Weekly Review

At a press conference, the Trump-affiliated attorney Sidney Powell claimed that the presidential election was rigged by the “massive influence of communist money,” alleging that voting-machine operators had “injected votes” in the middle of the night and that the machines used algorithmic technology developed by the Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, who died in 2013.^{1 2 3} The livestream video of the event—during which unknown persons that the Trump campaign asserts were hackers discussed “Rudy’s hair dye dripping down his face” after Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, reenacted a scene from the film My Cousin Vinny—was later removed from YouTube.^{4 5} The Trump Administration refused to share critical information about the COVID-19 pandemic with President-elect Biden’s coronavirus team, including the whereabouts and quantity of federal medical supplies.⁶ A Maryland-based supermarket chain apologized for printing a full-page Thanksgiving advertisement that read “Hosting? Plan a super spread.”⁷ Managers at Tyson Foods’ largest pork-processing plant—which offered employees a $500 bonus for showing up to every shift for three months—are under investigation after allegedly organizing a “winner-take-all” gambling ring in which they placed bets on how many of their subordinates would contract COVID-19.^{8 9}

The CEO of Sanford Health, a large health-care system based in South Dakota, announced that he would no longer wear a mask after recovering from COVID-19; South Dakota, which currently leads the nation in new cases per capita, does not have a mask mandate.^{10 11 12} “We’re doing really good in South Dakota. We’re managing COVID-19, but also our economy is thriving,” said the state’s governor, Kristi Noem. California governor Gavin Newsom, who said he was “pulling the emergency brake” on reopening after a surge in cases, apologized for attending a maskless indoor dinner party at a Michelin-starred French restaurant with California Medical Association lobbyists and executives. ^{13 14 15} New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who will receive the International Emmy Founders Award for his coronavirus press conferences, yelled at a reporter who informed him that New York City schools would close again.^{16 17} “The Governor’s 111 daily briefings worked so well because he effectively created television shows, with characters, plot lines, and stories of success and failure,” said the president and CEO of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Boris Johnson announced that there was “no place for bullying” in his government, and officials in the Philippines defended President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to make a series of sex jokes during a televised briefing about the aftermath of a typhoon that killed 69 people.^{18 19} The president of Turkmenistan rebutted rumors of his death by appearing on state television doing doughnuts in a rally car next to a flaming gas crater.²⁰ Cedric Richmond, a Louisiana congressman whose biggest campaign donors include Lyft and Chevron, was appointed to head Biden’s White House Office of Public Engagement.^{21 22}

The Trump donor and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, along with Silver Spoons actor Ricky Schroder, paid Kyle Rittenhouse’s $2 million bail; the 17-year-old—whose charges include the killing of two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin—was photographed leaving police custody with his lawyer and Schroder.^{23 24 25 26} The state of South Australia ordered a lockdown for all 1.7 million residents in response to a cluster of infections linked to a pizza bar; the lockdown ended three days early after a man admitted he had lied about buying a pizza there.²⁶ Fifteen Mafia members and associates were indicted in Philadelphia, including “Tony Meatballs.”²⁷ In India, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh announced that it would form a new cabinet in order to protect and promote cows.²⁸ Two rural counties in Oregon passed a measure requiring officials to discuss seceding from the state to join “Greater Idaho,” as part of a “peaceful revolution” against liberal policies.^{29 30} In a new book, the longtime GOP megadonor Charles Koch called for Americans to bridge political divides and expressed regret for the harmful effects of his partisanship.³¹ “Boy, did we screw up! What a mess!” wrote Koch.—Ani Wilcenski