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    'Dear Leader' Donald Trump has always preferred petulance to governing

    Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport @ RawStory
    November 17, 2020

    Thanks for your support!

    This article was paid for by reader donations to Raw Story Investigates.

    President Trump with eyes closed as he reflects on a statement about the success of the Farmers to Families Food Box feeding program. (Jeffery Edwards / Shutterstock.com)

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

    Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport @ RawStory

    We’re quickly seeing the effects of Donald Trump’s resistance to conceding his electoral loss in a petulant and stupid refusal to follow through on appropriate, expected and necessary cooperation on setting up the myriad aspects of the presidential transition.


    Even as Trump commands a dwindling number of Republicans willing to say the election remains unsettled, his administration is stuck trying to carry out Dear Leader’s wishes, as will be the case for the next two months.

    The result pits a restless Joe Biden and company, who seem over-eager to jump in on governing during the malaise of a paralyzed Trump White House, against the “Steal-the-Election” crowd over issues that have nothing to do with elections, but concern the normal takeover planning duties.

    There’s nothing wrong with giving Joe Biden access to the daily presidential briefing even while pursuing court cases about supposedly fraudulent votes. There is nothing wrong with cooperating on behalf of the country – but Trump prefers petulance and personal pique.

    • Emily Murphy, head of the General Administrative Services (GSA), so far is refusing to provide office space, computers and the $10 million in congressionally approved money for transition activities.
    • Trump’s abrupt firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other members of his own administration whom he perceives as opposing him is adding to transition problems by introducing new appointees late in the administration’s days. Why this had to wait until now is confusing and potentially dangerous to national security. Is Trump planning something else that Esper would oppose, including withdrawal of the last U.S. troops in Afghanistan or a new action against Iran?
    • The Trump White House may be destroying, encoding or hiding national security records, despite a Presidential Records Act that Trump apparently finds optional, say White House sources. We or the Biden administration may never see the transcripts of Trump calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin, for example, or the impeachable call with the Ukrainian leader.

    However long the Trump tantrum, it will come to an eventual end – or end up creating the nation’s most severe constitutional knot ever if Trump tries to get the Supreme Court to overturn a decision by 74 million voters, a four million-vote majority.

    Biden’s Complications

    Meanwhile, the Biden would-be steamroller looks to be working to fend off early hints of political problems even in picking its own team – both from Senate Republicans, whose majority is hanging on two runoff elections in Georgia, and from the left, where progressives are seeking input into more liberal choices for some key Cabinet positions.

    Poliico.com has offered a useful, if early, assessment of top contenders for most Cabinet selections while noting that Republicans are already at work to keep to the most moderate choices and progressives pushing for more openly liberal candidates. What is immediately apparent is that the proposed names include a much more diverse picture of players than any view of the Trump team, and seems to favor actual technical or subject-matter expertise. Under the banner of attacking the “deep state,” Trump preferred appointees who actually hated regulation by the departments they were to oversee.

    Biden’s team is driving for urgency in attacking the list of Trump executive orders that can be overturned simply because they were never backed by legislation. An early list starts with moves to restore ways to shore up Obamacare that Trump had undercut to can canceling efforts to undercut Civil Services protections for federal workers.

    Plus, each incoming administration has to fill about 4,000 positions, and reports suggest that this process is already underway.

    On top of all of this, Biden’s team will be reaching out to key people in Congress. In the case of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, presumably friendly conversations are needed to align agendas and the order in which to seek legislation, particularly with a potentially opposition Senate. In the case of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, it will be to find areas of commonality to tackle either together, or with minimal opposition. So, some kind of stimulus package will be upfront, possibly followed by such topics as infrastructure and outdoor construction jobs during a pandemic.

    For Biden, the transition is about lining up the dominoes to start falling on Day One.

    National Security Records

    Of all of these, the most curious may be compliance with the Presidential Records Act, presuming we get by this temporary resistance to accept election results and reach the detail of actual transition.

    The National Archive already is going to have its hands full trying to determine if all the presidential tweets are part of the presidential records – advice is that they are. Just preserving them and figuring out how to catalog them will be a chore.

    But larger issues loom for national security documents and transcripts.

    “The mysteries have swirled over the past four years: What was really said during Trump’s many phone calls and one-on-one meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin? What has Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner discussed with Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed bin Salman on WhatsApp, where messages can be automatically deleted? Did Trump’s aides memorialize any of the reported conversations he had with U.S. and foreign officials about boosting his business empire?” asked Politico.

    With no real enforcement teeth, the Presidential Records Act requires a president to preserve and ultimately make public all records relating to the performance of official duties, through the Freedom of Information Act beginning five years after the end of an administration.

    The National Archives says the act covers any documentary materials “created or received” by the president, immediate staff, or anyone in the Executive Office of the President. But Trump likes to rip up documents and has made clear he is also hostile to note-takers. Trump also confiscated notes taken by an interpreter during one of his first meetings with Putin. He has kept his letters with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un private.

    Of course, other agencies keep copies of their records, and all emails are archived. Still, presidential daughter Ivanka and Jared Kushner made frequent use of private email servers, ironically the source of continuous Trump criticism of Hillary Clinton.

    As has become usual with Trump, we cannot count on him doing his job even in transition.

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

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    Raw Story is independent. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.

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    Survey: Should Donald Trump be prosecuted after he leaves office?

    ‘Pathetic’ NYT reporter blasted for ‘ragingly incompetent’ questioning of Biden press secretary

    Matthew Chapman
    January 21, 2021

    On Thursday, during the daily White House press briefing, New York Times reporter Michael Shear asked Press Secretary Jen Psaki why, as supposedly evidenced by his start-of-term executive orders reversing policies of former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden was not trying to unify the country.

    "Is unemployment insurance an issue that only Democrats in the country want?" said Psaki, visibly taken aback at the framing of the question. "Or do only Democrats want their kids to go back to schools?"

    Shear's question drew harsh criticism on social media, with reporters excoriating how he chose to pose the question and suggesting that it was a leading premise.

    He basically asked @PressSec why Biden hasn’t unified the country yet, suggesting that he should have left Trump’s policies in place and put Republicans in his cabinet.

    This framing is such nonsense. https://t.co/5A2h1tGGoY

    — Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) January 22, 2021

    Seriously, watch this insane exchange
    pic.twitter.com/b0V0KCSNHs

    — Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) January 22, 2021

    I give lectures around the world on how to ask questions. This guy needs to attend.

    No one should make it to the White House press room who is as ragingly incompetent as this guy at framing a question.

    Who is he? Who pays his salary? https://t.co/mbdNj1YNsw

    — David Cay Johnston (@DavidCayJ) January 22, 2021

    No, damn, it’s not someone from the New York Times or any other first right news organization. And if I’m wrong we can both send a letter asking why he hasn’t been fired.

    — David Cay Johnston (@DavidCayJ) January 22, 2021

    'The name's toxic': Trump Org in crisis and bleeding money as ex-president takes the reins again

    Matthew Chapman
    January 21, 2021

    On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that the Trump Organization is in financial freefall as former president Donald Trump prepares to take the helm of the company again.

    "Financial disclosure forms, filed by the former president as he left office, revealed that his hotels, resorts and other properties had lost more than $120 million in revenue last year, as the pandemic forced long-term closures and kept customers home," reported David Farenthold and Jonathan O'Connell. "Those losses were worst in the places where Trump could least afford it: His Washington hotel, which has a $170 million loan outstanding, saw revenue drop more than 60 percent. His Doral resort in Miami — also carrying a huge debt load — saw a 44 percent drop."

    Moreover, the Trump Organization is also losing a number of business partners.

    "On Thursday, the company's troubles grew: One of its banks and one of its law firms said they would cut their ties with the Trump Organization," said the report. "They are the latest in a string of vendors and customers who severed their relationships with the company after Jan. 6, when a mob of Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol directly after he addressed them at a rally."

    Meanwhile, his properties are losing contracts to host events, including the PGA tour and a triathlon in North Carolina — with the latter's organizer, Chuck McAllister, saying, "The name's toxic. It's toxic to some people. That's never going to change." The City of New York "said it will end the Trump Organization's contracts to run a carousel, two ice rinks and a golf course in city parks — contracts that brought the Trump Organization $18 million in 2019." And the Girl Scouts and a tuberculosis charity are trying to break their leases on offices in Trump's building on Wall Street.

    According to the report, President Joe Biden might ultimately hold the entire fate of the Trump Organization in his hands. "That's because Biden's success in speeding up vaccinations for the coronavirus will play a major role in determining how fast the hotel and travel industries recover. In addition, because Trump's D.C. hotel is located in a federally owned building, the Biden administration is his landlord. If Trump seeks to renegotiate his lease, or to get federal approval for a sale of the building, he will be dealing with Biden's General Services Administration."

    You can read more here.


    Remember the press conference at Trump Tower in 2017, where Trump's lawyer spoke in front of piles of paper in mani… https://t.co/6v9Q83xfB3
    — David Fahrenthold (@David Fahrenthold)1611276440.0

    LISTEN: Biden's Treasury nominee honored with Hamilton musical-style song

    Bob Brigham
    January 21, 2021

    While America's top creative artists largely directed their energy to fighting Donald Trump's administration, with Democrats back in the White House there might once again be artistic efforts to back the administration.

    That dynamic was on display after Joe Biden announced that Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen should have a musical written about here.

    "We might have to ask Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the musical about the first secretary of the treasury, 'Hamilton,' to write another musical for the first woman secretary of the treasury — Yellen," Biden said.

    "So "Marketplace" asked Dessa, a member of the hip-hop collective Doomtree and one of the artists who contributed to 'The Hamilton Mixtape,' to think about what that might sound like," the publication explained. "Here's what she and her collaborators came up with:

    When @JoeBiden joked that @JanetYellen should have her own @HamiltonMusical ... it got us thinking, what would that… https://t.co/H4lGUeMTfV
    — Marketplace (@Marketplace)1611269110.0
     
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