memeorandum: Democrats' Popular Vote Advantage Is Growing But That May Not Equal Election Wins (Dante Chinni/NBC News)

11:10 AM ET, December 5, 2016

Top Items:

Evan McMullin / New York Times:

Trump's Threat to the Constitution — WASHINGTON — On July 7, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, met privately with House Republicans near the Capitol. I was present as chief policy director of the House Republican Conference.

Discussion: Politico, Raw Story and Patterico's Pontifications

Charles M. Blow / New York Times:

Trump's Agents of Idiocracy — Last week when Donald Trump began his so-called Thank You Tour in Cincinnati, he had yet another opportunity to be magnanimous and conciliatory, to step beyond the division and acrimony of his campaign and into the unity and healing necessary to be president of a strained nation.

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:

D.C. Police detain suspect with an assault rifle at Comet Ping Pong restaurant — D.C. Police responding Sunday to a report of a gunman at a popular pizza restaurant in Northwest Washington detained a man armed with an assault rifle, according to a police spokeswoman.

Politico:

Incoming national security adviser's son spreads fake news about D.C. pizza shop — The son of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's pick for national security adviser, embraced a baseless conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton on Sunday after a man who claimed to be investigating …

Discussion: Washingtonian, NPR, Mediaite, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and Mashable

Eric Lipton / New York Times:
Man Motivated by ‘Pizzagate’ Conspiracy Theory Arrested in Washington Gunfire

Discussion: Althouse, more at Mediagazer »

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Did Michael Flynn really tweet something about #PizzaGate? Not exactly.

Discussion: alan.com, Raw Story and Mediaite

Anne Gearan / Washington Post:

Trump's Taiwan phone call was long planned, say people who were involved — Donald Trump's protocol-breaking telephone call with Taiwan's leader was an intentionally provocative move that establishes the incoming president as a break with the past, according to interviews with people involved in the planning.

Discussion: Politico, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, Business Insider, Daily Kos, Fox News, The Resurgent, Washington Monthly, Power Line, The Week and CHINAdaily

Walter Russell Mead / The American Interest: What the Taiwan Call Means

Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:
Trump slams China on Twitter

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNBC, NBC News, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, Coffee House, KTLA, BizPac Review, The Moderate Voice, Raw Story and The Talking Dog

Michael Forsythe / New York Times:
Taiwan City Planning a Makeover Says a Trump Agent Showed Interest

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

U.S. Army / army.mil:

Army will not grant easement for Dakota Access Pipeline crossing — Army POC: Moira Kelley (703) 614-3992, moira.l.kelley.civ@mail.mil — The Department of the Army will not approve an easement that would allow the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota …

Business Wire:

Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics Partners Respond to the Statement from the Department of the Army — DALLAS & NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (NYSE: ETP) and Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. (NYSE: SXL) announced that the Administration's statement today …

Discussion: Business Insider, USA Today, The Verge and The Root

Devin Henry / The Hill:
Feds deny permit for Dakota Access pipeline

Discussion: ABC News, The Week, The Resurgent and Daily Kos

Caroline Kenny / CNN:
US Army Corp of Engineers: Dakota Pipeline to be re-routed

Discussion: FOX2now.com, Hot Air, The Nation, WTVR-TV, Mediaite and FOX6Now.com

James MacPherson / NBC4 Washington:
Federal Government Blocks Dakota Access Oil Pipeline Route

Discussion: Associated Press, Boing Boing, KOIN-TV, WCMH-TV, Lawyers, Guns & Money, reverbpress.com, Raw Story, Mother Jones, Truthdig, ABC News, The Guardian and Balloon Juice

Trip Gabriel / New York Times:

Trump Chooses Ben Carson to Lead HUD — Ben Carson, who took Donald J. Trump on a tour of blighted neighborhoods in Detroit during the presidential campaign, including his boyhood home, has been chosen by Mr. Trump to oversee one of the government's main efforts to lift American cities …

Discussion: Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Rewire, Business Insider and twitchy.com

Louis Nelson / Politico:
Trump picks Ben Carson to be HUD secretary

Discussion: ABC News, Washington Post, Scared Monkeys, TheBlaze and Business Insider

David Wright / CNN:
Trump taps Ben Carson for HUD secretary

Discussion: The Root, BizPac Review and Outside the Beltway

Jessica Taylor / NPR:
Trump Taps Ben Carson For Secretary Of Housing And Urban Development

Discussion: The Atlantic, alan.com and The Guardian

Elana Schor / Politico:

Democrats to give Trump Cabinet picks the Garland treatment — Senate Democrats are preparing to put Donald Trump's Cabinet picks through a grinding confirmation process, weighing delay tactics that could eat up weeks of the Senate calendar and hamper his first 100 days in office.

Discussion: RedState, Raw Story, Political Wire, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Resurgent and rubber hose

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

GOP wagers Americans don't care about Trump's conflicts — Republicans see the same ethically challenged complications lurking in Donald Trump's business portfolio that Democrats are squawking about. They just think Americans don't care about these entanglements anymore.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Detroit News:

Judge orders Mich. presidential recount to begin Monday — Detroit — A federal judge has ordered Michigan election officials to begin a massive hand recount of 4.8 million ballots cast in the presidential election at noon Monday. — U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith issued a ruling …

Discussion: RedState, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit and Detroit Free Press

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:
It ain't over til it's over — Yesterday, in a post called …

Discussion: USA Today, CNN, Townhall.com, The Root, RedState, Independent Journal Review and France 24

New York Post:

The disclosure that could end Eric Schneiderman's career — State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's witch hunt against supposed “climate-science deniers” became an even more embarrassing debacle late last month — and just might wind up ending his career.

Salena Zito / Washington Examiner:

Dancing with insanity — One-hundred and thirty-four House Democrats collectively lost their minds last week. — That is how many of Nancy Pelosi's colleagues it took to vote her back into power despite having lost her third consecutive chance at winning back the majority from the Republicans.

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

In an anti-recount filing, Trump's lawyers say the election was ‘not tainted by fraud or mistake’ — Three leading Republicans were asked over the weekend whether or not they agreed with Donald Trump's tweeted assertion that millions of voters had cast illegal ballots (part of Trump's effort to rebut his popular vote loss).

Discussion: Politico, Law News, Hot Air and The Guardian

Karol Markowicz / New York Post:

The war on ‘fake news’ is all about censoring real news — MORE FROM: — Scrambling for an explanation for Donald Trump's victory, many in the media and on the left have settled on the idea that his supporters were consumers of “fake news” — gullible rubes living in an alternate reality made Trump president.

Discussion: Clayton Cramer

Rick Noack / Washington Post:

Trying to imitate Trump's victory, Italy's Beppe Grillo could help throw Europe into crisis — When Beppe Grillo started to make headlines at the leader of Italy's biggest protest party more than six years ago, it was hard to avoid the puns. A comedian turned politician, Grillo was laughed at and branded a “clown.”

Jason Horowitz / New York Times:
Italy's Premier, Matteo Renzi, Says He'll Resign After Reform Is Rejected

Discussion: Political Wire, The Federalist, Mashable and The Daily Caller

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:

A fitting end: Castro's hearse breaks down — The vehicle carrying Fidel Castro's remains during his funeral parade broke down yesterday. Soldiers had to push it through the streets. — How symbolic! What could be more fitting, given the broken down nature of the antique Cuban state produced by Castro?

Discussion: The American Mirror