Category: 2020 Election

Trump Zealots Can’t Hide Behind Economic Anxiety Any Longer

“They’re not expressing economic anxiety. They’re expressing a desire to dominate.”

The mythology that the force compelling Americans to support Donald Trump was their economic anxiety — a fragile myth already called into doubt repeatedly over the last four years — was irrevocably shattered by last week’s raid on the Capitol as Trump beckoned his followers to march.

Rioters chanted, “Hang Mike Pence.” They built nooses. They graffitied “Murder the media.” They repeatedly called Black officers the n-word. One held as his banner the Confederate flag. One man allegedly threatened to kill Nancy Pelosi. The less extreme said they were there as patriots who “bleed red, white, and blue,” fighting to take back what was stolen from them.

These are not the cries of people hungry for economic opportunity. These are furious cries of vengeance against phantom enemies imagined by the president. Continue reading.

Episode 1: A premeditated lie lit the fire

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Beginning on election night 2020 and continuing through his final days in office, Donald Trump unraveled and dragged America with him, to the point that his followers sacked the U.S. Capitol with two weeks left in his term. This Axios series takes you inside the collapse of a president.

Episode 1: Trump’s refusal to believe the election results was premeditated. He had heard about the “red mirage” — the likelihood that early vote counts would tip more Republican than the final tallies — and he decided to exploit it.

“Jared, you call the Murdochs! Jason, you call Sammon and Hemmer!” Continue reading.

Pence Finally Concedes Biden Victory In Call To Harris

More than two months after President-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election, nine days after a deadly attack by supporters of Donald Trump on the U.S. Capitol that claimed five lives, and two days after Trump became the first White House occupant in history to be impeached twice, Vice President Mike Pence finally called Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to congratulate her on her win.

The New York Times noted that Pence was “filling a leadership role all but abdicated by President Trump” when he called Harris Friday morning.

On Thursday, Pence, seemingly acting as de facto president, tweeted that he would oversee a peaceful inauguration and transition of power: “The American people can be confident that we’re going to ensure that we’ll have a safe Inauguration in a matter consistent with our history & traditions. We have confidence our Law Enforcement will protect our Capitol and the Great people of this Nation next week.” Trump has still not publicly acknowledged he lost the election on Nov. 3. Continue reading.

Where do Republicans go from here?

Trump has never put party first, but breaking up won’t be easy

ANALYSIS — If I didn’t write about the future of the Republican Party within the next 12 hours, my political analyst card would have been revoked. I don’t make the rules, I’m just trying to abide by them. So here are some thoughts on the state of the union between Republicans and President Donald Trump. 

Just a couple of weeks ago, the thought of 10 GOP House members voting to impeach Trump would have been unfathomable. Now some Republicans, including outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, appear eager to begin the next chapter of the GOP without him. Unsurprisingly, that is not going to be that easy. 

Even before the invasion of the U.S. Capitol, the GOP’s messy transition (or divorce) from Trump looked inevitable. I wrote about it nearly two years ago in CQ Roll Call, “Republicans have a post-Trump identity crisis on the horizon.” I didn’t, however, let my normally optimistic mind wander to what happened last week.  Continue reading.

Mark Meadows could face criminal exposure for his role in Trump’s Georgia phone call

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In the wake of last Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol, President Trump is reported to have compiled a lengthy list of potential subjects of presidential pardons, including top aides, outside advisers, family members, rappers and other celebrities, and himself. Among those on the list is current White House Chief of Staff and former North Carolina congressman Mark Meadows, who has so far not been accused of a crime, but could be in jeopardy for his role in the now-infamous phone call during which Trump pressured Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” votes for him, an apparent solicitation of fraud.

In addition to potential criminal exposure, Meadows identified himself in his White House capacity during an overtly political conversation and would appear to have violated the Hatch Act, a federal statute that the Trump administration has rendered virtually meaningless. Trump’s pardon power would not affect any possible civil action on campaign finance violations that might result from a complaint that a watchdog group filed against Meadows with the Federal Election Commission this fall, based on Salon’s reporting.

On the Jan. 2 call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a tape of which was leaked the next day to the Washington Post, Meadows played a dual role as emcee and translator for Trump’s possibly criminal demands. At the top of the conversation, he identifies himself as “the chief of staff,” then lists the participants, including the mysterious role of lawyer Cleta Mitchell, who Meadows said “is not the attorney of record but has been involved.” Later, Trump asked Raffensperger to “find” enough votes for him to win the state. Continue reading.

Trump publicly calls for “no violence” and peaceful transition

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President Trump urged the American public on Wednesday to refrain from violence ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, again calling for a peaceful transition of power.

Why it matters: The statement was released as the House debated whether to impeach Trump for a second time, after the president was accused of inciting the pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol and left five dead last week.

  • D.C. is currently on high alert ahead of the Biden inauguration, with the National Guard deployed to the nation’s capital. Continue reading.

‘Find the fraud’: Trump pressured a Georgia elections investigator in a separate call legal experts say could amount to obstruction

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President Trump urged Georgia’s lead elections investigator to “find the fraud” in a lengthy December phone call, saying the official would be a “national hero,” according to an individual familiar with the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the conversation.

Trump placed the call to the investigations chief for the Georgia secretary of state’s office shortly before Christmas — while the individual was leading an inquiry into allegations of ballot fraud in Cobb County, in the suburbs of Atlanta, according to people familiar with the episode.

The president’s attempts to intervene in an ongoing investigation could amount to obstruction of justice or other criminal violations, legal experts said, though they cautioned a case could be difficult to prove. Continue reading.

Dominion sues Sidney Powell for defamation, seeking $1.3 billion in damages

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Dominion Voting Systems on Friday filed a defamation lawsuit seeking $1.3 billion in damages against Sidney Powell, a pro-Trump lawyer who has pushed unfounded conspiracy theories alleging that the company was involved in an international communist plot to rig the election against President Trump.

The big picture: Dominion alleges that Powell acted “in concert with allies and media outlets determined to promote a false preconceived narrative about the 2020 election—caused unprecedented harm.” In an interview with the Axios Re:Cap podcast last week, Dominion CEO John Poulos did not rule out suing Trump himself.

What they’re saying: “As a result of the defamatory falsehoods peddled by Powell … Dominion’s founder, Dominion’s employees, Georgia’s governor, and Georgia’s secretary of state have been harassed and have received death threats, and Dominion has suffered enormous harm,” the lawsuit reads. Continue reading.

White House finally tells thousands of political appointees they have to step down

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The White House on Thursday told thousands of political appointees — from ambassadors to schedulers — to resign on Inauguration Day, a formality the Trump administration had stalled for weeks as President Trump disputed the election outcome.

A directive was emailed to agency heads that political appointees must resign effective Jan. 20, the day President-elect Joe Biden takes office, a White House spokesman confirmed. The order was issued by Chris Liddell, the deputy White House chief of staff who has been leading transition arrangements with the Biden team, and was first reported by Politico.

The call for resignations came within hours of Trump’s statement early Thursday that there would be an orderly transfer of power, and as a wave of senior political appointees quit in protest over Wednesday’s storming of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. They include Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and several senior-level national security officials and press aides. Continue reading.

Thousands of guardsmen to stay in D.C. through Biden inauguration

The full force will arrive in Washington by Sunday

Thousands of National Guard troops will be deployed to Washington, D.C., for the next 30 days, through the coming inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, following a riot at the Capitol Wednesday that left four dead and dozens injured. 

Some 6,200 Guard troops from units in D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey will be deployed to secure the Capitol. The full force will arrive in Washington by Sunday. 

The deployment follows Wednesday’s rioting by a pro-Trump mob that breached the Capitol and stormed the building, forcing lawmakers, staff and journalists to take cover and prompting the evacuation of congressional leaders and Vice President Mike Pence.  Continue reading.