President Joe Biden welcomed President-elect Donald Trump to the White House on Wednesday. Their two-hour meeting to start talks for a smooth, peaceful transition of power starkly contrasts from when Trump broke with tradition and refused to invite Biden after he won the 2020 general election.
“Politics is tough,” Trump said during a fireside chat at the Oval Office. “And many cases, not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today. I appreciate it very much.”
Setting aside political differences is something that the Navajo Nation’s top elected leaders often do, unlike Biden and Trump. In Navajo politics, the president and vice president are elected separately. Officially, there’s no partisanship either.
“But we know who’s a Republican and Democrat,” said former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, who lost his U.S. House race against Congressman Eli Crane. “Because they identify themselves for the county, state and federal elections.”
Nez identifies as a Democrat, while Myron Lizer, his then-vice president, is a Republican and has been a staunch Trump supporter. They still formed an administration from 2019 to 2023.
“We had a good relationship with President Biden during my tenure,” Nez said. “Of course, my vice president had a good relationship with President Trump, and so both of us working together, were able to advocate for our constituents.”
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State environmental regulators have given the owner of a uranium mine near the Grand Canyon the green light for higher levels of arsenic in groundwater under the facility. -
Colorado River Indian Tribes Chairwoman Amelia Flores met with leaders from around the world to discuss legal personhood for rivers. -
Across tribal communities in northeastern Arizona, 1 in 3 homes does not have running water. But now, there’s a way to help fix that. -
Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are resisting the deal because it would allow the Navajo and Hopi to lease water to cities downstream, likely the growing towns around Phoenix. -
More than 56 million acres — nearly 3% of the U.S. landmass — belong to tribes. The Land and Water Conservation Fund has aided more than 47,000 projects, like parks and trails, in nearly every county nationwide.
