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More than two weeks after the election, President Donald Trump remains buried in the White House, refusing to give in and help his successor deal with critical and urgent issues: the pandemic and national security.
Since becoming a lame president, Trump has not only blocked cooperation with the new Biden administration, but has remained largely silent as the COVID-19 pandemic worsens dramatically nationwide; an average of 1,000 Americans have been reported dead every day since the election, with the total rapidly approaching the 250,000 mark.
And when his acting Secretary of Defense announced on Tuesday that the United States would withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, Trump was nowhere to be found – or heard, even on his usually active Twitter feed. He has not spoken or written a word publicly about five American soldiers who died in Egypt last week.
Republican leaders have so far signaled their willingness to let Trump continue to spit lies about the electoral process and spread allegations of baseless fraud, allowing the president to act on his own schedule.
The president has remained largely out of public sight since his defeat, walking away from the White House grounds only to visit his Virginia golf club on weekends and once for an Alumni Day event. fighters at Arlington National Cemetery, also in Virginia. In total, he has only made three public appearances since election night – and has not responded to journalists’ questions since November 2.
The president’s unusual isolation now looks likely to extend until Thanksgiving, with the first lady’s spokesperson announcing on Tuesday that the first family will stay in the White House for the holidays breaking with Trump’s tradition of spending the days. Florida vacation at the president’s house. club a-Lago.
As the President clings to the Oval Office which he is now set to leave in two months, he stayed in the West Wing later that evening than was his usual practice – with little to do. show for a long time. hours. The president’s public program remains largely devoid of any publicly announced event.
The president’s absence from the public arena has raised the question of whether he still has an interest in governing.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, whose dual role of government official and adviser on the president’s re-election campaign has caused confusion and raised ethical concerns, insisted on Wednesday that the president remained engaged.
“The president is working hard – he is working hard on COVID, among other things, to reduce the number of our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, bringing our men and women home,” McEnany said in an interview with Fox News.
McEnany herself has not held a press briefing since October 1.
Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence continued to exhibit a semblance of normalcy, attending the dignified transfer of the remains of U.S. soldiers this week, leading sessions on the coronavirus pandemic, and meeting with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill.
While Trump has generally avoided the public eye, he has purged a number of senior officials who he says have encountered him in the past.
Two days after news agencies projected Biden had won the presidency, Trump sacked Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who had displeased Trump by opposing the use of the active duty military to do so. in the face of racial justice protests in June.
On Tuesday, he sacked the head of the Department of Homeland Security’s main cybersecurity agency, Christopher Krebs, after Krebs repeatedly berated claims that Trump and his campaign had made about widespread voter fraud.
The chaotic exit of the president not only sows instability at the upper echelons of his administration, but has also set up roadblocks to the process of transition from the incoming administration.
His refusal to concede has barred Biden’s transition team from accessing government funding, information and resources, and intelligence that is typically extended to a new administration.
The federal agency responsible for providing the winning team with access to staff and resources within federal agencies, the General Service Administration, has so far not declared a winner – or ‘confirmed’, in his language.
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris received a briefing from national security experts on Tuesday – but current federal officials were missing as the Trump administration banned them from working with Biden.
Biden’s transition team and public health experts have argued that any delay in coordinating COVID-19 could have an impact on vaccine distribution. With the prospect of multiple coronavirus vaccines being made available to segments of the population before Biden takes office,
Trump’s favorite morning TV show, Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” had a message for him Wednesday morning: Work with Biden, for the good of the nation.
“I think it’s in the best interests of the country that they start coordinating on the virus and start coordinating with security with Biden’s team, and just let them know,” the co- host Brian Kilmeade, a strong supporter of the President.
But Trump’s most ardent supporters, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Have repeatedly urged the president to actively “fight”. Graham has donated campaign funds to help Trump pursue largely unsuccessful lawsuits in battlefield states.
But by an overwhelming majority, while most GOP senators seem to privately acknowledge the reality that Trump will not win, they have publicly argued that Trump has “every right” to contest the election until then. that voters vote and states certify their elections.
“I think he has every right to continue the process,” Senator John Cornyn of R-Texas said on Monday. “I have every confidence that on January 20, we will inaugurate a president and it will probably be Joe Biden.”
But although GOP senators have publicly stated that the election result is yet to be settled, a different scene unfolded in the Senate on Tuesday. A number of them praised Harris, who is currently a senator from California, and Graham even gave him a punch.
Many agreed to postpone the transition despite the risks it could pose to national security and vaccine distribution efforts.
“I agree to move forward at the rate it is,” Senator Mike Braun, R-Ind told reporters on Tuesday.
National security briefings should be given to Biden, most senators agree, but on other types of briefings typically given to an elected president, GOP senators have pleaded for more time.
“I don’t think they have to know everything,” Senator Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Said of the incoming team. “I think they need to know some things, and national security is one of them.”
ABC News’s Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
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