President Trump refused on Thanksgiving to say if he will attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, the HuffPost reports.
Said Trump: “I know the answer to that, but I don’t want to say it yet.”
Pope Francis Hits Groups Protesting Virus Restrictions
Pope Francis criticized groups protesting COVID-19 restrictions in a New York Times op-ed:
“It is all too easy for some to take an idea — in this case, for example, personal freedom — and turn it into an ideology, creating a prism through which they judge everything.”
Trump Aide Treated Like a ‘Human Petri Dish’ During Trip
National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien was not given the warmest welcome during his trip to Vietnam last week, Bloomberg reports.
After a spate of COVID-19 infections were reported within the White House in recent weeks, O’Brien was reportedly confined to only one floor of his Hanoi hotel and treated like a “human Petri dish.”
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Trump Says He’ll Leave If Electoral College Seats Biden
“President Trump said Thursday that he will leave the White House if the Electoral College formalizes President-Elect Joe Biden’s victory — even as he insisted such a decision would be a ‘mistake’ — as he spent his Thanksgiving renewing baseless claims that ‘massive fraud’ and crooked officials in battleground states caused his election defeat,” the AP reports.
“The fact that a sitting American president even had to address whether or not he would leave office after losing reelection underscores the extent to which Trump has smashed one convention after another over the last three weeks.”
Wyoming’s Governor Tests Positive
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon (R) has tested positive for COVID-19, CBS News reports.
The Washington Post reports Gordon has resisted calls for a mask mandate even though the state has seen coronavirus cases increase significantly this fall.
What Hunting Bigfoot Taught a GOP Lawmaker
Washington Post: “There was a time in Denver Riggleman’s life when he sat on the banks of a creek that reeked of dead fish and peered through night-vision goggles into the thick of the Olympic National Forest. He was looking for Bigfoot.”
“Or at least, others in his group were. Riggleman, a nonbeliever who was then a National Security Agency defense contractor, had come along for the ride, paying thousands in 2004 to indulge a lifelong fascination: Why do people — what kind of people — believe in Bigfoot?”
“Now in one of his last acts as a Republican congressman from Virginia, Riggleman is asking the same questions of QAnon supporters and President-elect Joe Biden deniers.”
Trump Struggles with Being a Loser Again
“In the now-distant Republican presidential primaries of 2016, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas handily won the Iowa caucuses. This was determined by a method that has lately come under attack but at the time was considered standard: elementary math,” the New York Times reports.
“One of the losers in Iowa, the developer and television personality Donald J. Trump, soon accused Mr. Cruz of electoral theft. He fired off several inflammatory tweets, including this foreshadowing of our current democracy-testing moment: ‘Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.'”
“The episode vanished in the tsunami of political vitriol to come during the Trump presidency. Still, it reflects what those who have worked with Mr. Trump say is his modus operandi when trying to slip the humiliating epithet he has so readily applied to others. Loser.”
Cuomo Slams Supreme Court Ruling
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) “accused the U.S. Supreme Court of political partisanship on Thursday after the justices narrowly rejected his coronavirus-based restrictions on religious services,” the New York Times reports.
“He played down the impact of the ruling, suggesting that it was a reflection of the court’s emboldened new conservative majority.”
“Regardless of the governor’s interpretation, the decision by the Supreme Court late on Wednesday to suspend the 10- and 25-person capacity limitations on churches and other houses of worship in New York would seem to be a sharp rebuke to Mr. Cuomo, who had previously won a series of legal battles over his emergency powers.”
Happy Thanksgiving!
It’s been quite a year. I’m not going to run through the insanity we’ve witnessed, but I will say I’m grateful to be able to run Political Wire and bring together this wonderful community.
Stay safe — and thanks for being here!
Why Trump’s Flynn Pardon Could Backfire
There’s a chance President Trump’s pardon of Michael Flynn could backfire some day, The Week reports.
Trump’s pardon, which he announced in a tweet, means Flynn will theoretically no longer be protected from self-incrimination under the 5th Amendment should he ever be called to testify against Trump.
USAID Chief Tests Positive
John Barsa, the acting administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, told his senior staff that he has tested positive for coronavirus, Axios reports.
Staffers say Barsa rarely wears a mask in their office.
The World Watches with Dread and Disbelief
“Foreign observers are watching with trepidation — and at times disbelief — as coronavirus cases surge across the United States, and masses of Americans are choosing to follow through with plans to visit family and friends for this week’s Thanksgiving holiday anyway,” the Washington Post reports.
New York Times: A somber holiday for the U.S. amid a record number of daily virus cases and deaths.
A Smaller Thanksgiving
Jill and Joe Biden writing for CNN:
“This year, our turkey will be smaller and the clatter of cooking a little quieter. There will be no family walks in the cold or playful bickering amongst the grandkids. Like millions of Americans, we are temporarily letting go of the traditions we can’t do safely.”
“It is not a small sacrifice. These moments with our loved ones — time that’s lost — can’t be returned. Yet, we know it’s the price of protecting each other and one we don’t pay alone. Isolated in our own dining rooms and kitchens, scattered from coast to coast, we are healing together.”
Biden Eyes Ferguson for National Economic Council
President-elect Joe Biden is considering Roger Ferguson, former vice-chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, for National Economic Council director, CNBC reports.
He is also considering regulatory veteran Gary Gensler, who worked for both the Obama and Clinton administrations, for Deputy Treasury Secretary.
Another name being floated for a top economic policy post is Kenneth Chenault, the former CEO of American Express.
Justices Relieve Religious Groups from Virus Restrictions
“The Supreme Court’s new conservative majority late Wednesday night sided with religious organizations in New York that said they were illegally targeted by pandemic-related restrictions imposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to combat spiking coronavirus cases,” the Washington Post reports.
“The 5 to 4 order was the first show of solidified conservative strength on the court since the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whom President Trump chose to replace liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg following her death in September. The decision differed from the court’s previous practice of deferring to local officials on pandemic-related restrictions, even in the area of constitutionally protected religious rights.”
Trump Shares Tweet Urging He Pardon Himself
President Trump shared a tweet from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) urging him to pardon himself.
Trump Pardoned Flynn to Save Himself
David Frum: “Here’s the first and most important thing to understand about the crime for which President Trump just pardoned former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn: Flynn did not lie to protect himself. He lied to protect Donald Trump…”
“From Flynn’s own narrow personal point of view, there was no reason to lie about any of these conversations. Yes, he was pushing the limits a little bit, doing diplomacy before the new administration took office. A more elegant diplomat would have found a way to honor the rule that there’s only one administration at a time, while also communicating what he wanted the Russians to know about the differing intentions of the incoming administration. But such limit-pushing has surely happened often before in the history of American foreign policy. All Flynn had to say to avoid legal jeopardy was, ‘Yes, I spoke to Ambassador Kislyak. Possibly I was premature. My bad.'”
“So why didn’t he say that?”
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