Biden leads his democracy speech by recapping the Paul Pelosi attack and how “the assailant entered the home asking ‘where’s Nancy.’”

“The same words used by the mob when they stormed the United States Capitol on Jan. 6.” Trump’s lie about the 2020 election sparked the 1/6 insurrection and, Biden says, has “fueled the dangerous rise in political violence and intimidation.”

So far, Putin’s war, borne of his own insecurity and nihilism, has:

• unified the West
• unified Ukraine
• drawn condemnation of even Orban (!)
• exposed the weakness of his own army
• cratered Russia’s crap economy
• made Zelensky into a legend & it occurs to me that social media, which Putin and his trolls have long leveraged to sow discord, is a big reason much of this has turned against him and so quickly. Even Russians, at great risk, have taken to the streets in protest. Pretty incredible.

This package DOES NOT INCLUDE barring Russia from SWIFT financial system, a move many European nations aren’t ready to support (and US does not control), per source familiar.

https://twitter.com/potus/status/1496902725077979140

Major concerns relate to impact on global energy prices/economy, especially countries that are highly interdependent with Russia, per source.

Biden, after noting progress of his first seven months, offers some realism: “We’re in the tough stretch. And it could last for a while.”

And he frames vaccines as a matter of not just health but civic responsibility:

“The vast majority of Americans have done the right thing.” Biden, expressing the frustration of the vaccinated: “A distinct minority…are preventing us from turning the corner.”

MCCONNELL says “January 6 was a disgrace” and that Trump’s rhetoric was “a disgraceful dereliction of duty.”

“There’s no question he is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.” McConnell says Trump tried to use his 74 million votes as “a shield” from criticism.

“That’s an absurd deflection. 74 million Americans did not invade the Capitol.”

Now here’s the “but...” — the constitutionality question (that the Senate settled).

"It is existential," John Kerry says about the climate crisis. Biden, he says, is 'totally seized" by the urgency and knows "Paris alone isn't enough." Kerry says Biden's EO will bring 17 U.S. intelligence agencies together to assess the national security implications of climate change.

Full clemency list from the White House is 143 people (73 pardons, 70 commutations). Broidy and Bannon are listed back to back. Kwame Kilpatrick "has served approximately 7 years in prison for his role in a racketeering and bribery scheme while he held public office. During his incarceration, Mr. Kilpatrick has taught public speaking classes and has led Bible Study groups with his fellow inmates."

Biden, at the Lincoln Memorial, says we have to remember the 400K dead from Covid to heal: "It's important to do that as a nation." This marks the first truly public memorial to these deaths by a national figure to date in a pandemic, as we noted in May, in which the deaths remained abstract, the grief hidden and not shared.

latimes.com/world-nation/s…

Trump takes the stage in GA and it's immediate, unfiltered denial:

"I've had two elections. I won both of them." Trump warns that Democrats want "unchecked, unrestrained, absolute power over every aspect of your lives."

Then he vows not to respect the election outcome: "They're not taking this White House. We're going to fight like hell."

Trump starts with a clear lie.

"If you count the legal votes, I easily win," he said.

No indication any of the votes currently being counted are illegal. MSNBC immediately cuts away for a fact-check. CNN stays with it.

It's 2:21 and POTUS has entered the East Room.

He says "millions" voted for us and "a very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group."

On the screen, the Electoral Map shows Biden 220, Trump 213. Trump complains he'd planned on doing a big celebration but can't [because he hasn't won yet].

He is listing states he won, and those he hopes to win.

On GA: "They're never going to catch us."

Trump begins his final 2020 rally at 11:59 p.m. in Grand Rapids, where he held his final rally in 2016.

"We want to do it just like last time," he said, "but give me a little more margin than last time." Trump says Biden is "against God" and thus can't win in Texas.

"I know for a fact we're doing very well in Texas."

Some technical issues in Kenosha to start rally no. 4. Trump complains about his microphone and the crowd yells that it can't hear him in the back. Trump switches mics, slams the one affixed to the lectern down, informs the crowd they're witnessing history: "This is the first time I've ever used a hand-held."

Trump, in Dubuque, Ia.: "If Biden gets in, you can forget about ethanol, you can forget about everything." Trump, self-annotating his scripted remarks again:

"No one has fought harder for the people of Iowa. That's true!"

Trump, in Michigan: "You didn't have any auto plants four years ago." He is freezing but still making time for the usual tangents, telling stories about Pavrarotti being "a diva" and inserting the windmill riff into his closing argument:

"If you want to see a lot of dead birds, go to the bottom of the windmill."

In first 15 minutes, Stahl’s comment about Trump’s smaller rally crowds appears to have set him off more than anything else.

https://twitter.com/chrismegerian/status/1319303769901981701

After the back and forth on Trump’s nonexistent healthcare plan, Stahl’s pushback on Hunter Biden stuff gets to him:

DT: “He’s in a huge scandal.”

LS: “He’s not.”

...

DT: “They spied on my campaign!”

LS: “There’s no real evidence of that.”

DT: “Of course there is.“

"Normal life. That's all we want: normal life," Trump says to start his rally tonight in Erie, PA.

"Pennsylvania's been shut down long enough. Get your governor to open up Pennsylvania." Trump says if Obama and Biden "did a good job, I wouldn't have run."

"I didn't need this. Although we're having a good time."

Trump predicts wins in MI and MN, and that "having people like [Rep. Ilhan] Omar really helps."

Then exaggeratedly mispronounces her name: "Eel-an Omar...she does not love our country too much." Then he rails at @GovWhitmer: "Get your governor to open up your state and get your schools open!"

A loud "Lock her up!" chant erupts.

Trump: "Lock em all up!"

This comes after 14 people were arrested for plotting to kidnap the governor.

Rush Limbaugh begins this "radio rally" by playing Trump's walk-up music and then a tape of crowd noise of people chanting "we love you." Rush to Trump: "You are one of the strongest, the most unwavering, the most determined, most loyal people I have ever met...it's just a breathtaking thing.

"I want people to get to know the Donald Trump I know."

WEST DES MOINES — “He’s fine until he talks,” said Janet Khomgmaly, 49, a nurse who voted for Trump in 2016.

Read ⁦@Noahbierman⁩ on the ground in Iowa, which Trump has managed to put in play. latimes.com/politics/story… “I was expecting to see clarity. And I’m just very disappointed by the behavior, the lack of really poignant speaking to the issues,” said Don Hensley, 50, who develops food products. He voted for Trump in 2016 but is uncertain now if he will even vote.

Trump's reliance on patronage, and the conditioning of government funds on political benefit, is actually one of the clearest through-lines of his presidency.

Today, it's $13 mil for Puerto Rico, which he'd long denied more aid, to try and win Florida in 46 days:

https://twitter.com/EliStokols/status/1307035907648819201

But this is how he ran Trump Corp. and how he's approached the presidency, even from the transition period when he got IN to cough up $7m in tax breaks to save 1,000 jobs at Carrier.

The pattern was clear in 2017, when the FoxConn plant went to WI..

wsj.com/articles/white…