Become a member to get many great benefits -- exclusive analysis, trending news, a private podcast, no ads and more!
If you're already a member, log in for the full experience.
John Glenn Is Dead
Former Sen. John Glenn (D-OH) died today at the age of 95, the Columbus Dispatch reports.
Glenn was a true American hero for his service as a combat fighter pilot and an astronaut, but he wasn’t a bad politician either. He won election to the U.S. Senate four times and ran for president in 1984.
One of his more interesting political moments was his response to Democratic primary opponent Howard Metzenbaum, who accused Glenn of never having a real job.
Quote of the Day
“I find myself embarrassed by the nature of the way in which this campaign was conducted. So much for the shining city on the hill.”
— Vice President Joe Biden, quoted by CNN.
Priebus Urged Trump to Drop Out After Video
New York Magazine: “Some Trump advisers are dismayed by Priebus’s influence because they question the Washington insider’s loyalty to the president-elect. Three sources told me that shortly after the Access Hollywood tape leaked in early October, Priebus went to Trump’s penthouse and advised the candidate to get out of the race. Priebus told Trump that if he didn’t, he ‘will go down with a worse election loss than Barry Goldwater’s.'”
Barely Half of 30-Year-Olds Earn More Than Parents
“Barely half of 30-year-olds earn more than their parents did at a similar age, a research team found, an enormous decline from the early 1970s when the incomes of nearly all offspring outpaced their parents. Even rapid economic growth won’t do much to reverse the trend,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In 1970, 92% of American 30-year-olds earned more than their parents did at a similar age, they found. In 2014, that number fell to 51%.”
Pope Compares Fake News to Eating Feces
“Pope Francis criticized the spread of fake news in graphic terms, comparing it coprophagia, according to a translation of the transcript published by the Vatican,” McClatchy reports.
“Coprophagia is the act of eating one’s own feces.”
“Francis also compared ‘disinformation’ from the media to coprophilia, or an interest in feces, often for sexual arousal.”
Texas Republican Defends Sharing Fake News
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller (R) suggested that journalists were unfair to scrutinize his habit of posting fabricated or unsupported information on social media, the Texas Tribune reports.
Said Miller: “I’m not a news organization. Y’all are holding me to the same standards as you are a news organization, and it’s just Facebook.”
He added: “If it’s thought-provoking, I’ll put it up there and let the readers decide. Everyone that reads that is grown ups. It’s like Fox News: I report, you decide if it’s true or not.”
The Bully Pulpit Is Being Used to Bully
Rick Klein: “In his month as president-elect, Donald Trump has used Tweets to blast protesters upset with his election; threaten a government contract awarded to a company opposing his agenda; falsely claim that he won the popular vote if you only count the votes of legal citizens; and attack a local union head – a private citizen – who went on television to question the accuracy of his claims of saved jobs. This isn’t crossing lines – it’s scribbling over the old ones, and redrawing the boundaries of propriety even before Trump takes office.”
“One question for those who might seek to challenge the president is how they react to this new reality. Trump won’t change – but will efforts to draw him out adjust? When a president reacts to cable news, or online chatter, the spotlight will be on not just the president but on the person or entities under attack.”
Trump Taps Puzder for Labor Secretary
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name fast-food executive Andy Puzder as labor secretary, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Puzder, chief executive of the parent company that runs Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s burger chains, “has been a vocal advocate for cutting back regulations he says have stifled growth in the restaurant industry” and “has criticized the Affordable Care Act and has argued against raising the federal minimum wage higher than $9 an hour.”
For members: Here’s Trump’s Cabinet So Far
Clinton Lost the Election In the Last Week
Join now to continue reading.
Members get exclusive analysis, bonus features and no advertising. Learn more.
Reid Warns GOP on Repealing Obamacare
Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) offers a warning to Republicans in the New York Times:
Despite the fact that your nominee lost the popular vote by nearly three million votes, your leaders have announced their intention to repeal the Affordable Care Act early in the next Congress, with no replacement. This is a dramatic misreading of your mandate. It will lead you into a quagmire that will cause pain for millions of Americans and bedevil you for the next four years.
Repealing Obamacare will take health insurance away from millions of Americans — as many as 30 million, by one recent estimate. It will raise premiums and throw health insurance markets into disarray. Public support for repeal is low, and support for repeal without a replacement is in the basement.
If you continue down this path, you will be letting your reflexive opposition to President Obama’s legacy cloud your judgment. I was in the Senate when President George W. Bush misread his mandate and sought to privatize Social Security. His administration never recovered.
Ryan Suggests Trump Is Not Corruptible
Jonathan Chait: “Ryan does say he has ‘confidence’ in Trump to avoid self-enrichment, which is a comical statement. Governments don’t run on trusting leaders to do the right thing when nobody is looking. They’re supposed to have mechanisms of accountability. And what president-elect has provided less grounds for confidence in his lack of pecuniary motive than Donald Trump? This is a man who has engaged in business with organized crime domestically, and with corrupt regimes abroad, who routinely refuses to pay money he owes, who has engaged in flagrant self-dealing, and who habitually lies about absolutely everything. If Ryan has confidence Trump would not use his power for personal gain, what possible leader would give him pause?”
Greg Sargent: The coming Trump kleptocracy
Top Clinton Aide Hits Trump Campaign Again for Racism
Jennifer Palmieri: “A good bit of the post-election analysis has centered on what our campaign should have done differently. That’s appropriate. We should think long and hard about why we lost. Trust me, we have. But it’s also important for the winners of this campaign to think long and hard about the voters who rejected them. I haven’t seen much evidence of such introspection from the Trump side. That’s concerning. I don’t know whether the Trump campaign needed to give a platform to white supremacists to win. But the campaign clearly did, and it had the effect of empowering the white-nationalist movement.”
Ohio Fades As a Bellwether State
Join now to continue reading.
Members get exclusive analysis, bonus features and no advertising. Learn more.
Lawsuit Alleges Trump Stole $6 Million from Members
A federal judge “refused yet another request” by Donald Trump to toss a 2013 lawsuit filed against his Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, the Palm Beach Post reports.
“Club members say Trump hasn’t returned an estimated $6 million to members of his country club… Trump bought the club from the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa for $5 million in 2012. When the Ritz owned it, deposits ranging from $35,000 to $210,000 were refundable. But once Trump bought the club, some club members say Trump changed the rules and refused to return their deposits.”
Liberal Mega Donors Look to Run for Governor
“In three major states with a governor’s mansion up for grabs in 2018, a big-name, politically active billionaire or multimillionaire is taking steps toward a run — donors looking to take matters into their own hands after 2016’s gutting losses,” Politico reports.
“In Florida, it’s John Morgan, a wealthy attorney who has long been one of the Democratic Party’s biggest swing-state fundraisers. In Illinois, it’s J.B. Pritzker, the businessman and philanthropist with a history of pumping cash and Chicago political support toward Hillary Clinton. And in California, it’s Tom Steyer, the hedge fund manager-turned climate activist who used the 2014 and 2016 election cycles to become one of the left’s single biggest donors, to the tune of over $140 million. And more may be on the way.”
“It’s an unexpected development that stands to inject new life into the Democratic Party — but it also exposes the lack of clear pipeline for young, rising Democrats after a series of losses, at a time when they are down to just 18 governors across the country, from 29 just eight years ago.”
Trump Uses Web of LLCs to Hide His Business Ties
“Across Mr. Trump’s business, he uses a similar web of privately held LLCs and other entities to house his assets—everything from real estate to a vintage carousel in Manhattan’s Central Park, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of hundreds of pages of his corporate filings and personal financial disclosures. Fifteen entities, for example, are used to hold his interests in two airplanes and three helicopters.”
“Unlike publicly traded companies, Delaware LLCs don’t have to publish any financial information or even disclose the identity of the owner… None of the 96 LLCs examined by the Journal appear to regularly release audited financial statements. That opacity—compounded by Mr. Trump’s decision to break with decades of precedent by declining to release his tax returns—makes it impossible to gauge the full extent of potential conflicts between his business interests and presidential role.”
Boehner Compares Trump to Teddy Roosevelt
Former House Speaker John Boehner told WCPO that Donald Trump reminds him of Teddy Roosevelt, “another guy who saw himself larger than life.”
He added: “You look at what Teddy Roosevelt did, he came in to do big things. Donald Trump isn’t there to kind of trim around the edges and occupy the White House.”
