WSJ wows, Tucker trolls, and a short-lived electoral coup in Michigan. Plus: A brutal 2020 metaphor 🌲

President Donald Trump continues his baseless assault on the legitimacy of the nationwide 2020 election that he lost, and of course he is tweeting about it -- like this all-caps, three-word post that was based, in part, on an already debunked claim.
Meanwhile several top Republicans, including Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MI), Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), all recognized that President-elect Biden is, in fact, going to be the next president.
Heck, even Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo acknowledged that the Trump campaign could be "undermining our democracy," if their baseless election fraud claims don't prove to be true.
Fox & Friends' Brian Kilmeade went a step further, saying that it was "in the country's best interests" for Trump to cooperate with the Biden transition.
Trump does still have Newsmax on his side.
Michi-gone
For a few hours Tuesday, it looked like Team Trump might somehow be pulling off a bit of a coup in Michigan, when the Wayne County Board of Canvassers deadlocked in a party-line 2-2 vote, with the Republican members refusing to certify the election results.
Wayne County is the state's most populous county, including Detroit and some of the surrounding suburbs, and Biden won there in a 68% to 31% landslide.
Unsurprisingly, the outrage was swift and loud. The Michigan Secretary of State publicly rebuked the "partisan attempts to disenfranchise African-American voters," and they backed down a few hours later.
Also, unsurprising: Trump has repeatedly, falsely claimed that he won Michigan and tweeted his praise for the "courage" of the Republican canvassing board members.
Wisconsin
The Trump campaign is going to burn several million dollars for a partial recount in Wisconsin. Biden's margin is about 21,000 votes more than Trump, and a recount is highly unlikely to change even 1 percent of that figure, and even if they somehow found a way to toss out the tens of thousands of votes needed, winning Wisconsin only flips 10 electoral votes. Biden is currently ahead by 62.
Krebs Kerfuffle

It's understandable if you didn't recognize the name Chris Krebs before Tuesday. The top cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security leads an agency that's barely two years old...make that, used to lead.
Trump fired him after Krebs committed the mortal sin of shooting down the president's election fraud claims.
Of course there was an insulting Trump tweet too. The rest of Twitter responded accordingly.
Krebs is standing proud, tweeting that he was "honored to serve." He even got the support of a very important Jedi.
Understanding and empathy, what a novel concept

Actress and comedian Whitney Cummings had a noteworthy interview with The Daily Beast, especially coming from liberal-dominated Hollywood.
Cummings, an executive producer of ABC's Roseanne reboot, called for her fellow Tinsel Town denizens to not just callously dismiss or demean the millions of Americans who voted for Trump. “Even though I don’t agree with somebody, I don’t think they’re dumb," Cummings said.
CNN champion in key demo; Fox ekes out overall daily win
Powered by strong afternoon ratings, CNN trounced its competition in total day audience on Monday in the coveted 25 – 54 age demographic, with its 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. programming even outranking one of Fox News' primetime shows.

Both Brooke Baldwin and Jake Tapper's daytime programs beat The Ingraham Angle, but Fox News managed to eke out a narrow victory for the total day ratings. Read all the details on this story and more, at Mediaite+, our premium subscription service.
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Orwellian

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany attacked coronavirus restrictions as "Orwellian" on Fox & Friends Wednesday.

"Not crying wolf"

In contrast to McEnany, a White House official who actually has a medical degree -- coronavirus task force member Adm. Brett Giroir -- was also on television attempting to warn Americans about the "absolutely dangerous situation" the country was facing as cases are surging to record levels.
“This is not crying wolf," he said, calling the current moment "the most serious and dangerous part of the pandemic."
"I'm not laughing at death!"
The panel on Fox News' Outnumbered got heated when one member suggested another was mocking the death and suffering from the pandemic. Watch the fiery exchange unfold here.
Ok but this is funny...
Here's some death news that is a bit safer to laugh at...mainly because no one actually died. Many news organizations prewrite obituaries for prominent world leaders and celebrities, to speed publication when their time on this earthly plane comes to an end. One website had a major nightmare come true when what appears to be their entire file of prewritten obituaries were accidentally published all at once. Among the prematurely mourned: former President Jimmy Carter, Clint Eastwood, and Queen Elizabeth II.

2020 on brand

It's little surprise that many of us are impatient for the holiday season. The sooner Christmas comes, the sooner New Year's comes, and with it, the end of 2020's dumpster fire of a trip 'round the sun -- plus holiday decorations are sparkly and fun.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is an annual New York City tradition, and many Americans look forward to seeing the tree delivered every year, and then decorated and lit for the first time.
But a video clip of this year's tree being set up went viral on Twitter, not for spreading holiday cheer, but for striking many as perfectly on brand for 2020.
The poor tree seems to have been banged up quite a bit during its trip from upstate New York, drawing comparisons to Charlie Brown's spindly lil' tree from the beloved Christmas special.
To be fair, Charlie's tree looked lovely once it got some decorations and love, and the Rockefeller tree's sparse branches are expected to fluff out a bit once they settle into place, but right now, it's a 75-foot tall metaphor for how we all feel after this year.
Check it out for yourself here.