NY Times:
Senate Overrides Trump’s Veto of Defense Bill, Dealing a Legislative Blow
Republicans joined Democrats to deliver President Trump the first veto override of his presidency in the last days of his term in an overwhelming, bipartisan vote.
Dana Milbank/WaPo:
Meet the Trump saboteur in charge of undermining Biden — and America
If, in the new year, pandemic vaccines aren’t available as promised, Americans can’t return to work because economic relief isn’t delivered or an adversary successfully attacks the United States because national security agencies couldn’t pay for new defenses, a hefty share of the blame should be placed on a man you’ve probably never heard of: One Russell Thurlow Vought.
As President Trump’s budget director, he conspicuously failed in his stated goal of controlling the debt. Despite his efforts, the debt increased by
$6 trillion on his two-year watch as director of the Office of Management and Budget, the biggest
jump in history.
He also has been disastrous in his fiscal forecasts. On Feb. 10, he predicted 2.8 percent growth for the year, saying, “our view is that, at this point, coronavirus is not something that is going to have ripple effects.” A few weeks later, the economy collapsed.
ProPublica:
Inside the Fall of the CDC
How the world’s greatest public health organization was brought to its knees by a virus, the president and the capitulation of its own leaders, causing damage that could last much longer than the coronavirus.
[CDC expert Jay] Butler’s team rushed to finalize the guidance for churches, synagogues and mosques that Trump’s aides had shelved in April after battling the CDC over the language. In reviewing a raft of last-minute edits from the White House, Butler’s team rejected those that conflicted with CDC research, including a worrisome suggestion to delete a line that urged congregations to “consider suspending or at least decreasing” the use of choirs.
On Friday, Trump’s aides called the CDC repeatedly about the guidance, according to emails. “Why is it not up?” they demanded until it was posted on the CDC website that afternoon.
The next day, a furious call came from the office of the vice president: The White House suggestions were not optional. The CDC’s failure to use them was insubordinate, according to emails at the time.
Fifteen minutes later, one of Butler’s deputies had the agency’s text replaced with the White House version, the emails show. The danger of singing wasn’t mentioned.
Early that Sunday morning, as Americans across the country prepared excitedly to return to houses of worship, Butler, a churchgoer himself, poured his anguish and anger into an email to a few colleagues.
“I am very troubled on this Sunday morning that there will be people who will get sick and perhaps die because of what we were forced to do,” he wrote.
NY Times:
In Minority Communities, Doctors Are Changing Minds About Vaccination
Many Black and Hispanic Americans mistrust government officials, and instead have turned to physicians they have long known.
But the assurances of Black and Hispanic doctors can make an enormous difference, experts say. “I don’t want us to benefit the least,” Dr. Wiley said. “We should be first in line to get it.”
Many physicians like her now find themselves not just urging friends and relatives to get the vaccine, but also posting messages on social media and conducting group video calls, asking people to share their concerns and offering reliable information.
Boston Globe:
Boston infectious disease specialists: Our New Year’s resolutions
As we ring in a new year, here are our resolutions; please consider joining us.
Resolution #1: We resolve to double down on measures to protect ourselves, our families, and our community so we may endure the current surge of COVID-19 cases. We all can do our part by covering our faces anytime we are with anyone outside our immediate household, by maintaining at least 6 feet of physical distance, following hand hygiene and environmental control measures, and by not going to work or school when feeling unwell. Masking, including while indoors, is safe and more effective in preventing COVID-19 — including the coronavirus mutation first seen in England — than any other tool we have available today and clearly works to prevent transmission of the virus.
CNN:
Democratic early vote turnout concerns GOP in Georgia runoff
Republicans directly involved in the Georgia runoff for two US Senate seats are increasingly concerned that the Democrats are outperforming their pace in early voting as compared to the 2020 general election.
The better-than-expected turnout in early voting by registered Democrats puts a new level of pressure on Republicans to turn out their base voters on the final day of voting, January 5.
Republicans always anticipated that much like in the general election, the bulk of their voters would vote in the traditional fashion -- in person and on Election Day. The party did make a concerted effort to encourage their supporters to vote early or by mail-in -- but they fully understood that President Donald Trump's
consistent attacks on mail in voting would make that a difficult sell. According to two different GOP operatives familiar with the Republican analysis of data being collected, Republicans need an impressive turnout on Tuesday, January 5 in order to overcome the Democratic turnout in the two weeks of early voting leading up to Election Day.
"We've always known we need a big Election Day," said one of the operatives. "It is the same as the General (Election)."
Harry Enten/CNN:
How Biden defied history at every turn to win
Many future presidents
lose the Iowa caucuses (e.g. Trump), but they're usually competitive. No future president in the modern primary era (i.e. since 1972) finished below third place in Iowa. John McCain was, before Biden, the only eventual major party nominee to come in fourth place in Iowa. But he at
least came within 0.3 points of third place….
More amazing is what happened next: Biden got blown out in the New Hampshire primary.
Biden came in fifth place in New Hampshire. He
won less than 10% of the vote. No major party nominee had ever finished lower than second in New Hampshire in the modern primary era.
In pretty much any other year, a fourth place finish in Iowa and a fifth place finish in New Hampshire would spell doom for a presidential candidate.
That's especially the case when Biden followed up his Iowa and New Hampshire showings with a distant second place finish in the Nevada caucuses.