Trump mocks virus as he launches potential superspreader sprint to win reelection

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2020-10-13 12:31:50

• Cruz to object to Arizona's Electoral College votes on Wednesday

  (CNN) — Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz plans to object to Arizona's Electoral College results during the joint session of Congress on Wednesday, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN, which will force the first of multiple expected -- and futile -- votes in the House and the Senate to overturn the results of the election won by President-elect Joe Biden.Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley has said he plans to object to the results in Pennsylvania. Republicans could also force debates and votes on other key states, with Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia signaling she plans to object to Biden's win in her state.The objections on Wednesday during the formal count of electoral votes from all 50 states and the District of Columbia will not change the results of the election. Every Democrat and some Republicans will reject the challenges, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. But the objections will extend the normally ceremonial process of counting Electoral College votes into Wednesday evening and possibly beyond. For each state where a House member and senator object, the two chambers will separately recess and debate the matter for up to two hours, followed by a vote on whether to accept or reject the objection.The exact number of objections that will be raised is still unclear. Cruz and a group of GOP senators held a conference call Monday night with several House members to map out a strategy, though no final decisions were made, according to a source involved in the call.The states' Electoral College votes are counted in alphabetical order, so Cruz's objection to Arizona is likely to be the first debated.Cruz and nearly a dozen Senate Republicans said this past weekend they planned to object to the Electoral College results unless a commission was appointed to investigate voter fraud. A person familiar with Cruz's plans argued the objection was not as much about Cruz questioning the election results as it was a reaction to the fact that he has not received the commission to study election results that he and his group of 10 other senators requested.The objections have sparked a public split in the Republican conference, with those siding with McConnell arguing the effort has no chance of succeeding and is dangerous for democracy. Some of Trump's allies on the other side are vowing to primary those Republicans who vote against him on Wednesday.Trump has focused on Wednesday's congressional session to try to overturn the November election after courts across the country rejected his campaign's lawsuits challenging the results, and state legislatures in battleground states declined to try to appoint electors that went against the will of the voters in their states.The President has attacked Republicans who have said they will not object to the results, accusing them on Twitter of being part of a "surrender caucus." Trump has also pushed Vice President Mike Pence, falsely claiming on Twitter Tuesday that Pence could "has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors."There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud, and there is no evidence that electors from the electoral college were fraudulently chosen, as all states have certified their elections. Pence's role on Wednesday in certifying the results of the election is largely ceremonial. There's no indication Pence plans to do so. But even if the vice president tried to take an unprecedented and legally dubious action to reject the will of voters and select a different slate of electors, such a move would almost certainly be rejected by both chambers of Congress. The chambers could respond by voting to appeal the ruling of the chair, according to Alan Frumin, a former Senate parliamentarian.In a sign that Pence is preparing for his role overseeing the quadrennial session to count the ballots, he was spotted in his office off the Senate floor Sunday meeting with aides and Elizabeth MacDonough, the current Senate parliamentarian. Electoral College VotesThe Electoral CollegeElectoral VotesSenate RepublicansPoliticsRepublican Primary VotersGOP VotersTexas RepublicanCNNCongressHouseDemocratTrumpTwitterArizonaTed CruzJoe BidenJosh HawleyKelly LoefflerMitch McconnellMike PenceAlan FruminElizabeth Macdonough

• Pence faces pressure from Trump to thwart Electoral College vote

  (CNN) — Vice President Mike Pence's four years of faithful service to his boss, President Donald Trump, will culminate this week in a ceremonial act he's under increasing pressure to thwart."The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors," Trump declared falsely on Tuesday, lending credence to an erroneous theory that Pence can overturn the results of the election during Wednesday's tally of Electoral College votes and again pressuring his top lieutenant to act outside constitutional bounds.His message came the morning after Trump riled up a crowd of supporters in Georgia using Pence's upcoming engagement on the Senate floor."I hope Mike Pence comes through for us, I have to tell you," Trump said Monday night during a political rally in Georgia, where his public arm-twisting was met with cheers. "Of course, if he doesn't come through, I won't like him as much."It was a direct message to a vice president whose defining political characteristic remains his unyielding fealty to Trump. How Pence proceeds on Wednesday when he presides over the certification of the Electoral College tally could determine his future relationship with the man he has served loyally, even in moments of political peril.Over the past several weeks, Trump has become intensely interested in Pence's ceremonial role during the certification of the Electoral College. He has raised the matter repeatedly with his vice president and has been "confused" as to why Pence can't overturn the results of the election on January 6, sources told CNN. As he was flying to Florida for his vacation last month, Trump retweeted a call from one of his supporters for Pence to refuse to ratify the Electoral College results on January 6 -- a prospect that has captured his imagination even if it remains completely impossible.Pence and White House aides have tried to explain to him that Pence's role is more of a formality and he cannot unilaterally reject the Electoral College votes. Pence has walked Trump through his largely procedural role in hopes of downplaying the pressure on him, a strategy that doesn't appear to have worked given the President explicitly urged him to take action Monday night without saying exactly what he wanted Pence to do.There is little expectation among Trump or Pence's aides that he will divert from his constitutionally-prescribed role."He will follow the law and Constitution," one person familiar with the matter said.Undeterred, Trump still seems taken with the idea and has not let up on asking Pence how he could somehow reverse or prevent Biden from being certified the winner, according to people familiar with the conversations."He's a wonderful man and a smart man and a man that I like a lot but he's going to have a lot to say about it," Trump said on Monday. "You know one thing with him. You're going to get straight shots. He's going to call it straight."ProcedureTraditionally, the vice president presides over the electoral vote certification, though it's not a requirement. In 1969, then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey didn't preside over the process since he had just lost the presidential election to Richard Nixon. The president pro tempore of the Senate presided instead.One source close to Pence said it is not seen as a good option for Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley -- the current president pro tempore -- to be there instead of Pence on January 6.Pence and Trump were seen meeting in the Oval Office on Monday, along with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, before Trump departed for Georgia. According to Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, the pair were set to discuss how they would proceed on January 6. "That decision has to get made by the President and vice president, and they are actually meeting today and going through all the research -- they probably aren't going to make that decision by sometime tomorrow," Giuliani said on a podcast hosted by Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist.Giuliani ticked though several issues he characterized as constitutional matters that he said Pence and Trump would discuss. He framed the decision as one for both Trump and Pence -- even though the President has made clear he believes Pence should somehow act to prevent the certification, and Pence, in private, has explained his role is merely ceremonial. On Sunday, Pence met for a lengthy session with the Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough in his office just off the Senate floor. Pence chief of staff Marc Short, who was also in the Capitol and seen at one point going into the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, denied the purpose of the meeting was to find a way to overturn the Electoral College results. "No," Short said. "We're just meeting." Asked why he was meeting with the parliamentarian, Short said they are "trying to figure out the exact process."Presidential outrageStill, procedure and process can hardly inure Pence from the outrage of a President who still believes the election was stolen from him and has been fed conspiracies about the results from a band of fringe advisers.Even as recently as this weekend, Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro claimed on Fox News that Pence had the power to move back Inauguration Day, contradicting the Constitution.Last month, Trump offered tacit approval for the lawsuit filed by his Republican ally Rep. Louie Gohmert pressuring Pence into overturning the election results and was later disappointed to learn his own Justice Department was asking a judge to reject the suit, according to a person familiar with the matter. Trump and Pence discussed the matter at the end of last week. Trump for weeks has told associates that he does not believe Pence is fighting hard enough for him. That frustration is partly what led Pence's chief of staff to issue a statement Saturday night saying he welcomed efforts in Congress to raise objections to the Electoral College, though several noted it seemed carefully worded and did not say he supported the objections outright."Vice President Pence shares the concerns of millions of Americans about voter fraud and irregularities in the last election," Short wrote. "The Vice President welcomes the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use the authority they have under the law to raise objections and bring forward evidence before the Congress and the American people on January 6th."Speaking at his own rally in Georgia on Monday, Pence offered little insight into his thinking about January 6, even as he bolstered Trump's false claims of voter fraud.Instead, he kept his remarks vague."I know we've all got our doubts about the last election," he said. "I want to assure you, I share the concerns of the millions of Americans about voting irregularity. I promise you, come this Wednesday, we'll have our day in Congress, we'll hear the objections, we'll hear the evidence."Pence did not say what happens after.The Electoral CollegeVice President PencePoliticsPresidential ElectionThe SenateVoter FraudCNNWhite HouseBidenRepublicanTrump And PenceCapitolCongressJustice DepartmentFox NewsMike PenceDonald TrumpHubert HumphreyRichard NixonChuck GrassleyMark MeadowsIvanka TrumpRudy GiulianiElizabeth MacdonoughMarc ShortMitch McconnellLouie GohmertPeter Navarro

• $900 Billion Won’t Carry Biden Very Far

  The challenges greeting President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. rival those of the Great Recession, when he became vice president. Credit... Amr Alfiky/The New York TimesWith his presidential inauguration just weeks away, Joseph R. Biden Jr. is confronting an economic crisis that is utterly unparalleled and yet eerily familiar.Millions of Americans are out of work, small businesses are struggling to survive, hunger is rampant, and people across the country fear getting kicked out of their homes. The moment was similarly perilous exactly 12 years ago, when Mr. Biden was the vice president-elect and preparing to take office.“I remember the utter terror,” said Cecilia Rouse, who was an economic adviser in the Obama White House and has been chosen to lead Mr. Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers.The $900 billion pandemic relief plan that moderate lawmakers powered through Congress last month provides the incoming administration with some breathing room. This second tier of aid will deliver $600 stimulus checks, assist small businesses and extend federal unemployment benefits through mid-March.But as Mr. Biden has made clear, it is simply a “down payment” — a brief bridge to get through a dark winter and not nearly enough to restore the economy’s health.Roughly 19 million people are receiving some type of unemployment benefit, and many business owners wonder whether they will be able to survive the year. The coronavirus crisis has worsened longstanding inequalities, with workers at the lower end of the income spectrum — who are disproportionately Black and Hispanic — bearing the brunt of the pain.At the same time, bottlenecks in the Covid-19 vaccines’ rollout as well as fears about a much more transmissible variant of the virus could further delay the revival of large swaths of the economy like restaurants, travel, live entertainment and sports.“We are in for some choppy waters, even as we continue to get to the other side of the pandemic,” Ms. Rouse said.Yet despite the scorched earth left by the coronavirus, the economy is on a more stable footing in several ways than it was at the start of 2009.Instead of hurtling down a hole with no clear view of the bottom, Mr. Biden is taking office when the economy is on an upward trajectory. However anemic the growth, most analysts predict that 2021 will end better than it began even if there are stumbles along the way.While this pandemic-related recession was larger in terms of initial job losses and closings, it is what Ms. Rouse labeled “collateral damage” from a health emergency and not a crack in the underlying global financial system.“Now we know what to do: Provide the kind of social safety net for households, businesses and communities so they can get to the other side of the pandemic intact,” Ms. Rouse said.The Biden administration will also focus on attacking the deep-rooted inequalities that this crisis aggravated, she added.Volunteers distributing food donations in Bradenton, Fla. Four million U.S. workers have been unemployed for at least six months. Credit... Eve Edelheit for The New York TimesImageA closed flower shop in Tampa, Fla. The pandemic has shut down more businesses than the Great Recession did.Credit...Eve Edelheit for The New York TimesAdding to the positive side of the ledger, many households have socked away money, lifting the savings rate to a 40-year high. In contrast, the Great Recession razed storehouses of wealth, in retirement accounts and homes, virtually overnight.“Walking in this time, there is at least a cushion,” said Jason Furman, who led President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers and is now an economist at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.The Presidential TransitionWhat do the polls say about the runoff elections?Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who was on Trump’s Georgia call, has quietly aided efforts to overturn the election.The Constitution or his boss? Pence faces a choice.But if the Biden administration will have a bit more running room on the economy, it is likely to have a lot less politically than Mr. Obama did in the first two years of his presidency, when his party controlled both houses of Congress.If the Democrats retake control of the Senate by winning both seats in the Georgia runoff election on Tuesday, Mr. Biden’s path will be much easier. Otherwise, the new president will have to deal with a Republican Senate led by Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has stymied legislation from the Democratic-controlled House.In that case, the administration will have an uphill slog persuading lawmakers to approve more aid when this round ends. With a Democrat headed for the Oval Office, many Republicans who put aside their concerns about debt when it came to cutting taxes in 2017 have rediscovered their inner deficit hawk.Mr. McConnell successfully resisted President Trump’s calls — echoed by Democrats — to increase the latest stimulus payments to $2,000 from $600.The failure to extend or expand federal aid when it expires this spring not only would cause significant hardships and needless suffering but could seriously scar the economy, said Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist.Even though economic activity will most likely be on an upswing, the economy will remain weakened, Mr. Stiglitz said. Eviction moratoriums and mortgage forbearance have prevented families from losing their homes, but their housing debt has been accumulating even if it has not yet shown up on household balance sheets.ImageCovid-19 vaccinations are crucial to getting the economy back on track.Credit...Alex Welsh for The New York TimesImageA coronavirus testing site in Los Angeles. Cities and states also have a big role to play in distributing vaccines. Credit...Alex Welsh for The New York TimesMany small businesses, particularly in the hard-hit service sector, which has been a source of low-wage jobs, will not survive. Economic inequality will increase.“There’s been a lot of long-term damage,” Mr. Stiglitz said.At the same time, the ranks of workers who have been unemployed for six months or longer have swelled to more than four million, increasing the chances that they may never find another job. Growing numbers of men and women are also dropping out of the labor force altogether.None of those problems can really begin to be addressed without widely distributing the vaccines and reopening the schools so that parents, particularly mothers, can return to the work force.That is why economists say that funneling direct aid to state and local governments is so crucial.“That sector has been gutted,” said Abigail Wozniak, a labor economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, but it “is the sector that allows all the other sectors to operate.”States and localities will play a critical role in the vaccine rollout and in providing emergency medical personnel. They will also be responsible for sending teachers back to classrooms that are safe, and helping disadvantaged students regain lost ground.Senate Republicans have been dead set against providing that kind of direct aid. Mr. McConnell has criticized it as a “blue-state bailout,” even though many red and blue states — and rural areas in particular — have lost revenues and public sector jobs.ImageSenator Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, has opposed direct aid to state and local governments.Credit...Stefani Reynolds for The New York TimesImageEconomists say Congress and the White House must recognize the differences as well as the similarities between the pandemic and the Great Recession.Credit...Stefani Reynolds for The New York TimesEconomists on the right and left agree that while there are echoes from the Great Recession, there are also important distinctions. Restoring the economy this time, they warn, will require a kind of economic serenity prayer: recognizing the similarities, identifying the contrasts, and having the wisdom to know the difference.For Michael R. Strain, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, the economy has repaired itself more quickly than expected. He worries that some aid proposals, particularly those that prop up specific industries, would keep some dying businesses alive and “slow down the process of adjustment to a new post-virus economy.“The faster that process happens, the faster the economy heals,” Mr. Strain said.Many liberal economists, though, including those on the Biden team, warn against ignoring a crucial lesson from the last recession: Failing to move quickly to provide sufficient money to the people and businesses that need it can damage the economy far into the future.Brian Deese, whom Mr. Biden has picked to lead the National Economic Council, where he worked as an assistant during the Obama administration, said making public investments was necessary to ensure economic growth.“We’re in a moment where the risk of doing too little outweighs the risk of doing too much,” he said.Federal AidEconomic InequalityUnemployment BenefitsRepublican SenateSenate RepublicansPoliticsPresidential ElectionBiden AdvisersAmericansHispanicThe New York TimesDemocratsDemocraticThe Oval OfficeNational Economic CouncilCecilia RouseJason FurmanBarack ObamaCleta MitchellMitch McconnellJoseph StiglitzAlex WelshBrian Deese

• Clemson’s Sugar Bowl Recovery Requires a Refresh, Not An Overhaul

  The Sugar Bowl was an abomination. Doesn’t matter why or how, it was ugly and one of the worst games we’ve seen Clemson play in the last decade. Before last Friday’s loss, Clemson hadn’t been pantsed like this since the 2013 FSU game. And before that we’d really have to look at THAT Orange Bowl loss. These are probably the three worst games for Clemson under Dabo’s tenure.Read Full StoryThe Sugar BowlOrange BowlUgaLSUBowl GamesFSUNotre Dame FootballTigersOLOhio StatePittGeorgia TechFieldsTurnerACCDaboTrevor LawrenceRobbie CaldwellLes MilesMitch HyattNick Saban

• Op-Ed: Should COVID relief payments go to everyone or target only the truly needy?

  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that COVID relief payments should not go to the rich. (Getty Images)During last week’s congressional wrangling over COVID relief payments, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) held that $2,000 checks were not going to happen because it would be “socialism for rich people” to give so much money to Americans who didn’t need it. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) jabbed back at Republicans via Twitter: “Funny. They had no problem giving a $1.4 billion tax break to Charles Koch and his family worth $113 billion.”McConnell’s handwringing represents a longstanding debate in American social policy that COVID relief highlights: Should public benefits be given universally, to all citizens, or be targeted to the truly needy?When it comes to COVID relief, many argue for giving funds only to the poor. After all, what does somebody like Koch need with a piddly $2,000 check from the rest of us when he’s already rolling in dough? And if we forgo giving money to those who already have plenty of it, we could give more to those who really do need it.That reasoning is not as ironclad as people may think it is.More than two decades ago, Swedish researchers Walter Korpi and Joakim Palme noticed a paradox as they studied social policy around the globe. Needy people, they argued, may do better when government benefits are distributed equally and universally rather than when benefits are specifically given to the needy.Why is that? It turns out that redistribution can work better, and poor people can fare better, when the rich also get benefits.A universal system creates a direct, personal nexus between tax revenues and public goods. It embodies a “from us, for us” approach that ties citizenship to paying taxes and mutual aid. When public benefits and programs are aimed at the poor instead, it can create a “from me, for them” impression — an altruism model but based on taxation. This approach can cause citizens to resent programs and minimize the amount of aid they are willing to have their governments provide overall.In this way, targeted programs can erode social unity, and they can do so through what are called “notch problems,” which utterly defy common sense. For example, imagine if COVID relief checks go out only to those who make less than $150,000 a year. So the person who is a dollar short of that figure merits help, but the person who makes a dollar over does not. When that happens, some are left out of the benefit but stuck with the bill. Nobody can blame them if they feel like government failed to serve them, and arbitrarily at that. Universalism can avoid that perception.One-time payments associated with targeted relief — like the previous COVID stimulus checks — also can create a timing glitch. A person may have held down a good-paying job for years and not qualify when it is time to distribute those one-time checks, but in an economic crisis they can lose that job a week after the payments have gone out. When programs direct aid to specific groups, people like this are out of luck.Universalism may give some people a one-time windfall they don’t need, but they can always donate to worthwhile causes. But those who find themselves suddenly facing financial hardship — despite the rosy picture their tax returns might paint — have far fewer, and much less attractive options when they are passed over for targeted aid. Some can raid retirement savings, and others can fall back on generous family. Otherwise, the options are debt, losing their homes, bankruptcy, or all three.Social scientists continue to wrangle over whether Korpi and Palme are right about universalism. That debate may be academic, but if there were a time to err in favor of unity and equality, it’s now.America is at a crossroads after years of vicious, us-and-them politics. COVID would have been horrible regardless, but Republican politics that turned mask-wearing into a culture war made it all the worse. More than 350,000 Americans have died of COVID while other Americans seemingly shrug.Universal COVID relief would offer us a chance to see ourselves, albeit in a small way, as one united nation again — a nation of vastly different people capable of pulling together when hard times come and investing in ourselves, every one of us, from richest to poorest.Lisa Schweitzer is a professor at USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy.Copyright © 1881-2021. Los Angeles Times. Used with Permission.Mutual AidTaxationRepublican PoliticsOp-edCovidPublic HealthDebt ReliefFinancial AidTaxesSenateAmericansD-VtRepublicansTwitterSwedishMitch McconnellBernie SandersCharles KochJoakim Palme

• In 'mecca of hip-hop,' rappers rally for Georgia Democrats ahead of Senate runoffs

  Following President-elect Joe Biden's 2020 win against President Donald Trump, many hip-hop artists are turning their focus to the high-stakes Georgia Senate runoffs , where Democrats are running to unseat two Republican incumbent senators. Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff face off against current GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue on Tuesday. The Democratic Party, which maintained a narrow lead in the House in 2020, needs to capture both Senate seats to flip the balance of power in the upper chamber. Communities of color in Atlanta and the surrounding areas were key to Biden’s narrow win against Trump in the Peach State, where the Black vote is especially powerful, hip-hop artists are hoping to boost turnout and deliver another win for Democrats. Paras Griffin/Getty Images - PHOTO: Recording artist J.I.D performs onstage during "Vote GA Blue" concert for Georgia Democratic Senate candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff on Dec. 28, 2020, in Stonecrest, Ga. “If the right people are not in the Senate, it’s gonna make it hard for the Biden-Harris administration to do anything they need to do and that they promised to us,” Atlanta rapper Jeezy told Rolling Stone in an interview published Dec. 29. “What we did see by Georgia turning blue [and] by us being able to sway the election and get it the way we wanted to get it, it wasn’t about just the election -- to me, it was about people mobilizing,” he added. “So here with this runoff, we have to continue to do the same thing, because we can’t fight half the battle and then not finish the war.” In the throes of a chaotic Trump-Biden race, hip-hop stays on message Colin Douglas Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE - PHOTO: Jon Ossoff, Common, and Raphael Warnock wave to attendees during a 'It's Time To Vote' rally at Garden City Stadium in Garden City, Ga., Dec. 19, 2020. According to Lakeyta Bonnette-Bailey, a political science professor at Georgia State University who studies hip-hop culture and politics, the hip-hop culture’s influence on national politics has significantly grown over the past decade, but the voice of artists carries special weight in Atlanta, which is "now the center point of the hip-hop movement." “This idea that Atlanta is the Black mecca has been presented by many because of the large concentration not only of wealthy Blacks, but educated, highly educated Blacks. But it's also the mecca of hip-hop,” Bonnette-Bailey said. “Hip-hop started in the northeast, in the Bronx. But now we see more hip-hop artists that are coming out of Atlanta.” Paras Griffin/Getty Images - PHOTO: Rapper Tokyo Jetz performs onstage during the "Vote GA Blue" concert for Georgia Democratic Senate candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff on Dec. 28, 2020, in Stonecrest, Ga. Hip-hop stars from all over the country have participated in virtual or in-person events in Georgia to get out the vote. Recently, artists like Common, BRS Kash, Moneybagg Yo, Tokyo Jetz and J.I.D. performed at rallies and concerts featuring Ossoff and Warnock. And on Sunday, former first lady Michelle Obama’s non-profit When We All Vote hosted a drive-in concert featuring artists like Rick Ross, Common, Jeezy, Monica and DJ Drama. Ross, a Florida rapper who is prominent in the Southern rap scene, also performed at a "Joy to the Polls" pop-up concert Dec. 29 in Atlanta. Paras Griffin/Getty Images - PHOTO: Rick Ross performs onstage during "Joy To Polls" Pop-Up concert on Dec. 29, 2020, in Atlanta. “Hip-hop artists in Atlanta have always had this pull on the people, always had a connection to the people and always represented the voice for the people, and I think that is just hip-hop in general,” Bonnette-Bailey said. But she added that local stars like Killer Mike and T.I., who have deep roots in the community and a history of political activism, have a “unique” connection with the people because their efforts are viewed as “authentic.” Hip-hop has been standing up for Black lives for decades: 15 songs and why they matter Killer Mike and T.I. were both named to Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' mayoral transition team, and over the decades, they have built strong relationships with local politicians and activists in the state. T.I, who was honored by the Georgia state Senate in 2019 for his philanthropic work in the community, slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in an Instagram post Monday for blocking a vote on the $2,000 COVID-19 stimulus checks, writing, “We need to Move Mitch Out The Way by electing (Raphael Warnock) and (Jon Ossoff) to the US Senate on Jan 5th. The world is watching. Let's Activate the culture and show D.C. w-- WE DO‼️” Paras Griffin/Getty Images, FILE - PHOTO: In this Dec. 21, 2019, file photo, Killer Mike, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Shana Render attend 36th Annual Atlanta UNCF Mayor's Masked Ball in Atlanta. Killer Mike, who backed Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2016 and 2020 elections, invited the Vermont senator for a live Q&A on Instagram last month to discuss the progressive agenda and the Georgia Senate runoffs. The Run the Jewels rapper also spoke at a Dec. 20 event at The Gathering Spot in Atlanta, featuring Ossoff and Warnock. In an effort to boost voter turnout in the runoffs, Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz announced to fans that he is giving away a Tesla -- a luxury electric car -- to a Georgia voter who requests a mail-in-ballot or pledges to vote. Jermaine Dupri, an Atlanta rapper and record producer who became the second hip-hop act to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018, appeared at a December rally in Georgia for Warnock and Ossoff and told radio personality Rickey Smiley in an interview last month that the Senate races “(feel) like (they’re) more important than the presidential election.” Marcus Ingram/Getty Images for Street Dreamz, FILE - PHOTO: Jeezy and Mayor of Atlanta Keisha Lance Bottoms attend his Inaugural SnoBall for his Non-Profit Street Dreamz Foundation at Waldorf Astoria Atlanta Buckhead on Aug. 22, 2019, in Atlanta. Jeezy, whose 2008 anthem, “My President (is Black),” went viral during Obama’s first campaign, also worked closely with Lance Bottoms and recently interviewed her on his show on streaming channel Fox Soul to discuss the importance of the Senate elections. He also penned a Dec. 10 op-ed on the subject for Rolling Stone. All eyes on Stacey Abrams as Joe Biden passes Donald Trump in traditionally ruby-red Georgia The rapper, who has been a fixture in the Southern trap scene for decades, also made room for the Senate runoffs during his Verzuz battle with fellow Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane -- an iconic musical event for Atlanta hip-hop that was streamed by millions -- when he featured a message from Democrat voting rights activist and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. By Jan. 1, more than 3 million Georgians had voted early in a record for a runoff election. The secretary of state expects over 1 million more voters at the polls Tuesday. ABC News' Quinn Scanlan contributed to this report. Georgia SenateUs SenateRappersBlacksPresidential ElectionRepublican Party PoliticsRepublican SenatorsThe SenateRepublican PoliticsGeorgia DemocratsGOPThe Democratic PartyHouseParas Griffin/GettyGeorgia Democratic SenateJoe BidenDonald TrumpRaphael WarnockJon OssoffKelly LoefflerDavid PerdueJeezyMoneybagg YoMichelle ObamaRick RossDj DramaKiller MikeKeisha Lance BottomsMitch McconnellT.i.Stacey AbramsRickey SmileyGucci ManeBernie SandersJermaine Dupri

• Trump's power wanes in closing weeks

  President Trump is witnessing his power wane in his final days in office as he divides the GOP over his assault on the electoral process and clashes with Republicans on policy. In the span of a week, the GOP-controlled Senate overrode Trump’s veto of a defense policy bill, rebuffing the...Read Full StoryExecutive OrdersPoliticsGOP EffortsRepublican LawmakersDemocratsRepublican LeadersRepublicansThe Electoral CollegeHouseTreasurySave [email protected] SenatePresident TrumpMitch McconnellJoe BidenTom CottonLindsey GrahamSteven MnuchinJohn ThuneBrian KempDoug DuceyJames LankfordKelly LoefflerKamala HarrisRob PortmanDavid PerdueBrad RaffenspergerTed CruzDonald Trump

• Republican infighting on election intensifies

  Senate Republicans are going to war with each other over the upcoming Electoral College vote in Congress as lawmakers try to fill a post-Trump power vacuum. The public infighting is putting a spotlight on simmering divisions and setting up the scenario Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — who watched GOP squabbling cost him seats in previous election cycles — wanted to avoid when he warned members not to object to Wednesday’s counting of the electoral votes.Read Full StoryElection ResultsSenate RepublicansPoliticsRepublican LawmakersGOP LawmakersDemocratic LawmakersGOP LeadershipRepublican LeadershipThe Electoral CollegeThe Republican PartyAmerican117th CongressDemocratic White HouseRepublican SenatorsElection IntegrityMitch McconnellJoe BidenTom CottonBen SasseJames LankfordRob PortmanRichard ShelbyLisa MurkowskiPat ToomeyRichard BurrJosh HawleyTed CruzScott JenningsJohn ThuneRand PaulMarco RubioSusan CollinsRoy Blunt

• Senate GOP opposition grows to objecting to Electoral College results

  A growing number of Senate Republicans are formally coming out against challenging the Electoral College results on Wednesday, underscoring that the long-shot effort is guaranteed to fail even in the GOP-controlled chamber. GOP Sens. Kevin Cramer (N.D.) and Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) — two Republicans from states where President Trump...Read Full StorySenate GopSenate RepublicansElection ResultsThe Electoral CollegePoliticsPresidential ElectionThe SenateRepublican SenatorsCongressHouseAmericansSenate GOP LeadershipGOP LeadersCertified Electoral VotesConservativesKevin CramerShelley Moore CapitoRob PortmanJoe BidenLindsey GrahamTom CottonKelly LoefflerMitch Mcconnell

• How Ted Cruz screwed over Senate Republicans

  (CNN) — The decision last week by Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley (R) to formally object to the 2020 Electoral College results this Wednesday was bad for Republicans.The decision by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) to organize 10 more Senate colleagues to also announce on Saturday that they also planned to object to the results is way, way worse.See, Hawley's objection -- if he was the lone voice among GOP senators doing so -- could be written off as the strategy of an ambitious young pol who wants to make a name for himself before the 2024 GOP primary.But when Cruz, who also wants to run for president (again) in 2024, and 10 other Republican senators announced they, too, would oppose the Electoral College results, then it became an un-ignorable and un-dismissible issue for Republicans.Because now almost 25% of the 52 sitting Republican senators are planning to go on record to object to the results, which have been certified in all 50 states and to which no serious objections can be raised.Wrote the editorial board of the conservative National Review on Cruz's gambit:"The Cruz eleven realize that their effort isn't going anywhere. Both houses of Congress would have to vote to uphold objections to electors. Neither will, and neither should. If all they want to do is signal that they are upset that Biden won, this isn't the manner or the forum to do it."What Cruz's gambit will do is make it impossible for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) to cast this vote as anything other than a pure loyalty test vis a vis Trump.And that's a problem for people like Sens. Rob Portman (Ohio), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Roy Blunt (Missouri) who a) have said they won't support the objection and b) are up for reelection in 2022.That trio is now ripe for Trump-backed primary challenges by candidates who can point to Wednesday's vote as a moment of choosing between "real" Republicans and RINOs (Republicans In Name Only).The Point: Ted Cruz has never been terribly popular among his Senate colleagues. And this won't help.Senate RepublicansPoliticsRepublican SenatorsSenate PresidentCNNThe Electoral CollegeUnCongressBidenTrumpGOP SenatorsObjectionsTexasKentuckyElectorsTed CruzJosh HawleyMitch McconnellRob PortmanLisa MurkowskiRoy Blunt

• GOP attorneys: We can't let our party's leaders betray our democracy

  Donald Ayer served as United States attorney and principal deputy solicitor general in the Ronald Reagan administration and as deputy attorney general under George H.W. Bush. Tom Rath served as attorney general of New Hampshire, director of the Legal Services Corporation under President George W. Bush and Republican Party national committeeman for New Hampshire for seven years. Both serve on the Voter Protection Program Bipartisan Advisory Board. The views expressed in this commentary are their own. View on CNN. (CNN) — Wednesday, January 6, shouldn't be a memorable date on the political calendar. To the contrary -- this day is typically a mostly unnoticed step in the certification of the Electoral College votes in the chambers of the US Capitol.Yet if you follow the baseless claims of President Donald Trump and his staunchest allies, you might believe we are confronting an event of utmost controversy or vast legal questions.Spoiler alert: We aren't. The voters picked Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and they will take office as president and vice president January 20. Still, a handful of Trump zealots in Congress are injecting a veneer of chaos into the process, seeking to undermine faith in our democracy itself. So, we have to ask the question: Who among us, especially in the current iteration of the Republican Party, will hold firm on the side of the voters and the rule of law against Trump's assault on the fundamentals of our system of government? We should note that while it is positive that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and a growing number of leading Republicans have acknowledged the legitimacy of the election and Biden as President-elect, it is unacceptable that the outgoing President and his loyalists continue to undermine our democracy.In many ways, we face another inflection point -- the kind of moment when our individual and collective actions determine in what direction we will travel, what type of society we will inhabit, what kind of country we will be. It's in those instances when a leader's character can be revealed and a people's fate can be sealed. It's in those decisions that we discover who stood on the right side of progress and who failed to uphold our best interests and values.These moments are littered throughout our history books. Who fought with then-Gen. George Washington for independence and revolution over despotism and autocracy. Who stood with President Abraham Lincoln for the union and freedom over secession and slavery. Who joined the allies to preserve democracy and human rights against Nazi horrors and fascist violence. Who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis for civil rights, resisting the forces arrayed against human dignity.The examples go on. And we face another such point right now: Congress is meeting to certify the Electoral College results January 6, marking the final stop on the road to Biden's inauguration. No matter what Trump and others try to claim, nothing will change the outcome. What makes this time different, though, are the threats of multiple Republicans to formally object to the tally, thereby rejecting the will of the voters in a contest that shattered turnout records.Perhaps this is a last-ditch effort to appease Trump's ego, but it's enough already. The election was fair, secure and free -- and any attempt to undo the vote won't work. Like the more than 50 lawsuits filed since November 3, this has no merit.But the perceived political cost of crossing Trump forces us to consider again: This week, who will stand for what's right over what's expedient? Who will choose country over party and law over partisanship?The recent past offers us a prime answer. A few weeks ago, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an absurd lawsuit seeking to throw out roughly 20 million legally cast votes in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. A number of his Republican attorney general colleagues and 126 Republican members of Congress joined him, only to see their ridiculous plea swiftly rejected by the US Supreme Court.This gambit made headlines. But beneath the hysteria, something far more remarkable happened, too. There were Republicans who said no. Leaders from Idaho, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Ohio and even Texas refused to support this case.Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a former Texas attorney general himself, said he "frankly struggles to understand the legal theory of" the suit. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and Gov.-elect Spencer Cox called this case "an unwise use of taxpayers' money." Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah referred to it as an "effort to subvert the vote of the people (that) is dangerous and destructive of the cause of democracy." And, in a brief filed with the Supreme Court, a group of prominent conservative lawyers and former elected officials described the Texas case as "a mockery of federalism and separation of powers." These leaders held true to the ocath they swore as lawyers and as public servants: to uphold the Constitution and defend the very heart of our republic.This shouldn't be anything special. But in this day and age, their actions are. And these leaders show us what it means to stay true to our nation's -- and their own -- character. If we wish to see our values and our way of life survive beyond this unsteady interlude, we need more voices to follow in these footsteps. We need to see that level of dignity and honesty on the floor of Congress. Anything less is a betrayal of our democracy.This is a time to step up to the plate. It's not the first, and it won't be the last. But it speaks to who we are -- and can be -- as a people. Just think back to the origins of our modern system. When the founders concluded the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, a group of citizens standing outside saw Benjamin Franklin, the elder statesman of early America, emerge from the deliberations and asked: What sort of government would we see? What would our future hold?To this, Franklin said simply: "A republic, if you can keep it."Our democracy isn't a self-fulfilling prophecy. It requires constant attention and care. And now is another moment to keep our republic intact -- to sustain our magnificent experiment, led by elected representatives ready to preserve the promise of our Constitution.FederalismThe Us Supreme CourtElected RepresentativesPoliticsNew DemocracyCongressTrue DemocracyConstitutional RightsGOPCNNThe Electoral CollegeThe Republican PartySenateNaziThe US Supreme CourtRonald ReaganTom RathGeorge W. BushDonald TrumpJoe BidenKamala HarrisMitch McconnellGeorge WashingtonAbraham LincolnMartin Luther King Jr.Ken PaxtonJohn CornynGary HerbertMitt RomneyBenjamin Franklin