What A Day - Malarkey: Eliminated

Episode Date: January 21, 2021

Yesterday was inauguration day, which saw President Biden give his first speech as president on themes of unity, the division in our country, and a need to get back to telling the truth. Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first woman ever to be Vice President, and the first Black woman and Indian-American woman as well.Biden signed a total of 17 orders, proclamations, and memoranda on his first day in office, including directives to rejoin the World Health Organization, halt construction of Trump’s border wall, and more.And in headlines: Trump administration officials were hit with sanctions by China, Trump issues clemency to 143 people on his last day in office, and Trump’s kids to retain their security details for 6 months longer.

It's Thursday, January 21st. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is what a day where it's now been zero days since our last bad president. That's right. I guess we've cleaned up our act. The White House smells good again. So hoping for no more mistakes like this. Yes. Once the White House is cleaned, we cannot dirty it again. You just can't. We've been through it. Yes. Once the White House is cleaned, we cannot dirty it again. You just can't. We've been through it. Okay. On today's show, the flurry of action from President Biden on day one, then some headlines. But first, the latest. That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tired, we tried.

That we'll forever be tied together, victorious. Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division. Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. If we're to live up to our own time, then victory won't lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we've made. That is the promise to glade the hill we climb, if only we we dare it because being american is more than a pride we inherit it's the past we step into and how we repair it wow uh that was 22 year old amanda

gorman the youngest ever inaugural poet reciting her poem the hill we climb at yesterday's inauguration if you haven't watched the video of it, you absolutely must. She was spitting bars. There was not a dry eye in the house. Yeah, seriously, she was unbelievable. And apparently also finished writing this after the Capitol riot, which is another reminder of how different things looked in the same spot just two weeks later. Yeah, and how good she is at being productive in the midst of all that.

Because I don't think I was going to finish something that beautiful. And of course, everyone was wearing masks, but there was still pomp and circumstance, and it was definitely warranted. It was a really good day. Vice President Harris was sworn in, the first woman ever, also the first Indian American and black woman, which is progress we probably shouldn't take for granted. After President Biden was sworn in, he gave a short but powerful speech about unity and our road ahead. Here's a clip. To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul and secure the future of America requires so much more than words. It requires the most on New Year's Day in 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. When he put pen to paper, the president said, and I quote,

If my name ever goes down into history, it'll be for this act, and my whole soul is in act and my whole soul is in it my whole soul is in it today on this January day my whole soul is in this bringing America together uniting our people uniting our nation and I ask every American to join me in this cause. Oh, yeah. I love when he like does the quiet parts and you can just hear how silent it is. That's awesome. It was definitely an optimistic but not unrealistic speech. And we expected unity to be a theme. But several other familiar threads emerged as well in Biden's address. So let's touch on some of those. That's right. And a lot of the themes centered around what he campaigned on, responding to and ending the virus, safer schools, rebuilding the middle class, but also a decent amount of time was spent talking about

democracy, the division in our country, and a need to get back to telling the truth. The broadcast also cleverly cut the cameras to Mike Pence in that section, which was kind of the ultimate shade, and I love it. You know, I live for a good visual gag. But one more note on the inauguration and all the moments that stuck out. Obviously, we are all still mouth agape about how flawless First Lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama looked. I mean, they kind of like wrote the book on looking good. And also how desperate we've all been for a president who speaks in full sentences with empathy and doesn't embarrass us in front of the world. But we watched history as we got our first woman VP in Kamala Harris, the first dim VP turned president since Lyndon B. Johnson, the oldest president ever inaugurated, the youngest poet, and so many more firsts. So while I know the younger generations

in our country like to be cynical and make perfect the enemy of the good, the good was actually incredibly worthwhile yesterday. Yeah, hold on to a good day when you get it. And we should also mention that we made it through the day without violence happening. And it's remarkable that we even have to talk about that. Obviously, hope that things stay peaceful in the days to come. On that point in his speech, Biden called out white supremacy as an issue that needs to be confronted, especially given recent events, which was another first for an inaugural address, but also kind of a return for Biden who began his campaign talking about Charlottesville. Yeah. So in the spirit of firsts and new beginnings, let's talk for a moment about the actions President Biden took on his first day. Yes, there were a lot of them. So almost

as soon as he was sworn in, Biden began signing things, a total of about 17 orders, proclamations and memorandums. We talked about a few earlier this week, like rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement. We are back in that. But there are a few more we haven't gotten to. This is from reporting because I haven't seen the full text of all of these yet. But on the pandemic, Biden is directing the government to rejoin the World Health Organization, which Trump withdrew from last year. How soon we forget. And he's reportedly having Dr. Anthony Fauci join the WHO's annual executive board meeting today. Biden is also reestablishing a global health unit within the

National Security Council that will focus on pandemic preparedness and response. That is a special group that Obama created, which Trump disbanded in 2018 for the worst timing you could ever have imagined. On immigration, Biden is halting construction of Trump's border wall via executive action. He's also having his cabinet shore up DACA, which is going to be a part of a bigger immigration bill he's sending to Congress as well. And more on that in just a moment. And then if that wasn't enough right off the bat, Biden took action on the census as well, which has been a mess, again, thanks to Trump. Yes. So the huge thing there, of course, was that the Trump administration had been trying to subtract immigrants without legal status from

this count. Biden is reversing that. As NPR notes, since the very first census in 1790, there has not been an exclusion of anyone based on immigration status. This is a new and dumb thing. The Trump effort faced legal challenges, but also practical questions about how they would figure out who exactly to subtract from the census count, since there is no question that captures immigration status. So where do things stand now? Well, state numbers were legally due at the end of last year, but they haven't been released due to the issues we mentioned, but also the pandemic slowing things down. There's also concern that the numbers could just be off. So now advocates are pushing for more time to sort this out and get an accurate count. And there could be a reintroduction of legislation to do just that.

And then one last executive order of many per the times Biden ended the quote 1776 commission from the last administration that I think was around for like a day to just put out slavery denialism. Yeah, I mean, great. I'm glad I got rid of it. But also, isn't it just the education that we have now? Like, it's in response to the alt education. So I feel like what's the point? Yeah, I didn't understand this from the jump, but now I don't have to because it's gone. And Biden also revoked an order that had limited diversity and inclusion training at federal agencies and elsewhere. And he is directing those agencies to assess equity within them and report back. All right. So tons of stuff on the executive order front, including the end of the Muslim ban,

which was one of the first horrendous things Trump did in office. Then back to immigration. What more do we find out about this bill that the Biden team has been teasing us with? So now we've seen a summary, which isn't the whole text, of course, but the main part is that it would allow undocumented people to apply for temporary legal status with the ability to get green cards after five years if they pass background checks and pay taxes. Though the summary also says, quote, dreamers, TPS holders and immigrant farm workers who meet specific requirements are eligible for green cards immediately under this legislation. So that is faster in the two parts of it. Then for those getting green cards, they could apply for citizenship after three years. And that part alone, just the number of people this could affect is being viewed extremely positively by a lot of immigrant rights activists.

That's right. And the timing of this is really interesting. I know I think immigration is a very important issue. Most people do. But it also seems like it's a really high priority for the Biden administration, given that they're putting it out so soon after taking office. Yeah, I think that's definitely right. Biden himself has said that the Obama administration made mistakes on trying to get a comprehensive bill passed. That was one of the things that he regretted. And as Vox notes, in this whole package so far, the controversial part of the outline seems to be that it has an unspecified amount of money for immigration enforcement. So that's typically a trade-off that Democrats have made in these immigration bills to get

Republicans on board. But you could see more pushback on it, especially given how much those budgets just exploded under Trump. It's sort of unclear as to when and how such a huge bill could make its way through Congress. They have a lot on their plate. But some advocates have talked about starting with at least putting a path to citizenship for essential workers in a COVID relief package. That would certainly help a lot, a lot of people. Rep. Joaquin Castro has a piece of legislation that would allow for those workers to immediately apply for a green card. So definitely a lot on all kinds of issues and topics from the jump from this new administration. And we'll see how it all develops. But that is the latest for now.

It's Thursday WOD Squad, and yesterday was a great day with an inauguration that delivered on its promise of reminding us what serious, hopeful leadership can look like, while also giving us responsible social distancing, which was ignored only briefly when Garth Brooks decided to run around and hug and kiss every living former president except Trump and Jimmy Carter. There were a lot of memorable moments, both big and small, from yesterday's events, and we haven't discussed all of them. So, Giddy, what were some of your favorite moments from the inauguration? I think that Garth probably would have hugged and kissed both of those fellas if they were there. So I mean, I guess they dodged a bullet in that sense. There was a lot of fun and inspiring stuff. I obviously thought the Bernie memes were incredible as a production throughout the day of him and his coat and his mitten sitting there. I thought Klobuchar got some good jokes off as an emcee. I could see her being an Oscar host in the future if that's something that she was

interested in. And I also loved and was taken aback uh when j-lo integrated let's get loud into uh this land is your land when she was singing that was like a really bold choice i gotta say i saw a lot of split uh split reviews online it's just it is weird to insert yourself in that way it's like you already got asked to perform the song but all right i guess just in case people don't know exactly who you are, J-Lo, please remind us. But let's get loud. Yeah, I think that in the moment I wasn't so sold on it. And then afterwards I was like, no, that's zany enough for me.

I like it. Yeah, so what else did you like throughout the day, Akilah? Yeah, there were so many things. I think we've already touched on the fashion, but it you know, it just looks so much classier up there. It seemed like people coordinated. The monochromatic look was pretty much across the board, except for Kamala had like a black mask instead of one that matched her great outfit. But outside of fashion, you know, Officer Goodman, who was the Capitol Police officer who basically tricked the insurrectionists and made them go up the stairs and not murder all of our elected officials. He actually got promoted to acting Deputy Senate Sergeant at Arms and got to escort Kamala Harris, the new vice president, into the inauguration, which I thought was like huge and so important.

And so I really love that. And then obviously I'm a huge Gaga fan and her version of the national anthem was great. Like no notes. I thought she was really, really excellent. The outfit was extravagant, very Hunger Games-y and yeah, I dug it. I still don't know if that was the Mockingjay or if it wasn't. Was there like any clarity on that throughout the day? I think it wasn't the Mockingjay because there had to be like a circle around it. Like I don't think that the Mockingjay ever just appears as a bird on its own, but I also haven't read those books in years. So if you're a diehard fan, please don't correct me. I honestly don't care. She looks great. Yeah, no, she looked awesome. I just like, I hope that that wasn't like a undertone of it,

you know, that was like, oh, this could turn into the Hunger Games. That would not have been very good. No, but she, she killed it. thought that, in a way, the Garth stuff was kind of fun. I mean, his energy was very different than what everybody else was doing. Totally. But I thought that his outfit and the way that he walked out of the doors, like sort of barging into a saloon, was kind of goofy and fun. Yeah, I love the cowboy hat. And I kind of wish that he had taken a note from J-Lo and been like,

I'm just going to start singing Friends in in low places in the middle of Amazing Grace everyone knows the words and then we'll just come back to it and land the plane and uh he didn't do that but you know it's fine it was good or bust out any Chris Gaines his weird like emo project that he had for a little while yeah honestly I kind of wish he had done an emo version of Amazing Grace just like that we checked our temps stay safe if you can done an emo version of Amazing Grace. Just like that, we've checked our temps. Stay safe. If you can make an emo version of Amazing Grace, why don't you do that? And we'll be back after some ads.

Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. As they left the White House yesterday, several Trump administration officials were immediately hit with sanctions from China. The Chinese government slapped travel and business bans on 28 officials and their families, including Mike Pompeo, Alex Azar, Peter Navarro, and Trump presidency season one breakout star Steve Bannon. The sanctions were seen as a reaction to the former administration's hostility towards China. They might also have something to do with Pompeo declaring China's repression of Muslim Uyghurs a

genocide earlier this week, which could in the future lead to new sanctions from the U.S. against Chinese officials. Really complicated story. Well, opposition leader and vocal Putin critic Alexei Navalny dropped a bombshell of a video yesterday accusing the Russian president of having a secret billion-dollar palace on the coast of the Black Sea. Navalny's anti-corruption foundation, known as FBK, released the two-hour-long video on YouTube, along with an extensive report on their investigation into the property. The report alleges that Putin funded the 17,000 square meter palace through a bribery scheme where people paid him for access and influence.

Putin's secret estate also is said to feature an underground hockey rink, a personal church, and a vineyard where classical music is played constantly for the benefit of grapes. Honestly, if Russia didn't offer these perks, it wouldn't be able to attract top tier forever presidents. Navalny himself is currently in jail after he was arrested on charges of fraud and embezzlement that he says are politically

motivated. He was apprehended after flying back to Moscow on Sunday, and before that, he had been recovering from an assassination attempt. Protests by Navalny supporters are planned across Russia this weekend. I'm just assuming that that mansion is where the P-tape is housed. I'm going to believe that for the rest of time. Trump wore out the eraser on his crime pencil early Wednesday, issuing 73 pardons and 70 commutations in his final hours in office. The lucky recipients included a real estate Ponzi schemer who built investors out of $200 billion, a New York businessman who received an 800-year sentence for insurance fraud,

and a sports gambler who was convicted for insider trading. U.S. prisons lost a bunch of their best guys in V-neck t-shirts, folks, and the nation's pension funds trembled in fear as the finance crime suicide squad returned to society. One notable late addition to Trump's pardon list was China's least wanted Steve Bannon, who was indicted for misusing funds conservatives donated to build an independent border wall. That's a great investment, folks. You didn't get your wall, but you did give Trump the gift of a sweet moment with his friend. It's all beautiful in the end. Trump and Bannon's relationship has been rocky over the past few years, but apparently it was mended when Bannon supported Trump's efforts to overturn the election. Truly very nasty stuff from some very nasty guys. Trump did not

pardon himself or issue preemptive pardons for his children, his son-in-law, or Rudy Giuliani. So if they ever face charges, they'll have to fend for themselves in our nation's harsh criminal justice system, or the version of it that you face when you have endless financial resources. Yeah, damn, imagine standing outside of Four Seasons landscaping and not getting pardoned. Embarrassing.

Well, Trump was able to give his kids one gift on his last day with just a quick swipe of his Platinum American Taxpayer Express. Trump's four adult children and their spouses scored six-month extensions of their Secret Service details, which they weren't automatically set to receive. This isn't totally unprecedented. Clinton, Bush Jr., and Obama all briefly extended their kids' protective details after they left office, but the kids were all college aged or younger. Requiring the Secret Service to protect this many adults is rare, and it's expected to cost the country millions of dollars. Also, we can be sure that no one will mistake Jared Kushner for a CPR dummy, grab him, put him in a classroom, and let a bunch of EMTs in training take turns blowing into his mouth. Security teams also began working yesterday to protect Biden's two grown children and seven grandchildren, plus Harris's stepchildren, Cole and Ella. If Corn Pop chooses

this moment to get his revenge, he'll be very, very sorry. Yeah, Mr. Pop, you have been warned, sir. Yeah, you don't got to have your pops. And those are the headlines. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, play music to Russian Grapes and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just Biden's day one executive orders like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked dot com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And don't blow in Jared Kushner.

Honestly, it's just going to be a bunch of dust and I don't know. Yeah, it's not good for your health, even in a non-pandemic, frankly. 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.