This Was Always the Plan  —  President Trump telegraphed that he would try to steal the election if he didn't win.  —  Dear Reader (including those of you who are starting to layer up like Steve Bannon to deal with the cold),  —  I rather enjoy not writing about Donald Trump.

Michigan attorney general ponders criminal probes of state and local officials who bend to Trump's will on overturning election results  —  Michigan's attorney general is exploring whether officials there risk committing crimes if they bend to President Trump's wishes in seeking to block …

Trump tries to drum out GOP election officials who won't play his games  —  Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's family has received threats and he expects a primary challenge in 2022.  —  Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.  President Donald Trump has driven senators …

Staff of U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn says she misspoke by calling Biden ‘president-elect’  —  U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a stalwart supporter of President Donald Trump, on Friday referred to Joe Biden as the country's “president-elect,” a comment her staff later said was a mistake.

Ben Carson Says He Was ‘Desperately Ill’ With The Coronavirus  —  Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson took to Facebook Friday to report he has been “extremely sick” with the coronavirus.  But Carson, one of several individuals in the Trump administration …

The Danger (and Ineptitude) of Trump's Failed Coup  —  In his address to the Democratic National Convention in August, Barack Obama warned that the Trump administration “has shown it will tear our democracy down if that's what it takes to win.”  Kamala Harris began her first speech …

Georgia Certifies: Donald Trump Lost  —  A recount changed little, as the evidence of ballot fraud fails to appear.  —  By The Editorial Board  —  The recount in Georgia is finished, after workers examined five million ballots by hand, but President Trump still lags Joe Biden by 12,000 votes.

The 3 Norms Trump Could Still Break  —  America has seen little of Donald Trump since the election.  Speaking to the nation largely through Twitter, he's barely strayed outside the White House as he absorbs a defeat that shattered the myth he created of his own invincibility.

1,000 U.S. Hospitals Are ‘Critically’ Short On Staff — And More Expect To Be Soon  —  More than 1,000 hospitals across the United States are “critically” short on staff, according to numbers released this week by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Hinchey claims victory in 46th Senate District  —  Democrat Michelle Hinchey declared victory Friday afternoon in the 46th Senate District race more than two weeks after Election Day while absentee ballots continue to be finalized for retiring state Sen. George Amedore's position.

Stacey Abrams' group finances grassroots efforts to win Senate runoffs  —  The voting rights group founded by Stacey Abrams is pumping $2.7 million to boost the work of a network of grassroots organizations ahead of the Jan. 5 runoffs - not to finance more TV ads but to strengthen their get-out-the-vote apparatus.

Kyle Rittenhouse freed from Kenosha jail after attorneys post $2 million bail despite pleas from families of men he shot  —  Kyle Rittenhouse was released from jail in Wisconsin on Friday afternoon after his attorneys posted $2 million bail, setting the teenager free as he awaits trial …

Culture wars fuel Trump's blue-collar Latino gains  —  Donald Trump lost the presidency, but showed Republicans a way to win the culture wars with working-class Hispanics.  —  Despite four years of being defined as a racist for his rhetoric and harsh immigration policies …

Brindisi-Tenney House race shrouded in secrecy, confusion as campaigns battle over ballots  —  Central New Yorkers who voted in one of the most competitive House races in the nation still don't know the results 18 days after the election, whether their vote counted, or exactly what's happening …

Mitt Romney's inspirations for bucking his party: his dad and his Black grandson  —  Mitt Romney is once again showing himself to be a GOP maverick, this week calling the president's efforts to overturn election results “undemocratic” while most of his Republican colleagues stay aboard the Trump train.

Business and World Leaders Move On as Trump Fights to Reverse Election  —  President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is seizing the moment, not to aggressively confront the president he defeated, but to act presidential in his stead.  —  WASHINGTON — Inside the wrought-iron fences that surround …

Sidney Powell Says They Have many Smoking Guns, Some of Whom May Need Witness Protection  —  Attorney Sidney Powell was on the Howie Carr Show and she claimed that their team is in possession of many smoking guns.  —  Some of them may require witness protection.

In All 50 States, Deaths Are Now Higher Than Normal  —  Brazil Canada France Germany India Italy Mexico Spain U.K.  —  Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland …

It's Bill vs. Andy vs. you and me  —  “What we have here,” a famously perverse patriarch once said, “is failure to communicate.”  —  For months, the question was what America would learn from New York City's brutal experience as the coronavirus rapidly overwhelmed our “disease detectives” …

The Desperate Final Gasps of Team Trump's Flailing ‘Mini-Coup’  —  Experts agree: Trump's legal effort is dead, and rigor mortis is setting in.  —  The past week saw Team Trump piling up losses and running out of road.  —  The campaign dropped its lawsuit to stop the certification …

Anger builds in Black community over Trump's claims of voter fraud in big cities  —  When Wisconsin Republicans opened an office earlier this year in the historical Bronzeville neighborhood, it was meant to be a physical symbol of President Trump's commitment to urban voters.

Twitter will hand @POTUS to Biden on Inauguration Day, even if Trump doesn't concede  —  The presidential @POTUS Twitter handle will automatically transfer to President-elect Joe Biden the moment he's sworn in at noon on Inauguration Day — whether or not President Donald Trump has conceded, the company confirmed to POLITICO on Friday.

Why Republican voters say there's ‘no way in hell’ Trump lost  —  SUNDOWN, Texas (Reuters) - Brett Fryar is a middle-class Republican.  A 50-year-old chiropractor in this west Texas town, he owns a small business.  He has two undergraduate degrees and a master's degree, in organic chemistry.

Mnuchin's Inglorious Endgame  —  The Trump administration's abrupt decision to curtail the Federal Reserve's emergency lending programs is a gamble with no upside.  —  The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values.