DONALD TRUMP will be the first president in more than 150 years not to attend his successor’s inauguration, jetting off this morning to Florida in a denialist huff about his reelection defeat. 

The Washington Post documented more than 30,000 false or misleading claims during his four years in office. One of them, of course, overshadows all others, and provided the foundation for the mob insurrection by his supporters at the US Capitol earlier this month that left five dead, including a Capitol police officer: The claim that he won reelection in “a landslide” and had the election stolen from him. 

With Trump probably anxious to hit the links later today at Mar-a-Lago, the fallout from the Capitol riot that even Mitch McConnell now says he incited is being felt in town halls and courtrooms across the country, where his most fanatical followers are now facing a reckoning over their wrecking. (Trump will face his own accounting in a looming Senate impeachment trial.) Two Massachusetts residents who went to Washington for the January 6 action — an organizer of the 2019 Straight Pride Parade in Boston and a Natick town meeting member — were arrested yesterday on charges related to the attack on the Capitol. 

A lawyer for Mark Sahady, the parade organizer, questioned what the evidence is against his client. Prosecutors’ case  against Natick town meeting member Suzanne Ianni includes a photo showing her pumping her fist inside the Capitol, which protesters illegally stormed. 

As proceedings against rioters on various federal charges play out, Trump’s final act of disruption is also forcing a broader debate over free speech issues. 

In an online forum last weekend hosted by the Ward 15 Democratic Committee in Boston, both of the announced candidates for mayor, City Councilor Andrea Campbell and City Councilor Michelle Wu, said in response to a question that, if elected, they would fire any city worker who was at the Capitol melee. Whether that would include someone who marched to the Capitol but didn’t illegally enter it was unclear. 

Meanwhile, some Democrats are saying Congress should consider expelling members who aided the rioters or whose actions or speech incited an insurrection — in violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Among those voicing such views is Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, probably the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, who said Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley may have crossed that line. 

Free speech rights under the First Amendment are generally regarded as unqualified and absolute. That we are now facing debate over whether they have been exercised by members of Congress in ways that violated another constitutional amendment is just one more bit of the detritus left behind by a president who vowed to disrupt established norms. 

On that score at least, no one will question his administration’s frequent refrain, “Promises made, promises kept.” 

MICHAEL JONAS

FROM COMMONWEALTH

Debate over whether to hold special elections gets heated and complicated with so much at stake for candidates and arguments from both sides that they’re trying to respect democratic principles.

Steve Koczela of the MassINC Polling Group says Massachusetts residents have an unusual fondness for Gov. Charlie Baker and the Legislature.

House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka take a defiant tone as they relaunch the climate change legislation that Gov. Charlie Baker vetoed from last session.

One of Gov. Charlie Baker’s top transportation appointees takes to Twitter to mourn the governor’s veto of four measures in the transportation bond bill.

Vaccination rollout expanding in Massachusetts at CVS, Walgreens, and Fenway Park.

Opinion: Paul DeBole of Lasell University says December gaming revenues show promise.

FROM AROUND THE WEB

MUNICIPAL MATTERS  

Two of three Wenham selectmen resign amid allegations that one of them engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment. (Salem News)

The Marblehead Police Department hires a private firm headed by the police chief in Winthrop to investigate allegations that a police officer carved a swastika on the car used by another officer. (Daily Item)

Hold the green beer: The St. Patrick’s Day Parade in South Boston has been cancelled for the second straight year due to the pandemic. (Boston Herald)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

The official death toll from COVID-19 tops 400,000 nationally. (NPR)

MassLive takes an in-depth look at what we know about the new strain of COVID-19. 

The state’s deliberate approach to delivering coronavirus vaccines is frustrating some older residents who are anxious to get inoculated. (Boston Globe) 

Springside Rehabilitation and Skilled Care Center in Springfield is struggling with a sharp uptick in COVID-19 cases. (Berkshire Eagle)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

The stage is set for today’s inauguration as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris prepare to be sworn in as president and vice president. (New York Times) President Trump left the White House this morning and will not attend, the first president in more than 100 years to snub his successor’s installation. (New York Times) 

With hours left in power, President Trump handed out a raft of pardons, including to Steve Bannon, who had been indicted for fleecing Trump loyalists into donating money to build the border wall Mexico was supposed to pay for and then misusing the funds. (New York Times) 

Trump officially left the White House earlier this morning, calling his tenure “the honor of a lifetime” before entering Marine One. (Associated Press)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who for weeks refused to acknowledge the election outcome, says Trump “provoked” the insurrection at the Capitol that was predicated on the idea of a stolen election, the latest sign of top Republicans looking to distance themselves from the Trump reign. (Boston Herald) 

Five Western Massachusetts veterans, part of the Massachusetts Veterans of Foreign Wars State Honor Guard, will be Massachusetts’ representatives to President-elect Joe Biden’s virtual inaugural parade. (MassLive)

A Natick town meeting member and the Malden organizer of the group Super Happy Fun America are arrested for entering the US Capitol during the Washington riots. Natick residents are looking to remove Suzanne Ianni from town meeting, but the town’s charter has no way to do it. (MassLive)

Of the 52 Cabinet and White House staff picks named thus far, 16 hail from New England, elevating the region’s level of prominence within the new administration. (USA Today Network)

ELECTIONS

Globe editorial writer Marcela Garcia says state Rep. Jon Santiago, who is also an emergency room physician at Boston Medical Center, should jump in the Boston mayor’s race. 

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Home prices are surging in Massachusetts. (Associated Press)

State Street Corp. plans to eliminate 1,200 positions in 2021. (Boston Globe) 

Cape Ann Brewery in Gloucester, hard hit by COVID-19, closes permanently after 18 years in business. (Gloucester Daily Times)

Marijuana dispensaries sue the Cannabis Control Commission over new delivery regulations. (Boston Business Journal)

EDUCATION

A coalition of school committee members from across the state urges Gov. Charlie Baker to move teachers up in the vaccination line. (Daily Hampshire Gazette) CommonWealth reported on Monday that teachers and teacher unions were making a similar pitch.

Worcester school officials are debating whether to turn on software that monitors students’ internet usage looking for signs that they are considering self-harm. (Telegram & Gazette)

TRANSPORTATION

Worcester Regional Airport might lose its JetBlue flight between Worcester and New York. (Telegram & Gazette)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

A federal panel opens the door for opponents of a Weymouth gas compressor station to have another crack at making the case against the project. (Boston Globe) 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

The FBI arrests a Watertown political scientist for posing as a neutral expert while working for the Iranian government. (MassLive)

MEDIA

Forbes launches a massive expansion of paid newsletters. (Axios)