| Get Jonathan Bernstein's newsletter every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe. This is a simple one: Forget the populist posturing. Important elected officials and key government staffers should be getting the coronavirus vaccine, and soon. That includes outgoing President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. The early word was that leaders "across all three branches of government" would be among the first to get their shots. But soon after that information was published, Trump pushed back, saying that White House staffers should get vaccinated "somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary" and that he would get his "at the appropriate time." It's not clear whether this apparent order will hold or, as is often the case with this president, be ignored once his attention turns to something else. But again, the basic principle is easy. It's not that all important people should get vaccinated first. It's that a functional government is essential to the nation's well-being. That doesn't require everyone who works in the Executive Office of the President to be first in line, but the sooner that the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court can return to normal the better. That certainly means getting elected officials their shots. It also includes key staff members going to the front of the line. After all, while many Americans may esteem rugged individualism and suspect that government is some sort of alien force that's at best a nuisance and at worst a scourge, the truth is that government is, like it or not, one of the main organizing structures of our society, playing an important role in securing the health and safety of everyone. If elected officials can't govern, then the representative relationship between government and citizens is severed. Of course, to say that government officials keep society functioning doesn't mean they're the only ones with critical jobs. It's just to say that this is no time for populist preening. Get these folks their shots. 1. Must-read from Susan D. Hyde and Elizabeth N. Saunders on Trump's threat to democracy. 2. Sarah Binder at the Monkey Cage on House Republicans and the Texas lawsuit. 3. Scott Lemieux on outgoing Attorney General Bill Barr. 4. Meredith Conroy, Anna Wiederkehr and Nathaniel Rakich on the women of the Biden administration. 5. And Brad Plumer on the climate agenda. Get Early Returns every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe. Also 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. | 
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