A good week for Kamala Harris

A good week

In the face of Donald Trump’s slurs, Kamala Harris has kept things classy in the US presidential race. So it’s fitting that, with the result called in Joe Biden’s favour, she’s vice-president-elect — the first woman and black American to claim that honour. She could be pivotal in government: if Biden’s victory spurs Democrat voters in Georgia to flip two seats in a run-off, it could mean a tied Senate — with Harris casting the deciding vote. That could prevent a partisan legislative deadlock. And it’s sure to stick in Trump’s craw.

A bad week

How the mighty fall. The prosecutor who took on the New York mob and became "America’s mayor" after 9/11 now has to shrug off more than the ignominy of being Donald Trump’s lawyer. Even Rudy Giuliani’s rancorous bluster couldn’t drown the schadenfreude after a press briefing at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a gardening firm (not a hotel) between a crematorium and a sex shop. Then, the witness he produced to allege voter fraud turned out to be a convicted sex offender. A fitting denouement to Trump’s presidency.