The Conversation -- January 5, 2025

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Donald Trump is about to get the Jan. 6 that he denied Joe Biden.... If all goes as expected, by late Monday afternoon, Trump's victory will be certified in a ceremony overseen by his vanquished rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, who will preside over the proceedings in her capacity as the president of the Senate. Harris has been clear she will administer a straightforward transfer of power. In doing so, she'll follow in the footsteps of all vice presidents before her -- including Mike Pence, who resisted Trump's pressure to refuse to count electors from states Trump lost in 2020. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries drew Republican applause when he acknowledged Trump's win Friday during a speech on the House floor. 'It's OK,' Jeffries said in a moment of gallows humor directed at his GOP colleagues. 'There are no election deniers on our side of the aisle.'&"

Now that he is no longer working for the New York Times, Paul Krugman feels free to directly criticize its reports -- as he does here. (Link fixed; thanks, Elizabeth.)

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Michael Shear & Zach Montague of the New York Times: "... on Saturday, [President] Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 18 people, including some of the brightest lights of the old guard that Mr. Trump wants to tear down. In doing so, the 82-year-old president is sending an unmistakable message of support for a democratic order he has said is threatened by Mr. Trump's re-election.... Among those receiving the award were Hillary Clinton, the former first lady, senator and secretary of state whom Mr. Trump threatened to jail and who received a standing ovation on Saturday; Robert F. Kennedy, the assassinated senator whose son has embraced Mr. Trump; and George Romney, the late father of former Senator Mitt Romney, the Republican from Utah who repeatedly rejected Mr. Trump's actions and philosophy. The younger Mr. Romney accepted the award on Saturday. Mr. Kennedy's medal was accepted by his daughter, strong> Kerry Kennedy." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.) ~~~

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "To hear ... Donald J. Trump tell it, he is about to take over a nation ravaged by crisis, a desolate hellscape of crime, chaos and economic hardship. 'Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World!' he declared on social media last week. But by many traditional metrics, the America that Mr. Trump will inherit from President Biden when he takes the oath for a second time, two weeks from Monday, is actually in better shape than that bequeathed to any newly elected president since George W. Bush came into office in 2001.

"For the first time since that transition 24 years ago, there will be no American troops at war overseas on Inauguration Day. New data reported in the past few days indicate that murders are way down, illegal immigration at the southern border has fallen even below where it was when Mr. Trump left office and roaring stock markets finished their best two years in a quarter-century. Jobs are up, wages are rising and the economy is growing as fast as it did during Mr. Trump's presidency. Unemployment is as low as it was just before the Covid-19 pandemic and near its historic best. Domestic energy production is higher than it has ever been."

Alessandro Sassoon & others of the New York Times followed the procession of President Jimmy Carter's remains as they traveled through Georgia. ~~~

~~~ Emily Cochrane of the New York Times reports on the schedule of events honoring President Jimmy Carter this week. (Also linked yesterday.)

Emma Bubola of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy has gone to to visit ... Donald J. Trump at his Florida golf club for an informal meeting held on Saturday. The trip, to Mar-a-Lago, comes just a few days before Ms. Meloni is set to welcome President Biden in Rome for an official visit to Italy and the Vatican on Jan. 9 to 12.... The meeting reinforces the hopes of Ms. Meloni's supporters that the conservative Italian prime minister will become Mr. Trump's go-to ally in Europe."

Steff Thomas of the Hill: "President-elect Trump in a weekend rant turned his ire on the New York judge who ordered sentencing to begin next week in his hush money case, calling him 'the most conflicted judge in New York State history.... I never falsified business records. It is a fake, made up charge by a corrupt judge who is just doing the work of the Biden/Harris Injustice Department, an attack on their political opponent, ME!,' he wrote on Truth Social on Saturday morning, echoing his initial response. 'He created a case where there was none. Keeps a "gag order" on me so that I can't talk about how crooked he is,' Trump continued. 'The Fake News knows all about it, but they refuse to talk. He may be the most conflicted judge in New York State history.'" Et-cetera. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course Trump's rant -- which goes on -- is full of lies. Just these few sentences are falsehoods: Merchan bent over backwards to accommodate Trump & his entourage, the case was not brought by an arm of the DOJ, Trump did falsify business records, the gag order does not seem to be precluding Trump from talking about the judge, & the MSM has written thousands of words about the case.

On Board with the Biggest Grifter, Ctd. Ken Vogel, et al., of the New York Times: "Since his victory in November..., Donald J. Trump's allies have raised well over $200 million for a constellation of groups that will fund his inauguration, his political operation and eventually his presidential library.... It is a staggering sum that underscores efforts by donors and corporate interests to curry favor with Mr. Trump ahead of a second presidential term after a number of business leaders denounced him following the violence by his supporters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021." (Also linked yesterday.) MB: Now you see why Ann Telnaes of the Washington Post felt compelled to quit her job (see NYT story & her Substack post linked yesterday).

The Liars' Tallest Tale. Dan Barry & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "As the Inauguration Day ritual conveying the peaceful transfer of power unfolds, [Donald Trump] will stand where the worst of the mayhem of Jan. 6, 2021, took place, largely in his name.... Myriad factors explain his stunning resurrection, but not least of them is how effectively he and his loyalists have laundered the history of Jan. 6, turning a political nightmare into a political asset. What began as a strained attempt to absolve Mr. Trump of responsibility for Jan. 6 gradually took hold, as his allies in Congress and the media played down the attack and redirected blame to left-wing plants, Democrats and even the government. Violent rioters '' prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned -- somehow became patriotic martyrs. This inverted interpretation defied what the country had watched unfold, but it neatly fit the persecution narrative that binds Mr. Trump to many of his faithful. Once he committed to running again for president, he doubled down on flipping the script about the riot and its blowback, including a congressional inquiry and two criminal indictments against him, as part of an orchestrated victimization." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, in the Real World. Joe Heim & Olivia George of the Washington Post: "The black security fences are up again. Local and federal law enforcement agencies have been placed on full alert. Five-hundred soldiers with the D.C. National Guard stand ready to assist if called. If the preparations are any indication, the certifying of the presidential election at the U.S. Capitol on Monday will not be a repeat of Jan. 6, 2021.... For those caught in the direct wake of Jan. 6, it remains a day marked by both fear and heroism, by despair for the country as well as determination that the attack not define it.... For many of those living and working on Capitol Hill, the neighborhood surrounding the Capitol, the attack was personal and felt for months. Streets were closed. Helicopters circled overhead. Local parks were patrolled by troops."

Michael Podhorzer has some observations about how Trump "won" the 2024 election. His essay explains (in unnecessary detail, IMO) why he put "won" in quotation marks. But up front he reminds us of something it's sometimes easy to forget: "... Trump's candidacy was only viable because the justices he appointed to the Supreme Court: (1) disabled the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment (which should otherwise have barred him from holding office again) and (2) shielded him from standing trial before the election for trying to overturn the 2020 results or for hoarding classified documents (which would have kept his criminality in full view of the electorate, and possibly rendered his candidacy a non-starter due to a jail sentence or loss of support). In any other country, we would understand that as part of an autocratic takeover, not a democratic victory." And he does ignore Mitch McConnell's part in all this.

I object to [Speaker Johnson's] false attribution of the prayer to Jefferson -- part of the endless Christian nationalist campaign to remake Jefferson into a devout Christian when he was actually an enlightenment era freethinker who thought religion should remain private and out of government. -- Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) ~~~

~~~ Bible Mike Tries to Tear Down Jefferson's Wall of Separation. Azi Paybarah of the Washington Post: "Shortly before Mike Johnson was sworn in as House speaker on Friday, he stood in front of the incoming members of Congress and offered what he said was 'a prayer for the nation' that was said every day [by] Thomas Jefferson [when he] was in the White House 'and every day thereafter until his death.'... Johnson told the lawmakers, it is 'quite familiar to historians and probably many of us.'... Historians do know the quote -- because it has been falsely attributed to Jefferson for years.... 'Ultimately, it seems unlikely that Jefferson would have composed or delivered a public prayer of this sort,' the [Thomas Jefferson Foundation] said. 'He considered religion a private matter, and when asked to recommend a national day of fasting and prayer, wrote, "I consider the government of the US. as interdicted by the constitution from intermedling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises."'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I would suggest Bible Mike take a field trip over to the Library of Congress (which I believe he can reach from his office via tunnel). There he will find on display President Jefferson's letter to the Danbury, Connecticut, Baptists, in which he assured them, "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State." ~~~

     ~~~ However, I'm not convinced of the logic of the Jefferson Foundation's argument. Read the letter the Danbury Baptists wrote to Jefferson, then compare (a) a clause from Jefferson's complimentary close to them with (b) the language of the prayer Bible Mike falsely attributes to Jefferson:

(a) Letter to Baptists: -- "I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection & blessing of the common father and creator of man...." ~~~

(b) Mike's Prayer: "Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those whom in Thy name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth."

     It appears to me Jefferson's closing proves he was willing to make quasi-public prayers. As for what daily prayers he may or may not have said, well, we can't know, can we? That's the whole idea of separation of church & state.

Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: Elon Musk "has boosted far-right figures in Britain, Germany and Canada with a blizzard of social media posts in recent days.... He appears to be applying a playbook similar to the one he used to disrupt American politics, now boosting conservative politicians in the governments of the United States' top allies. But his disregard for the veracity of his posts and his elevation of far-right and extremist figures have alarmed liberal leaders around the world.'" MB: It's as if those evil cartoon characters who dominated the world in various action comic book stories have come to life and settled into the person of Elon Musk.

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New York. In case you're a person who has to drive into Manhattan, Ana Ley & Winnie Hu of the New York Times explain how traffic congestion pricing, which began just after midnight today, works.

Comments

[RAS]

Wonkette

"Costco And Meta (Facebook) Both Commit To Diversity, With Hilariously Diverse Results"

The new AI friends may not be ready for prime time yet.

[RAS]

Elon Musk

I hadn't been paying much attention to the Elon burner accounts story, but damn is he a pathetic loser. Probably why he fits right in with the rest of the Trump gang.

[Ken Winkes]

Bible Mike's "wall of separation" in action:

https://www.propublica.org/article/arizona-private-school-vouchers-no-transparency

[Marie Burns]

@Ken Winkes: Ever so apt.

[Marie Burns]

@RAS: Apparently there's no conclusive evidence Adrian Dittman is Musk. It's a conspiracy theory that's been going around for about a year, and several stories (here's one) in reputable publications have refuted it.

But I don't think any of us would be surprised if we found out the Adolf Adrian Dittman account really was a Musk burner account.

[Elizabeth]

The link to Paul Krugman's newsletter doesn't work. I found it here:

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/bothsidesing-with-a-republican-slant

(Hope that one works. My aged laptop isn't feeling so well today.)

[laura hunter]

The hour long Joni Mitchell concert from a 1970 BBC broadcast linked in Krugman's substack is an expected bonus for a Sunday morning!

Earlier in the week, i tried unsuccessfully to post Farah Stockman's New York Times piece on the H-1B program.
She writes:
"what they [elon, vivek, and the others] don’t tell you is that for more than a decade, Americans working in the tech industry have been systematically laid off and replaced by cheaper H-1B visa holders.
...
When Americans realize they can’t make a living as software engineers, they leave the industry. The H-1B program worsens the very shortages it was supposed to address."

Musk’s Misinformation About Tech Visas

[Marie Burns]

@Elizabeth: Thanks for the correction. I see how I goofed up.