Biden’s Unity Dilemma
Trump's missing vaccine plan + NC’s missing child abuse cases + Raleigh’s missing freedman’s villages + Erica Smith’s second Senate bid + the obsolete immigration law that could get a man deported
Friday, Jan. 22, 2021
Happy Friday! Today’s newsletter is about a 10-minute read. Weather: mostly cloudy, high around 55. (WRAL)
Today’s Number: 98
People suspected of voting illegally in North Carolina in 2020, down from the 428 that an audit found had voted illegally in 2016, according to NC Policy Watch.
33 are suspected of voting while serving an active felony sentence.
65 are suspected of voting twice — in some cases, voting by mail and then in-person because they couldn’t locate their absentee ballot on the state’s tracker.
Investigations are ongoing, and not all of these cases will be referred to prosecutors.
The first category of illegal voters, felons on parole or probation, can be prosecuted even if they were not aware they were breaking the law by voting.
On This Day
1834: In State v. Negro Will — a case involving an enslaved man who killed an overseer who had just shot him in the back — the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that enslaved people who defended themselves could only be charged with manslaughter, not murder.
1973: The U.S. Supreme Court legalized most abortions in Roe v. Wade.
1987: Pennsylvania State Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer shot himself at a press conference the day before being sentenced on a bribery conviction. For my fellow ’90s kids, his suicide — which several TV stations broadcast uncut — was the inspiration for Filter’s 1995 song “Hey Man, Nice Shot.”
2018: Netflix became the largest digital media company in the world.
2020: China locked down the Wuhan province to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
One Year Ago
NYT top story: “The Test a Deadly Coronavirus Outbreak Poses to China’s Leadership”
Top 3 Google Search rising queries, Raleigh-Durham MSA, Jan. 22. 2020:
Kansas basketball: The No. 1-ranked Jayhawks defeated Kansas State.
Harbor freight: No idea why this is here.
Duke email: I assumed this was a reference to Megan Neely’s email asking biostatistics students not to speak Chinese, but that didn’t happen until Jan. 25.
+TODAY’S TOP 8
1. Rock, Meet Hard Place
Joe Biden stressed “unity” Wednesday’s inaugural address. But Republicans define “unity” as not doing anything they don’t like, even though they lost the election. So Biden can’t both meet Republican expectations of “unity” and deliver on his political promises.
“Republican leaders have pitched a vision of unity in which Biden refrains from actions that antagonize their base of voters, who, polls say, falsely doubt the legitimacy of his election, give former President Donald Trump high approval ratings, and want their leaders to resist Biden's agenda.”
“It's far from clear that Biden's pleas for unity will soften an opposition party answerable to a base of voters who, polls say, want their leaders to fight him. A poll by the Pew Research Center taken this month captures the asymmetry. Democrats said by a 25-point margin that Biden should work with Republicans to accomplish things, even if it means disappointing some of his voters. But Republicans said the opposite: By a 21-point margin, they said GOP leaders should ‘stand up to Biden’ on big issues even if that makes it harder to tackle critical problems.” (NBC News)
My column this week: The Republicans calling for unity don’t want unity. They want surrender. (PRIMER subscribers)
—> WHAT IT MEANS
Very soon, Democrats will face a choice: Is “unity” more important than getting things done? In the Senate especially, they can’t have it both ways. If they fail to get things done, Ezra Klein writes in the New York Times, Republicans will eat their lunch in 2022, paving the way for another Trumpian figure two years later.
His thesis is simple: Populism thrives when government is broken. Therefore, Democrats must prove that government can work.
To do that, they need to do three things: 1) help people fast and visibly; 2) take politics seriously and discredit MAGA Republicans; and 3) improve democracy.
They have plans that will help people — the COVID relief bill, the expansion of voting rights, Biden’s immigration bill. To pass any of them, Senate Democrats will have to eliminate the filibuster.
“Defenders of the political system, eager to show that normalcy has returned, often embrace the very defects and dysfunctions that gave rise to the populist leader in the first place. The nightmare scenario is that Trump is defeated, driven from office, and that augurs in an era when even less appears to get done, as President Biden submits to congressional paralysis while embracing a calmer communications strategy.”
Just to underline this point, Mitch McConnell — who nuked the judicial filibuster to push through three far-right Supreme Court justices after refusing to grant Merrick Garland a hearing — is blocking an organizing resolution until Democrats agree not to touch the filibuster. To do otherwise would go against the spirit of “unity,” McConnell says.
“If the talk of unity and common ground is to have meaning, and certainly if the rules from 20 years ago are to be our guide, then I cannot imagine the Democratic leader would rather hold up the power-sharing agreement and simply reaffirm that his side won’t be breaking this standing rule of the Senate.” (CNN)
See how that works?
—> OTHER BIDEN NEWS
Congress approved a waiver for Gen. Lloyd Austin, clearing the way for him to become the first Black secretary of defense. (NYT)
—> OTHER BERNIE NEWS
Slate scored an interview with the teacher who gifted Bernie Sanders with those fabulous, memed-to-death mittens.
I went on Twitter and what I saw was some misinformation that bothered me. People were talking about how these mittens probably came from Bernie’s grandmother and they were a Christmas gift and they were knitted. There’s so much inaccuracy in that. Bernie’s Jewish. They were not a Christmas gift.
So I put it out there that I made the mittens, they were a gift, and they’re not knitted, they’re sewn from repurposed and up-cycled sweaters. At that time, I had 30 or 40 mittens for sale and being a little naïve about Twitter, I put my Gmail account on that, which someone picked up yesterday and retweeted it. People have been contacting me thinking that they can get mittens, and actually they can’t. I don’t have any more, and I don’t have much of a mitten business anymore because it really wasn’t worth it. Independent crafters get really taken for a ride by the federal government. We get taxed to the nth degree, and it wasn’t really worth it pursuing that as a business, even as a side hustle. I mostly just make them as gifts.
2. Turns Out, Trump Had No Vaccine Plan
The day Biden was sworn in, COVID claimed a record 4,131 American lives. That afternoon, his team discovered that the Trump administration hadn’t left them a flawed vaccination plan, like they’d expected. It left them no vaccination plan.
“In the immediate hours following Biden being sworn into office on Wednesday, sources with direct knowledge of the new administration’s Covid-related work told CNN one of the biggest shocks that the Biden team had to digest during the transition period was what they saw as a complete lack of a vaccine distribution strategy under former President Donald Trump, even weeks after multiple vaccines were approved for use in the United States.”
“‘There is nothing for us to rework. We are going to have to build everything from scratch,’ one source said.” (CNN)
In an exit interview, outgoing CDC director Robert Redfield defended the vaccine rollout: “Last week, we had two days when we vaccinated one million people a day. We laid a foundation for vaccine administration. I find it unfortunate when some people suggest that the vaccine program delivering one million a day is somehow a disaster.” (NYT)
Competence was never the Trump White House’s forte, of course. But it’s also likely the Biden team was engaging in expectations-lowering as 46 rolled out his pandemic plan:
“The 21-page executive summary … is far from a federal takeover of the nation’s efforts to cope with the worst health calamity in a century. Yet it represents a pronounced shift away from the Trump administration’s deference to each state to design its own plan for coronavirus testing and carry out other elements of its response.” (WaPo)
The plan has seven principles:
Restore trust by providing information based on science and expertise.
Mount a comprehensive vaccination campaign.
Expand masking, testing, therapeutic treatments, and provide national public health guidance.
Use the Defense Production Act to make up for supply shortfalls.
Reopen schools and businesses.
Protect those at risk and advance equity, including by establishing a health equity task force.
Restore U.S. leadership and prepare for future threats, including by restoring the White House National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, which the Trump administration cut.
Republicans found nits to pick. Rep. Steve Scalise called the 100-million-vaccines promise insufficient and complaints about the train wreck Trump left behind “old Washington spin.” The former critique is more valid than the latter.
“[Biden’s] promise to inject 100 million vaccines in his first hundred days is aiming low, since those 100 days should see twice that number of doses available. Because the currently approved coronavirus vaccines require two doses, Mr. Biden is promising only to vaccinate 50 million Americans.” (NYT)
—> OTHER VACCINE NEWS
North Carolina has administered about 38% of the just over 1 million vaccines it has been given. (WRAL)
North Carolina prisons have begun vaccinating inmates age 75 and over, along with staff who work with COVID-positive incarcerated people or in prison units with outbreaks. Roughly one in five people incarcerated in North Carolina prisons has had COVID; 40 have died. (NC Health News)
3. Erica Smith Announces Second Bid for Senate
Erica Smith was the first Democrat to announce a challenge to Sen. Thom Tillis. But she had low name recognition, was a poor fundraiser, ran a disorganized campaign, and didn’t impress the powerbrokers in Washington. Instead, they put their money behind Cal Cunningham, a boring slab of overcooked meat whose only job was to be safe, moderate, and let Tillis beat himself.
That looked like a fine strategy until, well, Cal couldn’t keep it in his pants. Whether Cunningham’s adultery (or lame sexting) cost him the election is up for debate — j/k, no, it’s not, he would have lost anyway — but it made the Dem establishment look pretty stupid for anointing him their chosen one.
Yesterday, Smith became the first Dem officially out of the gate for the 2022 race to fill Sen. Richard Burr’s open seat, joining former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker on the Republican side.
Smith has a bigger profile now than a few years ago. She’s also pledging to run a better primary campaign.
“She said this time around she is building a more experienced staff and starting to fundraise early along with ‘casting a wider net for those voices left behind.’ … ‘Money is key,’ Smith said. She won’t accept fossil fuel money and large corporate PAC money, she said, and wants to start small with grassroots donations. She said Democrats need to pay more attention to Black women candidates and have more of them in the candidate pipeline.” (N&O)
However: Smith is likely to face Charlotte state Sen. Jeff Jackson, who was the DSCC’s first choice to face Tillis. (He declined then but has signaled his interest this time around.) Jackson fits the profile of a typical statewide Democrat: white, male, army reservist. And he’ll have no trouble raising money.
It will be tempting for the DSCC to again put its finger — or arm, or body — on the scale once again. After all, while Cal’s infidelity made the DSCC look dumb, it also gave Chuck Schumer an excuse for why his guy didn’t pan out.
—> RELATED-ISH
Speaking of Mark Walker: rumor has it Lara Trump — the ex-POTUS’s daughter-in-law — might get in on the GOP primary.
For whatever it’s worth, someone just purchased the laratrumpforsenate2024.com domain. It’s probably not worth much, of course, because the race isn’t in 2024, and the domain owner is registered in Pennsylvania.
Someone else — Carey Grannis of Flemingsburg, Kentucky — has purchased laratrumpforsenate2022.com.
Laratrump.com has been registered with GoDaddy since 2010, but it, too, is owned by a squatter.
4. With Schools Out, Child Abuse Referrals Decline
Last year, Durham and Wake Counties saw a 16% decline in child abuse and neglect reports compared to 2019. That’s not an indication of less abuse happening; it’s probably the opposite. Rather, fewer incidents are being reported — and fewer children are going to foster care — because with remote classes, teachers aren’t able to notice the signs of abuse.
“Reports to Triangle counties have plunged. And statewide, hundreds of fewer kids are entering foster care, where children land when they’re taken out of dangerous situations. Such declines would, in past years, have been a positive sign. But experts fear that multiple stressors — including wage and job loss, psychological challenges and health issues — are actually driving up child abuse and neglect cases hidden in the shadows of the pandemic.”
“Educational personnel accounted for about 25% of abuse and neglect reports the week before the pandemic closed Wake schools. In the weeks that followed, that number fell to a weekly average of 8%, according to information provided by Wake County. While overall reports returned to their pre-COVID-19 level of roughly 75 to 150 reports per week after virtual school started, [Wake child welfare director Paige] Rosemond said, reports from teachers, guidance counselors and other school employees remained low.”
“The overall increase may have reflected children resuming extracurricular activities or attending more medical appointments, or possibly more domestic violence incidents with children present, Rosemond said.” (N&O)
5. Obsolete Immigration Law Lands NC Man in Limbo
Kelvin Silva came to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic in 1988 as an 11-year-old. Since his father was a U.S. citizen, he always believed he was one, too. Except he wasn’t. His parents weren’t married. That meant his father’s citizenship didn’t confer onto him. Three decades later, that nearly got him deported, Queen City Nerve editor Ryan Pitkin reports.
“When his father was killed in an accident six years after their arrival in the states, Silva’s life was turned upside down. … Living in Charlotte, he eventually fell into selling drugs, and was charged and convicted for possession with intent to distribute marijuana and cocaine in 2013.”
“It wasn’t until July 5, 2019, two days before Silva was scheduled to be released from prison, that his new nightmare began. That’s when he was informed ICE had placed a retainer on him and started deportation proceedings against him.”
The citizenship law was changed in 2001, but the change wasn’t made retroactive. The Southern Poverty Law Center attorneys challenging his looming deportation are arguing that the original law, called the Guyer Rule, was unconstitutional.
—> OTHER IMMIGRATION NEWS
Jose Chicas, who has taken sanctuary from ICE in a Durham church for nearly four years — as in, never leaving this tiny little parsonage — is going home with his family, relying on Biden’s 100-day deportation moratorium. (N&O)
6. Potential $2B Production Site Wants Incentives
Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies is planning a $2 billion production site. The Triangle and Austin will likely be at the top of its list — and considering its CEO lives here, the Triangle is in a good place. But Fujifilm Diosynth wants incentives.
“Incentives are going to play a factor,” [CEO Martin] Meeson told TBJ. “You have to look at the overall cost and the operating costs.”
“Meeson said the company has not yet narrowed down a short list, and that it was looking across the entire U.S. Fujifilm footprint, not just that of the biotech unit. But he said both the Triangle and College Station, Texas, locations are definitely in play.”
“Texas-based real estate developer Ari Rastegar said that if Fujifilm makes its decision based on ‘location and distribution and pricing in terms of real estate, [North Carolina] is going to take it.’ … But, if incentives become the deciding factor, the proposition changes, he said. ‘If they’re looking at incentives and money, Texas will blow it out of the water,’ he said.” (TBJ, sub. req.)
—> OTHER LOCAL TECH NEWS
Durham biotech company Bioventus plans to go public on the Nasdaq and hopes to raise $100 million. (N&O)
7. Of Raleigh’s 13 Freedman’s Villages, 2 Remain
After the Civil War, people freed from slavery formed 13 villages around Raleigh, which soon became home to 4,000 freedmen. Two — Oberlin Village and Method — remain. The other 11 have vanished.
“Sadly, history has all-but-forgotten the other 11 freedman's villages. Many historians don’t even know the villages' names, let alone where they were located or what happened to them.”
The other 11 were: Hungry Neck, Cotton Place/Idlewild, Old Fairground, Hayti, Cannonlands, Manly Homestead, Smith-Haywood, Wilmington/Blount, St. Petersburg, Brooklyn, Lincolnville.
“There are modern-day clues to where these neighborhoods once stood — if you know where to search. Hungry Neck, Idlewild, Cotton Place, Old Fairgrounds, and St. Petersburg stood in the area where modern-day New Bern Avenue, Hargett Street, and Lenoir Street run parallel. Today, a street named Idlewild still runs through the area. Likewise, a little subdivision named Hungry Neck North marks the location where the freedman’s village once stood. Nearby, a short road named Cotton Place and another road named Freeman Street serve as reminders of this important history.” (WRAL)
—> OTHER LOCAL NEWS
More than 17,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to fire Franklin Graham for “undermining democracy” and “helping incite white-nationalist sedition.” (N&O)
Raleigh was named the third-best state capital in the country, according to maker of clickbait lists Wallethub. (N&O)
8. What I’m Reading: “The Crisis of American Power”
Americans have a new president but not a new country. While most Europeans rejoiced at Joe Biden’s victory in the November US presidential election, they do not think he can help America make a comeback as the pre-eminent global leader. …
Our survey showed that Europeans’ attitudes towards the United States have undergone a massive change. Majorities in key member states now think the US political system is broken, that China will be more powerful than the US within a decade, and that Europeans cannot rely on the US to defend them. They are drawing radical consequences from these lessons. Large numbers think Europeans should invest in their own defence and look to Berlin rather than Washington as their most important partner. They want to be tougher with the US on economic issues. And, rather than aligning with Washington, they want their countries to stay neutral in a conflict between the US and Russia or China.