memeorandum: Trump, McConnell, Putin, and the Triumph of the Will to Power (Jonathan Chait/New York Magazine)

6:20 PM ET, December 10, 2016

Top Items:

Andrea Mitchell / NBC News:

Rex Tillerson of ExxonMobil Expected to Be Named Trump's Secretary of State: Sources — NBC News: Trump chooses Secy of State 2:55 — Donald Trump is expected to nominate ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state, two sources close to the transition process told NBC News on Saturday.

Harper Neidig / The Hill:

Trump picks Exxon CEO Tillerson for secretary of State: report — has selected Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his nominee for secretary of State, NBC News reported Saturday. — Tillerson had reportedly jumped to the front of the pack of candidates in recent days, despite not being mentioned on shortlists as recently as last week.

Discussion: ABC News, Politicus USA, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, reverbpress.com, Mediaite, Wall Street Journal and Mother Jones

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Trump, McConnell, Putin, and the Triumph of the Will to Power — Of the many things that resulted in Donald Trump's election, from Hillary Clinton's own errors to James Comey's extraordinary insinuations against her in the contest's final stages, Russian hacking played a meaningful enough role to tilt a razor-tight contest.

Discussion: Politico, Althouse, Occupy Democrats, Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Mediaite, Independent Journal Review, Daily Kos, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times and Talking Points Memo

Ken Thomas / Military Times:

Trump greets troops, draws cheers at Army-Navy game — Donald Trump is partaking in one of the nation's most storied football rivalries, saluting U.S. troops at the annual Army-Navy game on Saturday as he prepares to enter the White House. — The future commander in chief attended …

Discussion: Associated Press

William Cummings / USA Today:

Trump bashes CIA, dismisses Russian hacking report — 21k Shares — President-elect Donald Trump's transition team questioned the credibility of the CIA late Friday in response to a report the agency found Russia intervened in the election to boost his prospects.

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

The CIA concluded that Russia worked to elect Trump. Republicans now face an impossible choice. — This post has been updated with a defiant statement from the Trump transition team. — The Washington Post is now reporting that the CIA has concluded something widely suspected …

Discussion: Liberal Values, The Daily Caller, Informed Comment, Outside the Beltway, Power Line, Political Wire, Occupy Democrats, Balloon Juice, The Gateway Pundit, The Talking Dog, Politicus USA and Politico

MSNBC:

NBC News: Trump chooses Tillerson for Secy of State — NBC News can confirm that Donald Trump has chosen Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports. ... more Duration: {{video.duration.momentjs}}

Discussion: The Last Refuge, Business Insider, Hot Air, DeSmogBlog, BizPac Review and WCMH-TV

Rebecca Morin / Politico:

McCain: Tillerson relationship with Putin a ‘matter of concern’ — Sen. John McCain said Saturday that the relationship between Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump's leading candidate for secretary of state, and Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “matter of concern” to him.

Discussion: The Hill

New York Times:

Exxon Mobil Chief Rises as Trump's Choice for Secretary of State — Rex W. Tillerson, the president and chief executive of Exxon Mobil, has emerged as President-elect Donald J. Trump's top choice to become secretary of state, according to a person with direct knowledge of the search process.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

Steve Holland / Reuters:
Trump on track to name Exxon CEO Tillerson secretary of state: source

Discussion: Infowars

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Who is Rex Tillerson, the ExxonMobil chairman who may become secretary of state?

Discussion: Business Insider, The Mahablog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Fox News and Political Wire

Andrea Mitchell / NBC News:
Rex Tillerson of Exxon Mobil Expected to Be Named Trump's Secretary of State: Sources

Discussion: Daily Kos, Political Wire and Patterico's Pontifications

CBS News:
Rex Tillerson is Donald Trump's leading candidate for secretary of state

Discussion: CBS New York

Steve Holland / Reuters:
Exxon CEO is now Trump's secretary of state favorite - transition official

Discussion: Politicus USA, Common Dreams and RedState

David E. Sanger / New York Times:

Trump, Mocking Claim That Russia Hacked Election, at Odds with G.O.P. — WASHINGTON — An extraordinary breach has emerged between President-elect Donald J. Trump and the national security establishment, with Mr. Trump mocking American intelligence assessments that Russia interfered …

Discussion: Politicus USA

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico: Intel world struggles to crack the code of an untrusting Trump

CNN:
Donald Trump takes aim at US intelligence community on Russia

Discussion: The Daily Beast, RedState, reverbpress.com, Hot Air, Reuters, The Week and AOL

Daniel Politi / Slate:
How Mitch McConnell Prevented Stronger Action Against Russian Election Meddling

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice, Occupy Democrats and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Schumer demands congressional inquiry on Russian meddling

Discussion: ThinkProgress, No More Mister Nice Blog, Business Insider, EgbertoWillies.com, Politicus USA, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, New Urban Legends, NBC News, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Taylor Marsh, Political Wire and NO QUARTER USA NET

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Schumer calls for full investigation by Congress of Russian interference in U.S. elections

Discussion: TheBlaze, emptywheel, Mediaite, Common Dreams, Talking Points Memo, BizPac Review, The Guardian, The Last Refuge, Occupy Democrats, The Reality-Based Community, Daily Kos, The Verge, Mother Jones, Business Insider, Engadget, Diane Ravitch's blog, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Politicus USA

Michael Kinsley / Washington Post:

Donald Trump is actually a fascist — Michael Kinsley is a columnist for Vanity Fair magazine and a contributing columnist for The Post. — Donald Trump is a fascist. — When you call somebody a fascist, you can mean any number of things. Often, it means no more than “somebody I don't like.”

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Kathryn Blackhurst / LifeZette:

Microsoft Holiday Ad Celebrates Left-Wing Causes — To celebrate the “spirit of the holidays,” Microsoft released an ad this week best described as a collage of Left-wing pet causes. The commercial features sympathetic images and anecdotes for Black Lives Matter, Syrian refugees, transgender activism and more general LGBT issues.

Discussion: Power Line

Elliot Smilowitz / The Hill:

Trump on ‘lock her up’ calls: 'Now we don't care' — on Friday said that now that he's won the election, he does not care to prosecute Hillary Clinton — Trump was speaking in Grand Rapids, Mich., as part of his “thank you” tour when he heard some chants of “lock her up” — a common refrain during his campaign events.

Discussion: RedState

Daniella Diaz / CNN:
Trump on ‘lock her up’ chant: 'Now we don't care'

Discussion: Political Wire

CBS News:

Study: Half of people “remember” events that never happened — Ever find yourself caught up in a vivid memory of an event that, you later realize with confusion, didn't really happen the way you thought? According to new research by psychologists at the University of Warwick in the U.K., you are far from alone.

The White House:

Weekly Address: It's Time to Get Covered on the Health Insurance Marketplace — WASHINGTON, DC — In this week's address, President Obama discussed Open Enrollment on the Health Insurance Marketplace, which began November 1. The deadline to sign up for coverage beginning on January 1 is this Thursday …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News