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It’s Beatles Day!!!

Also:

Belated Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers.

Happy Independence Day to those of you in Suriname.

To the good people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, I wish you a wonderful statehood day.

And to those in the United States, Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Do not see this edition of Wide World of News as my taking the day off for all of these holidays.

I still did my reporting, thinking, looking, scrolling, reading, and analyzing for this special holiday episode.

Below you will find some source material and links. But if you want to get my analysis and some specific stuff, please listen to the audio above.

I’m told the future is in podcasting; some of you have clamored over the years for a spoken version of the Wide World of News.

Try it on for size and let me know what you think.

SOURCE MATERIAL

— Reuters on Jamie Dimon.

—

— Tom Brady on eating, via the New York Post.

— The New York Times on Thursday’s pro football action.

All times Eastern.

Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions, 12:30 p.m., Fox

Las Vegas Raiders at Dallas Cowboys, 4:30 p.m., CBS

Buffalo Bills at New Orleans Saints, 8:20 p.m., NBC

— George F. Will on the Biden midterm dangers.

— Bill Galston on the Biden comeback ingredients.

— The New York Times’ essential read on “how far President Biden would be willing to go in a confrontation with Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, over Ukraine.”

— The Washington Post exclusive on CIA Director William Burns delivering “a confidential warning to Russia’s top intelligence services that they will face ‘consequences’ if they are behind the string of mysterious health incidents known as Havana Syndrome’ afflicting U.S. diplomats and spies around the world….”

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Wednesday’s transfer of power was a lot more normal than it might have been, given the pandemic, the overhang of 1/6, and the hovering non-presence of The Outgoing President.

With Elders named Clinton, Bush, and Obama approvingly watching over the proceedings, a new president was sworn in at the Capitol and addressed the nation in soothing tones, then went right to work at the White House, where his spokesperson politely answered the questions that the administration wanted to answer and politely was permitted to dodge those she didn’t.

For those seeking an end to the chaos of the last four years, it was a series of moments to celebrate and savor.

And yet what we have now is the New New New Normal of the Biden Era: a series of unknowns and unfathomables, in which a freshly minted president with a political biography right out of conventional central casting for an Oval Office role is now faced with the most unconventional set of circumstances:

How to deal with a once-in-a-century (we hope…) pandemic and a listing economy, an effort centered on achieving an unprecedented goal of administering 100 million vaccines in 100 days, a metric so specific and/but so hard to achieve and/but so important that it will stare Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the face daily, with an unmatched relentlessness of specificity.
How to get a fairly high percentage of the 74 million people who voted for The Other Guy to stop believing in lies of cosmic significance – like, uhm, who actually won the election.
The Senate has to come up with a power sharing agreement, confirm executive branch nominees, and decide what to do about impeachment.
On that last matter, the number of questions is disorienting: Should there be (Can there be?) a trial at all – and if so, when? What should a trial look like and how long should it take? What would the defendant’s role and rights be – and how would he behave? Who would preside? Oh, and: What would the outcome be?
Speaking of The Defendant: When and how does he plan to make news next? And the time after that? And after that? And how will the media cover such moments?
What will the Biden-Pelosi-Schumer legislative strategy be? Try for X number of weeks to pick off enough Republicans to make things bipartisan and power through Senate filibusters? (If so, what is “X”?) Start with a small, targeted pandemic relief bill that packages vaccine money and direct payments into something that might garner Republican votes and pass quickly(ish)? Or move to eliminate the filibuster and/or use the reconciliation process? Is immigration reform a real thing for 2021 (which would require a lot more coalition building than has been done, and, even then, history shows conclusively the issue is among the heaviest public policy lifts), or let it go until, perhaps, 2023.
Relatedly, where is the collective head of the congressional Republicans? Go back to their 2009 posture of opposing in lockstep all of the proposals of a new Democratic president in order to position him as too far left for America and, thus, set him up for a midterm shellacking? Or choose to work together for the sake of the common good where possible?

If you gaze at individual elements of this national scenario, and squint hard, things can look as normal and ordinary as a frank with mustard purchased from a pre-COVID Amtrak Café Car.

But, seen from 50,000 feet above (or, even from 5,000), we appear set to watch a Perils of Joe and Kamala multi-episode drama that is going to play out with unexpected twists and turns for quite some time.

So, let’s read Chapter 1 together.

Or, rather, listen to Chapter 1.

Click on the play button at the top to hear today’s episode of “Bedtime Stories,” with Kim Alfano, Paul Wilke, and I batting around just how extraordinarily extraordinary all of this is, under the veneer of Wednesday’s reassuring circumstance and pomp.

Have Mark Halperin (that’s me…) speak to your group, company, or meeting.

Topics: politics, the new Biden administration, the media, the Presumption of Grace, or whatever you wish.

"I give Mark my highest recommendation as a speaker for any club or organization that wants a straightforward and seasoned political commentator."

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Today’s five most significant paragraphs about the incoming Democratic president were written by a Republican who used to work at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

From Karl Rove’s essential reading Wall Street Journal column (in which he establishes his cred by including some tough love for the incumbent), keying off of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory speech:

[T]here is an unappealing, unnecessary pugnaciousness to Middle Class Joe that was on display Monday night. Mr. Biden often deploys the same aggressive tone to manage press coverage, especially when the issue involves his family, such as his son Hunter trading on his father’s name and position to get a lucrative board seat at Burisma or a sweetheart financial deal in China.

In those cases, Mr. Biden isn’t content simply to claim that Hunter did nothing wrong. The president-elect also becomes aggressive, often personally attacking reporters who raise legitimate questions, as Bo Erickson of CBS found out Oct. 16 when he asked about a New York Post report about Hunter and Burisma. Mr. Biden responded: “I have no response; it’s another smear campaign, right up your alley.”

When Peter Doocy of Fox News asked a similar question Sept. 19, Mr. Biden accused him of being the president’s tool, calling the allegations of corruption an “abuse of power” by Mr. Trump and claiming that through Mr. Doocy, the president was trying “to smear me.”

Whatever calculation Mr. Biden made in ratcheting up his attacks against President Trump this week, it’s a flawed one. Yes, the president-elect’s defenders will cheer every assault Mr. Biden makes on Donald Trump. But the rest of America will tire of that quickly. Mr. Trump couldn’t unite the country during his presidency with frequent attacks on political rivals and neither can Mr. Biden.

It is now the president-elect’s responsibility to find ways to heal our country. He should put his rhetorical sword in his scabbard and resist the temptation to pull it out and use it just because it feels good. We’ll soon find out if Joe Biden can do that.

To determine whether Mr. Biden is in fact a hothead and whether he is going about convincingly convincing Trump voters that he wants to be president of all the people, we convened two Delaware natives – Republican strategist Kim Alfano and Walking Duck co-founder Paul Wilke on Season 01, Episode 02 of our podcast “Bedtime Stories.”

We talk about Biden’s victory speech, Jen O’Malley Dillion’s piquant remarks, Amtrak Joe’s Cheshire Cat smile and triggers, and what it means to be a big fish in the small Delaware pond.

Plus: an intriguing theory about a secret Mitch McConnell strategy to distance his party from Donald Trump.

And we end it all with a spicy jalapeño twist.

Give us 8 minutes, we will give you the world.

Listen above or here now.

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Become a subscriber right here, right now.

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Cheers,

Mark

BREAKING INTERNATIONALLY AT PRESS TIME

Putin’s annual end-of-year romp of a marathon news conference can be seen here.

GEORGIA SENATE RUNOFF NEWS

New Emerson polls, with interesting data beyond the horserace #s.

GRADUATE DEGREE: This data reflects about where my best sources suggest the races are now – and, barring some change/intervening event, about where they are most likely to end up.

Important story about ticket splitters in the Atlanta suburbs, who could be the key to any Republican victories. (AJC)
“Federal judges in Georgia will hear arguments Thursday in Republican-led lawsuits to restrict absentee voting ahead of next month's Senate runoffs — the first salvos in a GOP effort to change voting rules for future elections following President Donald Trump’s loss in 2020.” (Politico)
Four Georgia counties are being sued for not offering full early voting options. (AJC)
As Mike Pence makes yet another trip to campaign in the Peach State, and as Facebook begins to allow runoff ads, the radio and TV markets are just beyond saturated. (Politico)
“Nearly 10,000 residents of one of Georgia's Democratic-leaning counties have registered to vote since Election Day and ahead of the Georgia Senate runoff elections next month, new voter registration records show.” (Newsweek)

BIDEN WORLD ESSENTIAL READING

Arguably the most important political story written about Joe Biden in weeks – the Washington Post on the president-elect’s efforts (Vital? Doomed? Too soon to say?) to court all manner of Senate Republicans.

GRADUATE DEGREE: The O’Malley Dillon remarks are getting a lot more attention on Capitol Hill than they are in the Dominant Media.

The New York Times take on the Transportation Department nominee (“Buttigieg Recalls Discrimination Against Gay People, as Biden Celebrates Cabinet’s Diversity”) is heavy on biography and diversity and light on any questions about whether this talented man is the absolutely most qualified person in America to do this job.

GRADUATE DEGREE: This story is representative of the overall coverage, and/but while there are questions to be raised to be sure about this pick, listening to Buttigieg’s Wednesday remarks (as compared to the sometimes halting statements of his fellow Biden nominees/picks) reminds one that successful presidential candidates (even ones who fall short) sure tend to learn how to give a compelling speech that holds a room – and a TV audience.

New York Times: “Biden’s Inaugural Will Be Mostly Virtual, but Money From Donors Will Be Real.”

GRADUATE DEGREE: Another administration that will drain the swamp – when convenient.

OTHER ESSENTIAL READING

As only Norman Ornstein can do (that ain’t sarcasm): A look at all of the key implications of Nancy Pelosi’s slim majority headed into 2021, with the COVID wildcard truly wild.

GRADUATE DEGREE: Seriously, I learned a ton reading this, and I think you will too!

The New York Times on the alleged Russian hack:

It now is clear that the broad Russian espionage attack on the United States government and private companies, underway since spring and detected by the private sector only a few weeks ago, ranks among the greatest intelligence failures of modern times.

GRADUATE DEGREE: Continue to read every story with David Sanger’s name on it on this important matter.

Do you want to make Twitter less of a sewer of hate?

Of course (most of) you do.

Please consider joining our good Gang of Grace to raise the level of the nation’s discourse.

The Gang's first enterprise is to try to tenderly raise the consciousness of those whose use of Twitter is animated by The Presumption of Hate.

If you are willing to engage on Twitter in real time in cases we highlight, please sign up here.

All are welcome to join, so feel free to share this page with like-minded friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors.

If you are willing to join, but don't know how to sign up for and use Twitter, please visit this page.

Our goal is to succeed as a group in a few cases that we will document. That will demonstrate to each other – and the world – that the intervention of a Gang of Grace can really change hearts, minds, and behavior for the better.

We will be in touch with those who sign up in the coming days when we find our first opportunity. That communication will explain how you can go on Twitter to be part of our good gang.

Thank you for joining us in our efforts to make the world a kinder, gentler place.

Again, you can sign up using this link.

COLBERT NEWS

And to play us off on the snowy day, some essential watching and listening:

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On this day of rest and worship for many, I am humbly requesting a favor.

By the providence of the Lord or of the gods of the news cycle, the day I have been planning to ask you to do something for me (and for America) has arrived as a slow one – not much going on, not many essential reads (beyond an historic pandemic and its implications….).

I would like you to watch or listen to the remarks I made about “The Presumption of Grace” at my town hall meeting a few days ago.

It will take you 12 minutes.

Listen above or watch below.

I have been thinking a lot about how The Presumption of Hate must be replaced with The Presumption of Grace if we are to meet our challenges as a nation and build a society of compassion, understanding, kindness, forgiveness, and cooperation.

I have also been thinking about some practical steps that I think are necessary to make this change.

Please consider my words and then consider joining me in the effort to build a good Gang of Grace, counter hate with kindness, and incentivize “leaders” to actually lead.

Building a victorious Gang of Grace will require the participation of hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands, millions, and, finally, tens of millions.

If you will join with me in trading cynicism, skepticism, and the passive acceptance of the status quo for a movement to change our politics and society towards The Presumption of Grace, please send me an email to markhalperintalk@gmail.com with your commitment and ideas.

Thank you for your consideration – and grace.

The Valdosta Jamboree and the media coverage thereof does not reflect much grace towards anyone.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the best lede of the lede:

Valdosta - President Donald Trump spent Saturday morning trying to overturn the last election in Georgia. He spent Saturday night ripping elections in Georgia and telling his followers in Valdosta to vote in Georgia’s January runoffs anyway.

Accurately polling likely voters in a runoff election (especially in one unique in American history) is close to impossible, as illustrated by the efforts of the great Dan Balz to figure out who is actually in the best position to win the Georgia Senate face-offs.

Balz’s piece is essential reading but it won’t tell you exactly what you want to know (who is going to win!), because that is unknowable.

But I have more than a few sources in both parties who believe that all this coverage is obscuring the fact that the Republicans will likely hold at least one of these seats by a solidly comfortable margin.

That includes the micro-psycho analysis by political reporters who think they can divine the impact a long presidential speech will have on the hearts and minds of the residents of MAGAville dependent upon the number of minutes devoted to claims of fraud versus exhortations to cast runoff ballots.

It is rare that Team Biden opens the kimono even a tad to reveal a bit of How the Race Was Won. The New York Times got the Democrat’s digital team to explain a few tricks of the trade for an essential reading story.

As the piece acknowledges, it is hard to untangle the strands to know just which techniques and tactics actually made a difference in Biden’s victory, which even history won’t be able to fully sort out.

But for anyone interested in understanding going forward how paid and earned media, especially on social, can impact attitudes and drive behavior, there are some important nuggets here.

Example: Highlighting and sharing Fox News headlines that were pro-Biden was more effective in reaching certain targeted voters than using clips from other, more Democratic-friendly sources.

As for 2020, this paragraph demonstrates what is often the case – the research of Team Biden apparently matched that of the president’s campaign, suggesting why Team Trump put so much rhetorical effort into suggesting that Biden was weak and, thus, subject to easy manipulation by progressives:

When it did respond to misinformation, the Biden team tried to address the root of the narrative. After right-wing influencers posted compilation videos of Mr. Biden stumbling over his words and appearing forgetful, the campaign surveyed voters to try to figure out whether the attempt to paint him as mentally unfit was resonating. It discovered that the real concern for many people wasn’t Mr. Biden’s age, or his health per se, but whether he was an easily manipulated tool of the radical left.

After-action reports such as this are useful for upcoming political campaigns, but also for anyone interested in digital approaches, marketing, and, uhm, society.

Please consider supporting my work on Wide World of News by becoming a paying subscriber today.

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Reply to this email and ask how you can support my work on Wide World of News.

Have a great Sunday.

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You can listen above to my analysis from today’s Wide World of News about the big divisions in America right now

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Mark Halperin

One of the biggest problems in America today is the mismatch (and, thus, clash) between those who are engaged in passionate collective action to bring about fundamental change in America and those who are engaged in passionate collective action to restore America to the way it was in February.

The first group, of course, has been galvanized by the killing of George Floyd to demand the end of the inequity they see in nearly every corner of the nation.

They believe that “America is systemically racist, and a white-supremacist project from the start, that, as [Wesley] Lowery put it in The Atlantic, ‘the justice system — in fact, the entire American experiment — was from its inception designed to perpetuate racial inequality,’” per Andrew Sullivan’s essential read.

This group also tends to think that Donald Trump and his supporters are in denial about both this stain of bigotry and the dangers of the coronavirus, as eager to restart the economy at the expense of public health as to deny that extraordinary action must be taken to end police brutality and other manifestations of a manifestly unjust society.

They think what’s going on in Minneapolis, Seattle, and other big cities in the aftermath of Floyd’s death is the vanguard of the type of change that must sweep across America if there is to be liberty and justice for all.

About the conditions that have existed for over 200 years, they say, “Enough is enough.”

For them, ridding society of the Confederate flag and statues and revolutionizing policing are righteous and essential.

They are for the most part not wildly enthusiastic about Joe Biden, but they have no doubt that he would be better than the president we have now, who minimizes the accomplishments of Abraham Lincoln.

Everything about Mr. Trump’s Saturday remarks at the West Point graduation ceremony scheduled for 10:25am ET infuriates them.

They have experienced incalculable amounts of psychic angst in the last few days over the upcoming Trump reopening rally, with its Tulsa location, liability waver, and likely flouting of CDC guidelines. To them it is the perfect metaphor for a president they know in their hearts is a bigoted, narcissistic monster – and they will remain outraged despite the Friday night date change to the day after Juneteenth.

They are certain that there will be more Confederate flags at this event than there will be masks.

Their anger over this rally has filled their social media feeds, their cable TV chatter, their online reading, their dinner table conversations, and their nightmares. Literally no single topic this past week consumed more of their attention.

They see the Trump restart in Tulsa as the year’s ultimate overtly racially insensitive act. They would in fact call it racist.

The second group sees the first group’s widespread failure to wear masks and social distance at protests around the country as the year’s ultimate hypocritical act. They resent being called racists.

For them, ridding society of the Confederate flag and statues and revolutionizing policing are slippery-slope overreaches that reflect liberalism run amok, symbolically and substantively.

They haven’t given the particulars of the president’s Tulsa event a moment’s thought.

They share the administration’s psychological and practical imperative to dismiss the prospect of an ongoing or new threat from the coronavirus, preferring to shop, recreate, and party like its 2019.

About the conditions that have existed for fewer than 200 days, they say, “Enough is enough.”

They are outraged and perplexed that their jobs, their schools, and their summer plans were wiped out by the many sky-is-falling warnings of those Faucian bureaucrats in sandals and beads and their media stenographers, who said we would run out of ventilators; that New York City hospitals would fill up as a prelude to hospitals all over the country being overrun; that all frontline medical workers would be wiped out by infection; that the food supply chain would rupture; that crowded Florida beaches around spring break would lead to massive new community spread all over the country as students returned home; that U.S. airlines would go bankrupt.

They think Floyd’s death was tragic, but also think looting is horrible, race relations are not as bad as the media portrays them to be, and whatever changes are required should not fundamentally alter what they consider to be the American way.

They think what’s going on in Minneapolis, Seattle, and other big cities in the aftermath of Floyd’s death is a continuation of decades-long failed liberal rule that will only further harm the people who live in those places and is a figurative 100 million miles away from the way of life they experience every day in their own communities.

That’s a lot of division.

Here’s something that unites most of America – regardless of what they think about CDC guidelines.

People are not taking mask wearing and physical distancing seriously.

Here are some items from the news cycle from which I have deleted the particulars of locations and people.

Feel free to turn this section into an opportunity for some Mad Lib fun.

“[A] mask rebellion is underway in some parts of STATE NAME with residents pushing back on mandatory face-covering rules even with coronavirus cases on the rise and as more businesses open their doors and some people yearn to return to old routines.

The potency of mask politics became clear this week in COUNTY NAME, where GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL resigned after weeks of attacks — and a death threat — over her mandatory mask rules. Her replacement on Thursday rescinded the rules amid intense pressure from the Board of Supervisors.

A Friday evening picture from CITY:

(AP) — STATE 1 AND STATE 2 put any further reopening of their economies on hold amid a spike in coronavirus cases, but there was no turning back Friday in such states as STATE 3, STATE 4, AND STATE 5 despite flashing warning signs there, too.

One by one, states are weighing the health risks from the virus against the economic damage from the stay-at-home orders that have thrown millions out of work over the past three months.

And many governors are coming down on the side of jobs, even though an Associated Press analysis this week found that cases are rising in nearly half the states — a trend experts attributed in part to the gradual reopening of businesses over the past few weeks.

——

GOVERNOR has an authority problem.

Days after THE SAME GOVERNOR violated his own executive order barring large public gatherings by participating in two protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd, some local leaders are openly defying his executive orders that restrict certain activities.

On Wednesday night, the City Council in overwhelmingly progressive TOWN OR CITY voted to allow indoor dining with social distancing restrictions in place, even though that’s still not allowed under THE GOVERNOR’S executive order.

In northern STATE,the Republican mayor of TOWN cited GOVERNOR’S own actions in justifying his decision to “facilitate” graduation ceremonies for the town’s two high schools, in violation of another order limiting the number of people who can gather outside. (Politico)

Leaving aside for a moment the controversy over the Tulsa rally – maybe I missed this somewhere, but isn’t it also a significant that the president is choosing to do this first reopening event in Oklahoma, instead of, say, Wisconsin? Or even Florida?

That seems telling in about seven ways.

Also, which is worse: scheduling the rally without having known the significance of the date, or scheduling the rally having known the significance?

The president says it was the former; seems like a close call.

This is complicated, troubling, and widespread:

On Thursday, Bonnie Morales told two people they were hired. Three hours later, she rescinded the job offers, as Oregon, where her restaurant Kachka operates, pressed pause on reopening amid a record surge of Covid-19 cases….

A resurgence of the virus in some parts of the country is creating fresh tumult for business owners. To reopen, they need to rehire furloughed workers and buy supplies in advance. But the states are making decisions on what to do by looking at case and hospitalization data often at the last minute, making planning impossible. (Bloomberg)

On Biden veepstakes, the Associated Press says he has winnowed his choices down to about a half dozen, while Bloomberg’s Jennifer Epstein does the right thing by leaning hard into the prospects of Kamala Harris.

ESSENTIAL READING
I am pretty surprised this isn’t getting more attention:

The Trump administration on Friday reversed non-discrimination protections for transgender people in health care, a policy shift that has been among the top priorities of social conservatives who constitute the president’s base.

The rule change, part of a host of updates pertaining to abortion, birth control and families undertaken by federal officials over the past three years, represents an important setback in the movement for LGBTQ rights. Under President Barack Obama, the concept of gender in many areas of the law had been broadened beyond biological sex to encompass the myriad identities that different Americans embrace. (Washington Post)

The football Seahawks of Seattle (a city amidst continuing talks with protesters who are occupying parts of downtown and a lot of other news) might sign Colin Kaepernick.
Please read this Holman Jenkins column with a fully open mind and ask yourself what the leading editorial voices in anti-Trump newsrooms would say about it (if they read it).
ICYMI: The forthcoming book about Melania Trump is chronicled in the Washington Post, with various stories that await White House reaction/confirmation.

The Big 4 - by Brian P. Nadeau

Arizona

Public floods Flagstaff City Council with comments on police funding. (Arizona Daily Sun)
Heat-related death investigations surge in AZ. (KPNX NBC12)
AZ firefighters face triple-digit-temperature-fueled wildfire driving toward Tucson. (Arizona Daily Sun)

Michigan

Police chief is persona non grata for tweets glorifying police brutality.

“‘This is not how a higher-up in the police force should be acting,’ said a lifelong resident during a [Shelby T]ownship Board of Trustees work session.” (Detroit Free Press)

State Commission on Law Enforcement Standards gets 4 additional seats from Whitmer. (The Detroit News)
MI puts absentee ballots application online. (WXYZ ABC7)

Pennsylvania

Gov. Wolf asks PA Supreme Court to overturn Legislature’s COVID-19 reopening resolutions.

“‘This conflict between the legislative and executive branches is causing a great confusion among the public as to whether the disaster continues and whether certain executive orders issued under the Emergency Code remain in place,’ Wolf’s petition states.” (PENN LIVE Patriot-News)

Philly PD’s critical mistakes doomed response to George Floyd demonstrations. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Keystone State’s quick-response plan for COVID-19 in nursing homes was abandoned after 10 days. (The Intelligencer)

Wisconsin

WI D’s united for Joe Biden. (Wisconsin State Journal)
Badger Athletics must show what it's doing on race.

“‘Our goal as a department is to ensure that the student-athlete experience is best in class,’ [associate athletic director Michael] Jackson said. ‘And I think as you take a look at the strategic plan that we're working on, we're taking the necessary steps to ensure we meet those objectives.’” (Wisconsin State Journal)

State may have made many fraudulent unemployment payments since outbreak began. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

TOP STORIES – by Brian P. Nadeau

Sports: Kyrie Irving says 'something smells a little fishy’ about NBA resuming in Orlando, questions restarting of season.

CBS Sports

Business: Starbucks reverses decision, will distribute ‘Black Lives Matter’ shirts to baristas.

WSJ

Entertainment: Matt James selected as first black person to star as ‘The Bachelor.’

Variety

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Something a little different today in Wide World of News.

Please listen above to my “Some Good News” homage audio report for a bit of the best in and of America, the beautiful.

The reporting, writing, and production of Wide World of News is funded by the generosity of readers like you.

I hope you value the information and analysis found in this newsletter.

If you can, please consider making a voluntary contribution today to support its continuation.

If you wish to give an amount less than those listed, please reply to this email and ask for instructions.

To those who have contributed already and to those of you who support and encourage the daily publication of Wide World of News – thank you.

Mark Halperin

I will be conducting our next focus group tomorrow -- Thursday (6/4) -- at 6pm ET by Zoom.

If you haven’t already participated in one of our groups, and you would like to be part of this session, please reply to this email.

Include your name, location, occupation, and how you currently plan to vote in the presidential election.

All that is required is access to Zoom and a time commitment of about 75 minutes.

In looking at the totality of the coverage of Joe Biden, I have noticed something.

Almost every story about Biden – and almost all of the social media about him – focuses on process stories.

Not stories about his ideas or the movement he inspires and leads.

Process stories are the media’s favorite, and they are politically lethal to a striving presidential campaign.

Process stories such as: why Hillary Clinton used a private email server for government business (and whether she would apologize for doing so); whether Mitt Romney would release his tax returns; why John Kerry went windsurfing; why Al Gore went to a Buddhist temple and did fundraising solicitation from the White House (and why he said “no controlling legal authority”), etc.

You get the idea.

For weeks and currently, the coverage of Biden is largely about process, starting with the endless discussions of the implications of his relegation to the world’s most famous basement.

But there are additional pervasive Biden process stories:

Is he successfully courting Bernie Sanders’ supporters?
Who will he pick as his running mate?
Is he raising enough money and hiring enough people?
And the most ironic storyline: Can Biden get the press to stop covering process stories?

Given the president’s challenges, I think it is possible that Biden can win without changing this dynamic.

But I also think his chances of winning are much better if Team Biden can fix this.

And/but I also think it is very hard for any campaign to pull off this presto change.

And really hard for a candidate such as Biden to make that change happen.

ESSENTIAL READING
A pair of Reuters/Ipsos national polls finds broad support for the protestors, Biden up over the president by 47%-37%, and Trump’s overall job approval rating at 39%, which is actually higher than the one-third who approve of his handling of the protests.

Halperin says: I am not a big fan of national polls (what with the Electoral College and all…), but to win Donald Trump is going to have to get above the 46% of the popular vote he received in 2016, unless a compelling third-party or independent candidate emerges on the ballot in the battleground states. It is a long way from 37% to 47%, and 47% might not be enough to be victorious. Unless the members of the Trump high command are tired of winning, they are going to need a new strategy (coming soon…), some Biden errors (always coming soon…), and some luck (always coming in the nick of time for Donald J. Trump, unless his skein is over…) to get four more years. Will there be a 2020 version of “basket of deployables”? How about of the hijinks of James Comey? Or of Bill Clinton getting on Loretta Lynch’s plane? My spideysense is that all three will be required for Trump to get to 270.

Breathe in this Twitter thread:

Halperin says: The nature of the partisan back-and-forth over media bias and media (un)fairness seems to inhibit some journalists from doing what amounts to essential soul searching. Reporters should read this thread and ask a simple but profound question: What accounts for the difference?

Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King lost his primary contest on Tuesday.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/02/steve-king-randy-feenstra-iowa-4th-congressional-district-primary-election-results/5259073002/

Halperin says: Rarely in the modern history of the Republic has a primary result met with such bipartisan universal delight. King’s rhetoric – especially regarding race – made the GOP establishment determined to get rid of him. I don’t see any immediate broader implication from this outcome, however.

ICYMI
The New York Times piece “Monster or Machine? A Profile of the Coronavirus at 6 Months” is a masterful combination of science and poetry.
Justin Trudeau’s long silence as he formulated an answer to a press question is either a template for all public officials or an unmitigated disaster.

You make the call. (IBM presents.)

The Big 3 - by Brian P. Nadeau

Michigan

Police arrest dozens ignoring curfew. (WXYZ ABC7)
Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson receives nationwide praise for lying down baton, marching. (MLIVE)
Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh joins protest march. (The Detroit News)
Some unemployed wait more than two months for payments. (FOX17) ----

Pennsylvania * Primary results days away, what it means for November. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

PA Turnpike laying off 500, tolls go cashless, union leaders displeased. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Seniors in long-term care homes aren’t receiving stimulus checks.

“The reasons vary from apparent misunderstandings to facilities wrongly holding onto the $1,200 or, in one extreme case, threatening to evict residents unless they turned over the funds.” (The Intelligencer)

Philly officials tell protesters get tested or stay home. (The Philadelphia Inquirer) ----Wisconsin
Madison business owners feel ‘violated and angry’. (Wisconsin State Journal)
Hundreds of volunteers cleanup Milwaukee neighborhood. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Gov. Evers urges lawmakers to reform police use-of-force policies. (WMTV NBC15)
African American man addresses police: ‘I appreciate you all.’ (WKOW ABC 27

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Thank you, one and all.

Mark Halperin

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