memeorandum: The most illuminating, self-involved, sycophantic and helpful books I read in 2018 — and the best one, too (Carlos Lozada/Washington Post)

5:25 PM ET, December 6, 2018

Top Items:

Miriam Jordan / New York Times:

Making President Trump's Bed: A Housekeeper Without Papers — At the president's New Jersey golf course, an undocumented immigrant has worked as a maid since 2013. She said she never imagined she “would see such important people close up.” — BEDMINSTER, N.J. — During more than five years …

Discussion: CNN, New Republic, Talking Points Memo, Shareblue Media, Law & Crime, The Week, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Guardian and Balloon Juice

Astead W. Herndon / New York Times:

Elizabeth Warren Stands by DNA Test. But Around Her, Worries Abound. — WASHINGTON — The plan was straightforward: After years of being challenged by President Trump and others about a decades-old claim of Native American ancestry, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts would take a DNA test …

Discussion: Townhall, Bloomberg, CNN, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Daily Wire, Washington Post, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hot Air, Breitbart, No More Mister Nice Blog, Jezebel, twitchy.com, Louder With Crowder, Splinter, Union-News, Washington Free Beacon and Instapundit

BostonGlobe.com:

Deval Patrick knew when to call it quits on a presidential bid. Other politicians take note — Running for president is hard. — Deciding not to run? That can be even harder. — Over the last year, two-term former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick has explored the possibility …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and twitchy.com

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:
2020 Is Already Shaping Up to Be Another Festival of Stupid

Discussion: Daily Wire and Townhall

Deval Patrick:
After a lot of conversation, reflection and prayer …

Discussion: CNN

Washington Post:

William Barr is leading attorney general candidate in Trump discussions — Former attorney general William P. Barr is President Trump's leading candidate to be nominated to lead the Justice Department — a choice that could be made in coming days as the agency presses forward with a probe …

Discussion: ABC News, CNN, Bloomberg, HuffPost, Politico, Media Matters for America, Breitbart, Hot Air, Law & Crime, The Gateway Pundit, The Week and AOL

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Trump's new top AG pick has urged more Clinton probes and played down both Russia collusion and obstruction

Discussion: Above the Law

Elaina Plott / The Atlantic:

The White House Has No Plan for Confronting the Mueller Report — Nobody knows how the White House plans to respond to the Mueller report—including the people who work at the White House. — The special counsel is reportedly nearing the end of his probe. Sentencing memos are dropping.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Times, Shareblue Media, POLITICUSUSA, Balloon Juice, Splinter, Raw Story, Law & Crime, Talking Points Memo and Vox

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Giuliani: The Dog Ate My Counter-Report to Mueller — The Trump administration has been promising they would respond to any charges by Robert Mueller with a devastating point-by-point defense: a “counter-report” written by none other than attorney at law and esteemed cybersecurity expert Rudy Giuliani.

Discussion: New Republic and Raw Story

The Guardian:

Trump aide's appearances on RT channel are focus for Russia inquiry — Ted Malloch, a Trump campaign adviser, has been questioned about his relationship with the Kremlin-controlled broadcaster — Robert Mueller is allegedly examining a Trump campaign adviser's appearances …

Discussion: Raw Story

Andrew Napolitano / Fox News:
Judge Andrew Napolitano: Why I don't believe that Mueller is on a fishing expedition (or is about to go home)

Discussion: Mediaite

CNN: Mueller poised to reveal new details on Russia probe in Manafort, Cohen filings

Washington Post:

Republican officials had early warnings of voting irregularities in North Carolina — BLADENBORO, N.C. — When GOP Rep. Robert Pittenger lost his primary by a narrow margin in May, he suspected something was amiss. — The congressman turned to a group of friends and family who had gathered …

Discussion: Axios, Talking Points Memo, The Charlotte Observer, NPR, The Root, Daily Kos, The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, Hullabaloo and electionlawblog.org

Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:
The GOP Is Making Its Contempt for Democracy Clear. Will the Mainstream Media?

Discussion: Washington Post

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Trump's slow-motion staff ‘shakeup’ stunts 2019 planning — President Donald Trump is still looking for a new United Nations ambassador. He has no deputy national security adviser. His attorney general and Environmental Protection Agency administrator are serving in acting capacities …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Joe Perticone / Business Insider:
Nancy Pelosi says funding for Trump's ‘immoral, ineffective, expensive’ border wall is off the table

Discussion: Daily Wire

Matthew Daly / Associated Press: Pelosi takes hard line on Trump's wall ahead of meeting

Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed News:

Reporters At Bloomberg News Are Worried About Michael Bloomberg's Potential Presidential Run — Reporters at Bloomberg News are on edge after their boss announced that if he chooses to run for president in 2020 — a decision he will have to finalize relatively soon — it could mean the end of the news outlet's political coverage.

Discussion: Political Wire, KBZK, CNBC, Breitbart, Talking Biz News and Radio Iowa

Mark Follman / Mother Jones:

Documents Point to Illegal Campaign Coordination Between Trump and the NRA — The National Rifle Association spent $30 million to help elect Donald Trump—more than any other independent conservative group. Most of that sum went toward television advertising, but a political message loses …

Mike Spies / The Trace:

Documents Point to Illegal Campaign Coordination Between Trump and NRA — The National Rifle Association spent $30 million to help elect Donald Trump — more than any other independent conservative group. Most of that sum went toward television advertising, but a political message loses …

CNBC:

Stocks drop again with Dow's two-day slide now totaling more than 1,000 points — Stocks fell sharply on Thursday as continuing fears over U.S.-China trade relations and concern over a possible global economic slowdown kept investors on edge. — The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 451 points …

Discussion: NPR, The Guardian and Mediaite

Paul Wiseman / Associated Press:
Record imports push US trade gap to $55.5 billion in October

Discussion: Axios

Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:

Fox Business Network Apologizes for Louie Gohmert Spreading Anti-Semitic George Soros Conspiracy — The openly anti-Semitic attack initially went unchallenged by host Stuart Varney, who later issued an apology. — Matt Wilstein — Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Thursday morning managed …

Discussion: Vox, Contemptor, Washington Press and Splinter

Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:
Rep. Louie Gohmert falsely says George Soros helped take property from fellow Jews

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Gohmert, Contemptor and YouTube

Zack Beauchamp / Vox:

The Wisconsin power grab is part of a bigger Republican attack on democracy — The GOP's turn against democracy may be a greater threat to the American experiment than President Trump. — The Wisconsin Republican Party is nullifying the results of the 2018 election.

Discussion: PoliticalCharge, Commentary, HuffPost, Right Wing Watch, CNN and Washington Post

Daniel Marans / HuffPost: ‘No Labels’ Refuses To Call Out Republicans By Name For Midwest Power Grab

Paul Szoldra / Task & Purpose:

General McChrystal Told Pompeo To ‘Muddle Along’ In Afghanistan, Leaked Audio Reveals — Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, recently told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he did not know what to do in Afghanistan but offered his “best suggestion” …

Discussion: New Republic

BuzzFeed News:

A Mysterious Imposter Account Was Used On Facebook To Drum Up Support For The Migrant Caravan — Days before the migrant caravan left Honduras, a fake Facebook account was used to try to bolster its numbers. The social media giant has since deactivated the account but has refused to provide information about who created it.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »

Marc Caputo / Politico:

Trump hotel feud erupts between Lewandowski and Florida senators — MIAMI — It was supposed to be a friendly introduction between Republicans at the Trump International Hotel in Washington on Wednesday night, when the president's former campaign manager and the Republican leader of the Florida Senate met.

Discussion: Raw Story

Pete Williams / NBC News:

In potential blow to Manafort, Supreme Court unlikely to change double jeopardy rule — A presidential pardon could keep Trump's former campaign chairman out of federal prison, but it would not free him from being prosecuted on similar state charges. — WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court …

Rick Wilson / Washington Post:

Trump could've ruined Bush's funeral. Bush didn't let him. — By including the current president, the late president preempted his successor's proclivity for draining the dignity out of solemn occasions. — Rick Wilson is a Republican political consultant, a Daily Beast columnist and the author of …

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Press and Mediaite

Renae Merle / Washington Post:

Senate approves Trump nominee to lead polarizing consumer watchdog agency — The Senate on Thursday confirmed President Trump's nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, ushering in business-friendly leadership for a polarizing watchdog agency long detested by Republicans and the banking industry.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Intercept

Emily Stewart / Vox:
The Senate just confirmed a director for CFPB who has no background in consumer issues

Discussion: Politico and Washington Post

Deconstructed / The Intercept:

Is This the Democrat Who Can Beat Trump in the Rust Belt in 2020? — Photo illustration: Soohee Cho/The Intercept, Getty Images — Subscribe to the Deconstructed podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Radio Public, and other platforms. New to podcasting? Click here.

Walker Davis / CREW:

Romanian consulate held National Day celebration at Trump's Chicago hotel last month — In another apparent example of a foreign government paying to hold an event at a property that President Trump still profits from, the Consulate General of Romania in Chicago celebrated Romania's centennial Great Union …

New York Times:

Allegation of a Doping Cover-Up by Agents Exposes a Hole in Baseball's Authority — Two years ago, lawyers for Major League Baseball sent a confidential document to the players union containing startling allegations against two of the game's top agents. — The document …

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Democrats have a big opportunity to deal Trump a crushing blow — President Trump and Republicans just ran the most virulently xenophobic midterm election campaign in recent memory, closing on a message that plastered the country with dark and terrifying imagery depicting immigrants as violent criminal invaders.

Discussion: ABC News, Washington Monthly, Roll Call, Politico and Booman Tribune

Hilary Weaver / Vanity Fair:

Amal Clooney Takes on Donald Trump in a Fiery Speech at the U.N. — She said the president has given “the green light” for journalists around the world to be tortured and killed. — The last we saw of Amal Clooney, she was skipping out on Princess Eugenie's wedding to give a speech …

Discussion: Breitbart, Raw Story and HuffPost

Carlos Lozada / Washington Post:

The most illuminating, self-involved, sycophantic and helpful books I read in 2018 — and the best one, too — Recapping the most memorable books of the year. — Book critic — For me, 2018 was a year of reading lots and lots about politics — campaign politics, tribal politics …