On that count, Hugh Hewitt (Salem Radio Network) said that "every day" he talked to folks who believe "there's massive fraud in Georgia." He tells them that's not true, and that they have to vote in the primary. He also said that people are undervaluing the intelligence of the president's voters.
They're very sophisticated. They know President Trump is as of today planning on running for election in 2024 against President-elect Biden. And he's doing things consistent with that. And I think he is going to spend the next four years underscoring the big successes of his tenure, including Operation Warp Speed... He's going to emphasize his military rebuild, the Supreme Court, he's going to emphasize conservative realism versus Chinese Communist Party and The Abraham Accords. So, he's just setting up a campaign that's already begun. And I wouldn't be surprised, Chuck, if on or before the inauguration of President Biden, he announces Trump 2024 is formed and it's off to the races.
And finally, here's Michael Eric Dyson (Vanderbilt University), talking about the potential long-term damage from Trump's dog whistles about "the cities."
Look at, he's attacking Detroit: 79% Black. He's attacking Atlanta: 52% Black. He's attacking Philadelphia: 42% Black. He's attacking Milwaukee: 39% Black. So we get what he's doing here. He's trying to have his cake and eat it too, so to speak. He wants to -- he has an uptick in voting among African-American people by 5% among Black men, 4% among Black women. And yet, at the same time, he wants to be able to whistle to white supremacists and white nationalists that he is still their guy and that he will continue to send out the notion that somehow this is a fraud, the fraud is related to race, race is, itself, illegitimate, and as a result of that, you, as a white person, have every reason in the world, regardless of your stratification, whether you're making, you know, $100 million a year or whether you're barely making $10,000, to “vote for me because I'm your guy.” This is destructive to the process of American democracy and one of the most powerful repudiations of enlightenment. Here's a guy who's anti-science, he's anti-race, he's anti-everything that makes this country, it seems, the very great thing he wants to make it.
Quite the interesting approach Trump is taking, wouldn't you agree?
Down the hall in the Fox News Sunday classroom (with Bret Baier sitting in for Chris Wallace), Jason Riley (Wall Street Journal/Fox News) talked about 'pandemic fatigue' and a fear of more shutdowns.
I think talk of a shutdown is just crazy talk at this point. I mean we lost more than 20 million jobs during the first shutdown. We saw depression era unemployment rates. The idea that we would want to return to that. You know, third quarter economic growth was record-breaking, more than 30%. The fourth quarter is off to a very good start. You see optimism among investors in the stock market. Why we are even talking about a shutdown? I think is just ridiculous. And we -- you're right about the fatigue as well among people -- COVID fatigue, as they call it, and we saw more holiday travel than I think a lot of people were expecting and that reflects the COVID fatigue.
But it also, I think, reflects the fact that people see these elected officials not following their own public health edicts. And people say to themselves, well, you know, I look at Governor Newsom out in California, I look at Andrew Cuomo in New York, I look at the -- the mayor of Denver and they don't seem to be following what they're telling us to do. I – you know, I think all those elected officials take this seriously. They're just weighing the risks and taking precautions and saying, you know, if I get it, I'll be OK. We know better now how to treat it. We've got a vaccine around the corner. Trust the American people to make those same decisions. And, of course, the Supreme Court has now told us that just because there's a pandemic doesn't mean our civil liberties can be -- can be suspended. So I think people are taking that in mind too.
Juan Williams (Fox News) addressed the SCOTUS decision Riley mentioned.
And so what you saw was a 5-4 decision with the newest justice, Amy Coney Barrett, casting the deciding vote. So I'm thinking she maybe even wrote the opinions suggesting that in New York specifically that you cannot put a limit on what goes on in terms of religious gatherings, the synagogues and the churches. And I think that people there -- you know, the reason it was such a close decision, 5-4, is because, you know, you have to take into consideration, we're in the middle of a public health crisis. So, you know, the -- it becomes a matter of weighing one side versus the other. I mean we clearly have a right to gather in terms of religious practices. But at the same time, you have to take into consideration the spreading of something that could cost -- cost us dearly in terms of human life, which is, of course, you know, in all religions, sacrosanct.
Susan Page (USA Today) talked about the Senate and the importance of the Georgia runoffs to the Republicans.
Oh, no kidding. A Senate with 50 Republicans is very different from a Senate with 51 Republicans. It makes all the difference for Republicans' ability to shape who President-elect Biden can appoint two key jobs, what kind of relief package for coronavirus might finally get through the Congress, whether major proposals that we've seen pass the House and get stalled in the Senate might have a chance of going through. It is a different world in Washington depending on who wins these two seats in Georgia. You'd assume that Republicans would be favored because Republicans hold every statewide office in Georgia and yet that's not the case. These are very competitive elections in part because of some legal problems that -- some ethics investigations that the two Republican incumbents are facing on stock trade. This is a big deal. So you can tell how concerned Republicans are, although you don't really see that reflected as a top priority at the moment, I think, of President Trump.
Williams had the last word, on Biden's announced Cabinet picks.
Well, you know, remember, I think many people see him as having campaigned, Bret, to bring government back to boring and normal. And I think so far that's what we've seen in terms of his reaction to President Trump's intransigence, difficulty in approving of the transition process.
But I think I've been keeping an eye more on the cabinet appointments. And, again, the appointments have been middle-of-the-road. They are appointments that I think, for the most part, even a Republican majority, a Senate could approve those nominees. I'm keeping an eye on the attorney general who's yet to be -- that person has yet to be named. But if you're looking at people like Xavier Becerra, now attorney general of California, Sally Yates, the former deputy, if you're looking at people like Amy Klobuchar even, the former senator, I think you're looking at a more aggressive approach. On the other hand, if you look at people like Doug Jones or Merrick Garland, I think more pragmatic.
It's going to be interesting to see if Biden goes pushes the envelope a little with any of his remaining picks, or if he focuses on people who have the best chance of being confirmed.
See you around campus, masks on, of course.
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