So you thought the election was over after Joe Biden won the vote of the Electoral College on December 14, as predicted, by 306-232. And perhaps you thought it was over when Mitch McConnell finally congratulated Biden after the Electoral College voted and called him the President-Elect.
But: Trump is continuing his hapless campaign to reverse the election, despite the fact that his claims of fraud were rejected more than 50 times in state and federal courts and twice by the Supreme Court. Stephen Miller said that the election was not finished, that several states had prepared their own slates of Trump electors who would take their case to Congress, and that the decision about the presidency would not be finished until January 20, Inauguration Day. George Conway of the Lincoln Project told Anderson Cooper on CNN that Trump was behaving as he is for three reasons: 1) he is delusional; 2) he is scamming his followers by raising money for himself (whoever heard of a billionaire appealing for $5?); 3) he is malevolent.
Michael Gerson wrote in the Washington Post about the hypocrisy of certain rightwing “leaders” who support Trump’s ridiculous claim that the election was “stolen.”
Gerson wrote about the assault on democracy by conservative leaders, who are enabling Trump’s delusional behavior:
“It was stolen,” said conservative luminary William Bennett on a recent podcast. “The election was stolen.”
In a Dec. 10 open letter, a group of conservative stalwarts — including activist Gary Bauer, former senator and former president of the Heritage Foundation James DeMint, and head of the Family Research Council Tony Perkins — alleged that “President Donald J. Trump is the lawful winner of the presidential election.” They called on state legislators in battleground states to “appoint clean slates of electors to the Electoral College to support President Trump” and urged the House and Senate to reject competing slates reflecting the actual vote.
For some of us, watching prominent conservatives turn against rationality and democracy is not just disappointing; it is disorienting...
The intellectual bankruptcy and moral hypocrisy of many conservative leaders is stunning. People who claimed to favor limited government now applaud Trump’s use of the executive branch to undermine an election. A similar attempt by Barack Obama would have brought comparisons to Fidel Castro. People who talked endlessly about respecting the Constitution affirm absurd slanders against the constitutional order. People who claimed to be patriots now spread false claims about their country’s fundamental corruption. People who talked of honoring the rule of law now jerk and gyrate according to the whims of a lawless leader.
These conservative leaders no longer deserve the assumption of sincerity. They are spreading conspiratorial lies so unlikely and irrational, they must know them to be lies.
Gerson questions their motives for their immoral claims. Is it cynicism? Fear? A will to power? Why accept blatant lies? Why attack the foundation of democracy, which is free and fair elections? Why defend a would-be tyrant?
Perhaps these conservative leaders view democracy as a secondary concern, compared with the broader crisis of Western civilization. Maybe resisting the impending arrival of cultural and economic Marxism requires conservatives to use whatever means are necessary — including the invalidation of a valid election. This justification — “by any means necessary” — may be the least conservative arrangement of letters in the English language.
Traditional conservatives have regarded such ideas as the path to tyranny, the highway to the guillotine. This approach assumes an emergency that does not actually exist. Are the barbarian hordes really arriving under the brutal, pitiless direction of . . . Joe Biden? Will the rescue of civilization from decadence really be accomplished under the courageous moral leadership of . . . Donald Trump?
Conservatism is supposed to produce the best of citizens — lawful, loyal and respectful of the Constitution. In some quarters, it is now producing the worst — fractious, resentful and cynical. A large portion of the responsibility rests on conservative leaders, who have sold their convictions cheap.
I guess the “conservatives” want to preserve themselves. Well, they need to all jump into a pickle barrel.
George Conway is right.
Wonder if Mein Kamf will be one of the books in trump’s Unpresidential library?
I dunno. Does Mein Kampf have pictures?😀
Good one, Lenny.
I know I’m late to the party, but, Lenny, your comment was too good not to acknowledge it.
There are plenty of “faux politicians” who have their political seats BECAUSE they have been supported by lots of dark money. They are the puppets of the 1%. They aren’t educated. They don’t think logically/critically. They are vulgar, crude and have no tact. They are greedy and immoral. They serve their “masters” well AND reap the rewards of a well paid government position with great benefits and retirement for life. With the SCOTUS in place, Citizens (HAHAHAHA!! only rich citizens) United will never be overturned. The only way to fight this madness is to fact check the lies and expose the money trails. Moscow Mitch and his “China” wife Elaine Chao are taking a beating as we speak from the QAnon folks since Mitch has had to publicly state the obvious about the election results…..I bet he’s wetting his Depends! PARLAR, the new QAnon site is funded by Rebekah Mercer.
It’s Parler…not Parlar.
The Mercers were Steve Bannon’s patrons.
GoFundMe’s lesser competitor, GiveSendGo (promoted as the number 1 site for Christian crowdsourcing) hosted those seeking funds for Trump’s 2020 election denial activities and for Rittenhouse.
My understanding about Parlar- it’s an available platform, when Facebook isn’t, for individuals and groups e.g. QAnon.
I am curious to know why Trump supporters take seriously a request from a billionaire asking them to send him money.
Crede Bailey is leaving the hospital and entering rehab after suffering the worst symptoms of Covid 19….the loss of a toe and amputation of his lower leg. His friend, Dawn McCrobie has set up a GoFundMe account to cover the huge medical expenses Crede has incurred from 3 months in the hospital (much of the time in ICU $56,000 +) and for rehabbing his home and vehicle upon his return home. This was “supposed” to be a big secret but got out. Why all the hush hush? Why the GoFundMe for a Trump toadie who has great health care benefits? Money laundering at it’s best….I assume? Follow the money trail.
My money is on Steve Bannon being “Q”. I always thought it. Bannon is still active and acting in cahoots with Guilianni and the rest of the jackels.
My understanding was that Crede is a public employee. I’m not sure why we should assume he is raking it in.
LisaM,
PERFECTLY put!!! Love that.
I don’t know why anyone is treating this like some kind of newsflash …
Exactly. My response to the header on this was “You don’t say?!” Still, it’s worth getting the analyses out there, even if they are redundant–Americans need to be reminded of this every day.
Just like main stream media, Gerson may be unwilling to issue a “newsflash” that would stir up the hornet’s nest (Jefferson’s description of the topic). Rod Dreher, a conservative, is willing to inform the public about Trump’s support, ignoring media and Gerson’s taboo. Dreher’s article is in the American Conservative, 12-12-2020.
For you files, Linda: https://www.nola.com/news/article_76c554bc-3fd1-11eb-95b9-e74d61d1acf2.html
From the linked article, reporting about 2018 when Wendy Vitter was the archdiocese’s general counsel (now one of Leonard Leo’s federal judges), “…(she) demanded bluntly …that the $100,000 payment remain confidential”.
Prior to 2018, “the priest’s subsequent roles at other Catholic institutions brought him into closer proximity with children.”
Vitters has been linked to the views that contraception hurts women’s health and abortion causes breast cancer.
Just as right wing-serving professors like Chetty and Fryer, found the fast track to promotions so have judges like Vitter and Barrett.
“The intellectual bankruptcy and moral hypocrisy of many conservative leaders is stunning.”
The Republican Party did not even have a platform this year. It was whatever the orange menace wanted. They have ignored Trump egregious waste of money that has blown up the deficit. If conservatives start complaining about Biden’s spending, we should be prepared to laugh.
Steven Miller is not phased by the courts’ rebuke of Trump’s election fraud claims. Just like conservatives’ hilarious attempt to legitimize “alternative facts,” Miller said, “As we speak today, an alternate slate of electors in the contested states is going to vote and we’re gonna send those results up to Congress,” His belief is that a vote by “alternative electors” will keep Trump’s claims alive. Along with the false claims from over 100 dissenting members of Congress, the Republican Party has hitched its wagon to the “crazy train.”https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/stephen-miller-proposes-alternate-electors-to-overturn-election_au_5fd7d508c5b689a6230d0e7f
cx: Trump’s egregious waste of money
Hypocrisy of conservative leaders? Like never before and heinous in my mind! I can’t even say what I’d like to see happen to them.
Is there any hypocrisy among “liberal” or neoliberal leaders? Any? Ya think?
I think there is hypocrisy among the whole political spectrum (but not everyone). Am I crazy about Biden?….No, but I voted for him. I voted for him because as a Nation, we need to heal and we need to come back to some kind of calm neutral point BEFORE we can get any real work accomplished for ” We the People”. I find him to be a kind human being with decent morals and some flaws (just like the rest of us!). I like some of his Cabinet picks and some I don’t agree with. I would have liked to see Bernie Sanders as POTUS but that was not in the cards. I just want peace, truth, and civility from our elected “leaders” and fellow citizens. I am mentally exhausted from 4 yrs of IQ45 and 9 months of Covid 19 lockdowns/restrictions…. and Biden feels like a warm glass of milk on a cold winter’s night.
LisaM While I am no Pollyanna where politicians’ hypocrisy is concerned–it seems to be a part of their job description . . . I do think we can too easily mistake a genuine willingness to compromise with hypocrisy. I hope Biden falls into that category more often than not. CBK
Of course, I voted for him as well. I am just wondering at what point the DNC is going to change its tune far more dramatically. Of course, it’s our job to push them and advocate in whatever way we can. If we do not shape the DNC to what it needs to be, we really will have another Trump in 2024. Spreading disease = horrible, arresting disease = critical for the short term, removing disease = best outcomes overall.
LisaM,
You are right – any person can be accused of hypocrisy we are all guilty of some hypocrisy in our lives. Did you buy a Starbucks instead of making a coffee at home and donating $3 to a food bank? You are a hypocrite. Did teachers’ unions advocate for raises instead of saying “don’t give us any raises, give that money to a food bank for poor children”? If they didn’t, those hypocrites.
The far right loves to accuse AOC of hypocrisy for taking ubers and lyfts and flying instead of taking the train.
It’s a way of deflecting the public from being morally outraged when people like Trump and the Republicans take morally reprehensible actions and shutting up criticism.
I hope the American public is able to understand the difference between the hypocrisies that are part of living in this world, and people who blatantly lie. I hope the American public is able to understand the difference between having a moderate or even conservative economic belief, and having a philosophy in which the only purpose of government is to enrich your friends. If not, this country is lost.
” I hope the American public is able to understand the difference between having a moderate or even conservative economic belief, and having a philosophy in which the only purpose of government is to enrich your friends. ”
Exactly.
It was stolen,” said conservative luminary William Bennett”
Undoubtedly what Bennett claims about all his other gambling losses as well.
I think that moral leader dropped $8 million at the gaming tables in Las Vegas.
Does he play cards with Kavanaugh?
Diane Didn’t Bennett also write a book on morality? CBK
Good One.
Yes indeed.
It is beginning to look like Trump will engineer his removal from office at the point of gun. Since publicity is his tool, and since his supporters believe him completely, this will serve to cement the idea that he was deprived of what was his rightfully. Already his base has assured itself that the Supreme Court is in league with the conspiracy to deprive the great savior of American ideals of his rightful place in leadership. Now they reject McConnell the same way.
The real question is whether this is the beginning of the split between the old business wing and the tea party wing of the republican party? If it is will the Democrats move toward the center to capture republicans tired of the populist spectacle, or will they move toward cementing the progressive wing of their own party?
Political movements always morph into something else. No stronger unionist existed than the originator of the Democratic Party, Andrew Jackson. He stood down John C. Calhoun in the Nullification controversy (in which the slavery issue bubbled unspoken). But his party was to lead the country down the road in the next generation to dissolution. The energy derived from his rotation in his tomb would have cured the problem of global warming. What will Trumpism become? In Jackson’s presidency, he confronted the opposition to the tariff, knowing that opposition to slavery was growing and was a much bigger threat to the union. All other issues were subsumed to the goal of national unity. The Cherokees, Creeks, and Choctaws were systematically removed essentially to preserve the union (not that Jackson ever seemed to have any sympathy to them or any other non-european). The Bank was seen as a power threatening the union, so it went away, putting the country on an unsound financial footing until the Great Depression.
So what is the idea that Trump presents that will outlast his personality? The Union became the Battle Cry for the Republicans in the Civil War. Jackson might have approved. But Trump is just about his personality. American economic and cultural nationalism are merely tools for him. Will Miller and Bannon just take their toys and go home? Or will they find another Trump and re-define their message of America for Europeans only?
answer to the final question, “yes with the help of conservative religion.”
The GOP 2020: On Wednesday, The Seattle Times reported that Washington state Rep. Robert Sutherland told his followers on Facebook not to accept the results of the presidential election — and to “prepare for war.”
“Joe Biden is not now, nor will ever be my President,” wrote Sutherland. “Am I a sore loser? No. I’m pro-America and anti-communist. Joe Biden is a bought and paid for Communist China puppet. Stay tuned, big things happening soon at the Federal level.” Sutherland previously also wrote, “Is the ‘coup’ against the sitting President the start of a second ‘Civil War’ here in the USA?” and claimed it would be “righteous” if Trump invoked the military to prevent the transfer of power. end quote
The political parties are not the same and Biden is not the equivalent of Trump. I am sick and tired of some people saying that the Ds are just as bad as the Rs. Please show me the Democratic equivalent of Robert Sutherland or the Q-Anon representatives. I am NOT saying that we should not criticize the Democrats, there is plenty to criticize, especially in education but the the parties are not the same. The GOP has fallen into an abyss of heavy duty right wing/fascistic radicalism while the Democrats are not totally hopeless (thinking of AOC, Pressly, Omar, Warren and Bernie).
Insanity appears to spread faster than COVID among Trump allies.
On a different topic (but one that you written about) — could you recommend books (or long form journalism) similar to Dark Money or Democracy in Chains?
I’m interested in the right wing billionaire donor class and the bios behind it (Mercer, Koch, DeVos, etc.).
Hope you are well and staying safe! Thank you!
The question wasn’t directed to me but, I recommend the research at UnKochMyCampus.org site. The Center for Media and Democracy also provides excellent topical analyses.
During the confirmation hearings for Amy Barrett, Sen. Whitehouse used the work of the Center for Media and Democracy for his questioning.
What will Trump do starting on January 20th and maybe before his day of doom if he doesn’t declare Martial Law and announce that he makes the laws now and not the U.S. Con-stee-toothon (Trump’s spelling not mine)?
If he doesn’t use Martial Law as an attempted coup, Trump might flee like a toxic flea to Wyoming where he won 70.4% of the vote, the highest ratio of all of the states that went for him or maybe West Virginia with the 2nd highest ratio Trump win was 68.6% (he’s too dumb to look at the popular vote count in each state).
That is when Trump will declare that the states that voted for him will leave the union and he will form Trumplandia, the greatest nation on Earth. The Proud Boys will become his army and he will require them all to wear Trump merchandise from the MAGA hat clear down to their Trump clown shoes.
Good ideas, Lloyd, about Trumplandia. He could be president for life with a hereditary monarchy. Don Jr would be next in line, or is it Ivanka?
FYI: The Proud Boys are now wearing short yellow kilts. The manufacturer, a gay man, is. Wry upset. The PB look absurd in their little kilts.
Repeat: Michael Gerson is a Christianist fanatic. This is in itself perfectly fine; he is a clear, articulate writer and at presents shows signs of moderation. He is apparently capable of comfortable coexistence with those of us who value the first amendment, at least at the moment. I wait for his moderation to falter once a Democrat is sworn in, as it did repeatedly during the Obama administration. It’s one thing to change your mind when presented with compelling contrary evidence. It’s another to be so opportunistic that you will write anything in order to retain your post in the elite halls of David Brooksland. Write anything and then persuade yourself of your own rectitude. Public opinion figures who shift with every little breeze should be challenged. Editorial pages that employ them should be insulted for it.
A broadcast media example in the footsteps of Brooks and Gerson
but, without the religion- Ana Navarro of The View. She prettifies the GOP party for the public. She gets media jobs by being the “Republican” representation. Then, her statements make it appear that Republicans are pro-woman, anti-poverty, anti-Trump, etc.
Its a good thing I was a bona-fide member of the I dislike Clinton/ Obama Club .
However :
“For some of us, watching prominent conservatives turn against rationality and democracy is not just disappointing; it is disorienting…”
Where have you been since Goldwater.
Michael Gerson was chief speechwriter for George W. Bush. He is a Republican. Now you know where he has been.
I take it easy on Bush. I shouldn’t for a lot of reasons, all the way to War Crimes.. Gerson knows for certain “It Was All A Lie” From Conservative budget hawks who blew a hole in the budget every time they held power ,as they cut taxes on their Oligarch\Plutocrat masters. To mass privatization of public services that fed cash to their corporate friends and donors .
The scams built on being able to deflect from these acts with racist appeals.
One of the best books I read last year was Julia Boyd’s Travelers in the Third Reich (even if you’re not obsessed with this era, it’s a very compelling, interesting read). As we consider the 126, the spineless and fascist Republicans, and the so-called “moderates,” it is amazing how a traveler here would have experienced much the same as then. One quote kind of sums it up perfectly, “The historian Sir Arthur Bryant was another notable foreigner whose benign view of the Nazis lasted longer than was decent.”
Pence is a Chicken-shit. I didn’t think Americans could do much traveling overseas. Are all these countries going to let him in?
……………………..
Pence Plans to Confirm Trump’s Defeat Then Flee the Country, Says Report
Jamie Ross
Reporter
Published
Dec. 17, 2020
6:13AM ET
Reuters/Jonathan Drake
Mike Pence is in a tricky spot—as vice president, he has to oversee the session of Congress that will formalize Biden’s Electoral College victory on Jan. 6, which will likely make Trumpworld extremely angry. But, according to Politico, he’s hatched an ingenious plan. The very same day that he affirms Trump’s defeat, he’s reportedly going to flee the country. Politico states that the vice president is planning to leave Washington immediately after the session for the Middle East and Europe, and he’ll stay overseas for nearly a week while Trump’s allies unload their wrath. A document seen by Politico shows Pence is expected in Bahrain, Israel, and Poland. “I suspect the timing is anything but coincidental,” one Pence ally said. But one Trump administration official said the trip isn’t confirmed yet, and is only planned for that date as it’s the first gap in his schedule.
Read it at Politico
Oh, the irony- an elected regent to the University of Colorado, Republican
Heidi Gramahl, was interviewed for an article titled, “Teach how to think, not what to think”.
Gramahl posted her personal career news on Parler, the alt right social media site. Parlar was set up to compete with Facebook. On Parler, political lies aren’t scrutinized and potentially removed from the site. The Colorado Times Recorder (12-15-2020) reported about Gramahl and other sites she’s joined e.g. MeWe, “a media platform for anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists”.
Colorado’s former House Minority Leader, Republican Patrick Neville, is a frequent user of Parler according to the Colorado Times Recorder. He has a 100% score from National Right to Life. Colorado’s Black, Latino, LGBTQ and Jewish caucuses wrote a public letter criticizing “increasingly bigoted language”, including as example, statements from Neville.
Another Colorado politician who is on Parler is Doug Lamborn who wrote that he was thrilled with Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to SCOTUS.
I’ve been wondering where they went for a long time– conservatives who value democracy and have moral integrity. That was my mother’s family. I listened to their cocktail-hour debates daily when the clan gathered August vacations. They were all varying degrees of conservative but no monolith, endlessly argued policy & philosophy. There was an in-law among them who was an angry racist, intolerant of any help to poor, & might today have bought into the ‘rigged-election’. He was considered fringe & got little traction. As near as I could figure when a teen, their concerns were about social engineering, nanny welfare state, big govt wasting $ & undermining individual initiative. They were relatively protected/ in a bubble re: poverty, but so were many: in those days [mid-‘60’s], unemployment was under 4% & GDP ranged 4.5-6.5%.
I’m thinking it was simply easier [morally] to be a conservative in those days. Since then the money’s gone to the top .1-1% [they own 50-90% of nation’s assets], CEO’s earn hundreds of times the ratio to worker salaries, rampant inequity has increased geometrically over the last 4 decades, 1 of 5 kids in our schools poverty-level… How do you justify those convictions now?
These far R IDIOTS never give up. What is sickening is that a majority of their readers believe this nonsense. Democratic past presidents won only because of help from China. That help ended with the election of our glorious Trump. HA! HA! Wall Street could not buy Trump. Biden is a puppet of China.
………………………………………….
PatriotPulse
A videotaped confession confirmed everyone’s worst fear about who rigged the 2020 election
Americans had no idea the level of funny business in the 2020 election.
This time a foreign power actually got involved.
And this videotaped confession confirmed everyone’s worst fear about who rigged the 2020 election.
Di Dongsheng, vice dean of the School of International Relations at Renmin University delivered a talk in November about the Communist Chinese governments influence operation in America and his thoughts on Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and the 2020 election.
Dongsheng’s talk was frightening.
Tucker Carlson played several video clips where Dongsheng bragged the communist Chinese government had sleeper agents planted in the highest levels of elite American institutions and they have been manipulating American policy.
In one clip, Dongsheng hinted that China resolved its trade dispute with President Trump by rigging the election against the President.
Dongsheng stated:
We fixed everything in two months. What is reason? I am going to throw out something maybe a little bit explosive here. It’s just because we have people at the top.
At the top of America’s core inner circle of power and influence, we have our old friends.
In another clip Dongsheng claimed that China manipulated past U.S. Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama through the communist Chinese government purchasing influence through Wall Street.
But Dongsheng explained that all came to an end when Donald Trump won the election and Wall Street found out it could not buy Trump.
Dongsheng stated that:
For the past 30 years, 40 years, we have been utilizing the core power of the United States. As I said before, since the 1970s, Wall Street had a very strong influence on the domestic affairs of the United States, so we had a channel to rely on.
But the problem is that after 2008, the status of Wall Street has declined, and more importantly, after 2016, Wall Street can’t fix Trump. Why? Trump had a previous soft default issue with Wall Street, so there was a conflict between them, but I won’t go into the details.”
Finally, Dongsheng chuckled at the fact that Joe Biden may be the next President and Dongsheng mocked him as a typical establishment sap who China ran circles around.
Dongsheng mentioned the Biden family’s close ties to Wall Street as well as Hunter Biden’s foreign business deals as evidence that the Chinese compromised the Biden’s and that if Biden serves as President, China would have a puppet in the White House.
On the video clip Dongsheng declared:
But now, we’re seeing Biden was elected, the traditional elite, the political elite, the establishment. They’re very close to Wall Street, so you see that, right?
Trump has been saying that Biden’s son has some sort of global foundation. Have you noticed that? Who helped him (Biden’s son) build the foundation? Got it?
There are a lot of deals in all these. Then, so, at such a time, we use an appropriate way to express some goodwill.
Here are the poll results from PatriotPulse:
Will Biden’s Presidency Be Legitimate?
No 92.98% (8,583)
Yes 7.02% (648)
How amazing. I haven’t heard of any U.S. restaurants doing anything like this. Notice that in Germany 34,000 homeless were put up in community shelters, hostels and apartments by social services and private welfare groups. What happens to the homeless in the U.S.? Not good, as far as I know. They’re considered greedy and lazy if they want anything.
…………….
Shut down by corona, Berlin restaurant opens for homeless
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
today
…For its new clientele, the restaurant opened a second-floor, wooden-decorated hall, and put up 40 long tables.
“We’ll offer them something different from the regular soup kitchen food — real dishes on porcelain plates, with different sides, we’ll try to offer Christmas-style dishes with lot of flavors,” Schwarz said.
Breidaks came to Germany three months ago looking for work. But he says a promised meat factory job never materialized and he ended up on the streets of Berlin begging for the money needed to replace a stolen passport and buy a bus ticket back home.
He’s one of an estimated 2,000 to 12,000 people who remain homeless in this city of 3.6 million, even after another 34,000 were put up in community shelters, hostels and apartments by social services and private welfare groups.
“The corona pandemic has seriously worsened the situation for homeless people, they live in very precarious conditions,” said Elke Breitenbach, the Berlin state government’s senator for social issues, whose department supports the restaurant-turned-shelter financially.
“They don’t have enough to eat and when it’s cold they must have places to warm up,” Breitenbach added.
On Thursday, the first shivering group that entered the Hofbraeu along with Breidaks were served either Thuringia-style bratwurst with mashed potatoes, sauerkraut and onion sauce, or a vegetarian stew with potatoes, zucchini, bell pepper and carrots. For dessert there was apple strudel with vanilla sauce…
https://apnews.com/article/homeless-shelters-collecting-coronavirus-pandemic-berlin-restaurants-8972f336529d2e1aed375dcf228550a1
Sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? Imagine going a whole day, or longer, without being outraged about what Trump is doing or saying.
………………………………………………….
Opinion | Can you feel your blood pressure going down? Thank Joe Biden
Opinion by Eugene Robinson
…It’s hard to remember after living with Trump’s madness for four years, but filling the Cabinet with experience and competence is the way things are supposed to work. Presidents don’t put U.S. foreign policy in the hands of an oil-company executive who never before worked in government or diplomacy. They don’t choose a defense secretary because they are under the impression that his nickname is “Mad Dog.”
Think about it. Whether he leaves voluntarily or is dragged from the premises kicking and screaming, Trump will vacate the White House no later than Jan. 20 at noon. At that point, the insanity level of our nation’s public life will settle back to within its usual range.
Incoming White House press secretary Jen Psaki will not begin her tenure by haranguing the press corps with laughably false claims about the size of Biden’s inaugural crowds. When she gives briefings, she will surely spin facts to paint the Biden administration in the best light, but she won’t invent “alternative facts,” more accurately described as bald-faced lies.
When Biden holds his first Cabinet meeting, attendees will not be required to abase themselves with over-the-top praise for their Dear Leader. When the new president’s national security team briefs him on looming threats, Biden will actually pay attention.
And the nation’s agenda will not be set by Fox News hosts. Or MSNBC hosts, for that matter. If there are presidential tweets, they will be few — and sane. Doomscrolling will be a thing of the past.
There will be times when we can go a whole day, even a whole week, without thinking about what the president is saying or doing. It may be an adjustment. But normality is way underrated.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/can-you-feel-your-blood-pressure-going-down-thank-joe-biden/2020/12/17/22f7b9f4-40a5-11eb-8db8-395dedaaa036_story.html
Now that is a refreshing/different kind of Christmas gift to receive!
For the right amount of money, you can help blow up President Trump’s former casino
By Ganesh Setty and Giulia Heyward, CNN
Updated 8:50 PM ET, Thu December 17, 2020
(CNN) Atlantic City is offering critics of President Donald Trump the chance to celebrate his departure with a literal bang.
Mayor Marty Small Sr. announced Thursday that the Jersey Shore town is auctioning the chance to push the button that will set off the implosion of the now-closed Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino.
The city plans to donate the money raised to the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City.
“Personally, I’m a pretty ambitious guy. I want to raise at least a million dollars,” Small said in a news conference Thursday.
The funds will go toward expanding and sustaining the club’s operations for its three sites across the city, Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City CEO Stephanie Koch told CNN.
The club serves as many as 1,200 children per year and has expanded its operations amid the pandemic to 12 hours a day, Koch said.
“No longer is the Boys & Girls Club a simple after-school program,” Koch said at the news conference, noting that the club now offers meals, academic enrichment and workforce development programs.
Originally scheduled to happen around New Year’s Eve, the building’s demolition is now set for early February. Bidding is already live online with “a lot of action already,” the mayor said.
Trump Plaza announced its closure in 2014. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn currently owns the site, Small said.
“Listen, make no mistake about it. Carl Icahn is a major player in this town, and we appreciate all the contributions that he made to the great city of Atlantic City,” Small said, adding that he hopes the future development will contain some sort of family entertainment component.
He said his administration will assist in any way it can on the site’s future.
Trump’s decades long relationship with Atlantic City has been marked by rocky finances and grandiose ambition. His most noted property, the Trump Taj Mahal hotel and casino — which he dubbed “the eighth wonder of the world” — officially closed in 2016 with less fanfare.
By the time of its closure, Trump owned only the name attached to the Taj, with Icahn controlling the rest.
CNN has reached out to a spokesperson for the Trump Organization for comment.