- PoliticsRefinery29
Meanwhile, Where In The World Is Mike Pence?
The air across the U.S. (or at least in the majority-Democratic parts of it) is full of excitement over President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. And while outgoing-President Donald Trump is busy stewing in his own grandiose plans to discount millions of votes against him and going on all-caps Twitter rants, Vice President Mike Pence has been remarkably silent. In fact, he hasn’t been seen in public since at least Tuesday. According to NBC News, Pence — who heads the U.S.’s COVID-19 task force — has not been spotted since Election Day and was not with Trump during his Thursday evening address. Although sources say that he has been “active” at the White House this week, Pence’s official schedule is empty through this weekend — a rarity during normal times, and these are not normal times. It should be noted that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, along with four other staffers, have all tested positive for COVID-19 this week — a striking coincidence. While there’s no way to know right now whether or not Pence has contracted the virus, it would potentially explain his general silence during this critical period. But this administration has never been very forthcoming when it comes to the truth. Pence has often served as Trump’s more articulate mouthpiece for the duration of their term together, making it all the more strange that he isn’t in public, rallying support from their base. Instead, after Trump’s Thursday speech claiming victory in states that have now been declared for Biden, Pence simply sent an email asking everyone to “remain vigilant.” “As the President said, the right to vote has been at the center of our Democracy since the founding of this great Nation,” the email said. That same day, Pence also tweeted, “I Stand With President @realDonaldTrump. We must count every LEGAL vote.” While Pence’s use of language like “LEGAL vote” is a thinly coded reference to voter fraud, it is telling that he hasn’t done what the president or the president’s large adult sons did, and blatantly claimed that Democrats are trying to “steal” the election. For a man whose political career has been marked by calmly lying about Indiana’s HIV outbreak, and now downplaying the thousands of deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S., it’s unusual that Pence wouldn’t use this opportunity — and his platform-at-large — to galvanize his camp with the same lies that Trump is currently spewing. Perhaps Mike Pence is turning a new leaf, and resigning himself to the fact that he and Trump have been defeated. Perhaps he is trying to distance himself from the sinking ship that is Team Trump, and thinking about how best to position himself for his own presidential run in 2024. Or perhaps — and most likely of all — Pence, the head of the administration’s coronavirus response team, just has COVID, and is in hiding. We hope any flies who come in contact with him quarantine themselves for 14 days after they leave him. Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?You Don't Need To Feel Empathy For TrumpPatience Is A Virtue: Joe Biden Won!Trump's Unsurprising Reaction To Biden's Victory
- PoliticsThe Independent
Trump administration fires three agency heads in wake of US election
The Trump administration has fired the heads of three federal agencies, in the wake of the 2020 US election. The administration fired Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Bonnie Glick, deputy administrator of the US Agency for International Development, and Neil Chatterjee, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
- PoliticsThe Telegraph
Joe Biden wins: What's next for Donald Trump's children?
The Trump presidency has been a family affair and, as Donald Trump's star falls, his children find their futures looking uncertain too. Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner are White House employees, senior advisers to the president and, come January, will be looking for new work. When Mr Trump assumed office, he left his adult sons, Donald Jr and Eric, running the Trump Organization. If he were to decide to resume control of his business they may be less busy too. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that Mr Trump's exit from the White House will lead to the start of a Trump political dynasty. His children have all been loyal throughout and could try to assume the mantle, running for the Republican nomination in 2024. For some time it was assumed – including by Mr Trump himself – that if the Trump torch was to be passed on it would go to Ivanka, who would seek to become the first woman president of the US. Donald Trump Jr But over the last four years, and particularly in the aftermath of the election, it is Mr Trump Jr who has emerged as his father's most likely political successor. The 42-year-old, the most conservative of the children, has embraced and amplified the president's incendiary speaking style, calling for "total war" and a "fight to the death" over the election. He is almost as popular with the Trump base as his father, and even more outspoken on Twitter. One Trump aide described Mr Trump Jr as the "emotional centre of the MAGA universe".
- PoliticsHuffPost
More Bad News For Trump: Sacha Baron Cohen Rescinds Job Offer
As if losing the presidential election wasn't a big enough blow, Donald Trumpwas hit with more bad news Saturday: Actor Sacha Baron Cohen withdrew hisspoof job offer.
- PoliticsReuters Videos
Video 'I'm going to stand with the president' -Graham
"Democracy depends upon fair elections. President Trump's team is going to have a chance to make a case regarding voting irregularities. They deserve a chance to make that case. I'm going to stand with the President Trump. If a democrat were doing this, it would be cheered on," Graham said in a Zoom call with reporters on Friday (November 7) Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden took the lead over Trump in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Georgia for the first time on Friday, putting him on the verge of winning the White House. With his re-election chances fading, Trump escalated his baseless attacks on the results, appearing at the White House on Thursday evening to falsely claim the election was being "stolen" from him. His campaign is pursuing a series of lawsuits across battleground states that legal experts described as unlikely to succeed in altering the election outcome. The campaign's general counsel, Matt Morgan, asserted in a statement on Friday that the elections in Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania all suffered from improprieties and that Trump would eventually prevail in Arizona.
- PoliticsFirstpost
Bigly Yuge: 'We’ll turn the White House into a Shiite House', says Jared Kushner's firm
The firm will take over such deceptively mundane matters such as water supply, plumbing, power supply and heating from career federal employees who have these responsibilities
- CelebrityYahoo Celebrity UK
Sharon Osbourne says Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s relationship is like her marriage to Ozzy
Sharon Osbourne has said Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s 'volatile relationship' to similar to her own relationship to rock star husband Ozzy
