# Is it unusual to form a Transition Team this far ahead of the election? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 6, 2020, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980 "2020-09-06T23:52:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2020, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/1 "2020-09-06T23:52:40Z")
…or at least to talk about it publicly? Maybe I’m just more tuned in to this election cycle than usual, but I seem to recall hearing about Transition Teams only _after_ a new president has been elected. At this stage, does the Biden campaign talking about transition seem a little cocky? > **[Biden expands transition team, adding key campaign allies and top Obama-Biden...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/05/politics/joe-biden-transition-team/index.html)** > > Democratic nominee Joe Biden is expanding his transition team, adding a former presidential rival, vice presidential contenders and top Obama administration policy hands in new leadership and advisory roles. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/2 "2020-09-07T00:10:52Z")
45 started assembling his transition team in May of 2016.\* Hillary formed hers in August. [Wikipedia article about Presidential transitions.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_transition) \*Ironic, considering the abysmal participation they’re reported to have engaged. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/3 "2020-09-07T00:11:32Z")
I don’t think it’s fair or accurate to say that Biden is being “public” with it. They filed a memorandum of understanding with the White House, a required step in this process, and that’s a matter of public record. This isn’t campaigning or gamesmanship, it’s a combination of bureaucracy and and basic reporting. Is it early? Yeah, probably a bit, but this transition will be one of the most fraught we’ve ever seen. Trump’s White House is both petulant and wildly disorganized, the likelihood of them being on the ball come election day is next to nil. There’s a massive pandemic. The election results are likely to not be known on election night, and might stretch for days or weeks after. It will probably be contested. There’s few non-political people in Trump’s administration, so the number of people that will need to be staffed immediately upon inauguration will be unprecedented. In most administrations there are a lot of holdovers and career officials who span multiple administrations…Trump got rid of all those people. Don’t read too much into it. The transition team is only theoretical until the election results are in, and I think it’s probably illegal to fundraise for it until the same. So all this is a plan, nothing’s been officially formed. Biden is using the lockdown to get ahead of some things, I think that’s wise. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/4 "2020-09-07T00:29:24Z")
The best idea for the transition team is probably “employ as many members of Obama’s transition-_from_ team (ie, the people providing the transition information) from 2016 as you can find” They can go in and figure out what’s been fucked up in the last four years, and restore as much as they can manage to. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/5 "2020-09-07T00:32:54Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > At this stage, does the Biden campaign talking about transition seem a little cocky? The Presidential Transition Act requires his team to be working on it no later than September 1. If Biden-Harris wins, I suspect there will be more serious violations of the Act, by the outgoing administration, than the famous removal of W’s from keyboards in 2001. Maybe DJT had best include this Act on the list of laws on his self-pardon list. ---
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/6 "2020-09-07T02:14:22Z")
Michael Lewis’ “The Fifth Risk” covers this process, and how the current administration didn’t take it seriously, really well. I’ll be pretty surprised to learn that the current group is preparing the level of comprehensive documentation they ignored four years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/7 "2020-09-07T02:16:07Z")
According to Wikipedia, Mitt Romney established his team in June 2012 before he won the Republican nomination, and Barack Obama did his in a similar time. Donald Trump began assembling his team in May of 2016 once he became the presumptive nomine, while Hillary Clinton waited until she became the nominee in August. So Biden having a team in September is actually pretty late in the game if we look at other 21st century leaders. Following the examples of Romney and Trump, he should have actually started one in April when Bernie Sanders conceded the primary and Biden was presumed to be the Democratic nominee. ---
**Author:** ![SwissMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@SwissMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwissMan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/8 "2020-09-07T02:56:12Z")
It may be possible that Biden was inhibited in doing so due to the pandemic. But that’s just speculation on my part. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/9 "2020-09-07T03:40:49Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > So Biden having a team in September is actually pretty late in the game if we look at other 21st century leaders. Following the examples of Romney and Trump, he should have actually started one in April when Bernie Sanders conceded the primary and Biden was presumed to be the Democratic nominee. Biden has had a team of people since at least May. This latest news story is simply pointing out that he filed the paperwork on Sept 1st per the law. He’s not just now forming it. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/10 "2020-09-07T06:26:26Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > The best idea for the transition team is probably “employ as many members of Obama’s transition- _from_ team (ie, the people providing the transition information) from 2016 as you can find” > > They can go in and figure out what’s been fucked up in the last four years, and restore as much as they can manage to. That’s my thought, too. If the outgoing people are even competent, there’s a good chance they won’t be cooperative. Biden will need all the Obama people he can find. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/11 "2020-09-07T06:49:30Z")
Isn’t it a key component of putting yourself forward to run the government to provide evidence that you’ve got a team that can do the job? ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/12 "2020-09-07T09:08:05Z")
Evidently not, given the outcome of the 2016 election. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/13 "2020-09-07T09:40:06Z")
> [@mtnmatt](#): > > I’ll be pretty surprised to learn that the current group is preparing the level of comprehensive documentation they ignored four years ago. I’ll be surprised if they do anything productive at all. Why would they change course after the game is over. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/14 "2020-09-07T11:39:52Z")
> [@mtnmatt](#): > > Michael Lewis’ “The Fifth Risk” covers this process, and how the current administration didn’t take it seriously, really well I have a family member who was a moderately important person in W’s campaign, and who landed a spoils system job in his administration. She said it was incredibly orderly: W had hundreds of his own people and they were placed based on their role in the campaign, which is how it’s been for ages. When Obama was elected, she was eventually let go for one of his people. It was all super professional, and it meant that each president ends up with people who understand and support his agenda in key positions (along with a steady civil service that preserve institutional knowledge and stability). It’s a pretty good system, that works pretty well, but it’s a huge thing that takes months to set up. Trump on the other hand, had none of that. He most critically didn’t even have the hundreds of people to take on those roles, because his campaign was so irregular. More transition team more better. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/15 "2020-09-07T13:59:08Z")
My understanding is Christie had a reasonably detailed transition planned, but that was tossed out when he fell out of favor. I need to read that book. I was dealing with DOE frequently at the time but only saw a sliver of the chaos. I did read some of the chunks he published in advance in some magazine, and what I read seemed accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/16 "2020-09-07T14:33:44Z")
Clearly I didn’t know what I was talking about when I wrote the OP, so ignorance fought. Thanks for an interesting conversation! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/17 "2020-09-07T14:57:22Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > I suspect there will be more serious violations of the Act, by the outgoing administration, than the famous removal of W’s from keyboards in 2001. Was the W removal actually confirmed, or just an urban legend? I can’t remember now. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/18 "2020-09-07T14:57:46Z")
> [@mtnmatt](#): > > I’ll be pretty surprised to learn that the current group is preparing the level of comprehensive documentation they ignored four years ago. Very true, and that’s rather an understatement. The Obama administration prepared comprehensive briefing books for the incoming administration, and according to former Trump insiders most of them were never even looked at. The idea that this bunch of clowns will participate in an organized and cooperative transition is ludicrous. Trump will be ranting about the “rigged” election and is more likely to refuse to leave office than facilitate the transition. I concur that Biden will need as many former Obama people as possible. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/19 "2020-09-07T15:18:48Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Was the W removal actually confirmed, or just an urban legend? I can’t remember now. Not sure myself, but think it would be a pretty funny and harmless prank. I think the pranksters kept all the W’s and returned them. Trump is probably trying to find a corner in the Oval Office to drop a deuce in. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980/20 "2020-09-07T16:28:28Z")
If Biden actually wins, there is likely to be no cooperation from the outgoing administration. None. Their main preoccupation will be to try to make Biden fail. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-unusual-to-form-a-transition-team-this-far-ahead-of-the-election/919980.md?page=2)