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On the roster: Spammed, slammed and grifted - Hiring slump spurs urgent action on stimulus - Biden backs lame duck stimulus as phase one - Results suggest Trump pre-election rallies backfired - When keeping it real goes wrong

SPAMMED, SLAMMED AND GRIFTED
Come along, friends, and join us for a tale of yesteryear – a time when women wore shoulder pads as big as their giant hairdos and cell phones had pull-up antennae.

In 1998, when the Clinton administration brought suit against Microsoft for trying to corner the market on internet browsers, the alleged victim was Netscape.

Netscape, which only lives on now in the source code for the Firefox browser, had been the dominant provider when the Internet booted up in the mid-1990s.

But its market share was collapsing as Microsoft started bundling Internet Explorer with its Windows operating system, already ubiquitous among PC users. Microsoft, the government warned, could stifle competition and Explorer would own the internet.

It all sounds impossibly stupid now, but remember that when Janet Reno came after Microsoft, the iPhone was still nine years away and the founders of Google were still in grad school. If you thought about the internet like the telephone, as many people did, maybe it made sense to treat Microsoft like AT&T.

But it isn’t and it didn’t.

Today, Microsoft’s browser trails four versions of Google’s Chrome and three versions of Apple’s Safari as well as Firefox and even Samsung’s mobile phone browser for global users. Less than 1 percent of users surf on Microsoft’s latest platform.

*sad trombone*

We wanted to play Peabody and Sherman for a moment to get you thinking about a couple things: People are very, very bad at predicting the future and that political solutions are usually ill-suited for addressing technological disruption.

We are not talking about the naked power grab by the nationalist right and progressive left for control of social media, and, by extension, the news you use – though certainly we could, given the toxic levels of hubris being demonstrated by politicians on that effort. It’s always amusing to hear people who can’t un-mute their Zoom tell you they can regulate speech on the internet.

At about the same time people were concerned that Microsoft would dominate the internet – lawlz – there was much ado about how big-money donors were buying politicians with their campaign contributions. The argument ran that the employees of big corporations and wealthy individuals were having undue influence because of their ability to bundle together contributions.

In those days, there were mostly two kinds of political contributions you could make: Directly to a campaign or to a political party. Political action committees, often comprising executives encouraged by their employers to participate, could direct larger, concentrated sums to individual candidates or parties.

The limits on contributions to parties were higher than those on individual campaigns, and the parties could direct the money to candidates or their own campaign infrastructure efforts at their whim. This was called “soft money,” and along with all that sweet PAC cash was said to be perverting the will of the people, $2,200 at a time.

All of this very serious concern from very serious people resulted in the McCain-Feingold Act. The measure was first put forward in 1998, and it finally passed in 2002. The measure aimed to choke off that soft money that gave parties so much power.

But another aspect of the law was aimed at curbing the influence of outside groups that raised money like nonprofits but spent money to affect the outcomes of elections. McCain-Feingold would limit the power of parties, yes, but would make sure the space was safe by hemming in outside spending. No prob.

That was, of course, before any of the very serious people realized that it would be quite unconstitutional to tell Americans when they were allowed to speak about politics. The legislation’s dream of a new ecosystem came true, but in a very different way than which they imagined.

The Supreme Court struck down the parts of the law that put blackout dates on the expenditures and advertisements of outside groups. And in so doing, the justices established that any governmental limitations on political speech were probably problematic.

As a result, the parties were weakened and the outside groups were strengthened, giving us little accountability, weak institutional controls and a vast swamp of scammers, hustlers and skimmers.

And just like the effort to prevent Microsoft’s domination of the internet, technology would have obviated the question in just a few years if none of the very serious people had done anything at all. By 2008, campaigns were rapidly moving toward online fundraising as Americans embraced e-commerce in droves.

But like the smartphone disruption that changed the way we internet, the explosion in small-dollar online contributions has brought many troubles of its own.

If you could have told political elites at the turn of the century how the influence of large-dollar donors had been dwarfed by grassroots individual contributions from middle-class Americans, they surely would have been pleased. They also would assume that our politics would be working better with all of this pluribus in our unum.

Again, lawlz.

We’re not here to suggest President Trump isn’t sincere in his complaints that the election was stolen from him. He may in fact believe in a conspiracy so vast as to delegitimize elections in every state.

But he certainly doesn’t act like he means it. He might fire Bill Barr in a few weeks if Barr doesn’t at least pay lip service to the claims, but other than that, it’s mostly a lot of bellyaching and Rudy Giuliani gesticulation. If Trump believed it, he would be thinking more like his recent pardonee, Michael Flynn, who thinks the president should declare martial law and have the Army conduct another election.

One thing Trump most certainly is doing, is raising tons of money in support of his lost cause. Since Election Day, Trump has taken in at least $207.5 million in support of his purported efforts to reverse the results of the election. What’s really nice for Trump is that 75 percent of the cash goes to a new PAC he started after the election.

That is, for practical purposes, Trump’s money now. He can’t spend it himself, but he can pay salaries to himself, his friends, his family and anyone he likes. He can hire staff to attend to his personal needs, pay for travel and really almost anything a CEO could do.

Again, we’re not saying Trump doesn’t believe what he’s saying. It’s impossible to know. But we are saying that our goofy world of super PACs creates a lot of perverse incentives. But super PACs are just part of what's giving America's political heartburn.

It was almost shocking to hear that spending in the Georgia Senate runoffs had already eclipsed $120 million. What we’ll never know, though, is how much money was raised in the name of the runoffs.

We received an email the other day representing to be from Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.: “Mark my words: We WILL be living in a Socialist country if we give Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden the opportunity to completely destroy our nation.”

Sounds serious!

But as we clicked through, we saw that it was actually a link to contribute to Kennedy via Republican online fundraising platform WinRed. Kennedy, keen-eyed readers will have noticed, is not running in Georgia. He could give money to those races, but why bother giving it to his campaign first?

Welcome to the scammy, spammy world of online donation solicitation.

WinRed is the Republican answer to ActBlue, which boasts of more than $8 billion raised online since 2004. We received similarly alarmed emails from Democratic groups, one warning that a loss in Georgia for the Democratic candidates could “destroy Democracy.”

We have talked about a lot of reasons why populism has taken root so strongly in the past ten years, including institutional failures reflected in the Iraq War, Panic of 2008 and elsewhere. We’ve also talked about how social media lowered barriers to entry for political candidates and their supporters.

But there’s also this: That’s where the money is. And chasing that money leads politicians to some very dark places.

People used to get very angry about the time that incumbent presidents and presidential candidates spent sucking up to rich people at campaign events where folks will pay tens of thousands of dollars for a dry piece of halibut and a 30 second grip-and-grin photo opportunity.

Candidates now can skip the receiving line and just pay for spambots to barf out alarmist emails and texts all day, hoping to find just enough people out of the many millions they target to bring in the big bucks.

Is one of those better or more moral than the other? Does one of those produce better governance than the other? We can’t say for sure, but we can say that no method of political fundraising comes without associated costs.

The goal in the McCain-Feingold era was to limit the influence of the wealthy and well connected. The last time we looked, it looked like they were still doing okay when it came to getting the government to pay attention to their interests.

Small dollar donors get less clout as individuals, it’s true. But to get enough of them together, giving enough to score serious scratch, you need more than just a promise for dutiful service and good government. You must engage their fears and antipathies.

It may be that like the fat cats who were the targets 15 years ago, it’s not possible to prevent the corrosive effects of digital campaign finance. But as we think about how to put right what’s wrong in our political institutions, just remember how the last effort to make things better greased the skids for the brain-dead partisanship that plagues us today.

THE RULEBOOK: GET PAID, DON’T GET PLAYED
“Commercial republics, like ours, will never be disposed to waste themselves in ruinous contentions with each other. They will be governed by mutual interest, and will cultivate a spirit of mutual amity and concord.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 6

TIME OUT: TIGHT COVERAGE
Pitchfork: “Covers were always a significant part of [Sharon Jones’] repertoire, a means of connecting her to the past and also linking the past to the present, and that gives Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Rendition Was In) the weight of a career retrospective. It might even reveal more about Jones than a greatest-hits collection would, emphasizing her decisions about which songs to sing and how to sing them. She had remarkable range vocally and stylistically. While her take on ‘What Have You Done for Me Lately” ultimately sounds uncharacteristically tentative… She conveys a sense of staunch determination on Fontella Bass’s ‘Rescue Me,’ as though she’s not the one who needs saving. And she strips the breathless singing and lush production from the Marvelettes’ ‘Here I Am Baby,’ replacing them with a rawer vocal and a sinewy guitar groove. It sounds like you’re sitting in their practice space with them.”

Flag on the play? - Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with your tips, comments or questions.

GOT A WILD PITCH? READY TO THROW A FASTBALL?
We’ve brought “From the Bleachers” to video on demand thanks to Fox Nation. Each Wednesday and Friday, Producer Brianna McClelland will put Politics Editor Chris Stirewalt to the test with your questions on everything about politics, government and American history – plus whatever else is on your mind. Sign up for the Fox Nation streaming service here and send your best questions to HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM.

HIRING SLUMP SPURS URGENT ACTION ON STIMULUS
Fox Business: “The U.S. economy added just 245,000 jobs in November, sharply missing expectations and pointing to a slowdown in the labor market's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic as a surge of new infections triggered a fresh wave of shutdowns by state and local governments. … The figures come amid a wave of coronavirus cases and the deadliest three-day stretch since the pandemic began earlier this year. … U.S. employers made 610,000 new hires in October, revised data shows, leaving November as the fifth consecutive month that job growth has cooled since the economy added a combined 7.5 million workers in May and June. After months of deadlock, Congress is making a final push this week to strike a coronavirus relief deal before the end of the year. Democratic officials have thrown their support behind a $908 billion proposal unveiled earlier this week by a group of bipartisan senators…”

The room where it happened - NYT: “Discussions toward a possible deal began among a loose bipartisan group of senators in mid-November, according to four officials familiar with the behind-the-scenes talks who requested anonymity to describe them. The participants agreed to meet over dinner at the Capitol Hill home of Senator LisaMurkowski, Republican of Alaska, on Nov. 17, two weeks after Election Day, to see if they could cobble together a plan. Senator Mark Warner, a moderate Democrat from Virginia, picked up the tab for food and drinks from San Lorenzo, a favorite of Washington’s political class for Tuscan food. Fresh off a come-from-behind victory in Maine, Senator SusanCollins, a Republican, agreed to co-host. They were joined by three more Senate Democrats — JoeManchin III of West Virginia, JeanneShaheen of New Hampshire, and Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the party’s No. 2 — as well as two more Senate Republicans, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mitt Romney of Utah.”

BIDEN BACKS LAME DUCK STIMULUS AS PHASE ONE
NYT: “President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is set to give an address on Friday about what he called the nation’s ‘stalling’ economy as the Labor Department released jobs report that he labeled ‘grim,’ even as lawmakers continued to express optimism that Congress could reach a bipartisan deal before the end of the year on an elusive pandemic stimulus plan. During his remarks, which he will deliver in Delaware, Mr. Biden is expected to renew calls for Congress to quickly pass another round of virus relief. The employment report showed that the economy added fewer jobs in November than at any point since it began to rebound from recession in the spring. The figures disappointed forecasters and adding new urgency to calls to buoy struggling workers and companies while the nation awaits a vaccine that could help reinvigorate the economy next year.”

Will ask Americans to commit to 100 days of mask wearing - AP: “Joe Biden said Thursday that he will ask Americans to commit to 100 days of wearing masks as one of his first acts as president, stopping just short of the nationwide mandate he’s pushed before to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The move marks a notable shift from President Donald Trump, whose own skepticism of mask-wearing has contributed to a politicization of the issue. That’s made many people reticent to embrace a practice that public health experts say is one of the easiest ways to manage the pandemic, which has killed more than 275,000 Americans. The president-elect has frequently emphasized mask-wearing as a ‘patriotic duty’ and during the campaign floated the idea of instituting a nationwide mask mandate, which he later acknowledged would be beyond the ability of the president to enforce.”

Raimondo rules out Health secretary job - WPRI: “Gov. Gina Raimondo on Thursday ruled out leaving her job to become President-elect Joe Biden’s health and human services secretary, seeking to put the idea to rest after a flurry of reports that she was a finalist for the job. Raimondo’s potential appointment has been rumored since before Thanksgiving, but the speculation intensified this week after multiple sources close to Biden’s transition team told national news outlets she had emerged as a top contender. Sources close to Raimondo confirmed to 12 News on Wednesday that she appeared to be getting serious consideration. ‘I realize that rumors are rampant, and yesterday there was a lot of speculation about me being considered to become the secretary of health and human services, and I did want to address that honestly with you,’ Raimondo said during her weekly coronavirus briefing.”

Biden DHS pick accused of ‘inappropriate’ involvement in 20001 drug case - Fox News: “Alejandro Mayorkas, who was nominated by President-elect Joe Biden to serve in his administration as the head of the Department of Homeland Security, was previously accused of having ‘inappropriate’ involvement in the commutation of a major drug trafficker’s sentence. A House of Representatives report examined the 2001 commutation of Carlos Vignali, who was both a convicted drug dealer and the son of a major Democratic Party donor. Appointed by former President Bill Clinton, Mayorkas was serving as the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles at the time. The report found that ‘Mayorkas provided critical support for the Vignali commutation that was inappropriate, given his position.’ Specifically, Mayorkas called the White House on behalf of Vignali’s father and conveyed support for Carlos Vignali’s commutation, despite the fact that Mayorkas had had conversations with prosecutors involved in the case, who suggested the drug dealer was a ‘major player’ in drug trafficking.”

RESULTS SUGGEST TRUMP PRE-ELECTION RALLIES BACKFIRED
WSJ: “President Trump will head to Valdosta, Ga., Saturday to rally supporters in anticipation of the two Senate runoff elections in the state set for early January. If results from the general election are any guide, that visit from Mr. Trump isn’t necessarily a boon for the Georgia Republicans. … In the three weeks before Election Day, Mr. Trump visited 48 counties, and in 28 of them, overall turnout rose by more than it did in the state overall. But in 38 of the 48 counties, Mr. Trump’s 2020 share of the vote declined compared with 2016. That is to say, in those 38 counties, his wins were smaller, his losses were larger, or counties actually flipped from him to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden. And in the 28 counties Mr. Trump visited that had very high turnout boosts—higher than the state average—the overwhelming majority, 21 of them, saw his 2020 margins shrink on Election Day.”

Pence plays it straight - ABC News: “Pence is headlining a rally for [Kelly] Loeffler, [David] Perdue and Public Service Commission candidate Bubba McDonald, who is also competing in the runoff.... On Saturday, Trump will travel to Georgia for an airport hangar rally with Loeffler and Perdue, hosted by the Republican National Committee. Unlike the vice president, who has already campaigned in the Peach State for the senators, pushing a strong ‘get out the vote’ message while praising the two senators and recycling his campaign stump speech, Trump is more of a wildcard.”

Perdue caught in leaked video acknowledging Trump defeat - WaPo: “Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) appeared to tacitly acknowledge President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in a video recording obtained by The Washington Post on Thursday… Neither Loeffler (R-Ga.) nor Perdue has acknowledged Biden’s victory in public, and both have supported the president’s unfounded claims that fraud tainted the election. But in a video meeting recorded Wednesday with members of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), Perdue spoke pragmatically about the role a GOP-controlled Senate could play as a check on the Biden administration. He did not discuss Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. … The recording highlighted a stark tension running through the Senate runoff campaign in Georgia, with both candidates making a hard sell that control of the chamber is more important than ever — an argument that presumes a Biden victory.”

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT BANNED TRUMP SNOOPER
AP: “The official serving as President Donald Trump’s eyes and ears at the Justice Department has been banned from the building after trying to pressure staffers to give up sensitive information about election fraud and other matters she could relay to the White House, three people familiar with the matter tell The Associated Press. Heidi Stirrup, an ally of top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, was quietly installed at the Justice Department as a White House liaison a few months ago. She was told within the last two weeks to vacate the building after top Justice officials learned of her efforts to collect insider information about ongoing cases and the department’s work on election fraud, the people said. Stirrup is accused of approaching staffers in the department demanding they give her information about investigations, including election fraud matters, the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.”

Prosecutors probed Kushner lawyer, top Trump donor in pardon probe - NYT: “The Justice Department investigated as recently as this summer the roles of a top fund-raiser for President Trump and a lawyer for his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in a suspected scheme to offer a bribe in exchange for clemency for a tax crimes convict, according to two people familiar with the inquiry. A federal judge in Washington unsealed heavily redacted court documents on Tuesday that disclosed the existence of the investigation into possible unregistered lobbying and bribery. The people said it concerned efforts by the lawyer for Mr. Kushner, Abbe Lowell, and the fund-raiser, Elliott Broidy, who pleaded guilty in October to a charge related to a different scheme to lobby the Trump administration. A billionaire real estate developer from the San Francisco area, Sanford Diller, enlisted their help in securing clemency for a Berkeley psychologist, Hugh L. Baras…”

GOPers brace for Trump pardon-a-palooza - Politico: “President Donald Trump is considering preemptively pardoning as many as 20 aides and associates before leaving office, frustrating Republicans who believe offering legal reprieves to his friends and family members could backfire. Trump’s strategy, like much of his presidency, is nontraditional. He is eschewing the typical protocol of processing cases through the Justice Department. And he may argue that such preemptive pardons for his friends and family members are necessary to spare them from paying millions in legal fees to fight what he describes as witch hunts. Those up for clemency include everyone from Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to several members of his family — all people who haven’t been charged with a crime. Weighing on Trump’s mind is whether these pardons would look like an admission of guilt.”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
White House communications director hits the eject button - Politico

Top Newsom adviser arrested for domestic violence - LAT

David Ignatius: The sad, scary case of the National Counterterrorism Center - WaPo

Pergram: If they make it through December… - Fox News

Graham raised an eye-popping $109 million for 10-point re-election romp - The Hill

AUDIBLE: AHOY, POPEYE
“Get your coffee or your spinach!” – Biden transition spokesperson Jen Psaki talking to reporters about a “very busy” couple of weeks coming up.

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY
This weekend Mr. Sunday sits down with former CIA Director John Brennan and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. Watch “Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.” Check local listings for broadcast times in your area.

#mediabuzz - Host Howard Kurtz has the latest take on the week’s media coverage. Watch #mediabuzz Sundays at 11 a.m. ET.

Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.

WHEN KEEPING IT REAL GOES WRONG
New York Daily News: “He’s a super freak. A 6-foot-3, 300-pound Florida man was arrested after he allegedly punched a cab driver, then danced in the street yelling, ‘I’m Rick James, b--ch!’ The suspect, Paul Kijek, also shouted, ‘You white motherf--kers,’ before he was arrested just 2 miles from his Clearwater, Fla., home over the weekend. … According to police, witnesses at Back Bar and Lounge stopped Kijek from driving home from that venue ‘due to his level of intoxication’ shortly after 4 a.m. Sunday. When a taxi arrived to pick him up, Kijek allegedly got inside, began yelling at the driver, then punched him from the backseat. He then jumped into the street doing what appeared to be his impersonation of comedian Dave Chappelle, who used the phrase ‘I’m Rick James, b--ch,’ when impersonating the late ‘Super Freak’ singer. James died in 2004. Kijek was charged with simple battery and released on $600 bond, according to The Smoking Gun.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“Football has even less respect for time. In fine imperial fashion, it decrees its own calendar, with its own Year One.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing about the trouble with football in the Washington Post on Jan. 25, 1985.

Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.