President Trump not only insists he actually won the 2020 presidential election but has suggested at times that he will not vacate the premises on January 20, CNN reports.
“In his moments of deepest denial, Trump has told some advisers that he will refuse to leave the White House on Inauguration Day, only to be walked down from that ledge.”
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to get his first Covid-19 vaccination early next week, and plans to get his shot in public, CNN reports.
“Vice President Mike Pence plans to receive his coronavirus vaccine shot on camera Friday morning at the White House to build ‘vaccine confidence’ among the American people,” Axios reports.
“Details are still being worked out, but Pence wants the TV networks to carry the moment live in the morning, the source said, to maximize the audience for the vaccination.”
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“Money from around the U.S. is flooding into Georgia as both of the state’s Senate seats are up for grabs in a Jan. 5 runoff election and with them, control of the U.S. Senate,” Bloomberg reports.
“Between Nov. 4 and Nov. 23, the Democratic Senate candidates drew 96% of their online donations from out of the state while the two incumbents got 92% of their online contributions outside of Georgia.”
“Some advisers close to President-elect Joe Biden are frustrated over a Glamour magazine interview in which incoming White House deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon referred to Republicans on Capitol Hill as ‘fuckers,’ Axios reports.
“Biden campaigned for the presidency by promising to ‘restore the soul of America’ and not to question the motives of political opponents, whom he insists aren’t enemies. Fighting words from a high-level staffer could give Republicans ammunition to cast doubt on Biden’s sincerity.”
The Trump administration has relaxed a regulation restricting water flow from showerheads, a pet peeve of President Trump, who complained that he wanted more water to make his hair “perfect,” the AP reports.
Bloomberg: “Tax cuts for rich people breed inequality without providing much of a boon to anyone else, according to a study of the advanced world that could add to the case for the wealthy to bear more of the cost of the coronavirus pandemic.”
“The paper, by David Hope of the London School of Economics and Julian Limberg of King’s College London, found that such measures over the last 50 years only really benefited the individuals who were directly affected, and did little to promote jobs or growth.”
The mayor of Atlantic City plans to auction off the chance to literally blow up and demolish the former Trump Plaza and Casio as a fundraiser for a local Boys & Girls Club, the Press of Atlantic City reports.
“President Trump may not be willing to accept his term is ending, but as the clock ticks down on his time in office, hundreds of his allies — including some of his closest business associates and many high-profile criminals — are ramping up their efforts to squeeze out the final ounces of his presidential power,” CNN reports.
“Since Trump lost the election six weeks ago, calls and emails have been flooding into the West Wing from people looking to benefit from the President’s powers of clemency. So inundated is Trump’s staff with requests for pardons or commutations that a spreadsheet has been created to keep track of the requests directed to Trump’s close aides.”
Politico: “Thirty-eight of 50 states — accounting for nearly 85 percent of the U.S. population — will hold gubernatorial elections between 2021 and 2022.”
“A dozen states are likely in play, if not more, raising the potential for one party to expand its influence across the nation. Republicans will have a four-seat advantage in statehouses starting in January, though the majority of Americans will still live under Democratic governors.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said at a Senate hearing that the presidential election was “in many ways stolen.”
Said Paul: “The fraud happened. The election in many ways was stolen and the only way it will be fixed is by in the future reinforcing the laws.”
The Hill: “The remarks were notable because Paul is seen as one of the senators who might join a bid by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) to challenge the election’s outcome and overturn the results in several states.”
Axios: “Instead of the traditional 200,000 tickets that the committee provides with bundles for members of Congress to distribute to constituents, lawmakers will be permitted to bring themselves and one guest to the official ceremonies.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed back on the idea that she is holding up Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) as President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for Interior Secretary.
Said Pelosi: “Congresswoman Haaland knows the territory, and if she is the President-elect’s choice for Interior Secretary, then he will have made an excellent choice.”
“The U.S. poverty rate has surged over the past five months, with 7.8 million Americans falling into poverty, the latest indication of how deeply many are struggling after government aid dwindled,” the Washington Post reports.
“The poverty rate jumped to 11.7 percent in November, up 2.4 percentage points since June, according to new data released Wednesday by researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame.”
“I think there’s a long-term structural issue. And by the way, I’ve had this conversation with Chuck Schumer several times — that we have to do a better job developing a message so that rural Americans can say, ‘Yeah, those guys, they think like I do.’ Because that’s what Trump has right now.”
— Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), quoted by the New York Times, on Democrats and rural voters.
Former Australian prime minister John Howard said that Donald Trump penned a lengthy “political suicide note” with his “terrible” handling of the coronavirus pandemic, The Guardian reports.
Said Howard: “If Donald Trump had handled the pandemic half-decently he would have won the election He was headed towards a victory until the pandemic hit. It was his mishandling of that because, in the end, the public, when threatened, want their leaders to defend them against the threat.”
“Republicans won four House races in California in congressional districts carried at the presidential level by Joe Biden,” Bloomberg Government reports.
“The split-ticket victories last month, which have become relatively rare in recent elections, allowed the GOP to claw back some of its sharp losses from 2018. Three of the seats were held by a Democrat, and the fourth Republicans first won in a special election earlier this year.”
A top Trump appointee repeatedly urged top health officials to adopt a “herd immunity” approach to Covid-19 and allow millions of Americans to be infected by the virus, according to internal emails obtained by Politico.
Said then-science adviser Paul Alexander: “There is no other way, we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing the non-high risk groups expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD.”
He added: “Infants, kids, teens, young people, young adults, middle aged with no conditions etc. have zero to little risk….so we use them to develop herd…we want them infected…”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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