The Washington Post: A messy transfer of power in America over Trump's refusal to admit defeat

The Washington Post has published

on the difficulties faced by US President-elect Joe Biden's team in preparing for the transfer of power, saying that President Donald Trump's refusal to accept defeat has become far more damaging than a symbolic position.

She said the rejection comes amid a deadly pandemic, economic downturn and volatility abroad.

This has raised growing concerns that it will impede Biden's efforts to confront the downward spiral of crises facing the nation.

It quoted Max Steer, head of the non-partisan Public Service Partnership that assists in presidential transitions, including the current phase;

"The problems become more serious the longer this continues. Our government is the largest and most complex organization, not only in this country, but perhaps in the world and perhaps in history, so taking it over effectively becomes a huge task," he said.

Strict orders

With Trump blocking his administration from formally cooperating with Biden, members of the Democratic transition team are subject to strict orders not to make any contact with incumbent government officials, even conversations via back channels, according to people familiar with the situation.

For example, the Biden team - led by a former senior State Department official - began handling the influx of calls from foreign leaders without the benefit of a secure government line or language translation services provided by the current State Department.

Under a normal transition, the State Department will facilitate these calls on a protected line to avoid surveillance by hostile foreign intelligence services and other malicious actors, and the department will also provide government-trained translators so that Biden's team does not have to rely on its personnel or government interpreters. Foreign, who can present a different flavor to the bilateral discussion.

Dealing with the outside

Biden's team relied on a former senior State Department official to deal with the influx of calls from allies seeking to get started properly with a new US president, according to foreign diplomats familiar with the discussions.

The order by Trump officials to block contact with the Biden team also frustrates the ability of Biden aides to receive classified information that needs to be known about foreign threats to US adversaries, infectious diseases and vaccine development issues related to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Biden revealed that he had chosen dozens of experts and former government officials to serve as members of the team, ready to go to every institution, and start paving the way for Biden's agenda.

Practical limitations

These members will usually receive funding and access to rooms and people within the institutions assigned to them, such as the Ministry of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Ministry of Justice, but since the General Services Department did not recognize Biden as an incoming president, and the transition process has not officially started, they will not be able to enter the institution buildings. Various and receive information.

A senior transitional official said Biden's team had drawn up lists of recently departed senior officials in key agencies to help transition officials expedite ongoing projects, budgets, trouble spots, technology, and staff, describing a "complete plan for this contingency," as there is no cooperation, but they have to move forward.

The team's power transfer advisor said all relevant questions cannot be answered simply by consulting outside people.

Biden reassurances

Biden sought last Tuesday to play down the importance of resistance to Trump, saying, "We have already started the transition. We are OK. The fact that they are not ready to admit that we won is not of great importance."

Still, Democrats say there is no alternative to the type of cooperation that former US President Barack Obama provided Trump, or that other presidents have provided to their successors.

Senator Chris Murphy (Democrat of Connecticut) said the current power transition is messy and dangerous, given the pandemic and the number of crises raging around the world that Trump has mishandled.