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20 Nov, 9 tweets, 2 min read
Just an incredible milestone for the United States Senate: more Republicans have tested positive for COVID-19 than have accepted Joe Biden as the president-elect. huffpost.com/entry/republic…
Maybe we're all just worn thin from Trump's chaos, or maybe it's the frog-boiling-in-water phenomenon. But I can't get over that it's not breaking news every day how complicit Republican leaders are in Trump's lies about election fraud + efforts to undermine democracy.
It's been 2 weeks, and there are only 5 GOP senators who have said Biden won or referred to him as president-elect.

That leaves the remaining 48 GOP senators complicit in Trump’s efforts to undermine people’s faith in democratic institutions to try to make it look like he won.
That's crazy.
Most (all?) of these U.S. senators know better than to echo Trump's lies. They know what he's saying is not true. They know better than to cast doubts on this election.

So why are they doing this?

Fear. They don't want to alienate Trump's base. At the cost of hurting democracy.
Some are repeating lies about voter fraud.

Some are backing Trump's baseless lawsuits.

None are objecting to Trump summoning Michigan GOP leaders to the White House today for a meeting aimed at subverting the democratic process that handed the state to Biden.
Still, I can't decide which is worse: Republican senators echoing Trump's straight-up lies about fraud, or senators sort of suggesting that Biden won but then leaving the door open to fraud.
Like here's Sen. Lamar Alexander today. He's trying to have it both ways by appeasing Trump’s ego but vaguely acknowledging how reckless the current situation is.

Biden won the election. He knows this. And yet....
Anyway, the virus trumps reality in the Senate right now.

Republicans who have tested positive for COVID-19: 7

Republicans who have acknowledged Biden as the president-elect: 5 huffpost.com/entry/republic…

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More from @jbendery

Jennifer Bendery Profile picture
20 Nov
Here we go.

The chairs of the House Oversight and Reform Committee + Approps Committee just wrote to @GSAEmily summoning her to brief them "immediately" on her refusal to let Biden's team begin its transition.
“Your actions in blocking transition activities required under the law are having grave effects, including undermining the orderly transfer of power, impairing the incoming Administration’s ability to respond to the coronavirus pandemic ... and endangering our national security."
The 2 chairs are giving the GSA administrator until Nov. 23 to "personally brief us" on her decision not to ascertain the election results, which triggers a transition of power.

After that, they'll decide whether to bring her in for a hearing, along with other GSA officials.
Read 5 tweets
Jennifer Bendery Profile picture
19 Nov
The Alaska congressional delegation just filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to make Alaska Native Corporations eligible for COVID-19 tribal aid in the CARES Act.

ANCs were excluded bc they're not tribal govts, but AK leaders say Indigenous ppl will suffer bc of this.
This has been an ongoing, contentious issue ever since the CARES Act passed.

It's AK tribes + elected officials (Murkowski, Sullivan, Young) vs tribes in the Lower 48. AK leaders say Lower 48 folks trying to deny this $ to ANCs have "a fundamental misunderstanding of Alaska."
Murkowski et al may be outnumbered, but they aren't backing down on this at all.

They say the "corporation" in "Alaska Native Corporations" is throwing people off in terms of what ANCs actually do, which is provide vital services to rural AK tribes. adn.com/opinions/2020/…
Read 4 tweets
Jennifer Bendery Profile picture
18 Nov
Today, the Senate will vote to move fwd with confirming another Trump nominee to a lifetime federal judgeship who was rated "not qualified" by the American Bar Assn.

Kathryn Mizelle, 33, has only been practicing law since 2012 + has never tried a case. huffpost.com/entry/trump-ju…
On the one hand, Mizelle is opposed by 220+ national civil rights groups and earned the embarrassing "not qualified" rating by ABA.

On the other hand, the Federalist Society.
Senate voting now on procedural step to move forward with Mizelle's nomination.

I wonder what will happen?

(No I don't. It will be a party-line vote.)
Read 5 tweets
Jennifer Bendery Profile picture
16 Nov
🚨 Here is today's snapshot of each state's progress in reducing COVID cases/hospitalizations/death, via covidexitstrategy.org

Green is trending better.

Yellow is caution warranted.

Red is going downhill.

Bruised red is uncontrolled spread.
It is just as devastatingly bad as it was a week ago. The only thing that's changed is 1 state went from red to yellow (Hawaii) and 1 went from yellow to red (Vermont).

Here's a week ago vs today:
Not a single state is reporting a decline in positive COVID-19 cases over the last 14 days.

Vermont is seeing the biggest spike: 265% increase. :(
Read 11 tweets
Jennifer Bendery Profile picture
12 Nov
Speaking of Mitch McConnell spending this whole week confirming Trump's lifetime judges, he just teed up votes next week for 5 more.

Among them: a 33-year-old rated "not qualified" by American Bar Assn because she's only been practicing law since 2012. huffpost.com/entry/trump-ju…
Not only has Kathryn Mizelle only been practicing law since 2012, which ABA says is “a rather marked departure” from its standard, but she's never tried a case ― civil or criminal ― as lead attorney or co-counsel.

She's up for a lifetime seat on a U.S. district court in FL.
Why on earth would Republicans elevate an unqualified nominee to a lifetime federal court seat?

Oh I see.
Read 6 tweets
Jennifer Bendery Profile picture
11 Nov
🚨 This is today's snapshot of each state's progress in reducing COVID cases/hospitalizations/death, via covidexitstrategy.org

Green is trending better.

Yellow is caution warranted.

Red is going downhill.

Bruised red is uncontrolled spread.
I didn't think it was possible, but the situation looks even worse today than yesterday.

California has slipped into the "uncontrolled spread" category, along with New Hampshire.
D.C. man. What are we doing?
Read 8 tweets

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