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06 January 21
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"Trump F---ed the Party": After Georgia Loss, the Republican Fissure Grows Even Deeper
Eric Lutz, Vanity Fair
Lutz writes: "Republicans' primary reason for sticking with the president-because it was a good political strategy - has begun to evaporate. Still, some are clinging on regardless."
our years ago, Donald Trump asked Republicans to make a deal with the devil. It took some longer than others, but most eventually came around, normalizing and enabling and often outright participating in the depraved horror show of his presidency all in exchange for tax cuts, some judges, and, perhaps most importantly, access to his enthusiastic base. The pact must have seemed worthwhile for a time, especially for a party whose objections to Trump tended to be more stylistic than substantive. But if they’d bothered to read the fine print, they’d have known this would be where things were headed. Offer up your soul to Trump, and he’ll eventually come to collect.He’s doing that now, as he mounts what will hopefully be a last-ditch effort to overturn his loss to Joe Biden. More than a hundred Republicans in the House, and about a dozen in the Senate, have pledged to protest the election results on his behalf—a cynical political ploy for some, a delusion for others, a dangerous assault on democracy for all. Trump is pushing for more: He’s encouraging protesters, including the often violent Proud Boys, to converge on Washington Wednesday when lawmakers meet to tabulate the election results, and pressuring his dutiful deputy Mike Pence to smash through the bounds of his ceremonial role as the overseer of that process and unilaterally declare those results invalid.
But as he does, he’s getting a degree of pushback from Republicans that he has rarely, if ever, received. Many GOP officials who previously had his back appear to have reached their limit, creating a fissure within the party. “We have sworn an oath under God to defend the Constitution. We uphold that oath at all times, not only when it is politically convenient,” Liz Cheney, the prominent conservative senator from South Dakota, tweeted on Wednesday, becoming one of the most prominent Republicans to speak out against Trump’s attempted coup. “Congress has no authority to overturn elections by objecting to electors. Doing so steals power from the states & violates the Constitution.”
Perhaps most importantly—if cynically—it no longer feels politically expedient to back the president. Raphael Warnock, who defeated Kelly Loeffler in Tuesday’s Georgia runoff elections and will become the state’s first Black senator, and Jon Ossoff, who is on the cusp of beating David Perdue, ran strong campaigns, and were buttressed by the grassroots work of Stacey Abrams and others to turn out Democratic voters. And Loeffler and Perdue didn’t exactly make a strong case for themselves to remain in office. But Trump’s selfish crusade to undo his own loss in the state almost certainly undermined the GOP candidates he was ostensibly supporting, first by falsely declaring the electoral process as a whole and those races specifically “illegal and invalid”—a bogus claim that seemed destined to depress his own side’s turnout—and then by hanging his erratic effort to thwart the will of the people around the incumbents’ necks.
Perdue and Loeffler wore it proudly: He paid lip service to Trump’s plight and suggested he would object on Trump’s behalf if he landed in the Senate for the certification process Wednesday; she went all in during a Trump rally Monday, announcing to a crowd of MAGA faithful that she planned to join the Senate protest led by Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley. But hewing close to Trump isn’t exactly paying off for them. Democrats are coloring a longtime red state blue, and are now poised to control both chambers of congress and the White House. If their morals aren’t keeping them from going all in on Trump, at least some Republicans may begin to see after Georgia the limits of his political benefits to them. “Trump is the cause of this, lock, stock, and barrel,” a Republican strategist told Politico Wednesday.
“Trump f---ed the party. He f---ed the party with his conspiracy theories and pushing females and independents away from the party,” a Trump adviser told Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs. “The bleeding needs to stop. He needs to go.”
A great many will continue to stand with him, believing MAGA to be the path to enacting their agenda. Others won’t care, seeking to fulfill the true promise of Trumpism: to burn it all down. They may be rewarded for doing so, as the massive, frenzied crowds converging on D.C. ahead of the Biden certification underline. But with his behavior no longer merely threatening democracy, but their own political ends, other Republicans seem ready to hop off the Trump Train. Even as they do, Americans would be wise to remember how long they were willing to ride it, how much they plowed through, and all the damage they left in their wake.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer talks with reporters in the Capitol on Jan. 3. (photo: Caroline Brehman/Getty)
Sen Schumer: First Priority in New Senate Is $2,000 Stimulus Checks
Orion Rummler, Axios
Rummler writes: "Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that one of his first priorities in the 117th Senate will be to pass legislation that would send $2000 stimulus payments."
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Fani Willis will be officially sworn in Friday as Fulton County's first female District Attorney. (photo: Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal Constitution)
Meet the New DA Who Could Prosecute Trump for the Georgia Call
Greg Walters, VICE
Walters writes: "Fani Willis, the daughter of a Black Panther, has a track record of taking on powerful men in the political arena."
t’s a tough week for President Trump in Georgia. Besides catching flack for the historic Republican defeat in the Senate runoffs Tuesday, his attempt to flip his own defeat in the state have left him with a brand-new criminal prosecutor to worry about. And her name is Fani Willis.
Willis will be officially sworn in Friday as Fulton County’s first female District Attorney, taking the job less than a week after Trump harangued Georgia officials to help him reverse his defeat in the state in the infamous taped phone call.
Trump’s diatribe may have broken a Georgia state law against soliciting voter fraud. And that means Willis, a Democrat and the daughter of a Black Panther, faces the politically explosive task of deciding whether to charge Trump. Doing so would make her an overnight hero to Trump’s critics but also the instant foe of millions of Trump supporters who believe Trump’s false insistence that he somehow won both the state of Georgia and the 2020 national election.
Willis has expressed alarm at Trump’s call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger last Saturday and pledged to prosecute any proven lawbreaking.
“Like many Americans, I have found the news reports about the president’s telephone call with the Georgia secretary of state disturbing,” Willis said in a statement. “As district attorney, I will enforce the law without fear or favor. Anyone who commits a felony violation of Georgia law in my jurisdiction will be held accountable.”
Trump is already facing state-level investigations in New York led by the Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance and New York State Attorney General Letitia James. That means Willis has effectively become a third key local law enforcement official eyeing Trump for possible state charges that couldn’t be swept away with a presidential pardon—in an entirely new jurisdiction.
If Trump does face a state criminal case in Georgia, the state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, couldn’t save him with a pardon, either. In Georgia, pardons for state crimes are administered exclusively by a five-member board called the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles.
A fighter
Willis has experience in the art of taking on powerful men in the political arena.
She won her 2020 race for District Attorney with a blistering assault on her former boss, then-sitting Fulton DA Paul Howard, who’d held the seat for over 20 years. Willis worked for the DA’s office for 16 years before seeking the top job.
Willis blasted Howard for padding his own pay with $195,000 in city grant money from local non-profit organizations, in an incident that reportedly prompted federal and state investigations.
“I believe he’ll be arrested for it and ultimately prosecuted before the year is out,” Willis declared. She called Howard’s conduct “a criminal offense.”
Howard denied breaking the law, and hasn’t been charged with a crime. He insisted that he received the funds as part of a pay raise. In August, he agreed to pay a $6,500 to settle a 14-count state ethics complaint for failing to disclose his role as CEO of the two non-profits. Days later, Willis clobbered him in the election. She won more than 70 percent of the vote, and took his job.
The incident demonstrated her willingness to come out swinging against a politically powerful official. And it might provide a taste of the fire she’d bring against Trump.
Her campaign isn’t the only time she’s stirred up controversy or raised allegations of corruption.
During her earlier 16-year stint working for Howard, she led the prosecution of 12 public school teachers in Atlanta accused of falsifying their students’ scores on standardized tests to improve their schools’ standing. Eleven were convicted of racketeering—the kind of organized crime charge typically brought against mob bosses.
Willis has promised to offer first-time offenders a chance to straighten up and perform community service instead of serving a prison sentence.
“People take kindness for weakness, and I’m very kind, but I’m not weak,” Willis said. “I just think we can save people, and at the same time, I don’t want any of your listeners to be confused: I am a prosecutor at my heart and my soul.”
Going after Trump
Trump’s critics say he may have broken a state law against knowingly solicit election fraud.
On Saturday night, Trump implored and cajoled Raffensperger to find a way to dig up more votes for Trump.
“All I want to do is this,” Trump told Raffensperger. “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.”
Protesters march against police brutality in Los Angeles, on Sept. 23, 2020, following a decision on the Breonna Taylor case in Louisville, Ky. (photo: App Gomes/Getty)
2 Louisville Police Officers Connected to Breonna Taylor's Death Have Been Fired
Brakkton Booker, NPR
Booker writes: "A pair of Louisville, Ky., police officers connected to the raid on Breonna Taylor's apartment last year were formally terminated from the force, a spokesperson for the Louisville Metro Police Department confirmed Wednesday."
The termination letters, signed by interim Police Chief Yvette Gentry, said Detective Joshua Jaynes, who secured the warrant for the March 13 raid on Taylor's home, and Detective Myles Cosgrove, who federal investigators said fired the fatal shot that killed Taylor, were dismissed from the force as of Tuesday.
Each has 10 days to appeal the police department's decision.
The announcement of the terminations comes the same day Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer formally announced the hiring of Erika Shields, who previously led the Atlanta Police Department, as LMPD's next police chief.
She is slated to be sworn in as Louisville's top cop on Jan. 19.
Both Cosgrove and Jaynes have been on paid leave in the months since the shooting and in late December received notification from Gentry that LMPD intended to sever their employment.
Earlier this week a lawyer for Jaynes told Louisville NPR member station WFPL his client's dismissal from LMPD would not come as a surprise.
"I think the outcome [has] already been pre-determined," Thomas Clay said to WFPL. "I think Detective Jaynes is going to be terminated. And we're prepared to do what needs to be done in order to appeal that decision."
Jaynes is accused of providing false information in the search warrant application, the Louisville Courier Journal has reported.
In a separate report last week, the paper noted that Cosgrove did not identify a specific target as he fired more than a dozen rounds in Taylor's apartment during the overnight raid, according to a pre-termination letter from LMPD that the Courier Journal obtained.
The letter also found that Cosgrove violated the department's use-of-force protocols as well as failed to use his body camera, according to the paper.
None of the officers who discharged their service weapons during the raid faces criminal charges for Taylor's death.
Dispute over charging decisions
Another member of the search party, former Officer Brett Hankison, was terminated from LMPD in June.
A Kentucky grand jury indicted Hankison in September on three counts of wanton endangerment for his role in shooting into an apartment unit near Taylor's.
When Daniel Cameron, the Kentucky attorney general, announced Hankison's indictment during a press briefing on Sept. 23, he said that Cosgrove, who fired the fatal shot, and another officer, Jonathan Mattingly, "were justified in their use of force."
Both Cosgrove and Mattingly fired into Taylor's apartment after her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, first fired upon them.
Walker has maintained that the couple did not hear officers announce themselves before entering the apartment. He also said he mistook them for intruders. Walker, a licensed gun owner, said he fired a warning shot, which struck Mattingly in the leg.
That prompted officers to return fire.
In October, Mattingly filed a counter-suit against Walker, saying that Walker committed assault, battery and intentional emotional distress. Earlier that month, Mattingly sat down for an interview with ABC News and the Courier Journal where he claimed that the Taylor shooting was "not a race thing like people try to make it to be."
Breonna Taylor's name became a rallying cry, along with George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Jacob Blake and other Black Americans who were killed or seriously injured by law enforcement last year. Those encounters sparked a national reckoning on race and social inequities in the United States and internationally.
One of the grand jurors in the Taylor case said the move to terminate additional officers made him feel "vindicated," according to WFPL. The grand juror, who has remained anonymous, has joined two others in coming forward to raise concerns about how Cameron, the attorney general, presented the case.
Cameron had said grand jurors agreed with not charging any of the officers for the killing of Taylor.
However, the three grand jurors have said they not only disagreed with Cameron's characterization, but also said they pressed for more charges to be considered, but those requests were rebuffed by prosecutors.
Not only did the uneven enforcement of Covid-19 public health orders track predictable patterns of policing, it also strengthened and widened the webs of criminalization which ensnare marginalized communities.' (photo: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
The Data Is In. People of Color Are Punished More Harshly for Covid Violations in the US
Timothy Colman, Pascal Emmer, Andrea Ritchie and Tiffany Wang, Guardian UK
Excerpt: "People of color and immigrants who bear the brunt of Covid-19 are also subject to the most punitive enforcement of public health orders."
People of color and immigrants who bear the brunt of Covid-19 are also subject to the most punitive enforcement of public health orders
ovid-19’s spread is neither colorblind nor colorless, sending Black, Latinx and Indigenous people to the hospital at a rate four times higher than white people. To make matters worse, the people of color and immigrant communities who already bear the brunt of the Covid-19 outbreak are also subject to the most punitive enforcement of emergency public health orders. The co-occurring pandemics of Covid-19 and state violence are deeply interconnected.
The Covid-19 Policing Project launched in May 2020 to monitor how cities, states, territories and tribal jurisdictions police the pandemic. As we watched cops drag a Black man off a bus in Philadelphia, put a Black man in a chokehold, and throw a Black mother to the ground in New York City in front of her toddler, all in the name of promoting health and safety, we asked ourselves: if this is the floor for treatment during unprecedented health, economic and state violence crises, then what is the ceiling?
Our findings six months later, summarized in the recently released report Unmasked: Impacts of Pandemic Policing, clearly show that arrests, racial disparities in enforcement, police violence and aggression did not pause because people are dying in record numbers. Instead criminalization continues to target the people who are susceptible to disproportionately dying from both the virus and under the hands and knees of police. Not only did the uneven enforcement of Covid-19 public health orders track predictable patterns of policing, it also strengthened and widened the webs of criminalization which ensnare marginalized communities.
The Covid-19 Policing Project reviewed public information about enforcement over the past six months and found that Black, Indigenous and people of color (Bipoc) were 2.5 times more likely to be policed and punished for violations of Covid-19 orders than white people. Black people specifically were 4.5 times more likely to be policed and punished for coronavirus orders than white people.
Black women – who disproportionately work as healthcare and essential service workers, and are quite literally saving our lives – experienced the highest rates of racial disparity in enforcement of public health orders. According to our statistical analysis, Black women were five times more likely than white women to be policed and punished for violations of Covid-19 orders. Black men were 3.7 times more likely than white men to be policed and punished for such violations.
In Hawaii, Micronesian communities experienced 26% of arrests for violations of stay-at-home orders, despite making up just 1% of the state’s population. About 20% of people cited by Honolulu police for violation of public health orders probably had experienced homelessness, and of those, 60% were cited multiple times for violating stay-at-home orders. According to New York police department data, 81% of the 374 summons for social distancing violations between 16 March and 5 May were issued to Black and Latinx residents.
This kind of aggressive policing only exacerbates the effects of the pandemic. Fines ranging from $500 to $10,000 hit communities already reeling from record unemployment, a looming eviction crisis and soaring food bank use with yet another financial burden when many cannot afford basic necessities. Arrests place people in high-risk jail and prison environments, raising rates of Covid-19 transmission, infection and mortality among incarcerated populations. Many cops – who have some of the highest rates of infection – refuse to wear masks and violate social distancing rules to harass, ticket and take people into custody. Even a brief encounter with an officer or short detention in a police car can dramatically increase risk of infection, and that risk increases in a holding cell or jail where people are unable to maintain social distancing and have little or no access to soap, water and sanitizer.
Joe Biden has a choice: push our government to provide genuinely life-saving health and financial support to struggling people and communities – or pour more money into local police departments on top of the $750m already allocated in May by the Cares Act to enforce punitive emergency orders. State and local officials face the same choices.
In fact, as an adviser to the Biden coronavirus taskforce recently pointed out, health professionals have advanced a humane and simple solution to get the virus under control: pay everyone to stay home for four to six weeks.
And instead of leaving people to die in Covid-plagued prisons, jails and detention centers, officials could free them with support to return safely to families and communities.
The way forward through the raging pandemic and devastating economic crisis doesn’t lie in more surveillance, policing and punishment of marginalized communities – it lies in the demands to stop pouring money and resources into policing and start pouring resources into people and communities.
Lester Shum was first barred from running for office in Hong Kong, then arrested. (photo: Reuters)
Hong Kong Arrests 53 Pro-Democracy Activists and Politicians Under New Law
BBC News
Excerpt: "More than 50 of Hong Kong's most prominent pro-democracy activists and politicians have been arrested in the biggest crackdown since China imposed a draconian security law last year."
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A farmer walks through a field. (photo: iStock)
Biden Climate Plan Looks for Buy-In From Farmers Who Are Often Skeptical About Global Warming
Georgina Gustin, Inside Climate News
Gustin writes: "The administration has options to cut emissions even if a Republican-led Senate opposes climate-focused agriculture policies."
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