Friday, November 13, 2020

Playbook PM: ‘All hands on deck’

Presented by Morgan Stanley: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington
Nov 13, 2020 View in browser
 
Playbook PM

By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

Presented by

SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI said her quest for a lame-duck Covid relief bill "is a red alert." "ALL HANDS ON DECK … This is an emergency of the highest magnitude. And yet our Republican colleagues want to focus elsewhere."

STAY TUNED! … PELOSI said a smaller Democratic majority will not affect her governing strategy. She said her leverage has increased due to a Democratic president.

CNN'S MANU RAJU asked PELOSI if she took any responsibility for losing seats. PELOSI: "I take credit for winning a majority and holding the House."

NOW YA TELL US! … CHARLES KOCH, via the WSJ: "Mr. Koch said he has since come to regret his partisanship, which he says badly deepened divisions. 'Boy, did we screw up!' he writes in his new book. 'What a mess!' … Still, his political spending remains almost entirely partisan. Koch Industries' PAC and employees donated $2.8 million in the 2020 campaign cycle to Republican candidates and $221,000 to Democratic candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics."

SUSAN COLLINS ON THE RISE … BURGESS EVERETT: "Susan Collins reaches peak influence after Senate stunner": "Shortly after her surprisingly strong reelection win, Susan Collins received a call from an old colleague: Joe Biden. It's probably not the last time they talk over the next four years.

"After her 24-year Senate career appeared in jeopardy a month ago, the Maine Republican romped to victory and is now at the peak of her power — and is preparing to play a central role in the Senate during Biden's presidency. Unless Democrats can shock the world and claim two Georgia Senate seats and Senate control in January, it's hard to imagine a single Biden Cabinet nominee or major piece of legislation will get through a Republican-controlled chamber without Collins's support." POLITICO

CUE TEAM BIDEN SAYING, 'I TOLD YOU SO' … WAPO: "More than 130 Secret Service officers are said to be infected with coronavirus or quarantining in wake of Trump's campaign travel," by Carol Leonnig and Josh Dawsey: "More than 130 Secret Service officers who help protect the White House and the president when he travels have recently been ordered to isolate or quarantine because they tested positive for the coronavirus or had close contact with infected co-workers, according to three people familiar with agency staffing.

"The spread of the coronavirus -- which has sidelined roughly 10 percent of the agency's core security team -- is believed to be partly linked to a series of campaign rallies that President Trump held in the weeks before the Nov. 3 election, according to the people, who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the situation."

SOMEONE GET TOMMY TUBERVILLE A HISTORY LESSON … NEWLY ELECTED Sen. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-Ala.) said this to the Alabama Daily News: "I tell people, my dad fought 76 years ago in Europe to free Europe of socialism. Today, you look at this election, we have half this country that made some kind of movement, now they might not believe in it 100 percent, but they made some kind of movement toward socialism. So we're fighting it right here on our own soil. …

"I think it still is still up in the air who's going to be the president … So, you know, the media has got to stand down on all of this because they're creating so much havoc. I remember in 2000 Al Gore was president, United States, president elect, for 30 days – 30 days – and after 30 days, it got to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court says, no, George Bush is going to be the president. That's the problem we'll get into when we do a lot of guessing, and that's all it is right now." He also got the three branches of government wrong MSNBC catalogued the greatest hits

A message from Morgan Stanley:

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AND NOW A TOUR OF TRUMP'S BRAIN … WASHINGTON EXAMINER'S BYRON YORK: "'We're going to win Wisconsin,' he began. 'Arizona — it'll be down to 8,000 votes, and if we can do an audit of the millions of votes, we'll find 8,000 votes easy. If we can do an audit, we'll be in good shape there.'

"'Georgia, we're going to win,' he continued, 'because now, we're down to about 10,000, 11,000 votes, and we have hand-counting' — a reference to the coming recount. 'Hand-counting is the best. To do a spin of the machine doesn't mean anything. You pick up 10 votes. But when you hand-count — I think we're going to win Georgia.' He'll also win North Carolina, Trump joked, 'unless they happen to find a lot of votes. I said, "When are they going to put in the new votes in North Carolina? When are they going to find a batch from Charlotte?"'"

-- THE ATTEMPT TO STEAL THE ELECTION … "Navarro: White House's operating 'assumption is a second Trump term,'" by Nick Niedzwiadek

Happy Friday afternoon.

ABBY PHILLIP'S STAR TURN … NYT'S KATIE ROSMAN: "Abby Phillip Is Next-Gen CNN": "In the 52 hours over five days that the trio would hold court at that desk, there had been plenty of hot takes to fill the airtime. But as Ms. Phillip took command of this particular moment, pablum gave way to prose — or to a 'historical poetry,' as she called it: recited in a slow, deliberate cadence distinct from the rat-tat-tat verbal spray that has typified cable news for a generation. …

"At a network that draws top viewership at such moments, a star was being born. 'Abby has an intellect that is unmatched, and she has a pretty unique ability to synthesize information quickly both in her reporting and her analysis, and deliver it in a way that meets the viewers where they are,' said David Chalian, CNN's political director."

WOMP WOMP -- JOSH GERSTEIN: "Another law firm bails out on Trump campaign": "Another law firm has moved to drop its representation of President Donald Trump's campaign in its flurry of lawsuits challenging the results of last week's presidential election. Late Thursday night, Columbus-based firm Porter Wright Morris & Arthur notified a federal judge hearing a Trump-filed suit over the election tallies in Pennsylvania that the firm is seeking to pull out of the case. …

"In the motion filed at 11:53 p.m. on Thursday, Porter Wright lawyers Ronald Hicks and Carolyn McGee — who work out of the firm's Pittsburgh office — said the campaign was 'in the process of retaining and causing other counsel' to take over the case. The attorneys said they and the campaign had agreed on the withdrawal, but Hicks and McGee were vague about the reason for their exit." POLITICO

SIREN -- "'No One Is Listening to Us,'" by The Atlantic's Ed Yong: "The entire state of Iowa is now out of staffed beds … Worse is coming. Iowa is accumulating more than 3,600 confirmed cases every day; relative to its population, that's more than twice the rate Arizona experienced during its summer peak … With only lax policies in place, those cases will continue to rise. Hospitalizations lag behind cases by about two weeks; by Thanksgiving, today's soaring cases will be overwhelming hospitals that already cannot cope. …

"In the imminent future, patients will start to die because there simply aren't enough people to care for them. Doctors and nurses will burn out. The most precious resource the U.S. health-care system has in the struggle against COVID-19 isn't some miracle drug. It's the expertise of its health-care workers—and they are exhausted." Atlantic

 

KEEP UP WITH THE GLOBAL HEALTH AGENDA: If nothing else, 2020 revealed how critical it is to keep up with the politics, policy, and people driving global health. How are governments working to improve the health of their citizens? What role are NGOs playing? Who is driving the agenda? Our Global Pulse newsletter connects leaders, policymakers, and advocates to the people, and politics impacting our global health. Join the conversation and subscribe today.

 
 

HUNT FOR A VACCINE -- "How a Coronavirus Vaccine Maker's Stock Went From Dud to Star: Germany's BioNTech scaled back its IPO last year amid tepid investor interest, but then the Covid-19 vaccine race sent shares soaring," by WSJ's Gregory Zuckerman

YIKES -- "Russia, North Korea trying to hack coronavirus researchers, Microsoft says," by Eric Geller: "Russian and North Korean government operatives have attempted to breach seven high-profile companies developing coronavirus vaccines and treatments and have succeeded on several occasions, Microsoft said Friday.

"'The targets include leading pharmaceutical companies and vaccine researchers in Canada, France, India, South Korea, and the United States,' Tom Burt, Microsoft's corporate vice president of customer security and trust, wrote in a blog post. Microsoft attributed the malicious activity to three groups: Strontium, a unit of Russia's military intelligence agency that's also known as Fancy Bear and APT28; Zinc, a North Korean hacker team better known as the Lazarus Group; and Cerium, another North Korean group." POLITICO The blog post

MEDIAWATCH -- MATTHEW YGLESIAS is leaving Vox for Substack, where he's launching a new site, Slow Boring. He'll continue to co-host "The Weeds" podcast. Announcement

THE DYSTOPIA BEAT -- "Post-election, extremists use fringe social networks to push fraud claims, violence," by Mark Scott: "Efforts by Facebook and Twitter to squash claims from President Donald Trump and others of electoral fraud are hitting a big obstacle: The messages are running wild on smaller fringe networks popular among the far right — then boomeranging back onto the mainstream platforms.

"Extremist groups, white nationalists and conspiracy theorists — some claiming ties to QAnon, which alleges a so-called deep-state plot to undermine Trump — have taken to encrypted messaging apps and online message boards. There, they promote viral videos of unproven voter fraud, urge supporters to ready their guns in support of Trump and push anti-Semitic and racist claims about election officials."

CHAD WOLF AT THE DOOR -- "Trump administration renews push to confirm Wolf amid concerns over legitimacy and agency purge," by CNN's Priscilla Alvarez and Geneva Sands: "In the past week, Homeland Security officials spoke to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office about bringing the nomination to a floor vote in the coming weeks -- a move seemingly acknowledging both a forthcoming change in administrations and criticism that Wolf's appointment was invalid. …

"In recent months, Wolf's appointment has been cast as invalid by the Government Accountability Office and in federal court, raising concerns that his actions could come under increased scrutiny under the incoming administration." CNN

 

NEW EPISODES OF POLITICO'S GLOBAL TRANSLATIONS PODCAST: The world has long been beset by big problems that defy political boundaries, and these issues have exploded in 2020 amid a global pandemic. Global Translations podcast, presented by Citi, unpacks the roadblocks to smart policy decisions and examines the long-term costs of the short-term thinking that drives many political and business decisions. In the latest episode, we look at the renewed interest in an old phrase: industrial policy. Is it still too controversial in policy circles, or is it the future of policy as governments worldwide reshape global supply chains? Subscribe for Season Two, available now.

 
 

ALL EYES ON GEORGIA -- "RNC to spend at least $20 million on Georgia's Senate races," by AP's Zeke Miller: "The Republican National Committee said Friday it is funding more than 600 staffers in the state with an investment of at least $20 million ahead of the Jan. 5 runoffs for the seats held by GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. …

"The GOP's investment follows on the party's massive ground game and data operation in the 2020 presidential race, which fought a large Democratic operation. The party said it organized more than 2.6 million volunteers and had more than 3,000 paid field staffers across key battleground states. In Georgia alone, the RNC says it knocked on more than 3 million doors, made more than 8 million phone calls and registered at least 16,000 voters in the leadup to the presidential election." AP

AD WARS -- "Perdue links Ossoff to Schumer and Pelosi in his first Georgia runoff ad," by Fox News' Paul Steinhauser: "The spot, which the Perdue campaign said will start running Friday statewide on broadcast, cable and satellite TV, features comments Schumer made a week ago, when he said, 'Now, we take Georgia. Then, we change America.'" With video: Fox News

VALLEY TALK -- "Biden's resolve on tech will face early test in U.S. trade talks," by Cristiano Lima: "Like President Donald Trump, Biden has called for the repeal of a crucial set of liability protections that shield online companies from lawsuits over the user content they host. But he has yet to say whether his White House will push to enshrine those legal safeguards in U.S. trade pacts, something the Trump administration has continued to do even amid the president's own attacks against that liability shield." POLITICO

POST-MORTEM -- "How A Record Number Of Republican Women Got Elected To Congress," by NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben: "Rep.-elect [Michelle] Fischbach credited one particular Republican with helping her win: Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York. … Stefanik credits the candidates with their wins, but she also feels that she played a key role. …

"The crop of Republican candidates this year was different from past years, not just quantitatively but qualitatively, according to Republican pollster Christine Matthews. That's because of longer-term partisan demographic realignment, with women — and particularly college-educated women — increasingly identifying as Democrats. It's a trend that may in fact be related to increasing polarization. Matthews says that realignment has changed which women run and what issues they run on." NPR

MEGATREND -- "More Green Card Holders Are Becoming U.S. Citizens," by WSJ's Jo Craven McGinty: "Last year, 843,593 immigrants took the oath—the highest number in 11 years—according to the Department of Homeland Security Office of Immigration Statistics. … This year, more than 23 million naturalized citizens were eligible to vote in the presidential election—making up roughly 10% of the nation's electorate, the highest share since 1970 …

"Periodic increases in naturalizations might have to do with anticipated changes in fees or the implementation of new laws … This year, the cost of becoming a naturalized citizen was expected to nearly double in October—which might have motivated some green-card holders to get their citizenship—but the proposed increase was delayed after immigrant-rights organizations sued. It's also not unusual for naturalization increases to occur near a presidential election." WSJ

AFTERNOON SNACK -- "Bellwether Counties Nearly Wiped Out by 2020 Election," by WSJ's John McCormick: "From 1980 through 2016, 19 of the nation's more than 3,000 counties voted for the eventual president in every election. Only one of them, Washington state's Clallam County, backed President-elect Joe Biden last week." WSJ

TRANSITION -- David Berdan will be general counsel at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He most recently was general counsel and compliance officer at Gaming Arts.

 

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