Top Items:
Mike Debonis / Washington Post:
Behind closed doors, Republican lawmakers fret about how to repeal Obamacare — PHILADELPHIA — Republican lawmakers aired sharp concerns about their party's quick push to repeal the Affordable Care Act inside a closed-door meeting Thursday, according to a recording of the session obtained by The Washington Post.
Discussion:
Vox, Kaiser Health News, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Axios, Daily Kos, Politicus USA, The Gateway Pundit, Liberal Values, Raw Story, The Week and NPR
RELATED:
Mike Debonis / Washington Post:
In private meeting, Pence vows ‘full evaluation of voting rolls’ over claims of fraud — In a private meeting with congressional Republicans this week, Vice President Pence vowed that the Trump administration would pursue a wide-ranging probe of voting rolls in the United States …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and The Guardian
Jonathan Cohn / The Huffington Post:
Another Bogus Obamacare Argument From Donald Trump And Paul Ryan
Another Bogus Obamacare Argument From Donald Trump And Paul Ryan
Discussion:
The Week
Wall Street Journal:
Trump's First Week: Governing Without a Script — The new president seems to be running his administration much like he ran his company and campaign, eager to weigh in on every issue and willing to make last-minute calls — A directive to revive two controversial oil pipelines awaited …
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Brian Beutler / New Republic:
Trump and the Republicans Are on a Suicide Mission Together — And we'll all have to live with the fallout. — One of the things supposedly driving President Donald Trump to distraction, in what should be a celebratory first week in office, is that he isn't getting a honeymoon period from the media and the general public.
Discussion:
Washington Post and The Guardian, more at Mediagazer »
Mike Allen / Axios:
The Bannon coup — White House and Hill GOP leaders are astonished …
The Bannon coup — White House and Hill GOP leaders are astonished …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Daily Beast, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Guardian, The Week, The Other McCain, Mashable, Washington Monthly, BizPac Review, The Moderate Voice, Naked Politics, Power Line, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Daily Kos, New Republic, Telegraph, Hot Air, Washington Times, The Gateway Pundit and The Last Tradition, more at Mediagazer »
New York Times:
Donald Trump's Mexico Tantrum — Less than a week into the job, President Trump on Thursday raised the specter of a trade war with America's third-largest partner, Mexico, as the White House warned that the United States could impose a 20 percent tariff on Mexican imports.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Week, ABC News, Daily Kos, Politico, FiveThirtyEight and Refinery29
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Madeline Conway / Politico:
Mexico's Vicente Fox to Trump: We are ‘ready for the trade war’
Mexico's Vicente Fox to Trump: We are ‘ready for the trade war’
Discussion:
ABC News, Mediaite and The Gateway Pundit
Washington Post:
President Trump and Mexican president speak by phone amid crisis in relations
President Trump and Mexican president speak by phone amid crisis in relations
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Eli Stokols / Politico:
Trump: Telephone call with Mexican president was ‘very friendly’
Trump: Telephone call with Mexican president was ‘very friendly’
Discussion:
ABC News and Associated Press
Paulina Firozi / The Hill:
‘Calexit’ supporters can start work to make ballot — Californians who want their state to secede from the United States can now start collecting signatures to put the initiative on the 2018 ballot. — The Yes California Independence Campaign has been around for at least two years …
RELATED:
Jim Miller / Sacramento Bee:
Calexit backers can begin collecting signatures to qualify for 2018 ballot
Calexit backers can begin collecting signatures to qualify for 2018 ballot
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and The American Mirror
Christine Mai-Duc / Los Angeles Times:
‘Calexit’ organizers can now start collecting signatures to get California secession on the ballot
‘Calexit’ organizers can now start collecting signatures to get California secession on the ballot
Discussion:
Hit & Run and American Renaissance
Rowan Scarborough / Washington Times:
Trump argument bolstered: Clinton received 800,000 votes from noncitizens, study finds — Hillary Clinton garnered more than 800,000 votes from noncitizens on Nov. 8, an approximation far short of President Trump's estimate of up to 5 million illegal voters but supportive of his charges of fraud.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Lid, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Free Beacon
RELATED:
Michael Waldman / New York Times:
Voting Fraud Inquiry? The Investigators Got Burned Last Time
Voting Fraud Inquiry? The Investigators Got Burned Last Time
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, USA Today, No More Mister Nice Blog, Althouse, twitchy.com and Talking Points Memo
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
No, the White House didn't Photoshop an image of the president's hand — Dana Schwartz, a writer for the New York Observer, claimed to have noticed something interesting about one of the photos displayed during President Trump's interview with ABC News that aired this week.
Discussion:
The Verge, Mediaite and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Sheila Weller / Vanity Fair:
How Author Timothy Tyson Found the Woman at the Center of the Emmett Till Case — With a renewed cultural interest in the 1955 murder that catalyzed the 20th century civil rights movement, an interview with the author of a new book who tracked down the long-hidden woman at its center.
Discussion:
The Guardian, theGrio, Raw Story, The Week and WGN-TV
Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
A viral Washington Post story about State Department resignations is very misleading — On Thursday morning, the Washington Post published a piece with an explosive headline: “The State Department's entire senior management team just resigned.” The piece alleged that Undersecretary …
Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
The end of Sarah Palin is here … Remember how former Alaska governor Sarah Palin was going to use her political celebrity to build an army of like-minded politicians via her political action committee? — Yeah, not so much. — Michael Beckel of the Center for Public Integrity flagged for me this news …
Discussion:
Heat Street
Jordain Carney / The Hill:
McCain warns Trump he'll fight on lifting Russian sanctions — (R-Ariz.) is urging President Trump not to make a “reckless” move to lift Russian sanctions, warning that he would work in Congress to reinstate the sanctions as law. — “For the sake of America's national security and that of our allies …
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Free Beacon and Hot Air
RELATED:
Allegra Kirkland / Talking Points Memo:
No Mention Of Jews In Trump Holocaust Statement Breaks With Tradition — President Donald Trump did not explicitly mention Jews in his Friday statement commemorating the millions exterminated by the Nazis, an omission that the Anti-Defamation League called “troubling” and out of step with past presidential statements.
Tara Palmeri / Politico:
Trump won't attend Alfalfa Club dinner — President Donald Trump will not attend the annual Alfalfa Club dinner Saturday night, an exclusive black-tie dinner — and White House roast — that every president since Ronald Reagan has attended. — Instead of the president himself …
Discussion:
New York Times and Political Wire
Reid Wilson / The Hill:
New wave of anti-evolution bills hit states — New legislation introduced in a handful of states would allow alternatives to the theory of evolution to be taught in classrooms, the latest wave of measures backed by religious conservatives targeting broadly accepted scientific curriculum.
Discussion:
Argus Leader and Raw Story
The Hill:
McConnell all but rules out filibuster change — (R-Ky.) on Friday all but ruled out the possibility of a change to the filibuster rule this year. — McConnell made his comment in an interview with The Hill one day after President Trump said he wants Senate Republicans to strip Democrats …
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Melania Trump wins round in libel suit over blogger's ‘escort’ claims — First lady Melania Trump prevailed Friday in the first round of a $150 million libel suit she filed against a Maryland blogger over a report he published last summer about claims that Trump worked as a “high-end escort.”
Discussion:
RedState, The Gateway Pundit and John Hawkins' Right Wing News, more at Mediagazer »
Mikhail Gorbachev / TIME:
Mikhail Gorbachev: ‘It All Looks as if the World Is Preparing for War’ — Mikhail Gorbachev was the president of the Soviet Union and is the author of The New Russia. — The world today is overwhelmed with problems. Policymakers seem to be confused and at a loss.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Common Dreams, NBC News, AOL and The Week
Carlos Greer / Page Six:
Huge shakeup at ‘Today’ to make way for Megyn Kelly — More On: — NBC is canceling the third hour of “Today” to make way for new star Megyn Kelly, sources exclusively confirm to Page Six. — We're told Kelly will take over either the 9 a.m. hour from Tamron Hall and Al Roker or will replace Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
Kim Janssen / Chicago Tribune:
Rod Blagojevich's 20-year-old daughter Amy unloads on Barack Obama — Patti Blagojevich with her daughters Annie, center, and Amy on Aug. 9, 2016, at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago after former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's resentencing. — Scratch the Obamas off Amy Blagojevich's Christmas card list.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and Althouse
Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Donald Trump thinks he is the modern Andrew Jackson. Here is why he isn't. — It's rapidly become conventional wisdom that President Trump is the modern-day incarnation of Andrew Jackson. Establishment Republicans, long unsure of how to understand Trump and his successes in any sort …