The Commentariat -- Nov. 19, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Julie Pace & Jonathan Lamire of the AP: "... Donald Trump is filling his Twitter feed like the campaigner of old even while racing to fill senior positions in his administration. Trump was meeting Saturday with one of his sharpest Republican critics of the campaign, 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, at Trump's golf club in New Jersey, and on Sunday with two leading supporters, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. During the campaign, Romney called Trump a 'con man' and a 'fraud,' while Trump repeatedly called Romney a 'loser.' But first came a tweetstorm.... [Trump] rushed to the defense of Mike Pence on Saturday after 'Hamilton' actor Brandon Victor Dixon challenged the incoming vice president from the Broadway stage.... [See story below.] Trump also bragged on Twitter about agreeing to settle a trio of lawsuits against Trump University, claiming: 'The ONLY bad thing about winning the presidency is that I did not have the time to go through a long but winning trial on Trump U. Too bad!'" -- CW ...

     ... Update. Michael Schmidt & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump met with Mr. Romney for about an hour and a half. Afterward, both men exited the clubhouse and shook hands for the cameras. 'Went great,' Mr. Trump said, cupping his hands at his mouth to project his voice. Mr. Romney then briefly addressed reporters, declining to say whether he was interested in a cabinet position. 'We had a far-reaching conversation with regard to the various theaters of the world with interest to the United States of real significance,' Mr. Romney said.... Mr. Romney did not answer reporters' questions about whether he had apologized to Mr. Trump for his criticism of him during the campaign." -- CW

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The heads of the Pentagon and the nation's intelligence community have recommended to President Obama that the director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, be removed. The recommendation, delivered to the White House last month, was made by Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr.... Action has been delayed, some administration officials said, because relieving Rogers of his duties is tied to another controversial recommendation: to create separate chains of command at the NSA and the military's cyberwarfare unit, a recommendation by Clapper and Carter that has been stalled because of other issues." -- CW

*****

Melissa Eddy & Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "President Obama and several European leaders 'unanimously agreed' on Friday to keep sanctions in place against Russia for its intervention in Ukraine, amid concern that ... Donald J. Trump would soften the United States' stance against Moscow. The show of solidarity came as American allies -- and Ukrainians themselves — have been unsettled by uncertainty regarding what kind of foreign policy Mr. Trump will pursue. With surging populist movements straining alliances and Mr. Trump's election upending the political calculations of many countries, Ukraine may be among the most vulnerable to the shifting political winds. Fighting in Ukraine has continued since Moscow stealthily fomented an uprising among ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine with the help of undercover Russian forces, and then annexed Crimea in March 2014." -- CW

Oliver Milman of the Guardian: "Barack Obama's administration has ruled out drilling for oil and gas in the pristine Arctic Ocean, throwing up a last-ditch barrier to the pro-fossil fuels agenda of ... Donald Trump. The US Department of the Interior said that the 'fragile and unique' Arctic ecosystem would face 'significant risks' if drilling were allowed in the Chukchi or Beaufort Seas, which lie off Alaska. It added that the high costs of exploration, combined with a low oil price, would probably deter fossil fuel companies anyway....The move, announced as part of the federal government's land and ocean leasing program..., will run from 2017 to 2022...." -- CW

... CW: President Obama had a chance to learn a new word while he was in Greece: "kakistocracy." (See Jamelle Bouie's post, linked below.) If he's learned it, he isn't acknowledging it. BTW, I wonder what "the greatest orator" would say when standing in front of the Parthenon: maybe "What a yuuuge pile of rubble. Sad. I would tear this down & build a great Trump resort. I'll make Greece great again. Call Ivanka." ...

You have probably the greatest orator since William Jennings Bryan.... -- Steve Bannon, describing a man who cannot speak in complete sentences, and -- other than occasional double-entendre vulgarities -- does not use words or concepts unfamiliar to a fifth-grader

Forget Martin Luther King, Jr., forget John Kennedy, forget Mario Cuomo, forget Barack Obama. My concept of what is crazy is already changing in the Age of Trump. Clearly, Bannon is able to function in a highly-effective way, but he's still crazy. -- Constant Weader

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump moved quickly on Friday to begin filling national security posts at the top echelons of his administration, announcing that he had tapped a group of hawks and conservative loyalists who reflect the hard-line views that defined his presidential campaign." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Fanatics to Run National Security Ops. Washington Post Editors: "AMERICANS WHO hope that ... Donald Trump will not upend long-standing U.S. alliances or embrace counterterrorism policies that violate civil liberties and human rights have reason to be disturbed by his first national security appointments. The choices of retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn as national security adviser and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) as director of the CIA could presage a harsh and counterproductive U.S. approach to the Muslim world, a dangerous turn toward Russia and the reembrace of tactics for handling terrorism suspects that violate international law.... Mr. Flynn has attracted attention with his rhetorical assaults on Islam and Muslims.... Mr. Pompeo, who has an impressive academic, military and business record, is known as one of the more fanatical purveyors of conspiracy theories about the 2011 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, and Hillary Clinton's alleged responsibility." -- CW ...

... Trump Fulfilling Campaign Promise to Be Worst President in 150 Years. Matt Apuzzo & Mark Landler of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's remarkable appointments on Friday served notice that he not only intends to reverse eight years of liberal domestic policies but also overturn decades of bipartisan consensus on the United States' proper role in world affairs. Mr. Trump moved unapologetically to realize his campaign's vision of a nation that relentlessly enforces immigration laws; views Muslims with deep suspicion; aggressively enforces drug laws; second-guesses post-World War II alliances; and sends suspected terrorists to Guantánamo Bay or C.I.A. prisons to be interrogated with methods that have been banned as torture.... The reaction from Democrats was immediate and angry. 'The president-elect has created a White House leadership that embodies the most divisive rhetoric of his campaign,' Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon said on Friday. 'To the extent that these become policies or legislative proposals, I commit to stopping them.'" -- CW

... David Smith, et al., of the Guardian: "Rights activists have condemned Donald Trump for three cabinet appointments they say could 'undo decades of progress' towards racial equality and effectively legitimise the use of torture.... The hawkish trio have made inflammatory statements about race relations, immigration, Islam and the use of torture, and signal a provocative shift of the national security apparatus to the right. For liberals they appeared to confirm some of their darkest fears about the incoming Trump administration." -- CW ...

"Team of Racists." Jonathan Chait: Trump's "early staffing choices are redefining the boundaries of acceptable racial discourse in Republican politics." But the ultra-racists on the Trump team & less-racist fiscal confederates are accommodating each other. Steve "Bannon is less obsessed with cutting the top tax rate, deregulating Wall Street, and reducing social spending than the traditional GOP is, but he does not oppose these policies, either. That generalized agreement, or lack of disagreement, is the reason it is possible for white-identity conservatives and libertarian conservatives to work together under unified Republican government. Paul Ryan may not like racism -- indeed, he conceded that Trump had made the 'textbook definition' of a racist comment -- but he is willing to work with racists to gut the welfare and regulatory states." -- CW

... Kakistocracy = "Government by the Worst Men." Jamelle Bouie: "Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump said he would hire 'the best people' to staff his administration.... If 'best people' means the hangers-on of the Trump campaign -- the white nationalists, petty authoritarians, and conspiracy-mongers -- then we're on target.... Thus far, to staff his administration, Trump has chosen a white nationalist provocateur; an anti-Muslim conspiracy-monger; and an apologist for a regressive, anti-black politics (and this is before we get to potential appointee Rudy Giuliani, who embodies many of Flynn's and Sessions' worst qualities). These are 'the worst people,' yes. But they also represent a coherent ideology and perspective: white nationalism. The thread that ties Bannon's alt-right advocacy to Flynn's clash-of-civilizations worldview to Sessions' skeptical eye toward civil rights enforcement is a belief in the political and cultural dominance of white Americans.... This is what Trump campaigned on.... And millions of Americans either wanted it or were willing to look past it." -- CW ...

... Adele Stan of the American Prospect: "A frightening array of Islamophobes, xenophobes, homophobes, racists, and misogynists is assembling around ... Trump, normalizing the language and actions of hatred." -- CW ...

... CW: It's worth noting that what this particular basket of deplorables will not do is directly impinge upon the rights of Trump's base voters. The rubes won't care about -- or will support -- the administration's abuse of Muslims, undocumented immigrants, blacks and other racial minorities. The only incursion into TrumpLand might be, say, Sessions' refusing to enforce gender-equality laws, but a lot of Trumpbots would be cool with that, too.

... Sari Horwitz & Ellen Nakashima: "The appointment of [Sen. Jeff] Sessions [Con.-Ala.] is expected to bring sweeping changes to the way the Justice Department operated under Loretta E. Lynch and her predecessor, Eric H. Holder Jr., who, when he was nominated to be the first black attorney general, pledged to make rebuilding the Civil Rights Division his top priority.... 'Given some of his past statements and his staunch opposition to immigration reform, I am very concerned about what he would do with the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice and I want to hear what he has to say,' [Sen. Chuck] Schumer [D-N.Y.] said.A former aide to Sessions said that, as attorney general, he will make national security and fighting terrorism a top priority." CW Translation: Muslim registry. sí; civil rights, adios. ...

... Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Democrats are pledging to fight Sen. Jeff Sessions's nomination to be attorney general, arguing the pick feeds into larger concerns they have about the Trump administration. Democrats are raising questions about whether the Alabama Republican would be able to provide equal protection to all Americans, three decades after Sessions was blocked from a federal judgeship because of racism accusations that surfaced during his confirmation hearing. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Friday called for ... Donald Trump to rescind Sessions's nomination. 'If he refuses, then it will fall to the Senate to exercise fundamental moral leadership for our nation and all of its people,' she said." -- CW ...

... ** Ari Berman of the Nation: " Like the Confederate general he is named after, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III has long been a leading voice for the Old South and the conservative white backlash vote Trump courted throughout his campaign. Sessions, as a US senator from Alabama, has been the fiercest opponent in the Senate of immigration reform, a centerpiece of Trump's agenda, and has a long history of opposition to civil rights, dating back to his days as a US Attorney in Alabama...." -- CW ...

... Ed Kilgore: "For manifold reasons of background and ideology (and maybe some score-settling for the scuttling of his nomination 30 years ago as a federal judge), Jeff Sessions as attorney general is a nightmare come to life for people who care about the enforcement of civil rights and voting rights.... There's one issue, however, where Sessions's evident lack of sympathy for minority Americans and his passion for the war on drugs comes together in an especially destructive way: criminal-justice reform.... With Jeff Sessions -- a man who in almost every respect is still living in the 1980s, if not some earlier decades of U.S. and Alabama history -- at the top of the law enforcement machinery of the federal government, criminal-justice reform in Washington (though perhaps not in the states) is probably dead for the foreseeable future." -- CW ...

... New York Times Editors: "Donald Trump ran a presidential campaign that stoked white racial resentment. His choice for attorney general -- which, like his other early choices, has been praised by white supremacists -- embodies that worldview. We expect today's senators, like their predecessors in 1986, to examine Mr. Sessions's views and record with bipartisan rigor. If they do, it is hard to imagine that they will endorse a man once rejected for a low-level judgeship to safeguard justice for all Americans as attorney general." -- CW ...

... Mark Mazzetti & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has selected Representative Mike Pompeo, a hawkish Republican from Kansas and a former Army officer, to lead the C.I.A., his transition team said Friday. Mr. Pompeo, who has served for three terms in Congress and is a member of the House Intelligence Committee, gained prominence for his role in the congressional investigation into the 2012 attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. He was a sharp critic of Hillary Clinton on the committee." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Back to the Dark Ages. Jennifer Williams of Vox: "... Rep. Mike Pompeo ... [is] a hawkish lawmaker who favors brutally interrogating detainees and expanding the American prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.... Pompeo's hawkish stance toward Russia, on the other hand, could be a major source of tension between him and [Trump]..., who, along [with] Flynn, seeks to develop closer ties with Russia.... Given both Trump and Pompeo's statements about terrorism and Guantanamo..., it's entirely possible that the CIA under the Trump administration may pivot back toward a policy of detaining and potentially even torturing suspected terrorists once again. In other words, the CIA could be heading back toward a time that many Americans -- including some within the CIA itself -- believed to be some of the darkest days in CIA, and American, history." -- CW

... Fred Kaplan of Slate: "Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn has been called 'the best intelligence officer of his generation' and an 'abusive,' 'erratic' 'right-wing nut.' There's truth to both sides of this story. In any case, he seems an unpromising choice for the next president's national security adviser.... Many outside critics have denounced Flynn's remarks on Islam as racist, but intelligence officers are at least as disturbed by his analytical shallowness.... Trump seriously needs a strategic educator -- he appears to know nothing about foreign policy, the military, or national security broadly speaking -- but Flynn's shortcomings are also severe, and his main qualification, as far as we've seen, is that he reinforces, and as a retired general legitimizes, Trump's prejudices about Muslims and his oversimplified view of the terrorist threat." -- CW ...

... New York Times Editors: "Of all the disturbing scenes in the presidential campaign, the Republican Convention speech by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn stood out. During a fiery address in which he lamented the decline of American exceptionalism and lambasted the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, General Flynn joined the crowd in chants of 'lock her up!' Smiling slyly, he shouted: 'Yeah, that's right, lock her up!' It was grotesque, but not entirely surprising for a military intelligence veteran who has earned a reputation for hotheadedness and poor judgment. Americans of all political backgrounds should be alarmed that General Flynn will be ... Donald Trump's national security adviser. It's likely, given his record, that he will encourage Mr. Trump's worst impulses, fuel suspicions of Muslims and bring to the job conflicts of interest from his international consulting work." -- CW ...

... "A Daily Stormer Dream Team." Laurel Raymond of Think Progress: "White nationalists  --  who have long admired Sen. Sessions for his hard-line immigration policies --  quickly voiced their approval [of his nomination]. Even before Sessions was officially named as Attorney General, the Daily Stormer, a white supremacist, neo-Nazi news site, reported happily that he was being promoted to a better role.... [Andrew] Anglin[, the Daily Stormer founder,] was even more jubilant following news of Sessions' selection as Attorney General and retired General Michael Flynn's appointment as National Security Advisor.... In an article titled 'It's like Christmas,' Anglin wrote 'honestly, I didn't even expect this to all come together so beautifully. It's like we're going to get absolutely everything we wanted.... Basically, we are looking at a Daily Stormer Dream Team in the Trump administration.'" -- CW ...

Andrew Restuccia & Isaac Arnsdorf of Politico: "At least three lobbyists have left ... Donald Trump's presidential transition operation after the team imposed a new ethics policy that would have required them to drop all their clients. CGCN's Michael Catanzaro, who was responsible for energy independence; Michael Torrey, who was running the handoff at the Department of Agriculture; and Michael McKenna of MWR Strategies, who was focused on the Energy Department, are no longer part of the transition.... Lobbyists who piled into the transition when it was being run by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were caught off-guard Wednesday by a new ethics policy requiring them to terminate their clients." ...

     ... CW: So the "new rule," imposed by mike pence, was not about ethics (and who thought it was?) but about getting rid of the rest of Christie's team. BUT ...

... Catherine Ho of the Washington Post: "A Trump spokesman said earlier this week that ... Mike Pence and transition executive director Rick Dearborn were 'making good on ... Trump's promise that we;re not going to have any lobbyists involved with the transition efforts.' But some lobbyists remain involved in the transition operation and others are advising as informal consultants, two people with knowledge of transition planning said." -- CW

Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump, who has repeatedly bragged he never settles lawsuits despite a long history of doing so, is nearing a deal to end the fraud cases pending against his defunct real estate seminar program, Trump University, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. If finalized, the settlement would eliminate the possibility that Trump would be called to testify in court in the midst of his presidential transition. A deal would end three suits against him, including a California class action case that was scheduled to go to trial later this month, as well as a second suit in that state and one brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     .... Update: Steve Eder of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump has reversed course and agreed to pay $25 million to settle a series of lawsuits stemming from his defunct for-profit education venture, Trump University, finally putting to rest fraud allegations by former students, which have dogged him for years and hampered his presidential campaign. The settlement was announced by the New York attorney general on Friday, just 10 days before one of the cases, a federal class-action lawsuit in San Diego, was set to be heard by a jury. The deal, if approved, averts a potentially embarrassing and highly unusual predicament: a president-elect on trial, and possibly even taking the stand in his own defense, while scrambling to build his incoming administration. It was a remarkable concession from a real estate mogul who derides legal settlements and has mocked fellow businessmen who agree to them." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Nick Tabor of New York: "In a way, Trump University is a simulacrum of Trump's presidential campaign. Both relied on direct appeals to the downtrodden, especially people without much education. In both settings, Trump claimed he was acting in the public interest. (Because, after all, he's a billionaire! What could he have wanted with their money, or with political office?) And both trafficked in suggestions that Trump was their personal ally against the economic forces that had beaten them down. His rhetoric, when the New York attorney general sued him, was especially telling: He claimed that [AG Eric] Schneiderman let 'Wall Street rape everybody.' It was as though he'd forgotten about those advertisements that touted Trump University's Manhattan address as a symbol of its prestige. 'Other people don't have anyone to call,' they said. 'But you've got Trump. You'll call 40 Wall Street and they'll walk you through.'" -- CW

U.S. to Become Trump Enterprises Subsidiary. Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "The potential for conflicts of interest between ... Donald J. Trump and his family's business ventures emerged again Thursday evening, when a photograph was distributed that showed his daughter Ivanka at a meeting between Mr. Trump and the prime minister of Japan. News reporters were not allowed to attend the session, Mr. Trump's first with a foreign head of state, and no summary was provided about what was discussed. A separate photograph was distributed -- press photographers were not allowed to cover the event -- showing that Jared Kushner, Ms. Trump's husband, was present for at least part of the gathering.... Ms. Trump will be among the members of the president-elect's family who will be placed in charge of Mr. Trump's business enterprises, which include an international chain of hotels.... She serves as vice president for development and acquisitions at the Trump Organization, and the company's website says one of her 'primary focuses has been to bring the Trump Hotel brand to global markets.'" -- CW ...

... Trevor Potter, a Republican, in the Washington Post, on "how President Trump could use the White House to enrich himself and his family.... Trump says he plans to continue to personally own the Trump Organization..., but three of his adult children will operate the firm while he's in office. This is a colossal mistake.... The Trump Organization already does business in corrupt one-party countries such as Azerbaijan, and his children have been traveling to the Middle East looking for deals. The press has devoted significant resources to reporting on the company's& ties to Russian oligarchs.... The founders ... were greatly concerned about foreign attempts to influence our government..., so they wrote into the Constitution the emoluments clause, which prohibits the president from receiving any personal financial benefit from a foreign government." -- CW ...

... CW: Potter cites several ways Trump could benefit financially from foreign entanglements, including ways that he does not initiate himself. Here's a minor example:

... Jonathan O'Connell & Mary Jordan of the Washington Post: "Back when many expected Trump to lose the election, speculation was rife that business would suffer at the hotels, condos and golf courses that bear his name. Now, those venues offer the prospect of something else: a chance to curry favor or access with the next president. Perhaps nowhere is that possibility more obvious than Trump's newly renovated hotel a few blocks from the White House, on Pennsylvania Avenue. Rooms sold out quickly for the inauguration, many for five-night minimums priced at five times the normal rate, according to the hotel's manager." -- CW ...

... Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's ... phones became jammed most of Friday after several Facebook posts calling for an investigation into ... Donald Trump's finances started to go viral. The messages urged readers to call the panel to 'support the call for a bipartisan review of Trump's financials and apparent conflicts of interest.'" -- CW

Eric Levitz of New York on "All the Terrifying Things That Donald Trump Did This Week." New York magazine will make this a weekly feature. CW: Unfortunately, the writers won't want for copy.

Brooke Seipel of the Hill: "... Mike Pence took a break from his work as head of Donald Trump's transition efforts to go see the hit Broadway musical 'Hamilton' Friday night in New York, but received some boos from the audience.... At the end of the show, one of the actors asked Pence not to leave the theater before he could read a statement from the cast. 'Vice President-elect Pence, we welcome you and we truly thank you for joining us at "Hamilton: An American Musical,'" Brandon Victor Dixon said. 'We are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. We hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and work on behalf of all of us.'" -- CW ...

     ... Update. Elliot Smilowitz of the Hill: "... Donald Trump on Saturday morning lamented that ... Mike Pence was 'harassed' by the cast of the Broadway hit 'Hamilton' a night earlier. 'Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing. This should not happen!' Trump tweeted. 'The Theater must always be a safe and special place.The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!' he added moments later." CW: Boo-fucking-hoo. ...

     ... Update 2. Elliot Smilowitz: "An actor from ... 'Hamilton' is responding to ... Donald Trump's claim that the show's cast 'harassed' ... Mike Pence.... 'Conversation is not harassment sir,' accord Brandon Victor Dixon replied in a tweet. 'And I appreciate @mike_pence for stopping to listen.'" -- CW: Sorry, Mr. Dixon. In TrumpWorld, any implication that you disagree with Trump on any point is harassment. Right now, that premise is ridiculous. If Trump enforces his worldview, it won't be funny at all.

Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "For a brief moment, after a white supremacist carried out a massacre of black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., it seemed as though the Confederate battle flag ... might soon be on its way out of the American political arena. But now that explosive and complicated vestige of the Old South is back, in a new -- and, to some Americans, newly disturbing -- context. During ... Donald J. Trump's campaign, followers drawn to his rallies occasionally displayed the flag and other Confederate iconography. Since the election, his supporters and others have displayed the flag as a kind of rejoinder to anti-Trump protesters in places such as Durango, Colo.; St. Petersburg, Fla.; Hampton, Va.; Fort Worth; and Traverse City, Mich.... these incidents, and hundreds of reports of insults and threats directed at minorities and others, are forcing Americans to confront vexing questions about the future of race relations under Mr. Trump and the extent to which his campaign has animated white resentment and even a budding white nationalism." -- CW

They Call Him "El Malo." Joshua Partlow & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "By winning the election, Trump may have inadvertently made his job even harder. His plans have become a selling point for the smugglers urging people to cross the border before a wall goes up, according to migrants and officials in the United States and Mexico.... So many families have arrived in recent weeks that U.S. authorities announced last weekend that they are sending 150 agents to shore up this portion of border in the Rio Grande Valley." -- CW

Kevin Robillard & Elana Schor of Politico: "Maryland Sen.-elect Chris Van Hollen will chair the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the next election cycle, putting the newly elected senator on the front lines of the Democratic Party's fight to keep hold of Senate seats in heavily Republican territory in 2018. Van Hollen ... is considered one of the Democratic party's top strategists." -- CW

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, in the New Yorker: "Last year, when I spoke at a National Press Foundation event honoring Gwen [Ifill], I recalled the words of Viola Davis when she became, just a few weeks earlier, the first black woman to be awarded an Emmy for best actress in a drama. She began by paraphrasing a quote from Harriet Tubman. 'In my mind I see a line,' Davis said. 'And, over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me over that line. But I can't seem to get there no how. I can't seem to get over that line.' She went on to say, 'The only thing that separates women of color from anyone is opportunity.' Gwen not only got over that line but added color to the outstretched arms waiting in the green fields of our profession, encouraging other women of color to follow in her footsteps. And sometimes, even when there is opportunity, those who seize it -- gratefully and productively -- still meet resistance." -- CW

     ... "Tess Rafferty is a TV writer, comic and author." Thanks to Lisa for the link.

Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "The Zika virus that has spread to more than 50 countries is no longer considered an international public health emergency, the World Health Organization declared Friday. But the change in designation does not represent a downgrading of Zika's importance, officials said." -- CW

Gubernatorial Election

Alan Blinder & Michael Wines of the New York Times: "Scrambling to save the incumbent governor [of North Carolina], Pat McCrory, Republicans said they were pursuing protests in about half of North Carolina's 100 counties, alleging that fraud and technical troubles had pushed the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Roy Cooper, to a statewide lead of more than 6,500 votes. But Republican-controlled county elections boards, including one here in vote-rich Durham County, turned back some of the challenges on Friday. The legal and political jockeying raised the specter of a recount, and it could ultimately climax in a political wild card: Mr. McCrory using a state law to contest the election in the state's Republican-dominated General Assembly." -- CW

The Commentariat -- Nov. 18, 2016

The nonsuburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking around for a strongman to vote for -- someone willing to assure them that, once he is elected, the smug bureaucrats, tricky lawyers, overpaid bond salesmen, and postmodernist professors will no longer be calling the shots.... One thing that is very likely to happen is that the gains made in the past forty years by black and brown Americans, and by homosexuals, will be wiped out. Jocular contempt for women will come back into fashion.... All the resentment which badly educated Americans feel about having their manners dictated to them by college graduates will find an outlet. -- Richard Rorty, 1998

Afternoon Update:

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump moved quickly on Friday to begin filling national security posts at the top echelons of his administration, announcing that he had tapped a group of hawks and conservative loyalists who reflect the hard-line views that defined his presidential campaign." -- CW

Mark Mazzetti & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has selected Representative Mike Pompeo, a hawkish Republican from Kansas and a former Army officer, to lead the C.I.A., his transition team said Friday. Mr. Pompeo, who has served for three terms in Congress and is a member of the House Intelligence Committee, gained prominence for his role in the congressional investigation into the 2012 attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. He was a sharp critic of Hillary Clinton on the committee." -- CW

Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump, who has repeatedly bragged he never settles lawsuits despite a long history of doing so, is nearing a deal to end the fraud cases pending against his defunct real estate seminar program, Trump University, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. If finalized, the settlement would eliminate the possibility that Trump would be called to testify in court in the midst of his presidential transition. A deal would end three suits against him, including a California class action case that was scheduled to go to trial later this month, as well as a second suit in that state and one brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman." -- CW ...

     .... Update: Steve Eder of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump has reversed course and agreed to pay $25 million to settle a series of lawsuits stemming from his defunct for-profit education venture, Trump University, finally putting to rest fraud allegations by former students, which have dogged him for years and hampered his presidential campaign. The settlement was announced by the New York attorney general on Friday, just 10 days before one of the cases, a federal class-action lawsuit in San Diego, was set to be heard by a jury. The deal, if approved, averts a potentially embarrassing and highly unusual predicament: a president-elect on trial, and possibly even taking the stand in his own defense, while scrambling to build his incoming administration. It was a remarkable concession from a real estate mogul who derides legal settlements and has mocked fellow businessmen who agree to them." -- CW

*****

Gardiner Harris & Melissa Eddy of the New York Times: "In his strongest public comments since the election, President Obama on Thursday sharply criticized the spread of fake news online and said that ... Donald J. Trump would not remain in office for long if he failed to take the job seriously. Mr. Obama made his remarks at a news conference in Berlin beside the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, one of his closest allies on the Continent.... Ms. Merkel was unusually sentimental. 'It is hard to say goodbye,' she said. But instead of basking in the glow of what was supposed to be his valedictory tour of Europe, Mr. Obama used the moment to make a passionate and pointed attack on bogus news stories disseminated on Facebook and other social media platforms, twice calling such false reports a threat to democracy in his hourlong news conference." -- CW ...

... Anthony Faoila & David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Obama wrapped up his final visit to Europe on Thursday by issuing a plaintive warning to Western democracies not to 'take for granted our system of government and our way of life' as he prepares to relinquish the international stage to his successor, President-elect Donald J. Trump. 'Democracy is hard work,' Obama said at a news conference after meeting [in Berlin] with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one of his closest international partners." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Get Used to It, Donald. Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Obama won't try to call off protests against Donald Trump, he said Thursday, ignoring pleas from ... [Trump's] advisers to denounce the nationwide demonstrations. 'I would not advise people who feel strongly or are concerned about some of the issues that have been raised over the course of the campaign, I would not advise them to be silent,' Obama said during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Obama said protests are just something Trump would have to get used to as the leader of the free world." -- CW ...

David Remnick of the New Yorker followed President Obama around on the last days of the campaign, election night, and also spoke with Obama a couple of times after the election. Quite a good read, tho Remnick acknowledges that the President is too politic to say what he really thinks.

Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said Thursday that he has submitted his letter of resignation to President Obama, cementing his long-declared plan to leave his job as the nation's spy chief when a new president is sworn in. 'I submitted my letter of resignation last night, which felt pretty good,' Clapper said in testimony Thursday morning before the House Intelligence Committee. 'I have 64 days left and I would have a hard time with my wife for anything past that.' U.S. officials emphasized that Clapper's resignation was unrelated to the election victory of Donald Trump, who has publicly dismissed the work of U.S. spy agencies on critical issues, including Russia's interference in the election and Moscow's involvement in the war in Syria." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Shane Goldmacher & Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "Donald Trump's team has brought a semblance of stability to a transition operation that has weathered days of reports of infighting, as the president-elect also began offering olive branches to his former Republicans critics, including announcing plans to meet with 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney. They held conference calls. They announced visitors to Trump Tower. They revealed that Trump 'landing teams' will soon descend on top agencies, including the Department of Defense. They provided a list of world leaders with whom ... [Trump] has spoken. They established a basic flow of basic information for the first time. And by late Thursday, the State Department and Pentagon revealed that they'd been in touch with Trump's team for the first time." -- CW ...

... Nancy Cook of Politico: "The Trump transition team filed the last pieces of necessary paperwork late Thursday afternoon that enables it to start receiving briefings and go into federal agencies.... Mike Pence signed the [Memorandum of Understanding] as did the White House chief-of-staff Denis McDonough. A huge part [of the] agreement is ensuring the confidentiality of government secrets and processes." -- CW

He'll be a real general now.Eric Lichtblau, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has selected Senator Jeff Sessions, a conservative from Alabama who became a close adviser after endorsing him early in his campaign, to be the attorney general of the United States, according to officials close to the transition.... Mr. Sessions, a former prosecutor elected to the Senate in 1996, serves on the Judiciary Committee and has opposed immigration reform as well as bipartisan proposals to cut mandatory minimum prison sentences.... While serving as a United States prosecutor in Alabama, Mr. Sessions was nominated in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan for a federal judgeship. But his nomination was rejected by the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee because of racially charged comments and actions. At that time, he was one of two judicial nominees whose selections were halted by the panel in nearly 50 years." -- CW

"Dr. Strangelove" Lives! (Only the Enemy Is Different.) Matthew Rosenberg & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has offered the post of national security adviser to Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, potentially putting a retired intelligence officer who believes Islamist militancy poses an existential threat in one of the most powerful roles in shaping military and foreign policy.... Mr. Trump and General Flynn both ... post on Twitter often about their own successes, and they have both at times crossed the line into outright Islamophobia. They also both exhibit a loose relationship with facts: General Flynn, for instance, has said that Shariah, or Islamic law, is spreading in the United States (it is not). His dubious assertions are so common that when he ran the Defense Intelligence Agency, subordinates came up with a name for the phenomenon: They called them 'Flynn facts.'... He would enter the White House with significant baggage. The Flynn Intel Group, a consulting firm he founded after he was fired by President Obama as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, has hazy business ties to Middle Eastern countries and has appeared to lobby for the Turkish government. General Flynn also took a paid speaking engagement last year with Russia Today...." The post does not require Senate confirmation. CW: Kubrick warned us about this. ...

... Greg Miller of the Washington Post profiles Flynn. Here's an excerpt: "... Flynn has also shown an erratic streak since leaving government that is likely to make his elevation disconcerting even to the flag officers and senior intelligence officials who once considered him a peer. Flynn stunned former colleagues when he traveled to Moscow last year to appear alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a lavish gala for the Kremlin-run propaganda channel RT, a trip Flynn admitted he was paid to make and defended by saying he saw no distinction between RT and U.S. news channels such as CNN." -- CW

... Katie Little of CNBC: "President-elect Donald Trump has offered the top Central Intelligence Agency post to Rep. Mike Pompeo, who has accepted, NBC News reported on Friday." CW: Pompeo originally supported Rubio but switched to Trump as Trump racked up primary wins. Guardian: "As a congressional candidate in 2010, Pompeo had to personally apologise for a tweet his campaign sent out promoting an article that called his opponent Raj Goyle, an Indian-American Democrat, a 'turban topper' who 'could be a muslim, a hindy, a buddhist etc who knows'. His campaign also put up billboard ads encouraging people in the area to 'vote American'."

Drumpf Dynasty, Episode 27. Julie Davis & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President-elect Donald J. Trump, has spoken to a lawyer about the possibility of joining the new administration, a move that could violate federal anti-nepotism law and risk legal challenges and political backlash.... Mr. Trump is urging his son-in-law to join him in the White House, according to one of the people briefed.... Mr. Kushner ... believes that by forgoing a salary and putting his investment fund, his real estate holdings and The New York Observer into a blind trust, he would not be bound by federal nepotism rules, according to one of the people briefed." -- CW

... David Nakamura, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump plans to meet this weekend with ... Mitt Romney, a fierce critic during the campaign, to discuss his transition operation and a potential role as secretary of state, people close to the transition said Thursday. Trump's outreach to Romney ... could help bridge the divide between [Trump's] advisers and the GOP establishment, and send a signal to foreign capitals that Trump is interested in a more conventional figure as the nation's top diplomat. Also Thursday, Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker, said in an interview with McClatchy News Service that he would not have an official role in Trump's administration, despite having previously been identified as a potential secretary of state." -- CW ...

... Antonio Vielma of CNBC: "... Mitt Romney will meet with Donald Trump this weekend to discuss the secretary of state position, a source close to the president-elect with direct knowledge of his thinking told NBC News." CW: Really? Romney said in 2012 that Russia was the U.S.'s "top geopolitical threat." Is he now willing to make nice to Putin at the Dear Leader's behest? ...

... Julian Broger & David Smith of the Guardian: "David Petraeus -- the former US army general and CIA director who was prosecuted for mishandling classified information -- has entered the race to become Donald Trump's secretary of state, diplomatic sources said on Thursday. Petraeus resigned in November 2012 after the FBI discovered he had had an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, and had shared classified information with her.... Petraeus, who was also a US commander in Afghanistan and Iraq, has made flattering remarks about Trump since the election." CW: Well, this seems perfect. Donald Trump has had a least one affair while married to another woman and reputedly more. Also, he seems destined to blab secrets; i.e., "mishandle classified information." So why would he have any objection to Petraeus' little misadventures? More seriously, Petraeus is not John Bolton or Rudy Giuliani, which is a huge plus. ...

... A Bigger Blabbermouth than Trump? Louis Nelson of Politico: "Donald Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway stopped short on Thursday of criticizing former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for publicly discussing what role he and others might have in [Trump's] ... Cabinet but said, 'These conversations are always best in private.'" -- CW ...

Lorraine Woellert of Politico: "OneWest Bank, a mortgage lender founded and run by Steven Mnuchin until last year, discriminated against blacks, Hispanics and Asians and avoided putting branches in minority communities, according to a federal complaint filed by two California housing watchdogs. The redlining accusation, filed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, was made against CIT Group Inc., which purchased OneWest in a $3.4 billion deal that closed last year. Mnuchin, Donald Trump's campaign finance chairperson and a leading candidate for the job of Treasury secretary, is on CIT's board." -- CW: As we know, Trump should be comfortable with that, too, what with his launching his real estate career by discriminating against minorities applying to rent Fred Trump's units.

Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump claimed credit on Thursday night for persuading Ford to keep an automaking plant in Kentucky rather than moving it to Mexico. The only wrinkle: Ford was not actually planning to move the plant. [Emphasis added.] Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter shortly after 9 p.m. that Ford's chairman, William Clay Ford Jr., had just told him that Ford 'will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky -- no Mexico.' Minutes later, Mr. Trump wrote in a second post: 'I worked hard with Bill Ford to keep the Lincoln plant in Kentucky. I owed it to the great State of Kentucky for their confidence in me!' Mr. Trump won 62.5 percent of the state's popular vote in the presidential election." CW: At 6:48 am ET today, Mr. Trump wrote a third tweet: 'I worked hard to get the sun to come up, and it worked! No wonder Americans have confidence in me!' ...

... ** The Fake News President. Paul Waldman: "But I can promise you that in a very short time, millions of Trump supporters will be convinced that he saved thousands of jobs in Kentucky with just the force of his will. As Jesse Singal observed, within minutes of Trump sending his bogus tweet, the story was spreading in its fake version through the conservative media ecosystem.... Trump is providing us a preview of what he'll do as president: He'll construct his own fake world for those who support him to inhabit, in which he's always right and deserves credit and praise for everything good that happens anywhere, whether he had anything to do with it or not. If there's positive news, he'll say it happened because of him. If there isn't any, he'll just make something up and take credit for that." -- CW

Do Stop by if You're in Town. Rajeev Syal of the Guardian: "Donald Trump has reportedly left civil servants amused and befuddled by extending an unusual and un presidential invitation to [British PM] Theresa May. Downing Street refused to deny a leaked transcript in which the president-elect told the British prime minister: 'If you travel to the US you should let me know.'" -- CW ...

Steve Holland & Kiyoshi Takenaka of Reuters: "... Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wrapped up a hastily arranged meeting on Thursday that was intended to smooth relations following Trump's campaign rhetoric that cast doubt on long-standing U.S. alliances. The meeting, which lasted about 90 minutes, according to a Trump official, was the president-elect's first face-to-face conversation with a foreign leader since his election...." CW: This is a preliminary report; Abe was expected to take questions later. I wonder if they discussed those Japanese-American internment camps a Trump backer thought were such a great "precedent" for forcing Muslims to sign up on a "registry." ...

... Jerry Markon, et al., of the Washington Post: Trump's "5 p.m. session with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump's first with a foreign leader since the election, has raised questions among some in Washington's foreign policy community because Trump has apparently not been briefed by the State Department. Officials said Wednesday that the transition team has not reached out to State. A former State Department official said such a meeting with a foreign leader would normally be preceded by numerous briefings from key diplomats, which is considered especially important here because the Japanese are concerned about comments Trump made on the campaign trail. [Trump] ... repeatedly said that Japan, along with South Korea, should pay more for their defense and that he would make them pay more for hosting U.S. military bases."-- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Get Trump's Hands Off my Medicare! Paul Krugman: "'I'm not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I'm not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,' [Donald Trump] declared [during the campaign], under the headline 'Why Donald Trump Won't Touch Your Entitlements.' It was, of course, a lie. The transition team's point man [lobbyist Michael Korbey] on Social Security is a longtime advocate of privatization, and all indications are that the incoming administration is getting ready to kill Medicare, replacing it with vouchers that can be applied to the purchase of private insurance. Oh, and it's also likely to raise the age of Medicare eligibility.... First, the attack on Medicare will be one of the most blatant violations of a campaign promise in history.... What's crucial now is to make sure that voters do, in fact, realize what's going on. And this isn't just a job for politicians. It's also a chance for the news media, which failed so badly during the campaign, to start doing its job." ...

     ... CW: Even if the media do their jobs, Democrats need to get off the dime here. We should be seeing ads right now condemning Ryan & Trump's man Korbey. We're not. Voters won't know they've been betrayed till after the deed is done.

New York Times Editors: "According to rough estimates by the Migration Policy Institute, of the country's 11 million unauthorized immigrants, about 820,000 have criminal records. About 300,000 of those have felony convictions and are presumably the bad people Mr. Trump is talking about.... And yet he also said that two million to three million would go, a population about the size of Chicago's. He would have to haul away a lot of terrific people, and terrorize many more, to hit that mark. This would require a vast conscription of state and local law enforcement against people who pose no threat. It would mean a surge in home and workplace raids, investigations and traffic stops.... If Mr. Trump begins a senseless purge, all segments of society -- religious congregations, factories, farms, colleges and universities, private individuals -- will need to speak out and defend the vulnerable." -- CW

Trump's Five-Year Lobbying Ban Is a PR Stunt. Isaac Arnsdorf: "K Street quickly cast doubt on the effectiveness of Donald Trump's five-year lobbying ban on transition and administration officials, saying the rule would both deter top talent from joining Trump's team and expand the use of loopholes. On its face, Trump's ban would last longer than any policy hitherto in force. But it's already become increasingly common for former officials to find ways to use their influence without registering as lobbyists. Trump's ban will probably intensify that trend, and its announcement probably had more to do with protecting the president-elect's anti-establishment image than actually disrupting the revolving door, lobbyists and legal experts said." -- CW

** Dangerous Times. Matt Yglesias of Vox: "We are used to corruption in which the rich buy political favor. What we need to learn to fear is corruption in which political favor becomes he primary driver of economic success. Many American administrations have featured acts of venal corruption, and Trump's will likely feature more than most. The larger risk, however, is that Trump's lack of grounding in ideological principles or party networks [or moral restraint] will create a systemically corrupt government.... Those who support the regime will receive favorable treatment from regulators, and those who oppose it will not.... It is entirely possible that eight years from now we'll be looking at an entrenched kleptocracy preparing to install a chosen successor whose only real mission is to preserve the web of parasitical oligarchy that has replaced the federal government as we know it." -- CW

The Troubles They'll See. Mark Schmitt of the New York Times: "It's doubtful that Donald J. Trump has even a grade-school civics class idea of how a bill becomes a law, so it's long been assumed that his legislative agenda will be House Speaker Paul Ryan's..... Even with one-party control, [passing legislation is] always a high-wire act.... Keeping the process on track requires a president who is fully engaged, making calls to the Hill, intervening to resolve conflicts, and providing technical support through competently staffed federal agencies. It helps a lot if the president is popular and members want to be associated with him; Ronald Reagan's approval rating was almost 60 percent around the time Congress enacted his sweeping tax and budget cuts in 1981. Even right after the election, Mr. Trump's favorability ratings were comparable to Richard M. Nixon's in the depths of Watergate, and he lost the popular vote. Nor does Mr. Trump have warm relationships with members of Congress. Most have never met him, and others he has viciously attacked." -- CW ...

... Jonathan Chait: A few days after the election, Paul Ryan "casually and somewhat cryptically stated that the mandate Trump won included the passage of Paul Ryan's plan to transform Medicare into capped premium support. This might come as a surprise to the people in small towns and the Rust Belt who listened to Trump's promise not to touch retirement programs. But there's increasing evidence Republicans are serious about this. Tom Price, chairman of the House Budget Committee, says that Republicans will pass Medicare privatization in a budget reconciliation bill this year. A budget reconciliation bill can be passed with a majority in the Senate, and cannot be filibustered, but it can only make changes to taxes and spending." -- CW ...

... The Banana Republic of Trump. CW: Charles Pierce, like many pundits, thinks the Trump-Putin bromance is likely a function of Russian oligarchs' financial ties to Trump. But Pierce provides a clue at the end of his post that makes me think it ain't only the money; to wit: "... Putin has been playing footsie with nationalist movements all over Europe...." You know who else plays footsie with nationalist movements all over Europe? Steve Bannon. And Bannon apparently has quite a hold over Trump. It's true that Trump has long admired dictators, but Bannon may be the eminence dangereux behind Trump's particular fondness for Putin. I suspect, BTW, what Trump admires about dictators is their mastery of the systemic corruption Matt Yglesias fears Trump will initiate here. ...

     ... Update: According to the NYT story on Gen. Flynn, he also has been urging Trump to work with Putin. This is what happens when you choose a know-nothing president who must rely on smart, informed but perverted advisors to make decisions.

... CW: Also, too, no one has benefited more than Donald Trump from the systemic corruption of our major political parties. The Bush family and its circle of financial backers tried to crown Jeb! as the nominee by raining $95MM on him before the first debate was scheduled. Clinton forcefully foreclosed on other potential candidates with her own massive war chest and her connections. She almost pulled it off in 2008, too, when she used the same tactics. Now Nancy Pelosi is once again using her long string of favors to House members as the means to continue her reign as minority leader. The Democratic party is absolutely ossified. Trump, despite his multiple disqualifying attributes, got 60MM votes because he wasn't Jeb! or Hillary.

Mark Stern of Slate: "The Federalist Says Steve Bannon Isn't Anti-Semitic Because Jewish Girls Really Are Whiny." Read the whole post. It's short.

Heather Caygle & John Bresnahan of Politico: "Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan will challenge House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for the top Democratic post, the first real test of her leadership since Democrats lost the House in 2010.... Ryan, a seven-term lawmaker who represents the kind of Rust Belt terrain where Donald Trump and Republicans outperformed in the election, says Democrats can't continue on their current path." ... CW

Paul Waldman: "... there's at least some evidence that Democrats are considering joining with Republicans to pass [Trump's huge infrastructure bill]. That would be a terrible mistake.... Obstruction is generally something you're unlikely to pay a price for, because most voters will decide that 'Washington' isn't working, and put blame on the party that holds the White House, even if the fact that it isn't working is completely the other party's fault.... [Trump is] a demagogue and a dangerous fool, and while Democrats aren't going to question the legitimacy of his presidency the way Republicans did with Obama, he shouldn't ever be treated like an ordinary president with whom Democrats just have some substantive disagreements. So, absent an incredibly powerful reason to cooperate with him on any particular bill, the last thing Trump should get from Democrats is a clean slate and a hand extended in cooperation." -- CW ...

... David Cole in the New York Review of Books: "... if Bush [II] could be stopped, notwithstanding widespread popular support, a large-scale attack on US soil leading to a war footing, and a history of judicial and congressional acquiescence in similar prior periods, Trump is also stoppable. He doesn't have anything like the popular support Bush had after 9/11. And the recent history of the repudiation of Bush's abuses will make it harder to repeat them.... Much of what Trump has proposed is patently illegal. Torture violates the Constitution, international law, and the Geneva Conventions. Deporting or singling out Muslims for discriminatory treatment violates the freedom of religion. Congress cannot expand libel, whose contours are determined by the First Amendment. The right to terminate a pregnancy remains protected by the Constitution, and the Supreme Court strongly reaffirmed that right just last year.... [Stopping Trump] will take an engaged citizenry, a persistent civil society, a vigilant media, brave insiders, and judges and other government officials who take seriously their responsibility to uphold the Constitution.... We live in a constitutional democracy, one that is expressly designed to check the impulses of dangerous men. It will do so if and only if we insist on it." CW: Cole will be the national legal director of the ACLU beginning in January.

Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) won't officially join the Democratic Party even though he was appointed to a leadership position within the Senate Democratic Conference this week. 'I was elected as an Independent and I will finish this term as an Independent,' Sanders said at a breakfast Thursday morning hosted by the Christian Science Monitor." -- CW

Paul Waldman: The filibuster may survive. "... at least four Republican senators have gone on record saying that the filibuster should stay.... It's too early to know exactly what will happen, particularly since we don't know how the impulsive, vindictive buffoon in the Oval Office is going to inject himself into this process." -- CW

Gene Robinson: "The Democratic Party cannot just wait for the next Barack Obama to come along.... Instead, Democrats need to do what Republicans did, which is to build from the ground up and start winning state and local elections. A Democratic rebound has to begin with the basics: getting people who agree with you to vote. Less than 60 percent of those eligible to cast ballots in last week's election bothered to do so. Conservatives who say this is 'a center-right nation' may be right in terms of who votes, but they're wrong in terms of who could vote." -- CW

Renae Merle of the Washington Post: "JPMorgan Chase hired hundreds of friends and relatives of potential clients in order to win business in China, an international bribery scheme, federal officials said Thursday, that netted the Wall Street bank more than $100 million. JPMorgan agreed to $264 million in fines to settle civil and criminal charges, an amount discounted in return for the bank's cooperation with the investigations. The bank, which was accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, acknowledged wrongdoing as part of the settlement, an usual admission in such cases." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Chris Mooney of the Washington Post: "This is the second year in a row that temperatures near the North Pole have risen to freakishly warm levels. During 2015's final days, the temperature near the Pole spiked to the melting point thanks to a massive storm that pumped warm air into the region.... 'It's about 20C [36 degrees Fahrenheit] warmer than normal over most of the Arctic Ocean, along with cold anomalies of about the same magnitude over north-central Asia,' Jennifer Francis, an Arctic specialist at Rutgers University, said by email Wednesday." CW: Nothing to worry about, folks. It's just weather. Sometimes it's hot; sometimes it's cold. Climate change is a hoax.

Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "Americans have never been more interested in looking up the Ku Klux Klan online than they are right now, according to search data from Google Trends... Comparisons to other, presumably high-volume search terms give some sense of the magnitude. For several days this month, about as many people were searching for the Ku Klux Klan as were looking for Kim Kardashian and college football, combined. In November, interest in the Ku Klux Klan is about twice as high as it was at its previous 12-year peak back in March of this year, when Donald Trump did not immediately renounce an endorsement from former Klan leader David Duke. Interest in the Klan also spiked in November 2008, after the election of the first black president." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Rod Nordland of the New York Times: "Turkey now has handily outstripped China as the world’s biggest jailer of journalists, according to figures compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists. The jailings are the most obvious example of an effort to muzzle not just the free press, but free speech generally. More than 3,000 Turks have faced charges for insulting the president, including a former Miss Turkey, Merve Buyuksarac...." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

New York Times: "Leon G. Billings, "the largely unheralded chief architect of the 1970 Clean Air Act.' has died at the age of 78. "Mr. Billings was also instrumental in drafting the 1972 Clean Water Act, as well as amendments, passed in 1977, to both landmark antipollution laws." CW: Will Congress completely dismantle the Clean Air Act or will Trump merely refuse to enforce it?

The Commentariat -- Nov. 17, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Anthony Faoila & David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Obama wrapped up his final visit to Europe on Thursday by issuing a plaintive warning to Western democracies not to 'take for granted our system of government and our way of life' as he prepares to relinquish the international stage to his successor..., Donald J. Trump. 'Democracy is hard work,' Obama said at a news conference after meeting [in Berlin] with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one of his closest international partners." -- CW

Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said Thursday that he has submitted his letter of resignation to President Obama, cementing his long-declared plan to leave his job as the nation's spy chief when a new president is sworn in. 'I submitted my letter of resignation last night, which felt pretty good,' Clapper said in testimony Thursday morning before the House Intelligence Committee. 'I have 64 days left and I would have a hard time with my wife for anything past that.' U.S. officials emphasized that Clapper's resignation was unrelated to the election victory of Donald Trump, who has publicly dismissed the work of U.S. spy agencies on critical issues, including Russia's interference in the election and Moscow's involvement in the war in Syria." -- CW

Jerry Markon, et al., of the Washington Post: Trump's "5 p.m. session with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump's first with a foreign leader since the election, has raised questions among some in Washington's foreign policy community because Trump has apparently not been briefed by the State Department. Officials said Wednesday that the transition team has not reached out to State. A former State Department official said such a meeting with a foreign leader would normally be preceded by numerous briefings from key diplomats, which is considered especially important here because the Japanese are concerned about comments Trump made on the campaign trail. [Trump] ... repeatedly said that Japan, along with South Korea, should pay more for their defense and that he would make them pay more for hosting U.S. military bases."-- CW

Renae Merle of the Washington Post: "JPMorgan Chase hired hundreds of friends and relatives of potential clients in order to win business in China, an international bribery scheme, federal officials said Thursday, that netted the Wall Street bank more than $100 million. JPMorgan agreed to $264 million in fines to settle civil and criminal charges, an amount discounted in return for the bank's cooperation with the investigations. The bank, which was accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, acknowledged wrongdoing as part of the settlement, an usual admission in such cases." -- CW

Rod Nordland of the New York Times: "Turkey now has handily outstripped China as the world’s biggest jailer of journalists, according to figures compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists. The jailings are the most obvious example of an effort to muzzle not just the free press, but free speech generally. More than 3,000 Turks have faced charges for insulting the president, including a former Miss Turkey, Merve Buyuksarac...." -- CW

*****

Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post: "President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel together delivered a rebuttal to the coming era of Donald Trump, issuing a joint plea for more transatlantic cooperation on everything from security to climate change to the defense of a kinder, more inclusive world. On his last overseas trip as president, Obama is currently meeting with Merkel, a centrist leader who observers see as the heir apparent to his legacy as the leading global advocate of liberal democracy. Ahead of a joint appearance later Thursday, the two penned an op-ed piece ... in the German weekly Wirtschaftwoche ... recognizing the painful side of freer trade along with a sober reality check." -- CW

White House: "[Wednesday], President Barack Obama named 21 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation's highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. The awards will be presented at the White House on November 22nd." CW: You may want to read & savor the list, because from now on the medal will be going to people like Scott Baio & Newt Gingrich.

Philip Rucker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "... seven men, as well as Trump’s adult children and a few others, will make up an unusual power grid in a capital city used to a hierarchical structure. Trump is presiding over concentric spheres of influence, designed to give him direct access to a constellation of counselors and opinions. Such an approach also risks bringing confrontation or even paralysis as feuding factions work to further their own goals, edge out adversaries or distract Trump -- as happened more than once during his presidential campaign. As president, his associates said, Trump will seek rather than shun competing advice. His presidency will be governance as a series of ongoing conversations." -- CW

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump denied Wednesday morning that his transition is in disarray, assailing news media reports about firings and infighting and insisting in an early-morning Twitter burst that everything is going 'so smoothly.' But legal and procedural delays by Mr. Trump's transition team continued on Wednesday, all but freezing the traditional handoff of critical information from the current administration more than a week after Mr. Trump won the presidential election.... [Trump] criticized a report in The New York Times about his early telephone contacts with foreign leaders. In a post on Twitter, he said he had made and received 'calls from many foreign leaders despite what the failing @nytimes said. Russia, U.K., China, Saudi Arabia, Japan.' In fact, The Times reported that Mr. Trump had taken calls from the leaders of Egypt, Israel, Russia and Britain, but said they had been conducted haphazardly and without State Department briefings that traditionally guide conversations with foreign leaders. Of the transition effort, Mr. Trump wrote: 'It is going so smoothly.'" -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... "It Is Going So Smoothly." Alistair Bell & Ginger Gibson of Reuters: "One day before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese officials said they had not finalized when or where in New York it would take place, who would be invited, or in some cases whom to call for answers. Uncertainty over the talks shows the difficulties in turning Trump ... into a sitting president with a watertight schedule and a fully functioning administration by his inauguration on Jan. 20. Japanese and U.S. officials said on Wednesday the State Department had not been involved in planning the meeting, leaving the logistical and protocol details that normally would be settled far in advance still to be determined. 'There has been a lot of confusion,' said one Japanese official." -- CW ...

... Jerry Markon, et al., of the Washington Post: "In his tweets, Trump falsely implies the Times reported that he had not spoken with foreign leaders and never points out exactly what the Times had in error.... He also denied reports that his transition team has sought security clearances for his children. In his tweets, Trump falsely implies the Times reported that he had not spoken with foreign leaders and never points out exactly what the Times had in error.... Two hawkish Republican senators, Jeff Sessions (Ala.) and Tom Cotton (Ark.), emerged as top candidates for defense secretary. Both would bring military experience, but neither has executive experience running a massive bureaucracy such as the Pentagon." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Tara Golshan of Vox states the obvious: During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump alluded to a more presidential temperament once elected. He 'can act as presidential as anybody that's ever been president,' he said in February.... His latest series of tweets proves that his media bashing wasn't just a function of his campaigning. Rather..., Trump is still on Twitter whining about the media's representation of him. He is still on Twitter, period. And his temperament -- though perhaps slightly more leashed -- has not changed." -- CW ...

... The Word from the TrumpCult. Steve M. peruses the commentariat & finds that Trumpbots are relieved that their Dear Leader is still tweeting because "He has to keep us informed directly," so Americans aren't fooled by the lying media. -- CW

Trump Sues New Hometown. The Taxes Are Too Damned High. Che Odum of Bloomberg: "Donald Trump refiled his lawsuit seeking a refund of taxes paid for his new luxury hotel project in Washington, D.C.... Trump, through a company he owns called Trump Old Post Office LLC, first filed suit against the city in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in June, contesting the assessment against several downtown lots along Pennsylvania Avenue. That lawsuit was dismissed Oct. 27, but the court allowed Trump to refile separate petitions for each of the lots involved in the Trump International Hotel. The first of those petitions was filed Nov. 14. More petitions will be filed, according to court papers." -- CW

Margaret Hartmann of New York: "In an attempt to show that Donald Trump is making good on his campaign promise to 'drain the swamp,' on Wednesday the campaign announced that anyone who joins the administration will be banned from lobbying for five years. Trump's ethical stand was undercut by reports that he wants to refill the swamp with a family member. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is likely to take a job at the White House, according to The Wall Street Journal. Sources tell the paper that both White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and presidential counselor Stephen Bannon are urging Kushner to take a formal position, such as senior adviser or special counsel.... As the chief executive of the real-estate firm Kushner Companies and publisher of Observer Media, Kushner deciding to take a government role would present complex conflicts of interest.... But of course, that's not the biggest issue.... A 1967 law ... bans public officials from hiring their relatives." -- CW ...

... Paul Waldman: "Anti-nepotism laws prevent Trump from giving his family members jobs in the administration. But don't think that’s going to stop them from being active participants in U.S. government decision-making, or using the fact that Trump is president to keep money flowing in. In fact, we could see the president enriching himself and his family on a scale that we normally associate with post-Soviet kleptocrats and Third World dictators." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

"Draining the Swamp," Ctd. Ben White of Politico: "A populist candidate who railed against shady financial interests on the campaign trail is now putting together an administration that looks like an investment banker's dream. Former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin has been seen at Trump Tower amid rumors that he's the leading candidate for Treasury secretary. Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross appears headed to the Commerce Department. Steve Bannon, another Goldman alum, will work steps from the Oval Office. If Mnuchin drops out..., JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon remains a possibility as Treasury secretary, and will serve as an outside adviser if he doesn't get the job. It's a restoration of Wall Street power -- and a potential flip in the way the industry is regulated -- perhaps unparalleled in American history. 'You would have to go back to the 1920s to see so much Wall Street influence coming to Washington,' said Charles Geisst, a Wall Street historian at Manhattan College." -- CW ...

... Kevin Drum: Rick Perry's Oops! Moment comes full circle. CW: And what could possibly be wrong with Perry's leading the Energy Department? ...

... Jonathan Chait: "The bad news on Donald Trump's transition team is that Mike Rogers, one of the better informed and respected members of the Republican security establishment, has been booted off. The worse news is that, according to the Weekly Standard and a source who contacted the New York Times, Rogers was thrown off because of concerns about his handling of the Benghazi investigation. (Rogers found that, contrary to a popular right-wing conspiracy theory, the Obama administration did not order its security forces to 'stand down.')... The even worse news is that the person who was fired for not being crazy was replaced by somebody who is famous for being crazy. Frank Gaffney has taken Rogers's spot. Gaffney suffers from a variety of delusional beliefs concerning secret Islamic subversion of the government, a conspiracy that runs from such figures as Barack Obama (who Gaffney called 'America's first Muslims president') to Chris Christie, who Gaffney has accused of 'misprision of treason.'... Gaffney was banned from CPAC for being too crazy, which is like being thrown out of the Soprano family for lacking business ethics." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... AND Speaking of Ethics.... Isaac Arnsdorf of Politico: "Donald Trump's transition team appears to have deviated from its own ethics rule barring lobbyists whose work for Trump would overlap with any matters on which they lobbied in the previous year. According to a copy of Trump for America Inc's 'Code of Ethical Conduct' obtained by Politico, members of the transition team must pledge to 'disqualify myself from involvement in any particular transition matter if I have engaged in regulated lobbying activities with respect to such matter, as defined by the Lobbying Disclosure Act, within the previous 12 months.' But at least eight transition team members have done work that appears to flout that internal rule, Senate records show." CW: Don't blame the transition team. How could they have suspected that Trump had an ethics code? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Harper Neidig & Megan Wilson of the Hill: "... Mike Pence is reportedly kicking all lobbyists off the transition team, according to The Wall Street Journal. An unidentified source within the transition team told the Journal that it was one of Pence's first moves since taking over the effort from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was ousted last week.... Trump said in an interview with CBS's '60 Minutes' on Sunday that selecting lobbyists was the only option he had." CW: So pence didn't kick out the lobbyists? Sounds like pence planted the WSJ story. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Tim Mak of the Daily Beast: Steve Bannon "might not be able to pass the background check [to get a top security clearance]. The basic form..., known as an SF86, asks about one's arrest record, foreign contacts, association with organizations dedicated to the use of violence, and association with groups that advocate use of force to discourage individuals from exercising their constitutional rights. All of those questions could be seriously complicated for Bannon, who's been celebrated by American white nationalists, feted by Europe's ultra-right, and charged with choking his wife.... There's rarely been someone with so many questionable ties appointed to such a lofty position. In fact, security clearance experts tell The Daily Beast, Bannon's background would create serious problems for any other government employee -- if he weren't so close to the president. But unlike the nation's soldiers and spies, the alt-right Breitbart ringleader will get special treatment." -- CW ...

... Matt Shuham of TPM: "Steve Bannon suggested there were too many Asian CEOs working in Silicon Valley in a discussion about immigration with then-candidate Donald Trump on his radio program last November. The Washington Post late Tuesday flagged that comment.... 'When two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think...' Bannon [said] before trailing off, according to the Post. 'A country is more than an economy. We're a civic society,' he continued.... According to a May 2015 study..., based on 2013 data, only 14 percent of executives at five top tech companies ... were Asian or Asian-American." ...

     ... CW: Bannon's wild overestimation is typical of racists -- they claim "the problem" is much greater than it actually is. So, you know, black people are killing all the white people (see Trump tweet); Mexicans -- or in this case, Asians -- are taking all the good jobs from "real Americans," etc. Oftentimes, they're not lying; they really believe it, maybe because they read it on Breitbart or another fact-averse alt-right site.

Brian Stelter of CNN: "For the second time in a week..., Donald Trump has abandoned precedent and traveled without the 'press pool,' a small group of journalists assigned to cover his movements. The move Tuesday night has spurred a strong backlash. 'It is unacceptable for the next president of the United States to travel without a regular pool to record his movements and inform the public about his whereabouts,' the White House Correspondents Association said in response." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.)

Trump's America, Ctd. Margaret Hartmann: "Carl Higbie, former Navy SEAL and spokesman for the pro-Trump Great American PAC, argued Wednesday night on Fox News that a registry of immigrants from Muslim countries would pass constitutional muster, citing the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.... Higbie's overall argument is correct. Kansas secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Trump immigration adviser [CW: and a virulent, activist foe of undocumented immigrants], suggested on Tuesday that ... [Trump] might reinstate a registry of Muslims entering the country on visas from countries that pose a terror threat. Though many people were unaware of it, that system -- the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System -- was in effect from 2002 to 2011. Legal challenges of the program did not get very far, and several constitutional law experts told Politico that a similar program would probably be allowed to continue today. Judges will not, however, base that decision on the precedent set by the internment of Japanese-Americans." -- CW

Gail Collins: "One of Donald Trump's big advantages now is that he has so many awful associates. No matter what appointees he foists on us, there's always another pal who'd have been worse. If he names some federal land-grabbing oilman as secretary of the interior, people are going to sigh with relief and say, 'At least it isn't Sarah Palin.'" -- CW

** Radley Balko of the Washington Post writes a must-read on how Rudy Giuliani launched his political career by inciting thousands of drunken, racist cops to riot. CW: I remember the riot, which was shocking, but I didn't remember that, "In the center of the mayhem, standing on top of a car while cursing Mayor Dinkins through a bullhorn, was mayoral candidate Rudy Giuliani."

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: Donald Trump is floating Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III to be attorney general or secretary of defense. "In 1981, a Justice Department prosecutor from Washington stopped by to see Jeff Sessions, [then] the United States attorney in Mobile, Ala., at the time. The prosecutor, J. Gerald Hebert, said he had heard a shocking story: A federal judge had called a prominent white lawyer 'a disgrace to his race' for representing black clients. 'Well,' Mr. Sessions replied, according to Mr. Hebert, 'maybe he is.'... As attorney general, Mr. Sessions would be responsible for upholding civil rights laws. As secretary of defense, he would oversee one of the most ethnically diverse institutions in the country; 25 percent of the military is African-American, Asian or Hispanic." -- CW

Brad Plumer of Vox: "Donald Trump ... wants to make an infrastructure bill a priority in his first 100 days as president.... The catch, though, is that Trump doesn't really have a plan to [improve the nation's infrastructure].... All Trump has right now is an idiosyncratic proposal for Congress to offer some $137 billion in tax breaks to private investors who want to finance toll roads, toll bridges, or other projects that generate their own revenue streams. But this private financing scheme, experts across the political spectrum say, wouldn't address many of America's most pressing infrastructure needs -- like repairing existing roads or replacing leaky water mains in poorer communities like Flint. It's a narrow, inadequate policy.... Infrastructure doesn't seem high on [Congressional Republicans'] agenda.... Back in September, when asked whether he would help Trump pass a $550 billion infrastructure program, House Speaker Paul Ryan initial response was a loud laugh." ...

     ... CW: Plumer discusses many aspects of Trump's "plan" that are unworkable. But he doesn't mention this: This is a scheme that benefits only the wealthy -- tax-averse investors & rich drivers. Poor people don't take toll roads & toll bridges if they can avoid them. The pothole-pocked roads & crumbling bridges will be for us second-class citizens while the rich breeze through tollgates to autobahn bliss. Trump's infrastructure dreams are part-and-parcel of his plan to further privilege the haves over the have-nots.

Michael Cohen of the Boston Globe: "... many Americans will wish for [Trump] to be a successful president. Not me.... I want him to fail spectacularly.... Success for Trump would be a disaster for America. If his campaign promises are to be taken at face value, his success would mean that tens of millions of Americans may lose health care insurance. It would mean a step back on fighting climate change.... It would mean a shredded social safety net and little federal attention to voting restrictions and structural racism.... It would mean global instability and a weakening of American's leadership role.... It would mean disastrous trade wars and a domestic agenda that would do more to harm the people who voted for Trump than help them. It would mean mass deportation -- and a humanitarian catastrophe -- for millions of undocumented immigrants.... It would mean making acceptable nativist, racist, and xenophobic hate." -- CW

Another Ruthless Dictator Friends Trump. Sewell Chan & Hwaida Saad of the New York Times: "President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, in his first remarks since the American election, has called ... Donald J. Trump 'a natural ally, together with the Russians, Iranians and many other countries' in the struggle against terrorism. The comments from Mr. Assad were no surprise, given that Mr. Trump has suggested that he would end American aid to certain rebel groups and work with Mr. Assad and his ally, Russia." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Repeal & Delay -- Another Excellent Republican "Healthcare Plan." Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "A Republican plan to quickly repeal most of ObamaCare but delay the effects for up to two years is gaining steam on Capitol Hill. The plan would allow Republicans to deliver on promises to repeal the law in the next Congress while buying them time to come up with a replacement. But there's a problem: If insurers know the law is going away, they might drop out immediately, causing chaos for enrollees before any replacement plan has time to take shape." -- CW

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Congressional Democrats ... are constructing an agenda to align with many proposals of ... Donald J. Trump that put him at odds with his own party. On infrastructure spending, child tax credits, paid maternity leave and dismantling trade agreements, Democrats are looking for ways they can work with Mr. Trump and force Republican leaders to choose between their new president and their small-government, free-market principles. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, elected Wednesday as the new Democratic minority leader, has spoken with Mr. Trump several times, and Democrats in coming weeks plan to announce populist economic and ethics initiatives they think Mr. Trump might like." ...

     ... CW: If you read Brad Plumer's assessment of Trump's infrastructure "plan," you can no doubt see the flaw in Chuck & Nancy's devious plot. They're thinking Flint's Deadly Water and he's talking Super-Highways for Rich People.

Ed O'Keefe & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) was elected as the next leader of Senate Democrats on Wednesday, establishing him as one of his party's most senior officials in Washington and Democrats' primary partisan counterweight to a Trump administration.... In a gesture to his party's progressive wing, Schumer added Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to a junior role in his newly expanded leadership team.... Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) will serve as party whip and Schumer's chief deputy, maintaining a role he held under outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) will serve as the third-ranking Democrat, foregoing a challenge to Durbin but assuming a new title of assistant Democratic leader. Among Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was reelected unanimously by colleagues on Wednesday morning." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.)

Heather Caygle of Politico: "Nancy Pelosi is officially running for House minority leader again, announcing in a letter to colleagues Wednesday that she has already locked down support from two-thirds of the caucus.... Pelosi's announcement comes at a tenuous time -- she was forced to delay leadership elections after an uprising from rank-and-file members Tuesday -- but her already widespread support could put to rest any rumors of a potential challenger and shows her standing within the caucus remains strong." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Lisa Mascaro of the Los Angeles Times: "Donald Trump may seek improved relations with Russia, but top Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham wants Vladimir Putin held responsible if the Russian government was involved in cyber-hacks to disrupt the U.S. elections. Graham, who has sparred openly with Trump..., is proposing that Congress hold a series of hearings on 'Russia's misadventures throughout the world' -- including whether they were involved in 'hacking into the DNC.' 'Were they involved in cyberattacks that had a political component to it in our elections?' Graham said. 'If so, Graham said, "Putin should be punished.'" -- CW

Marc Stein & Zach Lowe of ESPN: "At least three NBA teams have stopped staying at Donald Trump-branded hotels this season in part to avoid any implied association with the new president-elect, according to league sources. Sources told ESPN.com that the Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks have moved away from Trump hotels in New York City and Chicago, which bear Donald Trump's name through a licensing agreement." CW: Yes, but all the Russian ice hockey teams will stay in the soon-TBA "Trumpsky Towers" in Moscow.

Twitter Curtails Trump Backers' Hate Speech. Jessica Guynn of USA Today: "Twitter suspended a number of accounts associated with the alt-right movement, the same day the social media service said it would crack down on hate speech. Among those suspended was Richard Spencer, who runs an alt-right think tank and had a verified account on Twitter.... Spencer has said he wants blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Jews removed from the U.S.... In one of the highest-profile bans, Twitter removed the account of Milo Yiannopoulos, a technology editor at the conservative news site Breitbart in July. He had engaged in a campaign of abuse in which hundreds of anonymous Twitter accounts bombarded Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones with racist and sexist taunts." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Craig Silverman of BuzzFeed: "In the final three months of the US presidential campaign, the top-performing fake election news stories on Facebook generated more engagement than the top stories from major news outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, NBC News, and others, a BuzzFeed News analysis has found." CW: The analysis makes Mark Zuckerberg a liar. But we knew that. ...

... ** Palo Alto, We Have a Problem. Brian Phillips of MTV: "I have my own issues with the New York Times, but when your all-powerful social network [i.e., Facebook,] accidentally replaces newspapers with a cartel of Macedonian teens generating fake pro-Trump stories for money, then friend, you have made a mistake.... One of the conditions of democratic resistance is having an accurate picture of what to resist. Confusion is an authoritarian tool; life under a strongman means not simply being lied to but being beset by contradiction and uncertainty until the line between truth and falsehood blurs.... It's telling, in that regard, that Trump supporters, the voters most furiously suspicious of journalism, also proved to be the most receptive audience for fictions that looked journalism-like.... Democracy depends on a public forum, and ours is upside down.... The American right has now fully postmodernized itself.... And thus we arrive at the Trump campaign, with its annihilating virtuosity in falsehood.... Mark Zuckerberg, in his mild, untroubled blamelessness, may simply be demonstrating the Crescent Park version of the delusion afflicting many Trump voters, which is that privilege is itself a kind of innocence.... And if ... [Trump] has taught us anything, it's that you don't have to believe in your own convictions to let other people suffer for them." Via Paul Waldman. -- CW

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "In her first public remarks since conceding to ... Donald J. Trump last week, [Hillary] Clinton told the crowd [at a Children's Defense Fund gala] she was struggling to recover from an unexpected defeat that she said had left nonwhite children and vulnerable people across the nation afraid." -- CW ...

Katha Pollitt of the Nation: "... only 8 percent of Republican women voted for [Clinton].... There0 are dozens of reasons why Trump won, but misogyny was a big part of it. And if you didn't know women can be misogynistic, now you do. Trumpettes, if you voted for a grotesque liar, bankrupt, and groper with no public-service experience, the only candidate in 40 years not to have released his tax returns, don't tell me you preferred him just because Hillary is 'unlikable.' Judging men and women by such different standards is what female self-hatred is.... Those white women, like the rest of us, now live in a country where the public humiliation of women has the White House seal of approval.... So donate now to the National Network of Abortion Funds, Planned Parenthood, SisterSong, the ACLU, the National Immigration Law Center. Volunteer locally.... Talk to people.... There's so much we can do, but there isn't a lot of time." -- CW

Sam Stein of the Huffington Post: "Several theories have been proffered to explain just what went wrong for the Clinton campaign.... But lost in the discussion is a simple explanation, one that was re-emphasized to HuffPost in interviews with several high-ranking officials and state-based organizers: The Clinton campaign was harmed by its own neglect. In Michigan alone, a senior battleground state operative told HuffPost that the state party and local officials were running at roughly one-tenth the paid canvasser capacity that Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) had when he ran for president.... Clinton lost the state by 12,000 votes.... A similar situation unfolded in Wisconsin." -- CW

"Is It Safe?" Nida Najar & Stephanie Saul of the New York Times: "College admissions ... are worried that Mr. Trump's election as president could portend a decline in international candidates. Canadian universities have already detected a postelection surge in interest from overseas." -- CW

Jim Norman of Gallup: "Americans' satisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S. plunged 10 percentage points in the aftermath of the presidential election -- retreating from a decade high of 37% in the run-up to last Tuesday's vote.... A sharp decline in satisfaction among Democrats explains most of the drop." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "Prosecutors in Minnesota said Wednesday that they had charged the police officer who fatally shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minn. with second-degree manslaughter for the shooting... John Choi, the Ramsey County attorney, said at a news conference in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday morning that Jeronimo Yanez, the officer who shot Castile, would also be charged with endangering the lives of [Diamond] Reynolds and her 4-year-old daughter, who was also in the car." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Brian Murphy of the Washington Post: "Russia appeared on course Wednesday to become the latest nation to snub the International Criminal Court, sending a signal of defiance after a U.N. panel cited rights abuses and other complaints linked to Russia's annexation of Crimea more than two years ago. The decree to formally withdraw from the ICC, signed by President Vladimir Putin, also could be a preemptive move to buffer Russia against future claims of war crimes related its military intervention in Syria." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Anne Barnard & Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "Warplanes resumed airstrikes on the besieged rebel-held sections of Aleppo, Syria, on Tuesday, as Russia began a major new offensive against insurgents battling Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad. Russia's defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, said it had started 'a big operation to deliver massive strikes' against the Islamic State and the Levant Victory Front, formerly known as the Nusra Front, in Idlib and Homs Provinces." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)