The two months between Election Day and inauguration are a strange liminal time for the U.S., offering both Democrat and Republican lawmakers a brief respite from the gladiatorial combat of campaigning and the equally taxing combat of legislating. For conservatives, this time will be spent calculating how best to capitalize on their unified government while avoiding Donald Trump's most self-destructive tendencies. For Democrats, it's an opportunity for serious introspection about the past in the hopes of recalibrating for the future. And for the country at large, we wait. 

Rafi Schwartz
The Week Digital

Now that the initial shock of Donald Trump's choice of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to lead the Justice Department has worn off, the president-elect has begun voicing doubts about his nominee's viability. Even so, he refuses to pull his support for the accused child sex trafficker. 

Trump's continued backing of Gaetz "speaks volumes about his mindset as he staffs his second administration," said The New York Times. Trump has begun lobbying lawmakers to support his nominee, "calling some senators directly to discuss the Florida Republican and ask for their support," said CNN. 

Congressional Republicans have reportedly warned Trump and his leadership team that Gaetz's nomination is likely to fail and are "privately hoping Trump doesn't make them walk the plank" by going through the process anyway, said Politico. Democrats, meanwhile, have the opportunity to turn Gaetz into a "Hunter Biden-type endless scandal," a distraction that's "not something Trump or the country wants or needs," said Merrill Matthews at The Hill. 

As Democrats lick their wounds from the GOP's decisive victory on Election Day, former Maryland governor and Social Security Administration commissioner Martin O'Malley has become the first candidate to officially toss a hat in the ring to become the next chair of the Democratic National Committee. O'Malley's entrance "kicks off a race that is expected to have several candidates running to lead a party in turmoil after this year's elections," said The New York Times. 

As a candidate to lead a Democratic Party forced into a crouch for at least the next two years, O'Malley is "expected to lean on his record as a mayor, a governor and the chair of the Democratic Governors Association," said NBC News. He will likely campaign on a "50-state commitment" to "help maintain party infrastructure across the country, not just in battleground states." This is O'Malley's second run to lead the Democrats after having briefly campaigned for DNC chair in 2016 when the party was "similarly apoplectic about its electoral future in the immediate aftermath of a Donald Trump victory," said The Baltimore Banner.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) has made abundantly clear that her proposal to prohibit lawmakers in Congress from "using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex" is "absolutely" meant to target incoming Rep. Sarah McBride. McBride will become the first openly transgender person in Congress when she's sworn in next year. 

"Yes and absolutely and then some," Mace said Monday when asked if her proposal was directly aimed at McBride. "I'm absolutely 100% gonna stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a women's restroom, in our locker rooms, in our changing rooms," said Mace. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has voiced support for Mace's proposal and suggested she "would be willing to get into a physical altercation if McBride uses women's restrooms," said NBC News. 

Mace's proposal is a "blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing," McBride said in a statement. The attempt to bar McBride from using the bathroom that aligns with her gender identity comes as Democrats are "grappling with how to handle transgender politics and policy following a campaign that featured withering and often misleading GOP attacks on the issue," said The Associated Press.

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