Top Items:
CNN:
CNN/ORC Poll: Confidence drops in Trump transition — Washington (CNN)Donald Trump will become president Friday with an approval rating of just 40%, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll, the lowest of any recent president and 44 points below that of President Barack Obama, the 44th president.
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Gary Langer / ABC News:
Trump Remains Unpopular, With the Presidency in Hand (POLL) — Donald Trump enters office as the most unpopular of at least the last seven newly elected presidents, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds, with ratings for handling the transition that are also vastly below those of his predecessors.
Emily Brown / USA Today:
Obamas, out. Trumps, in: Flipping the White House is a 5-hour sprint — When Donald Trump walks into the White House for the first time as president on Jan. 20, his suits will be hanging in his closet, his personal photos will be displayed on perfectly placed tables, and his toothbrush …
Discussion:
Political Wire
Manu Raju / CNN:
First on CNN: Trump's cabinet pick invested in company, then introduced a bill to help it — Tom Price in 60 seconds Story highlights — Washington (CNN)Rep. Tom Price last year purchased shares in a medical device manufacturer days before introducing legislation that would have directly benefited …
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MJ Lee / CNN:
Trump's HHS pick doesn't want to flaunt his own Obamacare bill at confirmation hearing — (CNN)Tom Price made his name in Washington as a critic of Obamacare — in fact, he has a plan to dismantle it. — But he may not want to talk about that much when he testifies before Congress this week …
Discussion:
New York Magazine
Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:
Trump, Price and Hill GOP at odds on Obamacare
Trump, Price and Hill GOP at odds on Obamacare
Discussion:
RedState, Washington Post, ACASignups.net and Shadowproof
Nicole Lopez-Alvar / WSVN-TV:
8 shot at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park in Miami on MLK Day; 2 detained — Police and fire rescue crews are on the scene after eight people were shot during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park. — According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue …
Discussion:
twitchy.com, The Gateway Pundit and The Last Refuge
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Curtis Houck / NewsBusters:
Reporters Plead with MLK III to Attack Trump; Did Lewis Tweets Shake You ‘To Your Core?’
Reporters Plead with MLK III to Attack Trump; Did Lewis Tweets Shake You ‘To Your Core?’
Discussion:
Power Line and Mediaite
Rachel Stoltzfoos / The Daily Caller:
Martin Luther King's Niece Voted For Trump
Martin Luther King's Niece Voted For Trump
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, The Last Tradition and Washington Free Beacon
Matt Lewis / The Daily Beast:
Obama Loves Martin Luther King's Great Quote—But He Uses It Incorrectly
Obama Loves Martin Luther King's Great Quote—But He Uses It Incorrectly
Discussion:
TheBlaze
Dan Balz / Washington Post:
Poll: Trump draws low marks for transition, response to Russian hacking — After a tumultuous campaign and transition, President-elect Donald Trump will take the oath of office Friday as the least popular incoming president in at least four decades, but a majority of Americans nevertheless express optimism …
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Gary Langer / ABC News:
Public Splits on Trump's Ethics Compliance; Three-Quarters Want Tax Returns Released (POLL)
Public Splits on Trump's Ethics Compliance; Three-Quarters Want Tax Returns Released (POLL)
Discussion:
The Hill, The Week, Hullabaloo, Common Dreams and Mediaite
Scott Clement / Washington Post:
A majority of Americans feel like Trump has done enough on his conflicts of interest
A majority of Americans feel like Trump has done enough on his conflicts of interest
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Politicus USA and Political Wire
Shane Harris / Wall Street Journal:
CIA Director John Brennan Rejects Donald Trump's Criticism — Outgoing CIA Director John Brennan rejected Donald Trump's suggestions that he may have leaked an unsubstantiated dossier on the president-elect while defending the U.S. intelligence community more broadly.
Discussion:
Politico, Raw Story, The Federalist, emptywheel, The Last Tradition, The Daily Caller, Fox News Insider, The Gateway Pundit and Politicus USA
Adam Edelman / New York Daily News:
Scalpers taking losses on tickets to Trump inauguration, as secondary market interest on the mogul's swear-in wanes — Donald Trump will take office as one of the most unpopular President-elects in recent history — and even scalpers are feeling the pain. — Some flippers …
David Leonhardt / New York Times:
The Most Successful Democrat Since F.D.R. — When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, he understood, without quite saying it, that there had been no highly successful Democratic president in decades. — Bill Clinton made the country a better place, but his biggest legislative plans failed and he was beset by scandal.
Discussion:
Politico
John King / CNN:
Sources: Trump labor pick Andrew Puzder has voiced second thoughts about nomination — Washington (CNN)President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be labor secretary has voiced second thoughts in recent days, because of a relentless barrage of criticism from Democrats, labor unions and other liberal groups …
Discussion:
Political Wire, New York Magazine, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Politicus USA, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and New York Times
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Trump has earned no respect for being the ultimate sore winner — Kellyanne Conway is walking a Dangerfield line. — “We got no forbearance. We got nothing. We got no respect,” the Trump strategist told CNN's Anderson Cooper last week, complaining about media coverage of her boss.
Discussion:
Hot Air and John Hawkins' Right Wing News
Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:
The Trumpcare Conundrum — As congressional Republicans race to repeal and replace President Obama's Affordable Care Act, one of their principal challenges is finding an alternative that does not expose older and less affluent white voters at the core of Donald Trump's electoral coalition to greater costs and financial risk.
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Warns on House Republican Tax Plan — Donald Trump criticized a cornerstone of House Republicans' corporate-tax plan, which they had pitched as an alternative to his proposed import tariffs, creating another point of contention between the incoming president and congressional allies.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, The Last Tradition and Marginal REVOLUTION
Robert Pear / New York Times:
Fear Spurs Support for Health Law as Republicans Work to Repeal It — WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump and congressional Republicans appear to have accomplished a feat that President Obama, with all the power at his disposal, could not in the past seven years …
Discussion:
BostonGlobe.com, Hullabaloo, The Huffington Post and Slate
Scott Johnson / Power Line:
Return of the leftover left — The leftover left that materialized during the Bush administration is returning in force as of January 20. Whatever they do to disrupt events related to the inauguration of Donald Trump as president, it is a preview of coming attractions.
Discussion:
Project Veritas, National Review and Daily Mail
David Nakamura / Washington Post:
‘Never Trump’ national-security Republicans fear they have been blacklisted — They are some of the biggest names in the Republican national security firmament, veterans of past GOP administrations who say, if called upon by President-elect Donald Trump, they stand ready to serve their country again.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Power Line, Balloon Juice and Instapundit
New York Times:
For Trump, Three Decades of Chasing Deals in Russia — It was 2005, and Felix Sater, a Russian immigrant, was back in Moscow pursuing an ambitious plan to build a Trump tower on the site of an old pencil factory along the Moscow River that would offer hotel rooms, condominiums and commercial office space.
Discussion:
The Week and Politicus USA
McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:
‘He Is Going to Test Our Democracy as It Has Never Been Tested’ — Sometime early last fall, John Dean says he began having nightmares about a Trump presidency. He would wake in the middle of the night, agitated and alarmed, struggling to calm his nerves.
Discussion:
Raw Story
BBC:
Istanbul Reina nightclub attack suspect captured — Turkish police have arrested the main suspect in the New Year's Eve attack on an exclusive nightclub in Istanbul after a huge manhunt. — Abdulkadir Masharipov is believed to have mounted the assault on the Reina club which left 39 people dead.
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Jordyn Phelps / ABC News:
How Trump's Pick for Education Secretary May Reignite the Education Wars — Let the education wars begin. — Donald Trump's choice to lead the Department of Education, Betsy DeVos, has the nation's teachers unions preparing to re-enter battle over public education systems …
Discussion:
Politico