The Weekly List

In the final full week heading into the  election, the seeds of Trump’s bungled pandemic response came back to  haunt him, with the twin challenges of record daily cases and  hospitalizations in many states, along with the worst week for the stock  market since March. Even as a new outbreak hit Vice President Mike  Pence’s staffers, Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows all but conceded  the regime had thrown the white flag on any federal response, saying,  “We are not going to control the pandemic.” Trump barn-stormed battleground states, all of  which were facing surges in cases, and continued to hold rallies with  supporters packed together without face masks. Unthinkable. Polling  showed nearly 6 in 10 Americans disapproved of Trump’s rallies, and  evidence continued to come out that the rallies were leading to sickness  and death. This week Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed as a  Supreme Court justice, for the first time in 151 years without a single  vote from the minority party, heading into a highly litigious election  with Republicans and the Trump campaign bringing hundreds of lawsuits in  an effort to suppress voting. Nevertheless, a record 90 million  Americans had voted by the end of the week, two-thirds of the total 2016  vote, as the country braced for violence on Election Day. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-207/

This week, with Election Day nearing, the  coronavirus raged out of control, with a record number of new daily  cases on Thursday, and then again Friday, topping 83,000.  Hospitalizations also soared in many states, and the death toll started  to rise. Trump meanwhile continued to hold campaign rallies in  battleground states, almost all of which were in the midst of surging  cases. His supporters stood packed together, shoulder-to-shoulder, and  mostly without face masks. It was unthinkable that a leader would do  such a thing — but Trump proved once again his care is only for himself  and his re-election, even though many of his supporters will end up  getting sick and some will die. Meanwhile, Americans voted in record number, by  Thursday topping the early votes for all of 2016, and by week’s end, 56  million had voted, 40% of all who voted in 2016. Record turnout  continued in multiple states, with registered Democrats far outpacing  Republicans. Despite the huge turnout, Senate Republicans continued to  push through Trump’s Supreme Court nominee — even as Democrats boycotted  the Judiciary Committee vote — and while eschewing a Covid relief bill,  as 8 million more Americans descended into poverty. Trump spent the week all over place: attacking  Dr. Anthony Fauci, then “60 Minutes” anchor Lesley Stahl, and gaining no  ground as Americans voted and Election Day neared. News of foreign  interference loomed large, as did acts of violence and intimidation from  far-right groups. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-206/

This week, despite millions of Americans having  voted already, Senate Republicans started the process of confirming  Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court. With Republicans in control of  the Senate, there was little Democrats could do to address the hypocrisy  and outrage over Trump’s actions, other than show up to vote, which  they did in record numbers. Behind in the polls, Trump got out on the  campaign trail, claiming he was no longer contagious and holding daily  rallies in states, many of which were experiencing coronavirus  outbreaks. As the virus surged nationally, there was no federal  government response, and in fact Trump seemed increasingly to lean on  Dr. Scott Atlas, who continued to push the notion of herd immunity.  Trump also made increasingly desperate statements at his rallies,  indicating he did understand the gravity of Election Day approaching and  Biden’s lead. State officials braced for violence on Election  Day, as Trump continued to give credence to the QAnon conspiracy theory,  and encouraged an “army” of supporters to sign up as poll watchers.  Meanwhile, Attorney General Bill Barr remained conspicuously absent from  the public eye, as the “unmasking” probe quietly and unceremoniously  ended, and he had yet to comment on the alleged plot against Michigan  Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Stephen Bannon  introduced a supposed hard drive belonging to Hunter Biden in a “smoking  gun” story at the New York Post, that was soon under investigation by the F.B.I. as a possible Russian intelligence operation. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-205/

This week the public was given little information  about Trump’s health and recovery from the coronavirus, including basic  questions like when he last tested negative or his medical status. Even  by Trump’s standards, this week he acted extraordinarily crazed and  erratic — both in his actions and his words. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi  questioned if Trump was in “an altered state,” as it was unclear if a  steroid he was taking as treatment, which can result in mild to moderate  psychiatric side effects, was to blame. Despite being hospitalized for Covid-19, Trump  did not change his approach to the pandemic, like caring about the  wellness of those around him, or adhering to safety guidelines. As he  plummeted further in the polls, and there was talk of a landslide, he  returned to the White House, then the Oval Office, and was eager to get  back on the campaign trail, despite likely being contagious. It was  remarkable. Later in the week, Trump made a series of long  appearances on Fox and other conservative media, coughing and sounding  unhinged, and repeatedly calling on the Justice Department to indict his  political enemies. After Michigan law enforcement and the FBI announced  arrests in an alleged plot by domestic terrorists to kidnap Gov.  Gretchen Whitmer and orchestrate a coup of sorts, Trump, whose words had  incited their actions, fanned the flames further by seeming to side  with the 13 suspects, some who had links to the national “boogaloo”  anti-government movement, and criticizing Whitmer. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-204/

On Thursday of this week, around 5 p.m., I  tweeted that this week was unusually quiet in terms of the chaos, and  was on pace for the fewest broken norms in 2020. I wrote that I was not  sure what to attribute it to, but “We might be heading toward the end.”  Hours later, Bloomberg News  reporter Jennifer Jacobs broke the news that Hope Hicks had tested  positive for coronavirus, which led to a cascade of disclosures. Shortly  after midnight that evening, Trump announced on Twitter that both he  and First Lady Melania were also positive. The original plotline seemed to set Hicks up to  be the patsy, but within the next 24 hours, it became clear that most  top Republicans contracted the virus at a White House reception for the  announcement of Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Amy Coney  Barrett, held Saturday, even before Ruth Bader Ginsburg was buried. Ahead of these disclosures, this week was the  first presidential debate, which many pundits pegged as the worst in  modern history. Trump was an unhinged, raging, maniacal mess, who  delivered no campaign message but anger. One startling takeaway was  Trump’s refusal to condemn white supremacists. Again. In fact, he  ordered far-right hate group the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand  by.” He also spewed a series of lies about election fraud, and continued  to undermine the validity of the upcoming election. The Times noted in a front page story that the country has successfully held  presidential elections since 1788, but “now faces the gravest challenge  in its history to the way it chooses a leader and peacefully transfers  power.” As the week came to an end, Trump was admitted  to Walter Reed Medical Center. As has been the case in all his years in  office, there was no clear communication or truth about his condition.  The American people sat on edge with Election Day one month away, unsure  about his condition, and even when he tested positive for the virus. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-203/

This week Trump said he would not accept a  peaceful transition of power — a remarkable, unprecedented statement.  While there was pushback in the form of the Senate voting for a  resolution affirming its commitment to a peaceful transition — without  mentioning Trump by name or condemning his statement — Trump persisted  with his lies about mail-in ballot voter fraud, and refused to back  down. While polls show Biden winning nationally and in  battleground states won by Trump in 2016, Trump’s threat, accompanied  by an article in The Atlantic  saying Trump might try a coup if he loses, left the country on  edge — especially with Trump moving forward to appoint a Supreme Court  nominee, stacking the court 6–3 ahead of legal challenges. Even Pentagon  leaders were reported to be discussing what they would do if Trump  tried to use troops on protestors. Yet, while Trump continued to sow  doubt about the election, voters requested mail-in ballots in record  numbers. States that revealed voting requests data by party  identification showed a huge margin of Democrats requesting and sending  back their ballots over Republicans. This week, the U.S. passed the grim milestone of  200,000 dead and over 7,000,000 infected with the coronavirus. By  week’s end, the virus was coming back into the spotlight, not only amid  rising concerns about the politicization of a possible vaccine and  federal health agencies, but also with a new surge in daily cases. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-202/

It’s hard to express the sense of loss this year  has brought to the our country: already we’ve endured three years of  division, broken norms, lawlessness, kleptocracy, bigotry and hate,  gaslighting and non-stop lies — leaving our country anxious and  exhausted entering 2020. This year has brought illness, unemployment,  starvation, death, wildfires, hurricanes, social unrest, and now the  loss of a revered and beloved Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader  Ginsburg, 46 days before the election. It’s hard to put into words the  cumulative stress, sorrow, and anger our country is experiencing. Now,  as Trump continues to lie and sow doubt about the integrity of the  election, we face the unthinkable of a Supreme Court stacked in his  favor possibly deciding the outcome of a contested election. On top of that, this week brought more questions  about Trump’s handling of the deadly pandemic as we approach an  unthinkable 200,000 deaths. Bob Woodward’s book, combined with a town  hall appearance by Trump this week, raised serious questions about  Trump’s mental health and attachment to reality. Woodward concluded  there is a nervous breakdown of the executive branch and Trump “is the  wrong man for the job.” As the country starts voting this week in record  numbers, America stands on edge. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-201/

Things are getting worse in America, week by  week. This week, as the West Coast saw wildfires spread, with much of  California, Oregon, and Washington covered in smoke so thick the sun  couldn’t break through and the sky was a hazy gray or shade of yellow  and orange, Trump ignored it. Just as he skipped a commemorative  ceremony in lower Manhattan for the anniversary of 9/11 — as if the blue  states were not his responsibility — repeating a theme from the start  in office: leader of his supporters, not the country. This week Trump was engulfed in a second major  scandal, as journalist Bob Woodward released tapes of conversations he  had with Trump on a variety of topics, including Trump admitting he knew  in early February that Covid-19 posed a dire risk — a fact he hid and  lied about for months. One historian described it as “the greatest  dereliction of duty” in presidential history. This week reporting revealed the Trump regime’s  embrace of tactics more familiar to an authoritarian regime than a  democracy. Department of Health and Human Services officials sought to  hide information and alter reports on the extent of the Covid-19  outbreak, while a whistleblower complaint portrayed Department of  Homeland Security officials hiding intelligence on Russian interference,  and altering reports to blame left-leaning groups for violence. There  was more shocking news about the Justice Department intervening in a  case for Trump on a personal matter, while a top deputy of John Durham  resigned from his investigation of the investigators, citing pressure  from Attorney General William Barr to finalize a report before the  election. The Treasury Department sanctioned Andrii Derkach, described  as an active Russian agent, who had been a source of information for  both Rudy Giuliani and Senate Chairs Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley in  their investigations of Democratic nominee Joe Biden. America is a country at war with itself, with  Trump stoking division as a campaign strategy. The apocalyptic skies of  the West seemed to capture the dystopian feel of an exhausted, anxious,  fearful, downtrodden America. Having failed to truly tame the  coronavirus over the summer with no federal strategy and Trump refusing  to even encourage face masks, the country now heads into fall and  winter, with dire predictions on illness and death. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-200/

This week, with no discernible post-convention  bounce and the election two months away, Trump was frenzied. He started  the week with a storm of tweets, and then embarked on espousing a series  of bizarre conspiracy theories that made him appear mentally unfit to  lead, some of which were then backed in part by Attorney General William  Barr — our country’s chief law enforcement, who openly lied and  obfuscated in a television interview. While continuing to attack the integrity of the  election, Trump encouraged his supporters, at campaign rallies in two  swing states and on Twitter, to vote twice, an illegal act. Notably,  reporting this week indicated the attack lines used by his campaign,  including disparaging the integrity of mail-in voting, nearly mirrored  those of Russian intelligence. The entire week felt not only chaotic,  but almost surreal given the bizarre conspiracies, lies, and calls for  both violence and illegal acts Trump openly floated. The week closed with blockbuster reporting by the Atlantic on  Trump’s disparaging of members of the U.S. military, calling them  “losers” and “suckers” for the ultimate sacrifice. A story Trump denied,  but was confirmed by the Post, the AP and even Fox News. The story shook the nation, and Trump could not  shake its impact on his image as a pro-military strong man as the week  came to a close. In between, this was the longest week so far, by  far. There are so many stories that needed focus, and got very little  or none. They are recorded here for posterity and to be undone when this  nightmare of an era is over. Notably also in the midst of the gravest  public health crisis in a century, Trump has managed to undermine the  trust in all our public health agencies, as we near 200,000 Americans  dead, with projections showing more than double that could die by  year-end in the pandemic. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-199/

This week, the Republican Party held its  convention — which was likened to a Trump convention — a four-day span  of shattered norms, and possibly multiple violations of the law. Gone  were names familiar to the Grand Old Party, replaced by Trump loyalists  and his family members. Republicans, for the first time 1856, didn’t  even produce a platform! Instead, the convention was akin to a reality  television show, starring Trump every night, full of lies,  misinformation, and an alternative reality in which the pandemic was  over. As the election approaches, the Trump regime  continues to be increasingly brazen and lawless. This week, the regime  threatened a Post reporter by  telling him they were building a dossier on him and others, mail  continued to pile-up as Trump’s Postmaster General continued to  obfuscate, and by week’s end, the director of the Office of the Director  of National Intelligence said his agency would no longer brief Congress  in person on foreign interference. Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times  in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, setting off protests, and  later killings by an armed militia member who came from out of state.  Disturbing videos from Kenosha, as well as Portland, Oregon, seemed to  show police officers in cahoots with far-right hate groups and armed  militants. Major league teams protested Blake’s shooting and systemic  racism by canceling games, while Trump stoked division and hate. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-198/

This was the longest weekly list, and it was  simply exhausting. The Democrats held a very successful first virtual  Democratic National Convention, while Trump spent the week advancing  lies and conspiracy theories about voting to undermine the election.  Polls continue to show he will lose by a wide margin. In a break from tradition, both former First  Lady Michelle and President Barack Obama gave historic speeches, focused  on warning the American people that Trump is a danger to our democracy,  and is not capable of doing the job. The emotional speeches were a call  to action, from the former first family who had largely has given Trump  a chance to grow into the position. Barack in particular portrayed  Trump as a grave threat. Meanwhile, nominee Joe Biden gave what was  widely heralded as the best speech of his career, in a moving,  emotional, optimistic speech of unity, promising light, hope, and  competence. This week, the U.S. Postal Service was front and  center, as Postmaster General Louis DeJoy faced public outcry for the  slowing mail, and Congressional hearings got underway. Trump tried to  gaslight, suggesting the slowing mail was, ironically, a conspiracy  theory by Democrats. This week a nearly 1,000 page shocking Senate  Intelligence Committee report was released, revealing a deep connection  between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential  election. Trump largely abandoned his so-called daily  coronavirus briefings, instead holding campaign rallies and some Q&A  sessions with the media. Dr. Deborah Birx has largely disappeared from  the public, as Trump switched to a radiologist who frequently appeared  on Fox News for advice and shares his point-of-view. College reopening,  like K-12 openings the week before, got off to a rocky start, with  outbreaks on several campuses — again a result of a patchwork strategy,  with inadequate testing and few guidelines. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-197/

This week, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe  Biden chose his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, the first Black and  Asian American vice presidential candidate. An oddly unprepared Trump  campaign and Republican Party reacted with a deluge of sexist and racist  attacks, including shameful accusations of “birtherism.” Trump also  threw his support behind a House candidate who espouses the QAnon  conspiracy theory and is openly racist, raising serious concerns again  about the future of the Republican Party. This week, as polls continued to show Trump down  to Biden nationally and in key battleground states, and despite the  pandemic continuing to impact much of the country, Trump openly said he  would block needed funding for the U.S. Post Office in an effort to  thwart mail-in voting for the November election. An incredible  admission, but yet Republicans seemed largely unwilling to call him out,  or band with Democrats to protect this basic tenet not only of American  democracy, but of everyday life. As democracies around the world looked  on in horror at a stolen election in Belarus, Americans were left to  wonder if we were next — with Trump’s efforts to compromise the upcoming  election. This was another week full of stories of  corruption, kleptocracy, and division, as an exhausted America, that  couldn’t even agree on a scientifically proven measure like wearing  masks, faced an uncertain election in 80 days. Even as tens of millions  of Americans were still without a weekly unemployment payment, Senate  Majority Leader Mitch McConnell adjourned the Senate until  mid-September, and Trump headed back to the golf course. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-196/

This week U.S. intelligence revealed Russia is  actively interfering in the 2020 presidential election, with a goal of  harming presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Democratic leaders  pressed NCSC Director William Evanina to inform the American people,  while Republicans, reminiscent of 2016, tried to obfuscate intelligence  by publicly claiming it was unclear Russia was helping Trump, and using  the whataboutism that other countries, China and Iran, were also  interfering. This week Trump continued to push for schools to  reopen, falsely claiming on Fox News that children are “almost  immune” — a clip of which was then pulled by Twitter and Facebook over  it being false information on Covid-19. Schools that reopened however,  had a shaky start with unclear guidance and patchwork approach. Trump  also had another disastrous interview with Axios’s  Jonathan Swan, revealing a lack of basic knowledge about the pandemic,  and raising concerns about his mental acuity and competency. This week with the virus spreading and Trump  regurgitating the same disinformation, tens of millions of unemployed  Americans were without an essential $600 weekly payment to help make  ends meet. Trump left town for a long weekend at his Bedminster club,  and Republican leaders also skipped town. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-195/

This week, for the first time, Trump publicly  floated the idea of delaying the November election, drawing swift  condemnation from Democrats and a mild rebuke from Republican  leadership. The co-founder of conservative Federalist Society said in an  op-ed that Trump should be removed if he tries to follow through.  Undeterred, Trump spent the week continuing to sow doubt about the  results of the “rigged” and “most fraudulent” upcoming election. His  U.S. Postal Service appointee meanwhile took steps to slow the flow of  mail ahead of the expected surge of mail-in and absentee ballots in less  than 100 days. This week, the pace of coronavirus deaths  started to increase as the U.S. passed another grim milestone of 150,000  deaths, and while Trump outwardly suggested that large areas of the  country were “corona-free,” an internal White House document showed the  exact opposite: a virus spreading to new states and out of control. Portland was front and center this week, as  Trump’s stormtroopers tear-gassed and shot non-lethal bullets in the  faces of largely peaceful protestors. Trump continued to invoke  decades-old racist tropes about suburbia in a failed effort to win over  white suburban voters, especially women, who largely disapproved of his  handling of the social unrest. By week’s end, Trump pulled out the  troops, leaving the city to peaceful protests and calm. Attorney General  William Barr finally testified in a cantankerous bad-and-forth with  Congressional Democrats, filled with disinformation and gaslighting. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-194/

This week, as the coronavirus raged out of  control, passing 4 million U.S. cases and 145,000 deaths, Trump  resurrected his daily coronavirus briefings — by himself, with no health  officials. He also sought to divert attention to Portland, Oregon,  where alarming images of unmarked federal law enforcement were seen  shoving and tear-gassing growing crowds of Black Lives Matter  protestors. Reporting indicated Trump has purposefully picked Portland  to create imagery and video content of a culture war, which he continues  to flame. This week a series of stories came out about the  corruption of the Trump regime, but in the chaos, got little attention.  Reporting indicated Attorney General William Barr was behind Michael  Cohen being sent back to prison, and Barr’s rationale for pushing out  U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman was related to the Cohen investigation,  and Barr potentially outed a F.B.I. source on Russia. The Department of  Homeland Security was also under fire for admitting the agency had  provided false information to justify Trump retaliating against New  York. Meanwhile, Trump was forced this week to retreat  on several issues, as his poll numbers continued their plummet, and  even some Republicans turned on him or refused to do his bidding. Trump  abruptly canceled the Republican National Convention, amid his already  imperiled re-election campaign. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-193/