memeorandum: On the Road to Kleptocracy … With the passage of the Republican … (Adele M. Stan/American Prospect)

3:50 PM ET, December 20, 2017

Top Items:

Bruce Bartlett / USA Today:

After tax cuts, Republicans may suddenly find Trump is more trouble than he's worth — After months of debate, Congress has released a final tax reform bill. The bill eliminates some personal exemptions while increasing the standard deduction. — The GOP members of Congress had a brilliant plan …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and The Root

Heather Long / Washington Post:

The Republican tax bill was the easy part. The next debate could be much uglier. — The Republican overhaul of the tax code sets the stage for years of politically fraught debate over what the government should provide for its citizens and how much it should demand in taxes.

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, Axios and The Stranger …

Judson Berger / Fox News:

Congress approves final tax reform bill, handing Trump year-end victory — The House gave the final stamp of approval Wednesday to a sweeping tax reform package, handing President Trump his first major legislative victory and most Americans a tax cut starting next year.

Discussion: Al Jazeera English, TheBlaze, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Free Beacon and bizpacreview.com

Washington Post:
GOP tax bill passes Congress

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mother Jones and The Daily Caller

Cameron Joseph / Talking Points Memo:
House Passes Tax Bill (Again), Sends To Trump To Sign Into Law

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Atlantic, Little Green Footballs and Washington Post

Chris Edwards / Cato Institute:
Final Tax Bill: Biggest Cuts for the Middle

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, National Review, The Daily Caller, Power Line, bizpacreview.com, America Rising PAC and Washington Post

CNN:

Democrats' 2018 advantage expands — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — WASHINGTON (CNN)Democrats' already wide advantage over Republicans in a hypothetical Congressional matchup has grown, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. At the same time, enthusiasm about voting next year …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Caller and Political Wire

Ryan Struyk / CNN:

Trump's approval rating just entered a league of its own — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump's approval rating sank to a new low in CNN polling on Tuesday, earning the approval of just 35% of Americans less than a year into his first term.

Discussion: New York Times and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Hillary Clinton popularity hits all-time low, poll shows

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Caller, IJR, Scared Monkeys, RedState and Gallup

Carrie Dann / NBC News:
Poll: Just 36% of Americans indicate they would vote for Trump in 2020

Discussion: AOL, No More Mister Nice Blog, Real Clear Politics, Power Line and NBC News

Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:

The GOP's Tax Bill Kicks Puerto Rico When It's Down — The island is getting slapped with new taxes as it drowns in debt and tries to recover from a catastrophic hurricane. — WASHINGTON The hits just keep coming for Puerto Rico. — As the U.S. island struggles to climb …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Post, Associated Press, Splinter and CNN

Melanie Schmitz / ThinkProgress:
Paul Ryan was asked if Trump's accusers are liars. His response was abysmal.

Discussion: Washington Post, HuffPost, Business Insider and bizpacreview.com

Adele M. Stan / American Prospect:
On the Road to Kleptocracy … With the passage of the Republican …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Janet Hook / Wall Street Journal:
Republican Tax Bill Has Grown More Unpopular, Poll Shows

Discussion: Shareblue Media, US News, The Daily Caller, Politico, Scripting News and The Atlantic

Will Wilkinson / New York Times:

The Tax Bill Shows the G.O.P.'s Contempt for Democracy — The Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is notably generous to corporations, high earners, inheritors of large estates and the owners of private jets. Taken as a whole, the bill will add about $1.4 trillion to the deficit in the next decade …

New York Times:
Republican Tax Bill Passes Senate in 51-48 Vote

Cristiano Lima / Politico:
Trump boasts of individual mandate repeal in GOP tax bill

Discussion: Axios

Emily Steel / New York Times:

2 Women Who Settled With O'Reilly Over Sexual Harassment Sue for Defamation — Two women who reached sexual harassment settlements with Bill O'Reilly joined a defamation lawsuit against Mr. O'Reilly and Fox News on Wednesday, asserting that statements that he and the network made depicted them as liars …

Discussion: thecut and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

U.S. Department of the Treasury:

Treasury Targets Individuals Involved in the Sergei Magnitsky Case and Other Gross Violations of Human Rights in Russia — A total of 49 individuals have been designated under the Magnitsky Act — WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) …

Discussion: Axios

U.S. Department of the Treasury:
Resource Center

Discussion: Metro Weekly

Washington Post:

Court tosses out one-vote victory in recount that had briefly ended a Republican majority in Virginia — A three- judge panel declined to certify the recount of a key House race today, saying that a questionable ballot should be counted in favor of the Republican and tying a race that Democrats …

Discussion: Raw Story, Shareblue Media, Hullabaloo, FiveThirtyEight, Shakesville, Mashable, ThinkProgress, Weekly Standard, Vox, New York Magazine, Axios, IJR and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:

Breitbart went all out for Roy Moore. Now its top editor says he was a ‘weak candidate’ — Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow was in his home office last Tuesday night running the front page of the far-right website when he learned that Judge Roy Moore would not be elected as the next senator from Alabama.

Discussion: Axios, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, Splinter and Washington Post

United States Senator Lamar Alexander:

Alexander, Collins Statement on Bills to Lower Health Insurance Premiums — WASHINGTON, December 20, 2017—United States Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) today jointly released the following statement: — “Rather than considering a broad year-end funding agreement …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Daily Kos and Politico

German Lopez / Vox:

Cornel West's attacks on Ta-Nehisi Coates, explained — Coates is the latest target in West's war against Obama. — A public feud between two of America's top black intellectuals has led one of them to abandon Twitter. — Cornel West, author of the well-known Race Matters …

Discussion: Salon, The Guardian, The Stranger … and bradford-delong.com

David Corn / Mother Jones:

Donald Trump's Holiday Gift to America: A Fundamental Crisis — In a commencement speech years ago, author David Foster Wallace told this story: Two young fish are swimming along, and they pass an older fish swimming the other way. The older fish says, “Morning, boys, how's the water?”

Associated Press:

Author of online hit ‘Cat Person’ has 7-figure book deal — NEW YORK — The author of the online sensation “Cat Person” has a seven-figure book deal. — Scout Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Kristen Roupenian's debut story collection …

Discussion: Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Caitlyn Hitt / New York Daily News:

Meryl Streep #SheKnew posters pop up in Los Angeles amid backlash over Harvey Weinstein comments — A street artist is calling Meryl Streep on her bluff. — Posters showing the “The Post” actress standing with disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein have been popping up across Los Angeles, Twitter posts indicate.

Discussion: USA Today and Althouse

Sasha Lekach / Mashable:

‘Misinformer of the Year’ award goes to Mark Zuckerberg — Rupert Murdoch, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck. — Those are some of the big media figures Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is joining with this year's dubious distinction of “Misinformer of the Year.”

Discussion: The Atlantic

AT&T:

With Tax Reform, AT&T Plans to Increase U.S. Capital Spending $1 Billion and Provide $1,000 Special Bonus to more than 200,000 U.S. Employees — Today, Congress approved legislation representing the first comprehensive tax reform in a generation. The President is expected to sign the bill in the coming days.

Discussion: CNBC, Mother Jones, Business Insider, The Daily Caller and Speaker.gov

Esquire:

On the Front Lines of the GOP's Civil War — In 2016, a group of Republicans broke ranks with their party to try to stop Donald Trump from winning the presidency. Now they're rallying once more to keep him from destroying the country. Sam Tanenhaus reports on the Never Trumpers.

Discussion: New York Magazine and Media Matters for America

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

Mar-a-Lago hikes New Year's Eve party ticket prices — Partying with President Donald Trump on New Year's Eve is getting more expensive. — Ticket prices for the annual Dec. 31 bash at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in South Florida are going up to $600 for dues-paying members and $750 for their guests …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Palm Beach Post

Pew Research Center:

Hispanic Identity Fades Across Generations as Immigrant Connections Fall Away — 11% of American adults with Hispanic ancestry do not identify as Hispanic — More than 18% of Americans identify as Hispanic or Latino, the nation's second largest racial or ethnic group.

Discussion: NPR

Page Six:

Koch heir sues ex-fiancée to get giant ring back — Wyatt Koch — the son of billionaire Bill Koch — is suing his ex-fiancée to get back an 8.24-carat ring after she broke off their engagement, according to court documents. Wyatt's lawyers claim that he purchased …

Discussion: Raw Story, thecut and Balloon Juice

Bernie Becker / Politico:

Confusion and chaos ahead as new tax rules take immediate effect — Accountants, IRS and taxpayers scramble to figure out how to comply. — The most sweeping tax code overhaul in a generation will soon head to President Donald Trump's desk — and Republicans are enjoying a victory dance.

Discussion: Roll Call, Business Insider and Daily Kos

Rebecca Kheel / The Hill:

Pentagon memo details process for accepting transgender recruits — The Pentagon has issued a memo on how to start accepting transgender recruits into the military on Jan. 1, as courts have ordered. — The memo outlines such specific details as what legal documents will be accepted …

Discussion: IJR

Aaron Elstein / Crain's New York Business:

New York golfers avoiding Trump's course — The president opened a big, beautiful course in the Bronx two years ago that players are increasingly shunning — Donald Trump enjoys few things more than golf and has built some well-regarded courses. Yet many New Yorkers clearly prefer …

Discussion: Political Wire

Brian Flood / Fox News:

Press watchdogs, female employees want answers about NBC News' sexual harassment issues — The influential Media Research Center, an independent press watchdog, is now calling on NBC News to hire an outside investigator to review its culture of sexual misconduct after NBC News Chairman Andy Lack …