Reunion of the Obama-Biden Administration

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Mitch McConnell’s Floor Speech Congratulating President-Elect Biden

This was an excellent speech by Senator Mitch . The transcript was posted on CNN. While a majority of Americans had enough of Donald Trump’s bad behavior, Mitch McConnell makes some valid points listing Trump accomplishments. Democrats need to read this speech.

Updated 12:11 PM ET, Tue December 15, 2020

(CNN) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recognized Joe Biden’s victory on Tuesday in a floor speech, where he congratulated the President-elect but also praised Donald Trump’s presidency.

Below is the text of the Kentucky Republican’s floor speech provided by McConnell’s office:

“Over the last four years, our country has benefited from a presidential term filled with major accomplishments.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly surprised the skeptics, confounded his critics, and delivered significant policy victories that have strengthened our country.

Case in point: Back in May, when the President set the goal of finding a pandemic-ending vaccine by the end of this year, his timeline was dismissed by people who assumed they knew better.

Quote: ‘Trump promises coronavirus vaccine by end of the year,’ scoffed one headline, ‘but his own experts temper expectations.’ ‘Fact check,’ complained another headline, ‘Coronavirus vaccine could come this year, Trump says. Experts say he needs a ‘miracle’ to be right.’ End quote.

Well, with the genius of science, support from Congress, and the bold leadership of the Trump administration, that medical miracle arrived right on schedule.

Americans on the front lines are receiving vaccinations as we speak.

This episode offers a kind of microcosm of the last four years.

On so many subjects — from economic prosperity to foreign policy to protecting American families — the skeptics doubted him, the critics derided him, but President Trump has delivered.

When President Trump ran for office, he promised to help open a new chapter for working families.

After eight years of failed policies that concentrated wealth and optimism And that is exactly what happened.

Before this pandemic spread from China and the world had to slam on the brakes, the American people had the best job market in living memory.

With help from the policies of President Trump and Republicans in Congress, American workers dynamited the stagnation that experts had said was “the new normal.”

Unemployment hit a 50-year low. Capital markets hit record highs. And this time, all kinds of Americans got to share in the gains.

We saw earnings grow faster for workers than for managers; faster for the bottom 25% than for the top 25%.

This success was fueled in part by the policy leadership of President Trump.

His administration pursued bold regulatory changes.

Once-in-a-generation tax reform had eluded prior leaders. This President signed it into law in his first year.

And together we repealed the worst part of Obamacare. The unfair individual mandate was zeroed out.

President Trump also took historic steps to strengthen the future of our trade with the world.

He secured the historic United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and bilateral tax treaties with partners in Europe and Asia.

A nation this productive needs plenty of energy to keep it going. Fortunately, President Trump and his administration ended the ideological war on fossil fuels and hit the accelerator on all-of-the-above American energy dominance.

In the last four years we surpassed Saudi Arabia in oil production. We saw energy exports exceed energy imports for the first year in almost 70 years.

That energy independence has dramatically strengthened our hand with respect to the rest of the world, particularly the Middle East.

Speaking of the Middle East, President Trump wasted little time pulling back from the prior administration’s disastrous ‘Iran deal.’

His team eliminated daylight between us and Israel and repaired our relationships with Arab partners.

And he aligned these relationships around our common shared interests — countering threats like radical Islamic terrorists and Iranian aggression.

Under President Trump’s command, our forces took terrorist leaders like Al-Baghdadi and Soleimani off the battlefield.

The physical caliphate that ISIS established on the previous president’s watch was destroyed.

All this paved the way for the Abraham Accords — the historic normalization of relationships between Israel and the (United Arab Emirates), Bahrain, Sudan, and most recently Morocco, with the potential for more on the horizon.

Now, the Middle East isn’t the only place where the Trump administration has shored up our footing on the world stage.

Our 45th commander-in-chief set out to rebuild and modernize our military, and to move our foreign policy from a chapter of weakness and apology into a renewed posture of strength.

Four years later, we have a new National Defense Strategy to compete with and deter adversaries like Russia and China.

We have rebuilt the military and invested in new technologies to ensure America keeps our edge in everything from cyber to space to advanced weapons systems.

And the President’s leadership has not stopped with those who are currently serving.

He also signed into law the historic VA MISSION Act, to ensure our dedication to our men and women in uniform does not end when their tours conclude.

Clearly, the list of American accomplishments since 2016 is nearly endless.

There are the many miles of new protections on our southern border. At one point apprehensions at the border hit their lowest level since the 1970s.

Essential causes like religious liberty and the most vulnerable, the unborn, have had a champion in this administration, instead of an adversary.

There have been historic new steps to conserve our national treasures, like the Great American Outdoors Act.

And perhaps most important of all, President Trump nominated — and this Senate confirmed — three outstanding Supreme Court justices along with more than 220 more Article III federal judges.

These are brilliant, young, constitutionalist men and women in lifetime appointments who will renew the judiciary for a generation.

All because President Trump knows we need judges who respect the essential but limited job description the framers wrote for our third branch of government.

As you can see, it would take far more than one speech to catalog all the major wins the Trump administration has helped deliver for the American people.

The outsider who swore he would shake up Washington and lead our country to new accomplishments both at home and abroad proceeded to do exactly that.

President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence deserve our thanks and our gratitude for their tireless work — and their essential roles in all these victories and many more.

Six weeks ago, Americans voted in this year’s general election. The legal and constitutional processes have continued to play out.

Yesterday, electors met in all 50 states. So, as of this morning, our country officially has a President-elect and a Vice President-elect.

Many millions of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result. But our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on January the 20th.

The Electoral College has spoken.

So today, I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden. The President-elect is no stranger to the Senate. He has devoted himself to public service for many years.

I also congratulate the Vice President-elect, our colleague from California, Senator Harris. Beyond our differences, all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female Vice President-elect for the first time.

I look forward to finishing out the next 36 days strong with President Trump. Our nation needs us to add another bipartisan chapter to this record of achievement.”

The Loser’s Lament

New York Daily News Editorial Board, December 9, 2020

Trump continues to lie, and his allies continue to try to disenfranchise American voters.

Tuesday, as the “safe harbor” deadline cementing Joe Biden’s win as president came and went, finalizing the slates of electors chosen by states, Donald Trump dug himself deeper into a delusional hole.

“We’re going to have to see who the next administration is,” he said while discussing vaccine distribution. “Because we won in those swing states,” adding, “You can’t steal hundreds of thousands of votes.”

But stealing hundreds of thousands of votes is precisely what Trump and his desperate band of denialists attempt, as they try to invalidate tallies that went for Biden.

Trump’s furious court challenges have failed spectacularly in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania. The only state to miss the safe harbor deadline was Wisconsin, due to a Thursday court hearing — meaning that Badger State electors will be the only ones subject to congressional challenge.

Tuesday, even as the Supreme Court declined an attempt by Trump allies to overturn Pennsylvania’s results, Texas’ attorney general asked the high court to block four other states from filing their Electoral College votes because they adjusted their voting procedures to enfranchise people during the COVID pandemic. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad, and so damaging to America’s status as a paragon of democracy worldwide.

The shenanigans will continue. The man who used a racist lie about foreign birth to claim his predecessor was illegitimate will use essentially racist lies about intrinsically illegitimate urban votes to claim his successor is illegitimate.

Nearly 90% of Republicans in Congress refuse to acknowledge Biden’s victory. Two outright insist Trump won. And one, Rep. Alex Mooney of West Virginia, is floating a resolution to formally condemn members who call on the president to concede.

Four years drunk on a demagogue’s lies have brought Republicans to a rock bottom of servility and humiliation.

Biden talks to NYT’s Thomas Friedman

I am calling Joe Biden’s approach to his job as president, Bidenism. His will likely be a slow but well thought out leadership.

As reported on Politico Playbook the cautious JOE BIDEN spoke to TOM FRIEDMAN of the NYT: “Biden: ‘We’re Going to Fight Like Hell by Investing in America First’”: “Biden’s top priority, he said, is getting a generous stimulus package through Congress, even before he takes office. … But the big question is whether he can get it past McConnell today or tomorrow if the Republicans continue to hold the Senate. A significant number of Republican senators could decide that they want to become deficit hawks again under a President Biden, after four years of uncontrolled spending under Trump that has brought the national debt to record highs.

“Biden was careful about how he talked about McConnell, who has been careful not to call Biden ‘president-elect.’ Biden obviously wants to keep the prospects of cooperation open — but also make clear that he may have more leverage with the American people than the G.O.P. realizes if Senate Republicans opt for full-on obstruction.

“‘Let me put it this way,’ he said, ‘There are a number of things that when McConnell controlled the Senate that people said couldn’t get done, and I was able to get them done with [him]. I was able to get them to, you know, raise taxes on the wealthy.’ ‘I think there are trade-offs, that not all compromise is walking away from principle,’ Biden added. ‘He knows me. I know him. I don’t ask him to embarrass himself to make a deal.’ …

“On China, he said he would not act immediately to remove the 25 percent tariffs that Trump imposed on about half of China’s exports to the United States — or the Phase 1 agreement Trump inked with China that requires Beijing to purchase some $200 billion in additional U.S. goods and services during the period 2020 and 2021 — which China has fallen significantly behind on. ‘I’m not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to the tariffs,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to prejudice my options.’”

The Sad Case of Denial

Donald Trump is in denial.

A simple and clear refutation of the president came Friday from a Trump appointee, when Judge Stephanos Bibas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit wrote a unanimous opinion rejecting the president’s request for an emergency injunction to overturn the certification of Pennsylvania’s election results.

“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy,” Bibas wrote. “Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.”

Donald Trump says the courts don’t understand what is going on. Sequestered in the White House and brooding out of public view after his election defeat, rageful and at times delirious in a torrent of private conversations, Trump was, in the telling of one close adviser, like “Mad King George, muttering, ‘I won. I won. I won.’ ”

Trump Claims FBI And Justice Department May Have Helped Rig Election. “This is total fraud,” Trump told host Maria Bartiromo during the interview on Fox Business’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” adding: “And how the FBI and Department of Justice—I don’t know—maybe they’re involved, but how people are getting away with this stuff—it’s unbelievable.”

Wait there is at least one other possibility. The U.S. election was manipulated by scheming from a dead Venezuelan strongman, by a computer system capable of flipping Trump votes to Joe Biden ones across the country, and by something weird happening in Germany. If that’s not enough, the communists are coming as reported in the Chicago Tribune.

Donald Trump is president until January 20, 2021. He has already damaged our democracy by claiming elections are fraudulent. What more can he do? This really is a frightening time for the United States.

Twenty-fifth Amendment here we come or will there be a Coup?

“I’m the President of the United States”

President Trump condemned a reporter after being asked if he would concede the election if the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden.

How many judges must tell you that without proof you cannot claim the election was fraudulent? Today, Friday November 27. Federal appeals court denies Trump campaign effort to revive Pennsylvania lawsuit saying ‘claims have no merit.‘

Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas, who oversaw the case, began the scathing ruling stating: “Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.”

A Political Party in Disarray

On stage with his appointees 11-24-20 is the man with a halo

‘America First’ may be gone but what will replace it?

The Democratic Party is in disarray. Worse than the loss of seats in the House of Representatives their lack of unity translates into a two year, perhaps four years, of grid lock in the congress. The Republicans are dancing with joy.

There is a reason for the lack of unity in the Democratic Party. The moderates and the “progressives” have totally different goals for moving the country forward.

The Green New Deal is a list of the liberal agenda items as listed in the Washington Post on February 19, 2019. It is after all a 21st century version of FDR’s New Deal.

All great ideas but are they realistic? Listed below are four of them.

“Upgrading all existing buildings in the United States and building new buildings to achieve maximal energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety, affordability, comfort, and durability, including through electrification.”

“Overhauling transportation systems in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in – (i) zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing; (ii) clean, affordable, and accessible public transportation; and (iii) high-speed rail.”

“Spurring massive growth in clean manufacturing in the United States and removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing and industry as much as is technologically feasible.”

“Working collaboratively with farmers and ranchers in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector as much as is technologically feasible.”

Moderates see a public option over Medicare for All, keeping illegal entry into the U.S. a criminal offense, reform the police rather than defunding the police as more reasonable solutions that more Americans are likely to support. Those are the ideas that Joe Biden’s primary advisers are likely to support because they reflect his views.

Joe Biden needs the support of those liberals/progressives to push his agenda through the congress. He also needs the support of moderate Republicans in the Senate.

Remember it was President Barack Obama who said there are not red states and blue states. There is the United States. As great an orator as he was his adversaries wanted to make him a failed one term president.

Given the Democratic Party divide and the GOP determined to make Biden’s presidency a failure, it is difficult to see a success path for the Biden presidency.