Jill Lawrence/USA Today:
Waiting for Joe Biden: How to make it through the final, awful days of Donald Trump
Marie Antoinette had nothing on Trump, who flew to Florida and hit the links after pardoning cronies and upending a desperately needed COVID relief deal.
Most of America likely is not surprised by President Donald Trump’s post-election descent into ever deeper chaos, negligence and callous self-absorption. But that won't make it any easier to get through the next three weeks and change.
Even though deliverance is close, the anxiety of bracing for what will happen next is ever present. When it does happen, it is always a blow. It is always a shock, still, and it's not because we haven't been paying attention. We have, all too much. And frankly it’s a relief that so many of us continue to be so shocked.
He signed the bill under pressure. maybe the most important thing is there’s only 23 more days of this. Dangerous days, but only 23 of them.
Stephen Prothero/USA Today:
Christianity is on the ballot in the Georgia Senate runoff between Warnock and Loeffler
Are Americans broad-minded enough to recognize the Reverend King and the Reverend Warnock as Christians? I hope Georgia voters opt to say 'Amen.'
Was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a Christian? It sounds like a trick question along the lines of “Is the Pope Catholic?” But it’s on the ballot in Georgia in the two Jan. 5 runoff elections for the Senate, particularly in the contest between Sen. Kelly Loeffler,a white conservative businesswoman, and her Democratic challenger, Black church pastor Raphael Warnock.
Tammy Joyner/WaPo:
I’ve never been courted the way I am being now. I’m a Georgia voter.
It’s exhausting — especially for the fact-checkers — but also exhilarating being part of one of the most consequential elections in modern times. The Senate runoff really is a choice between a New Georgia or the Old Georgia.
NY Times:
Trump’s Fraud Claims Died in Court, but the Myth of Stolen Elections Lives On
For years, Republicans have used the specter of cheating as a reason to impose barriers to ballot access. A definitive debunking of claims of wrongdoing in 2020 has not changed that message.
But the effort has led to at least one unexpected and profoundly different result: A thorough debunking of the sorts of voter fraud claims that Republicans have used to roll back voting rights for the better part of the young century.
NY Times:
Trump Signs Pandemic Relief Bill After Unemployment Aid Lapses
After calling the measure a “disgrace,” President Trump unexpectedly signed the bill, extending expanded unemployment benefits and an eviction moratorium, and keeping the government open.
President Trump on Sunday abruptly signed a measure providing $900 billion in pandemic aid and funding the government through September, ending last-minute turmoil he himself had created over legislation that will offer an economic lifeline to millions of Americans and avert a government shutdown.
The legislative package will provide billions of dollars for the distribution of vaccines, funds for schools, small businesses, hospitals and American families, and money needed to keep the government open for the remainder of the fiscal year. The enactment came less than 48 hours before the government would have shut down and just days before an eviction moratorium and other critical pandemic relief provisions were set to expire.
But it also came after two critical unemployment programs lapsed, guaranteeing a delay in benefits for millions of unemployed Americans.
WaPo:
Mass confusion over Trump’s endgame as Washington barrels toward shutdown, economic crisis
White House officials have been mum on Trump’s demands, leaving Democrats and Republicans to try and parse his tweets as Monday deadline looms
“I understand he wants to be remembered for advocating for big checks, but the danger is he’ll be remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior if he allows this to expire,” Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said on Fox News on Sunday. “So I think the best thing to do, as I [said], sign this and then make the case for subsequent legislation.”
