Axios PM: Trump tactics go local — 🛋 70-year tradition ends — "Fauci effect"

1 big thing: Trump tactics go local | Monday, December 07, 2020

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Morgan Stanley   Axios PM By Mike Allen ·Dec 07, 2020 Good afternoon: Today's PM — edited by Justin Green — is 490 words, a 2-minute read. See you on "Axios on HBO" @ 11 p.m. ET/PT. ⚡️Situational awareness: MSNBC is expected to name Rashida Jones as the network's president, making her the first Black executive to run a major cable news network, per The Wall Street Journal. 🛋 70-year tradition ends: 2020 will be the last printing of Ikea's famous catalog, which at peak levels produced 200 million copies across 32 different languages. (NPR)     1 big thing: Trump tactics go local Former Florida AG Pam Bondi displays a court order granting the Trump campaign more access to vote counting operations in Philadelphia on Nov. 5. Photo: Matt Slocum/AP   President Trump may be leaving the White House on Jan. 20, but his legal challenges and refusal to concede could become far more normal in U.S. politics. Why it matters: GOP support for his tactics has been far broader than immediately after the election. The big picture: Lawmakers in battleground states are providing pedestals for the airing of baseless legal grievances, AP reports Arizona: The chairperson of the Arizona GOP asked a court to overturn Biden's win. Republicans held a meeting where Trump's lawyers were permitted to claim the state's vote counts were fraudulent without providing evidence. Michigan: Lawmakers allowed Rudy Giuliani to testify at a now-infamous legislative hearing last week. One Republican member of the state's board of election canvassers abstained from certifying the final vote. Pennsylvania: 64 lawmakers asked Congress to decline to accept the state's electors. Candidates are embracing Trumpian tactics, reports Axios' Ursula Perano. House candidate Sean Parnell (R-Pa.) has declined to concede in his race against incumbent Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) and has joined a petition in Commonwealth Court against the Pennsylvania general assembly arguing the state's mail-in ballots were illegitimate, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. GOP gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp in Washington state has refused to concede after the election despite a shellacking from incumbent Gov. Jay Inslee (D). Multiple other candidates insisted their losses were the result of widespread fraud. None have provided credible evidence. The bottom line: Federal election security officials have repeatedly said this election was safe and free of widespread fraud. Go deeper: The elected Republicans who acknowledge Biden won     2. Tech research becomes hazardous ground Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   Google's firing of prominent researcher Timnit Gebru has raised concerns about the company's commitment to academic freedom and suggested to some that women and people of color are targeted for retribution when they speak out, reports Ina Fried. Why it matters: Research from companies like Google forms a considerable portion of the broader body of work on key topics like AI. Gebru's case raises questions about the extent to which corporate research is shaped by corporate interests. Go deeper.     A message from Morgan Stanley Now, What's Next? podcast: The death of the city     At the height of the pandemic, headlines around the world proclaimed an exodus away from urban centers. But are city communities truly at risk? Host Sonari Glinton introduces us to a range of people all grappling with their relationship to the city.     3. Catch up quick The Dragon cargo capsule docks at the International Space Station, alongside a Dragon crew capsule that carried up astronauts three weeks ago. Photo: NASA via AP The EU has officially adopted a sanctions regime that's modeled after the Magnitsky Act. Go deeper. Trump told reporters that Rudy Giuliani, who was admitted to the hospital after a COVID-19 diagnosis, is "very well" and does not have a fever. Go deeper. Bob Dylan sold his entire catalog to Universal Music in a deal the N.Y. Times estimates at $300 million. The Trump administration will maintain the current standards for soot pollution, rejecting the recommendations of agency scientists to tighten them, The Wall Street Journal reports. 🎧 Axios Re:Cap interviewed Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, on the stimulus talks. Listen here.     4. 1 silver lining Anthony Fauci. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images   The "Fauci effect": Medical school applications have surged 18% this year, NPR reports. Why it matters: The Association of American Medical Colleges reports a "growing physician shortage" in the U.S., with the nation on track to be short 54,100–139,000 physicians by 2033. The bottom line: "[T]here's probably going to be another pandemic" in the future, 25-year-old Sam Smith told NPR. "So I want to be on the front lines of the next one."     A message from Morgan Stanley Now, What's Next? podcast: The death of the city     At the height of the pandemic, headlines around the world proclaimed an exodus away from urban centers. But are city communities truly at risk? Host Sonari Glinton introduces us to a range of people all grappling with their relationship to the city.     Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: