Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) has declined an invitation to debate challenger Jon Ossoff (D) ahead of the January runoff election for his seat, CNN reports.
Advisers Vying for Gigs In the Biden White House
“Joe Biden plans to fill his White House with economic advisers more progressive than he is, but they may be blocked from their most aggressive fiscal moves if Republicans maintain control of the Senate,” Axios reports.
“If the GOP keeps these progressives from winning a massive stimulus, they may be graded on a different curve: simply persuading Congress to spend more money, and relying on regulatory changes to advance Biden’s broader agenda.”
Trump Plans Last-Minute China Crackdown
“President Trump will enact a series of hardline policies during his final 10 weeks to cement his legacy on China,” Axios reports.
“He’ll try to make it politically untenable for the Biden administration to change course as China acts aggressively from India to Hong Kong to Taiwan, and the pandemic triggers a second global wave of shutdowns.”
Cuomo Threatens to Sue Trump Over Vaccine
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Sunday threatened to sue the Trump administration if its vaccine distribution plan unduly limited Black and brown peoples’ access to COVID-19 vaccinations, the Syracuse Post-Standard reports.
Asia Forms World’s Biggest Trade Bloc
“Fifteen Asia-Pacific economies formed the world’s largest free trade bloc on Sunday, a China-backed deal that excludes the United States, which had left a rival Asia-Pacific grouping under President Trump,” CNBC reports.
“The signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership at a regional summit in Hanoi, is a further blow to the group pushed by former U.S. president Barack Obama, which his successor Trump exited in 2017.”
Pompeo to Attend Normalization Talks with Bahrain
“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will attend a trilateral summit with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani in Jerusalem Wednesday,” Axios reports.
“The summit is a follow-up to the agreement establishing peaceful and diplomatic relations between Israel and Bahrain, signed in Manama last month with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin in attendance. It represents another step in normalizing relations between the two nations.”
DeSantis Floats Idea to Bypass Swing State Voters
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) “is endorsing President Trump’s fight to hold onto his job, floating the idea that GOP-controlled legislatures in battleground states won by Democratic nominee Joe Biden could appoint Trump electors and override the popular vote,” the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.
“He urged viewers to donate to Trump’s legal fund and suggested people living in battleground states with GOP legislatures, specifically Michigan and Pennsylvania, contact their state lawmakers who could provide ‘remedies.'”
Minnesota GOP Held Dinner Party Before Outbreak
Days before a coronavirus outbreak in the Minnesota Senate Republican caucus, the GOP held a large, in-person dinner party to celebrate their election results, Fox 9 Minneapolis reports.
Trump Allies Explored Buyout of Newsmax TV
“For nearly two years, allies of President Trump have been exploring ways to build up a formidable competitor to Fox News. One target they recently zeroed in on: the fledgling pro-Trump cable channel Newsmax TV,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Hicks Equity Partners, a private-equity firm with ties to a co-chair of the Republican National Committee, has held talks in recent months about acquiring and investing in Newsmax.”
Parties Re-Run 2020 Playbooks In Georgia Runoffs
Politico: “The eight-week sprint to the Jan. 5 runoffs comes amid the backdrop of rapidly rising Covid-19 infections, along with the start of Biden’s transition — even as Republicans defend President Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine and fight the results of the election. Both sides agree on one thing: Georgia is about to determine the shape of American politics for at least the next two years. But they diverge sharply on how that prospect motivates voters.”
Kamala Harris Stays Out of Sight
New York Times: “After spending election week in Delaware, she has returned to the two-bedroom Washington condominium she bought after she was elected to the Senate in 2016. From there, she is in regular touch with Mr. Biden, by text message or telephone, according to aides with the Biden-Harris transition team, and with other transition officials…”
“One focus of her time is the quantum leap Ms. Harris is soon to make from the legislative to the executive branch. Whereas Mr. Biden will have virtually no learning curve upon returning to the White House after eight years as vice president, Ms. Harris has spent little, if any, substantive time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”
“For now, Ms. Harris remains a senator. It is unclear when she might relinquish her seat. Mr. Obama stepped down from his Senate seat days after his 2008 election, but Mr. Biden, ever the sentimentalist, hung on to his until shortly before he was sworn in as vice president the following January, telling friends he wanted to take one last oath of office for the seat he had held for decades.”
Washington Post: Harris’s allies wonder anxiously: Will she have real clout?
Biden Faces a Governing Grind
“President-elect Joe Biden campaigned on a transformational liberal policy platform, calling for ‘revolutionary institutional changes’ and $7 trillion of new spending to remake the American economy as he styled himself a modern-day FDR,” the Washington Post reports.
“Yet Biden’s decisive electoral college victory — he won the national popular vote by more than 5 million and flipped five states — came with no coattails down ballot that would help him push through his ambitious plans. Instead, the country appears to have rejected both President Trump and the idea of Democratic control, with the liberal policy overhaul it would have brought — forcing a rapid recalibration by Biden of what remains possible.”
Those Who Are Better Off Voted for Biden
Washington Post: “The parts of America that have seen strong job, population and economic growth in the past four years voted for Joe Biden, economic researchers found. In contrast, President Trump garnered his highest vote shares in counties that had some of the most sluggish job, population and economic growth during his term.”
“Trump fared well among voters who said the economy was their top concern, and he even won votes in places that didn’t fare particularly well under his presidency. This is perhaps a continuation of the 2016 election, when Trump won a huge share of places that had struggled under President Barack Obama. Democrats tended to view the 2020 election more as a referendum on Trump, especially his response to the pandemic.”
When a Leader Just Won’t Go
New York Times: “As the nation ponders the awkward case of Donald J. Trump, a president who will not admit that he has been fired, it is helpful to consider him through the experiences of other people, fictional and otherwise, who have been unable to accept the arrival of unwelcome developments in their personal and professional lives.”
“Is Trump like King Lear, raging naked on the heath and desperately hanging on to the increasingly diminished trappings of power even as they are stripped from him? Or is he more like Bartleby the Scrivener, the inscrutable model of passive resistance who one day declines to do any more work or indeed leave the building, declaring: ‘I would prefer not to?'”
“Is he like Nellie, the character in ‘The Office’ who installs herself at the desk of the regional manager when he is out of town and unilaterally appoints herself boss? Or how about George from ‘Seinfeld,’ who quits one of his many jobs in a huff, unsuccessfully tries to get it back, and reports to work anyway, as if nothing had happened?”
Trump Admits Biden Won Election
President Trump in a tweet said President-elect Biden won the election while continuing to spread unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about a rigged election.
Said Trump: “He won because the Election was Rigged. NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a Radical Left privately owned company, Dominion, with a bad reputation & bum equipment that couldn’t even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), the Fake & Silent Media, & more!”
But soon after, Trump tweeted: “I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!”
Trump Family Business Faces Post-Election Reckoning
“When President Trump leaves the White House in January, he will face some of the deepest financial and legal challenges in his family business empire in decades,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“No matter what he focuses on after the presidency, the businesses will require his attention. Two New York investigations will continue after he leaves office and the Trump Organization will need to avert a potential cash crunch caused by looming debt maturities at the firm’s real estate holdings. Personal guarantees Mr. Trump made on some of the organization’s debt add urgency to shoring up its financial position.”
Trump’s Refusal to Concede Complicates Runoffs
Washington Post: “Georgia’s Jan. 5 runoffs will decide whether Perdue and Loeffler return to Washington, and whether the Senate has a slim Republican majority or a 50-50 split. President Trump’s refusal to concede the presidential race has, for now, added some confusion to the GOP’s message.”
“Democrats tell their audiences that victory would give Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris a tie-breaking Senate vote, unlocking the party’s agenda. Republicans warn that there’d be no stopping the Democrats if the Senate seats are lost. But so long as Trump remains unwilling to concede, they’re unwilling to explain exactly why.”
Democrats and Republicans Regroup for Next Round
“America’s two major parties had hoped the 2020 presidential election would render a decisive judgment on the country’s political trajectory. But after a race that broke records for voter turnout and campaign spending, neither Democrats nor Republicans have achieved a dominant upper hand,” the New York Times reports.
“Instead, the election delivered a split decision, ousting President Trump but narrowing the Democratic majority in the House and perhaps preserving the Republican majority in the Senate. As Joseph R. Biden Jr. prepares to take office and preside over a closely divided government, leaders in both camps are acknowledging that voters seem to have issued not a mandate for the left or the right but a muddled plea to move on from Trump-style chaos.”