The GOP: 2021-2023

Despite the fact that President Trump has promised to explore all of his legal options before conceding the election ( as he should ) , the math in the states under consideration doesn ’ t look particularly sunny for him .
With that in mind , while remembering the dedicated battle that Donald Trump waged , it may soon be time to consider what the next steps are for the GOP moving forward after the inauguration of Joe Biden .
Despite others having to be the bearers of bad news in terms of an end to the Trump presidency and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ decidedly socialist agenda , I ’ m going to say that things could definitely be worse .
And with a bit of calmness and foresight , the damage from this election may not be as bad as some may be anticipating .
When the Republicans were routed in 2008 , the party was truly sent into the wilderness .
Not only had they lost the White House after eight years , but the Speaker ’ s gavel and the Senate Majority Leader ’ s office as well .
If it weren ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have run hog wild even more so than they eventually did .
It was only after the ascendency of the Tea Party moving into the 2010 midterms that some brakes began being applied to the runaway Democratic train .
2021 isn ’ t going to look the same as that scenario .
Barring some seriously bad breaks in Georgia , the GOP will maintain the Senate majority and that ’ s hugely important .
Mitch McConnell has done an amazing job of herding the Republican cats for the most part , and with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be able to do the same .
Meanwhile , rather than gaining ground , the Democrats ’ majority in the House has actually contracted .
They won ’ t lose the gavel , but there may be any number of close votes where nervous Democrats from purple or red districts may be tempted to jump ship .
As for Joe Biden flooding the courts , to say nothing of packing the Supreme Court with extraneous judges , that ’ s not going to happen with Cocaine Mitch still in charge .
He ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s nominees and hopefully keep the most radically liberal of them off the bench entirely .
Biden ( or eventually Harris when the Democrats finally figure out how to ease Joe into retirement ) will need to compromise and propose more moderate judges .
That will be particularly important if Breyer retires early in Biden ’ s term as many anticipate , hoping to avoid what happened to RBG .
It ’ s not too much to hope for that Clarence Thomas will stick around for at least one more term to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2024 .
In the end , Joe Biden may quickly realize that his options in terms of ramming through his agenda will be quite limited .
He ’ ll be forced to attempt most of any larger moves he has in mind through executive orders and the power of the pen and the phone .
That ’ s precisely what his old boss Barack Obama wound up doing and it ’ s what he ’ s criticized Donald Trump for doing as well , so his hypocrisy will be on full display @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how things work out in most presidencies in the modern era .
Looked at in that light , we might wind up simply looking at 2021 and 2022 as a “ rebuilding season , ” to borrow a term from football .
( But hopefully not the same way it always seems to work out for the Jets . )
The 2010 elections really turned around the GOP ’ s fortunes considerably , even though Obama went on to win a second term .
With the same sort of focus and effort , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if Biden , Harris and the Democrats try to push their socialist agenda more than they already have , Joe Biden or some Biden/Harris combination could wind up being a one-and-done presidency as well .

Despite the fact that President Trump has promised to explore all of his legal options before conceding the election (as he should), the math in the states under consideration doesn’t look particularly sunny for him. With that in mind, while remembering the dedicated battle that Donald Trump waged, it may soon be time to consider what the next steps are for the GOP moving forward after the inauguration of Joe Biden. Despite others having to be the bearers of bad news in terms of an end to the Trump presidency and the election of new leaders with a decidedly socialist agenda, I’m going to say that things could definitely be worse. And with a bit of calmness and foresight, the damage from this election may not be as bad as some may be anticipating.
When the Republicans were routed in 2008, the party was truly sent into the wilderness. Not only had they lost the White House after eight years, but the Speaker’s gavel and the Senate Majority Leader’s office as well. If it weren’t for the filibuster, the Democrats would have run hog wild even more so than they eventually did. It was only after the ascendency of the Tea Party moving into the 2010 midterms that some brakes began being applied to the runaway Democratic train.
2021 isn’t going to look the same as that scenario. Barring some seriously bad breaks in Georgia, the GOP will maintain the Senate majority and that’s hugely important. Mitch McConnell has done an amazing job of herding the Republican cats for the most part, and with their backs against the wall he should be able to do the same. Meanwhile, rather than gaining ground, the Democrats’ majority in the House has actually contracted. They won’t lose the gavel, but there may be any number of close votes where nervous Democrats from purple or red districts may be tempted to jump ship.
As for Joe Biden flooding the courts, to say nothing of packing the Supreme Court with extraneous judges, that’s not going to happen with Cocaine Mitch still in charge. He’ll be able to slow walk Biden’s nominees and hopefully keep the most radically liberal of them off the bench entirely. Biden (or eventually Harris when the Democrats finally figure out how to ease Joe into retirement) will need to compromise and propose more moderate judges. That will be particularly important if Breyer retires early in Biden’s term as many anticipate, hoping to avoid what happened to RBG. It’s not too much to hope for that Clarence Thomas will stick around for at least one more term to see if the GOP comes roaring back in 2024.
In the end, Joe Biden may quickly realize that his options in terms of ramming through his agenda will be quite limited. He’ll be forced to attempt most of any larger moves he has in mind through executive orders and the power of the pen and the phone. That’s precisely what his old boss Barack Obama wound up doing and it’s what he’s criticized Donald Trump for doing as well, so his hypocrisy will be on full display. Of course, that’s how things work out in most presidencies in the modern era.
Looked at in that light, we might wind up simply looking at 2021 and 2022 as a “rebuilding season,” to borrow a term from football. (But hopefully not the same way it always seems to work out for the Jets.) The 2010 elections really turned around the GOP’s fortunes considerably, even though Obama went on to win a second term. With the same sort of focus and effort, that history can repeat itself. And if Biden, Harris and the Democrats try to push their socialist agenda more than they already have, Joe Biden or some Biden/Harris combination could wind up being a one-and-done presidency as well.


hotair--2020-11-07--Second wave of coronavirus hits Europe, plus there's a mutant strain in Denmark that could impact va

Second wave of coronavirus hits Europe, plus there's a mutant strain in Denmark that could impact vaccine effectiveness

The second wave of the coronavirus is hitting the Unites States right now but it ’ s also exploding across Europe .
Today the Washington Post reports that Italians were feeling good about themselves and feeling pity for the U.S. and now that the second wave it hitting Italy , their per capita numbers are worse than ours : After being so devastated by the coronavirus in the spring , Italians saw the ability to reclaim aspects of normal life as a matter of national pride .
They flocked to outdoor cafes and reserved spots at the beach .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public transportation and returned to their offices .
They relished in having successfully brought the virus in check — and pitied Americans for failing to do so .
Italy ’ s worst-to-first pandemic rebound seemed to offer a model for the world .
But now that Italy has been caught up in Europe ’ s second wave , startled by the virus once more , pride has given way to recriminations and a crisis of confidence .
There ’ s a growing sense that the country and the continent misplayed their second chance… @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dozen countries in Europe that are faring worse than the United States , with more per capita cases and deaths .
Several European nations have returned to shutdown mode .
Italy has instituted a nationwide curfew and sealed off several major regions — the kind of economy-wrecking measures it had hoped were over .
Germany , another place where the pandemic response was widely praised is also struggling and announced a record number of new cases today : Germany followed several European countries by reporting a record number of daily coronavirus cases on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ infections sweeps through the continent as winter approaches .
…the national disease control center , the Robert Koch Institute , reported 23,399 new cases between Friday and Saturday , a daily record for the country… This increase came despite bars , gyms and theaters being shut since Monday , under measures agreed between Merkel and the heads of regional governments .
However , schools will stay open and shops will be allowed to operate with limits .
“ The light at the end of the tunnel is still quite a long way off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after the measures were introduced .
In France , things are even worse than in Germany , with two record-setting days of new cases in a row : Belgium has the worst per capita infection rate in Europe and is in danger of overwhelming its health system : The UK has just launched what is being called Lockdown 2.0 is already being judged too lax by some observers : Meanwhile , there ’ s a potentially serious development happening in Denmark .
The virus has infected mink , which are farmed for their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been identified from the mink .
The situation is serious enough that Denmark has ordered mink farmers to slaughter all 17 million of the animals in the entire country ( which is about triple the number of humans in Denmark ) : According to a report in the Danish newspaper Berlingske , 207 mink farms have seen infections of coronavirus .
The authorities have failed to contain the virus , and all 17 million farmed mink in Denmark will now be culled , said Denmark ’ s prime minister Mette Frederiksen at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Denmark has the world ’ s largest mink industry… The State Serum Institute issued a statement ( in Danish ) confirming that multiple mutant viruses have been isolated from mink , and that seven of these have mutations in the spike protein , which the virus uses to enter cells and which is important to the immune response and a key target for vaccines .
One of these viruses has four mutations in its spike protein , and in laboratory tests has been found to be more weakly inhibited by antibodies from humans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This could in theory make a vaccine less effective .
But the virus itself in not more dangerous or contagious .
You probably recall lots of early speculation that the coronavirus came from a type of Chinese bat and transferred to humans through an intermediary mammal , possibly a pangolin or a cane rat .
Whatever the case , the point is that this virus can pass between different mammals .
In fact , Slate points out it has spread to 50 other species but in most cases those animals don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ different .
They are not only capable of catching it from humans , they are capable of passing it back to us in mutated form : Since the beginning of the pandemic , more than 50 animal species have tested positive for the dominant strain of SARS-CoV-2 .
When news broke in April that several domestic dogs and cats had tested positive , there were no calls for mass euthanasia of house pets .
Spread to wild animals—tigers , bats , and great apes to name a few—has also been documented , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dramatic intervention to stop the spread in those species , several of which are endangered .
The case of the Danish minks , however , is different .
Other animal species that have caught the coronavirus from people were infected with the dominant strain of the virus , the one that ’ s been making headlines for the better part of the past year .
Additionally , most of those species turned out to be dead-end hosts for the virus , meaning that although the virus could infect those animals , and even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virus was unable to turn around and jump from animal to human , a phenomenon called zoonosis .
Minks are an exception to this rule .
The European mink industry has been battling outbreaks of the dominant strain of COVID on farms since June , after a rash of COVID-19 cases in people in northern Denmark was ultimately traced back to those farms .
Once it became clear that the animals themselves were the source of the infections , minks were slaughtered en masse on farms where these outbreaks had taken place .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus outbreaks this summer .
Officials in Spain slaughtered almost 10 times as many after an outbreak occurred at a farm in the Aragón province .
Those minks were contracting and spreading the dominant strain of the coronavirus , the one we all know and dread .
The development this week is the discovery that minks in Denmark are now testing positive for a mutant strain of the virus that is not readily destroyed by COVID antibodies .
Again , this isn ’ t a new super-strain and it won ’ t make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
However , Mink-COVID or whatever they end up calling it appears to be less susceptible to the vaccines now under development .
Obviously a vaccine is no good if there ’ s a separate strain of the virus that isn ’ t effectively stopped by it .
You might knock down the old strain only to have the new one spread in its place .
It ’ s a potential disaster .
The situation is serious enough that the UK has banned travel from Denmark .
Hopefully other countries will do the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t get out .
If there ’ s one thing we ’ ve all learned from 2020 it ’ s that however bad things look , they can always get worse .
The mink situation in Denmark is the latest proof of that .

The second wave of the coronavirus is hitting the Unites States right now but it’s also exploding across Europe. Today the Washington Post reports that Italians were feeling good about themselves and feeling pity for the U.S. and now that the second wave it hitting Italy, their per capita numbers are worse than ours:
After being so devastated by the coronavirus in the spring, Italians saw the ability to reclaim aspects of normal life as a matter of national pride. They flocked to outdoor cafes and reserved spots at the beach. They put on their masks, resumed using public transportation and returned to their offices. They relished in having successfully brought the virus in check — and pitied Americans for failing to do so. Italy’s worst-to-first pandemic rebound seemed to offer a model for the world. But now that Italy has been caught up in Europe’s second wave, startled by the virus once more, pride has given way to recriminations and a crisis of confidence. There’s a growing sense that the country and the continent misplayed their second chance… Italy is now among more than two dozen countries in Europe that are faring worse than the United States, with more per capita cases and deaths. Several European nations have returned to shutdown mode. Italy has instituted a nationwide curfew and sealed off several major regions — the kind of economy-wrecking measures it had hoped were over.
Germany, another place where the pandemic response was widely praised is also struggling and announced a record number of new cases today:
Germany followed several European countries by reporting a record number of daily coronavirus cases on Saturday, as a second wave of infections sweeps through the continent as winter approaches. …the national disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, reported 23,399 new cases between Friday and Saturday, a daily record for the country…
This increase came despite bars, gyms and theaters being shut since Monday, under measures agreed between Merkel and the heads of regional governments. However, schools will stay open and shops will be allowed to operate with limits. “The light at the end of the tunnel is still quite a long way off,” Merkel told a news conference after the measures were introduced.
In France, things are even worse than in Germany, with two record-setting days of new cases in a row:
France registered a record 60,486 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday, after posting a record 58,046 on Thursday, health ministry data showed. The new cases took the total number of confirmed cases to 1.66 million, close behind Russia, which, with 1.73 million cases has the world’s fourth-largest number after the U.S., India and Brazil.
Belgium has the worst per capita infection rate in Europe and is in danger of overwhelming its health system:
Belgium, where the main EU institutions are based, is experiencing some of the highest Covid-19 daily infections in Europe. When adjusted for population, the figures are twice as much as France and seven times more than Germany over the last two weeks, data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control shows. In late October, the country’s health minister, Frank Vandenbroucke, described the situation as being like a “tsunami” of infections where the authorities are “no longer in control.”
The UK has just launched what is being called Lockdown 2.0 is already being judged too lax by some observers:
The latest shutdown — under which pubs, restaurants and other nonessential shops were supposed to close, but schools, universities and many workplaces were left open — is slated to end on Dec. 2. But many scientists doubt that four weeks of spotty restrictions will be enough to stamp out the virus, or that the government will have done enough by then to revamp its contact tracing system to allow officials to keep track of the virus’s spread for the rest of the winter.
Meanwhile, there’s a potentially serious development happening in Denmark. The virus has infected mink, which are farmed for their pelts, and now several mutant strains have been identified from the mink. The situation is serious enough that Denmark has ordered mink farmers to slaughter all 17 million of the animals in the entire country (which is about triple the number of humans in Denmark):
According to a report in the Danish newspaper Berlingske, 207 mink farms have seen infections of coronavirus. The authorities have failed to contain the virus, and all 17 million farmed mink in Denmark will now be culled, said Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen at a press briefing on 5 November. Denmark has the world’s largest mink industry… The State Serum Institute issued a statement (in Danish) confirming that multiple mutant viruses have been isolated from mink, and that seven of these have mutations in the spike protein, which the virus uses to enter cells and which is important to the immune response and a key target for vaccines. One of these viruses has four mutations in its spike protein, and in laboratory tests has been found to be more weakly inhibited by antibodies from humans who have been infected with the coronavirus. This could in theory make a vaccine less effective. But the virus itself in not more dangerous or contagious.
You probably recall lots of early speculation that the coronavirus came from a type of Chinese bat and transferred to humans through an intermediary mammal, possibly a pangolin or a cane rat. Whatever the case, the point is that this virus can pass between different mammals. In fact, Slate points out it has spread to 50 other species but in most cases those animals don’t transmit it back. Minks are different. They are not only capable of catching it from humans, they are capable of passing it back to us in mutated form:
Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 50 animal species have tested positive for the dominant strain of SARS-CoV-2. When news broke in April that several domestic dogs and cats had tested positive, there were no calls for mass euthanasia of house pets. Spread to wild animals—tigers, bats, and great apes to name a few—has also been documented, but at no point did epidemiologists recommend such dramatic intervention to stop the spread in those species, several of which are endangered. The case of the Danish minks, however, is different. Other animal species that have caught the coronavirus from people were infected with the dominant strain of the virus, the one that’s been making headlines for the better part of the past year. Additionally, most of those species turned out to be dead-end hosts for the virus, meaning that although the virus could infect those animals, and even cause disease in those animals, the virus was unable to turn around and jump from animal to human, a phenomenon called zoonosis. Minks are an exception to this rule. The European mink industry has been battling outbreaks of the dominant strain of COVID on farms since June, after a rash of COVID-19 cases in people in northern Denmark was ultimately traced back to those farms. Once it became clear that the animals themselves were the source of the infections, minks were slaughtered en masse on farms where these outbreaks had taken place. The Netherlands culled more than 10,000 after coronavirus outbreaks this summer. Officials in Spain slaughtered almost 10 times as many after an outbreak occurred at a farm in the Aragón province. Those minks were contracting and spreading the dominant strain of the coronavirus, the one we all know and dread. The development this week is the discovery that minks in Denmark are now testing positive for a mutant strain of the virus that is not readily destroyed by COVID antibodies.
Again, this isn’t a new super-strain and it won’t make you any sicker than the existing strain. However, Mink-COVID or whatever they end up calling it appears to be less susceptible to the vaccines now under development. Obviously a vaccine is no good if there’s a separate strain of the virus that isn’t effectively stopped by it. You might knock down the old strain only to have the new one spread in its place.
It’s a potential disaster. The situation is serious enough that the UK has banned travel from Denmark. Hopefully other countries will do the same to ensure that this doesn’t get out.
If there’s one thing we’ve all learned from 2020 it’s that however bad things look, they can always get worse. The mink situation in Denmark is the latest proof of that.


hotair--2020-11-07--Too good to check: Is Putin about to retire?

His lips say nyet nyet nyet , but Vladimir Putin ’ s flunkies in the Russian Federal Assembly have suddenly taken a big interest in lifetime presidential immunity from prosecution .
The British tabloid The Sun reported on Thursday that the Russian strongman had started laying out plans for retirement , thanks to medical issues that might indicate Parkinson ’ s disease .
Putin ’ s mistress and family are supposedly pushing him to leave office soon , according to their on-the-record source , possibly as early as January : VLADIMIR Putin is planning to quit early next year amid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sources claimed last night .
Kremlin watchers said recent tell-tale footage showed the 68-year-old strongman has possible symptoms of Parkinson ’ s Disease .
And informed analysts claimed that the Russian president ’ s glamorous ex-gymnast lover Alina Kabaeva , 37 – once dubbed ‘ Russia ’ s most flexible woman ’ – is begging him to release his grip on power .
Observers who studied recent footage of Putin noted his legs appeared to be in constant motion and he looked to be in pain while clutching the armrest of a chair @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be twitching as he held a pen and gripped a cup believed to contain a cocktail of painkillers .
The Sun has a one-minute video embedded in their report that shows … nothing much at all .
Putin appears to be paying homage to the Russian military at a memorial and then chatting up young Russians without much more than some stiffness in a leg .
He looks in this clip like a fairly healthy 68-year-old , whose age might become a worry but otherwise looks unremarkable .
The Kremlin called the report @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US News wondered why it got under their skin : THE KREMLIN ON FRIDAY insisted that Russian President Vladimir Putin is in good health and has no plans to resign – a rare on-record comment about the guarded leader ’ s private life forced by a speculative report in a British tabloid suggesting he “ has possible symptoms of Parkinson ’ s disease.
” “ No , ” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday morning when asked whether Putin has plans to resign .
“ He is in excellent health.
” … It was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ address the report and reference it through its heavily controlled state media service , though Putin has been notoriously image-conscious throughout his tenure and has long sought to project displays of his vitality .
The future of Putin ’ s tenure has indeed wrought international scrutiny in recent months .
Having served for longer than any leader in Moscow since Josef Stalin , Putin consolidated power in early January through a series of forced reforms that essentially allows him to remain in power indefinitely .
That , however , raises questions about this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Among the proposals under consideration , the Moscow Times reported at about the same time as The Sun ’ s story went live , is a new law that would grant former presidents lifetime immunity from prosecution .
Gee , whomever could they have in mind ?
Russian lawmakers submitted legislation Thursday that would grant former presidents lifetime immunity from criminal prosecution under President Vladimir Putin ’ s constitutional reforms , Interfax reported .
Under current laws , presidents can not be held criminally or administratively liable for crimes committed while serving their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Putin ’ s constitutional reforms proposed earlier this year to extend presidential immunity beyond their terms of office .
“ The bill secures immunity guarantees for ex-presidents beyond the terms of their presidential powers , ” Interfax quoted Senator Andrei Klishas , the group ’ s co-chair , as telling reporters .
“ This expands the timeframe of immunity guarantees for a president who stops exercising their powers , ” added Klishas , who chairs the upper-house Federation Council ’ s Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building .
Under the law , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immunity on a case-by-case basis , but only with a two-thirds vote in both chambers of the bicameral body .
This would be included with another Putin “ reform ” proposal that would grant a permanent seat in the upper chamber to ex-presidents .
The presence of the ex-president in the body would certainly make such a vote awkward .
But that ’ s down the road .
The main question at present is why Putin is working so hard on a golden parachute for former presidents .
He ’ s literally the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would apply .
Dmitry Medvedev served one term as president as a placeholder for Putin , who was term-limited under the Russian constitution at that time … a limit that was later removed in an earlier “ reform.
” The only other president was Boris Yeltsin , whom Putin replaced in 1999 and who died in 2007 .
Perhaps the meaning could be stretched to include Soviet leaders , but that would only add Mikhail Gorbachev .
And Radio Free Europe noted on Thursday that it doesn ’ t appear that Putin ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an umbrella of immunity by equating him to the presidency .
The only members of this club are Putin and Medvedev , and no one can think that Putin ’ s worried about his former lackey , who got demoted to a subordinate position in Putin ’ s last set of constitutional “ reforms.
” Perhaps this is all a coincidence , but erecting a permanent bar to prosecution seems like an odd move for someone who foresees no clouds on his horizon .
This looks like a plan with a purpose , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out .
To quote the inimitable Fred Dalton Thompson ’ s character in The Hunt for Red October , well … you know …

His lips say nyet nyet nyet, but Vladimir Putin’s flunkies in the Russian Federal Assembly have suddenly taken a big interest in lifetime presidential immunity from prosecution. The British tabloid The Sun reported on Thursday that the Russian strongman had started laying out plans for retirement, thanks to medical issues that might indicate Parkinson’s disease. Putin’s mistress and family are supposedly pushing him to leave office soon, according to their on-the-record source, possibly as early as January:
VLADIMIR Putin is planning to quit early next year amid growing fears for his health, Moscow sources claimed last night. Kremlin watchers said recent tell-tale footage showed the 68-year-old strongman has possible symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. And informed analysts claimed that the Russian president’s glamorous ex-gymnast lover Alina Kabaeva, 37 – once dubbed ‘Russia’s most flexible woman’ – is begging him to release his grip on power. Observers who studied recent footage of Putin noted his legs appeared to be in constant motion and he looked to be in pain while clutching the armrest of a chair. His fingers are also seen to be twitching as he held a pen and gripped a cup believed to contain a cocktail of painkillers.
The Sun has a one-minute video embedded in their report that shows … nothing much at all. Putin appears to be paying homage to the Russian military at a memorial and then chatting up young Russians without much more than some stiffness in a leg. He looks in this clip like a fairly healthy 68-year-old, whose age might become a worry but otherwise looks unremarkable.
The Kremlin called the report “pure nonsense” yesterday, but US News wondered why it got under their skin:
THE KREMLIN ON FRIDAY insisted that Russian President Vladimir Putin is in good health and has no plans to resign – a rare on-record comment about the guarded leader’s private life forced by a speculative report in a British tabloid suggesting he “has possible symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.” “No,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday morning when asked whether Putin has plans to resign. “He is in excellent health.” … It was unclear why the Kremlin felt obligated to address the report and reference it through its heavily controlled state media service, though Putin has been notoriously image-conscious throughout his tenure and has long sought to project displays of his vitality. The future of Putin’s tenure has indeed wrought international scrutiny in recent months. Having served for longer than any leader in Moscow since Josef Stalin, Putin consolidated power in early January through a series of forced reforms that essentially allows him to remain in power indefinitely.
That, however, raises questions about this new effort in the Federal Assembly. Among the proposals under consideration, the Moscow Times reported at about the same time as The Sun’s story went live, is a new law that would grant former presidents lifetime immunity from prosecution. Gee, whomever could they have in mind?
Russian lawmakers submitted legislation Thursday that would grant former presidents lifetime immunity from criminal prosecution under President Vladimir Putin’s constitutional reforms, Interfax reported. Under current laws, presidents cannot be held criminally or administratively liable for crimes committed while serving their terms. A parliamentary working group assessing Putin’s constitutional reforms proposed earlier this year to extend presidential immunity beyond their terms of office. “The bill secures immunity guarantees for ex-presidents beyond the terms of their presidential powers,” Interfax quoted Senator Andrei Klishas, the group’s co-chair, as telling reporters. “This expands the timeframe of immunity guarantees for a president who stops exercising their powers,” added Klishas, who chairs the upper-house Federation Council’s Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building.
Under the law, the assembly could strip former presidents of immunity on a case-by-case basis, but only with a two-thirds vote in both chambers of the bicameral body. This would be included with another Putin “reform” proposal that would grant a permanent seat in the upper chamber to ex-presidents. The presence of the ex-president in the body would certainly make such a vote awkward.
But that’s down the road. The main question at present is why Putin is working so hard on a golden parachute for former presidents. He’s literally the only other person to whom these reforms would apply. Dmitry Medvedev served one term as president as a placeholder for Putin, who was term-limited under the Russian constitution at that time … a limit that was later removed in an earlier “reform.” The only other president was Boris Yeltsin, whom Putin replaced in 1999 and who died in 2007. Perhaps the meaning could be stretched to include Soviet leaders, but that would only add Mikhail Gorbachev. And Radio Free Europe noted on Thursday that it doesn’t appear that Putin’s anxious to include his sometime-critic under an umbrella of immunity by equating him to the presidency. The only members of this club are Putin and Medvedev, and no one can think that Putin’s worried about his former lackey, who got demoted to a subordinate position in Putin’s last set of constitutional “reforms.”
Perhaps this is all a coincidence, but erecting a permanent bar to prosecution seems like an odd move for someone who foresees no clouds on his horizon. This looks like a plan with a purpose, and not a plan for a decade out. To quote the inimitable Fred Dalton Thompson’s character in The Hunt for Red October, well … you know …


hotair--2020-11-07--Here we go again: What happens if Trump refuses to concede the election?

The stories are popping up again about what will happen if President Trump refuses to accept the election results .
What happens if he refuses to concede and vacate the White House ?
These conversations were held in June and again last month .
Let me first say that I have no doubt that President Trump will concede when he thinks all of his legal options are exhausted .
Why should he concede before that ?
It is really disingenuous of Democrats to act as though Joe Biden would just throw in the towel and not pursue all the options @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as this one , especially given some of the concerns that have arisen about the voting process .
The sheer amount of mail-in ballots used in this election produced uncertainty , chaos , and confusion in states across the country .
This was an election as we have never seen before .
President Trump will respect the peaceful transition of power but he will not go without a fight .
Would you ?
Trump didn ’ t just run against Joe Biden .
He also ran against the Democrat machine , the media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to accept the good track record Trump has in office , and of course , the entertainment industry who have been busy creating and airing unflattering movies and productions against him for four years .
He will exhaust every legal option .
There is a process for that .
Joe Biden was quick to say in June that the military would escort Trump out of the White House if he refused to leave .
Last month , Gen. Mark Milley said , um , no , we won ’ t .
He reminded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in elections because this is America .
It ’ s not how we roll .
Joe Biden , we will soon be reminded , is not so sharp about the Constitution and how everything works .
The media has called the election for Joe Biden as I write this Saturday morning .
Up until I began this post , I was writing about Biden ’ s thwarted victory speech last night .
I thought that he would have to wait until after the weekend to get his chance to do that .
President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He issued a statement saying the legal process continues Monday .
Some of it reads as follows : “ Beginning Monday , our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated .
The American People are entitled to an honest election : that means counting all legal ballots , and not counting any illegal ballots .
This is the only way to ensure the public has full confidence in our election .
It remains shocking that the Biden campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and wants ballots counted even if they are fraudulent , manufactured , or cast by ineligible or deceased voters .
Only a party engaged in wrongdoing would unlawfully keep observers out of the count room – and then fight in court to block their access .
“ So what is Biden hiding ?
I will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.
” There is a process if Trump refuses to accept Biden ’ s victory if it all holds .
With the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democratic governors but Republican legislatures — including the key battleground states of Pennsylvania , North Carolina , Michigan and Wisconsin , the latter two of which have already been called for Biden — could conceivably end up dispatching two distinct groups of Electoral College voters , reported Marie Claire , citing a study by election scholar Edward B. Foley .
In that scenario , those states would have two competing sets of electoral votes , and , as president of the Senate , Republican Vice President Mike Pence would be tasked with unraveling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ throw out both sets of votes from those states , meaning neither candidate could reach the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency .
In that event , the members of Congress would vote for president and vice president .
The House of Representatives would vote for president , with each state ’ s delegation getting one shared vote , and a simple majority of 26 votes needed to elect .
In the Senate , each senator gets one vote , with a simple majority of 51 votes needed to elect .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ reach a majority , the plot thickens further .
If the Senate elects a vice president but the House of Representatives fails to elect a president , the vice president-elect serves as president until the impasse is resolved .
If neither body can reach a conclusion by Inauguration Day , then the presidential line of succession kicks in , and the speaker of the House of Representatives — currently Nancy Pelosi ( D-Calif. ) — would serve as president until the knot is untied .
None of this will happen .
President Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before him .
All of this speculation is so ridiculous that it can only come from the Trump deranged left .
Let me throw this out – Trump will participate in a peaceful transfer of power though the left never did with him .
The very day after his inauguration , there were massive rallies against his election victory .
The protests and riots have continued for four long years .
Trump was not stopped .
He managed to accomplish more than any Republican president in my lifetime .
Besides a roaring economy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a record number of conservative judicial confirmations and three conservative Supreme Court justices .
He was the most pro-life president ever .
And , though Biden will undo much of what Trump has accomplished , he put America first in trade deals and international agreements that harm our economy like the Paris Climate Accord .
Trump increased his number of votes from 2016 , substantially .
He will be on record as the candidate who received the second most votes of any presidential candidate , with Biden being the one who has received @ @ @ @ @ @ @ machine ( and ISIS ) and stopped Hillary Clinton from being president , for which we are all grateful .
He earned a second term as president .
If it was not for the coronavirus pandemic , the campaign would have had very different results .
I ’ m convinced of that .

The stories are popping up again about what will happen if President Trump refuses to accept the election results. What happens if he refuses to concede and vacate the White House? These conversations were held in June and again last month.
Let me first say that I have no doubt that President Trump will concede when he thinks all of his legal options are exhausted. Why should he concede before that? It is really disingenuous of Democrats to act as though Joe Biden would just throw in the towel and not pursue all the options if he lost a race as tight as this one, especially given some of the concerns that have arisen about the voting process. The sheer amount of mail-in ballots used in this election produced uncertainty, chaos, and confusion in states across the country. This was an election as we have never seen before.
President Trump will respect the peaceful transition of power but he will not go without a fight. Would you? Trump didn’t just run against Joe Biden. He also ran against the Democrat machine, the media, Republican grifters, and those unable to accept the good track record Trump has in office, and of course, the entertainment industry who have been busy creating and airing unflattering movies and productions against him for four years. He will exhaust every legal option. There is a process for that.
Joe Biden was quick to say in June that the military would escort Trump out of the White House if he refused to leave. Last month, Gen. Mark Milley said, um, no, we won’t. He reminded everyone that the military has no role in elections because this is America. It’s not how we roll. Joe Biden, we will soon be reminded, is not so sharp about the Constitution and how everything works. The media has called the election for Joe Biden as I write this Saturday morning. Up until I began this post, I was writing about Biden’s thwarted victory speech last night. I thought that he would have to wait until after the weekend to get his chance to do that.
President Trump vows to keep up the fight. He issued a statement saying the legal process continues Monday. Some of it reads as follows:
“Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated. The American People are entitled to an honest election: that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots. This is the only way to ensure the public has full confidence in our election. It remains shocking that the Biden campaign refuses to agree with this basic principle and wants ballots counted even if they are fraudulent, manufactured, or cast by ineligible or deceased voters. Only a party engaged in wrongdoing would unlawfully keep observers out of the count room – and then fight in court to block their access. “So what is Biden hiding? I will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.”
There is a process if Trump refuses to accept Biden’s victory if it all holds.
With the final vote in dispute, states with Democratic governors but Republican legislatures — including the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan and Wisconsin, the latter two of which have already been called for Biden — could conceivably end up dispatching two distinct groups of Electoral College voters, reported Marie Claire, citing a study by election scholar Edward B. Foley. In that scenario, those states would have two competing sets of electoral votes, and, as president of the Senate, Republican Vice President Mike Pence would be tasked with unraveling the situation. He could opt to throw out both sets of votes from those states, meaning neither candidate could reach the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. In that event, the members of Congress would vote for president and vice president. The House of Representatives would vote for president, with each state’s delegation getting one shared vote, and a simple majority of 26 votes needed to elect. In the Senate, each senator gets one vote, with a simple majority of 51 votes needed to elect. Should either of those bodies fail to reach a majority, the plot thickens further. If the Senate elects a vice president but the House of Representatives fails to elect a president, the vice president-elect serves as president until the impasse is resolved. If neither body can reach a conclusion by Inauguration Day, then the presidential line of succession kicks in, and the speaker of the House of Representatives — currently Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — would serve as president until the knot is untied.
None of this will happen. President Trump will leave as all others have done before him. All of this speculation is so ridiculous that it can only come from the Trump deranged left. Let me throw this out – Trump will participate in a peaceful transfer of power though the left never did with him. The very day after his inauguration, there were massive rallies against his election victory. The protests and riots have continued for four long years. Trump was not stopped. He managed to accomplish more than any Republican president in my lifetime. Besides a roaring economy that lifted all boats, he leaves a record number of conservative judicial confirmations and three conservative Supreme Court justices. He was the most pro-life president ever. And, though Biden will undo much of what Trump has accomplished, he put America first in trade deals and international agreements that harm our economy like the Paris Climate Accord.
Trump increased his number of votes from 2016, substantially. He will be on record as the candidate who received the second most votes of any presidential candidate, with Biden being the one who has received the most. He destroyed the Clinton machine ( and ISIS) and stopped Hillary Clinton from being president, for which we are all grateful. He earned a second term as president. If it was not for the coronavirus pandemic, the campaign would have had very different results. I’m convinced of that.


hotair--2020-11-07--The next 2020 loser: the woke utopia

The next 2020 loser: the woke utopia

Earlier today , we discussed how one of the biggest losers of the 2020 elections might have been the public ’ s faith in the electoral process .
Continuing on with the list of also-rans , the editors at the Washington Free Beacon dug into some of the ballot issues that were decided this week , along with the identity politics driving various demographics to the polls .
Their conclusion is that one of the most damaged entities coming out of this race is the woke utopia envisioned by the Democrats ’ furthest-left agitators , which seems to have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ threatened to end the Trump presidency .
And this effect was noted in some unlikely places such as California .
In a week of surprises , California ’ s rejection of a ballot measure that would have allowed the state to resume its affirmative action program was among the most significant .
The measure , known as Proposition 16 , wasn ’ t defeated by shy Trump voters .
Polling showed Hispanic and other minority voters evenly split on the measure , and on Tuesday it was defeated in California ’ s most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is just one piece of the mounting evidence that voters on Tuesday threw a wrench in the progressive plan to leverage a “ coalition of the ascendant ” and an “ emerging Democratic majority ” to turn the country into a woke utopia .
Prop 16 wasn ’ t the only referendum where voters in the Golden State appeared to turn their backs on their progressive betters .
As we previously discussed , Proposition 22 also went down in flames , potentially rescuing the gig economy in California .
And the voters did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the state ’ s labor unions ( who basically wrote the state ’ s odious AB-5 law that gutted rideshare services ) to prevent the measure .
Plenty of voters that California Democrats assumed were going to behave themselves like good little woke warriors obviously decided to turn to the Dark Side of the Force .
The signs of this effect went beyond basic ballot initiatives .
The Democrats were relying heavily on support for their usual agenda of identity politics and race-baiting to fuel the anticipated blue wave .
Many of their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their cheerleaders , encouraged this line of thinking and amplified it on the campaign trail .
And yet , President Donald Trump , who was lambasted by progressives for four years as a racist , xenophobe , and every other name in the book surprised them all .
Trump turned out more minority voters than any Republican presidential candidate in decades .
And as the Free Beacon noted , this wasn ’ t just seen among a group of right-wing Cuban-Americans in southern Florida .
Trump won some of the most heavily Hispanic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ improved his margins with both Black males and females , which were already higher than nearly any Republican in the modern era .
Some House Democrats are surveying the wreckage and clearly seeing the writing on the wall .
One of them already went public and told the press that her party ’ s lurch toward socialism in general and calls to defund or abolish the police , in particular , nearly cost them their majority And if Americans really find the slices of socialist pie that the Democrats were serving up so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to fail to take the Senate majority ?
Even if Donald Trump has failed to secure a second term , it ’ s truly beginning to look as if he produced a very productive effect on the electorate .
Even if too many voters were put off by his disruptive and frequently brash performances , he spurred his adversaries to try to shove a huge serving of their worst progressive impulses down the throats of the voters and an encouraging number of them wound up spitting it right back in their faces @

Earlier today, we discussed how one of the biggest losers of the 2020 elections might have been the public’s faith in the electoral process. Continuing on with the list of also-rans, the editors at the Washington Free Beacon dug into some of the ballot issues that were decided this week, along with the identity politics driving various demographics to the polls. Their conclusion is that one of the most damaged entities coming out of this race is the woke utopia envisioned by the Democrats’ furthest-left agitators, which seems to have been roundly rejected by voters even as they threatened to end the Trump presidency. And this effect was noted in some unlikely places such as California.
In a week of surprises, California’s rejection of a ballot measure that would have allowed the state to resume its affirmative action program was among the most significant. The measure, known as Proposition 16, wasn’t defeated by shy Trump voters. Polling showed Hispanic and other minority voters evenly split on the measure, and on Tuesday it was defeated in California’s most Latino counties. California’s result is just one piece of the mounting evidence that voters on Tuesday threw a wrench in the progressive plan to leverage a “coalition of the ascendant” and an “emerging Democratic majority” to turn the country into a woke utopia.
Prop 16 wasn’t the only referendum where voters in the Golden State appeared to turn their backs on their progressive betters. As we previously discussed, Proposition 22 also went down in flames, potentially rescuing the gig economy in California. And the voters did this despite a massively well-funded campaign by the state’s labor unions (who basically wrote the state’s odious AB-5 law that gutted rideshare services) to prevent the measure. Plenty of voters that California Democrats assumed were going to behave themselves like good little woke warriors obviously decided to turn to the Dark Side of the Force.
The signs of this effect went beyond basic ballot initiatives. The Democrats were relying heavily on support for their usual agenda of identity politics and race-baiting to fuel the anticipated blue wave. Many of their candidates, led by The Squad and their cheerleaders, encouraged this line of thinking and amplified it on the campaign trail. And yet, President Donald Trump, who was lambasted by progressives for four years as a racist, xenophobe, and every other name in the book surprised them all.
Trump turned out more minority voters than any Republican presidential candidate in decades. And as the Free Beacon noted, this wasn’t just seen among a group of right-wing Cuban-Americans in southern Florida. Trump won some of the most heavily Hispanic districts in the country. He also improved his margins with both Black males and females, which were already higher than nearly any Republican in the modern era.
Some House Democrats are surveying the wreckage and clearly seeing the writing on the wall. One of them already went public and told the press that her party’s lurch toward socialism in general and calls to defund or abolish the police, in particular, nearly cost them their majority And if Americans really find the slices of socialist pie that the Democrats were serving up so tasty, why are they almost certainly going to fail to take the Senate majority?
Even if Donald Trump has failed to secure a second term, it’s truly beginning to look as if he produced a very productive effect on the electorate. Even if too many voters were put off by his disruptive and frequently brash performances, he spurred his adversaries to try to shove a huge serving of their worst progressive impulses down the throats of the voters and an encouraging number of them wound up spitting it right back in their faces.


hotair--2020-11-07--<span class='red'>AP, CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC -- and Fox News -- call race for Biden; Update: Biden issue

AP, CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC -- and Fox News -- call race for Biden; Update: Biden issues statement

Data nerds on social media have spent the better part of two days wondering why the networks won ’ t just make a call .
The outcome hasn ’ t been in doubt .
Biden needed only to win Nevada and Pennsylvania to lock things down ; the writing ’ s been on the wall in NV since early Thursday and the outcome in PA was so assured given the drift in mail ballots there that Decision Desk HQ called it 24 hours ago .
Biden ’ s remarks last night were scheduled at 8 p.m .
ET in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before then and he could address the country as the apparent president-elect .
But the networks held off .
So he stalled , postponing his remarks past 8 , to give them a little more time , and they still wouldn ’ t call it .
So he spoke and gave another vague “ we ’ re confident we ’ re headed towards victory ” speech instead .
Why wouldn ’ t the networks pull the trigger earlier ?
There are some innocent possible explanations for that and some less innocent ones .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ here first and then I ’ ll come back with some updates to flesh it out .
Interestingly , Fox was the straggler in the group even though they ( in ) famously called Arizona for Biden on Tuesday night , long before the outcome there seemed assured to anyone else .
Viewers were irate at them for that ; clearly they didn ’ t want to be the first to call the presidency for Biden even though , with Nevada seemingly looking rock solid , Fox should have been quicker to believe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the bank than any of their competitors were .
Now that the rest of the industry has provided some cover for them to break the bad news to their audience , though , they ’ re making the call too .
Lots of updates to come .
Stand by .
Update : Here ’ s the big moment on Fox , preserved for posterity .
I ’ m genuinely curious to see if hardcore MAGA types channel their anger about the outcome of the race into anger at FNC rather than doubling down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that has nothing to support it .
Update : As I say , there are innocent possibilities for why the networks held off on making a call until now .
The obvious one is that they wanted to be very , very sure that Biden had an insurmountable lead in Pennsylvania , outside the margin of a recount .
That margin is 0.5 percent .
He ’ s either passed it as I write this or is on his way to passing it soon as the remaining mail ballots trickle in .
Knowing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reason to cry foul about the projections of victory — “ Biden ’ s not even out of recount range yet !
” — the networks were cautious .
The more troubling possibility is that the network chiefs are anxious about the president ’ s state of mind and were searching for an opportune moment to break the news .
Trump is an unstable character , narcissistic even by politician standards , and cultivates an aura of invincibility that would be pierced in a shocking way once an “ official ” declaration of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s also obsessed with media perceptions , especially television media .
Pronouncing him the loser of the presidential race on national television is asking him to cope with a singular , unimaginable blow to his persona .
Here ’ s the last tweet he sent this morning before the networks started making their calls : Around the same time , reports began circulating on Twitter that he had left the White House to play golf .
Maybe network execs seized their opportunity to call it now because he ’ s away from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , surrounded by golf buddies , and may be able to take the news a little better under those circumstances .
At the very least , he ’ d have a few hours to absorb it before returning home .
As for what those execs fear that he would — or will — do , who knows ?
The whole point is that he ’ s unpredictable and seemingly unprepared psychologically for this moment given what we ’ ve seen of his personality for the past five years .
Some members of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 70 days trying to “ manage ” his mood to some degree so that he doesn ’ t end up doing anything nutty .
Maybe that started today .
Update : Drudge will not be participating in the mood management exercise , apparently .
Update : Ironically , the call came not long after Trump got the first bit of electoral good news he ’ s had in days , that the race in Arizona is tightening based on the latest batch of ballots from Maricopa County .
That one ’ s going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an outside shot of winning it .
The networks called the race anyway because Nevada and Pennsylvania are no longer in doubt , and that makes Arizona ( and Georgia ) irrelevant .
Update : A noteworthy clip from Fox News last night .
The universal consensus on social media is that this segment wasn ’ t aimed at the Fox News audience generally but at one very special Fox News viewer in particular .
It ’ s weird to see a Fox primetime host entertaining the possibility of defeat — blasphemy — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are nationalists on the merits , not just out of loyalty to Trump .
She and he might be more willing than Hannity is to see Trump ride off into the sunset , believing that nationalist policies will have a better chance in the next election with a nominee who isn ’ t weighed down by Trump ’ s personal baggage .
Relatedly , the Wall Street Journal editorial page also gently urged Trump to concede gracefully if Biden has 270 electoral votes in the bank once the vote-counting is done .
Between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ making the call for a Biden victory today , we now have multiple Murdoch-owned outlets politely encouraging the president to accept reality .
Update : God only knows to what degree Trump genuinely believes that he won and to what degree he ’ s merely saying so to keep up appearances of invincibility .
But needless to say , the main “ mood management ” over the next 70 days will be performed by his own close aides , few of whom seem to have any real doubts about the outcome based on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Trump is vowing to fight on in court , with new legal representation if need be , because “ fighting ” is his brand and he has to be true to it even if he has no apparent legal leg to stand on .
But his political aides are less concerned with that than with convincing him to pivot to post-presidential life in a somewhat kinda sorta dignified way .
The immediate task : How to get Trump to acknowledge publicly that he won ’ t be president after January 20 knowing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actually concede that he lost for fear of ruining his “ brand ” ?
Some close to the president are advocating that , if Biden is declared the winner of the presidential election , Trump will ultimately offer public remarks in which he commits to a peaceful transition of power , according to allies and Republican officials , who like others on Friday spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions .
One senior campaign aide , however , said there had been no discussion of a concession speech… Yet even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a foregone conclusion have struggled with how to break the news to Trump .
“ They know he ’ s lost , but no one seems willing to tell King Lear or Mad King George that they ’ ve lost the empire , ” said one Republican in frequent touch with the White House… Some advisers have also been talking about how to spin a possible loss , arguing that Trump could still take a victory lap — taking solace in the fact that , even in a deadly pandemic , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hold its Republican majority and gained Republican seats in the House .
This is not a referendum on you , they have told the president .
His “ legal effort ” is now being led by David Bossie , who ’ s not a lawyer , and prominently features Rudy Giuliani , who ’ s barely still a lawyer .
Giuliani ’ s a scattershot oppo guy at this stage of his career prone to making wildly overhyped allegations of corruption .
He ’ s quite literally one of the last people in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of cameras right now if he ’ s looking to convince a skeptical public that there are serious , credible allegations of widespread fraud .
But oh well .
Update : Biden will address the country at 8 p.m .
ET tonight as the apparent president-elect .
Meanwhile , here ’ s Trump ’ s statement insisting that the campaign will start “ prosecuting our case in court.
” Update : An interesting piece at the Spectator this morning speculates that Trump behaving like a loose cannon as a lame-duck president might come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Georgia Senate runoffs .
Those races will determine control of the Senate .
If Trump keeps a low profile , writes Mark Gettleson , swing voters may side with the two GOP candidates in the name of providing a check on Biden via divided government .
And if Trump doesn ’ t keep a low profile ?
“ If the Trump meltdown does drag out until January , it will have a big impact on upscale , high-turnout swing voters in the Atlanta suburbs , and may end up costing the party its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these voters have shifted away from the GOP was their objections to Trump ’ s lack of presidential style — which could well be writ large in the coming months.
” Not only that , Gettleson adds , but if Trump makes a sustained “ I was cheated !
” push , it ’ ll force Georgia candidates David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler to either side with him to appease their base at the risk of alienating swing voters or to keep their distance from him to appease swing voters at the risk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump would be good for the party , but he doesn ’ t care about the party .
Update : I ’ m not sure but I think Larry Hogan is the first elected Republican to formally congratulate Biden .
Update : Boris Johnson has added his congratulations on behalf of the UK : Update : Romney follows Hogan in accepting the networks ’ verdict : Update : Jill Biden posted this a few hours ago .
Note Joe ’ s answer to the “ Make America Great Again ” cap : “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @

Data nerds on social media have spent the better part of two days wondering why the networks won’t just make a call. The outcome hasn’t been in doubt. Biden needed only to win Nevada and Pennsylvania to lock things down; the writing’s been on the wall in NV since early Thursday and the outcome in PA was so assured given the drift in mail ballots there that Decision Desk HQ called it 24 hours ago. Biden’s remarks last night were scheduled at 8 p.m. ET in the belief that a call would be made before then and he could address the country as the apparent president-elect. But the networks held off. So he stalled, postponing his remarks past 8, to give them a little more time, and they still wouldn’t call it. So he spoke and gave another vague “we’re confident we’re headed towards victory” speech instead.
Why wouldn’t the networks pull the trigger earlier?
There are some innocent possible explanations for that and some less innocent ones. But let me just post the news here first and then I’ll come back with some updates to flesh it out.
JOE BIDEN DEFEATS PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP The Associated Press declares Joe Biden the winner of a grueling campaign for the American presidency. He will lead a polarized nation through a historic collision of health, economic and social crises. #APracecall pic.twitter.com/lInwqjX3PB — The Associated Press (@AP) November 7, 2020
BREAKING: JOE BIDEN WINS Joe Biden will be the 46th president of the United States, CNN projects, after a victory in Pennsylvania puts the Scranton-born Democrat over 270 https://t.co/q8Fed74z0j #CNNElection pic.twitter.com/NADZm3qkvY — CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) November 7, 2020
CBS News projects Joe Biden wins the presidential election with the projected win in Pennsylvania. The current electoral vote count is Biden 273 and Trump 213. https://t.co/T6GArkvEPf pic.twitter.com/XvFMHiWLWa — CBS News (@CBSNews) November 7, 2020
BREAKING: Joe Biden is the apparent winner of the state of Pennsylvania; set to become the 46th President of the United States. https://t.co/KWkbzXsZr8 #Election2020 pic.twitter.com/inRBRwqkMg — ABC News (@ABC) November 7, 2020
Interestingly, Fox was the straggler in the group even though they (in)famously called Arizona for Biden on Tuesday night, long before the outcome there seemed assured to anyone else. Viewers were irate at them for that; clearly they didn’t want to be the first to call the presidency for Biden even though, with Nevada seemingly looking rock solid, Fox should have been quicker to believe that he had 270 electoral votes in the bank than any of their competitors were.
Now that the rest of the industry has provided some cover for them to break the bad news to their audience, though, they’re making the call too.
Fox News projects Biden to defeat Trump, become 46th president after winning Nevada, Pennsylvaniahttps://t.co/BTx2gwdT2N pic.twitter.com/oFrpHTWTKt — Fox News (@FoxNews) November 7, 2020
Lots of updates to come. Stand by.
Update: Here’s the big moment on Fox, preserved for posterity. I’m genuinely curious to see if hardcore MAGA types channel their anger about the outcome of the race into anger at FNC rather than doubling down on a “voter fraud” conspiracy that has nothing to support it.
Here's Fox News calling the election for Joe Biden. pic.twitter.com/wIOJOv1fss — Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) November 7, 2020
Update: Biden’s statement:
statement from Biden pic.twitter.com/RFOzTQv4A2 — Jon Ward (@jonward11) November 7, 2020
Update: As I say, there are innocent possibilities for why the networks held off on making a call until now. The obvious one is that they wanted to be very, very sure that Biden had an insurmountable lead in Pennsylvania, outside the margin of a recount. That margin is 0.5 percent. He’s either passed it as I write this or is on his way to passing it soon as the remaining mail ballots trickle in. Knowing that Trumpers would have looked for any reason to cry foul about the projections of victory — “Biden’s not even out of recount range yet!” — the networks were cautious.
The more troubling possibility is that the network chiefs are anxious about the president’s state of mind and were searching for an opportune moment to break the news. Trump is an unstable character, narcissistic even by politician standards, and cultivates an aura of invincibility that would be pierced in a shocking way once an “official” declaration of victory for Biden was made. He’s also obsessed with media perceptions, especially television media. Pronouncing him the loser of the presidential race on national television is asking him to cope with a singular, unimaginable blow to his persona. Here’s the last tweet he sent this morning before the networks started making their calls:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1325099845045071873
Around the same time, reports began circulating on Twitter that he had left the White House to play golf. Maybe network execs seized their opportunity to call it now because he’s away from the seat of power at the moment, surrounded by golf buddies, and may be able to take the news a little better under those circumstances. At the very least, he’d have a few hours to absorb it before returning home. As for what those execs fear that he would — or will — do, who knows? The whole point is that he’s unpredictable and seemingly unprepared psychologically for this moment given what we’ve seen of his personality for the past five years. Some members of the media are going to spend the next 70 days trying to “manage” his mood to some degree so that he doesn’t end up doing anything nutty. Maybe that started today.
Update: Drudge will not be participating in the mood management exercise, apparently.
How it’s playing on Drudge pic.twitter.com/iX55VdcOYJ — Dustin Volz (@dnvolz) November 7, 2020
Update: Ironically, the call came not long after Trump got the first bit of electoral good news he’s had in days, that the race in Arizona is tightening based on the latest batch of ballots from Maricopa County. That one’s going down to the wire and Trump has an outside shot of winning it. The networks called the race anyway because Nevada and Pennsylvania are no longer in doubt, and that makes Arizona (and Georgia) irrelevant.
Update: Caught my eye:
Only a very personal note – I am relieved and look forward to having a president who respects POW’s who have been captured… (*I had to say it) — Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) November 7, 2020
Update: A noteworthy clip from Fox News last night. The universal consensus on social media is that this segment wasn’t aimed at the Fox News audience generally but at one very special Fox News viewer in particular.
Laura Ingraham prepares her audience for the likely possibility that the President will lose the election pic.twitter.com/tG50EIHj60 — Acyn (@Acyn) November 7, 2020
It’s weird to see a Fox primetime host entertaining the possibility of defeat — blasphemy — but remember that Ingraham and Tucker Carlson are nationalists on the merits, not just out of loyalty to Trump. She and he might be more willing than Hannity is to see Trump ride off into the sunset, believing that nationalist policies will have a better chance in the next election with a nominee who isn’t weighed down by Trump’s personal baggage.
Relatedly, the Wall Street Journal editorial page also gently urged Trump to concede gracefully if Biden has 270 electoral votes in the bank once the vote-counting is done. Between that, Ingraham, and Fox News making the call for a Biden victory today, we now have multiple Murdoch-owned outlets politely encouraging the president to accept reality.
Update: Foreign leaders have begun formally congratulating Biden:
Congratulations, @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. Our two countries are close friends, partners, and allies. We share a relationship that’s unique on the world stage. I’m really looking forward to working together and building on that with you both. — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) November 7, 2020
Update: God only knows to what degree Trump genuinely believes that he won and to what degree he’s merely saying so to keep up appearances of invincibility. But needless to say, the main “mood management” over the next 70 days will be performed by his own close aides, few of whom seem to have any real doubts about the outcome based on the reporting over the past 24 hours. Trump is vowing to fight on in court, with new legal representation if need be, because “fighting” is his brand and he has to be true to it even if he has no apparent legal leg to stand on. But his political aides are less concerned with that than with convincing him to pivot to post-presidential life in a somewhat kinda sorta dignified way.
“Barring any major cases of voter fraud or something drastic, this is over, and it’s been over for a day. Most people are aware. Some folks are taking a bit longer to accept it,” said a senior Trump campaign official. “There are a lot of people just sitting and staring at their desks.” “My sense is that we lost,” added a former Trump aide, who on election night and the days after thought the president would win. The former aide said he shared Trump’s belief that pandemic-driven voting rule changes had negatively impacted his bid for reelection, but said the president no longer has a viable path to victory.
The immediate task: How to get Trump to acknowledge publicly that he won’t be president after January 20 knowing that he’ll never, ever actually concede that he lost for fear of ruining his “brand”?
Some close to the president are advocating that, if Biden is declared the winner of the presidential election, Trump will ultimately offer public remarks in which he commits to a peaceful transition of power, according to allies and Republican officials, who like others on Friday spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. One senior campaign aide, however, said there had been no discussion of a concession speech… Yet even those who now believe a Biden victory is a foregone conclusion have struggled with how to break the news to Trump. “They know he’s lost, but no one seems willing to tell King Lear or Mad King George that they’ve lost the empire,” said one Republican in frequent touch with the White House… Some advisers have also been talking about how to spin a possible loss, arguing that Trump could still take a victory lap — taking solace in the fact that, even in a deadly pandemic, he exceeded expectations, probably helped the Senate hold its Republican majority and gained Republican seats in the House. This is not a referendum on you, they have told the president.
His “legal effort” is now being led by David Bossie, who’s not a lawyer, and prominently features Rudy Giuliani, who’s barely still a lawyer. Giuliani’s a scattershot oppo guy at this stage of his career prone to making wildly overhyped allegations of corruption. He’s quite literally one of the last people in politics whom Trump should want in front of cameras right now if he’s looking to convince a skeptical public that there are serious, credible allegations of widespread fraud. But oh well.
Kaitlan Collins: "We're being told tonight by sources that the president is raising questions about the effective of [his legal] team … basically suggesting he doesn't think they're up for the task. And he's even told one person he wants them to find him better attorneys." pic.twitter.com/ggwJP6ax33 — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 7, 2020
Update: Biden will address the country at 8 p.m. ET tonight as the apparent president-elect. Meanwhile, here’s Trump’s statement insisting that the campaign will start “prosecuting our case in court.”
INBOX: Statement from President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/LJxbbdQBJu — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) November 7, 2020
Update: An interesting piece at the Spectator this morning speculates that Trump behaving like a loose cannon as a lame-duck president might come back to haunt Republicans in the upcoming Georgia Senate runoffs. Those races will determine control of the Senate. If Trump keeps a low profile, writes Mark Gettleson, swing voters may side with the two GOP candidates in the name of providing a check on Biden via divided government. And if Trump doesn’t keep a low profile? “If the Trump meltdown does drag out until January, it will have a big impact on upscale, high-turnout swing voters in the Atlanta suburbs, and may end up costing the party its seats. One of the big reasons these voters have shifted away from the GOP was their objections to Trump’s lack of presidential style — which could well be writ large in the coming months.”
Not only that, Gettleson adds, but if Trump makes a sustained “I was cheated!” push, it’ll force Georgia candidates David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler to either side with him to appease their base at the risk of alienating swing voters or to keep their distance from him to appease swing voters at the risk of alienating their base. A low-key Trump would be good for the party, but he doesn’t care about the party.
Update: I’m not sure but I think Larry Hogan is the first elected Republican to formally congratulate Biden.
Congratulations to President-elect Biden. Everyone should want our president to succeed because we need our country to succeed. We have great challenges ahead of us as a country. Now more than ever, we need to come together as Americans. — Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) November 7, 2020
Update: Boris Johnson has added his congratulations on behalf of the UK:
Update: And here’s the Obama statement.
Congratulations to my friends, @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris — our next President and Vice President of the United States. pic.twitter.com/febgqxUi1y — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 7, 2020
Update: Romney follows Hogan in accepting the networks’ verdict:
Ann and I extend our congratulations to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. We know both of them as people of good will and admirable character. We pray that God may bless them in the days and years ahead. — Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) November 7, 2020
Update: Jill Biden posted this a few hours ago. Note Joe’s answer to the “Make America Great Again” cap: “We Just Did. 46.”


hotair--2020-11-07--SCOTUS to Pennsylvania: Segregate post-Election Day ballots ... for now

Score a win for Donald Trump ’ s legal efforts in the presidential election , but be sure to score it as a preliminary win .
And even then , as the late-arriving order from Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito notes , the order essentially formalizes a pledge made by Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar to segregate all ballots received after Election Day .
But it does make this more enforceable , and it answers complaints from Republicans that the state was allowing those ballots to be commingled : In Pennsylvania , the biggest fight has been over ballots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arrive later .
In September , the state Supreme Court ruled , over Republican objections , that election officials could accept ballots arriving up to three days later .
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intercede , but left open the possibility that it could revisit the question .
Separately , the Supreme Court did grant the Trump camp a minor victory in Pennsylvania on Friday evening , when Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. ordered election officials there to keep the late-arriving ballots separate from other ballots , and not to include them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ totals .
But the victory was essentially in name only : Pennsylvania ’ s secretary of state had already given that instruction .
The entire dispute over the late-arriving ballots could be moot , because Mr. Biden has taken the lead in Pennsylvania even without those late-arriving ballots .
Alito ’ s order cites two Boockvar “ guidances ” issued to tabulators last week , but suggests that he finds credible the reports that those guidances aren ’ t being followed .
Alito also writes that the court was unaware that there actually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Boockvar , and that some county boards didn ’ t think either were legally binding : Until today , this Court was not informed that the guidance issued on October 28 , which had an important bearing on the question whether to order special treatment of the ballots in question , had been modified .
The application received today also informs the Court that neither the applicant nor the Secretary has been able to verify that all boards are complying with the Secretary ’ s guidance , which , it is alleged , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I am immediately referring this application to the Conference and direct that any response be filed as soon as possible but in any event no later than 2 p.m. tomorrow , November 7 , 2020 .
If they have already begun to commingle those ballots , this may be a moot point .
There would be no way to pull those votes back out of the count , even if the Supreme Court was inclined to invalidate ballots received after November 3 .
Courts are usually loathe to take votes off the table @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by citizens in the basic exercise of the franchise .
Clearly the court is interested in the mess in Pennsylvania , but it ’ s one they helped create with a 4-4 split that left the state ’ s change on postmark issues in place .
Voters then relied on that rule , which means that the court has to take that into consideration .
As to the NYT ’ s points about Biden ’ s lead , there ’ s a difference between those received after November 3 and those counted after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allow the counting of any mail-in ballots until after Election Day , largely thanks to the Republicans in the state legislature and in county governments .
No one ’ s sure how many of those were received without a postmark or a postmark after the statutory November 3 deadline , and any order striking that vote would only apply to those ballots , not all of those counted after November 3 .
Needless to say , the vast majority of those ballots almost certainly arrived ahead of the deadline , and that ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the count since then , too .
At the moment , Biden has a lead of about 29,000 votes , with still more to count in Dem-friendly Philadelphia and Allegheny counties .
The Inquirer estimated the outstanding total at around 100,000 last night , and after that the provisional ballots , including those that did get segregated over the postmark/deadline issue .
Trump would need to win 65 % of those outstanding ballots at this point to catch up , perhaps even a bit higher after the counts this morning have eaten through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s not looking good for Trump in Pennsylvania , but it ’ s not over .
The Supreme Court could intervene now to strike whatever ballots have been segregated , and that might bring Trump closer to Biden in the overall count .
It ’ s a long shot , but long shots are all Team Trump have at this point .
The time to fix the postmark/ballot-counting issues in Pennsylvania was two weeks ago , and everyone blew it .
Keep an eye on the court this afternoon .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by this evening one way or the other .
Even long shots occasionally pay off .

Score a win for Donald Trump’s legal efforts in the presidential election, but be sure to score it as a preliminary win. And even then, as the late-arriving order from Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito notes, the order essentially formalizes a pledge made by Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar to segregate all ballots received after Election Day. But it does make this more enforceable, and it answers complaints from Republicans that the state was allowing those ballots to be commingled:
In Pennsylvania, the biggest fight has been over ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive later. In September, the state Supreme Court ruled, over Republican objections, that election officials could accept ballots arriving up to three days later. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intercede, but left open the possibility that it could revisit the question. Separately, the Supreme Court did grant the Trump camp a minor victory in Pennsylvania on Friday evening, when Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. ordered election officials there to keep the late-arriving ballots separate from other ballots, and not to include them, for now, in announced vote totals. But the victory was essentially in name only: Pennsylvania’s secretary of state had already given that instruction. The entire dispute over the late-arriving ballots could be moot, because Mr. Biden has taken the lead in Pennsylvania even without those late-arriving ballots.
Alito’s order cites two Boockvar “guidances” issued to tabulators last week, but suggests that he finds credible the reports that those guidances aren’t being followed. Alito also writes that the court was unaware that there actually were two “guidances” issued by Boockvar, and that some county boards didn’t think either were legally binding:
Until today, this Court was not informed that the guidance issued on October 28, which had an important bearing on the question whether to order special treatment of the ballots in question, had been modified. The application received today also informs the Court that neither the applicant nor the Secretary has been able to verify that all boards are complying with the Secretary’s guidance, which, it is alleged, is not legally binding on them. I am immediately referring this application to the Conference and direct that any response be filed as soon as possible but in any event no later than 2 p.m. tomorrow, November 7, 2020.
If they have already begun to commingle those ballots, this may be a moot point. There would be no way to pull those votes back out of the count, even if the Supreme Court was inclined to invalidate ballots received after November 3. Courts are usually loathe to take votes off the table, interfering with arguably valid votes cast by citizens in the basic exercise of the franchise. Clearly the court is interested in the mess in Pennsylvania, but it’s one they helped create with a 4-4 split that left the state’s change on postmark issues in place. Voters then relied on that rule, which means that the court has to take that into consideration.
As to the NYT’s points about Biden’s lead, there’s a difference between those received after November 3 and those counted after November 3. Pennsylvania didn’t allow the counting of any mail-in ballots until after Election Day, largely thanks to the Republicans in the state legislature and in county governments. No one’s sure how many of those were received without a postmark or a postmark after the statutory November 3 deadline, and any order striking that vote would only apply to those ballots, not all of those counted after November 3. Needless to say, the vast majority of those ballots almost certainly arrived ahead of the deadline, and that’s almost certainly the vast majority of the count since then, too.
At the moment, Biden has a lead of about 29,000 votes, with still more to count in Dem-friendly Philadelphia and Allegheny counties. The Inquirer estimated the outstanding total at around 100,000 last night, and after that the provisional ballots, including those that did get segregated over the postmark/deadline issue. Trump would need to win 65% of those outstanding ballots at this point to catch up, perhaps even a bit higher after the counts this morning have eaten through that backlog.
In other words, it’s not looking good for Trump in Pennsylvania, but it’s not over. The Supreme Court could intervene now to strike whatever ballots have been segregated, and that might bring Trump closer to Biden in the overall count. It’s a long shot, but long shots are all Team Trump have at this point. The time to fix the postmark/ballot-counting issues in Pennsylvania was two weeks ago, and everyone blew it.
Keep an eye on the court this afternoon. It sounds as though Alito anticipates a decision by this evening one way or the other. Even long shots occasionally pay off.


hotair--2020-11-07--Minnesota college president offers to cover bail costs for student protesters

Macalester College President Suzanne Rivera is offering to reimburse the bail costs of any student arrested during a protest over the 2020 presidential election .
The Minnesota college president wants “ to affirm ” that students “ have the support of Macalester in various ways.
” She “ cares deeply ” about the students , both for their well-being and protecting their right to participate in civil disobedience .
She tweeted out her support and included a phone number for students to call for help in paying bail or fines .
President Rivera calls it an equity issue .
Besides @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the college community on its website .
She did so in response to angry responses and she claims , a threat of violence , too , after she tweeted out the offer of help to the students .
Her offer of reimbursement is a gesture to help disadvantaged students who are not wealthy or something .
She includes an offer to pay for transportation costs , too .
International students are offered legal advice to protect their visa status .
I want to tell the Macalester community in no uncertain terms where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It is our duty in this democracy to make our views known .
This is true at the ballot box , in our classrooms , and beyond the walls of the campus .
As I wrote in a letter to the Mac community dated June 15 : “ Macalester supports and affirms the rights of its students , staff , faculty , and alumni to engage in civil disobedience .
The conscientious and peaceful refusal to obey certain laws , demands , orders or commands of a government with the aim of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policies is a time-honored tradition in this country.
” In that same letter , I said : “ The senior leadership team has been working on new ways that Macalester can contribute to the creation of a more just and peaceful world .
We have offered to reimburse transportation expenses incurred if students become stranded after curfew due to their participation in civil disobedience .
We also have offered to work with students on setting up a way to reimburse any fines they may receive due to civil disobedience citations .
And we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ available to international students who want to participate in protests but worry about their visa status if they do so.
” Civil disobedience is a time-honored tradition in the U.S. , and the rights to assembly and free speech are protected in the Constitution .
This is not particular to any specific subject .
It is about encouraging civic engagement and social action .
Whether students are advocating for ensuring all votes are counted in our elections , which they were last night , or some other cause , I don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pass judgement on their views .
The free exchange of ideas– even when done inconveniently– is one of the cornerstones of a liberal arts education .
From my perspective , offering to reimburse fines for civil disobedience is an equity issue .
What I am emphasizing here is that if any students can not afford the fines for peaceful protest then I would be willing to reimburse them because freedom of speech is not a privilege only our wealthy students should enjoy .
On Tuesday students gathered to support the counting of all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said the school ’ s offer wasn ’ t tied to any specific cause .
She began offering assistance to students during the BLM protests/riots that took place in June .
She told the Pioneer Press that the assistance is available to both conservative and liberal students .
“ I would defend free speech for our conservative students as vigorously as for our liberal students.
” On Wednesday more than 600 anti-Trump protesters on Interstate 94 were arrested in Minneapolis .
That ’ s the absurdity of President Rivera ’ s magnanimous offer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bailing out conservative students , this is to coddle and nurture progressive students .
Conservatives are not the protesters ( rioters ) being arrested .
Arrests are being made when the protests turn violent and become riots .
“ Peaceful protesters ” are not being stopped from marching or gathering but when the event takes a turn , as they often do , then the police respond .
Not everyone who commented on Rivera ’ s tweets was as woke as others , though .
Some questioned exactly where the money is coming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eventually , these same students will come for her with more demands .
Freedom of expression goes both ways .
On college campuses , we know that usually only one way is accepted .
The college president would provide more support for students if she encouraged them to concentrate on their studies more and less on social justice protests , especially the ones off-campus .

Macalester College President Suzanne Rivera is offering to reimburse the bail costs of any student arrested during a protest over the 2020 presidential election. The Minnesota college president wants “to affirm” that students “have the support of Macalester in various ways.”
She “cares deeply” about the students, both for their well-being and protecting their right to participate in civil disobedience. She tweeted out her support and included a phone number for students to call for help in paying bail or fines.
Any currently enrolled student who participates in civil disobedience and needs help with bail or a fine they cannot afford can seek reimbursement by emailing me. — Macalester President (@MacalesterPres) November 5, 2020
President Rivera calls it an equity issue. Besides the tweets, she posted a letter to the college community on its website. She did so in response to angry responses and she claims, a threat of violence, too, after she tweeted out the offer of help to the students. Her offer of reimbursement is a gesture to help disadvantaged students who are not wealthy or something. She includes an offer to pay for transportation costs, too. International students are offered legal advice to protect their visa status.
I want to tell the Macalester community in no uncertain terms where I stand: peaceful protest is patriotic. It is our duty in this democracy to make our views known. This is true at the ballot box, in our classrooms, and beyond the walls of the campus. As I wrote in a letter to the Mac community dated June 15: “Macalester supports and affirms the rights of its students, staff, faculty, and alumni to engage in civil disobedience. The conscientious and peaceful refusal to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or policies is a time-honored tradition in this country.” In that same letter, I said: “The senior leadership team has been working on new ways that Macalester can contribute to the creation of a more just and peaceful world. We have offered to reimburse transportation expenses incurred if students become stranded after curfew due to their participation in civil disobedience. We also have offered to work with students on setting up a way to reimburse any fines they may receive due to civil disobedience citations. And we are taking steps to make legal advice available to international students who want to participate in protests but worry about their visa status if they do so.” Civil disobedience is a time-honored tradition in the U.S., and the rights to assembly and free speech are protected in the Constitution. This is not particular to any specific subject. It is about encouraging civic engagement and social action. Whether students are advocating for ensuring all votes are counted in our elections, which they were last night, or some other cause, I don’t think it’s my place to pass judgement on their views. The free exchange of ideas– even when done inconveniently– is one of the cornerstones of a liberal arts education. From my perspective, offering to reimburse fines for civil disobedience is an equity issue. What I am emphasizing here is that if any students cannot afford the fines for peaceful protest then I would be willing to reimburse them because freedom of speech is not a privilege only our wealthy students should enjoy.
On Tuesday students gathered to support the counting of all ballots cast in the election. Rivera said the school’s offer wasn’t tied to any specific cause. She began offering assistance to students during the BLM protests/riots that took place in June. She told the Pioneer Press that the assistance is available to both conservative and liberal students. “I would defend free speech for our conservative students as vigorously as for our liberal students.” On Wednesday more than 600 anti-Trump protesters on Interstate 94 were arrested in Minneapolis.
That’s the absurdity of President Rivera’s magnanimous offer, right? She isn’t bailing out conservative students, this is to coddle and nurture progressive students. Conservatives are not the protesters (rioters) being arrested. Arrests are being made when the protests turn violent and become riots. “Peaceful protesters” are not being stopped from marching or gathering but when the event takes a turn, as they often do, then the police respond. Not everyone who commented on Rivera’s tweets was as woke as others, though. Some questioned exactly where the money is coming from.
I hope the school’s endowment isn’t paying for this. — brendt s (@brendts1) November 7, 2020
Great move teach your students to misbehave, break the law and there will be no repercussions. Your children (if you have any) must be sweethearts. I feel for the parents who send their kids for an education and they wind up with you. You're a great role model! — Phil Makrackin (@hennesp62) November 7, 2020
What lesson are you teaching by this offer? You, an educator, are telling students if you break the law you will suffer no consequences of their actions? Do you award participation grades to? All actions have consequences, except at your school apparently. — Michael Groom (@osucowboymike65) November 7, 2020
One person pointed out that eventually, these same students will come for her with more demands.
You will care too when they all heading to your house demanding A+ for the exams they did not take, salary pay to them while going to your school, use your home and cars for their weekend parties. Ease peasy! — MRSV (@sakatarus) November 6, 2020
In all seriousness, you live in a bubble of your own making in that university. The rest of America isn’t like the university and we are well aware of how the university is at the root of the anarchy. We are taking note and will address the issue through the courts and Congress — PushFourLeft (@PushFourLeft) November 7, 2020
Freedom of expression goes both ways. On college campuses, we know that usually only one way is accepted. The college president would provide more support for students if she encouraged them to concentrate on their studies more and less on social justice protests, especially the ones off-campus.