Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Trump loses in court, in GA voting, and again today in Congress

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We’ve got so much more to come on this Georgia election as pundits get their stories written and published, but for now let’s just say Georgia voted for John Lewis and not Lester Maddox.

Oh, and get stuff done, they said. We don’t want what we’ve seen, we want something different. And we don’t want more Donald Trump. 

If I’m not mistaken, Rev. Warnock will be the first Black Democrat Senator from the South since.. well.. ever.

Irina D Manta/USA today:

 I lost a law school election to Josh Hawley. I moved on then, and he should now on Trump.

He beat me for president of the Yale Law School Federalist Society by exploiting the rules. He should follow my example and not contest Trump’s loss.

Yeah, even then he was a lazy self promoting prick. He’s gonna give Ted Cruz and Rand Paul a run for most disliked senator.

NY Times:

Trump’s Call Leaves Allies Fearful for American Democracy

Many now take the president’s disregard for democratic and ethical norms f

or granted, but also fear its effect on America’s standing in the world.

“A lot of people will just roll their eyes and wait for the clock to run down,” said Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham House, the British research institution. “But by far the most troubling thing is the number of Republicans who are willing to go along with him, and what it’s doing to the Republican Party, playing out in real time.”

Josh Barro/Business Insider:

Trump’s sad implosion is a good sign for Biden’s agenda

• President Donald Trump’s last desperate ploy to retain power — and the infighting it has caused within the Republican Party — has strengthened Biden’s governing position as he prepares to take office.
• Trump’s grip on his political party is waning and will be even weaker once he leaves office.
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has also shown his grasp over his caucus is weaker than understood.
• When your side is united and the other side is in disarray, that’s good for you.
• This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.

David Dayen/American Prospect:

Unsanitized: America’s Vaccine Rollout Should Infuriate You

A host of problems have hindered our national response in inexcusable ways. This is The COVID-19 Daily Report for January 4, 2021.

We knew this vaccine effort was coming really since the first declaration of a pandemic. We’ve had months to strategize and plan and work out the logistics. We deliver hundreds of millions of flu shots every year; while this was a heavier lift, it’s not that much heavier. In that context, the lack of preparedness is unbelievable and yet also perfectly predictable and a fitting coda to a year of deep exposure to the realities of our frayed social structure.

When you have such a full-spectrum disaster, there are a thousand reasons why. Let’s go over some of them, in an effort to figure out if we can rebound from the failures:

Jamelle Bouie/NY Times:

Can Only Republicans Legitimately Win Elections?

Trump and many of the G.O.P.’s leaders seem to think so, with ominous consequences for the future.

t’s worth emphasizing the bad faith and dishonesty on display here. At least 140 House Republicans say that they will vote against counting certain electoral votes on Wednesday. Among them are newly seated lawmakers in Georgia and Pennsylvania, two states whose votes are in contention. But the logic of their objection applies to them as well as Biden. If his state victories are potentially illegitimate, then so are theirs. Or take the charge, from Ted Cruz and 10 other Senate Republicans, that multiple key swing states changed (or even violated) their election laws in contravention of the Constitution. If it’s true for those cases, then it’s also true of Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, unilaterally expanded voting, however meagerly. And yet there’s no drive to cancel those results.

The issue for Republicans is not election integrity, it’s the fact that Democratic votes count at all.

Politico:

2020: The Year Black Voters Said, ‘Hold Up’

In the face of hardship and pain, Black Americans found their power and flexed. And they had fun doing it.

“Black people are both taking and being given more agency within the Democratic Party,” said Howard Franklin, a Democratic strategist with Ohio River South. “And that’s a conversation that’s a long time coming. The tectonics of racial politics are shifting.”

Black Americans, deprived of the vote for centuries, have always taken that right seriously. They have also been stalwart Democratic voters for decades and helped put Barack Obama in the White House in 2008 and again in 2012. But the horror show of 2020 was different—it brought a new intensity for Black voters, and a new intensity of focus on them, too.