Now that the Biden administration has settled into Washington, D.C., my daily chronicle (20 January 2017 – 20 January 2021) of news about the Trump administration, Republicans, Democrats, corporations, courts, resistance, and persistence is winding down. I will continue to post a few important articles, especially ones that reflect the differences between the Biden administration and the Trump administration and ones that address the toxic legacy of the Trump administration and the Republicans. I hope to devote more of my time to posting muckraking articles on my site and to working with my local activist group in pursuit of progressive change and a stronger democracy. Thanks for reading!
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Monday, 1 March 2021:
Biden’s Cabinet Picks Are Moving Toward Confirmation as Senate Gears Up for Stimulus Vote, The New York Times, Monday, 1 March 2021:
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Miguel A. Cardona is confirmed as education secretary.
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A key Senate panel voted to recommend Merrick Garland’s confirmation.
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Trump and his wife received coronavirus vaccine before leaving the White House.
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Elizabeth Warren introduces a wealth tax for individuals worth over $50 million.
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Protests by Native Americans lead to a delay in Arizona copper mine project.
- The Capitol Police union endorses recommendations for adding officers, fencing, and an urgent response force.
- Biden expresses solidarity with Alabama workers attempting to unionize an Amazon warehouse.
- The White House says it may allow families separated at the border to stay in the U.S.
- The Washington Post’s publisher accuses Biden of giving the Saudis a ‘one free murder’ pass in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
Biden meets virtually with Mexico’s leader as Senate continues to scrutinize his Cabinet choices, The Washington Post, Felicia Sonmez, Colby Itkowitz, and John Wagner, Monday, 1 March 2021: “After returning to Washington from Delaware on Monday, President Biden met virtually with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with migration and the coronavirus pandemic among the topics on their agenda. ‘The United States and Mexico are stronger when we stand together,’ Biden said. ‘There’s a long and complicated history between our nations that haven’t always been perfect neighbors with one another. But we have seen over and over again the power and the purpose when we cooperate. And we’re safer when we work together.’ On Capitol Hill, the Senate voted Monday to confirm Miguel Cardona as Biden’s education secretary, while a committee is expected to advance the nomination of Merrick Garland as attorney general.
Here are a few of the significant developments included in this article.
How Pro-Trump Forces Pushed a Lie About Antifa at the Capitol Riot. On social media, on cable networks and even in the halls of Congress, supporters of Donald J. Trump tried to rewrite history in real time, pushing the fiction that left-wing agitators were to blame for the violence on Jan. 6. The New York Times, Michael M. Grynbaum, Davey Alba, and Reid J. Epstein, Monday, 1 March 2021: “At 1:51 p.m. on Jan. 6, a right-wing radio host named Michael D. Brown wrote on Twitter that rioters had breached the United States Capitol — and immediately speculated about who was really to blame. ‘Antifa or BLM or other insurgents could be doing it disguised as Trump supporters,’ Mr. Brown wrote, using shorthand for Black Lives Matter. ‘Come on, man, have you never heard of psyops?’ Only 13,000 people follow Mr. Brown on Twitter, but his tweet caught the attention of another conservative pundit: Todd Herman, who was guest-hosting Rush Limbaugh’s national radio program. Minutes later, he repeated Mr. Brown’s baseless claim to Mr. Limbaugh’s throngs of listeners: ‘It’s probably not Trump supporters who would do that. Antifa, BLM, that’s what they do. Right?’ What happened over the next 12 hours illustrated the speed and the scale of a right-wing disinformation machine primed to seize on a lie that served its political interests and quickly spread it as truth to a receptive audience. The weekslong fiction about a stolen election that President Donald J. Trump pushed to his millions of supporters had set the stage for a new and equally false iteration: that left-wing agitators were responsible for the attack on the Capitol. In fact, the rioters breaking into the citadel of American democracy that day were acolytes of Mr. Trump, intent on stopping Congress from certifying his electoral defeat. Subsequent arrests and investigations have found no evidence that people who identify with antifa, a loose collective of antifascist activists, were involved in the insurrection. But even as Americans watched live images of rioters wearing MAGA hats and carrying Trump flags breach the Capitol — egged on only minutes earlier by a president who falsely denounced a rigged election and exhorted his followers to fight for justice — history was being rewritten in real time.” See also, Rewriting January 6th: Republicans push false and misleading accounts of Capitol riot, The Washington Post, Mike DeBonis and Jeremy Barr, Monday, 1 March 2021: “Instead of an attempt to overturn the election by radicalized Donald Trump supporters, it was a choreographed attack staged by antifa provocateurs. Rather than an armed insurrection, it was a good-natured protest spoiled by a few troublemakers. And instead of a deadly event that put the lives of hundreds of lawmakers, police officers and others at risk, the riot was no big deal at all. A legion of conservative activists, media personalities and elected officials are seeking to rewrite the story of what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6, hoping to undermine the clear picture of the attack that has emerged from video and photo evidence, law enforcement officials, journalistic accounts and the testimonials of the rioters themselves: that a pro-Trump mob, mobilized by the former president’s false claims of a stolen election, stormed the seat of American government to keep Trump in power through violent means. Six weeks after the attack, some are taking advantage of fading memories and unanswered questions to portray the riot in a different, more benign light.”
Continue reading Aftermath of the Trump Administration, March & April 2021: