The Weekly List

January 2021

I am grateful, with all your input, to have continued this project through inauguration. Since I started tracking Donald Trump in November 2016, I have posited that he cared about two things: making money and staying in power; admittedly, events in this final list caught even me by surprise.

The pace of broken norms had slowed considerably in our AFTER lists for November and December. My biggest concern over those two months was Michigan, and the potential for Republicans in that state to overturn the results in a county with majority Black voters — and therefore the implications for the future our democracy. It was close — too close — but in the end we passed the safe harbor deadline for every state, and I falsely assumed we would cruise through inauguration.

As I complete this project on January 20 at noon, with Joe Biden assuming the presidency, along with our first Black and South Asian woman vice president, Kamala Harris, we are still learning of Trump’s schemes to overturn the election. The reporting will undoubtedly continue for months and years, as the truth finds its way to open light. History will record how close we came to teetering on the brink of becoming an authoritarian state.

Trump propagated, starting months before the election, what historian Timothy Snyder described as the “big lie,” that our election was rigged and stolen, and he had actually won. Trump was aided and enabled throughout his time in office, but also in the big lie, by Republican lawmakers too cowardly and cloaked in self-interest to uphold their oath, and a far-right media ecosystem willing to spin his lies for ratings. As we finish this project, three-quarters of Republicans believe the big lie, and have “little or no confidence” that the election results reflected the will of the people. This legacy of Trump’s disinformation will be with us for years as we try to trace our way back to the truth.

January was a shocking month. We learned that Trump had pressured and threatened state officials in Georgia to overturn election results. Days later, Trump supporters, emboldened into rioters by his big lie, stormed our nation’s Capitol. It was the first time our Capitol was under siege since the War of 1812, and the first time ever by American citizens. What ensued was a near massacre of our members of Congress and Vice President, which Trump joyfully watched unfold on television from the White House, refusing to call off the mob he had unleashed or call in troops to help over hours. Documentarian Ken Burns noted, “Our founders feared two things above all else, the mob and an autocrat,” and here we were.

Our system of government held up, but barely, and as this project comes to an end, it is still doubtful that Senate Republicans — themselves mere minutes away from slaughter — will finally hold Trump accountable for the insurrection and sedition at the upcoming impeachment trial. Over four years of the endless stream of broken norms, their enabling Trump has not only desecrated our democracy, but also exposed the cracks in its armor for future wannabe autocrats.

As we leave this project, Biden is inheriting three major crises — a surging pandemic, a struggling economy, and the threat of white supremacist violence. And on top of these crises, a battle for the truth. The steps we take in the coming years to restore the truth — there can only be one — will determine our ability to not only find common ground, but also to continue the American experiment with democracy and forming a more equitable union.

In December, Trump continued to push lies and  conspiracy theories about the election, not only failing to concede, but  pushing efforts to overthrow the election results. During this month,  Trump became increasingly isolated as even loyalists pushed back on his  false allegations or resigned, leaving an inner circle composed almost  entirely of his family members and conspiracy theorists. Trump continued  to avoid the press and the American people, seeming to hide in the  White House, other than a brief holiday trip to Mar-a-Lago.

This month the Supreme Court, which Trump had  viewed as loyalists who would act at his behest, rejected his election  challenges. Other setbacks came on December 8 when the safe harbor  deadline passed, and then on December 14 when the Electoral Colleges in  each state cast their votes, and ratified Biden’s victory — a typically  mundane process that goes unnoticed, which was for first time was  broadcast live and closely watched. After the results were ratified,  Senate Republican leadership recognized Biden as president-elect, while  House leadership continued to demure. Trump raged against all those who  refused to go along with his despot coup, while his supporters took to  threatening election officials and other subjects of his ire.

This month, a major Russian hacking — perhaps  the most significant of modern times — of federal agencies and  corporations was revealed. As has been a familiar pattern, Trump refused  to acknowledge Russia’s involvement or condemn the attack, which some  lawmakers likened to an act of war. December also marked the most deadly  month of the worsening pandemic, which Trump almost completely ignored,  along with any and all other presidential responsibilities.

Although Trump had yet to admit defeat, he did  grant several controversial pardons, including four figures that were  subjects of the Mueller probe, as well as Jared Kushner’s father, and  employees of a company run by loyalist Erik Prince who were found guilty  of murdering Iraqi civilians. As the month came to a close, Trump  continued to push for allies to overturn the election and hence  America’s still young experiment in democracy. And tragically, many  Republicans appeared all too happy to comply with his antics, despite  the damage to our democracy and world standing, in order to benefit  their own political futures.

In the final full week heading into the  election, the seeds of Trump’s bungled pandemic response came back to  haunt him, with the twin challenges of record daily cases and  hospitalizations in many states, along with the worst week for the stock  market since March. Even as a new outbreak hit Vice President Mike  Pence’s staffers, Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows all but conceded  the regime had thrown the white flag on any federal response, saying,  “We are not going to control the pandemic.”

Trump barn-stormed battleground states, all of  which were facing surges in cases, and continued to hold rallies with  supporters packed together without face masks. Unthinkable. Polling  showed nearly 6 in 10 Americans disapproved of Trump’s rallies, and  evidence continued to come out that the rallies were leading to sickness  and death.

This week Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed as a  Supreme Court justice, for the first time in 151 years without a single  vote from the minority party, heading into a highly litigious election  with Republicans and the Trump campaign bringing hundreds of lawsuits in  an effort to suppress voting. Nevertheless, a record 90 million  Americans had voted by the end of the week, two-thirds of the total 2016  vote, as the country braced for violence on Election Day.

This week, with Election Day nearing, the  coronavirus raged out of control, with a record number of new daily  cases on Thursday, and then again Friday, topping 83,000.  Hospitalizations also soared in many states, and the death toll started  to rise. Trump meanwhile continued to hold campaign rallies in  battleground states, almost all of which were in the midst of surging  cases. His supporters stood packed together, shoulder-to-shoulder, and  mostly without face masks. It was unthinkable that a leader would do  such a thing — but Trump proved once again his care is only for himself  and his re-election, even though many of his supporters will end up  getting sick and some will die.

Meanwhile, Americans voted in record number, by  Thursday topping the early votes for all of 2016, and by week’s end, 56  million had voted, 40% of all who voted in 2016. Record turnout  continued in multiple states, with registered Democrats far outpacing  Republicans. Despite the huge turnout, Senate Republicans continued to  push through Trump’s Supreme Court nominee — even as Democrats boycotted  the Judiciary Committee vote — and while eschewing a Covid relief bill,  as 8 million more Americans descended into poverty.

Trump spent the week all over place: attacking  Dr. Anthony Fauci, then “60 Minutes” anchor Lesley Stahl, and gaining no  ground as Americans voted and Election Day neared. News of foreign  interference loomed large, as did acts of violence and intimidation from  far-right groups.

This week, despite millions of Americans having  voted already, Senate Republicans started the process of confirming  Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court. With Republicans in control of  the Senate, there was little Democrats could do to address the hypocrisy  and outrage over Trump’s actions, other than show up to vote, which  they did in record numbers.

Behind in the polls, Trump got out on the  campaign trail, claiming he was no longer contagious and holding daily  rallies in states, many of which were experiencing coronavirus  outbreaks. As the virus surged nationally, there was no federal  government response, and in fact Trump seemed increasingly to lean on  Dr. Scott Atlas, who continued to push the notion of herd immunity.  Trump also made increasingly desperate statements at his rallies,  indicating he did understand the gravity of Election Day approaching and  Biden’s lead.

State officials braced for violence on Election  Day, as Trump continued to give credence to the QAnon conspiracy theory,  and encouraged an “army” of supporters to sign up as poll watchers.  Meanwhile, Attorney General Bill Barr remained conspicuously absent from  the public eye, as the “unmasking” probe quietly and unceremoniously  ended, and he had yet to comment on the alleged plot against Michigan  Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Stephen Bannon  introduced a supposed hard drive belonging to Hunter Biden in a “smoking  gun” story at the New York Post, that was soon under investigation by the F.B.I. as a possible Russian intelligence operation.

This week the public was given little information  about Trump’s health and recovery from the coronavirus, including basic  questions like when he last tested negative or his medical status. Even  by Trump’s standards, this week he acted extraordinarily crazed and  erratic — both in his actions and his words. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi  questioned if Trump was in “an altered state,” as it was unclear if a  steroid he was taking as treatment, which can result in mild to moderate  psychiatric side effects, was to blame.

Despite being hospitalized for Covid-19, Trump  did not change his approach to the pandemic, like caring about the  wellness of those around him, or adhering to safety guidelines. As he  plummeted further in the polls, and there was talk of a landslide, he  returned to the White House, then the Oval Office, and was eager to get  back on the campaign trail, despite likely being contagious. It was  remarkable.

Later in the week, Trump made a series of long  appearances on Fox and other conservative media, coughing and sounding  unhinged, and repeatedly calling on the Justice Department to indict his  political enemies. After Michigan law enforcement and the FBI announced  arrests in an alleged plot by domestic terrorists to kidnap Gov.  Gretchen Whitmer and orchestrate a coup of sorts, Trump, whose words had  incited their actions, fanned the flames further by seeming to side  with the 13 suspects, some who had links to the national “boogaloo”  anti-government movement, and criticizing Whitmer.

On Thursday of this week, around 5 p.m., I  tweeted that this week was unusually quiet in terms of the chaos, and  was on pace for the fewest broken norms in 2020. I wrote that I was not  sure what to attribute it to, but “We might be heading toward the end.”  Hours later, Bloomberg News  reporter Jennifer Jacobs broke the news that Hope Hicks had tested  positive for coronavirus, which led to a cascade of disclosures. Shortly  after midnight that evening, Trump announced on Twitter that both he  and First Lady Melania were also positive.

The original plotline seemed to set Hicks up to  be the patsy, but within the next 24 hours, it became clear that most  top Republicans contracted the virus at a White House reception for the  announcement of Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Amy Coney  Barrett, held Saturday, even before Ruth Bader Ginsburg was buried.

Ahead of these disclosures, this week was the  first presidential debate, which many pundits pegged as the worst in  modern history. Trump was an unhinged, raging, maniacal mess, who  delivered no campaign message but anger. One startling takeaway was  Trump’s refusal to condemn white supremacists. Again. In fact, he  ordered far-right hate group the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand  by.” He also spewed a series of lies about election fraud, and continued  to undermine the validity of the upcoming election. The Times noted in a front page story that the country has successfully held  presidential elections since 1788, but “now faces the gravest challenge  in its history to the way it chooses a leader and peacefully transfers  power.”

As the week came to an end, Trump was admitted  to Walter Reed Medical Center. As has been the case in all his years in  office, there was no clear communication or truth about his condition.  The American people sat on edge with Election Day one month away, unsure  about his condition, and even when he tested positive for the virus.

This week Trump said he would not accept a  peaceful transition of power — a remarkable, unprecedented statement.  While there was pushback in the form of the Senate voting for a  resolution affirming its commitment to a peaceful transition — without  mentioning Trump by name or condemning his statement — Trump persisted  with his lies about mail-in ballot voter fraud, and refused to back  down.

While polls show Biden winning nationally and in  battleground states won by Trump in 2016, Trump’s threat, accompanied  by an article in The Atlantic  saying Trump might try a coup if he loses, left the country on  edge — especially with Trump moving forward to appoint a Supreme Court  nominee, stacking the court 6–3 ahead of legal challenges. Even Pentagon  leaders were reported to be discussing what they would do if Trump  tried to use troops on protestors. Yet, while Trump continued to sow  doubt about the election, voters requested mail-in ballots in record  numbers. States that revealed voting requests data by party  identification showed a huge margin of Democrats requesting and sending  back their ballots over Republicans.

This week, the U.S. passed the grim milestone of  200,000 dead and over 7,000,000 infected with the coronavirus. By  week’s end, the virus was coming back into the spotlight, not only amid  rising concerns about the politicization of a possible vaccine and  federal health agencies, but also with a new surge in daily cases.

It’s hard to express the sense of loss this year  has brought to the our country: already we’ve endured three years of  division, broken norms, lawlessness, kleptocracy, bigotry and hate,  gaslighting and non-stop lies — leaving our country anxious and  exhausted entering 2020.

This year has brought illness, unemployment,  starvation, death, wildfires, hurricanes, social unrest, and now the  loss of a revered and beloved Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader  Ginsburg, 46 days before the election. It’s hard to put into words the  cumulative stress, sorrow, and anger our country is experiencing. Now,  as Trump continues to lie and sow doubt about the integrity of the  election, we face the unthinkable of a Supreme Court stacked in his  favor possibly deciding the outcome of a contested election.

On top of that, this week brought more questions  about Trump’s handling of the deadly pandemic as we approach an  unthinkable 200,000 deaths. Bob Woodward’s book, combined with a town  hall appearance by Trump this week, raised serious questions about  Trump’s mental health and attachment to reality. Woodward concluded  there is a nervous breakdown of the executive branch and Trump “is the  wrong man for the job.” As the country starts voting this week in record  numbers, America stands on edge.

Things are getting worse in America, week by  week. This week, as the West Coast saw wildfires spread, with much of  California, Oregon, and Washington covered in smoke so thick the sun  couldn’t break through and the sky was a hazy gray or shade of yellow  and orange, Trump ignored it. Just as he skipped a commemorative  ceremony in lower Manhattan for the anniversary of 9/11 — as if the blue  states were not his responsibility — repeating a theme from the start  in office: leader of his supporters, not the country.

This week Trump was engulfed in a second major  scandal, as journalist Bob Woodward released tapes of conversations he  had with Trump on a variety of topics, including Trump admitting he knew  in early February that Covid-19 posed a dire risk — a fact he hid and  lied about for months. One historian described it as “the greatest  dereliction of duty” in presidential history.

This week reporting revealed the Trump regime’s  embrace of tactics more familiar to an authoritarian regime than a  democracy. Department of Health and Human Services officials sought to  hide information and alter reports on the extent of the Covid-19  outbreak, while a whistleblower complaint portrayed Department of  Homeland Security officials hiding intelligence on Russian interference,  and altering reports to blame left-leaning groups for violence. There  was more shocking news about the Justice Department intervening in a  case for Trump on a personal matter, while a top deputy of John Durham  resigned from his investigation of the investigators, citing pressure  from Attorney General William Barr to finalize a report before the  election. The Treasury Department sanctioned Andrii Derkach, described  as an active Russian agent, who had been a source of information for  both Rudy Giuliani and Senate Chairs Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley in  their investigations of Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

America is a country at war with itself, with  Trump stoking division as a campaign strategy. The apocalyptic skies of  the West seemed to capture the dystopian feel of an exhausted, anxious,  fearful, downtrodden America. Having failed to truly tame the  coronavirus over the summer with no federal strategy and Trump refusing  to even encourage face masks, the country now heads into fall and  winter, with dire predictions on illness and death.

This week, with no discernible post-convention  bounce and the election two months away, Trump was frenzied. He started  the week with a storm of tweets, and then embarked on espousing a series  of bizarre conspiracy theories that made him appear mentally unfit to  lead, some of which were then backed in part by Attorney General William  Barr — our country’s chief law enforcement, who openly lied and  obfuscated in a television interview.

While continuing to attack the integrity of the  election, Trump encouraged his supporters, at campaign rallies in two  swing states and on Twitter, to vote twice, an illegal act. Notably,  reporting this week indicated the attack lines used by his campaign,  including disparaging the integrity of mail-in voting, nearly mirrored  those of Russian intelligence. The entire week felt not only chaotic,  but almost surreal given the bizarre conspiracies, lies, and calls for  both violence and illegal acts Trump openly floated.

The week closed with blockbuster reporting by the Atlantic on  Trump’s disparaging of members of the U.S. military, calling them  “losers” and “suckers” for the ultimate sacrifice. A story Trump denied,  but was confirmed by the Post, the AP and even Fox News. The story shook the nation, and Trump could not  shake its impact on his image as a pro-military strong man as the week  came to a close.

In between, this was the longest week so far, by  far. There are so many stories that needed focus, and got very little  or none. They are recorded here for posterity and to be undone when this  nightmare of an era is over. Notably also in the midst of the gravest  public health crisis in a century, Trump has managed to undermine the  trust in all our public health agencies, as we near 200,000 Americans  dead, with projections showing more than double that could die by  year-end in the pandemic.

This week, the Republican Party held its  convention — which was likened to a Trump convention — a four-day span  of shattered norms, and possibly multiple violations of the law. Gone  were names familiar to the Grand Old Party, replaced by Trump loyalists  and his family members. Republicans, for the first time 1856, didn’t  even produce a platform! Instead, the convention was akin to a reality  television show, starring Trump every night, full of lies,  misinformation, and an alternative reality in which the pandemic was  over.

As the election approaches, the Trump regime  continues to be increasingly brazen and lawless. This week, the regime  threatened a Post reporter by  telling him they were building a dossier on him and others, mail  continued to pile-up as Trump’s Postmaster General continued to  obfuscate, and by week’s end, the director of the Office of the Director  of National Intelligence said his agency would no longer brief Congress  in person on foreign interference.

Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times  in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, setting off protests, and  later killings by an armed militia member who came from out of state.  Disturbing videos from Kenosha, as well as Portland, Oregon, seemed to  show police officers in cahoots with far-right hate groups and armed  militants. Major league teams protested Blake’s shooting and systemic  racism by canceling games, while Trump stoked division and hate.

This was the longest weekly list, and it was  simply exhausting. The Democrats held a very successful first virtual  Democratic National Convention, while Trump spent the week advancing  lies and conspiracy theories about voting to undermine the election.  Polls continue to show he will lose by a wide margin.

In a break from tradition, both former First  Lady Michelle and President Barack Obama gave historic speeches, focused  on warning the American people that Trump is a danger to our democracy,  and is not capable of doing the job. The emotional speeches were a call  to action, from the former first family who had largely has given Trump  a chance to grow into the position. Barack in particular portrayed  Trump as a grave threat. Meanwhile, nominee Joe Biden gave what was  widely heralded as the best speech of his career, in a moving,  emotional, optimistic speech of unity, promising light, hope, and  competence.

This week, the U.S. Postal Service was front and  center, as Postmaster General Louis DeJoy faced public outcry for the  slowing mail, and Congressional hearings got underway. Trump tried to  gaslight, suggesting the slowing mail was, ironically, a conspiracy  theory by Democrats. This week a nearly 1,000 page shocking Senate  Intelligence Committee report was released, revealing a deep connection  between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential  election.

Trump largely abandoned his so-called daily  coronavirus briefings, instead holding campaign rallies and some Q&A  sessions with the media. Dr. Deborah Birx has largely disappeared from  the public, as Trump switched to a radiologist who frequently appeared  on Fox News for advice and shares his point-of-view. College reopening,  like K-12 openings the week before, got off to a rocky start, with  outbreaks on several campuses — again a result of a patchwork strategy,  with inadequate testing and few guidelines.

This week, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe  Biden chose his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, the first Black and  Asian American vice presidential candidate. An oddly unprepared Trump  campaign and Republican Party reacted with a deluge of sexist and racist  attacks, including shameful accusations of “birtherism.” Trump also  threw his support behind a House candidate who espouses the QAnon  conspiracy theory and is openly racist, raising serious concerns again  about the future of the Republican Party.

This week, as polls continued to show Trump down  to Biden nationally and in key battleground states, and despite the  pandemic continuing to impact much of the country, Trump openly said he  would block needed funding for the U.S. Post Office in an effort to  thwart mail-in voting for the November election. An incredible  admission, but yet Republicans seemed largely unwilling to call him out,  or band with Democrats to protect this basic tenet not only of American  democracy, but of everyday life. As democracies around the world looked  on in horror at a stolen election in Belarus, Americans were left to  wonder if we were next — with Trump’s efforts to compromise the upcoming  election.

This was another week full of stories of  corruption, kleptocracy, and division, as an exhausted America, that  couldn’t even agree on a scientifically proven measure like wearing  masks, faced an uncertain election in 80 days. Even as tens of millions  of Americans were still without a weekly unemployment payment, Senate  Majority Leader Mitch McConnell adjourned the Senate until  mid-September, and Trump headed back to the golf course.

This week U.S. intelligence revealed Russia is  actively interfering in the 2020 presidential election, with a goal of  harming presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Democratic leaders  pressed NCSC Director William Evanina to inform the American people,  while Republicans, reminiscent of 2016, tried to obfuscate intelligence  by publicly claiming it was unclear Russia was helping Trump, and using  the whataboutism that other countries, China and Iran, were also  interfering.

This week Trump continued to push for schools to  reopen, falsely claiming on Fox News that children are “almost  immune” — a clip of which was then pulled by Twitter and Facebook over  it being false information on Covid-19. Schools that reopened however,  had a shaky start with unclear guidance and patchwork approach. Trump  also had another disastrous interview with Axios’s  Jonathan Swan, revealing a lack of basic knowledge about the pandemic,  and raising concerns about his mental acuity and competency.

This week with the virus spreading and Trump  regurgitating the same disinformation, tens of millions of unemployed  Americans were without an essential $600 weekly payment to help make  ends meet. Trump left town for a long weekend at his Bedminster club,  and Republican leaders also skipped town.

This week, for the first time, Trump publicly  floated the idea of delaying the November election, drawing swift  condemnation from Democrats and a mild rebuke from Republican  leadership. The co-founder of conservative Federalist Society said in an  op-ed that Trump should be removed if he tries to follow through.  Undeterred, Trump spent the week continuing to sow doubt about the  results of the “rigged” and “most fraudulent” upcoming election. His  U.S. Postal Service appointee meanwhile took steps to slow the flow of  mail ahead of the expected surge of mail-in and absentee ballots in less  than 100 days.

This week, the pace of coronavirus deaths  started to increase as the U.S. passed another grim milestone of 150,000  deaths, and while Trump outwardly suggested that large areas of the  country were “corona-free,” an internal White House document showed the  exact opposite: a virus spreading to new states and out of control.

Portland was front and center this week, as  Trump’s stormtroopers tear-gassed and shot non-lethal bullets in the  faces of largely peaceful protestors. Trump continued to invoke  decades-old racist tropes about suburbia in a failed effort to win over  white suburban voters, especially women, who largely disapproved of his  handling of the social unrest. By week’s end, Trump pulled out the  troops, leaving the city to peaceful protests and calm. Attorney General  William Barr finally testified in a cantankerous bad-and-forth with  Congressional Democrats, filled with disinformation and gaslighting.

This week, as the coronavirus raged out of  control, passing 4 million U.S. cases and 145,000 deaths, Trump  resurrected his daily coronavirus briefings — by himself, with no health  officials. He also sought to divert attention to Portland, Oregon,  where alarming images of unmarked federal law enforcement were seen  shoving and tear-gassing growing crowds of Black Lives Matter  protestors. Reporting indicated Trump has purposefully picked Portland  to create imagery and video content of a culture war, which he continues  to flame.

This week a series of stories came out about the  corruption of the Trump regime, but in the chaos, got little attention.  Reporting indicated Attorney General William Barr was behind Michael  Cohen being sent back to prison, and Barr’s rationale for pushing out  U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman was related to the Cohen investigation,  and Barr potentially outed a F.B.I. source on Russia. The Department of  Homeland Security was also under fire for admitting the agency had  provided false information to justify Trump retaliating against New  York.

Meanwhile, Trump was forced this week to retreat  on several issues, as his poll numbers continued their plummet, and  even some Republicans turned on him or refused to do his bidding. Trump  abruptly canceled the Republican National Convention, amid his already  imperiled re-election campaign.

This week, as the coronavirus raged out of  control in many states, Trump sought to discredit Dr. Anthony Fauci,  with several members of the regime publicly attacking Fauci’s  credibility. Reporting indicated Trump had lost interest in the  pandemic, with an adviser telling the Post,  Trump’s “not really working this anymore. He doesn’t want to be  distracted by it” — as the country hit a daily record 77,000 new cases.

As Trump continued his fall in the polls, he  fired his campaign manager, but stuck with his strategy of us vs. them:  this week repeatedly invoking the white “suburbs” and stoking  not-so-well disguised racist tropes of integration. He turned a Rose  Garden speech meant to address deregulation into a bizarre, meandering,  hour-long campaign speech — drawing ire from even Fox News.

In new tests of authoritarian boundaries, Trump  sent federal law enforcement to Portland, Oregon — uninvited and  unwelcome — to quell protests. In what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi  described as “unidentified stormtroopers” and “Trump’s secret police,”  law enforcement in unmarked cars were seen grabbing protestors off the  streets and whisking them away. Trump also sought to hide the extent of  the pandemic, by ordering hospitalization data to be sent to Washington  rather than the CDC, and threatening to block funding for testing in the  upcoming coronavirus relief bill.

This week, the pandemic continued to worsen,  with many states seeing new highs and the death toll starting to rise.  By week’s end, the U.S. registered an unthinkable nearly 70,000 new  daily coronavirus cases. Amid the surge, issues that plagued the April  wave of cases in New York and elsewhere, like shortages of PPE and  testing, reappeared, making it clear the federal government had done  nothing to address or plan for a new surge. Trump continued to deny the  severity of the virus, falsely claiming “99 percent of [cases] are  totally harmless,” and then pushing for schools to reopen.

This week Trump lost a landmark case, with the  Supreme Court ruling 7-2 that Trump cannot keep his tax returns and  financial records from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney; however, the ruling  would likely mean the public will not see the documents ahead of the  election. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman retired from the Army, citing  bullying by Trump after he testified in the impeachment inquiry. Days  later, Trump commuted Roger Stone’s sentence days before his former  associate was set to serve 40 months in prison. Republican Sen. Mitt  Romney called the commuting of Stone’s sentence “unprecedented, historic  corruption,” but he was — as would be typical — the lone GOP voice to  criticize Trump, as an exhausted, outraged country had dejectedly grown  accustomed and normalized to such lawlessness from our budding  authoritarian leader.

This week the coronavirus spread further out of  control, topping 50,000 daily cases for three consecutive days — more  than 10,000 higher than the early peak in April. Trump continued to  largely ignore the pandemic, refuse to wear a mask, and make the most  trusted source of information, Dr. Anthony Fauci, less accessible,  leading to confusion in the patchwork of state responses.

This week reporting indicated Trump knew as  early as 2019 that Russia had put bounties on U.S. troops in  Afghanistan, and several U.S. Marines were killed as a result. Trump  pretended he had not been briefed, and after he officially was briefed  Tuesday, continued to call the matter a “hoax” repeatedly, and took no  steps to hold Russia accountable.

Trump continued to stoke an us vs. them divide  in America, invoking a straw man “new far-left fascism” in a divisive,  dystopian July Fourth speech at Mount Rushmore, claiming to be the  savior of law enforcement and our “heritage.” Even as Trump continued to  fall in the polls, and the mood of the nation continued to darken,  Trump seemed unable to rise to the occasion, and do anything other than  revert to racism and divisiveness — moving in the opposite direction of  the country’s mood amid what the New York Times coined the broadest social movement in history. By week’s end, even  Republican lawmakers worried Trump would forever associate their party  with racial animus.

This week started with a humiliating return to  the campaign trail for Trump, as a mere 6,200 supporters showed up for  his rally in Tulsa, after the campaign bragged more than one million had  registered. Trump’s poll numbers continue to sag amid his mishandling  of the pandemic and racial justice protests. Instead of rising to the  challenge, Trump reverted to drumming up racism and division — resulting  in even the conservative Wall Street Journal Editorial  Board warning he was in danger of not only losing to Democrat Joe  Biden, but also taking the Republican Senate down with him.

This week the coronavirus pandemic got out of  control in several states that reopened without proper precautions.  Trump ignored the record number of daily cases, repeatedly lying that  the increase was due to an increase in testing. The White House  Coronavirus Task Force returned after a two month hiatus, and Vice  President Mike Pence likewise used it as an opportunity to lie to the  American people that the curve was flattened and states were reopening  safely. The Trump regime refused to take any leadership in testing or  contact tracing, leaving states on their own, as the death toll passed  125,000 Americans in just four months’ time.

As the week came to a close, shocking reporting  indicated that Russia had put a bounty on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan,  and that Trump had been informed months ago, yet took no action, raising  renewed questions and concerns about his strange relationship with  President Vladimir Putin.

This week grave polling results revealed a  downtrodden country feeling the impact of concurrent and intersecting  crises, as national pride fell to its lowest level in two decades, while  just 20% were satisfied with the direction of the country. Trump  received poor marks for his handling of the coronavirus and for dividing  the country amid social unrest.

The coronavirus was back with a vengeance this  week, as several states experienced spikes and daily record highs, weeks  after reopening and Memorial Day celebrations. Nonetheless, Trump  denied the new surge, claiming the virus was “dying out” and it would  “fade away.” Vice President Mike Pence also pivoted to get behind Trump  as a denier, falsely claiming that cases “had declined precipitously”  and blamed the media in an op-ed. Despite numerous warnings and pleas  from Oklahoma officials to postpone, Trump planned what the campaign  claimed would be a huge rally there for Saturday night — claiming as  many as one million had registered to attend.

There was another Friday night firing this week,  of U.S. attorney general for the SDNY Geoffrey Berman, who initially  resisted late Friday and said he would not leave, leading to a standoff  as the week came to an end. Berman’s SDNY has several investigations  relating to people in Trump’s orbit, and there was much speculation  about the abrupt departure of a Trump appointee. One explanation put  forth was information gleaned from former NSA John Bolton’s book, which  was released to the media, and pointed to Trump wanting to help out his  dictator friends.

This week Trump seemed to fade into the  background, unsure of how to respond to a triple set of crises that  gripped the nation: continuing social unrest, a second wave of  coronavirus, and the stock market plunging with the economy officially  entering a recession.

Trump spent most of the week locked up in the  White House, behind the layers of fencing he had constructed, which  protestors in turn decorated with signs reading “Black Lives Matter,”  “Fuck Trump,” “I Can’t Breathe,” and other such posters. Trump finally  emerged on Thursday, heading to Dallas, but still without addressing the  killing of George Floyd whose funeral was in Houston days earlier, or  coming up with any policies or plans despite one of the most rapid  shifts in opinion in our country’s history: support for Black Lives  Matter and the need for police reform.

The military continued to turn on Trump, as the  nation’s top military officer, Gen. Mark Milley, publicly apologized for  his role in Trump’s photo op at St. John’s. He and Defense Secretary  Mark Esper were called out in a letter signed by more than 700 West  Point alumni, as Trump delivered a commencement address there Saturday.  More than 1,250 former Justice Department officials also called for an  investigation of Attorney General William Barr for his role in gassing  peaceful protestors.

This week, in a scene reminiscent of a crackdown  in an authoritarian regime, U.S. troops stationed in our nation’s  capital at Trump’s behest fired tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful  protestors to disperse them as Trump delivered a “law and order” speech  from the White House Rose Garden. The sounds of protestors screaming and  shots being fired could be heard in the background as Trump spoke tough  talk, and threatened to send the U.S. military to cities to take  control. Trump then awkwardly swaggered to St. John’s Church, with a few  in his inner circle, and held up a Bible. It was a scene evoking a  democracy in collapse —while the country and the world looked on in  horror.

While Republicans largely remained silent and  went along, top generals, some of whom formerly worked in the regime,  spoke out about the violation of our Constitution, and Trump and the  military troops he used, violating their oath. Democracies turned on  Trump, while he embraced strongmen from Russia and Brazil, and by week’s  end said he would pull troops out of Germany.

Trump spent most of the week cowering in the  White House — having extended its perimeter with, ironically, walls of  his own — and continued his tough talk, using term like “dominate” and  referring to protestors as “terrorists.” As with his inability to show  any empathy for 100,000 Americans dead from the coronavirus, Trump made  no effort to acknowledge the social unrest with healing words or  actions.

But the American people were not deterred.  Protests continued, and by Wednesday, the 9th day, had turned mostly  peaceful. Americans, who had been cooped up at home for months from the  coronavirus took to the street in the broadest protest in U.S. history,  spreading to more than 650 cities and towns, across all 50 states — and  even in cities worldwide.