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(CNN) – President Donald Trump on Tuesday used the power of his office to cloud America’s free and fair elections, firing the official who declared the vote the safest in the country’s history, even though many of his false claims of massive fraud have been denounced as unfounded in the courts.
The vengeful dismissal, the president’s latest assault on the infrastructure of American democracy, comes as he refuses to accept his defeat and begins the process of transitioning from power to President-elect Joe Biden, a dead end that is particularly dangerous in the middle of the pandemic.
Trump wrote that he fired Chris Krebs, a senior Department of Homeland Security official, for contradicting his baseless allegations of wrongdoing. The president, his campaign and his political allies have made multiple efforts, starting long before the election, to falsely claim that a second term was stolen from him. His effort appears motivated by a desire to explain his clear defeat to the former vice president, but it is also part of a role model designed to discredit the Biden presidency and sanction national divisions that he has knowingly expanded as an instrument of power.
In other apparent attempts to question the integrity of the elections – unprecedented in modern history – Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, became embroiled in controversy after calling election officials in Nevada, Arizona and Georgia – three states key won by Biden – for questioning about postal voting procedures, which generally favored Biden. And two Republicans broke with tradition in Michigan, another state where the Democratic candidate triumphed, temporarily blocking election certification in Wayne County, where Biden beat the president. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, later told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that the officials gave in and agreed to certify the vote.
The latest maneuvers by Trump and his allies came when other risky legal challenges from the president and unconvincing cases of alleged election fraud were filed in court.
The president’s last-minute attempt to overturn the election result in one of Biden’s multiple states has been resolved, this time by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Keystone’s main state court ruled that there was nothing in the state law that required observers to stand 1.5 meters from where the vote was counted, as Trump’s campaign had claimed. The decision undermines the president’s claim that his supporters have been unfairly discriminated against and therefore the results in Pennsylvania, where Biden won by tens of thousands of votes, should be declared void.
In another separate case in Pennsylvania, Trump’s attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, stepped in to lead a chaotic legal effort to try to prove that Democrats committed voter fraud on absentee ballots. Other judges have previously dismissed these claims.
Another of Trump’s near-nonexistent opportunities to change the election outcome advocated by conservative media also seemed to close.
An election audit in Georgia was due to conclude on Wednesday before the official certification of the ballot on Friday. Officials said the findings were largely following the original accounts that gave Biden the win, further clouding Trump’s claims of widespread fraud.
Trump cancels Thanksgiving trip
As more and more states begin certifying their election results in the coming days, the already tiny basis on which Trump and the White House perpetuate the pretense of winning a second term will diminish further.
So far, there is no indication that Republican state lawmakers in some key states are ready to fulfill the hopes of some conservative pundits who will ignore the will of the voters and select pro-Trump delegations to the Electoral College.
Trump’s setbacks in his battle to reverse the results come as he has nearly retreated from public view.
The CNN White House team reported Tuesday that the increasingly lonely commander-in-chief, who once couldn’t bear to give up the limelight, is stuck in a “bunker mentality.”
Not in the mood for the festivities, Trump has decided to forgo his usual Thanksgiving trip to his Mar-a-Lago hotel, administration officials told CNN, and he hasn’t had any public engagements in days.
But even an outgoing and invisible president retains the power to change the world that his successor will face. Trump’s interim defense secretary, Christopher Miller, announced Tuesday that thousands of troops will withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq, as reported by CNN’s Barbara Starr the day before. The move sparked a mixed reaction from the Capitol, but notably sparked criticism from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Another high-ranking Republican senator, John Cornyn of Texas, made a scathing statement on the move, saying it came without real consultation with US allies, NATO or Congress and would reduce troops to “a unstable and dangerous potential.
The decision served one of the president’s political goals, but will raise fears of a revival of the Taliban in Afghanistan. It also went against the advice of US commanders concerned about the strength of the democratic government in Kabul.
The announcement of the redeployment was just one of what should be a series of aggressive measures by the president, possibly with political moves on Iran and China, and attempts to tie Biden’s hands when he is president. Trump’s use of his power to make such significant moves by refusing to explain them to the American people as he remains out of sight, and the impression that he is asking for revenge for a defeat he will not accept will perhaps further undermine his position. .
New concerns about vaccine delays
The potential cost at home of the president’s stubbornness and lack of approval of millions of dollars in transition funding, access to government agencies, and briefings for Biden’s team is becoming increasingly clear.
The extremely encouraging news about the efficacy of the covid-19 vaccines that are expected to be available to all Americans next year cannot hide the growing anxiety among medical experts about not including the next administration in the program. .
The vaccination effort will be one of the most complicated logistical and public health efforts in history. Any delay in vaccine production and distribution could result in thousands of unnecessary deaths.
On Tuesday, growing despair over the growing number of human victims of COVID-19 prompted several large US medical groups to demand cooperation between outgoing and incoming administrations.
“All information on National Strategic Reserve capacity, Operation Warp Speed resources and plans for the deployment of therapies and vaccines should be shared as quickly as possible to ensure there is continuity in strategic planning so that there is no is a failure in our ability to care for patients, “the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association said in a joint letter to Trump.
As a sign of the complexity of the task ahead, a review by the Government Accountability Office of the Trump administration’s vaccination effort found several bottlenecks that could delay the approval and distribution of the vaccine.
And the government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was sidelined by the president, stressed that presidential transitions are vital.
“Unless there is a smooth transition, the efforts being made at this time will not be optimized,” Fauci told CNN’s Jim Sciutto.
Trump’s neglect is having a devastating impact as COVID-19 hospitalizations hit record highs and the virus spreads to Midwestern states and Western Mountains, where Republican governors and voters have accepted Trump’s minimization of the pandemic and contempt. for masks and social distancing.
Biden presses
Biden, who called Trump’s inability to give in and open a formal power transition a “shame,” continues his efforts to prepare his administration. On Tuesday, in Wilmington, Delaware, the former vice president consulted with US national security experts and former senior military officials. The group included retired General Stanley McChrystal, who resigned during the Obama administration after Rolling Stone magazine published comments criticizing the former vice president.
Biden said it would be preferable to have access to intelligence reports that presidents-elect routinely enjoy. But you’re promoting the image of a commander in chief ready to get to work.
Republicans on Capitol Hill are still unwilling to confront the president over his refusal to allow a graceful transition. But there are growing signs that the natural transfer of power, if not formally, is underway.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio referred to Biden as president-elect this week. McConnell also graciously acknowledged the inevitability of what is to come.
“We will have an orderly transfer from this administration to the next,” McConnell said. “What we all say about it is, frankly, irrelevant.”
Even noticing such small rhetorical changes highlights the president’s extravagant behavior and the willingness of his own party to confront him. But it is a sign that reality is also coming into focus.
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