WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is Monday’s status check of developments in the U.S. that can influence economic, health and political outcomes.
- Was the big news of the day Moderna’s 94.5% efficacious vaccine candidate, sending that company’s stock up almost 10%, or Tesla being granted membership in the S&P 500 club beginning Dec. 21, an almost sure-fire booster for the share price. In anticipation, Tesla shares were up more than 13% in after-hours trading. The vaccine, once approved, will save many lives. Tesla insists its built-in safety features will save many lives. Nevertheless, Moderna’s announcement of such unanticipated effectiveness arrives just as the virus itself is becoming seriously threatening in every state, with the week’s national average of new cases more than 150,000, 81% higher than the average two weeks ago. (NYT Tracker) For a country confronting its worst public health challenge in a century it’s the hopeful news that perhaps can encourage more mask wearing and distancing that can multiply the number of survivors who will be around for Thanksgiving 2021.
- Checking on Fox News Monday night, a stream of critics of mask wearing whose argument was generally that calls for the practice are invalid if they come from officials who don’t practice what they preach, and they are many, at least until shamed by the news coverage. As state after state impose more stringent degrees of virus mitigation the mask skeptics, though, seem to have fewer arguments. The cadre of evening anchors, keeping the pro-Trump franchise alive, universally attributed to Biden a plan for a national lockdown as soon as he takes office so the straw man could be shredded and burned for another night. Tucker Carlson featured everyone’s favorite lockdown skeptic Alex Berenson. They force people indoors, he said, making everything worse. President Trump’s favorite lockdown skeptic, Scott Atlas, insisted he was not invoking violence by urging Michiganders to “rise up” against the governor’s latest restrictions. Judge Jeanine Pirro warned for the umpteenth time the left’s “totalitarian instinct is very strong.” Notable was Carlson saying evidence for massive vote switching via vote tabulating equipment as described by President Trump’s tweets has yet to be presented.
- A treat on CNN, an appearance from Albuquerque of legendary White House correspondent Sam Donaldson, he of the massive semaphore eyebrows still signaling consternation his shouted questions aren’t getting answers. His question of the night, how to engage in a national dialogue when we can no longer agree on common facts or trust the factfinders, the now “enemy of the people” news media.
- “More people will die,” President-Elect Joe Biden said, answering questions after a speech about the economy and referring to what he said could be the result of President Trump’s refusal to allow him and his board of virus advisers access to details of the vaccine distribution program worked out by Operation Warp Speed. The speech contained no appreciable new information on Biden’s economic policy. Biden will get an intelligence briefing Tuesday but not from government officials. Private sector experts will fill in.
- Busy days at the White House, packing up that carton of documents for the Trump Presidential Library kiosk, making up the lists of people invited to the White House Christmas display of miniature border walls, painted red and green and then studying the possible ways to bomb Iran. Isn’t it easy for Donald Trump’s many enemies to make light of his presidency? And bombing Iran would not be a joke. What fringe publication came up with that story anyway? The New York Times. OK, maybe Trump would like to bomb Iran but as former President Obama told “60 Minutes,” he doesn’t blame Trump for the divisions Trump’s exploited but he does view him as an “accelerant.” So the 71 million people who voted for Trump, the tens of thousands who showed up to rally for Trump Saturday in Washington to march to the Supreme Court, they are the elephant in the room that needs a better answer than simply “You’re wrong” along with “Trump lost.” There are likely more Trumps to come, perhaps more focused, more competent and, for those who disliked the Trump show, more dangerous. What’s the antidote to what many see as toxic leadership? Someday, in a Gene Roddenberry universe or even one that pays attention to Martin Luther King’s comments on the subject, civics classes will address the questions posed by toxic leadership and deeply engrained societal divisions.
- The other Trump policy disclosure of the day, that military leaders have been told to expect a formal order from President Trump to partially draw down U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan and Iraq by two days before Inauguration Day seemed to fall flat among congressional Republicans. So much so that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was heard to say, “We’re playing a limited but important role in defending American national security and American interests against terrorists who would like nothing more than for the most powerful force for good in the world to simply pick up our ball and go home. They would love that.”
- With the House joining the Senate in the Lame Duck session of Congress there is still little hope for any new effort by the White House or the Senate to pass pandemic relief. One item on Tuesday’s Senate schedule is a procedural vote to determine support for Fed nominee Judy Shelton. Republican Lamar Alexander became the third senator to rise in opposition. And Sen. Rick Scott is quarantining and may not be available. VP Mike Pence may be called upon to help.
- The House and Senate hold organizational meetings to affirm their leadership Tuesday, the House virtually and the Senate in person. Democrat Sherrod Brown enlivened the C-Span coverage by challenging the Republican with the Senate gavel to wear a mask, to be told his instruction wasn’t welcome.
- Upcoming economic statistics include the October retail sales report at 8:30a ET, industrial production at 9:15a. Fix regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents speak, with San Fransico Fed’s Mary Daly on the calendar twice.
—
- Contact this reporter: denny@macenews.com.