News : POLITICO Playbook: ‘Rage and denial’

Sunday, December 6, 2020

POLITICO Playbook: ‘Rage and denial’

Dec 06, 2020

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By Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer

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DRIVING THE DAY

HAPPY SUNDAY MORNING. 45 DAYS until the inauguration of JOE BIDEN as the 46th president of the United States. 25 DAYS until the end of 2020.

HERE IS SOME REALLY EXCELLENT NEWS … MONCLEF SLAOUI on CBS' "FACE THE NATION" to MARGARET BRENNAN: "Well, I think we may start to see some impact on the most susceptible people probably in the month of January and February, but on a population basis, for our lives to start getting back to normal, we're talking about April or May. And therefore, it's absolutely vital that everybody, a) take comfort in the fact that we have light at the end of the tunnel and find the energy in that to continue to wear our masks, distance, wash our hands, pay attention to what we are doing to make sure that we are there by the spring to benefit from the vaccine."

TODAY'S POLITICAL THEME is really neatly summed up by PETER BAKER on the front page of The New York Times: "Rage and Denial."

NYT, A1 … WHITE HOUSE MEMO by BAKER: "Trump's Final Days of Rage and Denial": "Over the past week, President Trump posted or reposted about 145 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. His rage and detached-from-reality refusal to concede defeat evoke images of a besieged overlord in some distant land defiantly clinging to power rather than going into exile or an erratic English monarch imposing his version of reality on his cowed court."

RAGE, CHECK … DENIAL, CHECK … ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: "At Georgia rally, Trump tells GOP to vote in 'rigged' election," by Greg Bluestein and Patricia Murphy in Valdosta: "President Donald Trump spent Saturday morning trying to overturn the last election in Georgia. He spent Saturday night ripping elections in Georgia and telling his followers in Valdosta to vote in Georgia's January runoffs anyway.

"Taking the stage to chants of, 'Four more years!' and, 'We love you!' Trump told the crowd of thousands at the 'Defend the Majority' rally to get behind Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Sen. David Perdue ahead of the crucial January 5th runoff elections. But not before he launched immediately into false claims about winning the election in Georgia. He lost by about 12,000 votes to president-elect Joe Biden. 'You know we won Georgia, just so you understand,' Trump said, spinning stories about votes in Georgia 'coming out of ceilings and coming out of leather bags.'" Meridith McGraw in Valdosta with a look at how Trump is now campaigning for others

-- ICYMI … WAPO: "Trump calls Georgia governor to pressure him for help overturning Biden's win in the state," by Amy Gardner, Colby Itkowitz and Josh Dawsey: "President Trump called Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) on Saturday morning to urge him to persuade the state legislature to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the state and asked the governor to order an audit of absentee ballot signatures, the latest brazen effort by the president to interfere in the 2020 election. … The governor later referred to his conversation with Trump in a midday tweet, noting that he told the president that he'd already publicly advocated for a signature audit."

-- GEORGIA LT. GOV. GEOFF DUNCAN on CNN'S "STATE OF THE UNION": "Calling the General Assembly back in at this point would almost be along the lines of a solution trying to find a problem. And we're certainly not going to move the goalposts at this point in the election. We are going to continue to follow the letter of the law, which gives us a very clear-cut direction as to how to execute an election. And we're going to continue to take that on."

-- BRAD RAFFENSPERGER on ABC'S "THIS WEEK" on why TRUMP lost: "If you look at how the election turned out here in Georgia, President Trump got 10 percent less votes in Cherokee County, which is a rich, red county, in this election cycle. Whitfield County in northwest Georgia, less than 4.5 percent. And so, really, at the end of the day, the voice of the people were spoken. I'm disappointed as a conservative Republican also."

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: "Your office has investigated claims of fraud. What have they found?" RAFFENSPERGER: "Well, we've never found systemic fraud, not enough to overturn the election. We have over 250 cases right now. We reached out to the governor and asked for additional manpower resources with GBI. It gives us additional reach so we can finish up these investigations quickly. But right now, we don't see anything that would overturn the will of the people here in Georgia."

A message from PhRMA:

Today, there are several promising vaccine candidates in stage three clinical trials. These trials have tens of thousands of participants, from every walk of life. From development to robust clinical trials, and throughout manufacturing, these vaccine candidates follow the same rigorous process of other vaccines that have saved millions of lives. More.

ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH … CHUCK TODD on NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS" this morning: "Amid [the] exploding [Covid-19] crisis, President Trump gave what he said 'may be the most important speech I've ever made.' … It's not about Covid. [A] 46-minute attack on American democracy -- filled with debunked claims, false assertions and outright lies -- charging that the Democrats rigged the election to steal his presidency. That the president has chosen to ignore the worst health crisis we've faced in 100 years almost doesn't matter anymore."

SLAOUI to JAKE TAPPER on "STATE OF THE UNION" on BIDEN'S criticism that there's no plan to get the vaccine out: "There are plans -- there are videos that describe how to do it because these are special conditions given the cold chain -- very cold, specifically with the Pfizer vaccine. We haven't had a chance yet to sit down with the transition team and explain in detail everything that has been planned and been done. We look forward to that happening -- we actually I think have a meeting planned later this week. And I'm confident that, together, we will do the best we can to make sure the vaccines are delivered safely and effectively to all Americans."

HHS SECRETARY ALEX AZAR spoke to CHRIS WALLACE on "FOX NEWS SUNDAY" about lockdowns: "Chris, our community mitigation efforts have to be based in science and evidence [or] we lose public support and compliance for them. We know that our workplaces, our universities, our K-12 schools, flying on airplanes are not major vectors of disease transmission -- it's overcrowded indoor restaurants and bars. It is multi-household indoor gatherings where we let our guard down. These are the things we need to protect against if we go too far, and we defer to governors on the steps they need to take, it's their call. But if we go beyond science and evidence [we] will undermine public support."

STIMULUS UPDATE … SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.) on "THIS WEEK": STEPHANOPOULOS: "The package that's being worked on is about $900 billion right now. Do you expect it to get passed this week?" DURBIN: "Well, my prayers will be answered if it does. But we have got a few remaining issues. I think we can work them out. And, if we can and bring this forward, I just hope that Sen. McConnell will let us bring this matter to the floor as quickly as possible. We have a lot of work to do and just a few days to do it."

-- SEN. MARK WARNER (D-Va.) told TAPPER on "STATE OF THE UNION" that the bipartisan Covid relief group will have a "multi-hour" call today on their bill.

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-La.) -- who is part of the group -- said on "FNS" that his bill will be out "early this week." He said the eviction moratorium will be extended, but there will also be "relief to landlords. They are the ones holding the bag."

L.A. TIMES FRONT PAGE takes a look at VP-elect KAMALA HARRIS and her power … NOAH BIERMAN: "Kamala Harris is on the cusp of power, but has to tread carefully": "Kamala Harris began her political career in 2003 with an audacious gambit, running against and unseating her former boss, San Francisco Dist. Atty. Terence Hallinan, just a few years after he'd promoted her to be a top assistant.

"Now that long-apparent ambition will be the source of inevitable speculation as Harris is about to become the vice president, the understudy, to a man who at 78 will be the oldest president in history.

"President-elect Joe Biden, while eager to dispel any notion that he'll be a lame duck, has insisted repeatedly that Harris need not wait for power. As a former vice president who believes in a robust role for the job, he has already begun sharing the stage and the decision-making with the 56-year-old California senator." LAT front

WAPO FOLLOWS THE MONEY ON CAP … "Neera Tanden, Biden's pick for budget chief, runs a think tank backed by corporate and foreign interests," by Yeganeh Torbati and Beth Reinhard: "In her nine years helming Washington's leading liberal think tank, Neera Tanden mingled with deep-pocketed donors who made their fortunes on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley and in other powerful sectors of corporate America.

"At formal pitches and swanky fundraisers, Tanden personally cultivated the bevy of benefactors fueling the $45 million to $50 million annual budget of the Center for American Progress. …

"Between 2014 and 2019, CAP received at least $33 million in donations from firms in the financial sector, private foundations primarily funded by wealth earned on Wall Street and in other investment firms, and current or former executives at financial firms such as Bain Capital, Blackstone and Evercore, according to a Washington Post analysis of CAP's donor disclosures and some of the foundations' public tax filings. In the same time period, CAP received between $4.9 million and $13 million from Silicon Valley companies and foundations, including Facebook and founder Mark Zuckerberg's philanthropic organization.

"CAP reports its donations only in wide ranges, making an exact figure impossible to determine. Other notable corporate donors include retail giant Walmart, insurer CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, defense contractor Northrop Grumman and for-profit college operator DeVry Education Group."

SEN.-ELECT BEN RAY LUJÁN (D-N.M.), on CNN'S "INSIDE POLITICS," said BIDEN needs a more diverse Cabinet: "I and many of my colleagues and people across the United States are calling out for more diversity. Now Dana, I know President-elect Biden and he does keep his word, he's a good person and he's a person of character. So to see Alejandro Mayorkas now nominated for the Department of Homeland Security, that's a good start from the Hispanic side of the ledger, but we also want to see more Hispanics, more Latinos and Latinas, people like our governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is well qualified, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Tom Perez, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate twice and has done incredible work. There's strong leaders across America, and I'm certainly hopeful that we're going to see many of them have important roles within the responsibilities we have to look after the American people."

REP. KAREN BASS (D-Calif.) on "STATE OF THE UNION" ... TAPPER: "So far, Biden has filled two of the so-called big four Cabinet positions, Antony Blinken for secretary of state, Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary. Both of them are white. He has yet to pick his attorney general or Defense secretary, which are the other two positions of the big four. Do you think he needs to nominate a Black American for at least one of those roles?"

BASS: "Yes, I think it would be great if he did. And for Defense secretary, there's two individuals that the Congressional Black Caucus would like to put forward, Lloyd Austin and Jeh Johnson, and I think that those two positions, and we will see what happens in other positions as well."

WHAT AMERICA IS READING … THE NATION'S FRONT PAGES … Arkansas Democrat Gazette: "Rallying in Georgia, Trump's focus on self: Little time spent boosting GOP senators" … Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Black voters might hold key to deciding Senate … Boston Globe: "Still in Trump's grip, GOP can't move on to 2024" …

… COVID: NYT: "OFFICIALS AGONIZE OVER ALLOTMENT OF FIRST VACCINES … A WRENCHING DILEMMA … Protecting Older People vs. Workers at Risk of Exposure to Virus" … Des Moines Register: "Who gets Iowa's 1st COVID-19 vaccines?" … Star Tribune: "Hospital ERs stagger under load" … Charlotte Observer: "Elderly, essential workers vying for vaccine priority" … News and Observer (Raleigh): "'PLEASE TAKE THIS VIRUS SERIOUSLY'"

A message from PhRMA:

America's biopharmaceutical companies are working day and night until they defeat COVID-19. Because science is how we get back to normal.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WASHINGTON WAITS ON AID … NYT: "'Existential Peril': Mass Transit Faces Huge Service Cuts Across U.S.," by Christina Goldbaum and Will Wright: "In Boston, transit officials warned of ending weekend service on the commuter rail and shutting down the city's ferries. In Washington, weekend and late-night metro service would be eliminated and 19 of the system's 91 stations would close. In Atlanta, 70 of the city's 110 bus routes have already been suspended, a move that could become permanent.

"And in New York City, home to the largest mass transportation system in North America, transit officials have unveiled a plan that could slash subway service by 40 percent and cut commuter rail service in half. Across the United States, public transportation systems are confronting an extraordinary financial crisis set off by the pandemic, which has starved transit agencies of huge amounts of revenue and threatens to cripple service for years.

"The profound cuts agencies are contemplating could hobble the recoveries of major cities from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco, where reliable transit is a lifeblood of the local economies."

THE PRESIDENT and VP have no events scheduled. BIDEN and HARRIS have no events scheduled.

TRACK THE TRANSITION & NEW ADMINISTRATION HEADING INTO 2021: President-elect Biden is pushing full steam ahead on putting together his Cabinet and White House staff. These appointments and staffing decisions send clear-cut signals about Biden's priorities. What do these signals foretell? Transition Playbook is the definitive guide to one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history. Written for political insiders, it tracks the appointments, people, and the emerging power centers of the new administration. Track the transition and the first 100 days of the incoming Biden administration. Subscribe today.

PLAYBOOK READS

Tigray refugees are pictured. | Getty Images

PHOTO DU JOUR: Refugees from the Tigray region of Ethiopia wait Saturday to be transferred to a different camp in Sudan, where 45,000 people fled from conflict in recent weeks. | Byron Smith/Getty Images

THE GRIDIRON CLUB held its winter brunch on Zoom on Saturday, with a stand-in for Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER singing "Georgia On My Mind." SPOTTED: Andrea Mitchell, Kon Karl, Ken Strickland, Todd Gillman, Dan Balz, Steve Holland, Susan Page, Lynn Sweet, Margaret Talev, Mark Shields, Karen Tumulty, Clarence Page, David Corn, Shawna Thomas, Tommy Burr and Caren Bohan.

-- THE CLUB'S BOARD was reelected, and David Lauter was elected treasurer. President: Craig Gilbert of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Secretary: Tommy Burr of News Nation. Historian: George Condon of National Journal. Executive Committee: Bret Baier of Fox News, Steve Holland of Reuters, Jerry Seib of The Wall Street Journal and Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post.

THAT WAS QUICK … WAPO: "Pentagon spy agencies to meet with Biden transition team," by Greg Miller and Missy Ryan: "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."

ON CHINA … WAPO'S KAROUN DEMIRJIAN: "Defense bill offers Biden's team a new framework to counter China": "The annual defense bill, which lawmakers are expected to vote on starting Tuesday, establishes a program to strengthen the United States's posture and alliances in the Indo-Pacific region and funding for additional attack submarines that senior Pentagon officials have said are vital for countering China's powerful maritime forces."

A message from PhRMA:

America's biopharmaceutical companies are working day and night to defeat COVID-19.

WHAT IT MEANS … NYT'S DECLAN WALSH in Nairobi, Kenya: "In Somalia, U.S. Troop Withdrawal Is Seen as Badly Timed": "Somalis fear a U.S. decision to withdraw troops from their country will be seen as a victory for the Qaeda-linked militants who have wreaked havoc there for years, and sow the potential for further chaos at an especially delicate moment for Somalia and the region.

"Somali presidential elections are scheduled in just two months, war is erupting in neighboring Ethiopia, and the militants, from the Shabab, are still strong despite years of American-led raids and drone strikes. The timing of Friday's Pentagon announcement, some Somalis say, is terrible.

"'The fight against global terrorism is still ongoing and we must still win the battle for peace and security to prevail,' said Ayub Ismail Yusuf, a Somali senator, who called the U.S. decision 'untimely' on Twitter. 'We must not give up on our successes.'"

AP: "Report finds microwave energy likely made U.S. diplomats ill"

NYT'S MIRIAM JORDAN in L.A. and MIKE SHEAR: "'They're Playing With Our Lives': What Happens Next for DACA's 'Dreamers'"

MATTHEW CHOI and DANIEL LIPPMAN: "The 70 Veepiest Moments of the Trump Years"

THIS WEEK - DON'T MISS #MIHealthSummit: POLITICO will feature a special edition Future Pulse newsletter at the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit this week. Go inside one of the most influential gatherings of global health industry leaders and innovators determined to confront and conquer the most transformative health challenges. The pandemic exposed weaknesses across our health systems, particularly in treating our most vulnerable communities. This year's conference focuses on the converging crises of public health, economic insecurity, and social justice. Sign up today for exclusive coverage from December 7–9.

PLAYBOOKERS

Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com.

TRANSITIONS -- Mitch Relfe will be manager of federal government relations at NFIB. He previously was legislative director and counsel to Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.). … Abbey Watson and Brendan Sullivan have launched Weymouth/Watson, a new Democratic live event and production firm, for both in-person and virtual events. Watson previously was at Watson LLC, and Sullivan at Weymouth Strategies.

ENGAGED -- Steve Guest, rapid response director at the RNC, and Kate Farrar, senior director of development and partnerships at the Religious Freedom Institute, got engaged Friday afternoon. He proposed in front of the Capitol, a special place for the couple where they took many walks and ultimately fell in love. Pic … Another pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Laura Perloff McCabe, deputy VP at PhRMA, and Luke McCabe, an attorney at the Department of Veterans Affairs, welcomed Mickey John McCabe on Friday. Pic

BIRTHDAYS: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is 63 … Rep.-elect Luke Letlow (R-La.) … former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is 75 (h/t Jill Zuckman) … former Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.), chair and CEO of the Nickles Group, is 72 … CNN correspondent and former Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) is 45 … Julian Zelizer, a Princeton professor and CNN political analyst, is 51 … Hugo Gurdon, editor-in-chief of the Washington Examiner (h/t Alex Rosenwald) … Cogan Schneier … Dave Lugar … Eric Boehlert … Maia Johnson … Mike Scotto … Meg Little Reilly … Justin Melvin, COS for Rep. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.), is 34 (h/t Kate Kelly) … Glenn Rushing … Maria Stainer … Mike Johnson … Nickie Titus … Cynné Simpson … Sera Alptekin … Michael Beresik, managing director and head of public affairs for the Americas at Standard Chartered Bank … Greg Butler … Julie Katzman … Joe Florio … Robert S. Rivkin is 6-0 … Jeff Mayers …

… Robert Cresanti, outgoing president and CEO of the International Franchise Association … JoAnna Richard … Dana Brisbane … Angelica Annino, scheduling director for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) … MSNBC's Natalie Johnson … Bill Greene … Francis Brennan … Amy Call Well … Jeff Parcher … Kimberlin Love … Brian Mosteller … Evelyn Farkas (h/t Chris Lapetina) … South Carolina Dem Chair Trav Robertson … Nancy Brinker … Roy Milan Schultheis … Michael Greenstone, an economist at the University of Chicago … Craigslist founder Craig Newmark … Edelman's Brendan Daley … Antoniya Puleva … Oriana Henry … Dan Levitan of BerlinRosen … FT's Sara Germano … John Dogero … Evelyn Chang … Rouben Gregorian … Jon Ostrower, editor-in-chief of The Air Current … Jack Gocke … VOA's Jamie Dettmer … Oliver Willis … Ryan Sellinger … Emily Barocas Carruth … Jerad Reimers … J.D. Stier

A message from PhRMA:

America's biopharmaceutical companies are making great progress against a common enemy – COVID-19. They're learning from successful vaccines for other diseases, developing new treatments and collaborating like never before.

Today, there are several promising vaccine candidates in stage three clinical trials. These trials have tens of thousands of participants, from every walk of life. From development to robust clinical trials, and throughout manufacturing, these vaccine candidates follow the same rigorous process of other vaccines that have saved millions of lives.

America's biopharmaceutical companies are working day and night until they defeat COVID-19. Because science is how we get back to normal.