Biden says he will win, China flexes its muscles: Weekend Reads

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( The ballot count in the U.S. election dragged on, with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden saying his share of the popular vote as well as the Electoral College gave him [a mandate](. “We are going to win this race,” he vowed. In France, President Emmanuel Macron put the country on the highest terror alert after a series of deadly attacks and spoke of an “existential battle” in a blunt move usually reserved for his far-right rivals. China was also flexing its political muscle — President Xi Jinping’s government tightened controls on fast-growing financial conglomerates, and the first casualty was billionaire Jack Ma and his Ant Group’s $35 billion mega-listing. Dig into these and the other key issues with the latest edition of Weekend Reads. — [Ruth Pollard]( A supporter with a cardboard cutout of Biden in Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday. Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg [Click here]( for this week’s most compelling political images. Tell us how we’re doing or what we’re missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net. [Trumpism Is Here to Stay, No Matter Who’s in the White House]( As the ballot-counting drags on, Trump’s fate is still unsettled. The fate of Trumpism, on the other hand, is clear: It isn’t going away. And Trump himself may remain in the political spotlight even if he loses after changing U.S. politics in a way that is perilous for the Republican Party and will be difficult to undo, [Joshua Green]( writes. [Vote-Count Chaos Unfolds in States That Ignored Peers’ Lessons]( Much of the delay in vote counting that Trump has seized upon to cast a shadow over the election outcome could have been avoided if more states processed mailed ballots before Election Day, as practiced in Florida and elsewhere. Instead, as [Todd Shields](, [David McLaughlin]( and [Andrew Ballard]( report, a pandemic-fueled surge in mail-in voting overwhelmed many states. [Trump’s Dismissal of Covid Risk Paved Way to White House Outbreak]( From the pandemic’s earliest days, Trump was of two minds on coronavirus. In public he was dismissive and belittling of the virus, and those who feared it. In private, for all his bravado, he acted like a man who dreaded catching it. [Jennifer Jacobs]( explains how infections among White House staff escalated as the president looked past the dangers. [Make America Boring Again, Fix Its Dated Electoral System]( The U.S. could adopt a few easy reforms — and a few tough ones — to take the drama out of its democracy, [Marc Champion]( writes. The Harvard-based nonprofit called the Electoral Integrity Project ranks the U.S. 57th in the world. Among core Western democracies, it came in at rock bottom. After losing out on the governor’s office in 2018, Stacey Abrams devoted herself to turning Georgia’s disenfranchised population into the bloc of powerful voters that proved critical in the [Georgia]( vote, and in changing the outcome in key races across the state.  [Inside the Chaotic Unraveling of Jack Ma’s $35 Billion Ant IPO]( Ma was summoned to the China Securities Regulatory Commission days before he was set to take Ant Group public in the biggest stock-market debut of all time. The subsequent unraveling of the $35 billion share sale offers a stark reminder that even China’s most celebrated businessman isn’t immune to the whims of a Communist Party under Xi Jinping. [Macron Steals Right’s Thunder on Fight Against Radical Islam]( When a jihadist killed three people in a church on France’s Cote d’Azur, far-right leader Marine Le Pen called for foreigners suspected of extremism to be deported and a ban on groups that support radical ideology. She barely made a splash: Macron had beaten her to it, [Ania Nussbaum]( writes. [China Gained Ground on India During Bloody Summer in Himalayas]( As troops in the Himalayas hunker down for the brutal winter, the outcome of the worst clashes in decades is becoming clear: China has pushed further into territory once patrolled exclusively by India. Both armies are now preparing to stand their ground in a region where temperatures can drop to 40 degrees below zero. An Indian fighter jet flies over a mountain range in Ladakh on June 22. Photographer: Tauseef Mustafa/AFP via Getty Images [Why Ethiopia’s Internal Tensions Risk Boiling Over]( Long-simmering tensions between Ethiopia’s federal government and the northern state of Tigray have escalated to the verge of all-out conflict, [Michael Cohen](, [Samuel Gebre]( and [Simon Marks]( explain. A failure to de-escalate would be a grave setback to efforts to maintain national unity and quell ethnic violence in Africa’s second-most populous nation. [Suu Kyi Set to Win Again Even as Myanmar’s Economic Dream Fades]( When Myanmar began its transition to democracy from military rule in 2010, it came with grand aspirations to restore its long-lost status as a vital player in the Asian economy. A decade later, with de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi poised for re-election, those plans remain largely unfulfilled, [Khine Lin Kyaw]( and [Philip J. Heijmans]( report. [Malaysia’s Once-Peripheral King Emerges as Major Political Force]( After decades in the background of Malaysia’s national politics, the monarchy has moved to center stage to fill a power vacuum this year. As [Philip J. Heijmans]( and [Anisah Shukry]( explain, King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad stepped into the political fray back in February when a two-year-old government abruptly collapsed. [And finally]( ... The Netherlands long enjoyed a relatively relaxed political culture by the standards of elsewhere in Europe or America, with the prime minister famously photographed riding his bicycle to work. That openness is changing, [Diederik Baazil]( reports, as the political atmosphere turns ugly, a shift that mirrors rising tensions in society as a result of the pandemic. Riot police clash with demonstrators during an anti-lockdown protest in The Hague. Photographer: Robin Utrecht/SOPA Images/LightRocket    Like Balance of Power? [Get unlimited access to Bloomberg.com](, where you'll find trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters.  You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Balance of Power newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022