As the Donald Trump administration continues to stall official transition efforts to avoid making a tantruming Donald sad, and/or possibly as a last-ditch effort to inflict a bit of petty sabotage on the new administration, President-elect Joe Biden is continuing to fill out his new White House team. The quickest hires have been, as might be expected, longtime Biden allies and veterans of the Obama administration.
The Washington Post reports that Biden is "very close" to some cabinet-level decisions, and that some of those picks will be announced "before the end of the month." But Biden has also been more visibly moving forward with the symbolism of transition; the Post notes that Biden prefaced a virtual meeting with former national security officials to discuss the issues a Biden administration will soon face by commenting that "You know that I've been unable to get the briefings that ordinarily would have come by now."
The message, obviously, is twofold. First, that the Biden team is moving forward with the transition according to their own timetable. Second, Trump's stalling is nevertheless having national security consequences. Biden pressed that same point earlier this week, warning that the delays threaten the ongoing U.S. pandemic response.
Still, there is absolutely no chance in hell that any Republican lawmaker or administration staffer will take Trump aside to tell him he looks like a pouting irrational crackpot screaming at the tides. The same Republicans who were at the beginning of the year insistent that Donald could willingly harm national interests in exchange for obtaining election help from foreign allies will not give a flying damn if national security gets damaged now; that verdict was already rendered. Mitch McConnell is probably giving Trump's team pointers on how to foul things even further.
In the end, this lasts until Trump gets bored, Trump’s remaining lawyers run away, or Trump realizes that the television coverage is making him look like a fool. The networks could do the nation a big favor by pressing on that last part.