Country sees 28th consecutive day with over 100,000 new coronavirus cases recorded
- Scott Atlas resigns as pandemic adviser after controversial tenure
- Congress races to avoid government shutdown amid pandemic
- Wisconsin and Arizona certify Joe Biden election victories
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One of the things that appears to have been hampering the US response to the coronavirus has been pushback by lawmakers against measures being introduced to try and control it – sometimes against people in the same party.
That is the case in Ohio, where several Republican state representatives have officially filed articles of impeachment against Republican Governor Mike DeWine.
In a statement shared with local news outlets, Becker’s office blasted DeWine, alleging “mismanagement, malfeasance, misfeasance, abuse of power, and other crimes include, but are not limited to, meddling in the conduct of a presidential primary election, arbitrarily closing and placing curfews on certain businesses, while allowing other businesses to remain open.”
The group of state Republican lawmakers argues that DeWine violated Ohioans’ civil liberties by issuing a stay-at-home order and requiring them to wear masks. They have argued that the face covering rule “promotes fear, turns neighbors against neighbors, and contracts the economy by making people fearful to leave their homes.”
The Senate run-off races in Georgia in January will either cement a Republican Senate in opposition to Joe Biden’s presidency, or give the Democratic party a hold on the White House, the House and the Senate.
To underline the importance of the battle, president Donald Trump, who has made barely any public appearances save on the golf course since his 3 November election defeat, will be rallying there on Saturday.
In his resignation letter, Dr Scott Atlas said “I always relied on the latest science and evidence, without any political consideration or influence.”
As Sheryl Gay Stolberg observes for the New York Times, this may come as news to some people. She writes:
Some of Dr. Atlas’s Trump administration colleagues would most likely contradict that assessment, citing views starkly different from those put forth by officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and by other government scientists. Dr. Atlas has argued, for example, that the science of mask wearing is uncertain and that children cannot spread the coronavirus.
Even more contentious was his libertarian vision of the role of the government in the pandemic. In Dr. Atlas’s view, the government’s job was not to stamp out the virus but simply to protect its most vulnerable citizens as Covid-19 took its course.
There’s an election on today, as Georgia voters are choosing the short-term replacement for civil rights legend John Lewis.
Former Atlanta City Council member Kwanza Hall and former Morehouse College President Robert Franklin are contesting a runoff election. The men finished first and second, but no one won a majority in a first round of voting in September among seven candidates.
Hi, and welcome to Tuesday’s coverage of US politics. Here’s a catch-up of the main events from yesterday and overnight, and a little of what we might expect to see today.
Donald Trump | The Guardian
1. Trump from Michael_Novakhov (197 sites)
