What.Is.Going.On.
A summary of political events everyone should know about.
By Benjamin Robinson, reporter
A summary of political events everyone should know about.
By Benjamin Robinson, reporter
Georgia Congressional Election
Democrats around the nation are thoroughly happy because on January 6th in Georgia, both Democratic Senate candidates won their elections. Senator Jon Ossoff and Senator Raphael Warnock of the Democratic Party beat out two Georgia senators in the running for reelection. Ossoff won against Republican candidate David Perdue, who is a well established Georgia senator. Warnock beat Kelly Loeffler, also a Republican, who was relatively new to the senate.
Why is this such a big deal?
This is a major event for Congress and for the country whether or not you associate with the Democratic or Republican Party. The Democratic party has ‘flipped’ the senate. Now, this means they hold the majority of senators in the senate, and they also hold a majority in the House of Representatives. Because of this they control the entire legislative branch of government. They also hold the executive branch with the newly elected Democratic president, Joe Biden. For the Democrats, this means they will have the ability to more easily pass a democratic bill through the legislative branch generally without push back from the president. They will also be able to easily block Republican bills from passing through Congress. The only remaining ‘threat’ to the Democratic Party at this point is the Supreme Court, which is currently held by the Republican Party because the majority of justices currently serving on the court were appointed by a Republican president. However, Supreme Court Justices are legally not supposed to be supporting any type of political agenda. Their jobs are to delegate what laws are considered constitutional and unconstitutional, which is known as the power of judicial review. This means that in our current state of affairs the federal government does not exist with strong checks and balances, which is the democratic system in which one part of government does not gain too much power over another. For the Republican Party, it is not such a good day. Now that the Republican Party is a minority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, they are outnumbered by Democratic congressmen and women, and will have a very difficult time pushing their bills through congress. Their only hope for limiting Democratic legislation right now is the Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court does not have nearly as much power in the sense of checks and balances as does a majority senate or majority house of representatives.
Democrats around the nation are thoroughly happy because on January 6th in Georgia, both Democratic Senate candidates won their elections. Senator Jon Ossoff and Senator Raphael Warnock of the Democratic Party beat out two Georgia senators in the running for reelection. Ossoff won against Republican candidate David Perdue, who is a well established Georgia senator. Warnock beat Kelly Loeffler, also a Republican, who was relatively new to the senate.
Why is this such a big deal?
This is a major event for Congress and for the country whether or not you associate with the Democratic or Republican Party. The Democratic party has ‘flipped’ the senate. Now, this means they hold the majority of senators in the senate, and they also hold a majority in the House of Representatives. Because of this they control the entire legislative branch of government. They also hold the executive branch with the newly elected Democratic president, Joe Biden. For the Democrats, this means they will have the ability to more easily pass a democratic bill through the legislative branch generally without push back from the president. They will also be able to easily block Republican bills from passing through Congress. The only remaining ‘threat’ to the Democratic Party at this point is the Supreme Court, which is currently held by the Republican Party because the majority of justices currently serving on the court were appointed by a Republican president. However, Supreme Court Justices are legally not supposed to be supporting any type of political agenda. Their jobs are to delegate what laws are considered constitutional and unconstitutional, which is known as the power of judicial review. This means that in our current state of affairs the federal government does not exist with strong checks and balances, which is the democratic system in which one part of government does not gain too much power over another. For the Republican Party, it is not such a good day. Now that the Republican Party is a minority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, they are outnumbered by Democratic congressmen and women, and will have a very difficult time pushing their bills through congress. Their only hope for limiting Democratic legislation right now is the Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court does not have nearly as much power in the sense of checks and balances as does a majority senate or majority house of representatives.
The Riots in the Capital
A truly scary day in American history: January 6, 2021. President Donald J. Trump invited his supporters to the United States capital to deliver a speech in which he states he will, “Never accept defeat.” It was of his belief and the belief of his supporters that this election was one of fraud and unfairness. WOn this day Congress was meeting to confirm and approve the election results which would certify the win of President-Elect Joe Biden. As a result of the rally held by Trump and the events and preceding inside of the Capitol building, Trump supporters stormed and attacked the building. Federal officials, as well as people around the nation, denounced the attack on the capital as an assault on American democracy.
Trump supporters scaled the sides of the Capital to gain entry into the building. Some supporters replaced the American flags outside the capital with Trump flags. One man, photographed carrying the Confederate flags, has since been arrested on charges of unlawfully entering the capital. Once rioters entered the building some took statues or podiums and others replaced American flags with confederate flags. Storming the capital resulted in the death of five people. Top stories are about Capital police officer Brian Sicknick, age 42, and Ashli Babbitt, 35. Officer Brian Sicknick was beaten in the head with a fire extinguisher by rioters, he was then taken to the hospital and treated for his injuries but later died because of them. Ashli Babbitt was one of the people storming the capital, she was armed and disobeying police order. She was told not to enter and when she did she was shot by police. They are armed, they are dangerous, and they may be classified as terrorists. Terroism is defined as the unlawful use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims. This event perfectly fits this definition of terroism as these people directly use violence to try and stop the approval of President-Elect Joe Biden's win. Some also refer to this event as a coup. A coup (/kōo/) is a sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from a government. People are saying this was a deliberate move by Donald Trump to get his supporters to overthrow the government in order to keep him in power but this is pure speculation. However, the event was most certainly sudden, violent, and illegal, and was also a move to deliberately assault a democractic process. Whether or not this was the intention of Donald Trump's rally is hard to say. This event brings the question of is the amount of power the US president holds too much?
What is President Trump Up To?
Since the election on November 3, 2020, President Trump has been publicly denying the results of the election. He states it is “far from over,” and that he will “never accept defeat.” Although he was assured by federal government organizations such as Homeland Security and the Department of Justice that the election was not fraudulent, he still believed election fraud was very real and that he won the election. Trump and his attorneys and allies filed 62 lawsuits, 61 of which were defeated, meaning Trump did not win them. However, in Pennsylvania, the judge stated that voters had a 3 day period after the election in which they could provide valid ID in order for their ballots to be counted. After 3 recounts, 2 in Georgia, and 1 in Wisconsin, results stayed the same. Trump gained no electoral college votes from any of the recounts. So, seemingly his efforts to prove the election was fraudulent have failed. Yet he still advocates for himself that the election was rigged, fraudulent and inaccurate although these claims have no foundation. On November 14th, Trump also held the ‘Millon MAGA March;’ A political rally Trump held to express his belief that the election was fraudulent, even though there was at this point no evidence of fraud. He also claimed that “over one million” people attended this march, however, it has since been proven untrue and that a range from tens of thousands to a few hundred thousand people were actually there.Trump has also been under scrutiny for pressuring Congress about the second stimulus package. He stated that he wants some of the spending provisions his administration offered up to Congress to be taken away. He threatened Congress by saying he hasn’t decided if he is going to veto the bill yet or not. He also threatened to pocket veto it, meaning he will allow 10 days to go by without signing the bill. However, this would be bad for several reasons. First, federal unemployment would expire and, second, it would force a government shutdown because of expired unemployment. Congress is feeling irritated by all of this and many call Trump's actions that of a bully. One other major thing Donald Trump has done since the November 3 election is to address his people on January 6. Some argue that this speech helped cause the storming of the Capital and the major riots on Capitol Hill. He has also since had his Twitter account suspended permanently, as well as his Facebook account amid the riots in the Capital.
A truly scary day in American history: January 6, 2021. President Donald J. Trump invited his supporters to the United States capital to deliver a speech in which he states he will, “Never accept defeat.” It was of his belief and the belief of his supporters that this election was one of fraud and unfairness. WOn this day Congress was meeting to confirm and approve the election results which would certify the win of President-Elect Joe Biden. As a result of the rally held by Trump and the events and preceding inside of the Capitol building, Trump supporters stormed and attacked the building. Federal officials, as well as people around the nation, denounced the attack on the capital as an assault on American democracy.
Trump supporters scaled the sides of the Capital to gain entry into the building. Some supporters replaced the American flags outside the capital with Trump flags. One man, photographed carrying the Confederate flags, has since been arrested on charges of unlawfully entering the capital. Once rioters entered the building some took statues or podiums and others replaced American flags with confederate flags. Storming the capital resulted in the death of five people. Top stories are about Capital police officer Brian Sicknick, age 42, and Ashli Babbitt, 35. Officer Brian Sicknick was beaten in the head with a fire extinguisher by rioters, he was then taken to the hospital and treated for his injuries but later died because of them. Ashli Babbitt was one of the people storming the capital, she was armed and disobeying police order. She was told not to enter and when she did she was shot by police. They are armed, they are dangerous, and they may be classified as terrorists. Terroism is defined as the unlawful use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims. This event perfectly fits this definition of terroism as these people directly use violence to try and stop the approval of President-Elect Joe Biden's win. Some also refer to this event as a coup. A coup (/kōo/) is a sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from a government. People are saying this was a deliberate move by Donald Trump to get his supporters to overthrow the government in order to keep him in power but this is pure speculation. However, the event was most certainly sudden, violent, and illegal, and was also a move to deliberately assault a democractic process. Whether or not this was the intention of Donald Trump's rally is hard to say. This event brings the question of is the amount of power the US president holds too much?
What is President Trump Up To?
Since the election on November 3, 2020, President Trump has been publicly denying the results of the election. He states it is “far from over,” and that he will “never accept defeat.” Although he was assured by federal government organizations such as Homeland Security and the Department of Justice that the election was not fraudulent, he still believed election fraud was very real and that he won the election. Trump and his attorneys and allies filed 62 lawsuits, 61 of which were defeated, meaning Trump did not win them. However, in Pennsylvania, the judge stated that voters had a 3 day period after the election in which they could provide valid ID in order for their ballots to be counted. After 3 recounts, 2 in Georgia, and 1 in Wisconsin, results stayed the same. Trump gained no electoral college votes from any of the recounts. So, seemingly his efforts to prove the election was fraudulent have failed. Yet he still advocates for himself that the election was rigged, fraudulent and inaccurate although these claims have no foundation. On November 14th, Trump also held the ‘Millon MAGA March;’ A political rally Trump held to express his belief that the election was fraudulent, even though there was at this point no evidence of fraud. He also claimed that “over one million” people attended this march, however, it has since been proven untrue and that a range from tens of thousands to a few hundred thousand people were actually there.Trump has also been under scrutiny for pressuring Congress about the second stimulus package. He stated that he wants some of the spending provisions his administration offered up to Congress to be taken away. He threatened Congress by saying he hasn’t decided if he is going to veto the bill yet or not. He also threatened to pocket veto it, meaning he will allow 10 days to go by without signing the bill. However, this would be bad for several reasons. First, federal unemployment would expire and, second, it would force a government shutdown because of expired unemployment. Congress is feeling irritated by all of this and many call Trump's actions that of a bully. One other major thing Donald Trump has done since the November 3 election is to address his people on January 6. Some argue that this speech helped cause the storming of the Capital and the major riots on Capitol Hill. He has also since had his Twitter account suspended permanently, as well as his Facebook account amid the riots in the Capital.
Works Cited
ABC News. “For the First Time, Twitter Has Flagged a US President's Tweet with a Fact-Check Warning.” ABC News, ABC News, 27 May 2020, www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-27/donald-trump-accuses-twitter-of-interfering-in-us-2020-election/12290140.
Desk, India Today Web. “World Shocked, US Stunned as Trump Supporters Run Riot inside Capitol: All That Happened.” India Today, 7 Jan. 2021, www.indiatoday.in/world/story/take-the-capitol-washington-dc-turns-riot-zone-as-trump-supporters-protest-biden-s-win-1756600-2021-01-07.
Fausset, Jonathan Martin and Richard. “Democrats Win One Senate Seat in Georgia; Second Race Too Close to Call.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Feb. 2021, www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/05/us/loeffler-ossoff-warnock-perdue.
“Why Veterans of the Military and Law Enforcement Joined the Capitol Insurrection.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 15 Jan. 2021, www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-01-15/capitol-riot-police-veterans-extremists.
Desk, India Today Web. “World Shocked, US Stunned as Trump Supporters Run Riot inside Capitol: All That Happened.” India Today, 7 Jan. 2021, www.indiatoday.in/world/story/take-the-capitol-washington-dc-turns-riot-zone-as-trump-supporters-protest-biden-s-win-1756600-2021-01-07.
Fausset, Jonathan Martin and Richard. “Democrats Win One Senate Seat in Georgia; Second Race Too Close to Call.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Feb. 2021, www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/05/us/loeffler-ossoff-warnock-perdue.
“Why Veterans of the Military and Law Enforcement Joined the Capitol Insurrection.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 15 Jan. 2021, www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-01-15/capitol-riot-police-veterans-extremists.