Donald Trump was condemned by opponents on Wednesday for firing the senior official who disputed his baseless claims of election fraud, as the president pressed on with his increasingly desperate battle to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.
Related: Biden to consult with frontline workers as US approaches 250,000 coronavirus deaths – live
Continue reading...If they’re going to achieve anything the next two to four years, Democrats must not fall for the trap of ‘bipartisanship’
For four years, Donald Trump and the Republican party have been riding roughshod over long-established norms of American democracy. They have pushed to the legal limits of what they can do (and sometimes beyond). They have not so much ignored any opposition as declared it illegitimate. In response, and in the face of intense national polarization, politicians and pundits have appealed to moderation, civility and the common good. One of the biggest proponents of that attitude is President-elect Joe Biden, who, in his victory speech, said, “We must stop treating our opponents as our enemy. We are not enemies. We are Americans.” Now that Trump has lost, the political survivors of the Republican party may rush to join that chorus.
Related: Obama scolds 'petulant' Trump but reveals conservative sympathies
Continue reading...Removing far-right president is top priority for many Brazilian leftists – but can they build the united front needed to defeat him?
When glad tidings of Donald Trump’s undoing reached Flávio Dino’s 18th-century palace in north-eastern Brazil, he felt delight.
“Trump was such a toxic figure,” said the Communist party governor of Maranhão state, a leading light of the Brazilian left. “Trump’s defeat is a victory for humanity.”
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According to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, if Donald Trump wants a statewide recount, he will have to pay $7.9m.
The president lost the state by more than 20,000 votes - which means a recount is very unlikely to change the fact that he lost. Even if a recount, miraculously, left Trump ahead in the state, Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes are not enough to change the election outcome.
Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, told the Washington Post that senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina was among several members of his party who pressured him to toss out legally cast ballots so that Trump could win the state.
From the Post:
In a wide-ranging interview about the 2020 election, Raffensperger expressed exasperation with a string of baseless allegations coming from Trump and his allies about the integrity of the Georgia results, including claims that Dominion Voting Systems, the Colorado-based manufacturer of Georgia’s voting machines, is a “leftist” company with ties to Venezuela that engineered thousands of Trump votes not to be counted.
The atmosphere has grown so contentious, Raffensperger said, that both he and his wife, Tricia, have received death threats in recent days, including a text to him that read, “You better not botch this recount. Your life depends on it.”
Continue reading...If Joe Biden is going to accomplish anything, we need to start thinking differently about power and our political system
One thing we have learned from this election is just how crazy our democratic system is. Many crucial victories came down to slim margins in swing states and the idiosyncrasies of the electoral college.
Moving forward, progressives need to rally around serious democracy reform. Every issue we care about, from heathcare to climate justice, flows from that. Without a major intervention – and even with radical candidates winning office here and there – our political system is becoming less and less representative and responsive.
Continue reading...The president’s scattershot comments came in a morning Twitter blitz in which he also lashed out at Fox News
Many New York City parents breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday, as Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that public schools would remain open next week, as Covid-19 testing rates remain below the threshold for closures.
Increasing positivity rates in New York City and state have prompted rollbacks of reopening initiatives, spurring De Blasio to warn on Friday that schools could close again. De Blasio said classrooms would close if the seven-day test positivity rate exceeded 3%.
Today’s indicators are similar to yesterday:
• 117 patients admitted to the hospital
• 937 new cases
• The test positivity 7-day average is 2.57%
Thankfully, schools will remain open on Monday, but we have to keep fighting back with everything we’ve got.
While his aides seek to turn up the pressure on Donald Trump, to force his co-operation with the presidential transition, Joe Biden is going about his business as the president-elect:
JUST IN: President-elect Joe Biden will address the nation on Monday about the state of the economy.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will join Biden from Wilmington, Delaware.
Related: Trump faces growing pressure to start transition as Covid surges across US
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Joe Biden is reportedly poised to choose a woman to lead the Pentagon, an historic decision.
The president-elect’s expected selection, Michele Flournoy, is described by the Associated Press as a “a politically moderate Pentagon veteran … regarded by US officials and political insiders as a top choice for the position.”
Out of his bunker for a second straight day, Donald Trump made a deliberate pass by his supporters in town for today’s Maga rallies in his presidential motorcade before veering off toward Trump National in Sterling, Virginia.
More details from the White House pool report:
POTUS emerged from the south portico at 10am wearing a red hat, blue jacket and blue trousers. He appeared to be holding a newspaper. He got inside the presidential limousine and the motorcade headed out to Pennsylvania Avenue.
It was greeted by applause, cheers, waving and whistles from hundreds of Trump supporters lining both sides of the street. They punched the air, took pictures with phones and held signs that included ‘Best prez ever’ and ‘Stop the steal’.
Continue reading...Trump’s defeat in the reliably red state has shown Democratic voters the power of their ballot, activists say as they focus on Ossoff and Warnock’s races
Donald Trump may have forced a recount of the votes in Georgia that helped end his presidency, but the activists who organised the surge in turnout that helped defeat him have already turned their attention to two elections that will decide who controls the US Senate and the course of Joe Biden’s presidency.
Tens of millions of dollars are pouring in to the Georgia runoff races, which can be expected to draw Biden back to the campaign trail as voters have the opportunity to make history by defeating the state’s two Republican senators to give the new president control of both houses of Congress.
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Congressional dinner shifts to to-go meals after outrage
The dinner for new members of Congress being held by Democrats will be modified, shifting to a to-go food model, after outrage over an indoor meal, said Nancy Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill on Friday evening.
Pelosi and other Congress members slammed for holding indoor dinner during pandemic
Congress members are being hit with intense blowback for holding indoor banquets as the coronavirus pandemic worsens and health experts advise Americans against social gatherings.
House Dem and GOP leaders are holding respective dinners for new members.
.@SpeakerPelosi told me it’s safe. “It’s very spaced,” she said and there is enhanced ventilation and the Capitol physician signed off. pic.twitter.com/ZXjf72lnrP
Cancel this event, @SpeakerPelosi — it sets a deadly example while COVID is the worst it's ever been. https://t.co/7HTzFVlhBg
Imagine telling families not to hold Thanksgiving (we shouldn’t) and then doing this. Come. On. https://t.co/ws9k2QDBLU
California, among other states, is begging people not to travel for Thanksgiving, and counties — including Pelosi's district — are shutting down all indoor dining.
This needs to be moved outside, at least. Even if it can be made safe indoors, it's a terrible example. https://t.co/2nabkx5QpZ
Susan Rice, Michele Flournoy, Doug Jones, Lael Brainard, Vivek Murthy and Heidi Heitkamp are some of the most frequently mentioned in Washington
Cabinet appointment speculation is a time-honored tradition in Washington DC – and despite everything else going on is US politics at the moment, 2020 is no different.
Continue reading...The president-elect is likely to value Washington experience but must balance the wings of his party and a possibly hostile Senate
Joe Biden’s team is pressing forward with preparations to take over the federal government when his term starts despite virtually no help from Donald Trump’s outgoing administration.
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Pope blesses president-elect
Joe Biden spoke with Pope Francis on Thursday, and Biden thanked him for his “blessing and congratulations,” his transition team said in a statement.
Related: Soul of the nation: how Joe Biden's faith will shape his presidency
Here’s where the day stands so far:
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Some of Donald Trump’s advisers now say he will likely never concede that he lost the presidential race, according to NBC News.
NBC reports:
‘Do not expect him to concede,’ one top aide said. More likely, the aide said, ‘he’ll say something like, ‘We can’t trust the results, but I’m not contesting them.’’
Another adviser said that after the legal battles and recounts, the closest the president is likely to get to a concession is, ‘he’ll acknowledge the results and that we’ll never know how accurate they are.’
Joe Biden’s lead in Pennsylvania has now surpassed 50,000, after the latest batch of ballots from Allegheny county were posted.
As of this afternoon, Biden leads Donald Trump in Pennsylvania by 50,483, or 0.7% of the total vote in the state.
Continue reading...President-elect Joe Biden says Donald Trump's refusal to concede the presidential election is 'an embarrassment'. Biden was outlining plans for the transition period before he takes office in January 2020 when he was asked what he would say to Americans anxious over Trump's refusal to concede and what it would mean for the country. "Well, I just think it's an embarrassment, quite frankly," Biden said. "I think it will not help the president's legacy." Biden has promised to "get right to work" despite alarm over whether there would be a smooth transition of power
When Joe Biden formally takes over the presidency in January he will face some of the greatest crises to hit the US in recent history: a pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans, a devastated economy, a rapidly overheating climate and a deeply fractured nation.
The Guardian's Lauren Gambino looks at how Biden and the vice-president-elect, Kamala Harris, plan to 'heal' the country after four years of Trumpism – and the challenges they will face with the prospect of having to navigate these times without a majority in the Senate
Continue reading...The new president will be busy – especially as he wrestles with the fallout from the Trump administration
As the coronavirus pandemic tore through the US, Joe Biden’s most important promise to the American people was a policy platform taken for granted prior the Trump presidency: believe science.
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Another adviser to Donald Trump has reportedly tested positive for coronavirus, amid an apparent outbreak among the president’s team.
According to Bloomberg News, David Bossie has now tested positive for the virus.
BREAKING: Trump outside adviser David Bossie tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, sources tell me.
Susan Collins has become one of the few Republican lawmakers to congratulate Joe Biden on his victory in the presidential election.
“First, I would offer my congratulations to President-elect Biden on his apparent victory – he loves this country, and I wish him every success. Presidential transitions are important, and the President-elect and the Vice-President-elect should be given every opportunity to ensure that they are ready to govern on January 20th,” Collins said in a new statement.
My statement on the 2020 Presidential election results: pic.twitter.com/8NY1WpaJpC
Continue reading...Trump’s brutal policies and spread of misinformation have divided the US. Uniting the country will be Biden’s biggest task
As the result was finally called, the end of his presidency confirmed, Donald Trump teed off on a crisp, autumnal Saturday afternoon at his private golf club in Virginia.
The president was in the midst of a four-day mission to spread baseless misinformation about election integrity in an attempt to subvert US democracy.
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s resolve not to accept the result of the presidential election appeared unshaken on Sunday, as he continued to promote conspiracy theories about the vote, with little outward sign that anyone in his inner circle was prepared to talk him into conceding.
Related: Who will tell Trump to go? Not Melania or Jared, reports say
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Here are some details on the reaction to Biden’s win in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and other Pacific nations, from Ben Doherty, the Guardian’s Pacific editor:
Joe Biden’s presidential ascension had not even been settled when Fiji’s forthright prime minister was already urging greater US action on climate change from the incoming American leader.
Related: Pacific nations herald Biden presidency amid hope for action on climate emergency
There are a number of troubling statistics out today on the current state of Covid-19 in the US, the most urgent crisis Biden will inherit. Reuters has published an analysis of where things stand in the worsening pandemic in America, as the country nears 10m cases, becoming the first nation in the world to surpass that figure. Some specifics from the news agency’s report:
Related: Coronavirus live news: US nears 10m cases as global infections pass 50m
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