Trump Posts Bizarre Year-End Victory Lap Speech, Takes Lion's Share of Credit for Vaccine: 'Everybody's Calling to Thank Me'

By Joe DePaolo
Dec 31st

Less than three weeks before his departure from the White House, President Donald Trump is taking one more victory lap for what he views as his accomplishments during 2020.

In an odd, five-minute speech from the White House posted to Twitter, the president touted his record in a variety of areas ranging from the Middle East to the economy. But much of the address was devoted to the work of Operation Warp Speed, and the fact that a coronavirus vaccine hit the market before the end of the year — defying the expectations of many.

“Over and over again, we were told it would be impossible to deliver a vaccine by the end of the year,” Trump said. “All of the experts said, ‘Absolutely unthinkable. Trump is exaggerating. It can’t happen.’ And we did it. … Years from now, they’ll be talking about it. They’ll be talking about this great, great thing that we did with the vaccines.”

The president added, “The world will benefit. We’ll benefit. And everybody’s calling to thank me.”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1344717975891402759

more
https://www.mediaite.com/trump/trump-posts-bizarre-year-end-victory-lap-speech-takes-lions-share-of-credit-for-vaccine-everybodys-calling-to-thank-me/

'Now you're just sounding insane': Trump fans freak out after attorney Lin Woods claims Jeffrey Epstein is alive

December 31, 2020
Tom Boggioni

Lin Wood, an attorney attempting to help Donald Trump dispute the election returns in Georgia, set off a flurry of controversy on Wednesday night after he tried to implicate Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in the death of late Justice Antonin Scalia, and then suggested that Robert's two children were adopted with the help of Jeffrey Epstein.

Thursday morning, the attorney doubled-down and claimed that Epstein -- who died under mysterious circumstances in a New York City jail -- was still alive.

As Wood tweeted, "I am fully aware of the onslaught of attacks being made against me based on my revelations about Chief Justice John Roberts. Before attacking me, maybe fair-minded people would first ask Roberts to tell the truth. Or ask Jeffrey Epstein. He is alive."

That set off a wave of stunned reactions on Twitter, with fans of the president worrying that the attorney's bizarre pronouncements would damage his case on election fraud.

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https://www.rawstory.com/lin-wood-2649707248/

Trump's Scottish golf course posts million dollar loss as it relies on interest-free loans to stay afloat: report

December 31, 2020
Tom Boggioni

For the eighth year in a row, one of Donald Trump's golf courses in Scotland posted a loss and is continuing to struggle after being hit with the double-whammy of COVID-19 and Brexit.

According to both the Independent and Bloomberg, the International Golf Club showed a $1.5 million (£1.1million) loss one year after losing an almost identical amount the previous year. The report goes on to note that the loss came despite revenues increasing "18% to 3.28 million pounds from 2.77 million pounds in 2018."

The Independent reports that the golf course, which has struggled since Trump purchased it in 2012, is currently surviving on two interest-free loans: one for "£40m from Mr Trump and £3.4 from Mr Trump's company, DJT Holdings LLC."

Despite the struggles and the fact that the president is facing extensive loan liabilities of over $421 million after he leaves office, the report states that the course "is progressing with a new development after getting approval in September 2019 for a 550-unit residential complex with vacation cottages and leisure facilities."

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https://www.rawstory.com/trump-golf-2649708503/

Regardless of what delusional schemes Donald Trump puts into play over the next couple of weeks, he’s done. The center will hold.

By Gene Lyons Dec 30, 2020, 2:48pm CST

So what’s it going to be, America? The beginning of the end or the end of the beginning? Chaos and misrule, or the gradual rebirth of democratic governance under President Joe Biden?

The omens are unclear. In the short term, a specter of pandemonium looms. Maddened by defeat, Boss Trump appears determined to shoot the moon: summoning a mob to Washington to bully Congress into reversing the 2020 election. “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,” he tweeted the other day. “Be there, will be wild!”

The so-called “Proud Boys” and other toy soldiers envision an anarchic takedown of government itself. Trump’s psychodrama requires destructive theatrics; millions of his followers remain enraptured by the spectacle: basically a professional wrestling extravaganza on a national scale.

In short, choreographed make-believe.

The smoke had hardly cleared from the Nashville bombing before QAnon-accented conspiracy theorists announced that the Clintons and George Soros had orchestrated the whole thing, because the building damaged in the explosion held confiscated voting machines that would have proven the presidential election was stolen.

An admission of defeat, if you think about it.

Now the “steal” can’t be proven.

more: (no paywall)
https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2020/12/30/22206920/post-trump-politics-president-joe-biden-lower-temperature-gene-lyons

Tony Dortie - 24/7 Eyes
220K subscribers

December 30, 2020 11:01 PM ET

DAVID FOLKENFLIK

Michael Pack's stormy tenure over the federal agency that oversees government-funded broadcasters abroad — including Voice of America — appears to be coming to a close. Yet President Trump's appointee has sparked an internal outcry by taking bold steps to try to cement his control over at least two of the networks and shape the course of their journalism well into the Biden administration.

Pack, the CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, also serves as chairman of the boards of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. Pack and the members of the boards have now added binding contractual agreements intended to ensure that they cannot be removed for the next two years. Pack stocked those boards with conservative activists and Trump administration officials, despite a tradition of bipartisanship.

In other words, although President-elect Joe Biden has already signaled he intends to replace Pack as CEO of the parent agency soon after taking office in January, Pack would maintain a significant degree of control over the networks. Pack and USAGM declined requests for comment.

NPR has reviewed the language of the contracts, which have yet to be signed by the new presidents of the two networks — both of whom were appointed by Pack this month. The Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty contract was slated to be approved on Wednesday but appears to have been withdrawn from consideration after internal objections and inquiries from congressional aides, NPR and other media. It is unclear what the future holds for the initiative from Pack.

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https://www.npr.org/2020/12/30/951126591/trump-appointee-seeks-lasting-control-over-radio-free-europe-radio-free-asia

Lobbyist brother of Biden advisor has reputation for deep connections and looking to avoid possible conflicts

PUBLISHED THU, DEC 31 202010:31 AM EST

Brian Schwartz
@SCHWARTZBCNBC

KEY POINTS

* The lobbyist brother of one of President-elect Joe Biden’s top advisors has cultivated a reputation for his deep connections in D.C. and for decades of delivering results for his corporate clients.

* Past associates and clients of lobbyist Jeff Ricchetti also say he has routinely rejected requests to lobby his brother, longtime Biden aide and incoming White House counselor Steve Ricchetti.

* Amazon recently hired Jeff Ricchetti to lobby on behalf of one of its subsidiaries.

The lobbyist brother of one of President-elect Joe Biden’s top advisors has cultivated a reputation for his deep connections in D.C. and for decades of delivering results for his corporate clients.

Some past associates and clients of the lobbyist, Jeff Ricchetti, also say he has rejected requests to lobby his brother, longtime Biden aide and incoming White House counselor Steve Ricchetti.

CNBC spoke with several people who have worked with Jeff Ricchetti, seeking insight into how he may go into the new year looking to influence lawmakers.

These discussions also offer a glimpse into how Jeff Ricchetti could handle and, possibly avoid, potential conflicts of interest during the incoming administration.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/31/biden-advisors-lobbyist-brother-known-for-connections-caution-on-conflicts.html

The appeal from a strong Trump ally comes a day after the Senate majority leader rejected the proposed boost in stimulus payments.

By QUINT FORGEY

12/31/2020 10:31 AM EST

Updated: 12/31/2020 10:50 AM EST

Sen. Lindsey Graham on Thursday urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow a stand-alone vote on $2,000 stimulus checks after the new Congress is sworn in next week.

The remarks from the South Carolina Republican break with the public posture of his party’s top Washington lawmaker and come just a day after McConnell rejected the proposed payment boost pushed by Democrats and President Donald Trump.

In a Thursday morning interview on “Fox & Friends,” Graham assessed that “if you had a stand-alone vote on the $2,000 check, it might pass” the Senate. And although “70 percent of Republicans don’t want to go to 2,000 [dollars],” he said, “I’m with the president on this.”

Trump threw near-finalized coronavirus relief negotiations into a state of confusion last week when he ordered Congress to increase the amount of direct payments to individual Americans to $2,000 from $600.

more
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/31/lindsey-graham-mcconnell-separate-vote-2-000-checks-453015

US sets daily Covid-19 death record for the second straight day. Another 80,000 could die in next 3 weeks, new forecast says

By Christina Maxouris, CNN

Updated 10:47 AM ET, Thu December 31, 2020

(CNN) - As 2020 nears its end, the US still is setting one-day records for Covid-19 deaths and the number of coronavirus patients in hospitals.

More than 3,740 coronavirus deaths were reported Wednesday in the US, the most reported in a single day during the pandemic and the second straight day that record was set, Johns Hopkins University data show.

And the outlook is grim for January. More than 80,000 Americans could die of Covid-19 over the next three weeks, a new US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ensemble forecast projects -- offering a stark reminder the nation is still facing challenging times.
The new prediction comes amid ongoing vaccine distributions -- a rollout experts say has been slower than they'd hoped. Vaccines will only make any meaningful impact once they're widely available to the public, possibly not until summertime, experts have said.

more
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/congresswoman-elect-salazar-miss-swearing-due-covid-diagnosis-n1252594