. “You believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality. That’s not the way the world really works anymore. We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you are studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors, and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
Indeed.
Barr’s last and perhaps best trick? Doing his job the way it is supposed to be done. He recently refused to dive into Trump’s fury-fantasy about stolen elections by claiming his department’s investigation found no evidence of fraud. On the heels of this announcement, it came to light that Barr sat on a number of disturbing but questionable allegations against Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, during the presidential campaign. In other words, Barr did not pull a Comey on the doorstep of the vote. These actions are as laudable as they are shocking, given whom we are talking about.
Trump is reportedly furious at these disloyal acts — the first that undercut his election fictions, and the second that deprived him of the avenue of attack he’d been craving all throughout the campaign — which certainly led to the end of the show for the attorney general, but it’s no skin off Barr’s nose. He snipped the mooring lines to Trump’s sinking ship and gets to spend the rest of his life able to put daylight between himself and the shameful final act of this shameless administration.
In the meantime, the boundaries that define permissible uses of executive power have expanded almost beyond sight.
It would take too long to list the myriad ways William Barr served as Donald Trump’s contra-constitutional lawyer and body guard during his time at the Department of Justice. Yet who served who?
Trump is on the verge of leaving office, albeit with historically disgusting reluctance, and with it the position that has afforded him the loudest microphone of his lifetime. Though he will likely wield outsized power among Republicans after January 20, it will not be what it was in the White House. Only the fourth one-term president since Herbert Hoover lost in 1932, Trump can also expect his pockets to fill with New York State subpoenas as soon as he leaves or is removed from federal property next month. Ain’t no Barr gonna help him then.
In contrast, Barr is presently living in a Unitary Executive wonderland beyond his deepest cravings. Trump tries to manipulate reality by bellowing bombastic bullshit until everyone just gives up. It is a blunt weapon, but effective in the hands of a man like Barr, who let Trump light reality on fire while protecting him from the consequences… and when there are no consequences, executive power is expanded. A new line is drawn, way out in front of the old one.
That, to the bone, is what William Barr has craved and worked for over the entire term of his professional life. It is done now, and he didn’t have to raise his voice even once.
I would call that very successful, by the ruinous metrics of the monstrous. Unitary Executive theorists will be building statues of William Barr, whose bookish bespectacled mien belies a thirst for power that only a wrecker like Trump could quench. Mission accomplished.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-12-15--Biden: Trump Attempted to Invalidate 20 Million Votes in Four States

Following the Electoral College votes that took place across all 50 U.S. states and Washington , D.C. , on Monday , President-elect Joe Biden addressed the nation in a speech that acknowledged the many ways in which President Donald Trump tried to discredit — and overturn — the results of the 2020 presidential race .
“ In America , politicians don ’ t take power , people grant power to them , ” Biden said in his speech .
“ The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago .
And we now know nothing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of power can extinguish that flame.
” Biden also thanked officials and election volunteers who “ showed a deep and unwavering faith in and a commitment to the law.
” “ They could not and would not give credence to what they knew was not true , ” Biden said , referencing election workers ’ refusal to give in to unsubstantiated claims of fraud , adding that they “ wouldn ’ t be bullied into saying anything different.
” Biden addressed Trump directly in his speech , noting that the president “ brought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ challenges to test the result ” of the election .
“ They were heard by more than 80 judges across this country .
And in every case , no cause or evidence was found to reverse or question or dispute the results , ” Biden said .
Through all the court challenges , recounts , and other efforts to undo the results , “ none of this has stopped baseless claims about the legitimacy of the results , ” the president-elect added , calling it “ stunning ” how Republican state attorneys general @ @ @ @ @ @ @ signed on to a lawsuit seeking to reject certified results of Biden ’ s win in four states .
Biden went on to decry the attempt to overturn the election results in those states : Biden further described the lawsuit as “ a position that refused to respect the will of the people , refused [ to ] respect the rule of law and refused to honor our Constitution.
” “ Thankfully , a unanimous Supreme Court immediately and completely rejected this effort , ” Biden said .
“ The Court sent a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be no part of an unprecedented assault on our democracy.
” While there are a few holdouts still remaining , the outcome of the Electoral College on Monday has resulted in a number of Republicans , who had previously refused to acknowledge Biden ’ s win in the presidential election , to finally recognize him as the president-elect .
“ I understand there are people who feel strongly about the outcome of this election , but in the end , at some point , you have to face the music , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the number two Republican in the Senate , said , adding that the outcome of the Electoral College vote “ settles the issue.
” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R-Kentucky ) also acknowledged Biden ’ s win .
Though McConnell had held out on acknowledging Biden ’ s win and supported Trump ’ s decision to contest the results , he made a statement a day after the Electoral College officially selected Biden to be the next president .
“ The Electoral College has spoken .
So today I want to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
In spite of the added pressure from members of his own party to recognize the results , Trump himself has continued to insist that he will seek ways to challenge Biden ’ s win .
In numerous tweets he issued early on Tuesday morning , Trump baselessly made more claims of fraud , including falsely claiming that votes for him on voting machines were “ routed to Biden.
” Trump also demanded members of his own party continue to tout his unsubstantiated allegations of fraud .
“ This Fake Election can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” he tweeted on Monday .
However , there is very little recourse going forward for Trump to contest the election results — with the Electoral College votes tallied up , the fate of the election is virtually sealed , and it ’ s “ too late ” for any last-minute shenanigans to produce a different outcome , Ohio State law professor Ned Foley said in an interview with Vice this week .
With the Electoral College vote completed , the final step of the process involves Congress certifying the results of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Objections can be made by any lawmaker within Congress , and indeed , some have stated their intention to do so .
But such contentions require a majority of both houses of Congress to be successful .
As Democrats currently control the House of Representatives , and as a number of Republican senators have indicated that they ’ re wary of backing such objections , such a ploy would have little chance , if any at all , of being successful .
Objections during the vote certification in Congress will do little more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bit longer than it normally would , commentator Dean Obeidallah recently wrote .
“ This will likely cause a several-hour delay in the process .
But that ’ s all it will be — one final delay , ” he said .
At this point , even a court challenge seems to be an impossible avenue for Trump to seek to undo the Electoral College results , experts say .
“ There ’ s no standard process for bringing election disputes to the Supreme Court ” at this stage in the process , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told the BBC , particularly since Trump ’ s legal team has failed to present evidence of fraud in lower courts .
“ It ’ s very unusual and it would have to involve a very significant issue .
”

Following the Electoral College votes that took place across all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., on Monday, President-elect Joe Biden addressed the nation in a speech that acknowledged the many ways in which President Donald Trump tried to discredit — and overturn — the results of the 2020 presidential race.
“In America, politicians don’t take power, people grant power to them,” Biden said in his speech. “The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago. And we now know nothing, not even a pandemic or an abuse of power can extinguish that flame.”
Biden also thanked officials and election volunteers who “showed a deep and unwavering faith in and a commitment to the law.”
“They could not and would not give credence to what they knew was not true,” Biden said, referencing election workers’ refusal to give in to unsubstantiated claims of fraud, adding that they “wouldn’t be bullied into saying anything different.”
Biden addressed Trump directly in his speech, noting that the president “brought dozens and dozens and dozens of legal challenges to test the result” of the election.
“They were heard by more than 80 judges across this country. And in every case, no cause or evidence was found to reverse or question or dispute the results,” Biden said.
Through all the court challenges, recounts, and other efforts to undo the results, “none of this has stopped baseless claims about the legitimacy of the results,” the president-elect added, calling it “stunning” how Republican state attorneys general and 126 GOP lawmakers in Congress have signed on to a lawsuit seeking to reject certified results of Biden’s win in four states.
Biden went on to decry the attempt to overturn the election results in those states:
“This legal maneuver was an effort by elected officials and one group of states to try to get the Supreme Court to wipe out the votes of more than 20 million Americans in other states, and to hand the presidency to a candidate who lost the Electoral College, lost the popular vote, and lost each and every one of the states whose votes they were trying to reverse.”
Biden further described the lawsuit as “a position that refused to respect the will of the people, refused [to] respect the rule of law and refused to honor our Constitution.”
“Thankfully, a unanimous Supreme Court immediately and completely rejected this effort,” Biden said. “The Court sent a clear signal to President Trump that they would be no part of an unprecedented assault on our democracy.”
While there are a few holdouts still remaining, the outcome of the Electoral College on Monday has resulted in a number of Republicans, who had previously refused to acknowledge Biden’s win in the presidential election, to finally recognize him as the president-elect.
“I understand there are people who feel strongly about the outcome of this election, but in the end, at some point, you have to face the music,” Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota), the number two Republican in the Senate, said, adding that the outcome of the Electoral College vote “settles the issue.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) also acknowledged Biden’s win. Though McConnell had held out on acknowledging Biden’s win and supported Trump’s decision to contest the results, he made a statement a day after the Electoral College officially selected Biden to be the next president.
“The Electoral College has spoken. So today I want to congratulate President-Elect Joe Biden,” McConnell said.
BREAKING: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledges Joe Biden, Kamala Harris as president-elect and vice-president elect, weeks after the election. "The Electoral College has spoken. So today I want to congratulate President-Elect Joe Biden." https://t.co/pNX6Hi86mf pic.twitter.com/q0HSZDTdHx — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) December 15, 2020
In spite of the added pressure from members of his own party to recognize the results, Trump himself has continued to insist that he will seek ways to challenge Biden’s win. In numerous tweets he issued early on Tuesday morning, Trump baselessly made more claims of fraud, including falsely claiming that votes for him on voting machines were “routed to Biden.”
Trump also demanded members of his own party continue to tout his unsubstantiated allegations of fraud. “This Fake Election can no longer stand. Get moving Republicans,” he tweeted on Monday.
However, there is very little recourse going forward for Trump to contest the election results — with the Electoral College votes tallied up, the fate of the election is virtually sealed, and it’s “too late” for any last-minute shenanigans to produce a different outcome, Ohio State law professor Ned Foley said in an interview with Vice this week.
With the Electoral College vote completed, the final step of the process involves Congress certifying the results of the electors’ preferences for president. Objections can be made by any lawmaker within Congress, and indeed, some have stated their intention to do so.
But such contentions require a majority of both houses of Congress to be successful. As Democrats currently control the House of Representatives, and as a number of Republican senators have indicated that they’re wary of backing such objections, such a ploy would have little chance, if any at all, of being successful.
Objections during the vote certification in Congress will do little more than cause the process to last a bit longer than it normally would, commentator Dean Obeidallah recently wrote. “This will likely cause a several-hour delay in the process. But that’s all it will be — one final delay,” he said.
At this point, even a court challenge seems to be an impossible avenue for Trump to seek to undo the Electoral College results, experts say.
“There’s no standard process for bringing election disputes to the Supreme Court” at this stage in the process, Columbia University Law School professor Richard Briffault told the BBC, particularly since Trump’s legal team has failed to present evidence of fraud in lower courts. “It’s very unusual and it would have to involve a very significant issue.”
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truthout--2020-12-15--William Barr Resigns as Attorney General on Heels of Electoral College Vote

William Barr is resigning as attorney general , leaving his post after angering President Trump for not backing his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud more strongly .
But despite their split , Barr has been one of Trump ’ s staunchest allies , echoing much of the president ’ s inflammatory rhetoric about Black Lives Matter and antifascist activists this year even while downplaying the threat posed by far-right extremists .
In June , Barr reportedly personally ordered police to beat and tear-gas peaceful protesters gathered near the White House in order to clear a path for President Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s Episcopal Church for an infamous photo op holding a Bible .
David Cole , the national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union , says despite their recent split , Barr was Trump ’ s “ most loyal henchman ” during his tenure .
Barr was “ entirely President Trump ’ s right-hand man , doing his bidding rather than providing an independent Justice Department , ” Cole says .
This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : Minutes after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s loss to President-elect Joe Biden , President Trump announced via tweet Monday that Attorney General William Barr was resigning .
He wrote , in part , quote , “ Our relationship has been a very good one , he has done an outstanding job !
As per letter , Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family… ” Trump tweeted Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will take Barr ’ s place .
Barr announced he was stepping down in a resignation letter released shortly after he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s review into voter fraud claims in the 2020 election .
He wrote in the letter allegations of fraud “ continue to be pursued.
” Earlier this month , Barr told the Associated Press , quote , “ To date , we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.
” News of Barr ’ s resignation comes after it was reported that he knew earlier this year about an investigation into the President-elect Joe Biden ’ s son , Hunter , and his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lash out at Barr on Twitter over the weekend , calling him “ A big disappointment !
” But Barr has been one of Donald Trump ’ s staunchest allies .
This summer , The Washington Post reported Barr personally ordered police to beat and tear gas peaceful protesters who gathered near the White House in order to clear a path for President Donald Trump to walk to the nearby St. John ’ s Episcopal Church , where the president posed for photos holding a Bible .
Barr denied using tear gas during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Nation .
AMY GOODMAN : Attorney General William Barr also defended the administration ’ s actions by blaming the antifascist movement known as antifa for instigating violence during the protest instead of police .
AMY GOODMAN : In fact , The Nation magazine has reported an internal FBI document shows the agency had , quote , “ no intelligence indicating Antifa involvement/presence ” at the protests , though it did cite the presence of , quote , “ far-right provocateurs , ” unquote .
It was just this past July when Attorney @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Judiciary Committee in a confrontational hearing that included this contentious exchange with Washington Congressmember Pramila Jayapal , who noted the discrepancy between Barr ’ s deployment of militarized troops in response to Black Lives Matter protesters , and armed militia members who displayed white nationalist symbols as they stormed state capitol buildings in protest of public health measures in Michigan .
AMY GOODMAN : For more on the tenure of Attorney General William Barr , we ’ re joined by David Cole , the national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at Georgetown University Law Center ; his most recent book , Engines of Liberty : The Power of Citizen Activists to Make Constitutional Law .
Last night , the American Civil Liberties Union tweeted , quote , “ Bill Barr was one of the worst attorneys general in US history .
He deployed the Justice Department not to promote justice — but to serve Donald Trump.
” David Cole , explain .
And respond to his resignation , a few weeks before he would have had to leave anyway because , yes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ become the 46th president .
DAVID COLE : Right .
Well , you know , it ’ s really , in some sense , déjà vu all over again .
We saw Jeff Sessions , the first attorney general under President Trump , be kind of the right-hand man for Donald Trump on every issue except one , and that was his refusal to recuse — or , his decision to recuse himself from the investigation into Russian interference in the election .
And that one sin caused Trump to basically push Sessions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in and , again , is entirely President Trump ’ s right-hand man , doing his bidding rather than providing an independent Justice Department , which is what our constitutional norms and traditions require .
But when he will not repeat President Trump ’ s lies about widespread voter fraud and when he did not illegally disclose the existence of an investigation into Hunter Biden before the election in an effort to undermine the election , Trump again sort of writes him off and throws him overboard .
I mean , there ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be too loyal to President Trump .
And Bill Barr was really , for all intents and purposes , his most loyal henchman .
And yet even he got sacrificed at the end .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : David Cole , I wanted to ask you about probably the biggest story , other than the election , obviously , of this year — the coronavirus pandemic — and the statement by the attorney general echoing the anger of President Trump against the lockdowns , that these lockdowns , according to him , apart from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history.
” That ’ s the attorney general speaking earlier this year .
DAVID COLE : Yeah , remarkable , remarkable statement .
I mean , this Justice Department , in four years , has conducted a single Voting Rights Act enforcement action .
One single Voting Rights Act enforcement action .
And yet , Barr announced a special sort of initiative to go out and sue cities and states that were simply trying to keep people safe , simply trying to save lives .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ he let politics get in the way of saving people ’ s lives .
And by doing that , he ’ s essentially fomenting the views of the deniers , who refuse to wear masks , who refuse to engage in social distancing , and who are responsible for the 300,000 deaths that we ’ ve now seen in this country .
It ’ s really intolerable .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : One of the other areas of much controversy with the attorney general was his order to prosecutors to dismiss charges against Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Michael Flynn , who has since been pardoned by the president — his efforts here to , in essence , interfere with his own Justice Department ’ s prosecutions .
DAVID COLE : Right .
I mean , there ’ s a long-standing tradition in the Justice Department of independence .
And it includes independence of the attorney general from the president , which Barr threw out the window .
But it also includes independence of the line prosecutors from the attorney general himself .
It ’ s a kind of federalist system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sort of the top political people deciding who gets prosecuted and who doesn ’ t , and so we let those decisions be made by the U.S. attorneys in the particular local districts , but not Bill Barr .
He interfered in the Michael Flynn prosecution , after Michael Flynn had pled guilty — had pled guilty — to order them to dismiss the prosecution .
He also interfered in the Roger Stone case , where his prosecutors sought a much more serious sentence against Roger Stone , and he again intervened to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both instances , he violated the norms of the department .
Why ?
To aid President Trump .
Not to promote justice , not to promote independence , but to aid President Trump by doing favors for his cronies , who had violated the law .
AMY GOODMAN : So , I want to talk about the people who are on death row , asking about William Barr ’ s role in the Trump administration ’ s revival of the death penalty .
Trump has executed nine federal prisoners during his tenure , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He intends to kill four more people before he leaves office on January 20th .
The last will be January 12th .
These are the first executions during a president ’ s lame-duck period in over 130 years , since Grover Cleveland executed three people of color , among them a Choctaw Native American .
The latest prisoner to be put to death , in the last two prisoners , was Brandon Bernard , a 40-year-old Black man , killed on International Human Rights Day , December 10th , even after five @ @ @ @ @ @ @ minds and said Brandon should not be executed .
The federal government ’ s only death chamber , at the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute , Indiana , is only equipped to kill by lethal injection .
In order to expedite this killing spree , the Trump administration quietly issued a rule change authorizing federal executions to take place , as well , by firing squad , poison gas or electrocution .
It was going to be starting on Christmas Eve , but then they pushed it to December 28th .
But can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ killing spree ?
DAVID COLE : Well , you know , the rest of the world is moving in the direction of recognizing that the death penalty is abhorrent , a violation of basic human rights .
There ’ s been a moratorium on federal executions for a very long time .
And as they ’ re going out the door , the Trump administration is seeking to do as much damage as it can on all fronts .
But in no area is it more cruel and unusual than with respect to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need to rush to judgment .
The rush here is simply that they recognize that Joe Biden is opposed to these executions ; they would not go through if Joe Biden were in office .
And so they want to kill these individuals before they leave office .
Again , it ’ s sort of beyond belief .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , David Cole , I wanted to ask you about one of Barr ’ s more recent actions .
Earlier this month , he appointed Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2016 election .
That essentially ensures that Durham will keep his investigation and double down on one of Trump ’ s obsessive claims , that the national security and criminal concerns about his campaign and Russia in 2016 sullied the legitimacy of his election and presidency .
What about this extension , basically , of Durham ’ s mandate into the coming years , the early years of the Biden administration ?
DAVID COLE : Well , to me , it ’ s a bookend of what Bill Barr did when the Mueller @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Mueller report comes out — well , doesn ’ t come out ; it is delivered to the attorney general .
The rest of us can ’ t see it .
And Barr holds a press conference in which he blatantly mischaracterizes its findings to make it sound like it ’ s an absolution , when in fact it was an indictment in everything but name .
The only reason it wasn ’ t an indictment was because they concluded that they didn ’ t have the power to indict , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , rather than seek to tell the American people the truth , you know , told a tainted story — a cover-up , essentially — and sought to present the Mueller investigation as if it was saying nothing wrong happened .
And , you know , now he ’ s continuing to abet , aid and abet , Trump ’ s effort to sort of call into question a very legitimate investigation into significant Russian intervention into our presidential election .
So , very , very disturbing .
I have no reason to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
You know , I suspect that nothing will come of this in the end .
But it is disturbing that Barr , rather than tell the American people the truth , sought to shade that truth in ways that would help his boss and mislead the American people .
AMY GOODMAN : Finally , David Cole , a question , overall , about pardons .
I think Trump has done fewer than any other president , to say the least , except for his friends .
But what it means when the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few weeks , and , just overall , the legacy of the Trump and Barr Justice Department ?
DAVID COLE : Well , you know , I mean , again , I think when Barr was first named , people thought maybe this guy is going to come in and restore the integrity of the Justice Department , which Jeff Sessions had pretty much eviscerated , because Barr was clearly at the end of his career .
He didn ’ t need to go anywhere .
This was sort of his last career @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a straight-up guy under George H.W .
Bush .
But , no , he came in and essentially sought to aid and abet whatever President Trump sought , up to this last moment where he was unwilling — and you do have to give him credit for that .
He was unwilling to repeat the lies .
Many other Republicans have repeated the lies that Trump has spouted about the election ever since he lost on November 3rd , but Barr did not .
So I think you do have to give him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to give him credit for not disclosing — illegally disclosing — an investigation in the run-up to an election , unlike James Comey .
But beyond those two actions , for which he essentially lost his job , he was the enabler-in-chief .
AMY GOODMAN : David Cole , national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union , professor of law and public policy at Georgetown University Law Center ; his most recent book , Engines of Liberty : The Power of Citizen Activists to Make Constitutional Law .
When we come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to make Joe Biden president .
We ’ ll look at the growing movement to challenge the Electoral College .
Stay with us .
AMY GOODMAN : “ A Blaze of Orange ” by Steve Skinner and John Franklin .
And a shoutout to all of the listeners and community in KFFR community radio in Winter Park , Colorado .

William Barr is resigning as attorney general, leaving his post after angering President Trump for not backing his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud more strongly. But despite their split, Barr has been one of Trump’s staunchest allies, echoing much of the president’s inflammatory rhetoric about Black Lives Matter and antifascist activists this year even while downplaying the threat posed by far-right extremists. In June, Barr reportedly personally ordered police to beat and tear-gas peaceful protesters gathered near the White House in order to clear a path for President Trump to walk to the nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church for an infamous photo op holding a Bible. David Cole, the national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, says despite their recent split, Barr was Trump’s “most loyal henchman” during his tenure. Barr was “entirely President Trump’s right-hand man, doing his bidding rather than providing an independent Justice Department,” Cole says.
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Minutes after the Electoral College confirmed President Trump’s loss to President-elect Joe Biden, President Trump announced via tweet Monday that Attorney General William Barr was resigning. He wrote, in part, quote, “Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family…” Trump tweeted Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will take Barr’s place.
Barr announced he was stepping down in a resignation letter released shortly after he briefed Trump about the Justice Department’s review into voter fraud claims in the 2020 election. He wrote in the letter allegations of fraud “continue to be pursued.” Earlier this month, Barr told the Associated Press, quote, “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”
News of Barr’s resignation comes after it was reported that he knew earlier this year about an investigation into the President-elect Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, and his tax affairs. This prompted Trump to lash out at Barr on Twitter over the weekend, calling him “A big disappointment!”
But Barr has been one of Donald Trump’s staunchest allies. This summer, The Washington Post reported Barr personally ordered police to beat and tear gas peaceful protesters who gathered near the White House in order to clear a path for President Donald Trump to walk to the nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church, where the president posed for photos holding a Bible. Barr denied using tear gas during an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And the methods they used, you think, were appropriate? Is that what you’re saying? ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: When they met resistance, yes. They announced three times. They didn’t move. By the way, there was no tear gas used. The tear gas was used Sunday when they had to clear H Street to allow the fire department to come in to save St. John’s Church. That’s when tear gas was used. MARGARET BRENNAN: There were chemical irritants, the park police have said. ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: No, there were not chemical irritants. Pepper spray is not a chemical irritant. It’s not chemical. MARGARET BRENNAN: Pepper spray, you’re saying, is what was used. ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: Pepper balls. Pepper balls.
AMY GOODMAN: Attorney General William Barr also defended the administration’s actions by blaming the antifascist movement known as antifa for instigating violence during the protest instead of police.
ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: We have evidence that antifa and other similar extremist groups, as well as actors of a variety of different political persuasions, have been involved in instigating and participating in the violent activity.
AMY GOODMAN: In fact, The Nation magazine has reported an internal FBI document shows the agency had, quote, “no intelligence indicating Antifa involvement/presence” at the protests, though it did cite the presence of, quote, “far-right provocateurs,” unquote.
It was just this past July when Attorney General Barr faced questions from the House Judiciary Committee in a confrontational hearing that included this contentious exchange with Washington Congressmember Pramila Jayapal, who noted the discrepancy between Barr’s deployment of militarized troops in response to Black Lives Matter protesters, and armed militia members who displayed white nationalist symbols as they stormed state capitol buildings in protest of public health measures in Michigan.
REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL: On two separate occasions, after President Trump tweeted, “Liberate Michigan,” to subvert stay-home orders to protect the public health of people in Michigan, protesters swarmed the Michigan Capitol carrying guns, some with swastikas, Confederate flags, and one even with a dark-haired doll with a noose around its neck. Are you aware that these protesters called for the governor to be lynched, shot and beheaded? ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: No. REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL: There is a real discrepancy in how you react as the attorney general, the top cop in this country. When white men with swastikas storm a government building with guns, there is no need for the president to, quote, “activate” you, because they’re getting the president’s personal agenda done. But when Black people and people of color protest police brutality, systemic racism and the president’s very own lack of response to those critical issues, then you forcibly remove them with armed federal officers, pepper bombs, because they are considered terrorists by the president.
AMY GOODMAN: For more on the tenure of Attorney General William Barr, we’re joined by David Cole, the national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, professor of law and public policy at Georgetown University Law Center; his most recent book, Engines of Liberty: The Power of Citizen Activists to Make Constitutional Law. Last night, the American Civil Liberties Union tweeted, quote, “Bill Barr was one of the worst attorneys general in US history. He deployed the Justice Department not to promote justice — but to serve Donald Trump.”
David Cole, explain. And respond to his resignation, a few weeks before he would have had to leave anyway because, yes, Joe Biden won the election and will become the 46th president.
DAVID COLE: Right. Well, you know, it’s really, in some sense, déjà vu all over again. We saw Jeff Sessions, the first attorney general under President Trump, be kind of the right-hand man for Donald Trump on every issue except one, and that was his refusal to recuse — or, his decision to recuse himself from the investigation into Russian interference in the election. And that one sin caused Trump to basically push Sessions out.
Now, then Barr comes in and, again, is entirely President Trump’s right-hand man, doing his bidding rather than providing an independent Justice Department, which is what our constitutional norms and traditions require. But when he will not repeat President Trump’s lies about widespread voter fraud and when he did not illegally disclose the existence of an investigation into Hunter Biden before the election in an effort to undermine the election, Trump again sort of writes him off and throws him overboard. I mean, there’s no — you can’t be too loyal to President Trump. And Bill Barr was really, for all intents and purposes, his most loyal henchman. And yet even he got sacrificed at the end.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: David Cole, I wanted to ask you about probably the biggest story, other than the election, obviously, of this year — the coronavirus pandemic — and the statement by the attorney general echoing the anger of President Trump against the lockdowns, that these lockdowns, according to him, apart from slavery, were, quote, “the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history.” That’s the attorney general speaking earlier this year.
DAVID COLE: Yeah, remarkable, remarkable statement. I mean, this Justice Department, in four years, has conducted a single Voting Rights Act enforcement action. One single Voting Rights Act enforcement action. And yet, Barr announced a special sort of initiative to go out and sue cities and states that were simply trying to keep people safe, simply trying to save lives. I mean, like the president, he let politics get in the way of saving people’s lives. And by doing that, he’s essentially fomenting the views of the deniers, who refuse to wear masks, who refuse to engage in social distancing, and who are responsible for the 300,000 deaths that we’ve now seen in this country. It’s really intolerable.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: One of the other areas of much controversy with the attorney general was his order to prosecutors to dismiss charges against Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who has since been pardoned by the president — his efforts here to, in essence, interfere with his own Justice Department’s prosecutions.
DAVID COLE: Right. I mean, there’s a long-standing tradition in the Justice Department of independence. And it includes independence of the attorney general from the president, which Barr threw out the window. But it also includes independence of the line prosecutors from the attorney general himself. It’s a kind of federalist system. And we don’t want sort of the top political people deciding who gets prosecuted and who doesn’t, and so we let those decisions be made by the U.S. attorneys in the particular local districts, but not Bill Barr.
He interfered in the Michael Flynn prosecution, after Michael Flynn had pled guilty — had pled guilty — to order them to dismiss the prosecution. He also interfered in the Roger Stone case, where his prosecutors sought a much more serious sentence against Roger Stone, and he again intervened to push for leniency. So, in both instances, he violated the norms of the department. Why? To aid President Trump. Not to promote justice, not to promote independence, but to aid President Trump by doing favors for his cronies, who had violated the law.
AMY GOODMAN: So, I want to talk about the people who are on death row, asking about William Barr’s role in the Trump administration’s revival of the death penalty. Trump has executed nine federal prisoners during his tenure, ending a 30-year hiatus in federal executions. He intends to kill four more people before he leaves office on January 20th. The last will be January 12th. These are the first executions during a president’s lame-duck period in over 130 years, since Grover Cleveland executed three people of color, among them a Choctaw Native American.
The latest prisoner to be put to death, in the last two prisoners, was Brandon Bernard, a 40-year-old Black man, killed on International Human Rights Day, December 10th, even after five of the nine surviving jurors changed their minds and said Brandon should not be executed.
The federal government’s only death chamber, at the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, is only equipped to kill by lethal injection. In order to expedite this killing spree, the Trump administration quietly issued a rule change authorizing federal executions to take place, as well, by firing squad, poison gas or electrocution. It was going to be starting on Christmas Eve, but then they pushed it to December 28th. But can you talk about, well, this killing spree?
DAVID COLE: Well, you know, the rest of the world is moving in the direction of recognizing that the death penalty is abhorrent, a violation of basic human rights. There’s been a moratorium on federal executions for a very long time.
And as they’re going out the door, the Trump administration is seeking to do as much damage as it can on all fronts. But in no area is it more cruel and unusual than with respect to these individuals. There’s no need to rush to judgment. The rush here is simply that they recognize that Joe Biden is opposed to these executions; they would not go through if Joe Biden were in office. And so they want to kill these individuals before they leave office. Again, it’s sort of beyond belief.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, David Cole, I wanted to ask you about one of Barr’s more recent actions. Earlier this month, he appointed Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham to act as a special counsel investigating the 2016 election. That essentially ensures that Durham will keep his investigation and double down on one of Trump’s obsessive claims, that the national security and criminal concerns about his campaign and Russia in 2016 sullied the legitimacy of his election and presidency. What about this extension, basically, of Durham’s mandate into the coming years, the early years of the Biden administration?
DAVID COLE: Well, to me, it’s a bookend of what Bill Barr did when the Mueller report came out. You know, the Mueller report comes out — well, doesn’t come out; it is delivered to the attorney general. The rest of us can’t see it. And Barr holds a press conference in which he blatantly mischaracterizes its findings to make it sound like it’s an absolution, when in fact it was an indictment in everything but name. The only reason it wasn’t an indictment was because they concluded that they didn’t have the power to indict, but the facts were devastating.
And Barr, rather than seek to tell the American people the truth, you know, told a tainted story — a cover-up, essentially — and sought to present the Mueller investigation as if it was saying nothing wrong happened. And, you know, now he’s continuing to abet, aid and abet, Trump’s effort to sort of call into question a very legitimate investigation into significant Russian intervention into our presidential election. So, very, very disturbing. I have no reason to doubt the bona fides of John Durham. You know, I suspect that nothing will come of this in the end. But it is disturbing that Barr, rather than tell the American people the truth, sought to shade that truth in ways that would help his boss and mislead the American people.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, David Cole, a question, overall, about pardons. I think Trump has done fewer than any other president, to say the least, except for his friends. But what it means when the attorney general steps down in these last few weeks, and, just overall, the legacy of the Trump and Barr Justice Department?
DAVID COLE: Well, you know, I mean, again, I think when Barr was first named, people thought maybe this guy is going to come in and restore the integrity of the Justice Department, which Jeff Sessions had pretty much eviscerated, because Barr was clearly at the end of his career. He didn’t need to go anywhere. This was sort of his last career move. People thought of him as a straight-up guy under George H.W. Bush.
But, no, he came in and essentially sought to aid and abet whatever President Trump sought, up to this last moment where he was unwilling — and you do have to give him credit for that. He was unwilling to repeat the lies. Many other Republicans have repeated the lies that Trump has spouted about the election ever since he lost on November 3rd, but Barr did not. So I think you do have to give him credit for that. You do have to give him credit for not disclosing — illegally disclosing — an investigation in the run-up to an election, unlike James Comey. But beyond those two actions, for which he essentially lost his job, he was the enabler-in-chief.
AMY GOODMAN: David Cole, national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, professor of law and public policy at Georgetown University Law Center; his most recent book, Engines of Liberty: The Power of Citizen Activists to Make Constitutional Law.
When we come back, the Electoral College formally votes to make Joe Biden president. We’ll look at the growing movement to challenge the Electoral College. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: “A Blaze of Orange” by Steve Skinner and John Franklin. And a shoutout to all of the listeners and community in KFFR community radio in Winter Park, Colorado.


truthout--2020-12-15--Inadequate COVID Stimulus Is Pushing Cities and States to Make Draconian Cuts

For the last nine months , as the COVID crisis has deepened , cities and states have stared down a growing financial apocalypse .
In the first bloom of the crisis , those cities and states that had managed to put aside extra dollars during nearly a decade of economic growth used up their hard-won rainy-day funds ; then they began juggling numbers , using accounting tricks to lower current spending obligations without actually reducing jobs and services ; and then , when they ran through their grab bag of tricks , they had to begin cutting services .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sorts of booms that had generated such wealth in New York or in San Francisco in recent years , already hard times became suddenly even harder .
Just before the pandemic shut U.S. cities down in March , researchers with the Brookings Institute reported that many mid-sized metro areas were performing far worse economically than were mega-cities , with their local economies and labor markets growing at a lower rate than their larger neighbors , and with poverty declining at a slower rate .
In the latter part of the decade 2010-2020 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ muscle , in many of the U.S. ’ s largest metropolises also slowed significantly .
When the COVID crisis hit , all of the vulnerabilities that had been growing , largely unnoticed , beneath much of the U.S. ’ s urban surface for several years burst forth into the open .
The math is pretty straightforward .
As tourism , hotels , restaurants , entertainment venues , ticket sales to sports events , conventions and so forth have dried up in the face of the pandemic , government revenues have imploded : less @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tax and less sales tax revenues .
And that , in turn , means cuts to jobs and services at the city and state level .
All of this feeds into a downward cycle by further reducing tax revenues and consumption , and further reducing the amount of money that cash-strapped states can send to their cities , most of which are barred by state laws from running deficits from one year to the next .
In April and May , 1.5 million workers were either laid off or furloughed by state and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then , the National League of Cities found that 2,100 cities were facing budget shortfalls and strategizing ways to impose cuts to make up for these lost dollars .
Since then , that number has almost certainly increased .
It was at least in part in response to this cascading fiscal crisis that the House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act , which would have freed up trillions of dollars in federal spending to counter the economic impact of the pandemic .
Several hundred billion dollars of that would have been used to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , so as to minimize the scale of the cuts .
It would have protected education and transport infrastructure — and the jobs that go with that — cultural institutions , libraries , as well as more prosaic but vital functions , such as fire-fighting , park maintenance , garbage collection , and so on .
But with GOP lawmakers increasingly reluctant to sign off on another big-spending package — especially one that was seen , rightly or wrongly , by their base to disproportionately benefit Democratic-leaning big cities that had shut down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public health response — the HEROES Act wasn ’ t taken up by the GOP-controlled Senate .
Predictably , the result has been catastrophic for cities and states — and the scale of the cuts envisioned at year ’ s end surpasses anything proposed back in the spring .
A report , released in early December by Boston University ’ s Initiative on Cities found that only 13 percent of mayors in the country believed small businesses in their jurisdictions had received enough federal relief .
Large numbers believed that their rental markets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ next couple of years , and that public transport and cultural institutions would remain deeply vulnerable through 2021 .
Fully 45 percent believed they would be forced into “ dramatic ” cuts to schools over the coming year .
And 6 out of 10 believed that , even after vaccines were distributed , downtown office space in their cities would remain less desirable — and , since those economic cores provide a large part of their tax base , that would mean continued , long-term economic pain for cities .
Los Angeles , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lockdown and has seen vast parts of its economy shuttered for the entire duration of the pandemic , is facing a $ 650 million budget deficit for the coming fiscal year — and city analysts predict that number will increase before the health crisis ends .
As a result , LA ’ s city government is proposing the elimination of more than 800 jobs , most of them in the police department .
That ’ s less than the nearly 2,000 jobs initially proposed for the axe , but still a crushing blow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
What Los Angeles is proposing isn ’ t a carefully thought through “ defund the police ” strategy , with investments in social services , mental health services , and other public expenditures replacing the dollars cut from the police force ; instead , it ’ s simply reactive , a desperate cost-saving measure .
And even with these cuts , the city is still going to have to impose furloughs , equal to about 10 percent of workers ’ wages , on thousands of additional employees .
There ’ s no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ LA is facing a huge reduction in public services .
In Jacksonville , Florida , both the public defender ’ s office and the state attorney ’ s office are facing cuts of millions of dollars , impacting the ability of the city over the coming years to hold trials in a timely manner .
In Chicago , Mayor Lori Lightfoot is proposing the elimination of up to 500 city jobs , and the furloughing of thousands of additional workers .
At the same time , the Windy City is trying to plug @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s budget with emergency increases to property taxes and gas sales taxes .
The crisis runs the gamut from the biggest public institutions in the country to some of the smallest .
In New York , the Metropolitan Transportation Authority , which runs public transit in New York City , is facing an astonishing $ 12 billion shortfall in coming years , and is estimating that it will have to cut services by 40 percent if it doesn ’ t receive a huge cash injection from the federal government in the coming weeks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reported on small water utility districts heading into insolvency due to the large number of customers who can no longer afford to pay their water bills .
In some rural areas of North Carolina , the researchers found , up to half of water customers were behind on their bills as a result of the pandemic and the economic dislocation that has accompanied it .
Pick pretty much any local jurisdiction , anywhere in the country , and draconian cuts to services are on the table as we head into 2021 .
Belatedly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scale of the crisis .
Seven months after the House passed the HEROES Act and the Senate promptly tabled the bill , legislators are finally scrambling to craft a drastically watered-down relief package — worth $ 908 billion , or about one-third of the HEROES Act — so as to avoid an economic cliff over which tens of millions of impoverished Americans could topple during Christmas week when existing benefits , passed in earlier pandemic-relief packages , run out ; and to partially shore up collapsing city and state services .
The proposals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ senators , are , of course , better than nothing .
But they leave huge shortfalls .
Analysts at the Brookings Institute and elsewhere have calculated that states and cities are facing a financial gap of roughly half a trillion dollars over the coming years , but the package proposed by the moderate-middle in these last days of 2020 includes only about $ 160 billion in assistance to these entities .
And even that is $ 160 billion more than Mitch McConnell and most of the Republican leadership want .
McConnell has , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ past year opportunistically railing against “ bailouts ” of Democratic states ’ pension systems , of big city social programs , of union-protected jobs and wages , and so on .
At one point , earlier this year , McConnell , playing to his conservative base , even stated that he would be quite content to see states go bankrupt .
With or without congressional intervention , at this point much of the damage has already been done .
Cities and states have already begun slashing vital public services .
And local leaders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the assumption that Congress won ’ t step up to the plate with the financial assistance that they need .
It ’ s all a fittingly dysfunctional , cruel , coda to a particularly brutal year .

Part of the Series Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19
For the last nine months, as the COVID crisis has deepened, cities and states have stared down a growing financial apocalypse. In the first bloom of the crisis, those cities and states that had managed to put aside extra dollars during nearly a decade of economic growth used up their hard-won rainy-day funds; then they began juggling numbers, using accounting tricks to lower current spending obligations without actually reducing jobs and services; and then, when they ran through their grab bag of tricks, they had to begin cutting services.
For cities that hadn’t experienced the sorts of booms that had generated such wealth in New York or in San Francisco in recent years, already hard times became suddenly even harder. Just before the pandemic shut U.S. cities down in March, researchers with the Brookings Institute reported that many mid-sized metro areas were performing far worse economically than were mega-cities, with their local economies and labor markets growing at a lower rate than their larger neighbors, and with poverty declining at a slower rate. In the latter part of the decade 2010-2020, population growth, and with it economic muscle, in many of the U.S.’s largest metropolises also slowed significantly.
When the COVID crisis hit, all of the vulnerabilities that had been growing, largely unnoticed, beneath much of the U.S.’s urban surface for several years burst forth into the open. The math is pretty straightforward. As tourism, hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, ticket sales to sports events, conventions and so forth have dried up in the face of the pandemic, government revenues have imploded: less jobs and less consumption means less income tax and less sales tax revenues. And that, in turn, means cuts to jobs and services at the city and state level. All of this feeds into a downward cycle by further reducing tax revenues and consumption, and further reducing the amount of money that cash-strapped states can send to their cities, most of which are barred by state laws from running deficits from one year to the next.
In April and May, 1.5 million workers were either laid off or furloughed by state and local governments around the country. Back then, the National League of Cities found that 2,100 cities were facing budget shortfalls and strategizing ways to impose cuts to make up for these lost dollars. Since then, that number has almost certainly increased.
It was at least in part in response to this cascading fiscal crisis that the House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act, which would have freed up trillions of dollars in federal spending to counter the economic impact of the pandemic. Several hundred billion dollars of that would have been used to backstop city, county and state governments, so as to minimize the scale of the cuts. It would have protected education and transport infrastructure — and the jobs that go with that — cultural institutions, libraries, as well as more prosaic but vital functions, such as fire-fighting, park maintenance, garbage collection, and so on.
But with GOP lawmakers increasingly reluctant to sign off on another big-spending package — especially one that was seen, rightly or wrongly, by their base to disproportionately benefit Democratic-leaning big cities that had shut down large swathes of their economy as a public health response — the HEROES Act wasn’t taken up by the GOP-controlled Senate. Predictably, the result has been catastrophic for cities and states — and the scale of the cuts envisioned at year’s end surpasses anything proposed back in the spring.
Pick pretty much any local jurisdiction, anywhere in the country, and draconian cuts to services are on the table as we head into 2021.
A report, released in early December by Boston University’s Initiative on Cities found that only 13 percent of mayors in the country believed small businesses in their jurisdictions had received enough federal relief. Large numbers believed that their rental markets would leave residents particularly vulnerable for the next couple of years, and that public transport and cultural institutions would remain deeply vulnerable through 2021. Fully 45 percent believed they would be forced into “dramatic” cuts to schools over the coming year. And 6 out of 10 believed that, even after vaccines were distributed, downtown office space in their cities would remain less desirable — and, since those economic cores provide a large part of their tax base, that would mean continued, long-term economic pain for cities.
Los Angeles, which has lived under varying degrees of lockdown and has seen vast parts of its economy shuttered for the entire duration of the pandemic, is facing a $650 million budget deficit for the coming fiscal year — and city analysts predict that number will increase before the health crisis ends. As a result, LA’s city government is proposing the elimination of more than 800 jobs, most of them in the police department. That’s less than the nearly 2,000 jobs initially proposed for the axe, but still a crushing blow to the country’s second-largest city.
What Los Angeles is proposing isn’t a carefully thought through “defund the police” strategy, with investments in social services, mental health services, and other public expenditures replacing the dollars cut from the police force; instead, it’s simply reactive, a desperate cost-saving measure. And even with these cuts, the city is still going to have to impose furloughs, equal to about 10 percent of workers’ wages, on thousands of additional employees. There’s no way to interpret this other than that LA is facing a huge reduction in public services.
In Jacksonville, Florida, both the public defender’s office and the state attorney’s office are facing cuts of millions of dollars, impacting the ability of the city over the coming years to hold trials in a timely manner.
With or without congressional intervention, at this point much of the damage has already been done. Cities and states have already begun slashing vital public services.
In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is proposing the elimination of up to 500 city jobs, and the furloughing of thousands of additional workers. At the same time, the Windy City is trying to plug a burgeoning hole in the city’s budget with emergency increases to property taxes and gas sales taxes.
The crisis runs the gamut from the biggest public institutions in the country to some of the smallest. In New York, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs public transit in New York City, is facing an astonishing $12 billion shortfall in coming years, and is estimating that it will have to cut services by 40 percent if it doesn’t receive a huge cash injection from the federal government in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Pew Charitable Trusts has reported on small water utility districts heading into insolvency due to the large number of customers who can no longer afford to pay their water bills. In some rural areas of North Carolina, the researchers found, up to half of water customers were behind on their bills as a result of the pandemic and the economic dislocation that has accompanied it.
Pick pretty much any local jurisdiction, anywhere in the country, and draconian cuts to services are on the table as we head into 2021.
Belatedly, Congress seems to be acknowledging the scale of the crisis. Seven months after the House passed the HEROES Act and the Senate promptly tabled the bill, legislators are finally scrambling to craft a drastically watered-down relief package — worth $908 billion, or about one-third of the HEROES Act — so as to avoid an economic cliff over which tens of millions of impoverished Americans could topple during Christmas week when existing benefits, passed in earlier pandemic-relief packages, run out; and to partially shore up collapsing city and state services.
The proposals being pushed by a handful of moderate-middle senators, are, of course, better than nothing. But they leave huge shortfalls. Analysts at the Brookings Institute and elsewhere have calculated that states and cities are facing a financial gap of roughly half a trillion dollars over the coming years, but the package proposed by the moderate-middle in these last days of 2020 includes only about $160 billion in assistance to these entities. And even that is $160 billion more than Mitch McConnell and most of the Republican leadership want. McConnell has, after all, spent much of the past year opportunistically railing against “bailouts” of Democratic states’ pension systems, of big city social programs, of union-protected jobs and wages, and so on. At one point, earlier this year, McConnell, playing to his conservative base, even stated that he would be quite content to see states go bankrupt.
With or without congressional intervention, at this point much of the damage has already been done. Cities and states have already begun slashing vital public services. And local leaders have already started implementing huge budget cuts on the assumption that Congress won’t step up to the plate with the financial assistance that they need. It’s all a fittingly dysfunctional, cruel, coda to a particularly brutal year.
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