It was not Kamala Harris. Because Newsom, San Francisco's former mayor, had his eye on the governor's mansion, Harris faced no major Democratic competition when she ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016. 

That seat became open when then-Sen. Barbara Boxer announced she would not run for re-election. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villariagosa wanted to run for Boxer's seat, but former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown warned him off. Yes, that would be the same Willie Brown whom Harris had dated. Thus, 2016 was a win-win for the California Democrat establishment. Newsom won the governor's office, and Harris could use the Senate as a platform to preach her progressive ideas.

By 2019, Harris was running for the White House. But her candidacy failed to generate steam. She dropped out of the race before she could be humiliated in the 2020 Iowa caucuses, the election season's first vote, and before California primary voters could reject her. Harris, you see, did not have the heft to win a presidential primary in her own ultra-liberal home state. 

But she always had luck in her corner. In 2020, front-runner Joe Biden had said he would pick a female running mate. Yes, like every other politician in America, Harris carried some baggage. Throughout her career, Harris was notorious for high staff turnover in her ranks. Biden apparently didn't care. 

Did she improve? In 2021, former Harris communications director Gil Duran wrote in the San Francisco Examiner,"The only people suffering more than Harris are her staff members, some of whom have already quit their plum positions amid reports of a toxic work environment." If you've been watching CNN of late, you may see Harris as she wants you to see her: a former hard-nosed prosecutor who started out as a data-driven, do-your-homework, moderate Democrat. 

I laugh out loud. Tough? Prepared? Moderate? Um, no. Those aren't terms that people who knew Harris would have used to describe her during her time as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general. 

When she was DA, Harris' focus was on progressive politics – not seeking the death penalty, even for cop killers, and not seeking the toughest sentences for repeat offenders. I remember a district attorney who talked inordinately about the crimes she would not prosecute. When Harris ran for president in 2019, she actually told the ACLU she supported spending tax dollars on transgender surgeries and treatments – including for detained migrants and inmates. Since Biden unceremoniously ended his re-election campaign in July and handed his party's nod to his vice president, Harris has boasted that she was the only border-state prosecutor in the race. But that doesn't mean she was good at it. 

To the contrary, as she worked her way up the political ladder, Harris supported decreasing funding for ICE and ending ICE detainers for local law enforcement. Harris has criticized Donald Trump for doing "nothing to fix our broken immigration system" after she, Biden's "point person on immigration," and Biden did nothing to fix that sorry structure. So it should be no surprise that after Biden put the border in his vice president's portfolio, she visited the border once, under pressure.If Harris wins this election, where will she stand on the border? Probably on both sides. Expect her to talk tough on enforcement, but pick a team that doesn't see illegal immigration as a problem deserving of more than lip service. 

When Biden chose Harris to be a running mate, cynics and wags looked at her as his insurance policy. Sure, Biden's verbal stumbles were concerning, and, yes, the commander-in-chief had blustered past the 80-year mark. Before the June debate in which Biden fumbled and stumbled, party biggies thought Biden was a better bet than Harris, who just turned 60. Now, some of the folks who pushed for Harris are wondering if they made a mistake.

Originally published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal

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A leading neurologist specializing in Parkinson's disease met with President Biden's personal doctor at the White House earlier this year, according to visitor logs reviewed by the New York Post. This revelation comes amid ongoing discussions about the 81-year-old president's mental acuity, particularly following his recent debate performance against former President Donald Trump.

Dr. Kevin Cannard, a Parkinson's expert from Walter Reed Medical Center, and Dr. John E. Atwood, a cardiologist, met with Dr. Kevin O'Connor, Biden's personal physician, at the White House residence clinic on Jan. 17. The New York Post reports that a fourth, unidentified individual was also present at the 5 p.m. meeting.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Cannard has nearly two decades of experience at Walter Reed and has been serving as the "neurology specialist supporting the White House Medical Unit" since 2012. His most recent research, published in August 2023, focuses on the early stages of Parkinson's disease.

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), who served as the presidential physician for both Barack Obama and Donald Trump, told the New York Post, "It's highly likely they were talking about Biden. [O'Connor] should only be [regularly] treating the president and the first family."

O'Connor, who has been Biden's official physician since January 2021, gave the president a clean bill of health during his annual physical in February. This examination included a neurological assessment that specifically ruled out Parkinson's disease.

However, some medical professionals have raised concerns. Dr. Rob Howard, a professor of old age psychiatry at University College London, noted that Biden displays symptoms consistent with Parkinson's, including "fluctuation in attentional function, his facial appearance, and his gait." Howard emphasized that he has not examined Biden and was not offering a formal diagnosis.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), also a physician, told the New York Post, "Many in the medical community have suspected for several years that the president might be suffering from Parkinson's disease. If the president of the United States is among them, the American people deserve to know before voting in November."

The White House has responded to inquiries about the meeting, stating, "A wide variety of specialists from the Walter Reed system visit the White House complex to treat thousands of military personnel who work on the grounds." However, they declined to provide specific details about who O'Connor, Cannard, and Atwood were meeting with.

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US President Joe Biden and the small crowd assembled on the Washington Mall for his inauguration Wednesday celebrated the event as "democracy's day." But in truth, the state of democracy in America today is nothing to celebrate.

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The talking heads on TV, Democrats and a smattering of anti-Trump Republicans insist that the fault for all of America's political woes lies with former president Donald Trump and the senators and congressmen who joined him in questioning the results of the election in several swing states. For refusing to set aside evidence of widespread election fraud, they stand accused of inciting an insurrection and so endangering the foundations of American democracy. Trump was impeached for his statements at the Jan. 6 rally. And Democrat lawmakers are calling for Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley to be expelled from the Senate for questioning the electoral college votes from states with widespread allegations of election fraud.

The accusers forget conveniently that Democrat leaders from Nancy Pelosi to Hillary Clinton have insisted since November 2016 that Trump's electoral victory was "illegitimate" and the job of good Americans was to "resist" his "regime."

They forget as well that Democrat lawmakers objected to the certification of the electoral college ballots in 2016. And when their objections failed to overturn the election results, a protest broke out in the visitors' gallery of the Capitol. Several protesters were arrested.

No one in the media or in the coastal elite ever accused Pelosi and Clinton of inciting an insurrection even as hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets demanding that Trump be overthrown.

Republicans still unafraid of being called domestic terrorists and insurrectionists insist that if the violent protesters in the Capitol on Jan. 6 were insurrectionists, their "insurrection" was but a pale glimmer of the insurrection mounted in the streets of America's cities throughout the spring and summer, with the enthusiastic support and financial backing of Democrat leaders and their corporate sponsors. 700 police officers were injured, dozens of citizens were killed, tens of thousands of businesses were destroyed and vandalized during the Antifa and BlackLivesMatter riots. Property damage and losses were assessed at $2 billion. Government buildings were besieged, burned to the ground and vandalized.

The truth is that both Democrats and Republicans are wrong. Politicians from all sides and at all levels of government have long questioned election results. And no matter how strident their rejection of the results may have been, their actions never undermined America's democratic foundations.

Likewise, America has been the site of mass protests since before the Revolution. The right to protest is considered so sacred that it is protected in the First Amendment of the Constitution. There are laws governing where the line between protests and lawbreaking lies. And policing protests is as American as the protests themselves. Protests do not threaten American democracy.

The great danger to American democracy is not to be found in the streets. It is certainly not to be found in politicians debating how votes were counted and collected.

The grave danger to American democracy emanates from the unprecedented fusion between the Democratic Party and corporate America. Political philosopher Angelo Codevilla referred to this unity of forces as a ruling "oligarchy" that is replacing the American Republic.

The emerging "oligarchy" is currently enacting something that can rightly be dubbed, "The Great Purge."

The Great Purge, an event without precedent in American history, isn't about one side seizing the levers of power for itself. It is about one side denying the other side the right to even vie for power.

The purpose of The Great Purge is not to replace Trump loyalists with Biden loyalists in positions of power in government. Such replacement happens as a matter of course every time a new administration comes into office. The purpose of the Great Purge is to "cancel" the Republican Party and its voters as a legitimate political force and so transform the United States into something approaching a one-party system. To achieve this goal, the Democrats in government and their partners in the corporate and big tech media are using their power to repress, silence, ruin and criminalize tens of millions of private citizens for the "crime" of supporting Trump and the Republican Party.

The Big Tech giants' coordinated cancellation of all of Trump's social media accounts almost simultaneously was the opening gambit. It was rapidly followed by Congress's light speed impeachment of Trump for his alleged role in fomenting the violent protest at the Capitol. Like the social media ban, the impeachment flew through with no debate, no due process, no evidence through the good offices of Democrat lawmakers and their Republican allies who wish to make an example out of Trump. There is every reason to believe that in the coming months and years, the members of the ruling class will continue to abuse their power to destroy Trump whether by bankrupting him or prosecuting him. They must continue to pursue him. For if he perseveres, then they will have failed.

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At some point in the near future, Trump will face a Senate trial. As he left the White House on Wednesday morning, Trump had yet to secure legal counsel for the trial. The reason he has no lawyers doesn't owe to sudden shortage of good defense attorneys in Washington. It owes to fear of the purge. Qualified lawyers are afraid to represent him.

And they should be.

Cleta Mitchell has long been a fixture in Washington legal circles. A senior partner at Foley and Lardner law firm, Mitchell was a member of Trump's legal team in his electoral challenges in Georgia. When word got out that she was representing him, Democrat operatives from the Lincoln Project began threatening her firm with a client walkout.

The day after the Lincoln Project began threatening the firm's business, Mitchell announced her resignation. Within an hour of her announcement, all mention of Mitchell was scrubbed from the firm's website. One of Washington's top attorneys had been "cancelled."

Weeks before, the Lincoln Project did the same thing to two other law firms whose partners were representing Trump's legal challenges to the Pennsylvania election results. The attorneys saved themselves from immediate cancellation by immediately cancelling their representation of the President of the United States.

Since January 6, petitions of lawyers and law students demanding that Senators Cruz and Hawley be disbarred for lawfully challenging the electoral college votes of disputed states have garnered thousands of signatures. Harvard students are demanding the university withdraw the degrees of Trump advisors and political allies.

Regular Americans who participated in the protests – outside and inside the Capitol – are also being purged. Doctors, lawyers, state lawmakers, policemen and others whose only "crime" was being present have lost their jobs after being "outed."

Therese Duke, a nurse's assistant from Massachusetts was one of those "purged." Duke participated in a protest on Jan. 5 – the night before the Capitol siege -- at Freedom Plaza in Washington. She was videoed as she wept, with blood flowing down her face after being punched by a policewoman. Duke's daughter, a member of the "woke" revolution, outed her mother in a leering post on Twitter. The next day, Duke was fired from her job at University of Massachusetts Memorial Health Care. She told a local newspaper that she doesn't believe she will be able to get another job.

As bad as things are becoming in the private sector, the smoke signals being sent out from Washington are even more alarming. Since Jan. 6, Democrat lawmakers have been preparing legislation that would apply counter-terror laws passed to fight foreign terror groups abroad to investigating and fighting Americans suspected of membership in "domestic terror groups." Former military, law enforcement and intelligence leaders are pushing for such a move. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who commanded US forces in Afghanistan spent the past year campaigning against Trump.

Last week McChrystal told Yahoo News, "I see a similar dynamic in the evolution of al-Qaida in Iraq, where a whole generation of angry Arab youth with very poor prospects followed a powerful leader who promised to take them back in time to a better place, and he led them to embrace an ideology that justified their violence. This is now happening in America."

Former CIA director John Brennan then detailed who the enemy is. Aside from Trump and "lawmakers," Brennan said the new enemy is comprised of "an unholy alliance of religious extremists, authoritarians, fascists, bigots, racists, nativists and even libertarians."

Former FBI director James Comey made the goal of the purge explicit. "The Republican Party needs to be burned down or changed," he told The Guardian.

He figures people would be happy to go along with that.

"Who would want to be part of an organization that at its core is built on lies and racism and know-nothingism? It's just not a healthy political organization."

Unfortunately for Israelis, this isn't just America's problem. Thanks to New Hope Party Chairman Gideon Sa'ar, Israel is now importing some of the instigators of the purge. Sa'ar has reportedly hired four founders of the Lincoln Project to run his campaign against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud ahead of the March elections.

The Lincoln Project is run by former Republicans who have devoted the last four years of their lives to helping Democrats by demonizing Trump, Republicans and Republican voters. Their efforts met with negligible success in the 2020 elections. Trump increased his vote total by 11 million over 2016.

Trump didn't lose because Republicans stopped supporting him. He lost because the Democrats massively increased their voter base. The Lincoln Project's performance was so dismal that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demanded that it give its outstanding funds – raised from Democrat donors – to Democrat organs that had actually won the election.

But since its election failure, the Lincoln Project as come into its own. When Ocasio-Cortez said Democrats should make a database of Trump administration officials to prepare a blacklist, she was pilloried as a totalitarian. But when the "former Republicans" from the Lincoln Project said they were compiling such a list, it went over without protest. And ever since, the Lincoln Project has led the way in blacklisting and cancelling everyone from Trump's attorneys to hotels and vacation websites that served Trump supporters who came to Washington on Jan. 6. It is now calling for the firing of everyone from a county election board chairwoman in Georgia to Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

For four years, Israelis have gasped at the similarities between the Israeli left's unrelenting efforts to destroy Prime Minister Netanyahu, in partnership with the media and the legal fraternity, and the efforts of their American counterparts to destroy Donald Trump.

Sa'ar decision to integrate the instigators of America's great purge – a purge that is already endangering the democratic order of the most powerful democracy on earth – into Israel's political bloodstream bodes ill for Israel's future. And it most certainly tells us something alarming about the direction Sa'ar is interested in taking the country, if his campaign to become the next prime minister succeeds.

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"This is a sad day for America, regardless of how we got there … The Chinese are looking at this with glee and that's a tragedy," Florida's Republican Senator Marco Rubio said on Wednesday in the wake of the riots on Capitol Hill.

"We look like a third-world country. This cannot happen."

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Even though Rubio was supportive of the efforts to scrutinize the voting procedures to find out if the November 2020 election produced fraudulent results, the fact that throngs of protesters stormed Congress as if it were the Bastille was just too much.

"We can't do it this way. We can't have half of America that is happy and half of it unhappy; the America that we know marches in unison," he said.

The year 2020 was tough, but now 2021 is off to a terrible start. I visited the US just two months ago to cover the election, held under the difficult conditions set by the pandemic and after a campaign like no other. I have witnessed and covered many things in life but on Wednesday, as I was walking in Washington, I could not believe that I was actually in the beating heart of the world's most powerful democracy, the leader of the free world. I could believe the America we have come to admire so much had devolved to this state of affairs.

The events on Wednesday actually got off to a good start. I arrived just before the storm, when a peaceful rally began outside the White House. It was a celebration of democracy, demanding the elections get proper scrutiny. Then the protesters began marching toward Capitol Hill. I saw families, parents and children. They had come to see their president, who addressed them from the rally's podium. They were convinced that their vote was stolen. But that did not stop the energy from infusing the event and the loud cheering of Trump fans.

And then, out of nowhere, things went haywire. Trump supporters stormed the barricades and even damaged the tribunes set up for the upcoming inauguration. Some breached the perimeter and entered the actual legislative chambers. It was true pandemonium.

"The door was knocked down, so I just entered," a woman told me. She came with her friend from Florida. "We covered the statues with Trump 2020 flags and then we were asked to vacate the premises, and we left." But some of her friends refused to follow this order.

Not a uniter-in-chief

This was a bad day for Republicans, but in all the chaos one should not lose sight of the hypocritical conduct of CNN and other networks that defended the rioters in the George Floyd protests that swept the country and refused to condemn those who were trying to damage federal buildings in Portland. CNN has also forgotten the major protests that erupted on the very day of Trump inauguration in 2017, and Hillary Clinton's insistence that Trump is not a legitimate president.

But in our world, there are some instances that just look bad, no matter what you do. This was the case with Trump this time. He enthused the crowd to the point that could have triggered a chain of chaotic events. It's hard to believe that this was his direct fault, but a president is supposed to be a uniter, and Trump has refused to embrace that idea all through his term. As far as he is concerned, his goal is to cater to his base and nothing more, but that doesn't mean he is responsible for its conduct. The last time the building was breached in such a manner was in 1812, when the UK attacked the American capital. The images this week were truly historic. Daniel, who arrived in DC from North Carolina this week, told me just outside my hotel during the curfew on Wednesday that "today America saw that the people cannot be defrauded. We entered the Holy of Holies of American democracy. Why can the Left carry out destruction, but we can't do the same?"

John, from Ohio, was less convinced. He told me the protesters made the wrong call by storming the Capitol. He told me that the events make it impossible for Trump to launch another bid for president in four years. As Rubio said, these were third-world country images.

"The people here don't want to see the election being stolen by socialists and the fake media," Trump said during his rally, just before the storm. Later, when he realized that things were truly out of control, he turned to his supporters on Twitter and implored on them to "go home" and "remain peaceful by showing respect for the men and women in blue."

Trump may have called for calm, but for Twitter that was not enough and it suspended his account for 12 hours, citing his alleged efforts to overturn the elections.

The Democrats' sweep

Ironically, the pace of events made the political drama that had unfolded a day earlier seem like ancient history: The Democrats won Georgia's two Senate seats in the special runoff. For the first time since 2014 they are now (starting Jan. 20) going to be in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress. The donkeys have conquered the capital, albeit with a razor-thin majority.

Incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who lost one of the Georgia runoff races, conceded on Thursday that now that the Electoral College's vote has been certified by Congress, the country must unite behind Joe Biden. Even Trump's ally Sean Hannity from Fox News went out of his way to condemn the violence and called for the arrest and prosecution of all the rioters.

It was a sad fact that during a day celebrating one of the oldest democratic traditions in America – the certification of an election – the National Guard had to be called up to protect the people's legislative chamber and one of the symbols of the capital from an angry mob.

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But for all the drama on Wednesday, the American people, already exhausted by the pandemic and economic recession, are more focused on vaccinations and want to know why they are not being distributed fast enough. The Right, which was also shocked by events, apportions blame on the media for ignoring the Left's radical groups, such as Antifa. It wants to know why the security forces and the Left were not as determined to prevent the riots during the George Floyd protests six months ago. But above all, Americans want to go back to normalcy.

The Democrats must also do some soul-searching. When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is seen on television shredding the president's speech right after he delivers the State of the Union Address, this sends a message that is not lost on Trump's base. Of course, this does make violence justifiable, but it creates unnecessary antagonism. That said, in light of Thursday's events, there was widespread agreement on both sides of the political divide that it was time for Trump to abandon his efforts to overturn the election and let Biden prepare for taking office. And late Thursday, Trump did just that by addressing the nation and officially conceding the election. A few hours earlier he even vowed to engage in an "orderly" transition.

One of the people I met outside the Capitol was from Texas. As you would expect from someone who grew up in the Lone Star State, the violence he saw barely made had an impact on him. He told me I should look at the grand scheme of things.

"It's a good day because I think we will see some justice hopefully be done, it's going to be sad if we don't see justice. So we're really at a critical turning point in American history," he said.

I asked him whether he approved of the riots, to which he replied, "I don't like it that they went in that far. I think that's kind of sad. I think that is always the case when you get a group of people. There are a few idiots, but for the most part, just coming out around the Capitol building there are not people destroying the Capitol."

Finally, I asked him if Biden was his President-elect. His response could not be more forceful: "Oh hell no. Never."

I saw another Texan, Brad Comes. He was waving his state's flag and donning a cowboy hat. He told me that "today was a peaceful show of numbers and force." As far as he was concerned, the events spiraled out control but this should not come as a surprise. "These are people who are dedicated enough to drive all the way across the country to show up on the same spot on the same day for their president. And anyone who understands statistics knows there is no way he lost this election. If they are just going to steal our vote and take our money then we are just tax slaves."

When I asked him if it was a mistake to ransack the place, he said: "God knows on that one. It's his world, I just do my little part in it. If they had listened to peaceful protests we wouldn't have to resort to such things. Black Lives Matter get their way because they violence in destruction. We have been watching it for a year. What were we supposed to do? Allow them to take over our country because we are not willing to stand up for ourselves?"

When I asked him who his president was going to be on Jan. 20, his response was immediate. "It's Donald J. Trump," he said.

Back to Georgia. The two runoff elections on Tuesday produced historic results, even though they were all but forgotten after the hectic events that unfolded in Washington a day later. The Democrats don't usually win in that southern conservative state. In fact, Republicans had won every Senate race there since 2000. They have so far won every election in the state for governor since 1998 and for attorney general since 2006. But over the past two decades, the Left has gradually managed to paint the red state in blue, until a critical mass was reached in November, when Georgians chose Biden over Trump. Then, on Tuesday, they decided to send two Democrats to serve as their senators in Washington. This is nothing short of a political earthquake, but it was reduced to a footnote in a news cycle dominated by violence.

Georgians who were traveling to Washington could be easily spotted at Atlanta's airport this week by their Trump 2020 flags and masks. Quite a few of them were on my flight to Washington, just hours after the results in the two runoffs were announced. They could not be more depressed and shocked, feeling that more salt had been placed on the wounds of the conservative camp in America, while the Democrats were on cloud nine.

In the two months between the first round in November and the runoffs on Tuesday, the Democrats worked hard to register more voters, while the Republicans were too busy challenging the Electoral College vote, with the encouragement of Trump (who had every right to believe that he had been denied a fair election, considering that he increased his electoral showing compared to 2016 by some 15 million votes). But the Democrats wasted no time and won because of former Democratic candidate for Governor Stacey Abrams, who worked tirelessly to get more African American voters involved. Democrats are now optimistic that more states will follow Georgia's path and become blue or at the very least purple, including Texas.

Media outlets in the US have described the two runoffs as the most important Senate races in history. Some $500 million were spent on ads over the past two months, and the GOP could not be more disappointed, especially because they were so close to winning in November. Republican candidate (and then still incumbent senator) David Perdue almost crossed the 50% threshold in the first round against 33-year-old Jewish candidate Jon Ossoff. Had Perdue won, the Republicans would have guaranteed a continued hold on the Senate for the next two years, but since neither he nor the other Republican candidate, Loeffler, could win an outright majority of the vote, a runoff was declared in both seats, ending on Tuesday with stunning losses. Perdue lost to Ossoff, and Loeffler lost to Democratic pastor Raphael Warnock, who leads Dr. Martin Luther King's church. But unlike Dr. King, he is no Israel ally.

For Georgians, there is finally some rest, after being bombarded with ads over the past two months. It appears that they were not too keen on having everyone make them the focus of attention. Even in the Trump rally I attended just north of Atlanta just before the vote, it was clear that they were eager to put this election behind them, unlike the voters I saw in rallies in Pennsylvania and Arizona during the November presidential race.

"He was an amazing president, and had he been more careful in his rhetoric and been less reluctant to wear masks, he would have been elected for another four years in the White House and we would have also held on to the Senate," Jeff, a businessman from Atlanta, told me.

Murphy, who lives in neighboring Alabama told me that he has "only one America, and I won't let the Democrats ruin it for me." He was also on the plane to Washington, and he brought a flag along with him. "They are ashamed of being Americans, they are ashamed of our history and our heritage; but proud people like me celebrate America. I am truly concerned about the fate of my flag." This reminded me of an African American man I met in Atlanta, who explained to me that "With the Republicans, life is better in America."

But for all the drama in Washington and in Georgia, the real focus for most Americans is the pandemic. We may no longer be in 2020, but the virus is spreading fast, creating scary headlines in practically every front page. The vaccination drive, despite being launched in December, is stalling. This time, for a change, the Trump administration is not being blamed. It appears that the local officials and drug companies are moving too slow to make sure the vaccines reach as many arms as possible.

US Vice President Mike Pence was probably the most important political figure this week. He chose to follow his conscience by not playing along with the effort to overturn the election during the crucial joint meeting of Congress, despite presiding over the event. He reportedly told Trump the constitution makes his role in the certification of the vote mostly ceremonial and thus he had no choice but certify his loss.

Some would probably say this has more to do with Pence's possible 2024 presidential bid and that any effort to sabotage the certification process would have killed his prospects. As for Trump, it is unclear whether the events of this week adversely affect his apparent wish to launch another run in 2024. Looking back, this week could be seen as the first event of his future campaign.

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In an extraordinary rebuke of US President Donald Trump, all 10 living former secretaries of defense are cautioning against any move to involve the military in pursuing claims of election fraud, arguing that it would take the country into "dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory."

The 10 men, both Democrats and Republicans, signed on to an opinion article published Sunday in The Washington Post that implicitly questioned Trump's willingness to follow his Constitutional duty to peacefully relinquish power on Jan. 20. Following the Nov. 3 election and subsequent recounts in some states, as well as unsuccessful court challenges, the outcome is clear, they wrote, while not specifying Trump in the article.

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"The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived," they wrote.

The former Pentagon chiefs warned against use of the military in any effort to change the outcome.

"Efforts to involve the US armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory," they wrote. "Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic."

A number of senior military officers, including Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have said publicly in recent weeks that the military has no role in determining the outcome of US elections and that their loyalty is to the Constitution, not to an individual leader or a political party.

The 10 former Pentagon leaders also warned in their Post article of the dangers of impeding a full and smooth transition at Defense Department prior to Inauguration Day as part of a transfer to power to President-elect Joe Biden. Biden has complained of efforts by Trump-appointed Pentagon officials to obstruct the transition.

Without mentioning a specific example, the former defense secretaries wrote that transfers of power "often occur at times of international uncertainty about US national security policy and posture," adding, "They can be a moment when the nation is vulnerable to actions by adversaries seeking to take advantage of the situation."

Tensions with Iran represent just such a moment. Sunday marked one year since the US killing of Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian general; Iran has vowed to avenge the killing, and US officials said in recent days that they are on heightened alert for potential Iranian attack on US forces or interests in the Middle East.

In a further sign of US-Iranian tension, the acting secretary of defense, Christopher Milller, announced Sunday evening that he has changed his mind about sending the Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz, home from the Middle East and instead will keep the vessel on duty. Just last week, Miller announced that he was sending the Nimitz home, a decision that had been opposed by senior military officers.

In reversing himself, Miller cited "recent threats issued by Iranian leaders against President Trump and other US government officials." He did not elaborate, and the Pentagon did not respond to questions.

The opinion article in the Post was signed by Dick Cheney, William Perry, Donald Rumsfeld, William Cohen, Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel, Ash Carter, James Mattis and Mark Esper. Mattis was Trump's first defense secretary; he resigned in 2018 and was succeeded by Esper, who was fired just days after the Nov. 3 election.

The Post reported that the idea for writing the opinion piece began with a conversation between Cheney and Eric Edelman, a retired ambassador and former senior Pentagon official, about how Trump might seek to use the military in coming days.

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A subpoena seeking documents from Hunter Biden asked for information related to more than two dozen entities, including Ukraine gas company Burisma, according to a person familiar with a Justice Department tax investigation of President-elect Joe Biden's son.

The breadth of the subpoena, issued Tuesday, underscores the wide-angle lens prosecutors are taking as they examine the younger Biden's finances and international business ventures.

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Hunter Biden's ties to Burisma in particular have long dogged the policy work and political aspirations of his father, Joe Biden, now the US president-elect. It's unclear whether Hunter Biden's work at the Ukrainian company is a central part of the federal investigation or whether prosecutors are simply seeking information about all his sources of income in recent years.

The person was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

A lawyer for the younger Biden, George Mesires, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment for this story and a spokesman for the Biden transition team declined to comment.

Hunter Biden confirmed Wednesday that his taxes are under federal investigation. The revelation comes at a delicate time for the president-elect, who is forming his cabinet and will soon decide on his nominee to run the Justice Department, the same department overseeing the investigation into his son.

In addition to the Burisma-related request, the subpoena issued last week also seeks information on Hunter Biden's Chinese business dealings and other financial transactions.

The probe was launched in 2018, the year before his father announced his candidacy for president. At one point in the investigation, federal prosecutors were also examining potential money laundering offenses, two people familiar with the matter said.

Hunter Biden said he only learned of the investigation on Tuesday.

The younger Biden joined the board of Burisma in 2014, around the time his father, then vice president, was helping conduct former President Barack Obama's foreign policy with Ukraine. US President Donald Trump and his allies have long argued that Hunter Biden's work in Ukraine influenced the Obama administration's policies toward the Eastern European nation.

Senate Republicans said in a report earlier this year that the appointment may have posed a conflict of interest but did not provide evidence that any policies were directly affected by Hunter Biden's work.

The president-elect is not believed to be a focus of the investigation. He has not weighed in on the merits of the investigation, saying only to reporters on Friday that he was "proud of my son."

For months, the US attorney's office in Pittsburgh has also been collecting information from Trump's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and others as part of the Justice Department's process to receive and analyze information related to Ukraine, including documents Giuliani wanted to present to prosecutors that he had been gathering in Ukraine about Joe and Hunter Biden.

In announcing that process in February, Barr cautioned that the department had to be careful about any information coming from Ukraine, saying: "There are a lot of agendas in the Ukraine, a lot of cross currents. And we can't take anything we received from Ukraine at face value."

The former New York City mayor was a main character when the House voted to impeach Trump. The impeachment inquiry centered on Trump's dealings with Ukraine's president and whether he abused his office by seeking the investigation into the Bidens. Giuliani pressured officials to carry out the investigations and has been pushing unsubstantiated corruption allegations against the Bidens.

Giuliani himself had also been under federal investigation, with federal prosecutors in Manhattan examining whether he failed to register as a foreign agent, according to people familiar with the matter. It was unclear whether that investigation remains active as Trump has discussed the possibility of preemptive pardons for some of his family members and close associates, including Giuliani.

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In the weeks that led up to the decision on Nov. 3, the working assumption of American analysts and pollsters was their projection that Democratic candidate Joe Biden would win big in the presidential election, which would also see the Dems regain control of the Senate, completing their grasp on the Capitol Hill joystick. Indeed, the evening before the election, the American media was flooded with analogies and historical comparisons from other races that finished with a sweep or near-sweep for one side, such as 1972 or 1984.

However, in total contrast to their expectations, President Trump managed to win no fewer than 73 million votes, including the electoral votes in 25 states (unlike George McGovern, who in 1972 won the electoral votes in only one state as well as in the District of Columbia, or Walter Mondale, who was also defeated in 49 states).

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This was despite the chilling shadow cast by the coronavirus pandemic, which by Election Day had claimed the lives of 225,000 Americans, that hovered over the campaign and to a large extent determined its agenda.

Actually, not only did the Democratic majority in the House shrink after the election, chances are that the Republicans will retain their hold of the Senate after the runoff election for two seats in Georgia, set to take place on Jan. 5. Aside from that, despite all the pessimistic projects about the president's chances of winning a major part of the Hispanic vote, it turns out that Trump won no less than 35% of votes cast by that important minority demographic. The president's success in that demographic was not limited to voters of Cuban or Venezuelan background, who mostly live in south Florida and have developed a deep antipathy for the progressive camp, but included many second-generation citizens of Mexican background, mainly in south Texas and the Rio Grande Valley.

At first glance, this proven ability to penetrate known Democratic bastions appears to be an anomaly, since after all, one could have assumed that Trump's offensive remarks, especially at the start of his presidency, about illegal immigrants from Mexico and his attempts to build a border wall, haven't been forgotten.

Nevertheless, it appears that this voting pattern reflects the aspiration of this immigrant group to build a new identity in the country that took them in, while at the same time differentiating themselves. Given that, voting for the 45^th president is seen by many in the Hispanic community as identifying with the American ethos and narrative, since the president branded himself as someone whose historic role was to bring the US forward into a time of glory and prosperity, thereby fulfilling the American dream. Moreover, the base of the White House's support, in rural America and in small towns, and most (if not all) parts of the South remained in place in the 2020 election with almost no losses.

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Despite these impressive electoral achievements, which came at an extremely challenging time, what tipped the scales was Biden's ability to reduce or close the gap in suburbs in key states in the Midwest, including Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, which gave Trump his victory four years ago. This was in addition to the Democratic candidate's success in most metropolitan cities, and a majority of cities where Trump won the blue-collar vote in 2016 but where his grip on them is now weakening.

While the big cities were the base for Biden's win, which was anchored in unprecedented Democratic voter turnout, in affluent suburbs (most of which traditionally vote Republican), it was educated white women who flocked to the Democrats, chipping away at Trump's success among suburban men. That protest vote was the result not only of Trump's misogynist remarks, but also his attempts to pack the Supreme Court with justices who hold ultra-conservative views (as he promised his voters he would do). The fact that the balance of the court now promises that a number of values issues can now be reexamined, including abortion, raised the level of the grudge women (especially in the suburbs) held toward the nation's leader.

And so it happened that a businessman who prided himself on his dealmaking ability, was left sitting in the Oval office, determined in his opposition to any pragmatic step or deal that could include any deviation from his basic ideological lines, even if the price means losing the kingdom.

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"It was a warm conversation in which the President-elect reiterated his deep commitment to the State of Israel and its security," tweeted Netanyahu's office.

According to the announcement, "the two agreed to meet soon in order to discuss the many issues on the agenda."

Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the special bond between Israel and the US is a fundamental component of Israel's security and its policy.

— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) November 17, 2020

In a statement, Biden's transition team said: "The president-elect thanked the prime minister for his congratulations and reiterated his steadfast support for Israel's security and its future as a Jewish and democratic state."

President Rivlin called Biden to congratulate him on his victory as well. "As an old friend of Israel, he [Biden] knows that our friendship is based on values beyond partisan politics. We have no doubt that under his leadership, the United States is committed to our security and success," tweeted Rivlin.

Speaking just now with President-elect @JoeBiden to congratulate him, I said that as a old friend of #Israel he knows our friendship is based on values beyond partisan politics. We have no doubt that under his leadership the United States is committed to our security and success. pic.twitter.com/BLh9Dxl8A3

— Reuven Rivlin (@PresidentRuvi) November 17, 2020

A readout from Biden said that the president-elect "expressed his determination to ensure that the US-Israel relationship is strengthened and enjoys strong bipartisan support."

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Iran's president said on Tuesday that the results of the US presidential election showed the American people had joined the world in opposing US President Donald Trump.

Speaking during a virtual meeting with other global leaders, Hassan Rouhani said the American people decided to bring about change after seeing the world's response to the US administration's policies.

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"The US presidential election results show that a country which is constantly wielding threats, sanctions and weapons and which takes a bullying tone towards other nations must be pursuing a misled foreign policy," he said.

Tensions have spiked between the United States and Iran since 2018, when Trump exited a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, and then re-imposed sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy.

President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to rejoin Iran's 2015 nuclear accord with six powers, a deal that was agreed by Washington when he was vice president, if Tehran also returns to compliance.

In retaliation for Trump's actions, Tehran has gradually reduced its commitments to the accord. But Iran's clerical rulers have said those steps were reversible if Tehran's interests were respected.

Iran's leaders have so far ruled out any talks aimed at further curbing Tehran's nuclear activity, halting its ballistic missile program and limiting the Islamic Republic's regional influence.

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Last week, Israel Hayom talked to several prominent mystics in Israel about their predictions for the US presidential election, which on Saturday ended with a victory for Democrat Joe Biden, a sharp contrast to the mystics' predictions.

Astrologist Pavel Karlin said he thought that the election would change the face of the world, and the reality in which we live would be completely altered.

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"First of all, what I'm seeing on a lot of maps and after careful examination is that the person who will the most votes is [US President] Trump. The Republicans will win the most votes, but the Democrats won't respect the decision and Joe Biden will snatch the presidency, against the ruling of the courts. Incidentally, Biden is very sick and won't be president for long," Karlin said.

Karlin added that given the societal divide and the unwillingness to accept the election results, the US would fall apart, much like the former Soviet Union. He predicts that process will begin on Dec. 21.

"The Mayans predicted a world catastrophe for 2012, but they missed the date by eight years. Now it will happen. US states will disband their alliance, and a few states will rise instead of the existing 50 allied states. It will happen because the gaps, the differences, will be too big," Karlin said.

Jaffa-based mystic Sana Kuma, who reads coffee grounds, was convinced that while the polls gave Biden an advantage, the results would surprise us all.

"Trump will be re-elected, but it won't be a knockout win, it will be by electoral votes," she said.

"In effect, it will be very good news for the Americans, because Trump will strengthen the American economy and it will flourish in the next few years. In addition, [the US] friendship with Israel will be preserved and help strengthen normalized ties between Israel and Arab states. By April 2021, I predict that more countries in the region will sign peace agreements with us – and normalization is very good news for Israel," she predicted.

Astrologist Tova Safra also predicted that Trump would remain president.

"I've already written that he will stay in power, and I think that now, too, but it won't be clear at the beginning, just like there was a lack of clarity between George W. Bush and Al Gore," Safra explained.

"It's because there is a star that stops and changes its direction on Election Day, so it will take a few days until it becomes clear that Trump will stay in power. Whether there are or aren't elections in Israel in the near future, Benjamin Netanyahu will stay prime minister and the alliance between the two countries will continue," Safra said.

Hadassah Haviv, a palm and tarot card reader, said Trump would win, "and it will be decided on Election Day. People always see the noise Joe Biden is making and how the media is enlisting on his behalf, but the reality on the ground is completely different. The quiet public, the ones not being interviewed, support Trump. In my opinion, that's what will happen, and it will be a surprise on Election Day, like last time."

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