A political newsletter for normal people
WTF Just Happened Today? is a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
Day 1455: "He must go."
Today in one sentence: The House voted to impeach Trump, making him the only American president to be impeached twice; Trump issued a statement calling on Americans to "ease tensions and calm tempers"; Mitch McConnell rejected calls to bring the Senate back for an emergency session to begin Trump's impeachment trial before Jan. 19; and the United States reported more than 4,200 Covid-19 deaths Tuesday – a single-day record.
1/ The House voted to impeach Trump, making him the only American president to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans, including the House’s No. 3 Republican, Liz Cheney, joined with all Democrats in a 232 to 197 vote to impeach Trump for “willful incitement of insurrection” – the gravest charge ever lodged against a sitting president – for his role in a riot by his supporters that left five dead and the Capitol ransacked. “We know that the President of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion against our common country,” Nancy Pelosi said on the House floor ahead of the vote. “He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Politico / The Guardian / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CBS News / ABC News / NBC News)
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EARLIER: The House approved a resolution encouraging Pence to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office before his term ends on Jan. 20. Pence, however, told Pelosi that he does not believe invoking the 25th Amendment “is in the best interest of our nation.” (NBC News)
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Trump issued a statement calling on Americans to “ease tensions and calm tempers.” The statement was released as the House was debating his impeachment. (NPR / New York Times)
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YouTube suspended Trump’s channel over concern about “ongoing potential for violence.” (New York Times)
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👑 Portrait of a President: Pence Reached His Limit With Trump. It Wasn’t Pretty. “You can either go down in history as a patriot,” Trump told him, “or you can go down in history as a pussy.” (New York Times)
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👑 Portrait of a President: Trump grows defiant as the White House becomes a ghost town. As he becomes the first president to be impeached twice, Trump lacks a robust response for the first time. (NBC News)
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Trump Impeachment 2.0 Live Blogs: New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / The Guardian / NPR / ABC News / NBC News / CNN / CNBC
2/ Mitch McConnell rejected calls to bring the Senate back for an emergency session to begin Trump’s impeachment trial before Jan. 19. McConnell, however, told Republican senators that he has not ruled out voting to convict Trump on the House’s impeachment charge. Trump impeachment trial won’t begin until after Biden becomes president on Jan. 20. If the Senate convicts Trump, it could also vote to ban him from ever seeking office again. (CNN / Axios / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The United States reported more than 4,200 Covid-19 deaths Tuesday – a single-day record. Tuesday’s deaths represents at least 1,597 more people than those killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Coronavirus cases, meanwhile, have continued to tick up over the past two weeks in more than 30 states. Only Tennessee, Idaho, and South Dakota are experiencing slight declines in case rates. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
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😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
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Global: Total confirmed cases: ~92,112,000; deaths: ~1,974,000
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U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~22,999,000; deaths: ~384,000
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Source: Johns Hopkins University
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Live blogs:
poll/ 55% of Americans support impeaching Trump while 45% oppose the effort. (CBS News)
poll/ 34% of Americans approve the job Trump is doing as president – his lowest in four years. 63% disapprove. (Politico)
✏️ Notables.
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The Census Bureau stopped working on Trump’s directive to produce a count of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. for purposes of redrawing congressional districts in 2021. (NPR / ABC News)
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Trump appointees at the EPA overruled the agency’s career scientists on a safety assessment for a toxic chemical that’s contaminated the drinking water for an estimated 860,000 Americans. (Politico)
A political newsletter for normal people
WTF Just Happened Today? is a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
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