Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) said that he has become the third lawmaker to test positive for coronavirus after being confined with dozens of members of Congress during the takeover last week of the Capitol, the Washington Post reports.
Harvard Boots Elise Stefanik from Advisory Board
Harvard University asked Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to voluntarily step down from its advisory committee at the Institute of Politics after she made false claims about the 2020 presidential election being stolen from Donald Trump.
She refused, so Harvard removed her.
The GOP Is Headed Towards Collapse
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I’ve long thought the Republican party is on a path towards oblivion. As I wrote in early 2016, George W. Bush broke the coalition — national security hawks, Wall Street Republicans and evangelical Christians — that allowed the Republicans to win a solid majority of voters during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush years.
After four years of Donald Trump, it’s increasingly clear he’s triggered forces which could ultimately lead to the party’s implosion.
In Trump’s final week as president, the non-Trump wing of the party has finally had it with him. Many are happy to see him banned by Twitter and marginalized by the donor class. His political brand is in tatters. Many Republican lawmakers may ultimately support impeaching him as punishment for inciting an insurrection.
At the same time, Trump’s repudiation by establishment forces has only empowered Trump’s radical base. It’s seen as proof he was right all along. The majority of this group firmly believes the election was stolen from him. Pro-Trump media will amplify this false conclusion and only further radicalize these voters.
That pits a growing number of Never Trumpers against a growing number of QAnon/Deep State conspiracy theorists in an all-out Republican civil war. The main battlefield will be Republican primaries in 2022 and 2024 where Q devotees challenge more establishment-minded candidates. But it could also lead to further acts of violence which drive the Never Trumpers further outside the party.
Ross Douthat explains:
Either way, under these conditions that party could really collapse or really break. The collapse would happen if Trumpists with a dolchstoss narrative and a strong Q vibe start winning nominations for Senate seats and governorships in states that right now only lean Republican. A party made insane and radioactive by conspiracy theories could keep on winning deep-red districts, but if its corporate support bailed, its remaining technocrats jumped ship and suburban professionals regarded it as the party of insurrection, it could easily become a consistent loser in 30 states or more.
Alternatively, a party dominated by the Trump family at the grassroots level, with Marjorie Taylor Greene-like figures as its foot soldiers, could become genuinely untenable as a home for centrist and non-Trumpist politicians. So after the renomination of Trump himself or the nomination of Don Jr. in 2024, a cluster of figures (senators like Romney and Susan Collins, blue-state governors like Maryland’s Larry Hogan) might simply jump ship to form an independent mini-party, leaving the G.O.P. as a 35 percent proposition, a heartland rump.
That’s the path the Republican party is on right now. A Republican party implosion is now far more likely than the party somehow coming back together again.
Missouri’s Governor Won’t Defend Josh Hawley
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) offered no defense of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) when asked Monday whether the senator should resign after he tried to block certification of presidential election results in two states following a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, the Kansas City Star reports.
Said Parson: “You know, everybody has to be responsible for the decisions they make, good or bad, indifferent. That’s what I’ll say.”
Banks Cut Ties with Trump
New York Times: “Deutsche Bank, which has been Mr. Trump’s primary lender for two decades, has decided not to do business with Mr. Trump or his company in the future. Mr. Trump currently owes Deutsche Bank more than $300 million, which is due in the next few years.”
“The bank has concluded that, short of forgiving the debt, it has no way to extricate itself from the Trump relationship before the loans come due.”
“Another longtime financial partner of the Trumps, Signature Bank, also is cutting ties.”
Harris Blindsided by Vogue Cover
“Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has landed on the cover of the February issue of Vogue magazine, but her team says there’s a problem: the shot of the country’s soon-to-be No. 2 leader isn’t what both sides had agreed upon, her team says,” ABC News reports.
“Instead of the powder blue power suit Harris wore for her cover shoot, the first African American woman elected vice president is instead seen in more casual attire and wearing Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers, which she sometimes wore on the campaign trail.”
Trump’s Disastrous End to His Shocking Presidency
“President Trump is leaving America in a vortex of violence, sickness and death and more internally estranged than it has been for 150 years,” CNN reports.
“The disorientating end to his shocking term has the nation reeling from a Washington insurrection. The FBI warned Monday of armed protests by pro-Trump thugs in 50 states, which raise the awful prospect of a domestic insurgency. Health officials fear 5,000 Americans could soon be dying every day from the pandemic Trump ignored. Hospitals are swamped and medical workers are shattered amid a faltering rollout of the vaccine supposed to end the crisis.”
“It took 200 years for the country to rack up its first two presidential impeachments. Trump’s malfeasance has led the country down that awful, divisive path twice in just more than a year.”
Sheldon Adelson Is Dead
Billionaire Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson has died, the Las Vegas Review Journal reports.
GOP Braces for Impeachment Split
“House Republicans are bracing for between ten and 20 of their GOP colleagues to vote to impeach Donald Trump — a hugely embarrassing rebuke for the president at the end of his tumultuous term,” Punchbowl News reports.
“The vote is ‘super fluid,’ a Republican insider told us. The leadership isn’t keeping a formal whip count, but whatever the number is, it’s infinitely greater than the zero Republicans that voted for Trump’s impeachment in 2019, and it demonstrates the serious rift inside the party.”
Biden Pushes to Confirm National Security Team
“President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team is expected to make a major push on Tuesday that calls on Republicans to swiftly confirm the president-elect’s national security picks so they’re in place when the Democrat takes office next week,” Politico reports.
“Amid fallout from the deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol, Biden officials and congressional allies will begin making the case Tuesday that there is a unique urgency in getting the positions filled as soon as possible so there is no gap in national security during a presidential transfer of power.”
How a Trump Rally Turned Into a Capitol Rampage
The New York Times analyzed a crucial two-hour period to reconstruct how a rally gave way to a mob that nearly came face to face with Congress.
Jayapal Tests Positive After Maskless Lockdown
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) tested positive for coronavirus Monday night, her office said, after she was in lockdown during Wednesday’s siege of the Capitol with “Republican lawmakers who cruelly and selfishly refused to wear masks,” the Seattle Times reports.
Jayapal is the second Democratic member of Congress to test positive since the siege on the Capitol. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) announced a positive test earlier Monday.
The Right-Wing Media Decoupling
“Following the Capitol siege, the right-wing media landscape is beginning to split between entities that want to double down on pro-Trump rhetoric and those that want to stick with the establishment,” Axios reports.
“The future of the Republican Party, in part, hangs on whether fringe conservative media or traditional conservative commentary will dominate with audiences.”
Fringe Groups Splinter Online After Twitter Bans
New York Times: “Tracking what may be planned in the coming days could become even more difficult as the groups take to lesser-known networks and apps that can’t be easily monitored.”
Trump and Pence Signal President Won’t Resign
Bloomberg: “The two men, meeting in the Oval Office, agreed that people who broke into the Capitol don’t represent Trump’s ‘America First’ movement and pledged to continue their work on behalf of the country for the remainder of their term.”
“It was a good conversation in which Trump and Pence discussed the week ahead and reflected on the last four years of the administration’s work.”
Trump Warned About Potential Civil Liability
ABC News: “In the wake of Wednesday’s assault on the nation’s Capitol, President Trump has been advised he potentially could face civil liability connected to his role in encouraging supporters who went on to storm Congress.”
“‘Think O.J.,’ an adviser explained it to Trump, according to one source. It was a reference to O.J. Simpson, who was found not guilty of murdering his ex-wife and a friend but later faced stiff civil damages after being sued by his ex-wife’s family.”
Lawmakers Fear More Violence After Riot
Politico: “House Democrats, dozens of whom were locked inside the chamber as mobs descended, held a security call Monday evening with the acting chief of Capitol Police and the acting House Sergeant-at-Arms to discuss ways to further improve safety measures.”
“The call, which detailed more potential threats, further raised alarms in the caucus, according to people listening.”
This Time It’s Personal
“When Pelosi was reunited with her staff hours after the deadly siege at the Capitol, the speaker didn’t even have to ask — she could see the terror reflected in their eyes,” Politico reports.
“Now as the House prepares to impeach President Donald Trump this week for inciting the insurrection that shook the core of U.S. democracy and left five dead, the undertaking for Pelosi isn’t simply a matter of politics.
