The last days of Trump’s presidency inspire hourly countdowns

The last days of Trump’s presidency inspire hourly countdowns

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Were there hourly counts for the end of the Bush presidency? The end of Obama’s years? No, definitely not to that extent. Trump’s time in office is ending in an ignoble fashion. There is a countdown to noon on Wednesday because Trump is leaving in disgrace – the first president to do so since Richard Nixon. Trump “long ago stopped governing, but comes out with a reputation that is sealed now: that of one of the worst presidents in the history of the United States and certainly the most dangerous,” said David Gergen on CNN Sunday night.

Even at this late hour, Trump is raving about his electoral loss, or he is still in deep denial, or some combination of it. He’s “quiet, and I think it’s important to say, according to people I talked to, still telling people that he won,” Maggie Haberman reported in “Trusted Sources” Sunday morning. “You know, he’s still keeping it. So, the idea that he accepted the loss, he hasn’t arrived yet, if he will ever get there.”

Trump’s inability to face the truth about his defeat for Biden may explain why he barely faced reporters in the final weeks of his presidency. Even more remarkable, he rarely called his favorite TV shows. In addition to some conversations with Maria Bartiromo and Brian Kilmeade and some videos produced by WH, he is invisible.

“I think the feeling is that if he goes out and talks more, he will just add fuel to the fire,” said Haberman. “This is part of the reason why we are not listening to him, since people are afraid of what he will say – people referring to his advisers – what he will say offhand in an interview.

A farewell address?

American presidents often give a thoughtful farewell speech to the nation. Will Trump? We know he wants a farewell to TV on Wednesday, but it is unclear whether he wants to talk about his legacy. CBS News is reporting that he will speak “at a farewell event on the Andrews Joint Base track.” It is also unclear how TV networks would deal with such a speech, given their past mistakes and incitements.

>> I am not raising these issues because I “want” to hear Trump on his own. I’m raising the Q’s because what leaders don’t say is often more revealing than what they say. Trump is dropping the rules until the last minute of his presidency, leaving town before Biden takes the oath …

Pence filling in as price?

VP Mike Pence has been attending meetings and events, trying to project American leadership, since Trump can’t. Speaking to sailors in California on Saturday, Pence said he was proud that “this is the first government in decades that has not led the United States into a new war”. I understand what he meant about foreign complications, but America is not at peace. The war has come home. Here is my “reliable” monologue.

Pence – who, in an alternate Trump-era story, would have become president if Trump had been convicted by the Senate or deemed improper by the cabinet – landed back in DC on Sunday night after his last official trip to office. According to the opinion of the press, he left Air Force Two and “stopped for a minute to look around and assimilate everything”. As he came down the stairs, the pool reporter shouted questions: “Sir, are you worried about the violence on Wednesday?” E: “Will you greet the president-elect in the White House on Wednesday?” Pence did not answer.

Coming soon: a “slow news day?”

Haberman told me that one of the constants of the Trump era was the “constant sensation of entry”, a sensation driven largely by his Twitter feed.
Your Twitter feed is now over, but the feeling of hiding has not yet completely disappeared. Years of history take place in days. “We think that with 2020 behind us, things could slow down,” but a lot for that, USA Today editor Nicole Carroll said on Sunday’s show.
John Dickerson brought this up in a story for “CBS Sunday Morning”. He said that “the new Biden government can benefit from simply offering a steady stream of useful information – potentially reliving the forgotten ‘slow news day’.”

He interviewed Jill Lepore, who said, “You really just need to show up, have real information, bring in people who are doing their job and answer the questions that the press and the public have.” It sounds simple – and invigorating …

Remember how presidents used to talk?

With Biden on the verge of taking over, it’s a good day to read or reread the inaugural speeches and other compelling speeches from previous presidents. I reread John F. Kennedy’s 1961 speech to newspaper editors, which contains a lot of wisdom about democracy, national security and the power of the press. Kennedy spoke of “our obligation” – both for him and the news media – “to inform and alert the American people, to ensure that they have all the facts they need and also understand them – the dangers, the potential customers, the objectives of our program and the choices we face. “Read or listen to the speech here …

FOR REGISTRATION

– On Sunday night, the NYT home page featured the failure of America’s Covid-19, noting that “the country is advancing to 400,000 deaths in total …” (NYT)

– We must all remember that Trump said 100,000 to 200,000 deaths in total would count as “very good work”. The death toll will exceed 400,000 when he leaves WH …

– In “Face the Nation”, the new director of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said “we expect half a million deaths in this country” in mid-February … (CBS)

– Walensky was part of an effort coordinated by the Biden transition team to have representatives on all five major Sunday morning programs …

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