memeorandum: NC GOPer Denies Republicans May Try To Pack State's Highest Court (Caitlin MacNeal/Talking Points Memo)

3:05 PM ET, November 14, 2016

Top Items:

A White Nationalist Is The New White House Chief Strategist — Steve Bannon, who stoked the flames of alt-right fury while running Breitbart News, is headed to the presidential inner circle. — Steve Bannon, the Breitbart News Network executive chairman known for having white nationalist views …

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:

Praise for Reince Priebus is another sign of how we're lowering the bar for Trump — The extent to which Reince Priebus's appointment as White House chief of staff has been greeted in mainstream quarters as a reassuring sign that Donald Trump is going to govern the country in a responsible way is, itself, a disturbing sign.

Discussion: Politico, Dissent, Business Insider Australia, Daily Kos, TheBlaze, Guardian, Washington Post, Hot Air, The Week, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, Joe.My.God., Mediaite and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

Jose A. DelReal / Washington Post:

Trump draws sharp rebuke, concerns over newly appointed chief White House strategist Steven Bannon — President-elect Donald Trump's decision to appoint Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist in the White House has drawn a sharp rebuke from political strategists who see in Bannon …

Discussion: New York Times, Common Dreams, Business Insider, Fox News, No More Mister Nice Blog, alicublog, NPR, The Week and Mediaite

Glenn Thrush / Politico:

5 takeaways on Trump's first 5 days — This is what winging it looks like, America. — Donald Trump is compulsively improvisational and ran the most successful back-of-the-napkin operation in American political history, but the challenge confronting him is, by his own admission, nothing like anything anybody has ever faced.

Discussion: Associated Press

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Reid plans to keep up anti-Trump barrage

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, ABC News and RT

CNN:
White nationalists see advocate in Steve Bannon who will hold Trump to his campaign promises

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Media Matters for America and Politico

The Daily Beast:
Steve Bannon's Dream: a Worldwide Ultra-Right

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washingtonian, New York Times, Washington Post, Common Dreams, CANNONFIRE, Raw Story, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Outside the Beltway, Media Matters for America and NPR, more at Mediagazer »

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
Major newspapers normalize Trump's selection of white nationalist as chief strategist

Discussion: Politico, News, Indy Week, New York Magazine, New York Times, Daily Kos, The Times of Israel, ABC News, www.wnyc.org and Media Matters for America

Elise Viebeck / Washington Post:
Trump faces backlash over appointing Bannon as a top aide, a choice critics say will empower white nationalists

Discussion: Mother Jones

Benjy Sarlin / NBC News:
Analysis: Breitbart's Steve Bannon Leads the ‘Alt Right’ to the White House

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, TODAY.com, Mother Jones, Politico, The Hill, Independent Journal Review, CNBC, Daily Kos and Raw Story

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:

Ten potential Democratic candidates for 2020 — Stunned Democrats are now forced to go back to the drawing board for the 2020 presidential election to field a candidate in a race that virtually all had assumed would be President Hillary Clinton — 's reelection.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Outside the Beltway

Juan Williams / The Hill:

Where now for the Democrats? — What happens to Democrats in the Trump era? — In the 1992 presidential election, after three straight terms of Republicans in the White House, Bill Clinton — successfully remade the Democrats into a party of political centrists to regain the support of so-called ‘Reagan Democrats.’

Discussion: Politico and Real Clear Politics

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:
Pulling Democrats Back to 'It's the Economy, Stupid'

Discussion: Hot Air

John Bresnahan / Politico:
‘Devastating’ election for House Democrats triggers request to Pelosi

Discussion: JONATHAN TURLEY, Independent Journal Review and Townhall.com

Hadas Gold / Politico:

Gwen Ifill dead at age 61 — Gwen Ifill, the longtime PBS news anchor who had served as a co-host of PBS's NewsHour and as moderator of “Washington Week,” has died after a battle with cancer, PBS has confirmed. She was 61. — “It is with extremely heavy hearts that we must share …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Vox, The Root, Just Jared, AOL, Raw Story, New York Magazine, The New Civil Rights Movement and Washingtonian, more at Mediagazer »

Fatima Hussein / Indianapolis Star:

What's Mike Pence hiding in his emails? — Mike Pence wants his communications limited from public access. Experts say this sets a “dangerous precedent.” — Now that the presidential campaign and most of the furor over Hillary Clinton's email scandal are behind us …

Discussion: Politico, alan.com, Law News, Politicus USA, Raw Story, The Week, Joe.My.God. and New Century Times

Lesley Stahl / CBS News:

President-elect Trump speaks to a divided country on 60 Minutes — What can we expect from a Trump presidency? 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl finds some of his campaign issues were not meant to be taken literally, but as opening bids for negotiation — The following script is from “The 45th President,” which aired on Nov. 13, 2016.

Lynn Sweet / Chicago Sun Times:
Trump backs off promise of special prosecutor for Clinton

Discussion: Independent Journal Review, The Resurgent and RedState

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:

NC GOPer Denies Republicans May Try To Pack State's Highest Court — Democrats won a majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court on Election Day, but at least one conservative group has floated the possibility of flipping it back to GOP control by quickly expanding the court by two seats …

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Jill Lawrence / USA Today:
The real voices that aren't heard: Jill Lawrence

Discussion: Daily Kos and Taylor Marsh

Theodore Schleifer / CNN:

CNN's ‘Unprecedented’: Trump told Christie he didn't think he'd last past October 2015 — “They always had an understanding that the first one out would probably endorse the other,” the adviser said. — Washington (CNN)New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's February endorsement of Donald …

Discussion: Mendham-Chester, NJ Patch, Hot Air, RedState, Mediaite, The Week, TheBlaze and New York Post

Michael Nunez / Gizmodo:

Facebook's Fight Against Fake News Was Undercut by Fear of Conservative Backlash — It's no secret that Facebook has a fake news problem. Critics have accused the social network of allowing false and hoax news stories to run rampant, with some suggesting that Facebook contributed …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Raw Story, Business Insider, CNBC, Mashable, Guardian, The Week and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, more at Mediagazer »

Susan Page / USA Today:

Sanders backs Trump protests, questions Electoral College — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the surprisingly strong challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination, sat down Sunday with USA TODAY's Capital Download to talk about last week's election stunner, the future of the Democratic Party …

Discussion: RT, Advocate, Washington Post, Hot Air, CNBC, Washington Free Beacon and Politico

Clara Jeffery / Mother Jones:
Van Jones: “Hope for the Best, Expect and Prepare for the Worst”

Discussion: Raw Story

Julieta Chiquillo / Dallas Morning News:

A man got a free Veterans Day meal at Chili's in Cedar Hill, then a manager took it away — For his free meal on Veterans Day, Ernest Walker picked the Chili's Grill and Bar in Cedar Hill. The 47-year-old sat at a table and ordered a burger while his service dog Barack waited by his side.

Discussion: RedState

Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:

Apple iPhones could be hit if Trump imposes a 45 percent tariff on China exports, Beijing warns — Apple iPhones and other U.S. goods could suffer sales hits in China if president-elect Donald Trump goes through with his “naïve” plan of slapping a large import tariff on Chinese products, a state-backed newspaper warned on Sunday.

Discussion: TheBlaze and Infowars

Bloomberg:

Mnuchin Said to Be Top Treasury Pick Among Trump's Advisers — Key transition members said to suggest ex-Goldman partner — President-elect seen making an announcement later this week — Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Steven Mnuchin has been recommended by Donald Trump's transition team …

Discussion: Politico and Business Insider

Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:

Soros bands with donors to resist Trump, ‘take back power’ — George Soros and other rich liberals who spent tens of millions of dollars trying to elect Hillary Clinton are gathering in Washington for a three-day, closed door meeting to retool the big-money left to fight back against Donald Trump.

Discussion: TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, alan.com, Washington Free Beacon, twitchy.com, The Geller Report and ABC News

Joe Concha / The Hill:

Megyn Kelly: Trump offered me gifts, hotel stays — Fox News host Megyn Kelly says Trump unsuccessfully tried to give her gifts during the presidential campaign in what she called his attempt to influence journalists by “work the refs.” — In her book, “Settle for More,” set for release on Tuesday …

Discussion: RedState and Joe.My.God.