Something to Know - 21 December

Holed up in his Oval Office, #45 keeps churning up schemes to throw out the election and stay in power.   Most of the effort is run by Giuliani and Sydney Powell, who assert that the companies who make the voting software used in our elections are thoroughly corrupt and change Trump votes to Biden votes in the software code.  This game plan is now on the verge of a legal blow back by the two companies, Smartmatic and Dominion, who are mounting their defense against Trump.   This matter may well be settled by the courts, if it goes that far.   Taking this into a courtroom is where Giuliani and company have had problems.   False claims get rejected and are thrown out by judges.   Putting the news media on the spot as co-conspirators will add to the show, and force the showdown.   Hopefully this slime game stops soon:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/business/media/smartmatic-lawsuit-fox-news-newsmax-oan.html

The 'Red Slime' Lawsuit That Could Sink Right-Wing Media

Voting machine companies threaten "highly dangerous" cases against Fox, Newsmax and OAN, says Floyd Abrams.

By Ben Smith

Antonio Mugica was in Boca Raton when an American presidential election really melted down in 2000, and he watched with shocked fascination as local government officials argued over hanging chads and butterfly ballots.
It was so bad, so incompetent, that Mr. Mugica, a young Venezuelan software engineer, decided to shift the focus of his digital security company, Smartmatic, which had been working for banks. It would offer its services to what would obviously be a growth industry: electronic voting machines. He began building a global company that ultimately provided voting machinery and software for elections from Brazil to Belgium and his native Venezuela. He even acquired an American company, then called Sequoia.
Last month, Mr. Mugica initially took it in stride when his company's name started popping up in grief-addled Trump supporters' wild conspiracy theories about the election.
"Of course I was surprised, but at the same time, it was pretty clear that these people were trying to discredit the election and they were throwing out 25 conspiracy theories in parallel," he told me in an interview last week from Barbados, where his company has an office. "I thought it was so absurd that it was not going to have legs."

But by Nov. 14, he knew he had a problem. That's when Rudy Giuliani, serving as the president's lawyer, suggested that one voting company, Dominion Voting Systems, had a sinister connection to vote counts in "Michigan, Arizona and Georgia and other states." Mr. Giuliani declared on Twitter that the company "was a front for SMARTMATIC, who was really doing the computing. Look up SMARTMATIC and tweet me what you think?"


Soon his company, and a competitor, Dominion — which sells its services to about 1,900 of the county governments that administer elections across America — were at the center of Mr. Giuliani's and Sidney Powell's theories, and on the tongues of commentators on Fox News and its farther-right rivals, Newsmax and One America News.

"Sidney Powell is out there saying that states like Texas, they turned away from Dominion machines, because really there's only one reason why you buy a Dominion machine and you buy this Smartmatic software, so you can easily change votes," the Newsmax host Chris Salcedo said in one typical mash-up on Nov. 18. Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business reported on Nov. 15 that "one source says that the key point to understand is that the Smartmatic system has a backdoor."

Here's the thing: Smartmatic wasn't even used in the contested states. The company, now a major global player with over 300 employees, pulled out of the United States in 2007 after a controversy over its founders' Venezuelan roots, and its only involvement this November was with a contract to help Los Angeles County run its election.

In an era of brazen political lies, Mr. Mugica has emerged as an unlikely figure with the power to put the genie back in the bottle. Last week, his lawyer sent scathing letters to the Fox News Channel, Newsmax and OAN demanding that they immediately, forcefully clear his company's name — and that they retain documents for a planned defamation lawsuit. He has, legal experts say, an unusually strong case. And his new lawyer is J. Erik Connolly, who not coincidentally won the largest settlement in the history of American media defamation in 2017, at least $177 million, for a beef producer whose "lean finely textured beef" was described by ABC News as "pink slime."

Now, Mr. Connolly's target is a kind of red slime, the stream of preposterous lies coming from the White House and Republican officials around the country.

"We've gotten to this point where there's so much falsity that is being spread on certain platforms, and you may need an occasion where you send a message, and that's what punitive damages can do in a case like this," Mr. Connolly said.
Mr. Mugica isn't the only potential plaintiff. Dominion Voting Systems has hired another high-powered libel lawyer, Tom Clare, who has threatened legal action against Ms. Powell and the Trump campaign. Mr. Clare said in an emailed statement that "we are moving forward on the basis that she will not retract those false statements and that it will be necessary for Dominion to take aggressive legal action, both against Ms. Powell and the many others who have enabled and amplified her campaign of defamation by spreading damaging falsehoods about Dominion."
These are legal threats any company, even a giant like Fox Corporation, would take seriously. And they could be fatal to the dream of a new "Trump TV," a giant new media company in the president's image, and perhaps contributing to his bottom line. Newsmax and OAN would each like to become that, and are both burning money to steal ratings from Fox, executives from both companies have acknowledged. They will need to raise significantly more money, or to sell quickly to investors, to build a Fox-style multibillion-dollar empire. But outstanding litigation with the potential of an enormous verdict will be enough to scare away most buyers.
And so Newsmax and OAN appear likely to face the same fate as so many of President Trump's sycophants, who have watched him lie with impunity and imitated him — only to find that he's the only one who can really get away with it. Mr. Trump benefits from presidential immunity, but also he has an experienced fabulist's sense of where the legal red lines are, something his allies often lack. Three of his close aides were convicted of lying, and Michael Cohen served more than a year in prison. (Trump pardoned Michael Flynn and commuted the sentence of Roger Stone.)
OAN and Newsmax have been avidly hyping Mr. Trump's bogus election claims. OAN has even been trying to get to Newsmax's right, by continuing to reject Joe Biden's status as president-elect. But their own roles in propagating that lie could destroy their businesses if Mr. Mugica sues.

The letters written by lawyers for Smartmatic and Dominion are "extremely powerful," said Floyd Abrams, one of the country's most prominent First Amendment lawyers, in an email to The New York Times. "The repeated accusations against both companies are plainly defamatory and surely have done enormous reputational and financial harm to both."
Mr. Abrams noted that "truth is always a defense" and that, failing that, the networks may defend themselves by saying they didn't know the charges were false, while Ms. Powell may say she was simply describing legal filings.
"It is far too early to predict how the cases, if commenced, will end," he said. "But it is not too early to say that they would be highly dangerous to those sued."
Lawyers said they expected that the right-wing networks, if sued, would argue that Smartmatic and Dominion should be considered "public figures" — which would require the companies to prove that its critics were malicious or wildly reckless, not just wrong.
Mr. Connolly said he would argue that Smartmatic was not a public figure, a legal status whose exact meaning varies depending on whether Mr. Mugica files suit in Florida, New York or another state.
"They have a very good case," another First Amendment lawyer who isn't connected to the litigation, the University of Florida professor Clay Calvert, said of Smartmatic. "If these statements are false and we are taking them as factual statements, that's why we have defamation law."


Fox News and Fox Business, which have mentioned Dominion 792 times and Smartmatic 118 times between them, according to a search of the service TVEyes, appear to be taking the threat seriously. Over the weekend, they broadcast one of the strangest three-minute segments I've ever seen on television, with a disembodied and anonymous voice flatly asking a series of factual questions about Smartmatic of an expert on voting machines, Eddie Perez, who debunks a series of false claims. The segment, which appeared scripted to persuade a very literal-minded judge or jury that the network was being fair, aired over the weekend on the shows hosted by Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro and Maria Bartiromo, where Mr. Giuliani and Ms. Powell had made their most outlandish claims.


Newsmax said in an emailed statement that the channel "has never made a claim of impropriety about Smartmatic, its ownership or software" and that the company was merely providing a "forum for public concerns and discussion." An OAN spokeswoman didn't respond to an inquiry.
I'm reluctant to cheer on a defamation case against news organizations, even networks that appear to be amplifying dangerous lies. Companies and politicians often exploit libel law to threaten and silence journalists, and at the very least subject them to expensive and draining litigation.
And defamation cases can also collide with subjects of genuine public interest, as in the most prominent case I've been involved in, when a businessman sued me and my colleagues at BuzzFeed News for publishing the Steele Dossier, while acknowledging that it was unverified. There, a judge ruled that the document was an official record that BuzzFeed was entitled to publish.
In this controversy, even the voting companies' worst critics find the coverage wildly distorted.
"They've been mining every paper I've ever written and any deposition I've ever given and it's nonsense," said Douglas W. Jones, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Iowa who has long argued that voting software isn't as secure as its vendors claim. He said Ms. Powell's cybersecurity expert, Navid Keshavarz-Nia, called him on Nov. 15, apparently seeing him as a potential ally, and spent an hour going point-by-point over claims that would wind up in a deposition. "He seemed sane, but every time I would ask him for evidence that would support one of these allegations he would squirm off to a different allegation," Mr. Jones said.
As the conversation wore on, he wondered, "Was someone trying to pull a 'Borat' on me?"
But the allegations are no joke for Smartmatic and Dominion. Mr. Mugica said he had taken worried calls from governments and politicians all over the world, concerned that Mr. Trump's poison will seep into their politics and turn a Smartmatic contract into a liability.
"This potentially could destroy it all," he said.
Mr. Mugica wouldn't say whether he has made up his mind to sue. Mr. Connolly said that he has "a lot of people watching a lot of videos right now," and that he's researching whether to file in New York, Florida or elsewhere. I asked Mr. Mugica if he'd settle for an apology.
"Is the apology going to reverse the false belief of tens of millions of people who believe in these lies?" he asked. "Then I could be satisfied."

Ben Smith is the media columnist. He joined The Times in 2020 after eight years as founding editor in chief of BuzzFeed News. Before that, he covered politics for Politico, The New York Daily News, The New York Observer and The New York Sun. Email: ben.smith@nytimes.com @benyt

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Juan

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Something to Know - 20 December

A "stimulus bill" may emerge today.   Trump and his conspiracy-minded cronies are walled up in the oval office crafting a method to overthrow our democracy, while the "...it will magically disappear" virus....is threatening to take our healthcare system down, and Trump stonewalls any talk about Russia's involvement in the cyber attacks.  

If there is anything notable to pass around, it is this piece from HCR, which is very brief but eye-opening for many on the significance of Deb Haaland's nomination to head the Department of the Interior.   

	December 19, 2020 Heather Cox Richardson Dec 20 "The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters," wrote Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci. Trump and the Republicans are fighting tooth and nail to retain their hold on power, while President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris are quietly trying to move forward. There are monsters, indeed. Today, New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Zolan Kanno-Youngs reported that Trump held a long meeting at the White House yesterday with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani; disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, whom Trump recently pardoned for lying to the FBI; and Flynn's lawyer Sidney Powell. These four are the heart of those insisting—without evidence—that Trump won the 2020 election. They have talked of Trump declaring martial law and holding new elections. In the meeting, Trump apparently asked about appointing Powell as special counsel to investigate voter fraud in the 2020 election. White House advisers in the room, including White House counsel Pat A. Cipollone and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, pushed back strongly, noting that Powell has yet to prove any of her accusations. Axios journalist Jonathan Swan reported that senior Trump officials think Trump is spending too much time with crackpots who are egging him on to seize power. One told Swan: when Trump is "retweeting threats of putting politicians in jail, and spends his time talking to conspiracy nuts who openly say declaring martial law is no big deal, it's impossible not to start getting anxious about how this ends." The country is increasingly ravaged by the pandemic. Friday saw more than 250,000 new infections in a single day. More than 315,000 have died, including 3,611 on Wednesday. More than 128,000 Americans have received the vaccine. The economy is in recession, but yesterday, Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) objected to one-time federal payments of $1200 because he says he's worried about the deficit. Democrats noted that the Trump administration's tax cuts for the wealthy and military spending added a projected $4 trillion to the deficit by 2026. Then, just as it seemed both sides had come to an agreement over a coronavirus relief bill, the Republicans scuttled it with a new demand that would rein in the ability of the Federal Reserve to combat the recession. This would take from Biden a key tool. The Republicans seem to be doing their best to undercut the Biden administration so they can regain power in 2022 and 2024. (Just before midnight tonight, the Senate appears to have reached a compromise. Details are not yet available). This week, the United States learned of a massive hack on our government and business sector. Intelligence agents as well as Trump's Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, say Russia is behind the attack. Once again, though, Trump refuses to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin. He claimed that the attack wasn't as bad as the "Fake News Media" says it is, and he suggested the culprit could have been China, rather than Russia. Then, once again, he insisted he won the election. And yet, if the Trump administration models an assault on our country by a group of oligarchs determined to seize power, the incoming Biden administration is signaling that it takes seriously our future as a true multicultural democracy. Nothing signals that more than the nomination of Representative Deb Haaland (D-NM) as Secretary of the Interior Department. Haaland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo people who have lived in the land that is now New Mexico for 35 generations. She is the daughter of two military veterans. A single mother who earned a law degree with a young daughter in tow, she was a tribal leader focused on environmentally responsible economic development for the Lagunas before she became a Democratic leader. Her nomination for Interior carries with it deep symbolism. If confirmed, Haaland will be the first Native American Cabinet secretary and will head the department that, in the nineteenth century, destroyed Indigenous peoples for political leverage. The United States government initially put management of Indian affairs into the War Department but, in 1849, transferred the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the newly created Department of the Interior. Reformers hoped that putting Indian relations under the control of civilians, rather than military, would lead to fewer wars. But the move opened the way for indigenous people to be swept up in a political system over which they had no control. In the nineteenth century, as settlers pushed into Indigenous territory, the government took control of that land through treaties that promised the tribes food, clothing, shelter, education, health care, and usually the tools and seeds to become farmers. As well, tribal members usually received a yearly payment of cash. These distributions of goods and money were not payment for the land. They were the terms of the deal. If tribes were to give up the lands on which they depended to survive, their people needed a replacement for their livelihoods. But here's where politics came in. Tribes moved onto the reservations, either willingly or by force. In the nineteenth century, those reservations were often large tracts of land. To pick up their food and so on, the Indigenous people would go once or twice a month to the agency, essentially a town on the reservation, usually with a school, a doctor, warehouses, and stores. The agency grew up around the man in charge of the agency: the agent. With Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior, the agents were political appointees. The U.S. senators of the state in which the reservation was located made their choices and told the president, who then made the appointment. While some of the agents actually tried to do their job, most were put into office to advance the interests of the political party in power. So, they took the money Congress appropriated for the tribe they oversaw, then gave the contracts for the beef, flour, clothing, blankets, and so on, to cronies, who would fulfill the contracts with moldy food and rags, if they bothered to fulfill them at all. They would pocket the rest of the money, using it to help keep their political party in power and themselves in the position of agent. When tribal leaders complained, lawmakers pointed out—usually quite correctly—that they had appropriated the money required under the treaties. But the system had essentially become a slush fund, and the tribes had no recourse against the corrupt agents except, when they were starving, to go to war. Then the agents called in the troops. Democrat Grover Cleveland tried to clean up the system (not least because it was feeding the Republicans so much money) in 1885-1889, but as soon as Republican Benjamin Harrison took the White House back, he jump-started the old system again. The corruption was so bad by then that military leaders tried to take the management of Indian Affairs away from the politicians at the Interior Department, furious that politicians caused trouble with the tribes and then soldiers and unoffending Indians died. It looked briefly as if they might manage to do so until the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 ended any illusions that military management would be a better deal for Native Americans than political management. The Interior Department today manages our natural resources as well as the government's relationship with Indigenous tribes. Placing Haaland at the head of it is more than simply promoting diversity in government. It is a recognition of 170 years of American history and the perversion of our principles by men who lusted for power. It is a sign that we are finally trying to use the government for the good of everyone. "A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior," Haaland tweeted after the announcement. "I'll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land." A new world struggles to be born. —- Notes: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/12/17/deb-haaland-interior-secretary-biden/ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/19/us/politics/trump-sidney-powell-voter-fraud.html https://www.axios.com/trump-officials-alarmed-overturn-election-results-a844d1d2-acb2-47a9-87ce-ac579458b1ea.html https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/19/world/covid-19-coronavirus https://www.npr.org/2020/12/19/948318197/pompeo-russia-pretty-clearly-behind-massive-solarwinds-cyberattack Share

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Juan

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Something to Know - 19 December

We are a nation struggling with at least two diseases that are crippling.   One is Covid-19, and we have medicine which will aid in mitigation (if we can all do the right thing).   The second one is related to Trumpism, for which we have no known cure, and plenty of super-spreading bad actors.   

December 18, 2020

Heather Cox Richardson

Dec 19 

A year ago today, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald J. Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

In his plea to Senators to convict the president, Adam Schiff (D-CA), the lead impeachment manager for the House, warned "you know you can't trust this president to do what's right for this country." Schiff asked: "How much damage can Donald Trump do between now and the next election?" and then answered his own question: "A lot. A lot of damage." "Can you have the least bit of confidence that Donald Trump will… protect our national interest over his own personal interest?" Schiff asked the senators who were about to vote on Trump's guilt. "You know you can't, which makes him dangerous to this country.''

Republicans took offense at Schiff's passionate words, seeing them as criticism of themselves. They voted to acquit Trump of the charges the House had levied against him.

And a year later, here we are. A pandemic has killed more than 312,000 of us, and numbers of infections and deaths are spiking. Today we hit a new single-day record of reported coronavirus cases with 246,914, our third daily record in a row. The economy is in shambles, with more than 6 million Americans applying for unemployment benefits. And the government has been hobbled by a massive hack from foreign operatives, likely Russians, who have hit many of our key departments.

Today it began to feel as if the Trump administration was falling apart as journalists began digging into a number of troubling stories.

Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, appointed by Trump after he fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper by tweet on November 9, this morning abruptly halted the transition briefings the Pentagon had been providing, as required by law, to the incoming Biden team. Observers were taken aback by this unprecedented halt to the transition process, as well as by the stated excuse: that Defense Department officials were overwhelmed by the number of meetings the transition required. Retired four-star general Barry R. McCaffrey, a military analyst for NBC and MSNBC, tweeted: "Pentagon abruptly halts Biden transition—MAKES NO SENSE. CLAIM THEY ARE OVERWHELMED. DOD GOES OPAQUE. TRUMP-MILLER UP TO NO GOOD. DANGER."

After Axios published the story and outrage was building, Miller issued a statement saying the two sides had decided on a "mutually-agreed upon holiday, which begins tomorrow." Biden transition director Yohannes Abraham promptly told reporters: "Let me be clear: there was no mutually agreed upon holiday break. In fact, we think it's important that briefings and other engagements continue during this period as there's no time to spare, and that's particularly true in the aftermath of ascertainment delay," a reference to the delay in the administration's recognition of Biden's election.

Later, the administration suggested the sudden end to the transition briefings was because Trump was angry that the Washington Post on Wednesday had published a story showing how much money Biden could save by stopping the construction of Trump's border wall. Anger over a story from two days ago seems like a stretch, a justification after the briefings had been cancelled for other reasons. The big story of the day, and the week, and the month, and the year, and probably of this administration, is the sweeping hack of our government by a hostile foreign power. The abrupt end to the briefings might reflect that the administration isn't keen on giving Biden access to the crime scene.

Republicans appear to be trying to cripple the Biden administration more broadly. The country has been thrilled by the arrival of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine that promises an end to the scourge under which we're suffering. Just tonight, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized a second vaccine, produced by Moderna, for emergency authorization use. This vaccine does not require ultracold temperatures for shipping the way the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine does. Two vaccines for the coronavirus are extraordinarily good news.

But this week, as the first Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines were being given, states learned that the doses the federal government had promised were not going to arrive, and no one is quite sure why. The government blamed Pfizer, which promptly blasted the government, saying it had plenty of vaccines in warehouses but had received no information about where to send them. Then the White House said there was confusion over scheduling.

Josh Kovensky at Talking Points Memo has been following this story, and concluded a day or so ago that the administration had made no plans for vaccine distribution beyond February 1, when the problem would be Biden's. Kovensky also noted that it appears the administration promised vaccine distribution on an impossible timeline, deliberately raising hopes for vaccine availability that Biden couldn't possibly fulfill. Today Kovensky noted that there are apparently doses missing and unaccounted for, but no one seems to know where they might be.

Today suggested yet another instance of Republican bad faith. With Americans hungry and increasingly homeless, the nation is desperate for another coronavirus relief bill. The House passed one last May, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to take it up. Throughout the summer and fall, negotiations on a different bill failed as Republicans demanded liability protection for businesses whose employees got coronavirus after they reopened, and Democrats demanded federal aid to states and local governments, pinched as tax revenue has fallen off during the pandemic. Now, though, with many Americans at the end of their rope, McConnell indicated he would be willing to cut a deal because the lack of a relief package is hurting the Republican Senate candidates before the runoff election in Georgia on January 5. Both sides seemed on the verge of a deal.

That deal fell apart this afternoon after Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) with the blessing of McConnell, suddenly insisted on limiting the ability of the Federal Reserve to lend money to help businesses and towns stay afloat. These were tools the Trump administration had and used, but Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tried to kill them after Trump lost the election. The Federal Reserve's ability to manage fiscal markets is key to addressing recessions. Removing that power would gravely hamper Biden's ability to help the nation climb out of the recession during his administration.

It's hard not to see this as a move by McConnell and Senate Republicans to take away Biden's power—power enjoyed by presidents in general, and by Trump in particular—to combat the recession in order to hobble the economy and hurt the Democrats before the 2022 election.

Money was in the news in another way today, too. Business Insider broke the story that the Trump campaign used a shell company approved by Jared Kushner to pay campaign expenses without having to disclose them to federal election regulators. The company was called American Made Media Consultants LLC. Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was president, and Vice President Mike Pence's nephew, John Pence, was vice president until the two apparently stepped down in late 2019 to work on the campaign. The treasurer was the chief financial officer of the Trump campaign, Sean Dollman.

The Trump campaign spent more than $700 million of the $1.26 billion of campaign cash it raised in the 2020 cycle through AMMC, but to whom it paid that money is hidden. Former Republican Federal Election Commission Chairman Trevor Potter is trying to take up the slack left by the currently crippled Federal Elections Commission. His organization, the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan clean election group, last July accused the Trump campaign of "disguising" campaign funding of about $170 million "by laundering the funds" through AMMC.

This news adds to our understanding that Trump is leaving the White House with a large amount of cash. He has raised more than $250 million since November 3, urging his supporters to donate to his election challenges, but much of the money has gone to his own new political action committee or to the Republican National Committee. Recently, he has begged supporters to give to a "Georgia Election Fund," suggesting that the money will go to the runoff elections for Georgia's two senators, but 75% of the money actually goes to Trump's new political action committee and 25% to the Republican National Committee.

Shane Goldmacher and Maggie Haberman at the New York Times note that there are very few limits to how Trump can spend the money from his new PAC.

—-

Notes:


Barry R McCaffrey
@mccaffreyr3
Pentagon abruptly halts Biden transition—- MAKES NO SENSE. CLAIM THEY ARE OVERWHELMED. DOD GOES OPAQUE. TRUMP-MILLER UP TO NO GOOD. DANGER. —-

Pentagon pauses transition meetings, causing concern for Biden's team as it meets 'resistance' in the department
The Biden transition team is disputing the Pentagon's version of events, saying they were "concerned" by the "abrupt halt" to the meetings.
businessinsider.com
December 18th 2020

6,967 Retweets14,148 Likes
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/24/us/politics/adam-schiff-closing-remarks.html


Adam Schiff
@RepAdamSchiff
During the impeachment trial, I asked this rhetorical question to Senators:

How much damage can Donald Trump do between now and the next election?

I answered: A lot. A lot of damage.

With over a hundred thousand Americans now dead, we had no idea how great the damage would be.
June 25th 2020

10,853 Retweets31,943 Likes
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/15/us/politics/who-is-adam-schiff.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/us/politics/esper-defense-secretary.html

https://www.axios.com/pentagon-biden-transition-briefings-123a9658-4af1-4632-a6e6-770117784d60.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/stopping-border-wall-save-billions/2020/12/16/fa096958-3fd1-11eb-a402-fba110db3b42_story.html

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/unsolved-mystery-experts-baffled-by-the-big-shortfall-in-covid-vaccine-doses

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/biden-team-puts-foot-down-over-gop-effort-to-handcuff-fed-as-trump-leaves-office

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/12/17/covid-fda-moderna-vaccine-2/

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/18/politics/pentagon-dod-transition-briefings/index.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-advisers-warn-trump-mass-vaccine-timeline-may-be-too-n1251499?cid=eml_nbn_20201217

https://www.businessinsider.com/jared-kushner-trump-campaign-shell-company-family-ammc-lara-2020-12

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/us/politics/lara-trump-served-on-the-board-of-a-company-through-which-the-trump-political-operation-spent-more-than-700-million.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/us/politics/trump-money-future.html

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/17/economy/unemployment-benefits-coronavirus/index.html

coronavirus record:


Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
NBC News confirms: The U.S. has hit a new single-day record of coronavirus cases on Friday: 246,914.

This is the third record-breaking day in a row. @NBCNews
December 19th 2020

1,077 Retweets2,522 Likes
Share

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Juan

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Something to Know - 18 December

The most immediate need for government action rests in the current talks to get a stimulus bill out of Congress for assistance to those millions who are on the verge of collapse.   For fear of damage that a lack of a proper response by the Republicans, Mitch McConnell is trying to stitch together a bill, while knowing that if they fall short, it may hurt them in the Senate runoffs in Georgia.  Democrats are urged to accept Mitch's token response, while I am slowly coming to feel that Progressives should push for a bigger deal, and push the Republicans into a corner that they will have to capitulate.   I urge the Democrats to push forward at this time.   In the meantime, we are being told about the severity and extent of this Russian-generated intrusion into the depths of our supposedly secure national defense systems.   Trump is silent, and I am convinced that his refusal on this issue, and many others, that have nailed the Russians , that Trump is beholden to Putin for something or things that will be revealed when investigations into the trail of money from Russia, through Deutsche Bank, to the Trump Organization are fully known.  Trump is rumored to be holding a Christmas gift list of pardons to be strewn out to some pretty shady characters.  We are all counting the days until he is gone, and that he may have to be physically removed.  HCR brings you up to speed on the swamp gas, and Paul Krugman supports my attitude that we should leverage the Mitch into accepting a bigger and better outcome that will benefit so many, and pour a great amount of money into our system that will stimulate a broader reach of the economy, than the GOP's usual plan of supply-side economics of giving the wealthy and the corporate nation most of the support.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/17/opinion/coronavirus-stimulus-deficit.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20201218&instance_id=25175&nl=todaysheadlines&regi_id=2318049&segment_id=47276&user_id=af58c63b30a52a2ca05d6e1633e35b95

Return of the Phony Deficit Hawks

Suddenly, Republicans are pretending to care about debt.

By Paul Krugman

Opinion Columnist

• Dec. 17, 2020

It looks as if Congress will soon pass a much-needed economic relief (not stimulus) bill — something that will help distressed Americans get through the next few months, while we wait for widespread vaccination to set the stage for economic recovery. That's good news, because something is better than nothing, even though what we know about the legislation says that it's going to be deeply flawed.

But the way this debate has been playing out is ominous for the future. Even some of the good guys seem a bit confused about what they're trying to do. And the bad guys — Mitch McConnell and company — are clearly doing some of the right things only under political duress, while giving every indication that they'll systematically undermine the economy once President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

About good guys getting it wrong: Economic relief legislation is largely about providing individuals and families with a financial lifeline during the pandemic. But who should get that lifeline? Should it go to a majority of the population, like those $1,200 checks sent out in the spring? Or should the focus be on enhanced unemployment benefits for the millions of workers who, thanks to the pandemic, have no income at all?
According to The Washington Post, Senators Bernie Sanders and Joe Manchin had a heated argument about this issue on Wednesday during a conference call, with Sanders pushing for broad aid while Manchin argued that enhanced unemployment benefits were more crucial.


Well, on most issues I'm a lot closer to Sanders than to Manchin, the most conservative Democrat in the Senate. But in this case I'm sorry to say that Manchin is right. The economic pain from the coronavirus has been very unevenly distributed: A minority of the work force has been devastated, while those who have been able to keep working have, by and large, done relatively well. Overall wages and salaries have bounced back quickly.


So if there's a limit on the amount of aid that can be given, it's more important to help the unemployed — and, in particular, to sustain that help well beyond the 10 weeks reportedly in the current deal — than to send checks to those who have been able to keep working. The best argument I can see for broader payments is political — people who haven't lost their jobs to the pandemic may be more willing to support economic relief for those who have if they also get something from the deal.
But why is there a limit on the amount of aid?
Republicans appear willing to make a deal because they fear that complete stonewalling will hurt them in the Georgia Senate runoffs. But they are determined to keep the deal under a trillion dollars, hence the reported $900 billion price tag.
That trillion-dollar cap, however, makes no sense. The amount we spend on emergency relief should be determined by how much aid is needed, not by the sense that $1 trillion is a scary number.


For affordability isn't a real issue right now. The U.S. government borrowed more than $3 trillion in the 2020 fiscal year; investors were happy to lend it that money, at remarkably low interest rates. In fact, the real interest rate on U.S. debt — the rate adjusted for inflation — has lately been consistently negative, which means that the additional debt won't even create a major future burden.
And even economists who worry about deficits normally agree that it's appropriate to run big deficits in the face of national emergencies. If a pandemic that is still keeping around 10 million workers unemployed isn't an emergency, I don't know what is.

Of course, we know what's going on here. While Republicans have made the political calculation that they must cough up some money while control of the Senate is still in doubt, they're clearly getting ready to invoke fear of budget deficits as a reason to block anything and everything Biden proposes once he's finally sworn in.
It should go without saying that the coming G.O.P. pivot to deficit hawkery will be completely insincere. Republicans had no problem with rising deficits during the pre-pandemic Trump years; they cheerfully passed a $1.9 trillion tax cut, mainly for corporations and the wealthy.
But the hypocrisy isn't the main issue here. More important, shortchanging relief in the name of fiscal prudence would mean vast, unnecessary hardship for millions of Americans. I'm an optimist about prospects for economic recovery once we achieve widespread vaccination. But that won't happen until well into 2021, and even a rapid recovery will take months after that to bring us back to something like full employment. Making a deal that only provides enhanced benefits for 10 weeks is like building a bridge that goes only a quarter of the way across a chasm.

And the case for more spending won't end with short-term economic recovery. We'll still need huge investments in infrastructure, child care, clean energy and more.
Republicans will try to stop all of this, claiming that it's because they're worried about debt. They'll be lying, and we shouldn't be afraid to say so.

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Juan

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Something to Know - 16 September

Pretty quiet now, since the Electoral College "has spoken".   Putin and Mitch have congratulated Biden as the official "president-elect".  Biden is deliberately chugging along, announcing appointments to his cabinet, and even suggesting policies that perhaps Congress can start working on now, during the "transition".   HCR comments on the lack of noise in yesterday's events.   What is important to note is that the cracks and schisms in the Republican Party are now emerging.  McConnell has publicly proclaimed that he does not want any "stunts" by his caucus to interfere with the Congressional approval of the new leaders and administration, while Kevin McCarthy and other loyalists are singing a different tune.   The most interesting action from here on out until 20 January will be if the GOP unites or divides.   Trump will create his own swirling vortex, while the Democrats and the State of Georgia look for a better way forward.   

If the Republican Party Doesn't Shape Up, We Will Challenge It

In the wake of Trump's electoral defeat and political survival, principled Republicans must offer their own vision for America.

By Evan McMullin

Mr. McMullin, a former C.I.A. operations officer, was chief policy director for the House Republican Conference. In 2016, he resigned to run for president as an independent candidate.

Donald Trump's refusal to accept his electoral defeat is alarming, but unsurprising. It is Mr. Trump's character to reject even reality itself when it conflicts with his ego. More alarming is the long list of state and national Republican leaders cravenly falling in line behind his desperate efforts to topple American democracy.
On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected a Texas lawsuit to overturn the election, a legal challenge that was as frivolous as it was anti-constitutional. Yet more than 60 percent of House Republicans signed a supporting brief, joining 18 Republican attorneys general who filed their own and embraced entirely the unreality of Trumpism by lending their names to undoing an election that put them in office.

These were not just fringe elements. The minority leader Kevin McCarthy and the whip Steve Scalise signed their names, as did the incoming ranking member for the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Some, such as Kevin Brady, Bill Flores and Ann Wagner, were Republicans who the NeverTrump movement once hoped would break with the president once we made him an electoral loser.
That they instead clung to his mad king strategy, like sailors lashed to the mast of a sinking ship, proves that the majority of the party has, at least for the foreseeable future, forsaken democracy. Even though Mr. Trump has been defeated, there is still no home for Republicans committed to representative government, truth and the rule of law, nor is one likely to emerge anytime soon.

The answer is that we must further develop an intellectual and political home, for now, outside of any party. From there, we can continue working with other Americans to defeat Mr. Trump's heirs, help offer unifying leadership to the country and, if the Republican Party continues on its current path, launch a party to challenge it directly.

Although we hoped that defeating Mr. Trump would start to right the Republican ship, our efforts over the last four years have not been in vain. We defeated and removed immoral and dishonorable Republicans like Roy Moore, Dana Rohrabacher, Steve King and Martha McSally. We turned out to ensure that Democrats nominated a unifying leader whom a majority of voters could support. And we were a key part of the coalition that defeated Mr. Trump himself.
But the NeverTrump movement has mostly been inward looking thus far. It emerged to defeat Mr. Trump and defend foundational principles such as self-government, liberty and justice, sovereignty, pluralistic society, the sanctity of all life, decency and objective truth.
But to turn back Mr. Trump's dangerous ideology, which has survived his defeat, and move America forward, we must build on these ideals and look beyond ourselves.


We must now offer our own vision for the country capable of uniting more Republicans, Democrats and independents to advance solutions to the immense challenges we face. Because Trumpism will be on the ballot again, in 2022 and 2024.

It should start with unyielding commitment to the equality and liberty of all, and then to facts, reason and knowledge. It should champion democracy and its improvement and cherish life in all its phases. It should promote personal responsibility, limited government and government's vital role for the common good. It should advance for justice to all, and uphold the personal and religious freedom of a diverse people.
It should expand economic opportunity, rejecting cronyism and protectionism, while defending innovators and workers from theft and predatory practices abroad. It should recognize immigration as a vital national asset and universal access to quality health care, public and private, a national obligation. It should imagine new methods of learning and work. It should be decent, ethical and loyal to the Constitution.
If the coalition that defeated Mr. Trump and elected President-elect Joe Biden, of which we are a part, fails now to lead the nation past the coronavirus pandemic, widespread job losses and economic instability, social division and injustice, inaccessible health care, fiscal shortfalls and disinformation, we will invite a resurgence of Trumpism and even more formidable illiberalism in the future.
Soon, we may field and promote our own slate of candidates running on either party's ticket or as independents, but under our ideological banner. To advance this vision and support these candidates, we should further develop the infrastructure we've created over the last four years: including data firms, messaging platforms, research capabilities and grass roots networks.
Eventually, we will have to make a decision: Will we return to a Republican Party liberated of fear, corruption and authoritarianism, or will we attempt to replace it with a new conservative alternative? Our hope is that we can still help foment a broad rejection of extremism inside the Republican Party. But our immediate task is to build our home for either eventuality, and to continue the fight for liberty, equality and truth.

Evan McMullin, a former chief policy director of the House Republican Conference who was an independent candidate for president in 2016, is the executive director of Stand Up Republic.

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Juan

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Something to Know - 14 December

The business of the Electoral College happens today.  It should go as it has over the ages.  Between now and the 20th of January, Trump has an opportunity to burnish his exit.  What his definition of "Burnish" is, is anybody's guess.   If he stops his insane campaign to overturn the election and takes a vaccination in the arm along with past presidents along with Joe Biden, and just stays out of sight for a while, and shows up at the inauguration and acts like all past presidents, he will have done something of merit.  Otherwise, it will be a very difficult future for all.   If he continues to trash his way out of office, he most likely will be gunning for something in 2024.   Lots of stuff can and will happen between now and the next election.   I am of the opinion that once out of office, the legal troubles for Trump will keep him occupied for a long period of time.   The State of New York, and countless lawsuits are lining up.   My feeling is that once the charges and accusations hit the attention of the public, the Trumpster Image will be so tarnished that his base of support will silently erode.   The Republican Party will be in search of salvation and reconstruction.   Yes, there will still be some faction blindly devoted to the swamp of Mar a Lago, but not enough to sustain a formidable influence of power.   I may be too optimistic, and for sure I am blinded by the American Dream, but to think otherwise is to give up.   Many of us, me included, are now looking at the 8th decade of existence, and I want to go out at a party having fun, and looking at a USA that is kinder and more inclusively fair for all.  HCR for the details.

Trump Has Never Believed in Democracy

He wants to wield power without winning it legitimately.

By Charles M. Blow

Opinion Columnist

Donald Trump's continued effort to overturn the result of the election — an effort buttressed by the support of many Republicans in Congress, it should be noted — is nothing short of an attempt at a bloodless coup.
The only way Trump could achieve his aim of denying Joe Biden his rightfully earned victory would be if some people or entities — state legislatures, judges or the Supreme Court — were to agree to throw out millions of legally cast and appropriate votes. (It is also worth noting that many of the jurisdictions being disputed are heavily Black.)
But a stinging defeat in the Supreme Court, packed with three justices of Trump's own choosing, seems to have slammed the door on any legal path Trump might have had in his outrageous endeavor. The members of the Electoral College will meet on Monday and choose the next president. Barring any extraordinary and unprecedented developments, they will select Joe Biden, as the people already have.
And yet, on Saturday Trump continued to insist on Twitter that "I WON THE ELECTION IN A LANDSLIDE," and that the Supreme Court ruling was incorrect: "This is a great and disgraceful miscarriage of justice. The people of the United States were cheated, and our Country disgraced. Never even given our day in Court!"

That same day, Trump flew over a "Stop the Steal" rally at Washington's Freedom Plaza, where the Proud Boys were a prominent presence.
He keeps lying to his supporters, telling them — partly out of pride, partly out of a craven quest for power — that he was cheated and that he actually won the election. Many of them believe him. Right-wing media have aided him in his deception, as have Republican officials, either through their public pronouncements or through their silence.

But of course this isn't about restoring faith in our elections; rather, it is about allowing Trump to further degrade that faith. Scalise and many other Republicans are accomplices in this crime against our democracy. Trump is still trying to steal this election, and they are outside revving the engine of the getaway car.
That a majority of all Republicans in the House of Representatives expressed support for the frivolous Texas lawsuit signals to me that the difference between liberals and conservatives is no longer about values; it is now about a fundamental belief in democracy. Republicans appear to be saying that not all votes matter or should be counted. This is voter suppression on the grandest of scales, because it is an attempt at voter erasure, at eliminating votes that have already been cast and counted.


All the while, Trump has continued to use the division and deception he has created to raise money. He has now collected more than $200 million in donations in support of his bogus election recounts.
But, as The New York Times reported earlier this month:
"Mr. Trump's campaign apparatus has continued to aggressively solicit donations under the guise of supporting his various legal challenges to the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr., but as of now 75 percent of donations goes to a new political action committee that Mr. Trump formed in mid-November, up to the PAC's legal limit of $5,000. The other 25 percent goes to the Republican National Committee. Only if a donor gives more than $6,000 do any funds go to Mr. Trump's formal 'recount' account."
Trump has realized that trying to steal the presidency is more lucrative than actually being president, so he won't stop. We are witnessing one of the greatest grifts in the history of the presidency.

The presidency gave Trump something he always craved but never possessed: constant attention and real, legitimate power. And, once tasted, power is craved forever.
Trump has never believed in American democracy. He was never a student of history. He was never really a patriot.
When he foreshadowed his current behavior in 2016 by refusing to say that he would accept the results of that election as legitimate if he didn't win, we knew. When he cozied up to the world's dictators and spurned our allies, we knew. When he winked at hate groups by refusing to immediately and fulsomely condemn them, we knew.
Trump wants to operate a dictatorship behind a veil of democracy. He wants to wield power without winning it legitimately. He wants to manipulate his mob and prioritize it above the masses who oppose him.
Yes, Trump is attempting a coup, whether or not you want to call it that. But, no matter what you choose to call something, it will still be what it is.

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Juan

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

What Comes at the End of the Tunnel ?

It will be difficult to ignore the last four years under Trump as we move forward.   Addressing the issue of why he and his "trumpism" was bad for the country needs to be put front and center to counter his corrosive legacy.   How this is done, and who does it, should now be a work in progress, but it needs to be aired.   This article from the Atlantic has kindled a reason for action on this matter:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/01/the-legacy-of-donald-trump/617255/

A Political Obituary for Donald Trump

The effects of his reign will linger. But democracy survived.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 ISSUE




George Packer

Staff writer for The Atlantic

This article was published online on December 9, 2020.

To assess the legacy of Donald Trump's presidency, start by quantifying it. Since last February, more than a quarter of a million Americans have died from COVID-19—a fifth of the world's deaths from the disease, the highest number of any country. In the three years before the pandemic, 2.3 million Americans lost their health insurance, accounting for up to 10,000 "excess deaths"; millions more lost coverage during the pandemic. The United States' score on the human-rights organization Freedom House's annual index dropped from 90 out of 100 under President Barack Obama to 86 under Trump, below that of Greece and Mauritius. Trump withdrew the U.S. from 13 international organizations, agreements, and treaties. The number of refugees admitted into the country annually fell from 85,000 to 12,000. About 400 miles of barrier were built along the southern border. The whereabouts of the parents of 666 children seized at the border by U.S. officials remain unknown.

Trump reversed 80 environmental rules and regulations. He appointed more than 220 judges to the federal bench, including three to the Supreme Court—24 percent female, 4 percent Black, and 100 percent conservative, with more rated "not qualified" by the American Bar Association than under any other president in the past half century. The national debt increased by $7 trillion, or 37 percent. In Trump's last year, the trade deficit was on track to exceed $600 billion, the largest gap since 2008. Trump signed just one major piece of legislation, the 2017 tax law, which, according to one study, for the first time brought the total tax rate of the wealthiest 400 Americans below that of every other income group. In Trump's first year as president, he paid $750 in taxes. While he was in office, taxpayers and campaign donors handed over at least $8 million to his family business.


America under Trump became less free, less equal, more divided, more alone, deeper in debt, swampier, dirtier, meaner, sicker, and deader. It also became more delusional. No number from Trump's years in power will be more lastingly destructive than his 25,000 false or misleading statements. Super-spread by social media and cable news, they contaminated the minds of tens of millions of people. Trump's lies will linger for years, poisoning the atmosphere like radioactive dust.
presidents lie routinely, about everything from war to sex to their health. When the lies are consequential enough, they have a corrosive effect on democracy. Lyndon B. Johnson deceived Americans about the Gulf of Tonkin incident and everything else concerning the Vietnam War. Richard Nixon's lifelong habit of prevaricating gave him the nickname "Tricky Dick." After Vietnam and Watergate, Americans never fully recovered their trust in government. But these cases of presidential lying came from a time when the purpose was limited and rational: to cover up a scandal, make a disaster disappear, mislead the public in service of a particular goal. In a sense, Americans expected a degree of fabrication from their leaders. After Jimmy Carter, in his 1976 campaign, promised, "I'll never lie to you," and then pretty much kept his word, voters sent him back to Georgia. Ronald Reagan's gauzy fictions were far more popular.

Trump's lies were different. They belonged to the postmodern era. They were assaults against not this or that fact, but reality itself. They spread beyond public policy to invade private life, clouding the mental faculties of everyone who had to breathe his air, dissolving the very distinction between truth and falsehood. Their purpose was never the conventional desire to conceal something shameful from the public. He was stunningly forthright about things that other presidents would have gone to great lengths to keep secret: his true feelings about Senator John McCain and other war heroes; his eagerness to get rid of disloyal underlings; his desire for law enforcement to protect his friends and hurt his enemies; his effort to extort a foreign leader for dirt on a political adversary; his affection for Kim Jong Un and admiration for Vladimir Putin; his positive view of white nationalists; his hostility toward racial and religious minorities; and his contempt for women.

The most mendacious of Trump's predecessors would have been careful to limit these thoughts to private recording systems. Trump spoke them openly, not because he couldn't control his impulses, but intentionally, even systematically, in order to demolish the norms that would otherwise have constrained his power. To his supporters, his shamelessness became a badge of honesty and strength. They grasped the message that they, too, could say whatever they wanted without apology. To his opponents, fighting by the rules—even in as small a way as calling him "President Trump"—seemed like a sucker's game. So the level of American political language was everywhere dragged down, leaving a gaping shame deficit.

Trump's barrage of falsehoods—as many as 50 daily in the last fevered months of the 2020 campaign—complemented his unconcealed brutality. Lying was another variety of shamelessness. Just as he said aloud what he was supposed to keep to himself, he lied again and again about matters of settled fact—the more brazen and frequent the lie, the better. Two days after the polls closed, with the returns showing him almost certain to lose, Trump stood at the White House podium and declared himself the winner of an election that his opponent was trying to steal.

This crowning conspiracy theory of Trump's presidency activated his entitled children, compliant staff, and sycophants in Congress and the media to issue dozens of statements declaring that the election was fraudulent. Following the mechanism of every big lie of the Trump years, the Republican Party establishment fell in line. Within a week of Election Day, false claims of voter fraud in swing states had received almost 5 million mentions in the press and on social media. In one poll, 70 percent of Republican voters concluded that the election hadn't been free or fair.

So a stab-in-the-back narrative was buried in the minds of millions of Americans, where it burns away, as imperishable as a carbon isotope, consuming whatever is left of their trust in democratic institutions and values. This narrative will widen the gap between Trump believers and their compatriots who might live in the same town, but a different universe. And that was Trump's purpose—to keep us locked in a mental prison where reality was unknowable so that he could go on wielding power, whether in or out of office, including the power to destroy.
For his opponents, the lies were intended to be profoundly demoralizing. Neither counting them nor checking facts nor debunking conspiracies made any difference. Trump demonstrated again and again that the truth doesn't matter. In rational people this provoked incredulity, outrage, exhaustion, and finally an impulse to crawl away and abandon the field of politics to the fantasists.

For believers, the consequences were worse. They surrendered the ability to make basic judgments about facts, exiling themselves from the common framework of self-government. They became litter swirling in the wind of any preposterous claim that blew from @realDonaldTrump. Truth was whatever made the world whole again by hurting their enemies—the more far-fetched, the more potent and thrilling. After the election, as charges of voter fraud began to pile up, Matthew Sheffield, a reformed right-wing media activist, tweeted: "Truth for conservative journalists is anything that harms 'the left.' It doesn't even have to be a fact. Trump's numerous lies about any subject under the sun are thus justified because his deceptions point to a larger truth: that liberals are evil."

How did half the country—practical, hands-on, self-reliant Americans, still balancing family budgets and following complex repair manuals—slip into such cognitive decline when it came to politics? Blaming ignorance or stupidity would be a mistake. You have to summon an act of will, a certain energy and imagination, to replace truth with the authority of a con man like Trump. Hannah Arendt, in The Origins of Totalitarianism, describes the susceptibility to propaganda of the atomized modern masses, "obsessed by a desire to escape from reality because in their essential homelessness they can no longer bear its accidental, incomprehensible aspects." They seek refuge in "a man-made pattern of relative consistency" that bears little relation to reality. Though the U.S. is still a democratic republic, not a totalitarian regime, and Trump was an all-American demagogue, not a fascist dictator, his followers abandoned common sense and found their guide to the world in him. Defeat won't change that.

Trump damaged the rest of us, too. He got as far as he did by appealing to the perennial hostility of popular masses toward elites. In a democracy, who gets to say what is true—the experts or the people? The historian Sophia Rosenfeld, author of Democracy and Truth, traces this conflict back to the Enlightenment, when modern democracy overthrew the authority of kings and priests: "The ideal of the democratic truth process has been threatened repeatedly ever since the late eighteenth century by the efforts of one or the other of these epistemic cohorts, expert or popular, to monopolize it."

Monopoly of public policy by experts—trade negotiators, government bureaucrats, think tankers, professors, journalists—helped create the populist backlash that empowered Trump. His reign of lies drove educated Americans to place their faith, and even their identity, all the more certainly in experts, who didn't always deserve it (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, election pollsters). The war between populists and experts relieved both sides of the democratic imperative to persuade. The standoff turned them into caricatures.

Trump's legacy includes an extremist Republican Party that tries to hold on to power by flagrantly undemocratic means, and an opposition pushed toward its own version of extremism. He leaves behind a society in which the bonds of trust are degraded, in which his example licenses everyone to cheat on taxes and mock affliction. Many of his policies can be reversed or mitigated. It will be much harder to clear our minds of his lies and restore the shared understanding of reality—the agreement, however inconvenient, that A is A and not B—on which a democracy depends.
But we now have the chance, because two events in Trump's last year in office broke the spell of his sinister perversion of the truth. The first was the coronavirus. The beginning of the end of Trump's presidency arrived on March 11, 2020, when he addressed the nation for the first time on the subject of the pandemic and showed himself to be completely out of his depth. The virus was a fact that Trump couldn't lie into oblivion or forge into a political weapon—it was too personal and frightening, too real. As hundreds of thousands of Americans died, many of them needlessly, and the administration flailed between fantasy, partisan incitement, and criminal negligence, a crucial number of Americans realized that Trump's lies could get someone they love killed.

The second event came on November 3. For months Trump had tried frantically to destroy Americans' trust in the election—the essence of the democratic system, the one lever of power that belongs undeniably to the people. His effort consisted of nonstop lies about the fraudulence of mail-in ballots. But the ballots flooded into election offices, and people lined up before dawn on the first day of early voting, and some of them waited 10 hours to vote, and by the end of Election Day, despite the soaring threat of the virus, more than 150 million Americans had cast ballots—the highest turnout rate since at least 1900. The defeated president tried again to soil our faith, by taking away our votes. The election didn't end his lies—nothing will—or the deeper conflicts that the lies revealed. But we learned that we still want democracy. This, too, is the legacy of Donald Trump.

This article appears in the January/February 2021 print edition with the headline "The Legacy of Donald Trump."
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

GEORGE PACKER is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century and The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America.

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Juan

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.