Biden lays the foundation for a normcore presidency

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a West Wing staff of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Biden’s first official act is a [boringly competent one](. - One bureaucrat [shouldn’t hold up the presidential transition](. - We’re too close to victory to [surrender to the virus now](. - [Marijuana might heal]( a fractured nation. Biden’s Presidency Takes Boring Shape You probably don’t remember, but there was a time in this country when not every presidential utterance would trigger your fight-or-flight response. You could go days without thinking about the president of the United States, unless he wore a tan suit or something. Were those days perfect? Of course not. They lulled us into ignoring the rise of President Donald Trump, who is still making politics way, way too interesting. But after four years on his roller coaster, we need a break. President-elect Joe Biden won by promising to make politics boringly competent again, and he’s living up to it so far. His first official act was picking a chief of staff, Ron Klain, who was [apparently built in a laboratory for just this job](, writes Jonathan Bernstein. He even has experience fighting a pandemic. Yawn. Biden is also returning foreign policy to blessed normalcy, holding phone calls with world leaders and actually releasing [readouts]( of them all, a practice Trump’s White House [dialed back]( when his calls got too weird. More broadly, Biden will restore equilibrium to relationships around the world — not just with allies but also rivals such as China. Though Biden can sound pretty hawkish about China, Wang Huiyao expects he’ll be far more pragmatic than Trump, [dialing back the trade war and finding areas of cooperation](, starting with fighting the pandemic. Biden’s election might seem like bad news for India’s Narendra Modi, one part of a two-man mutual-admiration society with Trump. But the lovefest did not extend to trade; Trump slapped many pointless tariffs on Indian goods. Andy Mukherjee writes Biden might roll those back, possibly in exchange for Modi [giving U.S. tech firms more of a foothold in this huge growth market](. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will probably be even unhappier with a return to normal U.S. foreign policy. Shannon O’Neil points out [Trump basically let AMLO run wild]( just as long as he stopped migrants at the U.S. border. Biden will pay much closer attention to Mexico’s governance, energy policies and more. It’s the kind of thing America did back in the boring old mid-2010s, and it’s good. Further Biden-Administration Reading: Biden can [do a lot with executive orders](, but these take time to bear fruit. — Cass Sunstein Paid Post Most security systems need a technician or salesperson to come to your home. SimpliSafe doesn't. Just order online and set it up in under 30 minutes. After that, your whole home is protected 24/7 from break-ins, fires, floods and more. [Get yours today!]( SimpliSafe Trump Clings to Power, Day Six Another thing Biden has been almost disturbingly normal about is the post-election fit still being thrown by the current occupant of the White House. He has laughed off Trump’s refusal to start the peaceful transition process, which includes Biden getting vital national-security briefings. But such delays can do irreparable harm; the slow transition after the [2000 election]( may have made the 9/11 attacks more possible. One of the weirder features of America’s very weird system is that the chief of the obscure General Services Administration gets to decide when the next president can start presidenting. That person, [Emily Murphy, is refusing to do that without an OK]( from her current boss, which may never come. This is a bug, not a feature, of the system and should be reformed ASAP, Bloomberg’s editorial board writes. It’s as harmful to the nation’s health as the GOP’s indulgence of Trump’s temper tantrum. Trump’s refusal to accept reality is par for the trap-laden golf course of his mind. Less understandable is why the rest of his party goes along with it. Ramesh Ponnuru explains [the GOP is terrified of angering Trump’s still-passionate voters](, who are now fully convinced the election was stolen. Surrendering to reality might demoralize them too much to vote in Georgia’s runoff elections for Senate. So now we know the price of two Senate seats: half the country’s confidence in democracy. The Case for Lockdowns Grows Stronger Governments around the world are clamping down on our fun again as the coronavirus pandemic wreaks new havoc. Many lockdown-weary people will resist, but Ferdinando Giugliano urges us to remember we may be mere months from ending this nightmare with effective vaccines, as Anthony Fauci [suggested]( today. [Why just let people die now, with relief so close]( at hand? The same logic applies to stimulus for people and businesses: Why let them collapse when we’re so near the finish line? Fed Chairman Jay Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin should think hard about this before they let [lending programs for muni borrowers and small businesses expire]( on Dec. 31, writes Brian Chappatta. Letting the virus run wild could also defeat the whole purpose of vaccines, warns Sam Fazeli. Every [new coronavirus infection leads to mutations]( that could eventually render our current vaccine candidates useless. A resistant strain evolved in a population of millions of minks in Denmark and then jumped to humans. If we’re not more careful, soon this disease won’t need minks.  Telltale Charts Making it [easier to buy and sell weed legally]( could be the issue that unites left and right in this country, writes Tara Lachapelle. The smartest market minds agree: [U.S. stocks are wildly overvalued]( and are in for a so-so decade, writes Nir Kaissar.  Further Reading Trump’s gains with Black voters won’t last if the [GOP keeps making it hard for Black people to vote](. — Robert George Democrats may have a secret weapon against gerrymandering: the[sprawling Sunbelt exurbs where they’re growing]( in numbers. — Conor Sen [Republicans will dump a lot about Trumponomics]( when Trump is gone. — Michael R. Strain [Ryan Reynolds buying a bottom-tier English football]( team could work out for everybody, including Netflix. — Alex Webb “Shocked but not surprised” is the [perfect phrase for the Trump era](. — Stephen Carter ICYMI The White House has [bailed on stimulus talks](. The [world’s biggest free-trade zone](, anchored by China, is nearly in place. You may soon live in [a 15-minute city](. Kickers Another [Spanish art restoration goes horribly wrong](. (h/t Ellen Kominers) Now there’s [facial recognition for bears](. Japanese town uses [robot wolves to chase away bears](. (h/t Mike Smedley for the previous two kickers) Happy 50th anniversary to [Oregon’s Exploding Whale](. Note: Please send robot wolves and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](.  Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more](. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](.  You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022