What A Day - Executive Order Up

Episode Date: January 19, 2021

Over the weekend, Biden’s team announced the president-elect’s agenda for the first ten days of his term, plus a dozen or so executive actions Biden intends to sign on Inauguration Day. We discuss.Tomorrow's inauguration will have a massive security presence, with tens of thousands of National Guard troops headed to DC. Across the country, authorities continue to arrest people who participated in the January 6th attack, and states remain on high alert for any violent demonstrations.And in headlines: misinformation down on social media following Trump’s ban, Samsung’s chief is headed to prison again, and a pandemic-defining relationship comes to an end as Affleck and de Armas break up.

It's Tuesday, January 19th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is What The Day, where we are saluting our beloved U-Haul drivers waiting outside the White House. Yes, thank you for your duty to Americans. But also, I hope you got paid in advance because you know how the Trumps are. Yeah. If the check bounces, we weren't you. We were trying to help. You knew better. You knew better. On today's show, an update on the security situation as we head towards Inauguration Day tomorrow, then some headlines.

But first, the latest. The president-elect has said that he's going to release all available vaccine supplies when he gets inaugurated. But then this week, there was just confusion about how much vaccine supply there actually is, whether or not there's a federal stockpile. Do you have a clear answer yet on how much vaccine supply this country has? We have looked carefully and we are confident that we have enough vaccine for the 100 million doses over the next 100 days. That is what the president-elect has promised. It will be a hefty lift, but we have it in us to do that. That was Biden's incoming CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, talking about the challenge that awaits when he takes office. On that front, ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration, his team has been talking a lot about their first

agenda items. In recent days, we've heard the president-elect talk about his plans for COVID economic relief and vaccine distribution, which they've said is their number one priority. And then we've also heard a bit more about what Biden and Harris intend to do with executive action, basically right away. So let's start there. Yeah, a lot to do immediately. I don't know why you'd want the job. So over the weekend, Ron Klain, Biden's incoming chief of staff, sent out this memo that went into some detail about what these first steps are actually going to be in practice. So in that memo, it covers the first 10 days of Biden's term. He intends to extend the pause on student loan payments that has been in place during the pandemic.

Good. Extend moratoriums on evictions as well. Rejoin the Paris climate agreement. That's one of the first steps on climate change and rescind Trump's travel ban on a group of predominantly Muslim countries. Then there's also something Klain is calling the, quote, 100 day masking challenge, which I guess if they play their cards right on a branding level could be kind of like the ice bucket challenge in terms of familiarity. Nothing's going to be the ice bucket challenge. We're selling themselves short, and I don't think that we should until they start. In all seriousness, this is one that at least at first seems a little bit more symbolic.

It's going to include an executive action that basically codifies what we have now. Masking will be required on federal property and interstate travel. All in all, his team is talking about a dozen or so executive actions on Inauguration Day alone. Yeah, pretty busy day. And then what's going to come after that? They have a lot of stuff planned. So second day, Biden is planning to sign a number of executive actions on COVID-19, specifically aimed at reopening schools and businesses safely, and then expanding the nation's testing capacity. Day three is going

to feature Biden directing cabinet agencies to, quote, take immediate action to deliver economic relief to working families bearing the brunt of this crisis. Sounds good. Not entirely clear what it means at this stage. Probably find out more soon. It's the first they're hearing about it. Yes, yes. And then we could likely see more on climate change and immigration as well on the executive front. And there are also reports that Biden's team is going to propose a massive immigration bill as soon as this week that would get sent to Congress. So yes, just a few small things to get started on here. But the main takeaway, at least from the start, is that there are going to be certain things within the realm of Biden's direct control. And there are going to be others that might amount more to statements of purpose that would later require Congress to actually, you know, get the ball rolling and pass something.

That dynamic is going to be extremely important as this term starts, and they try to hit the ground running. Right. And the COVID bill is definitely going to rely on Congress. So let's quickly touch on the vaccine plan that Biden laid out just last Friday as part of that. Yeah. So the top line goal that he had is 100 million shots in the first 100 days, as we heard at the top of the show from his CDC director. And that number didn't really sound quite as ambitious at the end of last year when we thought that we'd be quite a lot farther along than we are right now.

But as it stands at the time of record, we're looking at about 10 to 12 million people that have been vaccinated in the U.S., even with about 30 million doses that have been made available. And remember, not so long ago, we were talking about 20 million first doses actually getting into arms, getting administered by the end of last year. So needless to say, we are quite behind. It's got to get picked up pretty quick. Yeah, for sure. Yes. So how does Biden think that he can do

this? Well, he wants to use FEMA and the National Guard to build more vaccine clinics across the country with a goal of having around 100 federally supported centers by the end of his first month. He also talked about encouraging all states to broaden their current eligibility to frontline workers than anyone older than 65, which some states have already done. But the idea there is to not have any doses going to waste. Biden also talked about using the Defense Production Act to ramp up actual vaccine supplies and then also make doses more available at local pharmacies. All very solid stuff. But the issue I think they and others are seeing is that there are still just two vaccines with limited supply right now. So we're going to have to see how doable this all is over the next couple of months.

Yeah. And one other thing on climate change. So Biden is planning to end the Keystone XL pipeline. Excellent. Great. I thought we should have wrapped it up the moment they even proposed it. Yes. It was pretty clear that there were people that were quite unhappy about it.

Yeah. And land. That was pretty unhappy. And water. That was unhappy. Yes. Fish, and land, that was pretty unhappy, and water, that was unhappy. Yes. Fish, you know, pretty much everything was unhappy. Everyone in the general vicinity, which was Earth. Yeah, so there were reports over the last couple of days that Biden wants to do that within days of taking office. And despite Trump sort of wanting to fast track the construction of this throughout his term, all kinds of litigation has slowed it down.

And in response to the threat that Biden would revoke its construction permit, the pipeline's developer has recently said that they would spend over a billion dollars to run the partially completed pipeline on renewables and make the operations of the pipeline net zero in emissions. Wow. Yeah, I'm glad that that's an option now when they're about to be taken away. Yeah, fortuitous timing on the offer. Stupid. Good for them for reaching. The Washington Post notes that that would be a tiny fraction of emissions coming from using the oil itself, which is one of the arguments against the pipeline.

We'll have to see how all of that develops. But before all that happens, there is the inauguration itself, which is going to be fairly unprecedented given the pandemic and the January 6th attack on the Capitol. So, Akilah, what are the latest security updates? Okay, so all the details are rolling in still, but we have learned a ton in the past few days about exactly how national security is preparing for the event. I think the most pointed news in this direction was reporting that the FBI is vetting the 25,000 National Guard troops called up in D.C. for fear of an insider attack, which is pretty terrifying, but ultimately kind of good that they aren't just naively assuming that no one employed by the U.S. government might want to attack the U.S. government or attempt another violent insurrection. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy

told the AP this weekend that commanders are on the lookout for any problems within their ranks. And if you're wondering, yes, the military does routinely review service members for any connections to extremist groups and terrorist organizations. So this FBI screening is actually in addition to all of that previous monitoring. Yeah. And hopefully it doesn't end up being necessary. So a lot more security, a lot more monitoring in this whole situation. It's probably too soon to know if it is working. Yeah. I mean, Lord knows we won't know the scope of it until much later, just like all of those videos that keep coming out from the January 6th failed insurrection and how they're painting a more grim picture than we actually had that day. But there has been some suspicious and illegal

activity. So there have been checkpoints set up all over D.C. since those attacks. And on Sunday morning, police arrested 22-year-old Guy Berry of Gordonsville, Virginia, who was carrying a firearm, three high-capacity magazines, and 37 rounds of unregistered ammunition near Capitol Hill. So really great job, Guy Berry, you asshole. But that's not all. On Saturday, 63-year-old Linda McGovern of Stratford, Connecticut, was stopped at a checkpoint after she claimed she was law enforcement and part of the presidential cabinet. She was arrested on charges of impersonating an officer and then ultimately failing to obey an officer and attempting to flee the scene. So, I mean, I know that this is a white woman because I was told that if you don't obey an officer, they have the right to kill you.

And she's actually currently alive and still in police custody. And in the same vein, on Friday, 31-year-old Wesley Allen Beeler of Front Royal, Virginia, was arrested after being stopped at a checkpoint with unauthorized credentials and an unlicensed loaded Glock and more than 500 rounds of ammunition. So that's how it's going. Yes. I mean, at least they are identifying people who think they're being clever by saying they're law enforcement and part of the presidential cabinet. Yeah, these are science's greatest buds coming to attack us. I don't know how that would work. And even outside the nation's capital, many state capitals have been on high alert in

preparation for demonstrations of all kinds. So what is the latest there? Yeah, so there have been a few confrontations, but a lot fewer than expected, which could be because the state houses have been armed to the teeth to stop a repeat of Trump supporter violence. In New Hampshire, though, a few masked men showed up with rifles over the weekend, but they kept their distance to protest, quote, government overreach. And in Lansing, Michigan, an alt-right group called the Boogaloo Boys, which, sidebar, such a corny name. Like, get a real hobby. They showed up with military-style weapons, but they were also

outmanned and outgunned. So mostly just stood on the sidewalk and looked around. The National Guard are expected to remain stationed at Capitol buildings across the country and in D.C. through the inauguration, you know, just in case. And we'll keep you up to speed on any developments, but that's the latest for now. It's Tuesday Watt Squad, and for today's Tim Check, we're doing one more spotlight on this week's star-studded inauguration, a.k.a. Biden-chella, a.k.a. Kamala Palooza, a.k.a. Rana Ruklain. Okay. Yeah, a little niche on that one.

Over the past few days, we've learned who's going to perform at the Swearing In. Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, and Garth Brooks. Also announced was a very exciting act for a virtual event called Parade Across America. It's the new radicals who will be reuniting for the first time in 20 years to perform their song, You Get What You Give. It's a banger.

This is a major moment for 90s kids and people who do karaoke, so giddy. What other 90s band would you like to see brought back together by the power of Biden and Harris? This is cheating. I'm going to preface it with that. So no one, no one freak out. Because they broke up.

They're going to freak out. At Gideon Resnick on Twitter. Because they broke up at the beginning of the 90s. But the Talking Heads. The Talking Heads would be a fun band to get back together. David Byrne recently had the show on Broadway, American Utopia, a documentary of it, where he did his whole weird dancing and singing thing

with other people who were not The Talking Heads. I think it's a perfect time. I would like to see it. They have some jams. I don't think that they're friends with each other, so I don't know how Biden and Harris broach this with all of them. I mean, I get that. But it'd be cool.

To be fair, I don't know if the new radicals are friends. I don't know anything about their inner workings. They could absolutely fucking hate each other. I just like the song. I mean, what song would you want them to perform? Because I think you only get one. I don't think you get to do a whole set. I feel like Road to Nowhere is a nice idea

of where we are as a people right now. And it doesn't need to be, it sounds celebratory. They could do, I don't think they should do Burning Down the House. That's the one that should not be on the set list, for sure. Yeah, maybe a little too on the nose. That's the one that should not be on the set list. Yeah.

Maybe a little too on the nose given what's happened in the past few weeks. Yes. That that's, I know that that's the one that they can't do. Um, yeah. It's a longer list of what they can't do. It seems.

Yeah. Yeah. No, I just, I think it would, I think it would be niche. It's, it scratches like a similar itch as new radicals in a way.

Um, so I don't know. That's my, that's my cheating answer, but what are you thinking?s in a way. So I don't know. That's my, that's my cheating answer. But what are you thinking? I mean, okay. So I,

I have two feelings about this. I, one way is like, I have never been able to see the Spice Girls reunite. Those tickets always sell out and I'm like, bring them back together. They're not American, but also who cares?

Like who cares? No, I would just love to see spice up your life, you know, colors of the world, Spice Up Your Life, you know? Colors of the World. Every boy and every girl, you know? I dig it. But I doubt they would do that.

So my, I think, even further-fetched idea would be getting Garbage the band back together and they could perform, like, The World Is Not Enough. Yeah. I think it would be pretty tight. They got hits. They're great. They're, like, a is not enough. Yeah. I think it would be pretty tight. They got hits. They're great. They're like a 90s staple.

I think Kamala would appreciate like the Gen Z of it all. Sorry, the Gen X of it all because, you know, Daria. They were highly featured on Daria. Yes. How I found out about Garbage. Yeah, I would love that.

I think that they'd be great. The world is not enough as in the song for the James Bond movie The World is Not Enough. Exactly. Another movie that we didn't get to see in 2020 was James Bond. So it's like, you know, lots of themes coming together. A lot of tie-ins.

They could talk about like the seriousness of, you know, making sure everybody masks up so that the next time you can see a movie featuring a James Bond song, you can do it safely. Exactly. America will come together over a moderately okay Pierce Brosnan Bond movie from the late 90s. I'll settle.

And just like that, we've checked our temps. Stay safe. If you're a 90s band, get back together for the inauguration. And we'll be back with some headlines. Headlines. Trump lost his fleeting privileges about a week ago, plus access to several other social media accounts, and it's already having a tangible impact.

According to San Francisco research firm Zignal Labs, misinformation about the election has fallen 73% across platforms like Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and others. Wow. The findings underscore the extent to which lies and conspiracy theories flow on social media and highlight how aggressive actions by these companies, which they are only taking after an attempted coup following years of inaction, could make a difference. Another study, which was conducted before the election, found that 20% of all misinformation about voting on Twitter came from just 20 pro-Trump accounts, including the president's. Also, in deplatforming news,

Twitter suspended newly elected representative and QAnon enthusiast Marjorie Taylor Greene for 12 hours on Sunday after she repeatedly violated their rules by posting conspiracy-laden tweets about the Georgia Senate election. Now, none of this would be an issue if people just used the site for its intended purpose, finding and distributing pictures of small animals standing on other larger animals. That's right. You know, I don't know if you saw that cute video of the puppy on that big, like, goose's back, but we need more of them. Yes.

I haven't seen it, but we do. It wasn't even long enough. Well, today is Christmas for for white collar criminals trump is expected to issue between 60 and 100 pardons or commutations on his last full day in office trump's pardon list will consist of some criminal justice minded picks plus people close to trump who use their connections and or piles of money to score freedom. Allegedly, Trump allies have accepted tens of thousands of dollars to extract pardons from him, while an associate of master negotiator Rudy Giuliani once quoted the price of a pardon at $2 million. God damn. One notable maybe on the list is NOLO's own Lil Wayne. WeZF baby is facing up to 10 years in prison for illegally carrying a loaded

gun on a private jet. And that charge might disappear since he became an ardent Trump supporter in the weeks leading up to the election. It wasn't enough. Still not clear whether Trump will step into the unknown and do a self pardon or give get out of jail free cards to Eric and Don Jr. The outgoing president is super at home doing anything related to crime, so expect this to be the only part of his presidency to go smoothly. It's impossible to offer clemency to Lil Wayne after Rebirth. I'm just going to say it. Shouldn't have made a rock album. It's just the truth. Sad news for people whose texts arrive in green. The chief of Samsung, Lee Jae-yong, is headed to prison for a second time for bribing the former president of South Korea.

Lee gave President Park Geun-hye the equivalent of $8 million in 2015 to get approval for a merger of two Samsung subsidiaries. Park was eventually impeached and sentenced to 20 years in prison for accepting this bribe and others like it from South Korean conglomerates. So Samsung is South Korea's largest corporate success story, but it has a history of corruption, with Lee's father and the company's former chairman receiving multiple convictions. Lee Jr. previously served about a year in jail on charges related to this case and got released, but his sentence has been bumped up following a new court ruling. And he's also facing new charges of stock manipulation and unfair trading. Worst comes to worst, he can bust out by holding a Galaxy S3 up to the wall and exploding it. Now, not to pick

sides, but the only thing Tim Cook has bribed people with is big smiles and down-home country charm. Oh, well, you know. He could pay the workers more. Well, a pandemic-defining romance has ended with Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas calling it quits after first being spotted together in March. As the world adjusted to the new normal of lockdowns and social distancing,

Affleck and de Armas became famous for constantly getting photographed on walks. They were rivaled only by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello for the title of Celebrity Couple Most Likely to Stroll. Much like AOC's shoes, she wore a hole in while campaigning. Affleck's old Dunkin' Cups he drank while

with Anna are a part of history and need to be found and put in a museum. In the past few weeks, late period Beniana has been defined by Affleck getting huge Dunkin' deliveries at home and giving waiting paparazzi that full Bruce Wayne fury. With any luck, photographers will lay off these two for a while and give other celebrity COVID couples a chance to walk their way into our hearts.

Yeah, let's get some Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen on the TL, you know? Yeah, just some Muppets. Just let Carmen and Miss Piggy take over for a minute. I would like to see it. And those are the headlines. One last thing before we go. Joe Biden's presidential inauguration is tomorrow and we at Crooked want to watch with you.

Join us for our official transfer of power hour starting at 10 a.m. Eastern, 7 a.m. Pacific at crooked.com slash inauguration. We'll be there on the group thread before the virtual festivities get underway. Again, the link is crooked.com slash inauguration. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, send us a green text and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just the list of flavor shots available at Dunkin'

like me, What 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 we'll see you at Kamala Palooza. Yeah, can't wait to see more GX faves like Third Eye Blind. Jane's Addiction

is breaking up and getting back together just for this. Like the original law. I'm into it. I love it. 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 Kashaka.