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When I began Schwartzreport my purpose was to produce an entirely fact-based daily publication in favor of the earth, the inter-connectedness and interdependence of all life, democracy, equality for all, liberty, and things that are life-affirming. Also, to warn my readers about actions, events, and trends that threaten those values. Our country now stands at a crossroads, indeed, the world stands at a crossroads where those values are very much at risk and it is up to each of us who care about wellbeing to do what we can to defend those principles. I want to thank all of you who have contributed to SR, particularly those of you who have scheduled an ongoing monthly contribution. It makes a big difference and is much appreciated. It is one thing to put in the hours each day and to do the work for free, but another to have to cover the rising out-of-pocket costs. For those of you who haven’t done so, but read SR regularly, I ask that you consider supporting it.
Christopher Ingraham, Reporter - The Washington Post
Stephan: This article presents what, in my opinion, is the most important story in America. This is why we have the worst record in the world on the Covid pandemic, and why millions will not wear masks. This is why Trump was elected in the first place, and why millions voted for him the other day. We are a country in which a large percentage of the population likes authoritarianism. They listen to Tucker Carlson who fills them with resentment and outrage; they haven't a clue
The thing you always have to remember is that unlike all but a tiny handful of countries in the world, there has not been massive civil violence in the United States in 155 years. All these White supremacist Trumpers have no concept of what a country coming apart and becoming authoritarian is really like.
Trump supporters yell “Lock her up” about Hillary Clinton during a 2017 rally in Washington, D.C. New research finds high levels of anti-democratic beliefs among Trump supporters, especially among the most fervent. Credit: Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post
And yet, despite the tumult of the past eight months, President Trump’s favorability numbers have barely budged: His approval rating hovers in the low 40s, just as it has most of his presidency. As the economy cratered and covid-19 mortality skyrocketed, the Trump faithful stuck with him, lending credence to his infamous 2016 campaign boast that he “could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and not lose any support.
Why is that?
A new book by a psychology professor and a former lawyer in the Nixon White House argues that Trump has tapped into a […]
Stephan: I find it very interesting to look at the international reaction to our election, and that of the Republican Party in the U.S.. I think it is warning us that we have a very sick society. And I think science really needs to understand Trumpism as a form of mental illness because having tens of millions of citizens living in a fantasy world is not healthy for democracies.
Trump walks off stage as Angela Merkel ignores him.
Governments around the world are preparing to work with President-elect Biden — but they still have to navigate what could be a bumpy final 10 weeks of President Trump.
Split screen: Around the time Biden was holding his first call as president-elect with a foreign leader, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump was firing his secretary of defense, Mark Esper.
Not only is Trump clearing out his national security team — the directors of the FBI and the CIA are likely to be next — his administration has refused to initiate the transition process that’s intended to ensure a smooth handover to Biden’s team.
Trump loyalists are warning staff not to prepare for a transition, Axios’ Jonathan Swan reports, based on leaked audio of a conference call today with U.S. Agency for International Development staff.
An incoming president’s would normally receive access to the same intelligence as the sitting president, but Biden’s team won’t receive such briefings until the Trump administration certifies the election result, CNN’s […]
Seventy percent of Republicans say they don’t think that President-elect Joe Biden won a “free and fair” election, according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll.
The response marks a stark increase from the 35 percent of GOP voters who said they felt the election would not be fair before Election Day last Tuesday.
Ninety-six percent of Democrats surveyed said they had trust in the election process and thought it was free and fair, up considerably from the 52 percent of party voters who said they thought it would be before the election.
An overwhelming majority of respondents overall, 69 percent, said they thought the country was going in the wrong direction despite the election results.
Republican respondents expressed specific worries and concerns about election integrity in contested battleground states like Pennsylvania, which was still counting votes Tuesday.
Sixty-two percent of Republicans said the Pennsylvania results would be unreliable, contrasting with 8 percent of Democrats who held the same beliefs.
Distrust is similarly high about Wisconsin (55 percent), Nevada (54 percent), Georgia (54 percent) and Arizona (52 percent), with suspicion being amplified by the Trump campaign, which has filed more than […]
Stephan: Here is the latest on this Trumpian crime against humanity: taking small children from their parents and, then, losing contact with them. And like everything about Trump there is an underlying quality, a mix of the evangelical and Marvel comics. Look at the number.
A Honduran mother holds her 2-year-old as U.S. Border Patrol agents take them and other migrants into custody at the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018, in McAllen, Texas. John Moore / Getty
Last month, the world was shocked and outraged to learn that lawyers tasked with locating relatives of child migrants seized by U.S. immigration agents under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy were unable to locate the parents of 545 children. Now it turns out that the actual number of children and infants separated from their parents is significantly higher than previously thought, according to an email obtained by NBC News.
In the email, Steven Herzog, the lawyer leading the effort to locate the children’s relatives and reunite the families, says that 666 children — about 20% of whom were under the age of 5 when they were ripped away from their parents — remain separated. Herzog attibutes the initial undercount to the fact that the government did not provide phone number contacts for 129 of the minors.
“We would appreciate the government providing any available updated contact information, or other information […]
DAN GOLDBERG and ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN, - Politico
Stephan: The incompetence of Trump and his administration to properly address the Covid pandemic has come to this. The good news is that this failure may, in the Biden administration, lead to finally getting to single-payer universal birthright healthcare.
The United States’ surging coronavirus outbreak is on pace to hit nearly 1 million new cases a week by the end of the year — a scenario that could overwhelm health systems across much of the country and further complicatePresident-elect Joe Biden’s attempts to coordinate a response.
In this Nov. 3, 2020, file photo, Salt Lake County Health Department public health nurses look on during coronavirus testing outside the department in Salt Lake City. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Biden, who is naming his own coronavirus task force Monday, has pledged to confront new shortages of protective gear for health workers and oversee distribution of masks, test kits and vaccines while beefing up contact tracing and reengaging with the World Health Organization. He will also push Congress to pass a massive Covid-19 relief package and pressure the governors who’ve refused to implement mask mandates for new public health measures as cases rise.
But all of those actions — a sharp departure from the Trump administration’s patchwork response that put the burden on states— will have to wait until Biden takes […]
Nicholas Fandos and Emily Cochrane, Reporters - The New York Times
Stephan: What we are seeing, in my opinion, is a party trending to permanent minority status doing everything they can to sabotage American democracy. All the phony arguments about voting fraud are, I think, an attempt to lay the groundwork for subsequent legislation at the state level to justify voter purges, and voter suppression.
Most worrisome of all though is that millions of Americans buy this crap. All of this, taken together, proves yet again that you cannot be an ethical person and a Republican, and for a democratic republic that is a real crisis.
Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, said the nation’s legal and political system “will resolve any recounts or litigation.”Credit: Al Drago/The New York Times
Leading Republicans rallied on Monday around President Trump’s refusal to concede the election, declining to challenge the false narrative that it was stolen from him or to recognize President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory even as party divisions burst into public view.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the top Republican in Congress, threw his support behind Mr. Trump in a sharply worded speech on the Senate floor. He declared that Mr. Trump was “100 percent within his rights” to turn to the legal system to challenge the outcome and hammered Democrats for expecting the president to concede.
In his first public remarks since Mr. Biden was declared the winner, Mr. McConnell celebrated the success of Republicans who won election to the House and the Senate. But in the next breath, he treated the outcome of the presidential election — based on the same ballots that elected those Republicans — as unknown.
ANITA SNOW, DAVID GOLDMAN and LISA MARIE PANE, - Associated Press
Stephan: Getting through the next 71 days is, I think, going to be harder than most people think. Just look at what Tuesday was like. Trump, aided by Congressional Republicans, assaulting democracy from the inside using the powers of the presidency. Trumpers refusing to accept the election.
As I write this, I am watching the PBS Program on the rise of the Nazis, and how Germany went from liberal democracy to racist fascist authoritarianism in four years. It is eerily relevant to the present day.
Trumpers on display
Chanting “This isn’t over!” and “Stop the steal,” supporters of President Donald Trump protested at state capitols across the country Saturday, refusing to accept defeat and echoing Trump’s unsubstantiated allegations that the Democrats won by fraud.
From Atlanta and Tallahassee to Austin, Bismarck, Boise and Phoenix, crowds ranging in size from a few dozen to a few thousand — some of them openly carrying guns — decried the news of Joe Biden’s victory after more than three suspense-filled days of vote-counting put the Democrat over the top. Skirmishes broke out in some cities.
In Atlanta, outside the state Capitol in the longtime Republican stronghold of Georgia, chants of “Lock him up!” rang out among an estimated 1,000 Trump supporters. Others chanted, “This isn’t over! This isn’t over!” and “Fake news!” The streets were awash with American flags and Trump banners.
No immediate violence was reported, though at one point, police moved to separate Trump opponents from supporters. Biden held a slim lead in Georgia, which hasn’t gone for a Democrat since 1992.
Jordan Kelley, a 29-year-old from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, […]
Stephan: This was entirely predictable. Those who live in Trumper world, fill with resentments are easily stirred to violence and, I suspect, Trump's anger at losing the election and his utter self-centeredness have driven him to seek revenge against the people who chose another. The Trumpers are his willing tools.
Trumper militia
On Saturday, the media declared victory for now President-elect Joe Biden. Staying true to form, Donald Trump is following through on his promises to reject defeat by declaring fraud. The two-and-a-half months between now and Inauguration Day will undoubtedly be filled with tension as we watch to see whether Republican leaders and/or state forces will take steps beyond echoing Trump’s rhetoric of fraud to tangibly ensure that their leader holds on to power.
Far more likely than a pro-Trump military-backed coup, however, is enhanced militancy on the part of far right militias and fascist groups. Already Trump’s unfounded accusations of fraud have inspired an attempted armed attack on the Philadelphia convention center and bomb threats against the mall next to the convention center, not to mention the plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan. Indeed, Trump’s ramblings about election fraud — which he has peddled for four years now — fit perfectly into the conspiratorial worldview of QAnon and provide ample fodder for far right efforts to expand their popular support and undermine faith in the electoral system. As Spencer […]
