Category: Daniel Serwer
Stevenson’s army, January 3
About a dozen GOP Senators have pledged to challenge the electoral votes from several swing states.
Read their statement. They speak of “allegations” of fraud, not “evidence.” They say a challenge is necessary because so many people, especially Republicans, tell pollsters they believe there was fraud.
And what they propose — which would have to get both houses of Congress to vote such a bill — is what they call an” emergency 10-day audit” of the returns. What they want is a return to the 1877 electoral commission that voted on partisan lines to give the presidency to Rutherford Hayes by a one-vote margin. Wikipedia has a good backgrounder.
How clever! They have a precedent. It sounds so reasonable. And if anyone doubts that this massive task could be completed by January 20, Peter Navarro assures us that “We can go past that date if we need to.”
Last month I sent this CRS report on how the counting is supposed to go, by law.
Today [Sunday] at noon,the 117th Congress begins. In the House, the first item of business is electing a Speaker. But the vote may be quite close.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Swagger is not pride, humility, or professionalism
Secretary of State Pompeo tweeted yesterday:
The real definition is:
walk or behave in a very confident and typically arrogant or aggressive way.
Oxford Languages
This pretty much sums up what is wrong with Pompeo: he lies incessantly, even about the well-established definition of words, and doesn’t know the difference between pride and humility, or for that matter anything about professionalism. Pompeo is well on his way to convincing most knowledgeable observers that he is the worst Secretary of State in history. He has had a lot of competition for the honor, including his egregious predecessor Rex Tillerson. I had my say on that yesterday.
In normal times, Pompeo’s comment would hardly be worth the electrons they are written with. But today eleven members of the Senate–seven sitting and four newly elected–have announced that they will challenge confirmation of the Electoral College votes on Wednesday. That is swagger. It will cause a pointless debate that will end in confirmation of Joe Biden’s election and likely violence by President Trump’s supporters on the streets of Washington. He will of course blame disorder on the non-existent Antifa and may even call out his various Federal police forces to make as much a mess of things as possible.
The four newly elected members are objecting to the validity of elections in which they themselves were elected. Consistency would require that they not claim their seats and ask for a rerun of the elections in their own states. None of them have the dignity to do that. One of their colleagues in the House even filed a law suit asking that the Vice President, who will preside on Wednesday, be authorized to override the Electoral College. A Trump-appointed Federal judge tossed out the law suit within a few hours. Of course these miscreants are only asking for the election results to be overturned in states that Biden and Harris won.
The rebels in Congress know they aren’t going to win. What they want is credit with Trump and “his” base for their hard stand against the Democrats. This is the new Republican party, committed to lying to its constituency, keeping its followers as uninformed as possible, and preventing its opponents from voting and their votes from being counted. And its all wrapped up in white supremacist swagger. The two Republican candidates for Senate in Georgia, where a run-off election Tuesday will decide the new Senate’s majority, are exemplars of this ilk.
Of course there are Republicans who aren’t down with this. Senator Romney has distinguished himself in this respect, but he is pretty much a loner in speaking out forcefully and recognizing Biden as President-elect. It is high time for more Republicans to do so, risking a split in their party. There is no sign that they can win a leadership struggle with Trump, but they could at least lay the basis for their party’s eventual revival as a truly conservative political entity. If they don’t speak up, Trumpism will their fate. It is high time for a bit of humility, professionalism, and pride. Swagger isn’t it.
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Stevenson’s army, January 2
After 8 successful vetoes, President Trump lost on his 9th as Congress overrode his veto of the NDAA, thus allowing the measure to become law for the 60th year in a row.
The new 117th Congress begins Sunday at noon. Assuming that Nancy Pelosi gets enough votes to become Speaker again, House Democrats plan major changes in the rules.
Meanwhile, the Senate has trouble organizing until the Georgia runoff results are clear.
NYT says acting SecDef Miller surprised senior officers and rejected their advice by ordering the carrier Nimitz to return home from the Middle East.
NYT has new article posted this AM detailing impact of the Russian hack.
Tevi Troy, author of a good book on White House staff intrigue over the decades, has WSJ article giving examples from his book.
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My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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10 ways the US is not safer today
Secretary of State Pompeo tweeted this today:
We’re so much safer today than four years ago. Over the coming days, I’m going to lay out the mission set, the huge wins, personal stories, and a lot more. Just me, Mike.
He can tell as many personal stories as he likes, the facts on America’s safety are clear:
- Iran is closer to having all the material and technology required for nuclear weapons than ever before, due to US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The best Joe Biden can hope for is a return to where we were in January 2017: Iranian compliance with nuclear limits as well as US relief of sanctions.
- North Korea has progressed in both building nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them. There is no longer any doubt about its capacity to target US troops and allies throughout the Asia Pacific, and likely also the US mainland.
- Russia has happily pocketed the President’s often expressed softness and continued to try to cause as much trouble for the US as possible in Ukraine, the Balkans, the Baltics, Turkey, and elsewhere while threatening the US with new strategic weapons.
- Venezuela is still ruled by Nicolas Maduro, who Trump wanted out in favor of Juan Guaido. An unfree and unfair election won by Maduro’s allies has ended Guaido’s quest to be recognized as the legitimate president. Venezuela is now firmly allied with Russia and Iran.
- Afghanistan is negotiating with the Taliban, but Trump’s premature announcement of withdrawal of American troops there has imperiled the negotiations and limited US influence over the outcome.
- Iraq has likewise seen a premature announcement of withdrawal of some American troops, emboldening Iran’s proxies there and weakening its government.
- Israel has normalized relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, but has done nothing to resolve the Palestinian issue. Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, Israel’s continuing construction of settlements on the West Bank, and Trump’s recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty in Western Sahara have put the US at odds with much of the world.
- The United Kingdom has completed its withdrawal from the European Union, where its influence was often vital to US interests. Trump encouraged Brexit, which will leave America’s closest ally weakened and isolated.
- China has failed to fulfill its commitment to purchase more US exports and is reviving economically much more quickly than the US, which remains trapped in a Covid-19 induced recession. Trump’s efforts to block Tik Tok and other Chinese software have amounted to nothing. A massive Chinese-sponsored free trade pact in Asia threatens US prospects there, as do the growing capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army.
- Latin America and Africa are in the grips of the epidemic and will find it difficult to recover, incentivizing more migrants to the US and Europe. The much-touted border wall, which Mexico refused to pay for, is mostly replacing existing fencing and will do little or nothing to limit migration. Trump famously labelled African countries “shitholes,” discounting the enormous economic potential of its almost 1.4 billion people, still rapidly rising in both numbers and purchasing power.
I’ll grant that relations with India, ruled by an ethnic nationalist, have improved, but that hardly compensates for the decline in relations with European allies (especially Turkey), South Korea, and Japan.
No one should expect Biden to fix all these things right away. Some may be irreparable. But we have every reason to think we’ll be much safer four years from now than we are today. Don’t expect Mike Pompeo to acknowledge that. He is living in a world entirely divorced from reality.
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Stevenson’s army, January 1
May your new year be happy.
WaPo notes that OMBs rescission requests will freeze foreign aid accounts for 45 days. Dana Milbank goes further in blasting the OMB director’s record.
Get ready for more of this: WSJ notes how SecState nominee Blinken made money in the private sector. WSJ says Treasury nominee Yellen also got rich.
WaPo says China and Germany are teaming up to dominate technical standards.
Cook Political Report has a list of 36 interesting facts about the elections.
And War on the Rocks lists its most-viewed articles in 2020.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, December 31
Biden names Kath Hicks to be Deputy SecDef. Some of you may have met her when she was a brownbag speaker in the Conduct class. She had a revealing article in Foreign Affairs last spring.
US officials warn of possible attack by Iran.
Politico says Trump people undermined science at HHS early on.
WaPo columnist notes differing views on compromise between Republicans and Democrats.
Happy new year!
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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