The 2020 presidential election and surging coronavirus cases dominated the discussions on the Sunday morning political shows.
Multiple guests discussed President Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the election, and his administration’s efforts to delay the transition to President-elect Biden’s team.
Guests also discussed whether another national lockdown would be needed to stem the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think it’s very important for leaders in the Republican Party to explain to our voters, who are not as stupid as the Democrats think, that, in fact, Trump has lost the election and that his claims of election fraud are baseless,” said former national security adviser John Bolton.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said on Sunday he “expect[s] Joe Biden to be the next president of the United States,” adding that it was “good” that President Trump seemingly acknowledged Biden’s win in a tweet that the president later walked back.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said Sunday that while President Trump is within his legal right to challenge the 2020 election results, his administration should begin the formal transition process with President-elect Joe Biden’s team “for the country’s sake.”
Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said on Sunday that the Trump administration’s refusal to aid in a transition to a Biden presidency is a disservice to Americans as well as national security, stating that a new administration cannot begin without any information.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday called President Trump’s denial of election results and refusal to participate in a transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden’s team a “disgraceful” move by an American president.
“The Republicans themselves know that President Trump’s claims that [President-elect Joe] Biden’s votes were fraudulent are without merit, because if those claims were true, then those Republicans too would have been elected fraudulently or mistakenly because they were the same ballots,” Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus of constitutional law at Harvard said on “Fox News Sunday,” referencing Republicans outperforming expectations in House and Senate races.
As coronavirus cases continue to set records for the number of daily infectious and hospitalizations across the U.S., Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that Americans should not expect a national lockdown and instead anticipate “surgical-type” local restrictions.
“We are not in support of a nationwide lockdown and believe … there simply isn’t a scenario because we can get this under control,” said Dr. Atul Gawande on ABC’s “This Week.”
“It’s a very grave situation,” Ron Klain said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Back in September, then-candidate Joe Biden warned that America was headed to a very dark winter if the administration didn’t step up its action.”
“We never got our caseload down to a level that was truly manageable in the spring and we didn’t actually have the testing and contact traces to prevent subsequent rises in infection,” former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, a member of President-elect Joe Biden’s coronavirus advisory panel, said.
Admiral Brett Giroir, a physician who is part of the White House coronavirus task force, confirmed a report on Sunday that President Trump has not attended a meeting with the group in several months, but said he is “not concerned” about Trump’s absence.
