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By The Washington Post 
2h ago
David nakamura
Washington – On Thursday, six US servicemen were killed in a helicopter crash during a peacekeeping mission in Egypt. Tropical Storm Eta made landfall in northern Florida, contributing to severe flooding. The number of Americans infected with the new coronavirus continued at a record pace, causing the stock market to crash.
At the White House, President Donald Trump spent the day as he has for most others this week: out of the public eye, tweeting complaints, falsehoods, and misinformation about election results and Fox coverage. News about him.
Neither he nor his assistants briefed reporters on the news of the day or reacted to Democratic leaders who accused Republicans of jeopardizing the pandemic response by “refusing to accept the reality” about the election results.
The contrast between the nation grappling with an ongoing global crisis and a president consumed by his own political woes highlighted a fundamental contradiction at the heart of Trump’s assault on the integrity of America’s electoral system: He’s harnessing the power of his office. for a long time. – Attempting to stay at work while ignoring many of the public duties that accompany it.
“It seems clear that Trump has checked,” said Norman Ornstein, a political scientist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute who has criticized Trump.
“Not that this guy has shown much interest in ruling for four years, so expecting him to pick up the pace now is a bit fanciful. It’s pretty clear he’s hurt. Under those circumstances, the idea that he’s going to give more attention to detail in governance is ridiculous. “
White House advisers questioned the notion that Trump was failing to fulfill his responsibilities as president and released a list of executive actions he has taken since the election.
The list included an order on Thursday banning U.S. investment in Chinese military companies, an emergency declaration for Florida for storm damage, and several presidential proclamations, including the Marines’ 245th anniversary celebration. USA
“Any suggestion that the president has resigned from office is false,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement. “As promised, President Trump is fighting hard for free and fair elections, while at the same time fulfilling all of his duties to put America first.”
Deere added that Trump continues to work on “significant economic stimulus” to deal with the pandemic, but such legislation appears nearly dead on Capitol Hill. The president met privately with Vice President Pence for lunch and with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin in the afternoon, according to his public schedule.
At a press conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, accused Trump and his Republican allies of participating in “an absurd circus at this time” over the election results.
Republicans are “shamefully pretending” that Trump can overturn the result, “making it even more difficult to address the huge health and economic crisis we face,” Pelosi said.
Since the Nov. 3 election, Trump has addressed journalists twice, both times unfoundedly alleging widespread vote-counting fraud and vowing to pursue legal challenges in swing states. His only public event this week was spending seven minutes in a wreath-laying event at a Veterans Day ceremony on Wednesday.
Over the weekend, he spent two days at his private golf club in Sterling, Virginia. But his public schedule has not included the daily presidential briefing on security since early October, even as his administration has refused to initiate the formal transition, depriving president-elect Joe Biden’s team of access to national security information.
National Security Council aides have become restless and unsure about the stalled transfer of power, according to a former Trump administration official who remains in contact with colleagues.
Employees acknowledge that Biden will be the next president, but “they are not allowed to act like that happens,” said the former official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because his current job did not allow him to speak in public.
Meanwhile, the president’s national security actions and briefing requests are drying up, the person said, and the team preparing updates for Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is “very frustrated.”
It was Biden who offered the first public condolences to the families of service members who died in Egypt. “I join all Americans in honoring their sacrifice, while keeping their loved ones in my prayers,” he wrote on Twitter Thursday afternoon.
At the time, Trump had issued nearly four dozen critical tweets and retweets about the election results and Fox News, including an unfounded conspiracy theory from a far-right television network that votes had allegedly been incorrectly counted in Pennsylvania. He also found time to thank actor Scott Baio for posting a photo of a craft store’s candle display, which had been arranged to spell, “Trump is still your president.”
“Thanks Scott, and stay tuned. You are fantastic!” Trump wrote.
Thanks Scott and stay tuned. You’re great! https://t.co/3jhmFqlazE
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2020
His tweets challenging Fox News elicited sarcastic responses from Democrats.
“Thank you for working so hard for us!” Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-California, wrote. Michael McFaul, who served as the US Ambassador to Russia in the Obama administration, tweeted: “Sir, COVID19 cases in the US are exploding. Please refocus your attention. After the 20th. January, you will have all the time in the world to rant about Fox ratings. “
Trump associates have said privately that the president does not have a grand strategy to reverse his loss to Biden and that he has started talking about running again in 2024. His focus on his administration since Election Day has been on toppling to top Pentagon advisers, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who was fired on Monday, and other agencies that were deemed insufficiently loyal to the president.
On Thursday, the White House forced the removal of three high-ranking officials from the Department of Homeland Security.
Critics have speculated that Trump is laying the groundwork for major political actions in his final days, such as bringing home more American troops from Afghanistan. Others interpreted the cleaning of his house as an effort to install loyalists who could hamper a smooth transition for Biden, making it more difficult for him to rule.
However, no responses were received from the White House. In an interview with Trump-friendly “Fox & Friends,” host Brian Kilmeade asked White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany if Trump was willing to grant Biden access to national security briefings.
“I have not spoken to the president about that. That would be one more question for the White House,” responded McEnany, who appeared as a campaign understudy, a role that has drawn criticism that he is violating Hatch Act regulations that ban officials federal campaign activities.
Late in the afternoon, the White House announced that Trump had signed the executive order banning US investment in Chinese military companies that the administration has accused of perpetrating cyber espionage against US companies. But there was no public signing ceremony, and it was White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien, not Trump, who issued a statement on the order.
A former Obama administration official recalled that in 2016, after Trump’s electoral victory over Hillary Clinton, then-President Barack Obama traveled to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru, where he met with several foreign leaders, including the president. Chinese Xi Jinping.
“It was all business. They talked about what they had to manage for the rest of their term,” said the former Obama aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. “In the end, Obama closed his notebook and said, basically, ‘I’m sure you are aware of the news of our election result. I hope you treat Trump fairly and continue to work with him to develop the relationship.'”
On Thursday, Trump’s advisers did not respond to a question about whether the president would participate in APEC’s virtual summit next week.
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