News Information and Media Site: A 'surge superimposed on the surge' ... and is the Trump administration trying to box Biden in?

From NBC's Ben Kamisar

If it's Sunday, will Thanksgiving travel cost Americans in the fight against Covid-19?

Despite dire warnings from public health officials to stay home for the Thanksgiving holiday, air travel broke pandemic records with 6.8 million people traveling through airports in the seven days prior to Thursday.

Dr. Anthony Fauci says that could be a big problem.

"What we expect, unfortunately, as we go for the next couple of weeks into December, that we might see a surge superimposed on the surge we are already in."

—Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on "Meet the Press."

There have already been 4 million coronavirus cases reported in America in November alone, about 30 percent of the 13.3 million total cases in America so far.

Ahead of the holiday, caseloads, deaths and hospitalizations were all on the rise, according to The COVID Tracking Project.

Fauci cautioned that "it's not too late" to take initiative, and that states that have promoted mitigation methods like mask-usage and social distancing have seen their caseloads flatten in the past.

But he said that the potential exacerbation of the already troubling trends makes him concerned for the nation's hospitals, noting that he took calls from colleagues across the country as recently as Saturday night "pleading for advice" amid the "significant stresses on the hospital and health care delivery system."

Click on the photo below to watch the full interview, where Fauci discussed his thoughts on the vaccine rollout as well as his advice to President-elect Joe Biden.

Former Joint Chiefs chairman says Trump administration trying to limit Biden's options

Former Joint Chiefs Chairman and Retired Admiral Mike Mullen knows his way around presidential transitions — he stayed on between Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

And he's raising his concerns about how President Donald Trump's administration is handling this transition, arguing that while he's learned that you should "do all you can to not box in the president," the "opposite" is happening.

"It appears that the current administration is trying to lock in as many issues as possible to make it much more difficult for President-elect Biden to govern."

—Retired Admiral Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on "Meet the Press."

Click on the image below to watch the full interview.

TWEETS OF THE DAY: Must love dogs?

DATA DOWNLOAD: Trump underperformed in many counties where he held closing rallies

President Trump's supporters argued ahead of Election Day that his strong rally attendance, during a pandemic, showed the kind of enthusiasm that would help secure him another term in office.

Yet, Trump fell short. And Sunday's Data Download shows that in most cases, Trump underperformed his 2016 margins in the counties where he held rallies in the final two weeks.

It's not clear whether the rallies themselves actually helped or hurt — a classic case of correlation that's not necessarily causation.

But what is clear is that while Trump faithful hoped those rallies would juice GOP turnout enough to put the president over the edge, he fell short specifically in many of the counties he visited down the stretch.

Click on the graphic below to read more.

ICYMI: Another pro-Trump court case rejected

It's been a rough go for those making unfounded claims of widespread fraud during the presidential election, as well as for those trying to contest the election results on President Trump's behalf.

Late Saturday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dealt the effort another blow, ruling against a group of Republicans challenging the state's no-excuse mail voting.

Click on the photo below to read more about the latest decision, or here to read more on where all the lawsuits stand.