Remember competence? We’ll return to our regularly scheduled pandemonium in a moment, but first we want you to know that Biden has done a clear-headed and undramatic thing and named Ron Klain as White House Chief of Staff. As Michael Shear, Katie Glueck, Maggie Haberman and Thomas Kaplan write at The New York Times, Klain advised President Obama and was the “Ebola tzar” under Obama. He also served as Biden’s chief of staff when he was vice president and was seen as a likely choice for the job.  At The Washington Post, Michael Scherer writes that Biden’s choice of Ron Klain to run the White House signals a rejection of Trump-era chaos and “that he intends to rely heavily on experience, competence and political agility after a Trump presidency that prized flashiness and personality.” Carol Leonnig calls it “A return to seasoned hands in the White House.”
“I served alongside @RonaldKlain,” David Axelrod shares. “He is brilliant, strategic, organized and knows how to get things done. He’s a great choice to run the White House in these challenging times.” Inside Trumpworld Checking back in on the chaos, What Is Trump’s Legal Strategy? Try to Block Certification of Biden Victory in States, write Rebecca Ballhaus and Rebecca Davis O’Brien of The Wall Street Journal, who point out that the president’s advisers and election-law experts say the effort to get state Republicans to appoint pro-Trump Electoral College votes is a long shot.  And according to the latest reporting by Philip Rucker, Josh Dawsey and Ashley Parker of The Washington Post, Trump insists he’ll win, but aides say he has no real plan to overturn results and talks of 2024 run. As Parker puts it, “There. Is. No. Master. Plan. Our latest inside Trumpworld.” They also report that the White House is pretty vacant now due to all the covid.
Mark Berman tweets, “for an administration, an epitaph,” highlighting from that piece: Asked about Trump’s ultimate plan, one senior administration official chuckled and said, “You’re giving everybody way too much credit right now.” Whew, won’t someone think of poor Daniel Drezner when writing these stories. “PLEASE STAND BY: multiple additions to the #toddlerinchief thread are coming from this story,” he tells us. Meanwhile, Trump’s Election Tactics Put Him in Unsavory Company, writes Andrew Higgins of The New York Times, and it’s “Quite the roll call,” as Jonathan Keane says: Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia. Danny Hakim says it’s a “Good story by @ATHigginsNYT on how Trump is borrowing from Belarus dictator ‘Lukashenko’s playbook, joining a club of truculent leaders who, regardless of what voters decide, declare themselves the winners of elections.’” Here’s how those legal challenges are going btw The Washington Post got hold of some of the poll watcher affidavits, and well, here’s a taste: “I can estimate that at least 80% of military ballots I saw were straight ticket Democrat or simply had Joe Biden’s name filled in on them. I had always been told that military people tended to be conservative, so this stuck out to me.” Another said she had been told to “go back to the suburbs, Karen,” by a Democratic poll watcher.  So obviously this an open and shut case. Nevertheless, as David Fahrenthold, Rosalind Helderman and Tom Hamburger of The Post write, In poll watcher affidavits, Trump campaign offers no evidence of fraud in Detroit ballot-counting. Uh, what about this? “Another Republican poll watcher complained about the public address system. Workers were using it to make announcements. It was loud. ‘This was very distracting to those of us trying to concentrate,’ he said.” Clearly fraud!
“And here’s how those legal challenges are going, btw,” tweets Julie DiCaro. Also at The Post, Aaron Blake writes about how Trump lawyers have suffered embarrassing rebukes from judges over voter fraud claims. Turns out, “Making random claims on Hannity is easier than proving a case to a judge,” tweets Philip Bump. Tara Blume discovered “The best lawyer term yet I want to steal: asked how many republican observers watched the ballot counting: a non-zero number. I ate a nonzero number of gummie bears at my desk today.” And David Thomas of Reuters reported yesterday that Snell & Wilmer, the largest law firm representing the Trump campaign or its allies in post-election litigation challenging votes in key states, has withdrawn from an election lawsuit in Maricopa County, Arizona.  But surprise surprise, donations under $8K to Trump ‘election defense’ instead go to president, RNC, report Jarrett Renshaw and Joseph Tanfani of Reuters. On Twitter, Renshaw explains, “The Trump campaign and the RNC structured the fundraising effort around legal challenges in such a way that no small dollar donations will directly help the president's legal efforts.” “Filing false police reports is a crime. Filing false election fraud suits is a money maker,” as Tom Bemis points out.
The bucket of cold water Karl Rove of all people has a new op-ed in The Wall Street Journal arguing that This Election Result Won’t Be Overturned. In which “Karl Rove tries to speak truth to his party,” tweets Brian Stelter, who highlights, “The president’s efforts are unlikely to move a single state from Mr. Biden’s column, and certainly they’re not enough to change the final outcome…” That’s “Karl Rove with the bucket of cold water,” tweets Quinta Jurecic.  Yascha Mounk says, “We’re not close to a coup. But in countries that do face a president who won't leave office despite losing an election, the key question is whether ‘soft-liners’ within the regime start to defect. In ‘our case,’ even Karl Rove is such a soft-liner.”
And “Something is going on here -- First @KarlRove then @GeraldoRivera sending messages to @realDonaldTrump Now this,” tweets Jamie Gangel, of the news that Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford says he will step in if Biden doesn’t have access to intelligence briefings by Friday. As Alison Main and Caroline Kelly of CNN report, Lankford told KRMG’s Russell Mills, “There is no loss from him getting the briefings and to be able to do that,” noting that he sits on the Senate Oversight Committee and that he's already started engaging on this issue. Like a wrecking ball No biggie anyway, because sources tell Mike Allen of Axios that Trump has told friends he wants to start a digital media company to clobber Fox News and undermine the conservative-friendly network. Rodrigo Campos thinks “He must feel comfortable to try and take down Murdoch... who hasn’t had a string of bankruptcies. Oh and democracy be damned. It’s all about the money.” A source with detailed knowledge of Trump’s intentions told Allen, “He plans to wreck Fox. No doubt about it.” In the meantime, he may be wrecking our national security. Among other things, the State Department is preventing Biden from accessing messages from foreign leaders. State Department officials tell CNN’s Kylie Atwood that a stack of messages from foreign leaders to President-elect Joe Biden are sitting at the State Department but the Trump administration is preventing him from accessing them. Natalie Hope McDonald puts it this way: “Trump’s like the mean school girl who won’t pass you a note from the cute guy in English class because she’s jealous he likes you more.” Democracy be damned. The pandemic accelerates While Trump is busy with all of that, coronavirus cases continue to surge literally everywhere. In fact, Covid-19 in the US is a 'humanitarian disaster,' and the pandemic is only accelerating, CNN’s Christina Maxouris and Holly Yan report. How big of a disaster? “Y’all. Doctors Without Borders. You know that group you give charity money to because it's nice to help people suffering in other countries? They’re coming HERE. To help US,” tweets Bethany Brookshire. Meanwhile, scientists warn that the record-breaking surge is being driven to a significant degree by casual occasions that may feel deceptively safe — dinner parties, game nights, sleepovers and carpools. Karin Brulliard of The Washington Post reports that the “behind-doors transmission trend reflects pandemic fatigue and widening social bubbles, experts say — and is particularly insidious because it is so difficult to police and likely to increase as temperatures drop and holidays approach.” “Time to put on our big girl sweats and get back to the dreaded Zoom cocktail circuit,” tweets Katherine Finnerty. A Biden coronavirus adviser says shutting down businesses and paying people for lost wages for four to six weeks could help keep the pandemic in check and get the economy on track until a vaccine is approved and distributed. Will Feuer of CNBC reports that Dr. Michael Osterholm said the government could borrow enough money to pay for a package that would cover lost income for individuals and governments during a shutdown. There are pros and cons Dave Brooks of Billboard has the exclusive on How Ticketmaster Plans to Check Your Vaccine Status for Concerts. Logan Moy is optimistic: “This will never work. @Ticketmaster can’t even verify they’re selling concert tickets to fans let alone a vaccine that doesn’t exist yet.” “I get the logic but there are pros and cons,” says Charlene Ngamwajasat. “Tests are not absolute and there are potential added costs to consumers.” For example, Dylan Green predicts a “‘$15 COVID test surcharge’ incoming.” Adds Caryn Rose, “so this ticketmaster plan for screening event attendees requires a smartphone, health insurance in order to get a COVID test, and apparently now we're all expected to pay for a membership in a ‘health pass company’!”  But one potentially good side effect: “Maybe access to live music like hard rock stadium shows will be the thing to get millions of recalcitrant Americans to get the vaccine when it’s available. The logistics will be fascinating to watch too,” tweets Phil Wahba. In other words, “So you're telling me when I go to a concert in 2021 I won't be around any anti-vaxxers? Not mad about it,” says Mark Ortega.
Upcoming reads  What were you wondering last night? Well, Brian Stelter tells us, “Last night I wondered: When will copies of Barack Obama's book start to leak/when will excerpts come out? Answer: Today! @CNN obtained the very first copy of ‘A Promised Land’ And @TheAtlantic has a new excerpt.” How about that!
In the excerpt published in The Atlantic, I’m Not Yet Ready to Abandon the Possibility of America, Obama writes about his undiminished belief in the American idea, and about the impetus to put his presidency down on paper. He also shares a bit about his writing process. (“Dammit. I knew I was doing it wrong,” tweets Brendan Greeley.) CNN’s Dan Merica, Kevin Liptak, Jeff Zeleny and David Wright write that the Obama memoir confronts the role his presidency played in Republican obstructionism and Trump's rise. Tweets Alex Thompson, “CNN has Obama’s 768-page (! That’s just part 1) memoir. Notable section on Obama, Joe, McConnell considering what’s likely coming in January.” Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman of Politico Playbook have the details on Maggie’s Trump book, and as you probably already guessed, that’s Maggie Haberman of The New York Times. “Trump will get a book treatment by the reporter who has covered him up close the longest. @maggieNYT teams up with @penguinpress to tell the story of Trump from his NY tabloid days to the White House and beyond,” tweets Carol Leonnig. Julie Hirschfeld Davis offers “Congratulations to @maggieNYT on her forthcoming Trump book, which, like her coverage, will be a must-read (and a juicy and newsy and fun one) for anyone who wants to understand him and his presidency. Can’t wait!” One last thing Wall Street Journal Magazine has named BTS the Music Innovator for 2020, and Eun-Young Jeong explains Why BTS Runs the World. Tweets Lane Florsheim, “BTS is this year's @WSJMag Music Innovator—read @_eunyoungjeong’s great profile which includes a brief history of boy bands!!” On Twitter, Jeong shares, “In September, I sat down with the seven members of #BTS to talk about their childhood, sources of inspiration, what they’re up to when at home during the pandemic and their creative process, including how they’re preparing for their next album.” “A bunch of years ago, my younger cousin was listening to BTS and she handed me one-half of her headphones to listen. She was probably like, uh, uncool big cousin, here. Now, they're HUGE and one of @WSJMag’s Innovators. Check out this amazing profile,” urges Haley Velasco. | 
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