Trump’s Revenge: Burn the Country Down on the Way Out
If you have any doubt about what he President of the United States is up to, let me set you straight: through actions and inactions he seeks to inflict as much harm on as many people as possible
There’s the no-holds-barred attack on election returns, with the dual aims of poisoning people’s minds about the very idea of voting, and possibly throwing the election into the House of Representatives.
Election officials in numerous states are reporting death threats coming from individuals unhappy with the results being reported.
https://twitter.com/dailykos/status/1329185261364908034?s=20
There’s the upcoming financial crisis for 12 million Americans whose unemployment benefits will run out right after Christmas. The Trump and the GOP Senate has made it clear they see no benefit in passing another package of coronavirus relief measures unless they get something in return that will contain the ambitions of a Biden administration.
https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1329177013190582272?s=20
There’s the last minute actions on opening up the Alaska wilderness to oil exploration, along with other anti-environment actions.
Via the Associated Press:
But environmentalists and some former federal officials said the actions being taken in Trump’s final days reflect a pro-industry agenda taken to the extreme, in disregard for imperiled wildlife, climate change and damage to human health from air pollution.
“What we’re seeing at the end is what we’ve seen all along, which is a fealty to private interests over public interests,” said David Hayes, former deputy secretary of the Interior Department under Obama and now adjunct professor at the New York University School of Law. “They seem intent on finalizing these as a kind of ideological point.”
Many of the final rollbacks still pending under the Trump administration have significant implications for oil and gas companies. That includes the administration’s steps this week toward a sale of energy leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
As the biggest wave yet of COVID-19 infections is sweeping the nation, the Trump administration’s refusal to work with the incoming president’s teams isn’t any accident. Maximum chaos is the name of their game, and if few extra people die before a vaccine becomes widely available, they’re hoping voters will blame former Vice President Biden.
This morning the President-elect held a virtual meeting with Healthcare workers. This dialogue, reported via NBC News is particularly illuminating:
During one particularly emotional exchange, Mary Turner, an overnight intensive care nurse from Minnesota, tearfully explained to Biden that she and her colleagues had frequently been the last people to be with dying Covid-19 patients, who took their last breaths without their families at their bedsides — and shared that she has not yet been tested for the coronavirus despite working on the front lines since February.
“You’re kidding me,” Biden replied in disbelief.
And THIS...
https://twitter.com/helenprejean/status/1329066705503494144?s=20
The world is their playground when it comes to TeamTrump’s rampage, as this snip from CNN reveals:
The White House has directed newly installed acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller to focus his attention in the remaining weeks on cyber and irregular warfare, with a focus on China in particular, an administration official tells CNN. It is contemplating new terrorist designations in Yemen that could complicate efforts to broker peace. And it has rushed through authorization of a massive arms sale that could alter the balance of power in the Middle East.
The Trump team has prepared legally required transition memos describing policy challenges, but there are no discussions about actions they could take or pause. Instead, the White House is barreling ahead. A second official tells CNN their goal is to set so many fires that it will be hard for the Biden administration to put them all out.
Finally, there’s The Purge, one last shot at disabling as much of the brain power in the federal bureaucracy as possible.
The Big News from yesterday involves the firing by tweet of Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The transgression leading to his termination was telling the truth.
Krebs issued a statement on Nov. 12 along with election officials from across the country, which stated resolutely that "the November 3rd election was the most secure in American history," and that there was "no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised."
The American Independent is keeping a running list of government officials fired since election day. Right now it’s at 14 names, though it is likely that CIA Director Gina Haspel, along with FBI Director Christopher Wray will get the ax in coming days.
Here are the names listed at the American Independent, along with a short description of why they left or were fired.
Bryan Ware, assistant director for cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency because he wouldn’t stop the statement about election security.
Valerie Boyd, Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for international affairs, is gone because “Having worked under the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, she was perceived as not loyal enough.”
Neil Chatterjee, chairman of the five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has been stepped down from his leadership role, reportedly because White House's displeasure about decisions opening up electricity markets to green energy.
Mark Esper, Secretary of Defense, was canned via tweet because he’d resisted attempts by the Trump administration to deploy the military against protestors.
James Anderson, the DOD's acting undersecretary for policy and Retired Navy Vice Adm. Joseph K. Kernan, the DOD's undersecretary for intelligence, are gone, having been deemed not loyal enough.
Jen Stewart, Esper's chief of staff, was ousted just after being appointed to lead the Pentagon's transition team for the Biden administration, according to Foreign Policy.
Alexis Ross, Esper's deputy chief of staff, submitted her resignation. CNN reported the White House appeared to be focused on pushing out Esper's undersecretaries because he and his team opposed the premature withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan over security concerns.
Richard Pilger, in charge of the Justice Department's election crimes branch under the Public Integrity Section, resigned in protest against Attorney General Bill Barr's authorization to investigate Trump's various election fraud allegations.
Lisa Gordon-Hargety, head of the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the country's nuclear weapons testing resigned, after being informed that Trump had "lost faith" in her ability to perform her duties.
James Jeffrey, the State Department’s special envoy for Syria engagement, is retiring in the wake of news that he took actions designed to thwart the withdrawal of US troops.
Bonnie Glick, deputy administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development, was forced out to preserve the position of Trump’s acting administrator of the agency in the face of a deadline imposed by the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
Michael Kuperberg, scientist and executive director of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, was reassigned to make way for a climate change denier to be in charge of the next congressionally-mandated National Climate Assessment.
The US Senate has adjourned until after Thanksgiving. If some influential Republicans there continue to enable President Trump, things certainly are going to get worse.
https://twitter.com/Bill_Maxwell_/status/1329198800267669504?s=20
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