The Atlantic Daily: Trump Won’t Go Quietly

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Donald Trump isn’t going away. A majority of Americans served the 45th president an electoral rebuke, denying him a second term in the White House.

But don’t expect him to quietly recede from public life, our White House correspondent Peter Nicholas warns.

Now as ever, Trump stands to profit from America’s divisions: There are hats to sell, and a mythology to spin. He may never concede his 2020 loss. Trump (and his family and Trump voters and Trumpism) will continue to haunt the GOP, and the nation.

• Trump’s forever campaign is just getting started. “Paradoxically, Trump’s loss may well increase the loyalty of his most ardent fans, who will be angry that he has been unfairly deprived of his rightful role,” Anne Applebaum warns.

• He’ll continue to seek attention. “From his exile at Mar-a-Lago, he’ll phone in to favored TV anchors and radio hosts to carp about the election results,” Peter predicts. “He might start a new media venture or tease his base by vowing to run again in 2024.”

• And his ideology will live on. “The situation is a perfect setup,” Zeynep Tufekci writes, “for a talented politician to run on Trumpism in 2024.”

• Meanwhile, Republican leaders remain awfully quiet on Biden's win. “The election may be over, but the characteristic political cowardice of the GOP is still here,” David A. Graham argues.

Further reading: Our reporter McKay Coppins was at Steve Bannon’s Election Night party when the MAGA bubble burst. Read his account of how the president’s die-hard fans reacted.

One question, answered: Pfizer released some optimistic early data from its vaccine trials. How excited should we be?

I asked Sarah Zhang, a staff writer who has long cautioned readers to exercise restraint around vaccine news, what she thought of this latest development. Her answer was surprisingly upbeat:

This is the best coronavirus news we’ve gotten since the pandemic began! Ninety percent efficacy, if it holds, is great for a vaccine and a decent sign that vaccines made by other companies, which target the same viral protein, are likely to work too. It will still be many months before enough vaccine doses are available for most people, and scientists are continuing to collect data on safety. The logistics of a rollout are complicated. We have a difficult winter ahead, but an end is likely in sight.

Want to better understand the ongoing coronavirus outbreak? Here are three key stories from our team:

• A dreadful new peak for the American pandemic

• How to tell if socializing indoors is safe

• This overlooked variable is the key to the pandemic

Stuck on what to stream? Let us help:

Dave Chappelle returned to Saturday Night Live this weekend. In his 16-minute opening monologue, he explained why a new president alone won't fix the country, David Sims reports.

Today’s break from the news:

De-stress with some landscape photography: Our photo editor Alan Taylor recently put together this gallery of gorgeous shots of New Zealand.

In her latest column, Lori Gottlieb advises a reader whose relationship with her in-laws soured:

After I gave birth to our daughter, everything changed. I am suddenly being judged for not being a good mom, for not having a job, for not losing my pregnancy weight fast enough.

Read the rest, and Lori’s response. Every week, she answers questions from readers about their problems, big and small. Write to Lori anytime at dear.therapist@theatlantic.com.

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