Signs of what could be a nasty deadlock emerged Monday after the head of the General Services Administration, a low-profile agency in charge of federal buildings, refused to sign a letter that would allocate budget (about $ 10 million) and office space in each federal building to the Biden transition team to prepare for governance. Transition officials also get government email addresses and access to outgoing officials to discuss priorities, deadlines, etc.
A standard practice, routine communication amounts to a formal recognition by the Federal Government of the winner of the presidential race. But GSA administrator Emily Murphy, a Trump appointee, apparently doesn’t want to get the ball rolling without the green light from the White House.
Trump is in no mood to budge even as Biden’s transition team began implementing plans to meet the immediate challenge, the pandemic, by announcing a coronavirus task force that will be co-chaired by Indian-American Vivek Murthy, former Surgeon. Obama General. administration. The president maintained a relentless barrage of tweets over the weekend questioning the verdict and accusing “lamestream media” of prematurely calling elections for Biden-Harris’ team.
While Trump retains the support of the party base and a majority of Republican lawmakers, several major Republicans recognized Biden as the rightful winner and implicitly urged the president to step down. “I just spoke with the president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden. I extended my warm congratulations and thanked him for the patriotic message he delivered last night. I also called Kamala harris congratulate her on her historic election to the vice presidency. Although we have political differences, I know that Joe Biden is a good man, who has won the opportunity to lead and unify our country, “said former US President George Bush in a statement.
All four living former presidents (the other three are Democrats: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama) have recognized Biden as the winner.
Not so Republican legislators (with rare exceptions like former presidential candidate and now Sen. Mitt Romney and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski). They are backing Trump to the hilt. The most militant among them urge him to take the fight to the people, essentially to the Trump base, which the outgoing president is agitating with allegations of election fraud and stolen elections that are finding resonance only among these most ardent supporters.
The Trump family itself is said to be divided over granting the election. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is reported to have advised the president to step down, but his sons Don Jr and Eric are in favor of the fight. First lady Melania Trump, who was reported to have urged her husband to concede, appeared to back him, tweeting: “The American people deserve fair elections. Every legal, not illegal, vote must be counted. We must protect our democracy with full transparency.” ”
In terms of procedure, it all boils down to three key dates: December 8, which is the “safe harbor” deadline for the resolution of all electoral disputes, including legal challenges, and the final date on which the states must elect voters lists for presentation to Congress; December 14, when the electoral college meets to cast votes that generally favor the winner of the popular vote in each state; and on January 6, when voters’ votes are sent to Congress in Washington DC for formal certification.
No one knows if all of this will go according to script, as Americans discover that part of the process is more a convention than a law, including the possibility of unfaithful voters, who are free to vote as long as they have not made a promise to loyalty.
Republicans control both houses of the legislature in the top seven states on the battlefield: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin, the vote in four of which he lost is being contested by Trump. In Arizona, Florida, and Georgia, the governors are Republicans. In the other four states, the governors are Democrats.
Under the law, the legislature certifies voters and their votes, but the governor has to approve it. Aside from the standoff over the transfer in Washington, a stalemate, there is another nightmare facing the United States.
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