memeorandum: Russia Gloats: ‘Trump Is Ours Again’ (Julia Davis/The Daily Beast)

9:45 PM ET, December 21, 2018

Top Items:

Trump call with Turkish leader led to US pullout from Syria — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw American troops from Syria was made hastily, without consulting his national security team or allies, and over strong objections from virtually everyone involved …

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Trump sees dangerous cracks in Hill GOP support — President Donald Trump faces a dangerous erosion of support among rank-and-file Republicans thanks to a series of jarring recent moves that have alienated even some close GOP allies. — From his defense of Saudi Arabia's crown prince …

Discussion: Washington Post

NBC News:

Trump warns shutdown could last ‘very long time,’ urges McConnell to go ‘nuclear’ and end filibuster — “Mitch, use the Nuclear Option and get it done! Our Country is counting on you!” Trump tweeted. — President Donald Trump on Friday said the chances of a partial government shutdown were …

Discussion: The Hill, Townhall, New York Times, ABC News, Breitbart, ThinkProgress, Washington Post, NPR, Hit & Run, RedState and IJR

Julia Davis / The Daily Beast:

Russia Gloats: ‘Trump Is Ours Again’ — If Moscow was happy about the Syria pullout, it's ecstatic about Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' resignation. — By JULIA DAVIS12.21.18 12:49 PM ET — The Kremlin is awash with Christmas gifts from Washington, D.C. and every move by the Trump administration seems to add to that perception.

Discussion: TASS, Joe.My.God., Hullabaloo, Sydney Morning Herald, Breitbart, Mediaite and Washington Monthly

Washington Post:

A tumultuous week began with a phone call between Trump and the Turkish president — When he spoke to President Trump on the telephone a week ago Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's agenda had not changed from when they met two weeks earlier at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina.

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Task & Purpose, Test Feed Using Fields and ABC News

Axios:

What should worry Trump most: Republican allies are turning on him — Another reason this is a historic week — and what President Trump should really worry about — is that lots of different Republicans have been turning on him over different topics. — Why it matters: A former Trump aide …

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Post, Breitbart, Hot Air, Bloomberg, Politico, Joe.My.God., POLITICUSUSA, Hullabaloo, Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Maggie Haberman: ‘Disgusted’ Republicans Now Privately Admitting They Regret Supporting Trump — New York Times reporter and CNN contributor Maggie Haberman appeared on New Day Friday morning and revealed insight into the current turmoil in Washington D.C. — In light of the many issues challenging …

Discussion: Shakesville, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Week

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Trump Is Building a Team of Lackeys to Go to War With Mueller

Discussion: Vox, Politico and New York Times

Andrew Restuccia / Politico:
Trump bumps Mar-a-Lago getaway amid shutdown confusion

Discussion: Breitbart, Raw Story and New Republic

CNN:

Trump lashed out at Whitaker after explosive Cohen revelations — Cohen says he lied about project in Moscow — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump has at least twice in the past few weeks vented to his acting attorney general, angered by federal prosecutors who referenced …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Mediaite

Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:

Mick Mulvaney in 2015: Trump's views on border wall ‘simplistic,’ ‘absurd and almost childish’ — (CNN)Incoming White House acting-chief of staff Mick Mulvaney once called President Donald Trump's views on a border wall and immigration “simplistic” and “absurd and almost childish.”

Discussion: New York Times, Hullabaloo, Political Wire, Washington Post, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, HuffPost, Axios and Mediaite

Axios:
Pre-Christmas Trump: Rebuked, rampaging

Discussion: Mediaite, The Daily Beast, Hot Air, Associated Press, Daily Kos, The Resurgent, POLITICUSUSA, AOL, Politico, The Atlantic, NPR, Defense One, The Guardian, Althouse, Taylor Marsh, Reuters, Just Security, The Week, The Defense Post and HuffPost

Rick Wilson / The Daily Beast:
Jim Mattis Was the Only Thing Keeping Trump's Insane Clown Posse in Check

Discussion: New York Times, Breitbart, New Republic and CNN

Emmie Martin / CNBC:

The budget breakdown of a 25-year-old who makes $100,000 a year and is excellent with money — Trevor Klee, he admits, is a “terrible employee.” But he's great at working for himself — and at taking tests. — So the 25-year-old entrepreneur started a thriving business of his own.

Discussion: Mashable and Splinter

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:

Supreme Court denies Trump administration request to immediately enforce new asylum rules — The Supreme Court on Friday denied the Trump administration's request that it be allowed to immediately enforce a new policy of denying asylum to those who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Daily Wire, Chicks On The Right, The Last Refuge, Raw Story, Axios, Daily Kos and The New Civil Rights Movement

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Won't Revive Trump Policy Limiting Asylum — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday refused to revive a Trump administration initiative barring migrants who enter the country illegally from seeking asylum. — The court was closely divided, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Mother Jones, Joe.My.God., Townhall, The Week and twitchy.com

Amy Howe / SCOTUSblog:
Justices rebuff government on asylum ban

Discussion: RedState, Fox News and ImmigrationProf Blog

New York Times:

As Markets Tumble, Tech Stocks Hit a Rare and Ominous Milestone — When it comes to the stock market, America's technology giants have become a harbinger of more pain to come. — If Facebook, Apple or Google looked shaky this year — as investors worried about growth, regulation or mismanagement — the rest of the market felt it.

Thomas Franck / CNBC:
S&P 500 turns negative as week-long equity rout continues

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, The Week, twitchy.com, Washington Times, Washington Free Beacon and RAPPLER

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Billionaire megadonor Robert Mercer cuts back on support for GOP after being scrutinized for backing Trump — Yet people close to Mercer say he's “disappeared” and he's no longer playing as big a role in supporting the Republican Party as he used to. — “He's out,” said a former associate of Mercer.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

Washington Post:

In a normal administration, Whitaker would listen to government ethics experts — Why the acting attorney general should be recused from the Russia investigation. — President Trump's pick to serve as acting attorney general, Matthew G. Whitaker, asked his department's career ethics officials whether …

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, Wonkette, Washington Press and Hot Air

Marty Lederman / Just Security: What's Noticeably Missing from the Whitaker Nonrecusal Explanation

David Nakamura / Washington Post:

'He takes no ownership — that's just Trump': President eschews responsibility for a shutdown he once craved — The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter's insights — In 2014, Donald Trump sued to have his name taken off a pair of Atlantic City casinos that he built three decades earlier and had gone bankrupt.

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Hill Reporter, Raw Story and Townhall

Roll Call:
Negotiations on Spending Deal Will Continue, But No Deal in Sight

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Jamie Dupree - AJC

Dan Berman / CNN:

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg undergoes surgery — Washington (CNN)Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had two malignant nodules removed from her left lung Friday at a New York hospital, the Supreme Court announced. — There is no evidence of any remaining disease, says a court spokesperson …

Discussion: New York Times, Louder With Crowder, NY State of Politics, The Daily Caller, WGNO, Daily Wire, Breitbart, Outside the Beltway, Hill Reporter, Vox, Washington Monthly, Mashable, Townhall, The Week, Glamour and Mediaite

Adam Cancryn / Politico:
Justice Ginsburg had surgery to remove cancerous nodules

Discussion: NPR, ABC News, Axios, Washington Post, RedState, Splinter, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Wonkette

Joby Warrick / Washington Post:

Retreating ISIS army smuggled a fortune in cash and gold out of Iraq and Syria — IRBIL, Iraq — More than a year after the collapse of its self-declared caliphate, the Islamic State is sitting on a mountain of stolen cash and gold that its leaders stashed away to finance terrorist operations …

Reuters:
Kurdish-led Forces Report ‘Huge’ ISIS Assault in Southeast Syria

Discussion: Algemeiner.com

Travis Gettys / Raw Story:

Michael Cohen discussed mysterious $1.8 million loan to pool boy that Jerry Falwell Jr and his wife befriended: report — Jerry Falwell Jr. confirmed that he loaned $1.8 million to a young pool attendant he and his wife had befriended while staying six years ago at a luxury hotel.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and BuzzFeed News

Luke O'Neil / gofundme.com:

Build a Giant Escalator Over the Wall — $1,658 of $200.0M goal Raised by 105 people in 21 hours — The wall is never going to be built but just in case it is we will build a series of giant escalators that are spaced out a half mile along the wall on either side and if that doesn't happen we'll …

Discussion: Washington Times, The Week and Mashable

Julia Ioffe / Washington Post:

Please don't wish me ‘Merry Christmas’ — It's impolite and alienating to assume I follow your religion. — 'Twas five nights before Christmas, and my Lyft driver was the umpteenth person to wish me a “Merry Christmas” that day. He probably just meant it the way most people do …

Discussion: Hot Air and twitchy.com

Daniel Horowitz / Conservative Review:

Trump doesn't need 60 Senate votes to fix the border and short-circuit a shutdown — Last night, Chuck Schumer said at a press conference, “The Trump temper tantrum will shut down the government, but it will not get him his wall.” The truth is that if McConnell would actually lead and enforce …

Discussion: WORLD, Breitbart, Talking Points Memo, United States Senator … and The DC Chronicle

Jonah Goldberg / National Review:

Conservative Facts — The problem conservatism faces these days is that many of the loudest voices have decided to embrace the meanness while throwing away the facts. … D — ear Reader (including all you mole-rat monarchists), — One or two times a year I wake up in a Japanese family's living room …

Detroit Free Press:

GOP bill making it tougher to get proposals on ballot heads to Snyder — LANSING — Despite fierce opposition from Democrats and a wide variety of groups, Republicans in the Legislature gave final passage to a bill that will make it tougher to get enough signatures to get a proposal on the statewide ballot.

Discussion: Detroit News and HuffPost

Julie Kelly / American Greatness:

James Wolfe: The Liar No One Is Talking About — In a recent court filing, the defendant's attorneys begged for mercy. The offender—once a high-level government official assigned with protecting national security secrets—had pleaded guilty to one charge of making a false statement to the FBI in 2017.

Discussion: Power Line, emptywheel, Politico and ThinkProgress, more at Mediagazer »

Avi Steinberg / New York Times:

After More Than Two Decades of Work, a New Hebrew Bible to Rival the King James — The pre-eminent scholar Robert Alter has finally finished his own translation. — One morning this fall, at his home high in the Berkeley hills, the literary critic and translator Robert Alter chatted …

Suzanne Gamboa / NBC News:

Deported Mexicans reported being refused medical care while in US custody — “A man was deported with a broken collarbone protruding from his skin,” researchers who surveyed deported Mexicans stated — AUSTIN, Texas — Researchers who surveyed 1,109 Mexicans deported from the United States …

Stacey Stowe / New York Times:

Life After Horrific Death for the Journalist James Foley — On a cool October evening, in a Brooklyn studio crowded with canvases, some still wet, Diane Foley stood before an oil painting of two solemn grade-school boys in the Libyan civil war. One of the boys held aloft a photo of a middle-aged man, a relative, who was missing.

Mike Pomranz / Food & Wine:

Why Are Hershey's Kisses Suddenly Missing Their Tips? — Bakers are perplexed as to why the iconic candy isn't up to snuff this holiday season. — Bad kisses sound like a problem you haven't dealt with since your teenage years, but they're a serious concern right now for bakers …

Discussion: Instapundit and WGNO

NBC News:

Taliban greets Pentagon's withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan with cries of victory — “The 17-year long struggle and sacrifices of thousands of our people finally yielded fruit,” said a senior commander in Helmand. — PESHAWAR, Pakistan — News that the White House had ordered the Pentagon …

Discussion: Vox

Courier-Journal:

Amy McGrath says she won't run for governor of Kentucky — Democrat Amy McGrath, who ran a nationally watched campaign for Congress, said Friday she will not seek her party's nomination for Kentucky governor in 2019. — “I am humbled by the encouragement to throw my hat back in the ring right away …

Discussion: Political Wire

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Republicans are responsible for the Trump fiasco — Let's put aside for the moment the question of whether President Trump committed crimes in obtaining the presidency (conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws by hush-money payments or receipt of assistance from a foreign power) …

Discussion: Raw Story