After a long and brutal political year, it is so nice to have the season of peace and giving upon us. As if. Some of these DC pols make Scrooge look like Howie Mandel any day of the year. So here are my three things to watch this week. Coalfor theKremlin.President Obama must be pretty busy packing boxes by now but he’s vowed to take a break to beat up on the Russians a bit. The administration is furious over what it says is clear evidence Moscow hacked into the U.S. election among other things. So what sort of retaliation does the White House have in mind? It could be economic sanctions, a counter cyber-attack, or perhaps a paper cut and lemon juice. In any event, watch for more developments and perhaps more pushback from Vladimir Putin (“Who me?”) as a result. Last gasp for theClinton campaign.Before Donald Trump can take the oath in January, a critically important detail must be taken care of this week: The 538 members of the Electoral College have to meet on Monday to officially make him the winner of the election. Unless they don’t. With Hillary Clinton’s lead in the popular vote up around three-million, Democrats have raised a hue and cry for “faithless electors” to rise up, deny the results in their own states, and hand her the White House. The odds of it happening are almost nonexistent. Still watch to see how many — if any — of them heed the call if only for form’s sake. There could still be a little drama left in this election… Holiday makeover. If you haven’t noticed yet, Team Trump has been significantly retrenching on many campaign promises. Prosecuting Clinton? Building a wall? Meh. It’s no surprise. Pretty much every politician does that. Watch the president-elect move even more quickly in that direction over the holiday season while voters are feeling particularly warm, mellow and drunk on egg nog. But also watch for some sharp complaints if he takes it too far. CNN’s Tom Foreman is the author of My Year of Running Dangerously
The Foreman Forecast: Bah, Humtrump!
Spencer Platt, Getty Images
