Debate watchers in Los Angeles and Nashville responded positively to the "civil" exchanges between the two candidates. And while Connolly and other critics of the move presented the harm it would do as “potential,” Shaub said the 90-day clock appeared deliberately timed to give Trump a way to fire a parting shot at his successor should he lose next month. It's worth noting he didn't completely bar entry from China. You can find our Community Guidelines in full here. The head of the largest federal employee union, American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley, decried the move in a statement on Thursday, calling it “the most profound undermining of the civil service in our lifetimes”. During a news conference at the White House in April, a Homeland Security official described the ability of disinfectants like bleach to kill the coronavirus on surfaces. Because he. Trump, portraying his decision to restrict some travel to the U.S. from China earlier in the pandemic as a life-saving move he made in the face of Democratic opposition, said Biden had called it "xenophobic.". That makes him 77 years old and turning 78 shortly after the presidential election. ", "Biden has also made an effort to win those working-class voters in those regions, where Hillary didn’t bother at all," Madonna added. Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, will “fan out across all four corners of the state” Monday with their spouses, according to the campaign. NBC News took a deep look at opportunity zones last month and found that claims of massive job growth are impossible to prove, and that the bulk of the investments to date have gone to real estate deals that do not produce long-term jobs. Meanwhile, Trump's assertion that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was "dancing in the streets of Chinatown in San Francisco" is a mischaracterization. Biden spoke as votes are still being counted in his tight race against incumbent U.S. President Donald Trump which remains too close to call. In response to a question about how he would handle the pandemic if reelected, Trump said his administration had acted sufficiently and reissued his claim that Biden had called him "xenophobic" with regard to closing the borders. County executive explains, CNN's Collins reports on mood inside the West Wing, Meet the candidates who made history in the 2020 election, Arizona vote counting site preparing for more protests, Ana Navarro: What happened in Miami may not happen in Arizona, Dana Bash reports on Trump's mood as Biden eyes 270, Democrats' bid for control of the Senate comes up short, Biden on election night: Your patience is commendable, constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act next month, released 37 minutes of unedited video of his interview. "It's fully developed," he insisted. In the event the incumbent president loses his re-election bid, this order could give him largely unfettered authority to fire experts like Dr Anthony Fauci while leaving behind a corps of embedded loyalists to undermine his successor, according to federal employment law experts. "It is a big statement.". Shaub explained that at the core of it, a non-partisan civil service is one of the most basic anti-corruption measures that any government can implement “because they free federal employees to disobey illegal orders, be ethical, and resist fraud, waste, and abuse”. The language prompted an increased subconscious belief that Asian Americans are “perpetual foreigners,” researchers said. Create a commenting name to join the debate, There are no Independent Premium comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts, There are no comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts. “It’s a matter of a great deal to me, personally as well as politically.”. Republicans from Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Sarah Huckabee Sanders to Govs. Wind turbines do kill birds, though cats and cell towers kill significantly more winged creatures. That helps explain why Trump has hammered Biden over fracking and energy production. Donald Trump’s latest executive order could give him the power to mount a scorched-earth campaign which would cripple a future Biden administration. (Oct 19), Franklin & Marshall poll released Thursday, He proposed to spend $2 trillion over the next decade, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. "He is going to destroy the oil industry," Trump said during their debate Oct. 22. Donald Trump's rhetoric and insults -- including his reference to Africa's "shithole" countries -- have angered South Africa's government, but have had … The state is considered a must-win in the quest for … The administration’s disdain for career civil servants has only hardened under the pressure of running for a second term bid amid Covid-19. He also suggested that, given the White House’s stated intent to purge disloyal civil servants, there might already be a list of people to fire waiting for use. There isn't any evidence she was "dancing." You can change your choices at any time by visiting Your Privacy Controls. In each episode of his weekly YouTube show, Chris Cillizza will delve a little deeper into the surreal world of politics. But what is clear is the use of the phrase has coincided with a sharp rise in attacks against Asian Americans. President Donald Trump and Joe Biden faced off in their final presidential debate on Thursday night. Independent Premium Comments can be posted by members of our membership scheme, Independent Premium. The AP has called the race for Biden in Arizona, but vote tallies show the race tightening there. Lots of people. What if Trump loses and refuses to concede? Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016 by less than 1% of votes cast, or about 44,000 votes. He's also called the president racist. Such endeavors are longstanding goals of the American conservative movement, which has for years viewed the largely unionized, highly educated, racially diverse federal workforce as a hostile occupying army loyal to the more reliably pro-union Democratic Party. Trump did indeed speculate that an injection of the sort could have a curative effect. She compared the order to the fictional “infinity gauntlet” weapon made famous by the Avengers films, citing the way it could enable Trump to get rid of countless tenured federal workers with the stroke of a pen. “Tremendous investment is being made. "It's going to be announced very soon, when we see what happens with Obamacare." The state is among the most important of a half-dozen battlegrounds because its 20 electoral college votes could be the decisive tipping point for either candidate to reach the 270 needed to the White House, according to political experts and party activists. Rather, she got dim sum, according to reports. (Fact check: There is no plan.). I think he called me racist even, because I was closing it to China," Trump said. Ask the U.K. After tossing open the Overton Window in 2016, Britons raised moderate politicians to run things. “It's unclear whether this becomes… a blunt instrument in order to do some surgical removal of people they don't like, or whether they're going to actually attempt some sort of bloodletting or purge,” she explained. I cover national politics for Forbes. But should he lose his re-election bid in just under two weeks, New Jersey Chief Innovation Officer Beth Noveck — an NYU professor who served as the first US Deputy Chief Technology Officer — said the order appears to be designed to enable him to exact revenge on Fauci and any other federal officials he blames for his loss. Trump said his “opportunity zones” program was “one of the most successful programs.". “Through this order, President Trump has declared war on the professional civil service by giving himself the authority to fill the government with his political cronies who will pledge their unwavering loyalty to him, not to America,” Kelley added. Fox says Joe Biden's already acting way more presidential than Donald Trump. Biden spoke as votes are still being counted in his tight race against incumbent U.S. President Donald Trump which remains too close to call. He seeks to end federal subsidies for oil production while spurring development of renewable energy. Trump currently leads Biden by about 18,500 votes in Georgia, 49.6% to 49.2%, a significant tightening from the 2.5-point lead Trump held at … But the race is close. The remarks were in reference to an event she held in February, during which she advocated for people to visit the neighborhood’s businesses three weeks before the state issued stay-at-home orders. He added that he saw it as “a cheap ploy to let the Trump administration replace talent and acumen with fealty and self-dealing.” And Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, called the order “deeply troubling” and warned that it “has the potential to impact wide swathes of federal employees over the next few months without engagement from Congress, civil servants and other key stakeholders”. Hijazi’s support for Biden ― which has already drawn vicious attacks from conservatives saying Trump should have let her suffer ― offers two important reminders. Virginia Democratic Representative Gerry Connolly, who chairs the House of Representatives subcommittee overseeing civil service issues, called the order “yet another attack on federal employees that addresses absolutely none of the issues that can hinder effective federal recruitment and hiring”. “I know more about wind than you do. Biden denied he would end fracking. Donald Trump’s latest executive order could give him the power to mount a scorched-earth campaign which would cripple a future Biden administration. ‘Through this order, President Trump has declared war on the professional civil service by giving himself the authority to fill the government with his political cronies who will pledge their unwavering loyalty to him, not to America’, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Biden, the former vice president, rallies Saturday in Michigan for the first time in person on the trail with former president Barack Obama. After watching the final presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, undecided Atlanta voters spoke to MSNBC's Chris Jansing about their reactions and why some were still unsure about the candidates. "I will transition," Biden said. Although Trump and his advisors have often struggled with a steep learning curve when it comes to the arcane rules and regulations which govern the federal bureaucracy, both Noveck and Shaub said the order’s dense language was meant to deliberately obscure the purpose of it. But the race is close. Get the latest election news, voting results and polls. As president, he negotiated a new free trade deal with Mexico and Canada, and, following a trade war, a preliminary “phase one” deal with China. Which means people will be left without coverage. The administration made exceptions for immediate family members of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. “At the moment, Biden would certainly be a favorite to win,” Madonna said. "Because, you see, it gets on the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. But while past Republican presidents were willing to at least pay lip service to the advantages of having a skilled, professionalized and non-political federal workforce, advocates of gutting the civil service have found a willing ally in Trump, who has regularly attacked the federal workforce as a Democrat-aligned “deep state” that has worked to undermine his presidency. The Office of Personnel Management — essentially the executive branch’s human resources department — has been charged with implementing the order by publishing a “preliminary” list of positions to be moved into the new category on what could President Donald Trump’s last full day in office: January 19, 2021. Why did Trump hand Biden such a potent issue hours before the debate? The range of workers who could be stripped of protections and placed in this new category is vast, experts say, and could include most of the non-partisan experts — scientists, doctors, lawyers, economists — whose work to advise and inform policymakers is supposed to be done in a way that is fact-driven and devoid of politics. Rather, the administration restricted the entry of foreign nationals who traveled to the country within the previous 14 days. The first is that caring for Americans in trouble should be a concern for any president. Investors are not required to report the number of jobs created or housing units developed. The three experts all agreed the faceoff was more informative than the chaotic first debate in Cleveland last month, but one noted, "That's a very low bar.". © 2020 Forbes Media LLC. Biden leads Trump in Pennsylvania by 5 percentage points, according to an average of polling through Friday from tracking site FiveThirtyEight.com. And why? •Biden, Harris and their spouses will barnstorm Pennsylvania. “But if they win the election, then anything goes for the destruction of the civil service… [This could] take us back to the spoils system and all the corruption that comes with it.”. This live coverage has ended. I also launched my own startup, Newsreel, a. I cover national politics for Forbes. “With the grace of God and the goodwill of neighbors, I’m going to win Pennsylvania,” Biden told reporters in Chester on Monday. —Latest polls from battleground states and more. “There's definitely a ‘snap your fingers and get rid of half the civil service’ quality to this,” she added, noting that the order lays out vague and subjective criteria for determining whether an employee reclassified under “Schedule F” can be fired for “poor performance”. Joe Biden is within striking distance of President Donald Trump in Georgia after more ballots in heavily Democratic metro areas were tallied Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, putting the Democrat on the verge of a surprising comeback in the state that would push him over the 270 electoral vote finish line. Trump told a rally Oct. 20 in Erie that Biden would “abolish Pennsylvania energy” and that mining industries would be “totally extinguished.”, "We think Pennsylvania’s looking fantastic," Trump told reporters Friday. Will you remember that, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma?". Loeffler will head to a runoff with Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock, the Associated Press projected Tuesday, after neither candidate won 50% of the vote. "When I closed, he said I shouldn’t have closed, and that went on for months. Another provision orders agencies to take steps to prohibit removing “Schedule F” appointees from their jobs on the grounds of “political affiliation,” which could potentially prevent a future administration from firing unqualified appointees because of their association with President Trump. “We are by far the most visited state in the union by the candidates and their surrogates," said Terry Madonna, a professor who conducts polls as director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster. —The road to 270: How Biden or Trump could win. But investors want to know who is better for the stock market. Trump frequently criticizes windmills for the threat they pose to birds. So it'd be interesting to check that. According to government data, the trade deficit — simply put, the net difference in the monetary value of a nation’s exports and imports with another nation — with China has fallen considerably since Trump has been in office. Trump has repeatedly clashed with such career workers on a variety of settings, ranging from his desire to present the Covid-19 pandemic as largely over, to his attempts to enable his allies to escape punishment for federal crimes, to his quixotic insistence that National Weather Service scientists back up his erroneous claim that the state of Alabama was threatened by a hurricane which was not heading in its direction. Previously, I've written for TIME, Newsweek, the New York Daily News and VICE News. Click to subscribe! Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Nevada have yet to be called by the Associated Press, though Biden needs just one more state to win the White House. “With an administration change, there are rules in place that say you really don't embed any people, especially in the last period of time, whether it’s a year or six months or so,” he said. Behauptung: In a speech on Oct. 27, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump called for the assassination of Joe Biden. A Republican source who served as a top federal personnel executive under previous Republican administrations offered a far more succinct review of Trump’s latest executive action: “It's just bad no matter how you view it.”. Biden led Trump 50% to 44% among likely voters, according to a Franklin & Marshall poll released Thursday. Joe Biden and President Donald Trump at the second and final presidential debate. As a Scranton native and longtime resident of Wilmington, Delaware, Biden said he expected to win the Keystone State. According to Associated Press projections, Biden leads Trump 264-214 in the Electoral College count. Because of Trump's obsession with proving his point, he just opened himself up to an easy attack -- on an issue that impacts lots and lots of people -- by Biden in tonight's debate. Donald Trump and Joe Biden went head-to-head in two live TV debates. Creating the new category — known as “Schedule F” — and moving current civil servants into it could allow a lame-duck President Trump to cripple his successor’s administration by firing any career federal employees who’ve been included on the list. Information about your device and internet connection, including your IP address, Browsing and search activity while using Verizon Media websites and apps. What's more, glass towers — like the kind Trump lived in until he moved into the White House — actually kill way more birds than wind turbines. I also launched my own startup, Newsreel, a politics news platform for a young audience. "Will you remember that, Texas? Dr Rick Bright — the former Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response who left government service after Trump officials demoted him for contradicting the President’s attempts to downplay the Covid-19 pandemic — said the Trump administration has already been seeding the government with unqualified loyalists. Vivica A. President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will duke it out tonight in the first Presidential debate. •Trump will hold rallies in Fayetteville, N.C.; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Traverse City, Michigan; Kenosha, Wisconsin; and Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 2016, Trump ran in part on a message that was aggressively critical of the trade deals the U.S. had entered in the past. Trump currently leads Biden by about 18,500 votes in Georgia, 49.6% to 49.2%, a significant tightening from the 2.5-point lead Trump held at 2 a.m. Wednesday, and the race is likely to tighten further over the next day, with the bulk of outstanding ballots in the Atlanta metro area. Biden is leading with 49.4% of the votes, while Trump has 48.9%, according to NBC News' latest tally. “We're gonna finish tonight," Fulton County elections director said. Due to the sheer scale of this comment community, we are not able to give each post the same level of attention, but we have preserved this area in the interests of open debate. It’s almost certain the moment will be replayed over and over again by Trump loyalists between now and Election Day. “They’re going to the states that are likely to decide the election.”, Trump campaigned on the country’s energy independence and argued that Biden would hurt production by shifting away from fossil fuels. Biggest beneficiary, the Black and Hispanic communities,” the president claimed during the debate. That’s how many ballots Georgia’s secretary of state said are left to be counted statewide as of 10 p.m. EDT. "Biden talked about what he would do for people who live in those areas.". (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images). Trump said at the time: "And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. Continue reading election news from October 23, 2020. But the race is close. “I think there's a very realistic chance that they could have everything ready to go and cause harm,” he said, “and in the case of a new administration standing up, their actions may not be noticed by the people who can fix it until the harm has really taken effect.”, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. Morry Gash / Pool via Getty Images. Without Arizona, Biden’s Electoral College total would sit at 253. The order, which the White House released late Wednesday evening, would strip civil service protections from a broad swath of career civil servants if it is decided that they are in “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating positions” — a description previously reserved for the political appointees who come and go with each change in administration. Previously, I've written for TIME, Newsweek, the New York Daily News and VICE News. Noveck added that such vagueness made it possible that Trump could use the “preliminary” list he has ordered OPM to prepare to cripple a Biden administration’s Covid plans by targeting Fauci and other scientists or the administration as a whole by removing large numbers of experienced workers. 98,829. If Biden won Georgia and lost Arizona, he would have 269 electoral votes, one shy of victory. HuffPost is part of Verizon Media. One other fact check so we're all on the same page: China is not the same thing as Chinatown. It's extremely expensive, kills all the birds, it's very intermittent, got a lot of problems,” Trump told Biden during an exchange about energy independence. Biden has not directly called the president's travel restriction xenophobic or racist, but he did denounce Trump's coronavirus response as "xenophobic" a day after the travel restriction was announced — responding to a tweet in which Trump used a racist term to describe the virus — and in another tweet in March. He also plans to return for rallies Sunday and Monday. Here is a summary of where the candidates will be campaigning: •Trump to rally voters in Pennsylvania, in Bucks County, Reading and Butler. To enable Verizon Media and our partners to process your personal data select 'I agree', or select 'Manage settings' for more information and to manage your choices. Nancy Pelosi said the same thing — she was dancing on the streets of Chinatown in San Francisco. The existing Open Comments threads will continue to exist for those who do not subscribe to Independent Premium. Hours before Donald Trump was set to face off for the last time against Joe Biden on the debate stage, the President handed his challenger an attack on a silver platter. You may opt-out by, he arrives to speak one day after Americans voted in the presidential election, on November 04, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden has focused on urban centers of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, while also appealing to working class areas, Madonna said. “At the moment, Biden … He has repeatedly attacked Trump for his support of getting rid of the ACA -- and asked people to consider what that entails. Donald Trump has carried the crucial battleground states of Florida, Texas, Ohio, and Iowa while Joe Biden has won Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan, according to race calls by the Associated Press.. Because of the many postal ballots cast in this election, some states’ results may not be known for days or even weeks. A Democratic presidential candidate has not won Georgia since 1992, when then Democratic candidate Bill Clinton won the state. Tate Reeves of Mississippi and Greg Abbott of Texas jumped on the moment. “For Trump to win, he has to do as well as he did four years ago among white working-class voters with high school educations or less," Madonna said. Find out more about how we use your information in our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. As for the possibility that Trump could use the order to install scores of cronies to sabotage Biden, a former top Department of Health and Human Services official says it is already happening. Are you sure you want to mark this comment as inappropriate? Fracking for energy production doesn't register as a priority in statewide polling, but it is important in the southwest, Madonna said. “That’s the goal here.”. Election officials in Fulton County—one of Georgia’s largest and most heavily Democratic counties—told CNN it expects to finish tallying votes by working through the night. “It's the twin danger of both firing Fauci and replacing him with Eric Trump's wedding planner permanently,” said Noveck. Undecided Atlanta voters react to final presidential debate, Here's what some presidential debate watchers thought of Nashville, Rather, she got dim sum, according to reports, this claim during the first presidential debate, fallen considerably since Trump has been in office, NBC News took a deep look at opportunity zones last month, cats and cell towers kill significantly more. “By targeting federal workers whose jobs involve government policies, the real-world implications of this order will be disastrous for public health, the environment, the defense of our nation, and virtually every facet of our lives.”. Exclusive Details: L.A. Man Makes Mass Shooting Threat … Asked by Stahl what would happen if that happened, Trump responded that he has a replacement plan ready to go. •Biden will deliver a speech in Philadelphia. The New York Times also reported that many of the early beneficiaries of the program were the wealthy, including president’s own family members and advisers. While anti-Asian bias had been in steady decline for over a decade, the trend reversed in days after there was a significant uptick in the use of “China virus” and similar rhetoric in March. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning? Democrats, meanwhile, are working quick to limit any possible damage to their presidential nominee, highlighting that Biden aims to accomplish the goal by 2050 and that oil industry futures have long looked grim. Reporting forum Stop AAPI Hate collected 2,583 incidents during the pandemic between March 19 and August 5. Trump has reserved a special level of rage for scientists like Dr Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert. •Trump will hold rallies in Washington, Michigan; Dubuque, Iowa; Hickory, N.C.; Rome, Georgia and Miami.