US Politics

OpinionUS politicsThe eviction moratorium is about to expire – and the situation is direE More

OpinionUS politicsCovid is facing a resurgence in the US, and so is Trumpian politicsRobert ReichAfter a moment of hope, much is sliding backwards. It’s not Biden’s fault; it’s Trump’s legacy Thu 29 Jul 2021 06.14 EDTLast modified on Thu 29 Jul 2021 14.52 EDTDespair is worse after hope is briefly ignited. I don’t know about you, but I was elated earlier this spring when it seemed as if Trump and Covid were gone, and Biden seemed surprisingly able and willing to get the nation rapidly back on track.‘I went to hell and back’: officer condemns Republican lawmakers who spurned Capitol attack hearingRead moreNow much is sliding backwards. It’s not Biden’s fault; it’s Trump’s legacy.The new Delta strain of the virus requires, according to the CDC, that we go back to wearing masks inside in public places where the virus is surging, even if we’re fully inoculated.This would be nothing more than a small disappointment and inconvenience were it not for Republicans using it as another opportunity to politicize public health.House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy responded to the new CDC recommendation with the kind of unhinged hyperbole Trumpers have perfected. “The threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state,” he said.Republican politicizing of public health will get worse if the Delta variant continues to surge. At some point vaccines will have to be mandated because being inoculated is not solely a matter of personal choice. Herd immunity is a common good. If infections mount, that common good can be achieved only if nearly everyone is vaccinated.But those eager to exploit the virus’s resurgence – the know-nothings, Trump wannabes, vilely ambitious political upcomers, Tucker Carlsons and similarly cynical entertainers – are already howling about “personal freedom” threatened by “socialism.”The investigation into the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January is further evidence of how far the Republican party has descended into opportunistic treachery.We need to know what happened and why if we are to have half a chance of avoiding a repeat. Just as with the history of systemic discrimination and brutality against Black people in America – which Republicans are calling “critical race theory” and trying to ban from classrooms – the truth shapes our responses to the future.Here again, the dispiriting aspect of the present moment is Republican denial and obfuscation.As Officer Michael Fanone – who suffered traumatic brain injury when rioters attacked him during the assault on the Capitol – testified yesterday at the start of the hearings: “What makes the struggle harder and more painful is to know so many of my fellow citizens – including so many of the people I put my life at risk to defend – are downplaying or outright denying what happened.”With the exception of Representative Liz Cheney – whom I never expected to hold up as a model of integrity – Republicans are eager to divert the public’s attention. Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik declared at a press conference on Tuesday that “Nancy Pelosi bears responsibility, as speaker of the House, for the tragedy that occurred on January 6.”This is absurd on its face. The Speaker of the House shares responsibility for Capitol security with the Senate majority leader, who at the time of the attack was Mitch McConnell. If Pelosi was negligent – and there’s zero evidence she was – McConnell was as well.Stefanik and other Republican leaders don’t want the public to know about Republican members of Congress who were almost certainly involved in the travesty, either directly or indirectly. The list includes Representatives Jim Jordan, Mo Brooks, Paul Gosar, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Andrew Biggs and McCarthy himself. Senator Josh Hawley also seems to have been in the know, given his fist-salute to the rioters.And then there’s Trump himself, cheerleader and ringleader.All should be subpoenaed. All, presumably, will fight the subpoenas in court.Meanwhile, Trump continues to stage rallies for his avid followers as he did last weekend in Phoenix, where he declared, “Our nation is up against the most sinister forces … This nation does not belong to them, this nation belongs to you.”Wrong. America belongs to all of us. And we all have a responsibility to protect its public health and its democratic institutions. The real sinister force is the Trump Republicans’ cynical exploitation of lies and anti-scientific rubbish to divide and divert us.Months ago, it seemed as if this darkness was behind us. It is not.
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a columnist for Guardian US.
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US newsUS states brace for ‘avalanche’ of evictions as federal moratorium ends Housing advocates are concerned that delays in rental assistance mean tenants will suddenly owe months of paymentsAmanda Holpuch in New York@ More

Jared KushnerJared Kushner set to move away from politics and launch investment firmTrump’s former adviser to launch firm in Miami, sources sayKushner to publish book next year about White House role R More

US SenateUS Senate to hold infrastructure vote after bipartisan breakthroughAgreement, which follows months of talks between Democrats and Republicans, expected to gain strong support from lawmakers Joan E Greve in Washington and agency@ More

Nancy Pelosi‘Such a moron’: Pelosi heaps disdain on McCarthy for criticizing mask guidanceKevin McCarthy: mask policy a political decision by DemocratsCapitol physician reimposes mask requirement for the House Hugo LowellWed 28 Jul 2021 14.53 EDTLast modified on Wed 28 Jul 2021 14.59 EDTThe House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, on Wednesday heaped disdain on the Republican minority leader’s criticism of Congress’s new mask requirement – a reversal of policy that reflected growing number of cases and fears about the highly-transmissible Covid-19 Delta variant at the Capitol.Bipartisan group reaches agreement on ‘major issues’ of infrastructure bill, Republican says – liveRead more“He’s such a moron,” Pelosi said of the House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, after he tweeted that the mandatory mask policy was not based on science but a political decision by Democrats. (Consensus among public health officials and scientists is that masks significantly lower transmission of Covid-19, especially in indoor settings.)The unusually abrupt remark from Pelosi came as the attending physician of the Capitol reimposed the mask requirement for the House of Representatives. At least two House lawmakers and a fully-vaccinated aide to Pelosi have tested positive for the coronavirus, while the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee postponed a hearing after some of its members were partially exposed. The House had dropped its months-long mask policy six weeks ago in a demonstration of its optimism that the US had largely defeated the pandemic, shortly before Joe Biden declared America’s so-called independence from Covid-19.The number of Covid-19 cases has also skyrocketed across the country, and the seven-day rolling average of new infections reached 40,246 on Wednesday – around four times the level just three weeks ago – fuelled largely by vaccine holdouts and the Delta variant.Capitol physician Dr Brian Monahan said in a memo to House lawmakers and congressional aides that he was reimposing the mask policy based on new CDC guidance and the unique nature of the Capitol, where thousands of people from across the country congregate each week.“All individuals should wear a well-fitted, medical-grade filtration mask (for example an ear loop surgical mask or a KN95 mask) when they are in an interior space,” Monahan said. “For meetings in an enclosed US House of Representatives controlled space, masks are REQUIRED.”The top doctor in Congress separately dispensed the same advice for the Senate but stopped short of pushing for a mask mandate. The Senate is far smaller than the House of Representatives, and most senators voluntarily adopted masks during the pandemic.But like the measures being considered by Joe Biden to increase vaccination rates in the US, the reintroduction of the mask requirement in the House has inflamed Republicans, who have seized on such policies as a supposed egregious overreach of government power by Democrats.The House minority leader McCarthy reacted testily to Pelosi’s remark on Tuesday, again questioning the basis of the mask mandate: “If she’s so brilliant, can she explain to me where the science in the building changes between the House and the Senate,” he said.House rules say that any member who refuses to wear masks on the floor of the House chamber and in specified areas of the Capitol can be fined $500 for a first offence and $2,500 for a second, with the penalties paid out directly from their salaries.Monahan’s memo says members will not be required to wear masks when they are alone in the Capitol complex, or when they are recognised to speak on the House floor. .Still, several Republicans have already vowed to defy the mask requirement, and firebrand congresswoman Lauren Boebert caused consternation when she walked onto the House floor without a mask and threw one back at a staffer when offered her a spare, CNN reported.TopicsNancy PelosiCoronavirusHouse of RepresentativesUS politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

US Capitol attack‘I went to hell and back’: officer condemns Republican lawmakers who spurned Capitol attack hearingDC officer Michael Fanone said the ‘indifference’ shown by House leader McCarthy and others is ‘disgraceful’ Richard Luscombe@ More