April 6, 2021

  • The Progressive Lens Non-Quarterly Round-up: November 2020-March 2021

    Trump Era Days 1,382 – 1,462 and Post-Trump Era Days 1-69

     

    What was reported?

    • Economically, the United States has been on a tumultuous, volatile roller coaster: In October 2020, 638,000 jobs were created and unemployment dropped to 6.9%. November 2020, 245,000 jobs were created as unemployment dropped to 6.7%. December 2020, 140,000 jobs were lost and unemployment remained at 6.7%. January 2021, 49,000 jobs were created, unemployment fell to 6.3%, and labor participation slipped to 61.4%. February 2021, 379,000 jobs were added and the unemployment rate dropped to 6.2%, though the economy is still down 9.5 million jobs from February 2020, with 61.4% remaining for labor participation.
    • One historian in late 2020 warned that America is showing signs of experiencing its own version of the infamous Reichstag Fire that triggered the end of democracy and rise of fascism in Nazi Germany.
    • The Supreme Court ruled the emoluments clause lawsuits against Trump moot since he is no longer the president, thusly throwing the lawsuits out.
    • President Trump told Vice President Pence “I don’t want to be your friend, I want you to be the Vice President” in response to Pence telling him that he had no authority to reject the election certification. Two days before the siege of the Capitol building, Trump – who refused to concede the election (even going so far as to declare victory as votes were being counted hours after the last polls closed and then going on to order preparations for the 2022 budget and deny then-incoming President Biden any vital national security briefings) and has toyed with the idea of running in 2024  - shouted to supporters in a pre-runoff election rally in Georgia that he would “fight like hell” to prevent Biden from assuming the presidency. There is reason to believe that Trump meant what he said as he asked advisers in January about using the military to keep power as well as appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Biden all while he pondered the advice of Michael Flynn (as well as a Tea Party leader in Ohio) and delved deep into conspiracy theories propagated by his lawyer and adviser, Sydney Powell. Even then-Vice President Pence contributed to the frenzy which led to the siege by openly questioning the election results and even encouraging the Senators who wanted to challenge the Congressional certification of Biden’s election.
    • Trump actually fired his Homeland Security head of cyber security when the person who held that role at the time stated that the election was “secure”. He then went out of his way to appoint a partisan loyalist (his Senior Director of Intelligence for the National Security Council) as the NSA’s general counsel; a position which leads a part of the NSA to safeguard against partisan domestic spying. While the Secretary of State was asserting that there would be a transition to a “second Trump Administration”, the Administration threatened all of its staff against seeking other jobs. Trump also went on to fire his Secretary of Defense just ten weeks before inauguration.
    • A poll found that almost 50% of Republicans supported the near-coup of the Capitol which brought a halt to the election certification. Numerous Republican state legislators and incoming legislators from over half a dozen states (including Nevada, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia, to name a few) participated in the demonstrations which produced the coup attempt. Another poll by the American Enterprise Institute found that 4 in 10 Republicans agreed that “violence may be necessary”. Days after the election, a Republican Police Chief of a small town in Arkansas called for violence due to Trump losing. A report found that the FBI and the New York Police Department tried to warn the Capitol Police about the threat, to no avail. The threat include social media posts which included a banner which said “Occupy the Capitol” and a call to “Storm the Capitol” on popular QAnon boards. It was reported by Republican Nebraska U.S. Senator Ben Sasse that Trump was gleeful about the siege, going so far as to question others about their lack of excitement. Moreover, President Trump refused to adhere to pleas from members of Congress to intervene by asking the rioters to stop – Trump later said that these rioters posed “zero threat” to the Capitol, that they were “hugging and kissing police”, and lamented that leftist activists received “no punishment” while the rightwing rioters were being “persecuted” -, including direct demands for such action made my Congressman and Republican Minority Leader McCarthy. Trump suggest to McCarthy that the rioters cared more about the election than the House Leader himself.
    • All of that could have been prevented if it weren’t for Trump and the Republicans doing everything they could think of to prevent Biden from taking office, including refusing to accept Biden’s victory.
    • In the aftermath of the coup attempt, the House Democrats tried to encourage Republicans and then-Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump as soon as possible, but House Republicans blocked the attempt at unanimous consent for doing so. This prompted Democrats to officially submit an impeachment article against Trump for “incitement of sedition”.
    • A report (based on interviews from people who were in close proximity to President Trump around the time of the 2020 election) unveiled that Trump’s team tried to make Fox News change their projection of Arizona for Biden and that the President complained about not being able to just declare victory. Likewise, Trump’s administration more and more resembled a dictatorship as he insisted upon loyalty tests for the Executive Branch, purged the Defense Department including the Secretary of Defense and a number of top officials therein, and compelled the Attorney General to launch a probe into the election alongside a probe against Biden’s son Hunter.
    • The Republican assault on democracy continued as Republicans in the Pennsylvania State Senate refused to seat a Democratic lawmaker who narrowly won reelection. In doing so, they also removed the Democratic Lieutenant Governor from presiding over proceedings. Meanwhile, the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, offered a reward of up to a million dollars for tips about election fraud, with a guaranteed $25,000 to a tip which leads to an arrest. Georgia Republicans passed a sweeping elections law which would statistically make it harder for people of color to vote, leading to a black state legislator being arrested for “felony obstruction” when she (State Rep. Park Cannon) pounded on the Governor’s door begging him not to sign the legislation into law.
    • Trump’s attempts to bully the Georgia Secretary of State (via a very long phone call) – after there had been death threats aimed at that same official as well as his counterpart in Arizona earlier in the recount process - into changing the election results of the state in his favor led to a criminal investigation. This is on the heels of his failed effort to convince the Supreme Court – with the help of a lawyer famous for referencing a racist conspiracy theory questioning Kamala Harris’s eligibility to run for Vice President – asking the High Court to throw out millions of votes cast for Biden and Harris all because they were counted after Election Day. The Georgia Secretary of State had also been subjected to overturn the state’s vote count by Senator Lindsey Graham, among others. The two Georgian Republican Senator – David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler - who lost in the January runoff elections even called for their Secretary of State to resign over the controversy.
    • On his way out, President Trump issued a host of controversial pardons, letting war criminals off the hook, rewarding loyalists swept up in the Mueller investigation, and saving former members of Congress.
    • In October 2019, the Trump Administration nixed a settlement deal in a lawsuit wherein the Justice Department would have agreed to pay for the mental healthcare of families separated by the immigration tactics of the time.
    • A science adviser of Trump’s seriously argued in a letter to the Health and Human Services Undersecretary on behalf of “herd immunity”, saying that people of all ages, including “infants” should be intentionally exposed to the virus.
    • As the people of Texas experienced major blackouts in the midst of a devastating arctic blast, the outdated, deregulated, un-weatherized isolated electrical grid of Texas came under scrutiny, leading former Energy Secretary and former Governor of Texas Rick Perry to claim that the people of Texas would willingly wait out the crisis in the dark if it meant keeping federal help at bay. Worse yet, this was supportively shared via the weblog of House Minority Leader McCarthy.
    • Following the decisions to suspend Trump’s social media accounts in the aftermath of the siege of the Capitol, Trump reportedly plans to launch his own social media platform.
    • Trump’s former CDC Director told CNN’s Dr. Gupta that his opinion is that the coronavirus started in a Chinese lab. He stated this without offering any evidence whatsoever. Republican Congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene called the Biden plan to require a vaccine for passage the “mark of the beast”.
    • Despite attempts by Republicans in Congress to stop it, Congress passed the $1.9 Trillion stimulus package which sent $1400 to most Americans.
    • Senate Minority Leader Republican Mitch McConnell threatened to unleash a “scorched earth” response if Democrats abolish the filibuster.
    • After yet another deadly shooting – the 7th shooting in 2021, taking place in Colorado -, Ohio State Republicans in the General Assembly proposed a measure which would allow anyone over the age of 21 to carry a deadly weapon without a license at all.

     

     

    Tonight’s Conclusion

    The final months of Donald Trump’s reign as our president was more tumultuous than what we have ever seen outside of the Civil War. From Trump denying that he lost the presidency through to the Capitol building being stormed by his crazed fans after he riled them up, this nation was on the brink of a full-fledged collapse into a rightwing authoritarian dictatorship. Thankfully, this crisis was averted as the American people resoundingly rejected fascism and Congress affirmed that decision.

    Now, the Republican Party is back to their old tricks, as they continue to divide us. The Democrats have improved slightly in confronting this, but the damage done by the extreme rightwing has left scars which may fester through to the next series of elections.

    We are far from safe from the danger of democracy’s death. We were pulled back from the proverbial ledge, but the tidal forces of history and the gradual decline of American society are pushing and pulling us back to that same ledge.

    What happens next is vitally important. Let’s hope that we survive.

     

    #NotMeUs #OurRevolution #TheResistance #ImpeachTrump #ClimateCrisis

     

    Purchase my manifesto, “The Pillars of Unitism”.

     

     

    Until next time…

     

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