Friday Mailbag!

Let's do this.

Happy Friday.

We made it (in my case barely)!

Donald Trump, as of this morning, is officially a convicted felon — 10 days before he will be sworn in as the 47th president.

Los Angeles continues to be encircled by fires — even as Trump seeks to turn the natural disaster into a political cudgel.

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in the proposed TikTok ban which, if the Court fails to act (or Trump doesn’t intervene in some way), will go into place on January 19.

Lots going on — and I didn’t even mention that confirmation hearings for Trump’s Cabinet nominees start next week too!

Below I answered a slew of “So What” subscriber questions. Anyone can read the start of this Mailbag post but to check out the whole thing, you need to become a paid subscriber.

Which you should do! It’s fun and easy! And only $6 a month or $60 for the year!

And make sure to check out my YouTube livestream at 1 pm eastern today where you can see my new office setup!

Here. We Go. (Soundtrack for this Mailbag: “Check Your Head” by the Beastie Boys)

Q: You wrote a piece declaring Kari Lake as having run the worst campaign in 2024. Who do you think ran the best campaign in 2024?

A: Love it!

So, my criteria for “best campaign” is that you had to win the race. People like Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown ran really good campaigns but lost. He can’t be the pick. Ditto Mike Rogers, who I thought ran a very solid effort in Michigan.

On the Democratic side, I was really, really impressed with the campaign that Tammy Baldwin ran in Wisconsin. The upper Midwest was tough sledding — snow joke! — for Democrats in 2024 and if you told me a week before the election that Trump was going to win Wisconsin, I would have told you Baldwin would lose.

She didn’t lose. How? By running an incredibly localized campaign. Baldwin stayed away from talking about national issues, which she knew she would lose on, and instead made the campaign about what she had done and could do for the state. Very, very impressive.

I also thought Ruben Gallego ran a very good campaign in Arizona. He was helped by the Lake disaster but he still won.

For Republicans, I was impressed by Dave McCormick’s campaign in Pennsylvania. Bob Casey Jr. was a formidable incumbent who had always run ahead of the national results in a swing state. McCormick was able to stay away from what could have become a nasty GOP primary and walked the line in the general election quite well between the MAGA base and suburban Philly voters.

I also thought Kelly Ayotte ran a really strong campaign in the New Hampshire governor’s race. It was no sure thing — or even close — that the state would elect a Republican governor. And Ayotte won even as Kamala Harris was carrying the state.

Q: If Trump happens to drop dead before 20 January, Chris, what happens?

A: Welcome to four years of President JD Vance! In that scenario, Vance would become president and serve the full four year term. It’s covered in Section 3 of the 20th Amendment: “If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President.”

Q: Do you ever worry that in an effort to be non partisan you are scaling back criticism where it's warranted? During your Tuesday Livestream you mentioned that two modern impeachments blended together for you. Clinton lying about getting pleasured by an intern and Trump withholding congressionally approved military aid to an ally to in exchange for opening a phony investigation into a political rival. Those are comparable to you? Really? One clearly seems far more of an abuse of the office than the other.