The Commentariat -- December 7, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here. The New York Times' live updates for Monday are here.

Lee Facher of STAT: "Both Pfizer and Moderna, the two major drug manufacturers likely to receive emergency authorizations for a Covid-19 vaccine in the coming weeks, have rejected invitations from President Trump to appear at a White House 'Vaccine Summit' on Tuesday, according to two sources familiar with the event's planning.... The vaccine manufacturers' absences will be conspicuous at a 'Vaccine Summit,' an event that drug industry figures and one Trump administration official largely viewed as a public relations stunt when STAT first reported the event last week. The event appeared to be an effort for the administration to claim credit for the rapid development of a Covid-19 vaccine and to pressure the Food and Drug Administration to move quickly on an authorization." MB: I heard on the teevee that among those not invited to the so-called summit: anyone from Joe Biden's Covid-19 team. So, yeah, to no one's surprise, this is a Me-Me-Me-Me affair; not a means to help Americans find out what's going on.

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Trump administration on Monday declined to tighten controls on industrial soot emissions, disregarding an emerging scientific link between dirty air and Covid-19 death rates. In one of the final policy moves of an administration that has spent the past four years weakening or rolling back more than 100 environmental regulations, the Environmental Protection Agency completed a regulation that keeps in place, rather than tightening, rules on tiny, lung-damaging industrial particles, known as PM 2.5, even though the agency's own scientists have warned of the links between the pollutants and respiratory illness."

Michigan. Armed Trumpbots Terrorize 4-Year-Old. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson had just finished wrapping string lights around her home's portico on Saturday evening and was about to watch 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' with her 4-year-old son when a crowd of protesters marched up carrying American flags and guns. About two dozen protesters chanted 'Stop the Steal' and accused Benson, a Democrat and Michigan's chief election officer, of ignoring widespread voter fraud -- an echo of President Trump's continued unfounded claims as he seeks to overturn the results of the election that President-elect Joe Biden won. Although the group dispersed with no arrests when police responded just before 10 p.m. Saturday, Michigan state officials accused the group of 'terrorizing' Benson's family. '... at least one individual could be heard shouting "you're murderers" within earshot of her child's bedroom,' Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy (D) said in a joint statement on Sunday.... Vitriolic rhetoric has led bipartisan leaders to warn that Trump's baseless attacks on the election are endangering election officials' lives."

~~~ Miss Sidney Regrets She's Been Laughed Out of Court Again. Pete Williams of NBC News: "A federal judge in Michigan on Monday denied a Republican effort to undo the certification of President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election in the state and rejected every aspect of the case, one of the lawsuits filed by ... Trump supporter Sidney Powell. The allegations of fraud were based on 'nothing but speculation and conjecture,' U.S. District Court Judge Linda Parker said.... The claims amounted to 'an amalgamation of theories, conjecture, and speculation that such alterations were possible,' she said. Parker was also harshly critical of the plaintiffs -- Trump presidential electors -- for waiting so long to file their lawsuit."

Georgia. Ditto. Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "Hours after failing in a similar lawsuit in Michigan, pro-Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Lin Wood lost their effort to decertify Georgia's election before a federal judge who called their bid the most audacious he had ever seen. 'The relief that the plaintiffs seek, this court cannot grant,' U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten ruled from the bench after a roughly hourlong hearing, where he called 'the most extraordinary relief ever sought' for an election in a court. Judge Batten, a conservative judge appointed by George W. Bush, noted that allowing the case to stand would amount to 'judicial activism,' as it requested relief far beyond his power." ~~~

~~~ Chandelis Duster of CNN: "Georgia is set to recertify its presidential election results on Monday, which will again find Joe Biden as the winner following three counts of ballots, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said."

A New York Times obituary for former Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Real Political News

AP: "The annual Remembrance Day ceremony to commemorate the attack on Pearl Harbor will be closed to the public this year and streamed online as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The ceremony will begin at 7:50 a.m. on Dec. 7 at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial's Contemplation Circle in Hawaii. A small number of veterans will be in attendance on site, Hawaii News Now reported. A moment of silence will be observed at 7:55 a.m., the time when the Japanese attack on the American naval base began in 1941."

Sheryl Stolberg & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has selected Xavier Becerra, the Democratic attorney general of California, as his nominee for secretary of health and human services, tapping a former congressman who would be the first Latino to run the department as it battles the surging coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Becerra became Mr. Biden's clear choice only over the past few days, according to people familiar with the transition's deliberations, and was a surprise. Mr. Becerra has carved out a profile more on the issues of criminal justice, immigration and tax policy, and he was long thought to be a candidate for attorney general. But as attorney general in California, he has been at the forefront of legal efforts on health care, leading 20 states and the District of Columbia in a campaign to protect the Affordable Care Act from being dismantled by Republican attorneys general. He has also been a leading voice in the Democratic Party for women's health." Politico's story is here.

Tyler Pager of Politico: "President-elect Joe Biden has selected Rochelle Walensky, the chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. Walensky, who is also a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an expert on AIDS and HIV, will be tasked with rebuilding a critical health agency that has been sidelined by the Trump administration amid a pandemic. Walensky will ... take a top role in helping the Biden administration curtail the coronavirus pandemic. Biden is planning to announce Walensky along with a slate of top health officials this week, including Xavier Becerra as secretary of Health and Human Services, Jeff Zients as the Covid-19 coordinator and Vivek Murthy as surgeon general. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a professor at Yale who is an expert on health care inequality, will have a senior role focused on health disparities."

Harry Enten of CNN: " A new Gallup poll finds that President-elect Joe Biden has a 55% favorable rating and a 41% unfavorable rating. The same poll gives ... Donald Trump a 42% favorable rating and a 57% unfavorable rating.... Biden is more popular than Trump has been at any point since he started running for president in June 2015." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Last Days of the Mad Kaiser

Trump's Swan Song? Flipping the Bird at America. Alayna Treene of Axios: "President Trump is considering a made-for-TV grand finale: a White House departure on Marine One and final Air Force One flight to Florida for a political rally opposite Joe Biden's inauguration, sources familiar with the discussions tell Axios.... Immediately announcing he is running for re-election in 2024 would set up four years of Trump playing Biden's critic-in-chief. The visual also would embody the vast difference in the two leaders' approaches to the pandemic. And flying off from the South Lawn before landing in Florida would let Trump escape protests, the normal pleasantries of welcoming the incoming president to the White House -- and sitting there while Biden takes the oath of office." MB: Treene speculates that Trump's plan "could create a split-screen moment." It shouldn't. The networks, C-SPAN, whoever, should ignore the Biggest Loser.

Matthew Choi & Daniel Lippman of Politico in Politico Magazine: "Presidents have generally succeeded in ... managing to project an image of executive competence no matter how absurd the backstage dynamics. And then came Donald Trump. 'Every day was like a Veep episode,' said one former senior administration official, recounting his time working for Trump. 'You tried to win each day, but like most Veep episodes, it typically ended in disaster.' Maintaining the normal veneer of smooth competence proved impossible in a White House that struggled from the start to find disciplined aides, and where the boss's whims and ego made even Veep's Selina Meyer seem levelheaded. As for keeping it hidden, not even close: Trumpworld's constant leaks and backstabbing ensured that all of America saw its dirty laundry.... From the administration's very first press conference to its last ham-handed attempts to reverse its loss at the polls, the Trump show kept delivering nuggets that could easily have slid into a Veep script -- and in at least one case literally replicated a Veep plot point.... Here\s Politico Magazine's unscientific, non-exhaustive reconstruction of Trump's four years in office, told through its most Veep-worthy moments." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Katie Benner, et al., of the New York Times: "Attorney General William P. Barr is considering stepping down before President Trump's term ends next month, according to three people familiar with this thinking. One said Mr. Barr could announce his departure before the end of the year. It was not clear whether the attorney general's deliberations were influenced by Mr. Trump's refusal to concede his election loss or his fury over Mr. Barr's acknowledgment last week that the Justice Department uncovered no widespread voting fraud. In the ensuing days, the president refused to say whether he still had confidence in his attorney general.... But ... by leaving early, Mr. Barr could avoid a confrontation with the president over his refusal to advance Mr. Trump's efforts to rewrite the election results.... Mr. Barr has not made a final decision...." MB: Looks like one of those calculated fake leaks designed to improve Barr's rep. Sorry, Bill, you blew your cover long ago. Update: A CNN story is here.

Oops! Martin Pengelly & Amanda Holpuch of the Guardian: "White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany appeared on Sunday to admit Donald Trump lost the presidential election.... In an interview on Fox News, McEnany discussed runoff elections in Georgia in January which will decide control of the Senate. 'If we lose these two Senate seats,' she said, 'guess who's casting the deciding vote in this country for our government? It will be Kamala Harris.'... Harris, a senator from California, will become vice-president [and sometimes preside over the Senate & could break tie votes]."

The Peasants Revolt. David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Fox News viewers expressed outrage at Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace on Sunday after he repeatedly insisted that Joe Biden is the rightful president-elect. Wallace made the remarks during an interview with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who referred to Biden as a former vice president. 'He's president-elect,' Wallace told Azar multiple times." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Georgia. Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Top Georgia Republicans criticized President Trump on Sunday for spreading falsehoods and misinformation about the election, warning that his comments could make it harder for the GOP to win its upcoming Senate races and arguing that his continued attacks on the process put local officials in danger. The state's lieutenant governor also publicly rebuffed Trump's calls for a special session of the legislature to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the state, saying, 'We're certainly not going to move the goal posts at this point in the election.'... During a Sunday interview on CNN, Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) said Trump was fanning the flames of misinformation and called the president's false claims 'concerning.' Duncan also criticized the president for suggesting the election had been 'stolen' from him...." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's story is here. Headline: "Trump's attacks on election integrity 'disgust me', says senior Georgia Republican.

Georgia Senate Race. Crazy Inhabits the GOP. Richard Fausset & Rick Rojas of the New York Times: "In a televised debate on Sunday night, Senator Kelly Loeffler, a Georgia Republican, declined to say that President Trump had lost the election, arguing instead that the president had 'every legal recourse available' to pursue his baseless assertion that the vote in Georgia was rigged against him.... She used the debate to label her Democratic opponent, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, as a 'radical liberal' more than a dozen times over the course of an hour. Mr. Warnock criticized Ms. Loeffler, one of the richest members of the Senate, for making a large number of stock trades after she attended a briefing on the coronavirus in January. Ms. Loeffler did not answer directly when asked whether members of Congress should be barred from trading stocks.... The other runoff race in Georgia pits [Sen. David] Perdue, a former corporate executive, against Jon Ossoff, a 33-year-old Democrat and documentary filmmaker. Mr. Perdue declined to attend a debate with Mr. Ossoff on Sunday, which resulted in a strange 30-minute session in which Mr. Ossoff faced off against an empty lectern." A CNN story is here.

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Felicia Sonmez & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, has contracted the coronavirus, the president said Sunday in a tweet.... Giuliani traveled to states including Michigan and Georgia last week and met indoors with state legislators in an effort to persuade them to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory. Videos of the appearances showed Giuliani was not wearing a mask during the meetings. Hours before Trump's tweet, Giuliani appeared on Fox News's 'Sunday Morning Futures,' where he repeated the president's false claims of election fraud.... When he has been around others who have tested positive, Giuliani has not quarantined, including after a news conference last month at the Republican National Committee's headquarters when his son tested positive." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A Guardian story is here. ~~~

~~~ Arizona. Maria Polletta of the Arizona Republic: "The Arizona Legislature will close for a week 'out of an abundance of caution' after Rudy Giuliani ... possibly exposed several Republican lawmakers to COVID-19. The president announced Giuliani had tested positive for the virus Sunday afternoon, less than a week after the former New York City mayor visited Arizona as part of a multistate tour aimed at contesting 2020 election results. The 76-year-old was later admitted to Georgetown University Medical Center. Giuliani had spent more than 10 hours discussing election concerns with Arizona Republicans -- including two members of Congress and at least 13 current and future state lawmakers -- at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix last Monday. He led the meeting maskless, flouting social distancing guidelines and posing for photos. Giuliani also met privately with Republican lawmakers and legislative leadership the next day, according to lawmakers' social media posts."

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "A doctor who is skeptical of coronavirus vaccines and promotes the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a Covid-19 treatment will be the lead witness at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday, prompting criticism from Democrats who say Republicans should not give a platform to someone who spreads conspiracy theories. Dr. Jane M. Orient is the executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a group that opposes government involvement in medicine and views federal vaccine mandates as a violation of human rights.... Her selection as a witness as federal health officials are trying to promote a vaccine as a way to end a pandemic that has killed more than 281,000 Americans prompted harsh criticism from Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader.... A spokesman for the chairman of the Senate committee, Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, did not immediately return an email message asking why Dr. Orient had been invited to testify." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: For some years, we here at Reality Chex have been labeling Ron Johnson "America's Stupidest Senator." I had thought that was our idea alone, but it turns out if you Google "America's dumbest senator," you get an awful lot of hits. In any event, America's stupidest Senator did the smart thing Sunday when he hid from the New York Times, so as not to get caught saying something really stupid.

Not the Best Way to Save Your Business. Mihir Zaveri of the New York Times: "The manager of a Staten Island bar who has repeatedly and flamboyantly defied New York's coronavirus restrictions hit a sheriff's deputy with his Jeep early Sunday as he unsuccessfully tried to escape arrest, the sheriff's office said. The bar, Mac's Public House, was ordered closed by the state on Wednesday, but deputies said they found several patrons being served there on Saturday night. When deputies confronted the manager, Daniel Presti, he fled to his Jeep and drove into one of the deputies, throwing him onto the hood, according to the sheriff's office. Mr. Presti, 34, faces 10 charges, including assault with intent to cause injury to an officer, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and resisting arrest, according to a criminal complaint filed on Sunday." MB: As many of you know, Staten Island is the NYC hub for crazy wingers. ~~~

~~~ Before Presti ran down the deputy, Pete Davidson commented on earlier protests at Mac's Public House:

Bart Barnes of the Washington Post: "Paul S. Sarbanes, who as a young Maryland congressman drafted and introduced the first article of impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon and as a five-term U.S. senator tightened the regulation of corporate accounting practices after corruption scandals at Enron and other businesses, died Dec. 6 in Baltimore. He was 87. The death was confirmed by his son Rep. John Sarbanes, who represents Maryland's 3rd Congressional District."

The Commentariat -- December 6, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here.

Felicia Sonmez & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, has contracted the coronavirus, the president said Sunday in a tweet.... Giuliani traveled to states including Michigan and Georgia last week and met indoors with state legislators in an effort to persuade them to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory. Videos of the appearances showed Giuliani was not wearing a mask during the meetings. Hours before Trump's tweet, Giuliani appeared on Fox News's 'Sunday Morning Futures,' where he repeated the president's false claims of election fraud.... When he has been around others who have tested positive, Giuliani has not quarantined, including after a news conference last month at the Republican National Committee's headquarters when his son tested positive."

Harry Enten of CNN: " A new Gallup poll finds that President-elect Joe Biden has a 55% favorable rating and a 41% unfavorable rating. The same poll gives ... Donald Trump a 42% favorable rating and a 57% unfavorable rating.... Biden is more popular than Trump has been at any point since he started running for president in June 2015."

David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Fox News viewers expressed outrage at ... Chris Wallace on Sunday after he repeatedly insisted that Joe Biden is the rightful president-elect. Wallace made the remarks during an interview with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who referred to Biden as a former vice president. 'He's president-elect,' Wallace told Azar multiple times."

Matthew Choi & Daniel Lippman of Politico in Politico Magazine: "Presidents have generally succeeded in ... managing to project an image of executive competence no matter how absurd the backstage dynamics. And then came Donald Trump. 'Every day was like a Veep episode,' said one former senior administration official, recounting his time working for Trump. 'You tried to win each day, but like most Veep episodes, it typically ended in disaster.' Maintaining the normal veneer of smooth competence proved impossible in a White House that struggled from the start to find disciplined aides, and where the boss's whims and ego made even Veep's Selina Meyer seem levelheaded. As for keeping it hidden, not even close: Trumpworld's constant leaks and backstabbing ensured that all of America saw its dirty laundry.... From the administration's very first press conference to its last ham-handed attempts to reverse its loss at the polls, the Trump show kept delivering nuggets that could easily have slid into a Veep script -- and in at least one case literally replicated a Veep plot point.... Here's Politico Magazine's unscientific, non-exhaustive reconstruction of Trump's four years in office, told through its most Veep-worthy moments."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

Christopher Rowland, et al., of the Washington Post: "Federal officials have slashed the amount of coronavirus vaccine they plan to ship to states in December because of constraints on supply, sending local officials into a scramble to adjust vaccination plans and highlighting how early promises of a vast stockpile before the end of 2020 have fallen short. Instead of the delivery of 300 million or so doses of vaccine immediately after emergency-use approval and before the end of 2020 as the Trump administration had originally promised, current plans call for availability of around a tenth of that, or 35 to 40 million doses. Two vaccines, from manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna, which both use a novel form of mRNA to help trigger immune response, are on the verge of winning Food and Drug Administration clearance this month. Approval would cap an unprecedented sprint by government and drug companies to develop, test and manufacture a defense against the worst pandemic in a century -- part of the Operation Warp Speed initiative that promised six companies advance purchase orders totaling $9.3 billion.... Lower-than-anticipated allocations have caused widespread confusion and concern in states, which are beginning to grasp the level of vaccine scarcity they will confront in the early going of the massive vaccination campaign."

Jocelyn Gecker of the AP: "The vast region of Southern California, much of the San Francisco Bay area and a large swath of the Central Valley are about to be placed under a sweeping new lockdown in an urgent attempt to slow the rapid rise of coronavirus cases. The California Department of Public Health said Saturday the intensive care unit capacity in Southern California and Central Valley hospitals had fallen below a 15% threshold that triggers the new measures, which include strict closures for businesses and a ban on gathering with anyone outside of your own household. The new measures will take effect Sunday evening and remain in place for at least three weeks, meaning the lockdown will cover the Christmas holiday.... Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the new plan Thursday. It is the most restrictive order since he imposed the country's first statewide stay-at-home rule in March. But the situation is bleaker than in March.... Under the new order, schools that are currently open can continue to provide in-person instruction; retailers including supermarkets and shopping centers can operate with just 20% customer capacity.... With a new lockdown looming, many rushed out to supermarkets Saturday and lined up outside salons to squeeze in a haircut before the orders kicked in."

Brianna Ehley of Politico: "The CDC on Friday for the first time recommended that people wear masks at all times when they're not home, saying the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. has entered a phase of 'high level transmission.' The guidance, included in a new report, advised state and local officials to impose mask mandates for indoor settings as part of broader mitigation efforts to control the spread of the virus. It echoes President-elect Joe Biden's call for mask orders that a number of red state governors have rejected. This is the first time the CDC has recommended universal mask-wearing, including indoors. The agency for months has endorsed face coverings, and in July released a study touting their effectiveness in community settings to reduce transmission of the virus."

Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "Deriding mask-wearing, Steven LaTulippe has touted his credentials as a 'practicing physician.' Last month, he urged Trump supporters gathered in Salem, Ore., to 'take off the mask of shame' -- though hardly a covered face was in sight -- and said proudly, to claps and cheers, that none of his clinic staff wore the simple accessories shown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.... LaTulippe's license to practice medicine has now been suspended. Explaining the suspension in a written order Friday, the Oregon Medical Board said LaTulippe's disdain for public health measures went far beyond staff going maskless. The Dallas, Ore.-based doctor not only fails to take basic precautions, the board said, but 'actively promotes transmission of the virus within the extended community' by his poor example." MB: Wake up, California Medical Board. There's this guy at Stanford named Scott Atlas....

The Last Days of the Mad Kaiser

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Over the past week, President Trump posted or reposted more than 130 messages on Twitter lashing out at the results of an election he lost. He mentioned the coronavirus pandemic now reaching its darkest hours four times -- and even then just to assert that he was right about the outbreak and the experts were wrong. Moody and by accounts of his advisers sometimes depressed, the president barely shows up to work, ignoring the health and economic crises afflicting the nation and largely clearing his public schedule of meetings unrelated to his desperate bid to rewrite the election results. He has fixated on rewarding friends, purging the disloyal and punishing a growing list of perceived enemies that now includes Republican governors, his own attorney general and even Fox News. The final days of the Trump presidency have taken on the stormy elements of a drama more common to history or literature than a modern White House.... He has been enabled by Republican leaders unwilling to stand up to him, even if many privately wish he would go away sooner rather than later.... Only 25 of 249 Republican members of Congress surveyed by The Washington Post publicly acknowledged Mr. Biden's victory." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A good dramatist could make something of this farce, but her work necessarily would be fiction because the character Trumpo would have no have some, well, character. The @RealDonaldTrump has no redeeming qualities. ~~~

~~~ The Cowardly Courtiers. Paul Kane & Scott Clement of the Washington Post: "Just 27 congressional Republicans acknowledge Joe Biden's win over President Trump a month after the former vice president's clear victory of more than 7 million votes nationally and a convincing electoral-vote margin that exactly matched Trump's 2016 tally. Two Republicans consider Trump the winner despite all evidence showing otherwise. And another 220 GOP members of the House and Senate -- about 88 percent of all Republicans serving in Congress -- will simply not say who won the election.... More than 70 percent of Republican lawmakers did not acknowledge The Post's questions as of Friday evening. In response to the congressional Republicans who have called Biden president-elect identified in the Post survey, Trump tweeted Saturday: 'I am surprised there are so many. We have just begun to fight. Please send me a list of the ... RINOS.'..."

Jonathan Martin & Astead Herndon of the New York Times: "One month before a pair of Georgia runoffs that will determine the Senate majority, President Trump used a rally for the Republican senators on Saturday to complain about his own loss last month, insisting he would still prevail and, with notably less ardor, encouraging voters here to re-elect the two lawmakers. Taking the stage for his first rally as a lame duck president, Mr. Trump immediately, and falsely, claimed victory in the presidential race. 'You know we won Georgia, just so you understand,' he said.... Speaking for an hour and 40 minutes, the president did read a series of scripted lines about the two Republican senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, and repeatedly urged his supporters in Georgia to vote next month, even mentioning the deadlines for the mail-in ballots he has so often scorned. Yet he embedded those dutiful remarks of support in a deep thicket of conspiracy-mongering about his defeat and even aired a lengthy montage of video of clips from the conservative news outlets Newsmax and One America News Network, which also depicted a sinister plot of electoral theft." ~~~

~~~ Cleve Wootson, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Trump spent most of his time airing grievances and falsehoods about the presidential race, occasionally weaving in mention of the Senate runoffs. He knocked [Democrats Jon] Ossoff and [Raphael] Warnock as 'radical Democrats' who would be 'total pawns' of Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). He also attacked Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both Georgia Republicans who have repeatedly vouched for the integrity of the state's elections.... Trump was introduced Saturday night by a surprise guest -- first lady Melania Trump -- who seemed to stick to prepared remarks, encouraging the crowd to vote for [Kelly] Loeffler and [David] Perdue without mentioning her husband's claims of a 'rigged' election." MB: Read "pawns of elite New York City Jew." The AP's story is here.

Kristen Holmes & Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "... Donald Trump on Saturday called Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, pushing him to convince state legislators to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's win in the state, a source familiar with the conversation told CNN. Trump asked Kemp to call a special session and convince state legislators to select their own electors that would support him, according to the source. He also asked the Republican governor to order an audit of absentee ballot signatures. Kemp explained that he did not have the authority to order such an audit and denied the request to call a special session, the source said.... The President appeared to reference the call in a tweet Saturday, attacking Kemp and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and calling for a signature audit of the absentee ballot envelopes in the state -- while making false or misleading claims about the potential process. The governor, in response, tweeted that he has already 'publicly called for a signature audit three times' -- leading Trump to then double down on his request for Kemp to call for a special session of the state's Legislature." A Washington Post story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While we have the luxury to laugh at Trump's (and his supporters') hamfisted attempts to overturn the results of this year's presidential election, we must bear in mind that this election could have been much closer, with only one state determining the winner. That's not at all unlikely in a future presidential election. And in that case, a Trumpian-style pressure campaign could break state & local officials. Some new laws might serve to further discourage Trumpish behavior, but the most effective way to minimize such stunts might be a Constitutional Amendment to select the president & veep by popular vote, eliminating the pesky, outdated Electoral College altogether. It would be a lot more difficult to take every bite out of a half-million- or million-vote difference in the national count. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Ben Ginsberg, the bad boy of the 2000 Florida recount, agrees in a Washington Post op-ed: "The country was lucky that President Trump and his reelection campaign were so inept. He ultimately lost by a wide margin, and his challenges to the results have been farcical. His rhetoric ramped up in inverse proportion to his ability to produce evidence supporting his charges of systemic 'fraud' or 'rigged' elections. The United States might not be so lucky next time. What if the 2020 election had been as close as it was in 2000, and the outcome hinged on a state (or states) with a truly narrow margin? How would the country have fared under a Trump-style assault on democracy's foundations?" Ginsberg has suggestions for measures that would strengthen election law.

Right before the election, the fake populist Kaiser found his inner fake Johnny Cash. (The real Johnny Cash was an actual populist.) Thanks to PD Pepe for the link:

Georgia. Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post is amused by the Fox "News" conspiracy theory "proving" "suitcases full of ballots" were pulled out from hiding places under tables in the Fulton County, Georgia, elections processing room & counted in the dead of night.

Pennsylvania. Dueling Letters. Stephen Caruso of the Pennsylvania Capital-Star: "Repeating a point they have made for the past month, Pennsylvania's Republican legislative leadership released a letter Thursday affirming that the General Assembly cannot overturn the results of the 2020 election in the Keystone State.... GOP legislative leadership -- including House Speaker Bryan Cutler, of Lancaster County, and Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, of Centre County, publicly rejected the argument that they could appoint pro-Trump electors to the Electoral College, overriding the popular vote this week.... But, just 24 hours later, the top two House Republicans turned around and signed a letter calling for Congress to reject Pennsylvania's electors sent to the state's 18 representatives and two U.S. senators.... The same concerns in the congressional lette[r] have been included in [a] Trump campaign [lawsuit] to delay the certification of Pennsylvania's results. A federal judge rejected the claims, and tossed the suit. It is now on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court."

Arizona. Ryan Randazzo, et al., of the Arizona Republic (in USA Today): "Republican Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives Rusty Bowers said Friday that pleas from some GOP lawmakers to overturn the results of the state's presidential election are illegal and 'cannot and will not' happen. Republican state Reps. Mark Finchem and Kelly Townsend spent much of the day imploring their fellow legislators on social media to overturn the election results in favor of ... Donald Trump. Bowers said such action would be both illegal and inappropriate. 'As a conservative Republican, I don't like the results of the presidential election,' Bowers said in a prepared statement. 'I voted for President Trump and worked hard to reelect him. But I cannot and will not entertain a suggestion that we violate current law to change the outcome of a certified election.'"

Dave Itzkoff of the New York Times: "... "S.N.L." faithful couldn't help but draw comparisons between [Rudy Giuliani's 'simply not credible' witness Melissa] Carone's distinctive cadence and the speech patterns of the Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation With at a Party, the recurring character played by Cecily Strong. And sure enough, Strong took center stage in this weekend's opening sketch, playing Carone in a parody of the Michigan hearing." The sketch is here (and is embedded in the story). (MB: I didn't think the opener was funny enough to embed, but to each her own.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: Just in case you think maybe Strong didn't get Carone quite right, here's a clip of the real Carone:

The Punk Behind a Trumpian Attack on National Security. Courtney Kube & Carol Lee of NBC News: "A Trump loyalist who was recently appointed as Pentagon chief of staff is controlling the Biden transition's team access to Pentagon officials, even blocking some career officials and experts from giving information about key defense issues to the transition team and telling political appointees to take the lead instead, say two current and two former U.S. officials. In some instances, the chief of staff, Kash Patel, who was assigned to the Pentagon after last month's election, has recast policy descriptions to include content that reflects favorably on Trump's policies before the information is shared with the Biden transition, two of the officials said. 'He told everybody we're not going to cooperate with the transition team,' one of the former officials said of Patel, and he has 'put a lot of restrictions on it.'" Patel is a protégé of Rep. Devin Nunes (or possibly Devin Nunes' cow). ~~~

~~~ Greg Miller & Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "Pentagon officials said Saturday that leaders of the military's intelligence services will begin meeting with members of President-elect Joe Biden's transition team Monday, ending what some current and former officials said was an impasse that undermined the transfer of control. Officials said that advisers to the incoming Biden administration are scheduled to meet with officials at the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and other spy services at their headquarters. The Defense Department and acting defense secretary Christopher Miller issued statements Saturday denying that the Pentagon had resisted giving the Biden team access to the agencies or information about their operations and budgets." This is a follow-up to a story by Miller & Ryan linked yesterday.

Gillian Brockell of the Washington Post: "Two historian groups, an independent archive and a watchdog organization are suing President Trump and other administration officials to ensure compliance with records laws, the groups announced this week. With Trump facing 'potential legal and financial exposure once he leaves office,' the groups said, 'there is a growing risk that he will destroy records of his presidency before leaving.' The American Historical Association, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations and the National Security Archive and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington -- a frequent plaintiff in Trump-related legal challenges -- joined in the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia."

The Commentariat -- December 5, 2020

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

Kate Sullivan of CNN: "President-elect Joe Biden said Friday that the Trump administration had shared information with his transition team about distributing a vaccine to various states, but Biden said his team had not seen a 'detailed plan.' 'There is no detailed plan that we've seen, anyway, as to how you get the vaccine out of a container, into an injection syringe, into somebody's arm,' Biden said at an event in Wilmington, Delaware. 'It's going to be very difficult for that to be done and it's a very expensive proposition,' Biden said. He noted, 'There's a lot more that has to be done.' Biden stressed the importance of distributing the vaccine in an equitable manner across the country, noting that Black and Hispanic people infected with the virus have died& at disproportionately higher rates than White people. He said his team is also looking at getting health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities the vaccine first, as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently advised." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No one should be surprised by this, of course, but here's where we stand: (1) Trump is taking credit for the rapid development of anti-Covid vaccines (and urging the public not to give Biden credit). But of course it was drug companies who developed vaccines. (2) The Trump administration has no "detailed plan" to coordinate & facilitate distribution of vaccination units. That's the government's job. That is, Trump wants credit for something he didn't do, and isn't doing what he must do. You can bet that before the end of January, Trump will be down at Mar-a-Lago complaining that Biden hasn't distributed the vaccinations that He Trump developed. Congressional Republicans will amplify the fake complaint, reporters will report it, and millions of Republicans will buy into the lie.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "'We have not yet seen the post-Thanksgiving peak,' Anthony S. Fauci said Friday. 'That's the concerning thing, because the numbers in and of themselves are alarming.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Axios: "The government's top infectious-disease expert Anthony Fauci said Friday that he 'absolutely' will accept the offer from President-elect Joe Biden to serve as his chief medical adviser, telling NBC's 'Today' that he said yes 'right on the spot.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Real Political News

Michael Blood & Nicholas Riccardi of the AP: "California certified its presidential election Friday and appointed 55 electors pledged to vote for Democrat Joe Biden, officially handing him the Electoral College majority needed to win the White House. Secretary of State Alex Padilla's formal approval of Biden's win in the state brought his tally of pledged electors so far to 279, according to a tally by The Associated Press. That's just over the 270 threshold for victory. These steps in the election are often ignored formalities. But the hidden mechanics of electing a U.S. president have drawn new scrutiny this year as ... Donald Trump continues to deny Biden's victory and pursues increasingly specious legal strategies aimed at overturning the results before they are finalized."

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President-elect Joe Biden on Friday urged Congress to pass a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill during the lame-duck session as a starting point in public remarks notable for their care in dealing with GOP and Democratic objections to the emerging compromise. Biden said it was critical to get a bill passed soon to provide relief to Americans hours after a new labor report showed slowing job growth as coronavirus cases spike across the country. He repeatedly dodged questions about whether he's spoken to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), while deflecting questions about progressive concerns that the legislation does not provide enough immediate help to families in need."

Dylan Stableford of Yahoo! News: "President-elect Joe Biden says he thinks it's important for the sake of appearances that President Trump attend his inauguration -- although as far as he's concerned 'it's of no personal consequence.'... In an interview that aired on Thursday night, Biden told CNN's Jake Tapper that the gesture would be 'important in the sense that we are able to demonstrate, at the end of this chaos that he's created, that there is peaceful transfer of power, with the competing parties standing there, shaking hands and moving on.'"

Greg Miller & Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration has refused to allow members of President-elect Joe Biden's transition team to meet with officials at U.S. intelligence agencies that are controlled by the Pentagon, undermining prospects for a smooth transfer of power, current and former U.S. officials said. The officials said the Biden team has not been able to engage with leaders at the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and other military-run spy services with classified budgets and global espionage platforms.... The delays came even as Biden advisers spent much of this week meeting with officials at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA, intelligence agencies that are independent of the Defense Department." CNN's story is here.

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post, who enjoys thumbing her nose at Trump as much as anyone, now takes on Mitch & his confederate mob with a dose of reality: "The refusal by Republicans to acknowledge President-elect Joe Biden's election victory is remarkable in its contempt for democracy and defiance of reality.... Biden not only received a majority of the popular vote, but also cleared 51 percent -- the largest vote percentage obtained against an incumbent president since 1932 and a bigger percentage of the popular vote than any Republican president since George H.W. Bush in 1988, when Bush was essentially running for a third Ronald Reagan term. In the process, Biden amassed the largest total number of ballots in U.S. history. He pummeled Trump by more than 7 million votes (and exceeded Barack Obama's 2008 vote total by more than 11 million).... Biden's victory..., far from narrow..., represents the overwhelming verdict of the voters. If there is such a thing as a mandate, Biden has one.... Treating Biden as anything but the president-elect and denying him ample latitude to compile the Cabinet and senior staff of his choosing represents an outlandish attempt to preempt the will of more than 80 million Americans." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ To be fair, Senate Republicans have cobbled together a swell abdication excuse: it's not in their job description to call elections.

Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The final draft of the bicameral, bipartisan-approved defense authorization bill contains a number of rebukes of President Trump's actions as commander in chief, in addition to defying him over both of the grounds on which he has threatened to veto the legislation. Topping the list is a prohibition on reducing the number of troops stationed in Germany and South Korea below current levels unless Congress receives certain guarantees that it is strategically safe and lawmakers are given ample time to consider the drawdown. The proscription against troop movements was written in response to the Trump administration's summer announcement that it planned to move about 12,000 U.S. troops out of Germany.... The defense bill directs the president within 30 days to impose sanctions against Turkey for its purchase of S-400 missile systems from Russia, a reflection of how both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have been frustrated by the administration's reluctant approach to addressing Ankara's challenges to NATO. It also orders the defense secretary to submit an annual report about any Russian-sponsored bounties for attacks against U.S. military personnel. Trump came under fire this summer for dismissing intelligence about such a scheme in Afghanistan as 'not credible.'"

Natalie Fertig of Politico: "The House on Friday passed a landmark bill that would remove federal penalties on marijuana and erase cannabis-related criminal records. The bill passed by a vote of 228-164, with several Republicans on board. While the MORE Act is not expected to come up in the Senate this year, and likely won't in the next session of Congress either, its passage nevertheless marks a monumental step in marijuana policy.... Friday's vote reflects the shift in American and global views on marijuana over the past decade...." The New York Times report is here.

Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to fully restore the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors from deportation, scoring a key win for immigrant advocacy groups. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, a Clinton appointee, restores the Obama-era program and also mandates that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) post a public notice by Monday saying it is accepting new applicants. It would mark the first time since 2017 that the government has admitted new immigrants into the program." This is a developing story. The Washington Post's story is here. The New York Times' story is here.

** Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Dan Froomkin, a great critic of U.S. journalism, excoriates the major media for their failure to call out Trump's lies & for giving major kudos to the few reporters who occasionally, in hit-or-miss fashion, manage to write a sentence or two that point to Trumpian mendacity. "Acting with courage and integrity would have entailed news reporters and organizations calling Trump out when they would have taken some heat for it, rather than now, when Trump is quite literally a loser. And it would not reserve truth-telling for the leader alone, but for his entire movement." MB: The way I see it, we're moving almost seamlessly from he-said/she-said Trump "journalism" to he-said/she-said Biden "journalism," with a few reporters taking a short break to lick their wounds after Trump -- for five years -- called them "fake news" and "enemies of the state" and lashed out at some individual reporters.

The Last Days of the Kaiser

Everything Is Going Very Smoothly. Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "... Donald Trump and his legal allies earned a platinum sombrero Friday, striking out five times in a matter of hours in states pivotal to the president's push to overturn the election results -- and losing a sixth in Minnesota for good measure.... Several of the most devastating opinions, both Friday and in recent weeks, have come from conservative judges and, in some federal cases, Trump appointees. The losses included a rejection in Wisconsin from the state Supreme Court, where the majority was gobsmacked at the effort by a conservative group to invalidate the entire election without any compelling evidence of voter fraud or misconduct." The Washington Post's story is here.

The Party of Weanies. Amanda Carpenter, a serious winger, of the Bulwark: "Why aren't more Republicans standing up and speaking out about Donald Trump's reprehensible acts?... They're fine with it. All of it.... Take your pick of the worst events of the Trump presidency. Charlottesville, Lafayette Square, kids in cages, Trump's egging on of militiamen, pipe bombers, mass shooters, and vigilantes. None of it led to a significant break between Trump and elected Republicans.... [In Georgia,] two Republican elections officials are speaking out against Trump for the looney conspiracy theories he's pushing about how the election was supposedly stolen from him. But, one has to ask, would they be saying anything if they weren't the ones being targeted?... You see, I remember Trump calling lots of other Americans 'an enemy of the people' and putting them in danger before he attached that label to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. For some reason, though, it didn't matter to Raffensperger until it happened to him." ~~~

~~~ Georgia. Where There's Smoke, There's Smoke. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "To date, the [Trump] campaign has done little more than throw smoke bombs and insist there's a fire. In a triumphant appearance on Sean Hannity's Fox News program Thursday night, however, Giuliani announced that all of that had changed. 'Today's video was really explosive,' he said.... The video at issue is a collection of feeds from security cameras apparently recording a ballot-counting operation in Fulton County, Ga. In it, an individual is seen directing others to pull black containers from either a shelving unit or from under a table. The containers are then taken to nearby tables, opened and apparent ballots removed. It's hard to tell what happens next, but a voice-over suggests that the half-dozen individuals in the room then scanned the ballots. What Giuliani and others claim happened is that observers were cleared from the room and that ballots hidden in suitcases were then brought out to be counted without oversight.... The fact-checking site Lead Stories dug into the claims, speaking with several Georgia officials about what the video showed. '... the work you see is the work you would expect,' said Gabriel Sterling, the state's voting systems manager, 'which is you take the sealed suitcase-looking things in, you place the ballots on the scanner in manageable batches and you scan them.'... Another official ... also denied that anyone had been told to leave the room. A monitor from the state election board also told Lead Stories that he was present the entire time." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Matt Naham of Law & Crime: "The Georgia Kraken, when arguing on Friday that the Eleventh Circuit has jurisdiction to hear its appeal, said Dominion Voting Systems rigged the election against Joe Biden. The assertion can be found in the first paragraph of Sidney Powell and Lin Wood's background presentation of their case.... '[T]here were all imaginable varieties of voting fraud,' appellants said, 'including machine-controlled algorithms deliberately run by Dominion Voting Systems that generally took more than 2.5% of the votes from Mr. Biden and flipped them to Mr. Trump for a more than 5% fraudulent increase for Mr. Biden.' To be clear, this line says that Dominion took votes from Biden and gave them to Trump -- to increase Biden's vote. That's an ... interesting theory and 'epic fail.'" Thanks to NiskyGuy for the laugh. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Matt Naham: "A federal appellate court bookended a roller coaster of a week by rejecting Sidney Powell and Lin Wood's appeal in the so-called Kraken case that they filed in the state of Georgia. First Powell and Wood ran to the U.S. District Court over the weekend and asked for a temporary restraining order so they could conduct forensic analyses of Dominion Voting Systems machines in 10 Peach State counties. When they didn't get the order they really wanted, they went to the Eleventh Circuit with an interlocutory appeal and filed a brief just before midnight on Wednesday, asking the appellate court to decertify the presidential election. On Friday morning, Powell et al. managed to claim that Dominion had actually rigged the election against Joe Biden. By Friday evening, a ... Trump-appointed circuit judge penned the opinion of the court flatly denying their appeal on grounds that the court lacked jurisdiction."

Georgia Senate Race. Allan Smith & Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "Former President Barack Obama and Vice President Mike Pence held dueling rallies courting Georgia voters on Friday, seeking to drum up support in the battle for control of the Senate. Obama joined 2018 gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams and the two Democratic Senate candidates, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, for a virtual rally Friday afternoon. At roughly the same time, Pence joined Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., for an in-person rally in Savannah. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., was slated to attend as well but changed plans after a campaign staffer, Harrison Deal, died in a car accident, she announced in a statement.... Donald Trump will hold a rally on Saturday in Valdosta with the two Republicans in the runoff, which is about a month away."

~~~ Marie: I didn't link this story yesterday because a U.S. senator accidentally "admitting" Joe Biden won the presidential election is no longer remarkable. Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) appeared to tacitly acknowledge President-elect Joe Biden's victory in a video recording obtained by The Washington Post on Thursday.... In a video meeting recorded Wednesday with members of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), Perdue spoke pragmatically about the role a GOP-controlled Senate could play as a check on the Biden administration." BUT there is something remarkable in Gardner's story: the walk-back: "Perdue spokesman John Burke called the video a 'non-story,' adding: 'Senator Perdue totally supports President Trump and his fight for transparency and accuracy in this election.'" The state of the federal government is that a U.S. senator has to have a staffer go out & self-pretzelize in order to downplay a fact that everyone but the Mad Kaiser accepts.

Making the World Less Safe for Democracy. Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "President Trump, pressing his end-of-term troop withdrawals from conflicts around the world, will pull American forces out of Somalia, where they have been trying to push back advances by Islamist insurgents in the Horn of Africa. The Pentagon announced on Friday that virtually all of the approximately 700 troops in Somalia -- most Special Operations forces who have been conducting training and counterterrorism missions -- will be leaving by Jan. 15, five days before President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is scheduled to be inaugurated. The withdrawal from Somalia followed Mr. Trump's orders to reduce the American presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, and reflected the president's longstanding desire to end long-running military engagements against Islamist insurgencies in failed and fragile countries in Africa and the Middle East, a grinding mission that has spread since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.... Mr. Trump's push to leave Somalia before he leaves office comes at a delicate time for the East African nation: It is preparing for parliamentary elections next month and a presidential election scheduled for early February.... Many of the American troops will be 'repositioned' to nearby Kenya, a Defense Department official said Friday." MB: Looks like "deep-state" Pentagon push-back. An AP story is here.

Lara Seligman, et al., of Politico: "The White House removed nine members of the Pentagon's Defense Business Board on Friday and installed people loyal to ... Donald Trump in their place, including presidential allies Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie. The firings marked the latest effort by the Trump administration to clean out the Defense Department in the final weeks of the president's term.... 'A number of board members have been terminated with a form letter. In my experience, I was very surprised that the White House would, at the eleventh hour, adjust an advisory board that for 19 years has had a record of nonpartisan support with the department,' Michael Bayer, who until today was board chair, told Politico. 'This kind of a move really will weigh heavily on people in the future and their willingness to serve on these outside advisory boards if they're going to be subjected to political loyalty tests. It's unprecedented. I'm just saddened,' he added."

Nathan McDermott, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's nominee to become a senior Pentagon official spread debunked conspiracies on Twitter that called Trump's election loss to Joe Biden a 'coup' attempt and shared tweets that suggest Trump should declare martial law. Scott O'Grady, a former fighter pilot and Trump loyalist, repeatedly retweeted tweets that falsely stated Trump won the election in 'landslide fashion' and that millions of votes were stolen from the President.... O'Grady was nominated by the White House to become an assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs at the Pentagon.... CNN's KFile reviewed O'Grady's tweets and media appearances and found that O'Grady shared other debunked election conspiracies and that he also degraded top military and intelligence officials. In a radio interview, he called former President Barack Obama and military generals 'sworn socialists,' and advocated that the military justice system should bring back treason charges. He retweeted a tweet that called former Defense Secretary James Mattis a 'traitor.'" And so forth. Lotsa so-forth. MB: I'm just thinking top DOD jobs should go to people who are (1) fairly apolitical and (2) fairly sane. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

John Hudson of the Washington Post: "The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel several holiday parties, saying they violate his own guidelines against holding 'non-mission critical' gatherings during a raging pandemic and needlessly jeopardize the health of federal employees. 'I am concerned that these parties pose a significant health risk, not only to attendees, but to the employees and workers who must staff these events, as well as to State Department employees who may feel pressured to attend,' Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey said in a letter addressed to Pompeo on Thursday.... 'We plan to fully enforce social distancing measures at this reception, and face coverings are mandatory for admittance,' said a State Department spokesman.... When asked how he could expect attendees to keep masks on at a reception that includes food and drinks, the spokesman did not offer a response. He also did not explain how the department would enforce social distancing, if even a fraction of the 900 guests [for one event] show up." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's something I really don't get: why are the Pompeos doing this? There is ample evidence that most Republicans are sadists. But still.

Betsy DeVos Does Something Decent. Michael Stratford of Politico: "The Trump administration on Friday granted an extra month of student loan relief to the 41 million Americans who have been benefiting from a freeze on monthly payments and interest that was set to expire at the end of the year. That relief was set to expire on Dec. 31 but will now end on Jan. 31. The last-minute extension averts what could have been a potentially chaotic resumption of payments just weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.... Biden has not committed to any specific executive action on student loans, but he is widely expected to further continue in some form the same freeze on monthly payments and interest the Trump administration has now twice extended through executive action." MB: The full loan repayments will still come due, so the government is losing no more than the use of the money for a period of time. But still, it's something. My guess is that Betsy doesn't want to be bothered with making the effort to to dun the loan recipients.

Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast: "The Republican National Committee paid more than $300,000 in October to a company owned by Donald Trump Jr. to purchase copies of his new, self-published book. Autographed copies of the book, Liberal Privilege, were given out to donors who contributed between $50 and $100 to the RNC, according to a source familiar with the arrangement.... It's common for political groups to buy books written by prominent public officials and offer them as gifts for their financial supporters.... But the RNC's payment to Trump Jr.'s company in October was the largest single payment -- out of more than 700 -- that the committee has ever reported for donor 'mementos' or 'gifts,' according to Federal Election Commission filings." MB: Darn! I didn't contribute to the RNC, but I sure could use an autographed copy of Junior's book. I lost a back foot on a small refrigerator, & Junior's book might be just right to "stand in" for the foot.