CNN: “Donald Trump’s presidency is blazing into history in a way that epitomizes his corrupt excess, with pardons for cronies and war crimes, assaults on democracy, fresh Covid-19 denial and impunity for Russia. And in a trademark bombshell that blindsided aides, Trump on Tuesday also issued a sudden pre-Christmas demand for changes to a desperately needed $900 billion pandemic relief bill that risked shattering a fragile bipartisan compromise he had made no effort to shape. His move could send global markets into free fall and prolong the deprivation of millions of Americans who are going hungry or have lost their jobs.”
“The antics of the outgoing President in recent hours further weighed down the yet-to-begin presidency of his successor, Joe Biden, who already faced the most challenging debut of any US leader since Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. ‘I think it’s a nightmare that everyone is going through, and they all say it’s got to end,’ Biden said Tuesday when asked whether he expected ‘a honeymoon’ of early political goodwill to help extricate the nation from the pandemic and its consequences. The sleazy final days of the Trump White House later hit new lows when the President wielded his unassailable pardon power, substituting political payoffs for justice in yet another morally questionable use of executive authority.”