“Biden’s Flunky, Deranged Jack Smith, should go to HELL. He is helping his Corrupt and Incompetent President to destroy America through Weaponization and ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”
— Donald Trump, on Truth Social.
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Kanye West Apologizes in Hebrew
“The rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, issued an apology in Hebrew to the Jewish community on Tuesday for his past antisemitic remarks, saying he sought forgiveness and regretted any pain that his words had caused,” Reuters reports.
Ex-GOP Lawmaker’s Conviction Nixed
Former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) won a U.S. appeals court ruling Tuesday vacating his convictions for making false statements to federal investigators, because he was tried in the wrong place, Bloomberg Law reports.
A New Effort to Discredit the Special Counsel
Mother Jones: “It claims that Jack Smith, the special counsel who is prosecuting Trump for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and for his alleged swiping of classified documents, was part of a multimillion dollar extortion scheme when he was the chief prosecutor investigating and prosecuting war crimes in Kosovo.”
“In the past two weeks, this unsubstantiated narrative has started popping up on fringe right-wing sites and social media posts. Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser and QAnonish MAGA champion, has promoted this tale. These allegations appear to be in the early phase of the right-wing transmission belt that propels false stories and conspiracy theories from less prominent platforms to more established conservative media and toward the mainstream—often facilitated by Republican members of Congress.”
House GOP Push to Impeach Biden Has Not Gone Well
Philip Bump: “This is not how Comer’s first year running Oversight worked out. Instead of using his majority to methodically flesh out the existing allegations against the president, Comer and his allies — including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee — found themselves offering up baseless or debunked allegations to a conservative media ravenous for them. Throughout 2023, Comer, Jordan and their allies made little progress toward Comer’s stated target — but did manage to significantly erode their credibility.”
“This is most easily demonstrated by considering the slew of allegations and insinuations that Comer in particular offered as 2023 unfolded.”
A Banner Year for Third Party Candidates
NBC News: “While their chances of actually winning the White House may be tiny, the likelihood of several extra candidates on the ballot could tip a close election and will further complicate an already muddied picture of the divided American electorate.”
“That uncertainty is already troubling both parties, but especially Democrats, who worry third-party candidates could spoil the election for them as they say Green Party candidates did in 2016 and 2000, though insiders acknowledge it may be impossible to predict what happens in a five- or six-way race.”
Trump Plots a Trade War
“Former President Donald Trump is planning an aggressive expansion of his first-term efforts to upend America’s trade policies if he returns to power in 2025 — including imposing a new tax on ‘most imported goods’ that would risk alienating allies and igniting a global trade war,” the New York Times reports.
“While the Biden administration has kept tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed on China, Mr. Trump would go far beyond that and try to wrench apart the world’s two largest economies, which exchanged some $758 billion in goods and services last year. Mr. Trump has said he would ‘enact aggressive new restrictions on Chinese ownership’ of a broad range of assets in the United States, bar Americans from investing in China and phase in a complete ban on imports of key categories of Chinese-made goods like electronics, steel and pharmaceuticals.”
Playbook: “Sound familiar? In some ways it should. In his first term, Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on China sent some Republicans into a tizzy, highlighting a growing split in the party between ‘fair trade’ populists and traditional Republicans. But Trump’s new vision is far more expansive.”
Matt Gaetz Still Going After Kevin McCarthy
“Republicans are desperate to avoid nasty primaries next year. But the architect of Kevin McCarthy’s ouster from the speakership has other plans,” Politico reports.
“Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is continuing to buck party leadership, which has tried to coalesce early this cycle behind candidates in key races. Gaetz has instead thrown his support to other congressional hopefuls in several of those races, and his megaphone has already helped upend one of them.”
“The common theme among these candidates who have caught Gaetz’s attention: They’re all ultra-conservatives who are running in primaries against candidates backed by McCarthy.”
Looking Ahead to 2028
Politico: “So, who took the pivotal steps in 2023 that set them on the path to the presidency in 2028? It’s not too soon to ask, though that doesn’t make the exercise easy.”
American Spies Confront a New, Formidable China
“Beijing’s spycatchers all but blinded the U.S. in China a decade ago when they systematically rounded up a network of Chinese agents working for the CIA. As many as two dozen assets providing information to the U.S. were executed or imprisoned, among them high-ranking Chinese officials,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The CIA is still struggling to rebuild its human espionage capabilities in China, the agency’s top intelligence target, according to interviews with current and former U.S. officials. The gaps leave the U.S. with limited understanding of secret deliberations among Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his inner circle on key security issues such as Taiwan and other topics, the officials said.”
“Strengthening the human spy network targeted on China is one goal of a titanic, but mostly secret, shift at the CIA and its sister U.S. spy agencies.”
Alexey Navalny at a Russian Penal Colony
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has re-emerged at a penal colony in the Arctic Circle after 20 days of his lawyers not knowing his whereabouts and offered a Christmas message to his supporters, the BBC reports.
New Ad Escalates Claims That Trump ‘Smells’
The Lincoln Project released a new ad doubling down on allegations that former president Donald Trump smells bad, The Independent reports.
Trump Apparently Had a Miserable Christmas
CNN: “Trump raged at President Joe Biden and special counsel Jack Smith, making expansive and false claims that his attempts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election represented a vital defense of American democracy and were thus perfectly legal. In a tide of invective in block capitals on his Truth Social network, Trump escalated extreme rhetoric on immigration that has drawn comparisons to Nazi demagoguery in the 1940s and reprised his view of unlimited presidential power that has critics fearing autocracy if he wins the next election.”
“Just three weeks before voting starts in the Republican nominating race, the front-runner also underscored the extraordinary extent to which false claims about electoral fraud three years ago are still the anchor of his political project. And his tirades, at a time when Americans who celebrate Christmas gathered with loved ones and sought a moment of peace, hint at a furious state of mind and extreme denialism. These are likely to raise new concerns about his temperament and suitability to serve again as commander-in-chief and are a dark omen as to what another Trump term could bring.”
Daily Beast: Trump’s Christmas message: ‘Rot in Hell.’
The Economy Could Be Shockingly Normal in 2024
“The economy in 2024 is on track to be described with a word that hasn’t been applicable yet this decade: Normal,” Axios reports.
“The extraordinary stresses of a pandemic, inflation, war, and the onset of tight money over the last four years have created a collective sense of an economy unmoored. But there is good reason to think 2024 will give way to something less chaotic.”
“Pandemic-disrupted supply chains are pretty much righted. Inflation is already back near normal levels. Labor shortages have eased. The Federal Reserve is poised to cut interest rates next year.”
Is Climate Change Speeding Up?
“For the past several years, a small group of scientists has warned that sometime early this century, the rate of global warming — which has remained largely steady for decades — might accelerate. Temperatures could rise higher, faster. The drumbeat of weather disasters may become more insistent,” the Washington Post reports.
“And now, after what is poised to be the hottest year in recorded history, the same experts believe that it is already happening.”
How Trump Plans to Wield Power in 2025
New York Times: “Beneath these public threats is a series of plans by Mr. Trump and his allies that would upend core elements of American governance, democracy, foreign policy and the rule of law if he regains the White House.”
“Some of these themes trace back to the final period of Mr. Trump’s term in office. By that stage, his key advisers had learned how to more effectively wield power and Mr. Trump had fired officials who resisted some of his impulses and replaced them with loyalists. Then he lost the 2020 election and was cast out of power.”
“Since leaving office, Mr. Trump’s advisers and allies at a network of well-funded groups have advanced policies, created lists of potential personnel and started shaping new legal scaffolding — laying the groundwork for a second Trump presidency they hope will commence on Jan. 20, 2025.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Home ‘Swatted’ on Christmas
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) got “swatted” on Christmas, The Messenger reports.
The Georgia congresswoman announced the false 911 call in a post which was confirmed by Georgia police.
Trump Vows to Replace Obamacare
Donald Trump vowed on Christmas Day to replace the Affordable Care Act with his own “much better” alternative program, reviving his push to slash the now-popular health care option used by millions of Americans, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “Obamacare is too expensive, and otherwise, not good healthcare.”
