Let's kickstart your wellness journey with the Doctoria. Work out some meal plans, it's your past track to a healthier you. And now doing the Xfinity member celebration, remember to get an exclusive 50% off the annual subscription, and to make spending.com slash membership to learn more. Xfinity, imagine that.
Subscription automatically reduce each year at 65.99 plus tax in the fees until canceled. All the rants may 20th, 26th, price is subject to change, visit today.com slash Xfinity for full long returns to details. Welcome to Live for Meet the Press. I'm Mark Murray.
Today is my final live podcast of 2020, with the holidays and the New Year coming up. And let me join the chorus of voices, who are relieved, happy, doing backflips. That 2020 is finally coming to an end. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.
Hey, hey, hey, good bye. Now as a political journalist, I have to admit that some of the news and developments were fascinating to cover. You had history making events in impeachment trial, a recession, a Supreme Court vacancy, a consequential election, the first black female vice president. There were successes, too.
The vaccine, the first congressional stimulus to provide relief to Americans and businesses, and the fact that we appeared on the cusp over the deal to provide more relief. But the rest, well, it was a year to throw the trash can. There were the big failures, the botched Iowa caucus results, and the failed initial coronavirus testing plan. There were the tragedies, the more than 300,000 in counting Americans killed by the coronavirus, the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others, and the passing of titans like John Lewis.
And then there were the unprecedented and jaw-dropping events, an incumbent president, not conceding election, he lost. A president who used the military to remove protesters. A president who stopped well, president, during a once in a century pandemic. In social media companies labeling communications from the White House as false or misleading.
Good riddance to 2020. But maybe more significant about this year is it's going to join other consequential and transformational years in our country's history. Think about 1968 with the Vietnam War, that year's presidential election, and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy.
Or 1941, the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the start of America's entry in World War II. Or 1929, the beginning of the Great Depression. Or 1918, where the country experienced its other deadly pandemic. 2020 was that kind of year.
And like those other years, it's likely it'll serve as a kind of demarcation in our politics and society. Is it when Americans, after realizing their political institutions and norms were breaking down, decided to fix them, or instead allow them to get worse? Did it close the door on alternative facts, political nepotism, and demagoguery from the White House? Or did it only keep the door open?
And is it a year that forever transformed work, commerce, city life, and education in this country? Or was it at one time to let that will lead to a boom in pre-pandemic activities like movie theaters, amusement parks, sporting events, and churches, historians, start your engines, and fire up those books? That's a lid for us, and a lid for me for the rest of this year. Although it's a great carry day, and we'll be back early next week.
Download us on your favorite podcast app. Be safe, be healthy, be well, and have a happy holidays.