Despite the victory of Joe Biden in the presidential election, President Donald Trump is intensifying his far-fetched efforts to overturn the results in key states Biden won, an operation overseen by his attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

As this happens, America’s business community is stepping up pressure on Trump to begin the formal transition process. The Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Business Roundtable, all traditional GOP allies, say it’s time for the transition to start.

But the General Services Administration has yet to allow that process to begin.

The consequences affect a wide swath of public concerns, from national security to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has just logged its 250,000^th death in the United States.

CQ Roll Call chief correspondent Niels Lesniewski spoke with Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, about this, and that conversation is part of today’s Political Theater podcast. We also talk to senior writer Kate Ackley, who has been reporting on the pressure on the incoming Biden administration to ban lobbyists from government service, and some of the backlash that has resulted.

Show Notes:

• The Transition: The ‘traffic jam’ gets worse every day the White House delays
• A handicapper’s confession: What I got right (and wrong) about 2020
• K Street moves to counter ‘purity’ test for Biden administration
• Threat of Democratic control drives GOP in Georgia Senate runoffs
• The power of Jill Biden and the women Joe Biden trusts