In Transition: The abrupt departure of two members of the Trump transition team indicates turmoil in forming the next White House administration.

In the second major shakeup since the election, Mike Rogers, a former Michigan congressman who was handling national security matters for Trump, resigned. Also gone is Matthew Freedman, who in his professional life advises foreign governments and companies how to do business in the US, and was an associate of the fired Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

What it all means is an exercise in Kremlinology. CNN reports that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, husband of Ivanka, is wielding major influence in the transition.

Eliot A. Cohen, a former State Department official, tweeted after speaking to Trump’s people he “changed my recommendation: stay away. They’re angry, arrogant, screaming ‘you LOST!’ Will be ugly.”

The transition is further delayed, according to the NY Times, because Trump’s new transition chief Mike Pence has yet to sign the paperwork allowing him to cooperate with the Obama administration to hand over the White House. The traditional document binds both sides to keep their mouths shut about what they learn from each other.

Trump has 4,000 political appointments to fill with people who know what they are doing by inauguration day.

It’s Political: After refusing to campaign for his party’s winning presidential candidate, House Speaker Paul Ryan was unanimously nominated to continue as Speaker in the next Congress. Ryan had been in a precarious position, refusing to back Trump and making a bet that he would lose. So far, Ryan is surviving.

Electoral College: With Hillary Clinton ahead in the popular vote by one million but not going to the White House, retiring Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer says she’s introducing a bill to get rid of the Electoral College that gave the win to Trump.

Boxer said, “The Electoral College is an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society, and it needs to change immediately. Every American should be guaranteed that their vote counts.”

Al Gore also won the popular vote and lost the electoral college. It’s disappointing for Democrats, but with Republicans in charge because they won the Electoral College, boxer’s bill is DOA.

Donald Trump tweeted, “The Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Campaigning is much different!”

Lame Duck: Speaking in Athens yesterday, President Obama said the election of Donald Trump triggered a wave of fear in the US and warned against the rise of populist and nationalist movements around the world. “We are going to have to guard against a rise in a crude sort of nationalism or ethnic identity or tribalism that is built around an us and a them,” he said. “And I will never apologize for saying that the future of humanity and the future of the world is going to be defined by what we have in common as opposed to those things that separate us and ultimately lead us into conflict.”

The Obit Page: Mose Allison, a piano player and singer/songwriter who mixed jazz and blues and inspired 1960s blues rockers, has died at age 89. His compositions were performed by Paul Butterfield and Johnny Winter, as well as country-heartbreak singer Bobbie Gentry.

Naming Rights: In what may be the first Trump family attempt to cash in on winning the White House, Ivanka Trump’s fashion company is hawking the $10,800 bracelet Trump’s daughter wore during an interview with Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes last Sunday.

It’s the family practice to stamp “Trump” on everything they touch. But after an uproar by many residents of three mid-Manhattan towers bearing the name “Trump Place,” the Chicago management company that runs the buildings announced that the name will be changed to the building addresses: 140, 160 and 180 Riverside Blvd. About 600 residents signed a petition demanding that the building management “Dump the Trump Name.” Trump doesn’t own the buildings so the residents are free to make his name disappear.

Now they just have to avoid watching and reading the news.

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