As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.
The Biden Administration starts to take shape with foreign policy selections:
President-elect Joe Biden has selected Antony Blinken, one of his
closest and longest-serving foreign policy advisers, as secretary of
state as he prepares to unveil a slate of new nominees this week that
will emphasize a deep well of experience in the foreign policy and
national security establishment. [snip]
Biden also is planning to announce Linda Thomas-Greenfield as his
nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, giving a former career
Foreign Service officer and African American woman one of the most
high-profile diplomatic posts in government, according to three people
familiar with the decision.
The adults will be back in charge come January 20.
Naming names:
As we noted yesterday, Michigan is one of the states due to certify President- elect Biden's victory there (by 150,000- plus votes). The Washington Post editorial board notes:
[Trump's] target Monday
is the Michigan Board of State Canvassers, which is scheduled to meet
to certify the results in their state, which Democrat Joe Biden won
by the healthy margin of 154,000 votes. Ronna McDaniel, the servile
chair of the Republican Party, and her Michigan counterpart, Laura Cox, on Saturday called on the board to delay certification. Their ostensible justification: “numerical anomalies and credible reports of procedural irregularities.”
As usual, there was no substantial evidence. Officials found only minor anomalies in Detroit affecting a small number of votes, and affidavits alleging irregularities were so weak that Trump campaign lawyers dropped the lawsuit
based on them. Mr. Trump lobs sweeping allegations of a “rigged” and
“stolen” election; his enablers such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell (Ky.) nod solemnly about letting him make his case — and
judges across the country point out, again and again, that there is no
case. [snip]
...We hope that Michigan’s board on Monday performs its work honorably. And
we hope that when this is all over, Americans remember who defended
democracy, and who joined in the campaign to upend it.
Meanwhile, this Trump toady continues to stall on getting the transition underway:
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) attacked President Donald Trump's General
Services Administration chief, Emily Murphy, for refusing to sign off on
President-elect Joe Biden's transition team.
Each of Trump's lawsuits alleging any kind of election fraud has proved to be a failure and some have downright infuriated judges.
Still, Ms. Murphy maintains that Biden hasn't been declared the winner.
Instead, she did an interview with CNN and whined that she's in a
"no-win situation." If she authorizes the election, she could be fired
from a job she'd have for one month. If she doesn't sign the letter
she's putting the country at risk for a series of national security and public health problems by forcing Biden staff to scramble to get background checks and clearance approved on the first day of the new administration.
E.J. Dionne, Jr., has an observation and a warning:
President-elect
Joe Biden’s victory offered the cheerful prospect that we might begin
to detoxify our politics. Maybe we could forget Donald Trump for a while
and argue with at least a touch of civility about the actual problems
our country faces.
Heck,
some of us dared to imagine that we might treat each other with
respect. After all, Biden said over and over that he wanted to be the
president of all Americans and honored the dignity of voters who had
supported Trump in the past by expressing an understanding of their
discontents.
Moreover,
bypassing more polarizing alternatives, Biden’s own party chose the
candidate most likely to be acceptable to the other side, itself a form
of outreach.
And
the GOP’s response to the outreach? With just a handful of exceptions,
abject refusal to stand up against the anti-democratic lunacy of Trump’s
efforts to nullify the results of a fair election.
It is also
a warning: Anyone advising Biden and members of his party to turn the
other cheek and reach out to Republican congressional leaders as though
none of this has happened is urging them down the path of political
suicide.
Ronald Reagan’s expression of hopeful skepticism, “trust but verify,”
is far too optimistic for what Biden faces. Republicans aren’t simply
denying him a honeymoon; they’re either acquiescing to or advancing
Trump’s bid to cast Biden’s presidency as illegitimate from the start.
We close with our strong recommendation that you pay a visit to Infidel 753's link round-up, and while you're over there, be sure to read his post on the Trumpanzee monster turning on Republican leaders. It may help us snag those two Georgia Senate seats.
