Playbook:

THE ESPN DOCUMENTARY ABOUT MICHAEL JORDAN and the Chicago Bulls debuts this week, and President DONALD TRUMP'S threat to adjourn Congress to push through stalled nominees reminds us of another Michael Jordan moment.

REMEMBER THOSE MCDONALD'S COMMERCIALS where Larry Bird played Jordan in H-O-R-S-E, and he'd say, "Off the floor, off the scoreboard, off the bank board, no rim"? And Jordan would reply, "Over the second rafter, off the floor, nothing but net.” https://bit.ly/1COGGL4 

THOSE SHOTS -- comically hard, stupid, but funny -- are reminiscent of TRUMP saying he will use a never-before-tried constitutional method to confirm some nominees in the middle of a pandemic.

SURE, TRUMP CAN try to adjourn the Senate to get more nominees through, but it would be exceedingly hard. TO UNDERSTAND the absolute absurdity of TRUMP'S argument, here's what would have to happen:

MCCONNELL would have to bring the Senate back, and they'd have to vote to adjourn. PELOSI would then have to bring the House back, and the House would have to amend the Senate's adjournment resolution -- essentially voting against it.

Then the Senate would have to disagree to the House's amendment. ONLY THEN can TRUMP adjourn Congress, according to experts.

-- BUT THE ODDS OF THAT are so infinitesimal they are hardly calculable. PELOSI can essentially ignore the resolution from the Senate, starving TRUMP of the disagreement he needs to adjourn unilaterally.

Ah, you say, it's privileged, and thereby gets immediate consideration? Nah. PELOSI can turn off the privilege in a rule with a simple majority vote and then she doesn't have to touch it. No disagreement, no adjournment from TRUMP.

EVEN MORE REMOTE: IF TRUMP were to somehow force adjournment, clause 12(c) of Rule I of the House Rules -- added after 9/11 -- allows PELOSI to bring the House back immediately after TRUMP adjourns. He would never have any time to recess appoint anyone

TRUMP doesn't have a whole lot to complain about when it comes to nominees. He has remade the judiciary with 193 new judges (h/t @seungminkim).

Eighty-two executive branch nominations are pending, according to the Partnership for Public Service's Political Appointee Tracker. Many are stuck in committee, which, as @hillhulse points out, means that Rs probably have issues with them.

BACK IN REALITY, THERE ARE PRESSING issues. Namely that one of the pro-forma sessions that the president is railing about is happening today, and there's no agreement on how to refill the PPP

SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP has been huddling with Treasury to try to solve the issue, raising the ire of SENATE REPUBLICANS, who keep wondering if the TRUMP ADMINISTRATION forgets that their party controls the Senate.

NEW ... A DEAL IS NOT EXPECTED before the Senate has its pro-forma session today at 3p, which means the fund seems likely to remain empty for at least the weekend, and some people believe it could be empty for even longer.

BUT: Senior White House officials say they could accept some hospital money if that's what it took to get the $251 billion in small-business funding that they've requested. Senate sources say that package could have trouble getting unanimous consent.