Longtime TPM Reader DC:

A few thoughts on what we witnessed today from an institutional perspective.

For almost 20 years, I’ve taught a course called Res Publica: A History of Representative Government.  It tries to pin down, historically and philosophically, the kinds of questions we should think about when we call our system of government a “republic” or a ‘democracy” or, most properly, a democratic republic.

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The single most important story we’re covering right now? No national plan and no national strategy for distributing the COVID-19 vaccine.

It’s a debacle out there.

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For several weeks now evidence has been accumulating that the COVID-19 vaccine won’t be widely available until significantly later in 2021 than the Trump administration is publicly claiming. Here’s some of the best evidence yet, picked up today by our Josh Kovensky in little-noticed remarks from some of the lead officials on the Pentagon’s Operation Warp Speed.

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So the Trump DOJ had an active criminal investigation going against Hunter Biden while Trump was being impeached for extorting Ukraine for dirt on … Hunter Biden?

Something or other caught my eye this morning and reminded me that impeachment was this year. It took me a minute to regain my bearings. Such has been the torrent of news, history and calamity in 2020.

It got me to reflecting a bit, scanning back over my calendar, pinpointing those critical days in February-March when the Before Time came to an end.

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Now’s your chance to sit back and absorb Josh Kovensky’s deeply reported piece on the Falwells and Giancarlo Granda. Caught with only a short break between Zoom calls? Here’s a condensed version of the main takeaways.

The just-released names.

In case you missed last evening’s developments, a DOJ official has resigned over Bill Barr’s new memo authorizing prosecutors to investigate so-called election irregularities before the results are certified. More soon on this.

The newly constituted 6-3 conservative-majority Supreme Court hears oral arguments this morning in the case that Republicans are using to try to dismantle Obamacare once and for all. Tierney Sneed will be covering it for TPM. Here’s her latest on the exquisite bind the case has put Republicans in, even though it’s all their own doing. Come back for more from Tierney late this morning after the oral arguments.