What A Day - Anarchy In The GOP

Episode Date: January 25, 2021

The House is expected to send the article of impeachment to the Senate today, with the trial set to begin the week of February 8th. There’s a distinct lack of harmony right now in the GOP, with House members who voted to impeach Trump facing backlash from local party officials, and national Republican leaders trying to hold things together. The US surpassed 25 million COVID cases this weekend, with some researchers saying the latest surge may have peaked… but where it has leveled off is a disaster. We talk through the state of vaccinations nationally, plus what we need to know about coronavirus variants. And in headlines: Chicago Teachers Union votes to defy an order to return to in-person teaching, anti-Putin protests in Russia, and Miami Heat to use dogs to test for COVID.Show Links:"Black, Deaf And Extremely Online" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/us/black-american-sign-language-tiktok.html"Vaccines Alone Will Not Halt The Raging U.S. Pandemic, Modelling Shows" https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/24/world/covid-19-coronavirus/vaccines-alone-will-not-halt-the-raging-us-pandemic-modeling-shows

It's Monday, January 25th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is What A Day, where we are calling on Godzilla and Kong to put aside their differences and work together to fight COVID. Yeah, if you all want to fight, do it like the rest of us on Twitter at a distance from home. Right.

Do epic clapbacks at each other and one of you will win. Yes. On today's show, how the world is approaching new coronavirus variants, then some headlines. But first, the House is expected to send the article of impeachment against Trump to the Senate today. So that means dramatic photos and video of Speaker Pelosi sashaying to the chamber. And it also means it's time for another impeachment news blast. Another one. Oh, yes.

Thank you, Khaled, for bringing us in. Yes. I'm glad to have him in the room with me. So when we last left off, we said that once the articles were sent to the Senate, a trial must begin the next day. But Senate leaders have changed things around this time. So how is this actually going to work? Right. So the actual official impeachment trial in the Senate won't begin until the week of February 8th. So if you want to mark your calendar, do that. But that's to give the House managers who will be acting as

the prosecutors and the former president's defense ample time to draft their legal briefs. And this is all due to an agreement between both Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer. Incidentally, it also gives the Senate more time this week to confirm Biden's cabinet members. So get on it. Yeah, they have a lot of work to do. So both sides are going to be preparing for this. And in the meantime, we're still learning more details about the insurrection and about Trump's moves to undermine the election leading up to it. So take us through some of the biggest stories from the weekend on that. Absolutely. The levels of potential horror

run really deep. And even though we're still working to get the full picture of the events of January 6th, every detail adds up to a much more heinous crisis being averted. So for example, we've now learned about 34-year-old Garrett Miller of Texas, a Trump supporter who rushed the Capitol and threatened to assassinate Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on social media that same day. And that's all according to federal prosecutors who've charged him. And remember, all of this came to a fever pitch because Donald Trump was peddling lies about election fraud and that there was some conspiracy to stop him from winning, even though there's been zero evidence presented to support that. Well, new reporting suggests that Trump was conspiring

with a DOJ lawyer named Jeffrey Clark to oust the former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, appoint Clark, and essentially overturn the will of millions of voters in Georgia. But they weren't alone in their efforts. Democrats want an investigation into Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Scott Perry's involvement into this whole fiasco. It turns out he was the one who allegedly let Trump know that Clark was all in on the Stop the Steal madness. So we're likely going to see a lot more reporting on sketchy as hell stuff like this as time goes on. And I really don't think it helps Trump's case. Yeah, definitely not.

And meanwhile, there hasn't been a lot of unity, as it were, in the Republican Party over how to respond to all of this and what the party actually stands for going forward. So how would you explain how it's playing out so far? Not great, Dan, which is my attempt at having a little fun like the Pod Save Boys do, you know, where I'll just have a little fun here. But what I actually mean is that this is more than just yelling at each other on a party conference call that gets leaked to the media. GOP officials are taking real public action against each other in some cases. So in Arizona, the state Republican Party voted over the weekend to formally censure Republican Governor Doug Ducey, former Republican Senator Jeff Flake, and Cindy McCain, who is the widow of John McCain, all of whom opposed Trump's efforts to overturn the election. They cited various failures among

the group, including Ducey's actions to impose lockdowns to combat COVID in Arizona and McCain's support for, quote, leftist causes, which vague. On its face, it seems like reason enough for Republicans to do some soul searching. Democracy and preventative measures in a pandemic no longer seem to align with their beliefs, which I think is a real thing you got to deal with. So we're also seeing backlash for the 10 House members who voted to impeach Trump. According to the New York Times, nearly all of them have either been censured by local GOP or are facing a censure vote or have been publicly called out by local Republicans. Plus, there's a flurry of primary challenges in the works. So lots of stuff going on there. Seems very healthy. There are definitely

deep dividing lines within the GOP, to say the least. So where do we think that this all goes? It's really hard to say. I mean, the big question is, does the Trumpy group get bigger in the party, as has been the trend? Or does it diminish now that he's gone? Or does a whole new party get formed? And there was reporting over the weekend that Trump has toyed with the idea of launching a third party called the Patriot Party and told his team to back primary challenges to Republicans who crossed him. According to the Washington Post, this might be more of a threat to pressure Republican senators not to vote against him in the impeachment trial. But again, what are these threats anymore? He's not the president. Meanwhile, national Republican leaders are trying to hold the party together for obvious reasons. And there was a funny quote from GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel over the

weekend following the Arizona censures. She said, quote, being a party that is adamantly against cancel culture, we need to recognize that purging isn't good. So, you know, love to see the no cancel culture party really upset that they're canceling their own. Seems like the silent majority is just getting more silent and less of a majority. But let's switch over to COVID and start with the big picture numbers. Yes. So over the weekend, the U.S. surpassed an unbelievable 25 million cases since this started. And the world is fast approaching 100 million just about a year since Wuhan locked down, which is pretty unbelievable when you think about it.

And the real numbers here are likely much higher. And then right now, there are some researchers saying the current devastating surge in the United States may have peaked, but where it's leveled off is not a good place, with recent daily cases still well over 150,000, and new variants are leading to more uncertainty about what the future is going to look like. Then on the vaccine number front, slightly more positive news. Nearly 22 million people in the U.S. have received a vaccine shot so far, according to the CDC. Yeah, and on the variant point, we learned a little bit more on the situation in the U.K. from Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday. So here's a clip.

I must tell you this afternoon that we've been informed today that in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant, the variant that was first identified in London and the Southeast, may be associated with a higher degree of mortality. And I'm going to ask Patrick in a minute to say a bit more about that, because it's largely the impact of this new variant that means the NHS is under such intense pressure. Yeah, so a pretty eyebrow raising comment there, something new that we hadn't heard. Everything that we had heard up to this point was just that this variant first identified in the UK was only more contagious. So at this briefing, the UK's chief scientific advisor, Patrick Vallance, quantified this by

saying that in a group of 1000 men over the age of 60, the original strain of the coronavirus could kill 10, but this would kill 13 or 14. So that would be a 30 or 40% jump if that were borne out. So there are a couple of huge caveats, though, at the moment. Valence didn't say whether there was something inherent in the strain that would make it more deadly, or if it was that overwhelmed medical systems in the UK were just unable to prevent these deaths. Dr. Francis Collins, who works at the US's NIH, said over the weekend that the latter is possible. But given the uncertainty, the New York Times reported that there was some pushback from the scientific community on the timing and publicizing of this information in the UK, though it could be to add further justification for an announcement about a continued lockdown to come. Yeah, and as we wait to see if this is confirmed with more information and study,

the variants are already leading to changes in the U.S. That's right. So one very recent example, the University of Michigan announced over the weekend that it was suspending athletics for up to two weeks after identifying variant cases linked to the athletic department. And then in terms of how the federal government is responding to all of this, we heard the new CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, talking about an increase in surveillance of these coronavirus variants, which had been quite lacking before. A lot of people were saying we were just totally in the dark. That also is meant to determine how they actually interact with our therapeutics and vaccines. And on that note, Dr. Fauci said that a separate variant,

which was first identified in South Africa, might actually diminish the efficacy of existing vaccines, though not to a point where it renders them ineffective. The takeaway from a lot of this seems to be that we're all still learning more. Yeah, I mean, every day is a winding road. Well, in terms of things we're still learning, we all want to know when things can somewhat be normal again. There was a new study out of Columbia University that was trying to figure that out. So what did it say? So basically, it's a bit of what we kind of already knew, which is that the vaccination campaign

is likely to work best in tandem with, unfortunately, continued restrictions on daily life. To put a finer point on it, this model, which was written about in the New York Times, suggests that there could be millions more infected if restrictions were to get lifted too quickly, i.e. around February, rather than late July when, hypothetically and likely speaking, much more people are going to be vaccinated. So the model hasn't been published or subjected to

formal review, but other researchers in the piece said they agreed with the overall conclusions, to the point that Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is quoted in the piece saying that she was preparing the city to have social distancing measures in place, quote, at least through the summer and probably into the fall. We'll link to it in our show notes so you can take a closer look. But the point seems to be there is a light at the end of the tunnel, even if the tunnel seems very, very long at the moment. So we will stick through it together. But that is the latest for now. It is Monday, WOD Squad, and we are coming back from our first weekend with a new president,

which if you didn't know, I don't know where you were. We felt more relaxed and good than it did with the old president. So Akilah, was there anything you read or watched this weekend that you liked or found interesting? Yes, I have so many things. But the thing that has been top of mind all day is this great article in The New York Times where they interviewed a young deaf black woman who uses black American Sign Language. And she's pretty popular on TikTok. She's explaining that black American Sign Language is different than American Sign Language. And it was just something that I hadn't considered. You know, I think that we as a culture have talked about like African

American vernacular English as like, it's not just slang. It's actually like, there are rules that you have to adhere to. And it is like, you know, a long culture of like developing that. And it's just amazing the blind spot that I think I had even thinking that of course there would be these differences in the way that people use sign language to communicate. And so it's just been mind blowing and I've been going down more and more rabbit holes, just trying to be more aware of those sorts of things. I think it's really cool. And also, you know, we could all learn some more sign language. And now I feel like I actually have a mandate to do so. Yeah, yeah. I saw a clip of her talking about it. And the thing that was really cool to me was the difference between the one hand versus the two.

And she was saying that the ASL that was taught in segregated schools was not utilizing the two hands. And the two hands just seems a lot more expressive. And why is that always the case with black communication? It's always more expressive. But yeah, it's great that people are starting to realize that, you know, nothing is as cut and dry as we thought it was. Yeah, no, that was definitely a cool story. Yeah, but same question for you.

Is there anything that you read and liked or saw? I was thinking about this and the puddle that is my brain recently can't like come up with things I've read, which is really, really sad because I, I feel like I, I read. We are reading all day, every day.

Yes. Yes. And I'm like, what's it's done. I have no idea. But on the topic of ASL, I recently saw sound of metal, which not to spoil for the WOD squad is about a drummer in a heavy metal band who is

losing his hearing pretty rapidly. And so part of the, the reason why it's relevant to this is like part of the middle chunk of the movie has really, really long stretches of an entire community communicating via ASL. And I thought when I was reading this article earlier, I thought like there were some links because like some of the conversations in the movie

are about how much they rely on lip reading versus the actual signing that they are doing. So it seems like there was a lot to unpack in terms of how people communicate. And I was like, I feel like a more informed person after all this. Yeah, and also probably a more entertained person. I feel like everyone I've heard who's seen this movie

is saying that it's just awesome. It's really good. Weird that it's not like the only conversation, you know what I mean? Because it is just like such a cultural reset. So you enjoyed it. It's awesome. It's really good.

And I, but I thought that it was so like, I guess that there are deaf characters that have been portrayed in movies, obviously, but I'm not sure that I've ever seen an entire ecosystem and community that is solely communicating like that. And in such a way that is very, very riveting and fascinating to see.

So that was really cool. And I thought that the woman in this article was also an amazing communicator. So I was like, this is, this is great. I don't feel like such an idiot all theator. So I was like, this is great. I don't feel like such an idiot all the time. Well, I mean, you know, just like that, we've checked our temps. Stay safe, everybody.

Read this article. The link will be in the show notes. And also go see this movie. And by go, I mean like sit on your couch and watch this movie if you can. Because what is going anywhere anymore? But we'll be back after some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Educators across the country are fighting for safer ways to teach during the pandemic. Headlines. eighth grade teachers and staff to come back to schools on Wednesday, but the union is asking for better COVID protections and vaccinations before they do. And currently, the district's plan is to just buy thousands of air purifiers, clean more, and have a voluntary testing program.

Chicago doesn't plan to start vaccinating its teachers until mid-February, and that process could take months. Then meanwhile, in Georgia, two educators in Cobb County died of COVID-19 within hours of each other last week. The district was conducting in-person classes earlier this month, but switched to virtual after multiple outbreaks across schools. Some in-person classes in Cobb County are expected to resume today in spite of protests from some teachers and parents. It's just awful. Protests erupted throughout Russia this weekend, signifying overwhelming support for the anti-Putin opposition leader, Alexei Navalny. In Moscow alone, one protest drew an estimated 40,000 people amid temperatures that were below zero Fahrenheit, though authorities trying to downplay the situation said there were only 4,000.

Over 3,000 protesters across the country were arrested, including Navalny's wife. Demonstrators demanded the release of Navalny, who was arrested last week after returning to Russia following his recovery from an assassination attempt. The U.S. State Department condemned Russia's use of excessive police force on protesters and journalists. Yes, now use that same energy to make it so every U.S. police department doesn't own 10 tanks. And also, they told authorities to release Navalny. The Kremlin shot back by claiming that the U.S. was meddling in the mass protests. Navalny is set to appear in court in February, but it's definitely not the first time he's been the target of what he calls politically motivated charges. We got our first taste of stolen valor in 2021 this

weekend with the publication of a Salon article that said Senator Tom Cotton misrepresented his military service. Yikes. The piece surfaced a 2012 print campaign ad for Cotton that described him as an Army Ranger, plus a 2012 interview where he made the same claim. The Army's 75th Ranger Regiment is an elite military unit. In truth, Cotton did serve tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he attended Ranger school, but he never served as an Army Ranger. Real Army Rangers like Democratic Representative Jason Crowe took to Twitter to call out Cotton for straight up lying about his resume as two people who never served in the military, but who do own some super old camouflage pajama pants. We also think this is really not cool.

Yeah, agreed. And I do. I definitely do still have my high school pajama pants. You know, they die hard. All right. Well, Dr. Fauci, meet Dr. Bow-wow-chi. The Miami Heat will begin using coronavirus sniffing dogs at games to screen fans. By the way, that joke occurred to me in a dream weeks ago without context,

almost as if it had been implanted by a malevolent spirit. Leonardo DiCaprio, maybe. But I'm glad this story exists now so I can rid myself of the joke and get back to my life. Me too. Anyway, COVID sniffing dogs have been in use recently at airports in Dubai, the UAE, and Finland. Executives for the Heat say the dogs have been shown to detect COVID quickly and accurately, though peer-reviewed studies are needed to prove that conclusively. The Heat's current plan basically amounts to a trial run. With the pan doggies in place,

the Heat will keep attendance under 2,000 or less than 10% of their arena's capacity and those who prefer a more traditional testing method can get rapid antigen tests instead. Personally, I always trust dog tech over tests developed by scientists, unless of course the scientists themselves are dogs. I like science dogs. Yeah, a beagle

in a lab coat, believe anything he says. Too cute. A lab in a lab coat. Wow. Those are the headlines. One last thing before we go. We finally have a new president and it's time

for us to celebrate. So commemorate this historic moment with a trip to the Crooked store. Yeah, there's new inauguration merch including Doug on a mug.

Okay. Featuring Doug Emhoff, our new second gentleman, our first second gentleman. And I got Mitch t-shirt. See it all on crooked.com slash store. That is all for today. If you like the show,

make sure you subscribe, leave a review, compliment us on our camo pajamas and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just peer reviewed studies from dog scientists like me, one a day is also a nightly newsletter.

Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And please work together, Kong and Godzilla. We all have the same goals in this pandemic. Stop fighting over irrelevant shit. You both might think that you're asymptomatic, but that doesn't mean you can't spread it, okay?

That's right. That's right. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tan is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein and our executive producers are Katie Long, Akilah Hughes and me. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kshaka.