President-elect Biden makes announcements about his pandemic strategy and health care team, Trump asks Georgians to vote in an election he says is rigged, and then attacks Republicans who won’t support his coup. Then Rachel Maddow talks to Jon Lovett about Covid and her new book, Bag Man.

Show notes

“Help is on the way” 

• NPR: Coronavirus Is Surging: How Severe Is Your State’s Outbreak?
• CNN: The US hit a record 7-day average of new Covid-19 cases as hospitals are further strained 
• NYT: Trump’s Final Days of Rage and Denial 
• Axios: Highlights from Biden and Harris’ first joint interview since the election
• CNN: CNN Exclusive: Biden says he will ask Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days he’s in office
• Axios: Fauci says he accepted Biden’s offer to be chief medical adviser “on the spot”
• Politico: Biden asks Fauci to stay on Covid team, become chief medical adviser
• WaPo: Biden taps Murthy as nation’s top doctor, offers Fauci key role as covid team takes shape
• Politico: Zients, Murthy tapped to head up Biden’s Covid-19 response
• Reuters: Biden’s potential COVID-19 ‘czar’ Zients would oversee daunting task of pandemic response
• The Verge: Biden coronavirus appointee has cut ties with Facebook, transition team says 
• NYT: Biden Picks Xavier Becerra to Lead Health and Human Services
• NY Mag: Biden Will Ask Americans to Wear Masks for 100 Days 

• Politico: ‘It’s a good idea’: Fauci praises Biden’s 100-day mask plan (12/4)
• Vox: Why every state should adopt a mask mandate, in 4 charts (12/4)
• The Hill: Biden says he will join former presidents and publicly get coronavirus vaccine
• CNN: “Shutdowns or lockdowns are really not on the table,” Biden-Harris transition team official says 
• AP: Will the US ever have a national COVID-19 testing strategy? 
• Politico: How Biden plans to fix the coronavirus testing problem 

Loser Goes Down to Georgia 

• Politico: Georgia governor pushes back on Trump attacks
• WaPo: Trump calls Georgia governor to pressure him for help overturning Biden’s win in the state
• WaPo: Just 27 congressional Republicans acknowledge Biden’s win, Washington Post survey finds
• WaPo Analysis: How Trump tried to spin his election fraud alternate reality into a pitch for the Georgia GOP senators
• CBS News: Trump makes multiple false claims in first campaign rally since election loss 
• Vox: Trump’s Georgia rally was supposed to pump up Loeffler and Perdue. It ended up being a grievance-fest.
• AP: Trump assails vote integrity while urging turnout in Ga.
• WaPo Opinion: The Republican Party’s future: Being terrorized by its unhinged base 
• The Atlantic: The GOP’s Big Self-Own
• The Atlantic: The Republican Plan for the Next Four Years Isn’t Normal 
• WaPo: GOP Rep. Kinzinger wages a lonely fight against Trump’s falsehoods and right-wing disinformation
• Baltimore Sun: Maryland Gov. Hogan suggests GOP veer from Trump ‘rhetoric’ and back to Reagan model to win back White House
• Politico: Republicans cheer on a Trump 2024 run
• WSJ: Trump’s Possible 2024 Bid Leaves Other GOP Candidates in a Bind
• Politico: Trump’s looming 2024 bid leaves Republicans in a bind
• Politico: RNC invites 2024 hopefuls to January meeting in show of neutrality toward Trump