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Covid relief has new life after a bipartisan group of Senators announces a new plan that wins the support of Joe Biden and Democratic leaders, and Donald Trump prepares to leave the White House by potentially handing out pardons and announcing his 2024 presidential campaign. Then Obama data guru Dan Wagner talks to Dan Pfeiffer about why the polls were so wrong in 2020.

Show Notes 

COVID Relief 

• CNN: Stimulus negotiations: 3 routes to Covid relief all face fierce headwinds 
• Vox: A bipartisan group of senators wants to pass emergency Covid-19 relief
• WaPo: Bipartisan group of lawmakers announces $908 billion stimulus plan, aiming to break logjam
• Axios: McConnell circulates revised GOP coronavirus stimulus plan
• The Hill: McConnell offering new coronavirus relief bill after talks with Mnuchin, Meadows
• Jeff Stein Thread on McConnell bill 
• AP: Biden, top Democrats swing behind bipartisan virus aid bill
• WaPo: Biden Calls on Congress to Pass ‘Robust’ Stimulus Package
• NYT-Interview: Biden: ‘We’re Going to Fight Like Hell by Investing in America First’
• WaPo: Biden’s economic team set to prepare ambitious recovery plan, challenging Republicans’ renewed debt worries
• The Biden-Harris Jobs and Economic Recovery Plan for Working Families 
• NYMag: Democrats Should (Probably) Take the New Bipartisan Stimulus Deal
• Slate: It’s OK if Democrats Fold on Stimulus Checks
• CNN: The fates of million of Americans reset on Biden’s economic team
• Axios: Wall Street wonders how bad it has to get
• Brookings: October’s weak economic recovery could be the calm before an even worse storm
• CNBC: McConnell and Hoyer will discuss stimulus as Congress scrambles to approve aid
• NYT: Pelosi and Schumer back bipartisan stimulus plan as basis for resuming talks.
• CNBC: McConnell shoots down bipartisan $900 billion coronavirus stimulus plan as stalemate drags on
• Politico: Schumer: McConnell refusing to negotiate in bipartisan way
• WaPo: McConnell says stimulus bill is top priority when Senate returns
• Esquire: Mitch McConnell’s Liability Shield Is the Joker in the Deck
• Bloomberg Law: Coronavirus Liability Shield Vetoed by Pennsylvania Governor
• WaPo- Analysis: Democratic economists call for big spending, total rethink of deficits as GOP seeks austerity
• WaPo: States race to craft their own economic relief plans, frustrated with federal inaction
• Newsweek: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Admits State Doesn’t Have Money to Distribute COVID Vaccine, Urges Congress to Pass Stimulus
• AP: Senate GOP leader sticking with partisan COVID relief plan
• WSJ: State, Local Governments Slashed Spending After Covid. Next Year Could Be Worse.
• Vox: Joe Biden should do everything at once
• WaPo: Georgia’s GOP Senate candidates are running against Trump’s voter fraud fictions
• NYT: 2,596 Trades in One Term: Inside Senator Perdue’s Stock Portfolio
• MotherJones: While Kelly Loeffler Opposed New COVID Aid, Her Husband’s Firm Sought to Profit Off the Pandemic
• AJC: For Georgia’s economy, path for the next few months is precarious
• Newsweek: Stimulus Plans Sidelined as Georgia Senate Runoffs Draw Focus, Says GOP Rep
• NYMag: The Georgia Runoffs Are a Referendum on a Large Stimulus

Trump wants to pardon his whole family

• NYT: Trump Has Discussed With Advisers Pardons for His 3 Eldest Children and Giuliani
• Politico: Giuliani denies report that he discussed pardon with Trump
• ABC News: White House vetting pardon requests as some push Trump to preemptively pardon family
• Vox: Trump’s pardon shenanigans are ramping up
• WaPo: Sean Hannity says Trump should pardon himself and his family to avoid a ‘witch hunt.’ Experts say it’s not that simple.
• Politico: ’Any and all possible offenses’: Trump pardon grants Flynn a sweeping reprieve
• WaPo: Trump can still make it very hard for the FBI to investigate him next year
• Reuters: Explainer: Can Trump pardon his associates — or himself?
• WaPo: Trump’s post-presidency will be cluttered with potentially serious legal battles
• NBC News: What Trump faces on Jan. 20, 2021
• NYT: As Soon as Trump Leaves Office, He Faces Greater Risk of Prosecution
• JD Supra: Understanding the Rules of the Road for Pardon Applications
• The Atlantic: Our Founders Didn’t Intend for Pardons to Work Like This
• WaPo: White House assembles team of advisers to guide clemency process as Trump considers more pardons
• WaPo: Most Trump clemency grants bypass Justice Dept. and go to well-connected offenders
• CNN: Justice Department investigating potential presidential pardon bribery scheme, court records reveal
• Politico: Unsealed court ruling discloses bribe-for-pardon probe related to Trump White House
• NBC News: DOJ investigating potential White House ‘bribery-for-pardon’ scheme
• Vox: The high rate of executions during Trump’s last weeks in office, explained
• New Yorker: Trump’s Final Cruelty: Executing Prisoners

Trump 2024

• Politico: Trump teases 2024 run at White House event
• NPR: President Trump Seriously Considering 2024 Run As He Continues False 2020 Claims
• Guardian: Donald Trump suggests 2024 presidential bid: ‘I’ll see you in four years’
• CNN: The ‘Donald Trump 2024’ trial balloon just got officially floated
• Daily Beast: Trump’s Already Gaming Out a 2024 Run—Including an Event During Biden’s Inauguration
• NYT: Trump has raised $170 million since Election Day
• WaPo: Trump privately plots his next act — including a potential 2024 run
• Vanity Fair: TRUMP MAY ANNOUNCE HIS 2024 BID BEFORE YEAR’S END
• Politico: Poll: Majority of Republicans would support Trump in 2024
• WaPo: Tom Cotton’s dumb attack on a Biden nominee hints at the future of Trumpism
• WaPo: Josh Hawley shows what GOP politics after Trump will look like
• WaPo: 2024 hopefuls in the Senate are taking a Trump-like approach to their early Biden opposition
• The Atlantic: Why Trump Might Just Fade Away – Americans will soon grow tired of the president, despite his efforts to stay in the limelight
• The Atlantic:  Trump Is Rapidly Becoming Irrelevant
• Roll Call: How Trump’s 2024 candidacy could hurt GOP chances in 2022
• WaPo: MAGA-ite in Manhattan?: Ivanka Trump’s political ambitions seek new home after the White House