So much for the peaceful transfer of power

Follow Us Get the newsletter This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a locked-down Capitol of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. Today's Agenda Trump's protests, peaceful and otherwise, are doing grave damage to democracy.  The Democrats' Georgia wins give Biden a chance to make real change. Hedge funds won in 2020 by following the herd. America might yet avoid a deflationary spiral. So Much for the Peaceful Transfer of Power Life is weird. Most days, not much happens. And then some days everything happens at once. Today was that second kind of day. It dawned with news that Democrats had improbably won both Senate runoff races in Georgia, giving President-elect Joe Biden's party control of both houses of Congress. We barely had time to process that earthshaking information before supporters of the outgoing (as of this writing) president, Donald Trump, stormed the Capitol building while lawmakers debated certifying Biden's victory. Egged on by Trump and meeting little police resistance, the rioters entered the Capitol and roamed freely through the halls of Congress. Lawmakers were given gas masks and hustled to safety. There was an armed standoff at the door of the House chamber, explosive devices were found near the building, and at least one person was shot. Trump eventually called in the National Guard to quell the rioting he encouraged. Robert George reminds us the original "radical Republicans" fought to secure voting rights for African Americans. Today the party's radicals seem more dedicated to the end of voting, democracy and the peaceful transfer of power.   It was by far the most troubling moment of what was already shaping up to be a grim day for the republic. Some Trump supporters in the Senate and House protested Biden's certification, a doomed effort, but one that will leave lasting scars on our democracy, Bloomberg's editorial board writes, setting the stage for such electoral slugfests to become routine. The invasion of the Capitol put the whole debate on hold, and some lawmakers bucking Biden's win, including Senator Ted Cruz, urged an end to the violence. But you can only hope the debacle made him and others reconsider their own positions, too. The wounds to the country are already grievous enough.  Democrats Ride a Slow Blue Wave Though there won't be a fully peaceful transfer of power this time, we can still hope there will be some transfer as scheduled on Jan. 20. If and when it happens, the Georgia runoff results will make life much, much easier for a President Biden. Sweeping legislation may be all but impossible, notes Jonathan Bernstein. But now Democrats can control the agenda and let Biden stock his government and fill judicial vacancies with little trouble. Biden flexed this newfound power right away by floating Merrick Garland to be his attorney general. This not only made the day extra-weird for soon-to-be Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who tried to talk his colleagues out of protesting Biden's certification. It also rewards Garland for years of patience and lets Biden fill Garland's important D.C. Circuit appeals-court seat. Most important, the experienced and respected Garland is the perfect candidate to revive a Justice Department damaged by years of Trump's politicization, writes Noah Feldman.  Full Democratic control of Congress also opens the door to far more stimulus for the economy. In the closing days of the Georgia race, Biden promised $2,000 stimulus checks if the Dems won. But such checks would just be the start, and not even the most stimulative part, of what they could do, writes John Authers. The market is right to price in reflation. Senate Democrats may not be able to overcome or do away with filibusters, but Cass Sunstein notes they can use the "reconciliation" process, which requires a simple majority, to get a whole lot done. And the Georgia victory gives Biden a chance to do much more ambitious stuff than merely print stimulus checks, write Tim O'Brien and Nir Kaissar: He can better organize the pandemic response and make the economy more fair and ready for the still-new century. For starters. Further Georgia Repercussion Reading: The end of gridlock will unlock more green spending. — Liam Denning  Tech bulls are right to worry about more regulation. — Tae Kim Do Not Congratulate: Hedge Fund Edition Like Steve Zissou, hedge funds haven't been at their best this past decade. But last year they finally struck pay dirt, with equity funds beating the S&P 500 for the first time since 2010. Unfortunately, Nir Kaissar writes, they did it by following the herd into hot tech stocks. They're rolling out of them now, and you wonder if they can repeat 2020's magic.  All in all, typical investors are still likely better off with low-cost index funds. To try to keep them from realizing this, many funds these days are jumping into Bitcoin in quest of borrowed alpha, note Lionel Laurent and Mark Gilbert. This sort of thing usually doesn't end well. The only reason we know anything about what hedge funds own is the 13F filing. But even that is 45 days late and many dollars short, writes Michelle Leder of Footnoted.com, in her first Bloomberg Opinion column. This has never been a priority for the SEC, but the public deserves more info, and Biden's SEC chair should upgrade these filings. Telltale Charts Georgia election results pushed 10-year Treasury yields past 1% for the first time since March, suggesting the U.S. might avoid a deflationary spiral after all, writes Brian Chappatta. Further Reading The EU is too slow to approve vaccines and get shots in people's arms. — Ferdinando Giugliano  Boris Johnson is right to set aggressive vaccination goals, but he must do more to meet them. — Therese Raphael  America had similar trouble rolling out the polio vaccine. — Joe Nocera  We need a global carbon club to tackle warming and avoid free riders. — Andreas Kluth China's tycoon death sentence warns others not to play fast and loose with the country's precarious finances. — Shuli Ren  The pandemic has turned restaurants into community organizers and social safety nets. — Amanda Little  ICYMI Elon Musk is nearly the world's richest person. The NYSE un-reversed its plan to delist Chinese firms. Happy 20th anniversary to the Xbox. Kickers Only 20 startups that have gone public were founded by women. (h/t Nicole Torres) Now dogs can parachute safely. (h/t Ellen Kominers) How the placenta evolved from an ancient virus. A black hole is missing.  Note: Please send the National Guard 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