Theresa May is workin’ with ya on this Brexit thing

[Bloomberg]( Today’s Agenda - Theresa May’s Brexit plan [keeps losing](. - GOP shenanigans are [undermining democracy](. - Trump could still win a [China trade war](. - Workers are [OK with the economy](, even if economists aren’t. The Brexit Debacle Intensifies Theresa May’s Brexit odyssey increasingly resembles a [Coen Brothers movie](, a dark tragicomedy that keeps getting exponentially more disastrous with every passing moment. Today, for example, former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King wrote a column for Bloomberg Opinion calling May’s plan an existential catastrophe for the U.K. [on par with Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement]( of Hitler. When you put it that way it sounds bad! He called May’s handling of Brexit “incompetence on a monumental scale” and said her deal combines the worst aspects of staying in the EU with the worst aspects of leaving. Without naming names, he even threw shade at his successor, Mark Carney, accusing the BOE of using made-up numbers to scare people into taking a bad deal. Read the [whole thing](. So that was catastrophic. But then May got what looked like a lifeline from the EU’s Advocate General, who said the U.K. still has time to just call backsies on the whole Brexit thing. This could be an escape hatch if May’s terrible Brexit plan fails to pass parliament, or she could use it to wring support from Brexit hard-liners. Of course, it may please some Brexiters that deciding to stay in the EU after all would really annoy most of the EU; as Leonid Bershidsky points out, [the U.K. has long been one of its most vexing members](.  But then the plot turned ugly for May again, when MPs declared her government in [contempt of parliament](. Now it will have to share the Attorney General’s Brexit advice with MPs; something Therese Raphael said it [should have done all along](. Tune in tomorrow, and expect May’s dilemma to get worse and maybe never get better. The Election Fraud Is Coming From Inside the GOP The U.S. has long enjoyed peaceful transfers of power, even after bitterly fought elections. This tradition is endangered, mainly by one side of the political aisle. Republicans lost key midterm elections in Wisconsin and Michigan, and before they go, they’re using lame-duck sessions to rush through laws to sap the power of incoming Democrats. It’s the political equivalent of stripping the fixtures, copper wiring and pipes out of a house before it’s repossessed. And when votes don’t go their way, they’re making baseless claims of election fraud. This [norm-smashing threatens the stability of our democracy](, writes Jonathan Bernstein. It also puts Democrats in a bind – they must either unilaterally disarm and let the GOP get away with its bad acts, or use their own dirty tricks, further eroding the norms. Meanwhile, in one district in North Carolina – where Republicans [first tried]( out trashing the government before handing it over – one GOP operative may have committed actual election fraud, tossing ballots to help a Republican in a tight race. Frank Wilkinson writes this could, ironically, [give Republicans the election-fraud evidence]( they have so desperately sought to justify further crackdowns on free elections. 2020 should be fun. Further Politics Reading: Trump hasn’t had any better luck getting Republicans to pay for his border wall than he had getting Mexico to pay for it – and [his time is rapidly running out](. – Jonathan Bernstein Tariff Man Strikes Again Three days after a trade summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping that Trump declared a rousing success, we are slowly discovering the success mostly exists in Trump’s imagination/Twitter account. His administration and Beijing have talked past each other for days about what was really accomplished, and today Trump warned nothing good could come of talks (which may or may not have actually begun). In case there was any doubt, he also dubbed himself [Tariff Man](. Anxiety about all of this helped [roil the stock market](, which tumbled by 3 percent at one point. Trump has reason to hope for concessions from China, which has more economic reason to bend than the U.S. does, Andrew Browne writes. Then again, Xi must maintain his strongman image, giving him reason to avoid compromise. But if the economy keeps weakening, then [so will Xi’s domestic position](, Andrew writes. One clearly good thing to come from talks was that China’s yuan had its biggest two-day bounce in a decade. Both [Trump and Xi wanted this](, writes John Authers, along with the breathing room they got from the truce. Of course, what they do with that breathing room is increasingly in doubt. The Job Market Is Good Enough Also spooking the market was yesterday’s partial [inversion of the yield curve](, typically a harbinger of a coming recession. For now, the economy is reasonably strong. But “hard” labor-market data – wage growth, for example – are frustratingly weak this late in the economic cycle. On the other hand, “soft” data – workers’ feelings about the job market – are as good as ever. Why the disconnect? Conor Sen argues it’s because workers are [happy to trade the current job market’s stability]( for a hotter, less-stable one with higher wages like the 1990s. Further Economic Reading:  - The yield-curve inversion is good news for emerging markets if it [stays the Fed’s hand and weakens the dollar](. – Marcus Ashworth - Maybe we have the [growth-productivity relationship]( backward. – Noah Smith Telltale Charts Starbucks Corp. is huge in China, but it’s vulnerable to [a startup called Luckin Coffee](, which is running laps around the U.S. company when it comes to convenience, writes Nisha Gopalan.  Bob Iger’s pay at Walt Disney Co. is increasingly [tied to the success of his tricky](, $85 billion Fox acquisition, writes Tara Lachapelle. Further Reading Yemen peace talks may not lead to a permanent peace, but they’re worth pursuing, and [the U.S. should lead them](. – Bloomberg’s editorial board A new Trump administration report shows [Syria gassed its own people]( last month, possibly as a pretext to break a cease-fire. – Eli Lake The corruption Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is accused of is [a direct threat to democratic rule in Israel](, with disturbing echoes in Trump’s behavior. – Noah Feldman Until it comes up with a magical new product, Apple Inc. depends on selling iPhones at ever-higher prices, and [that keeps getting harder](. – Shira Ovide France and Germany have [agreed on how to tax Google](, paving the way for a global approach that could make everybody happy. – Alex Webb Dirty coal may immiserate our grandchildren, but it will [make some people a lot of money](. – Chris Bryant Before Congress votes on the SNAP food-assistance program this week, it should read the studies showing [food stamps help poor kids]( become successful adults. – Peter Orszag Bond investors don’t get enough information about how active bond managers generate returns; if they did, [they might be in for a nasty surprise](. – Nir Kaissar ICYMI Robert Mueller is due to [file a sentencing memo]( today for Michael Flynn, who has been cooperating with Mueller’s probe. Senators said a CIA briefing [showed “smoking saw” evidence]( Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered journalist Jamal Khashoggi murdered and dismembered. The National Republican Congressional Committee was [hacked during the midterms](. Kickers Nine-year-old gets Colorado town to [end its ban on snowball fights](. Medical students are making side cash as [Instagram influencers]( pitching medical products. Walking on the Sea of Galilee keeps getting [easier as it shrinks](. (h/t for the first three kickers to Scott Duke Kominers) How to [correct (and avoid) slides]( on icy roads. The story of the [rise (?) of the Squatty Potty](. An oral [history of Anthony Bourdain](. The Ringer’s [best albums of 2018](. The Ringer’s [best TV shows of 2018](. Note: Please send snowballs, suggestions and kicker ideas to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. New to Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. 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