Apart from a few die-hards, most people close to President Trump know the race is over — but no one wants to be the sacrificial lamb who tells him to concede, people familiar with their thinking tell me.

Why it matters: Trump's long-shot legal war, aimed at preventing him from being the first one-term president in 28 years, is being enabled by active supporters — and a lot of passive appeasement.

President Trump plans to brandish obituaries of people who supposedly voted but are dead — plus hold campaign-style rallies — in an effort to prolong his fight against apparent insurmountable election results, four Trump advisers told me during a conference call this afternoon.

What we're hearing: Obits for those who cast ballots are part of the "specific pieces of evidence" aimed at bolstering the Trump team's so-far unsupported claims of widespread voter fraud and corruption that they say led to Joe Biden’s victory.

1. Politics: Cuomo on Biden win: "The political pressure of denying COVID is gone" — Biden announcing COVID task force on Monday.
2. Health: Counties with giant caseloads went for Trump.
3. Cities: Defense Department sends medical teams to El Paso as COVID-19 cases surge.
4. World: Designing digital immunity certificates for COVID-19.

After Joe Biden whiffed with Hispanic voters in some states, Democrats are urging the president-elect to nominate several Latinos to high-profile Cabinet positions.

Among those in contention: California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for Homeland Security, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for Health and Human Services, and Rep. Filemon Vela for Commerce or Transportation.

One near-certainty about Joe Biden's Cabinet: Pete Buttigieg will be in it. Biden officials have made clear to donors and party officials the question surrounding Buttigieg is not if, but where, he lands, Democrats close to Biden tell Axios.

The intrigue: Behind that certainty, though, are a range of questions about how to put his obvious political talent to use.

King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on his projected victory in the 2020 election on Sunday, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

Why it matters: The Saudi government has been one of the Trump administration's closest allies in the world, with White House adviser Jared Kushner sharing a personal friendship with MBS. Despite pressure from Congress, President Trump stuck by MBS after he was accused of ordering the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Former President George W. Bush issued a statement on Sunday congratulating President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their election victory.

Why it matters: Every living president has now congratulated Biden and acknowledged the outcome of the election, even as President Trump refuses to concede and continues to lodge unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.

The Trump administration, in coordination with Israel and several Gulf states, is pushing a plan to slap a long string of new sanctions on Iran in the 10 weeks left until Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, two Israeli sources briefed on the effort told me.

Driving the news: The Trump administration’s envoy for Iran Elliott Abrams arrived in Israel on Sunday and met Prime Minister Netanyahu and National Security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat to discuss the sanctions plan.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said that Joe Biden's election victory could bring forth "a different tone" surrounding the coronavirus.

What he's saying: "I think you'll see a different tone now. I think you'll even see some governors start to take a different tone now that Mr. Trump is out of office. I think the political pressure of denying COVID is gone," Cuomo said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday.

A source close to Jared Kushner said he has advised President Trump to pursue "legal remedies" to the election. A second source close to Kushner confirmed he had not advised Trump to concede.

Behind the scenes: The second source said some awkward conversations were happening in the president’s orbit and that almost everyone had by now accepted reality: that Trump has lost the election. But Trump is still insisting — falsely — that he won the election, and he has several advisers, including Rudy Giuliani, egging on what most in his orbit consider a futile legal fight.

Never before has a president-elect inherited a complex set of urgent — and epic — emergencies like the ones confronting Joe Biden and America. 

Why it matters: FDR, no doubt, inherited a hot American, Depression-era mess in 1932. President-elect Biden's spoils, in some respects, are similarly rotten: a spreading pandemic, sky-high long-term unemployment, stratospheric federal debt, an outgoing president claiming the Democrat stole the election, a nation bitterly divided, and misinformation and lies spreading at scale on platforms available to every citizen for free. 

More than 12 hours after the U.S. television networks called the presidential race for Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted his congratulations to the president-elect.

Why it matters: Israel is one of the main allies of the U.S., but Netanyahu’s congratulatory tweet came long after most leaders around the world had already congratulated Biden.

Cities across the U.S. erupted in celebration and, in some cases, protest on Saturday after Joe Biden was projected to be the winner of the presidential election.

The big picture: Fireworks and honking cars could be heard in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, and street dancing was on display in New York City, Philadelphia and South Pasadena, among other cities, per AP and Twitter posts.

President-elect Joe Biden said "this is the time to heal in America" and called on the nation to come together to get the coronavirus under control, address systemic racism, confront climate change and "restore decency."

Driving the news: Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris addressed the nation Saturday night at a drive-in style rally in Wilmington, Del., hours after news networks projected Biden as the winner of the U.S. presidential election.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said Saturday that the American people chose "hope, unity, decency, science, and yes, truth" in electing Joe Biden the 46th president of the U.S.

Driving the news: Harris, 56, will become the first woman, Black American and Indian American to serve as vice president. "While I may be the first woman in this office I will not be the last," she declared.

The Trump campaign legal team is throwing everything at the wall in battleground states — a last-ditch effort to use the courts to freeze time in states where President Trump was ahead (but keep counting in key places where he appeared behind).

Why it matters: None of the legal actions was poised to change the outcome, but the effort could delegitimize the 2020 election in the eyes of millions of Trump supporters even if the final math based on legitimate counts show Joe Biden the winner.