Top Items:
Margaret Brennan / CBS News:
Brett McGurk, top U.S. envoy in ISIS fight, resigns — Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, had been planning to exit his post in February 2019. But sources tell CBS News that he informed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he will accelerate …
Discussion:
Politico, Axios, POLITICUSUSA, The Guardian and Mediaite
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Matthew Lee / Associated Press:
US envoy to anti-IS coalition quits over Trump's Syria move — WASHINGTON (AP) — Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the global coalition fighting the Islamic State group, has resigned in protest to President Donald Trump's abrupt decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria …
Discussion:
Political Wire
New York Times:
Brett McGurk, Top U.S. Diplomat Leading Fight Against Islamic State, Resigns — Brett McGurk, the special presidential envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State, has accelerated his resignation, telling colleagues this weekend that he could not carry out President Trump's newly declared policy of withdrawing from Syria.
Discussion:
Raw Story
The Daily Beast:
Bolton's Hawkish Syria Plan Backfired, Pushing Trump to Get Out — The national security adviser expanded U.S. goals in Syria to challenge Iran. But Trump wasn't on board, senior officials say, and Turkey took an opportunity to push the U.S. out. — A fateful decision by national security …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, One America News Network, The Guardian, New York Times, Hot Air, Hill Reporter, National Review and Politico
Washington Post:
U.S. envoy to coalition fighting ISIS resigns in protest of Trump's Syria decision — Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the international coalition fighting the Islamic State, has resigned in protest of President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.
Elise Labott / CNN:
US envoy in ISIS fight, Brett McGurk, resigns over US withdrawal from Syria — Washington (CNN)Brett McGurk, the special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter ISIS, submitted his resignation Friday because of the President's decision to pull US forces out of Syria, according to a senior administration official.
Discussion:
The Week
Bret Stephens / New York Times:
Dear Anonymous Inside the Trump Administration — The problem with the president isn't that he's an empty vessel. It's that he's a malignant one. — Dear Anonymous, — It's time we revisit that famous op-ed of yours. — In September, you acknowledged that you were a member of the …
Discussion:
Washington Post, New York Magazine, Vox and The Mahablog
Washington Post:
A tumultuous week began with a phone call between Trump and the Turkish president
Discussion:
Breitbart, CNBC and Task & Purpose
Stephen M. Walt / Foreign Policy:
Good Riddance to America's Syria Policy
Discussion:
The American Conservative and Breitbart
The Daily Beast:
Trump Plan to Win the Shutdown: A Noun, a Verb, and ‘Caravan’ — The White House intends to send surrogates on television to hammer Democrats and to accuse them of wanting drugs, terror, and ‘trafficking’ pouring over the southern border. — With the latest government shutdown …
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Mike Allen / Axios:
Slat man: Trump's Christmas shutdown spooks GOP — President Trump's self-inflicted shutdown before Christmas has left Republicans with a debacle as their last act in control of the House. And now the party is even more worried about the outlook beginning Jan. 3, when Democrats take over.
Discussion:
Washington Post
New York Times:
Reliable Allies Refuse to Defend a President Content With Chaos
Discussion:
Politico, ThinkProgress, Hit & Run, Hullabaloo and Washington Post
John Bresnahan / Politico:
Inside the frantic negotiations that failed to avert a shutdown
Discussion:
Raw Story, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, Politico, New York Times and Wall Street Journal
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Trump sees dangerous cracks in Hill GOP support
Discussion:
Raw Story, Washington Post and Breitbart
Jessica Taylor / NPR:
Government Shuts Down Ahead Of Holiday Over Stalemate On Border Wall Funding
Discussion:
Politico, Mother Jones and Knoxville News-Sentinel
David Nakamura / Washington Post:
'He takes no ownership — that's just Trump': President eschews responsibility for a shutdown he once craved
Discussion:
Splinter, Shareblue Media, Hill Reporter, Raw Story, Breitbart and Townhall
Bloomberg:
Trump Discusses Firing Fed's Powell After Latest Rate Hike, Sources Say — Advisers warn ousting Fed chairman would lead to market rout — President's legal authority to remove Powell is unclear — President Donald Trump has discussed firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell …
Discussion:
CNBC, CNN, AOL, The Daily Beast, Political Wire, Townhall, Mediaite, Axios, POLITICUSUSA, Hill Reporter, One America News Network and Raw Story
Robert Windrem / NBC News:
Russians launched pro-Jill Stein social media blitz to help Trump win election, reports say — Building support for Stein was one of a “roster of themes” the Moscow-sanctioned internet trolls “turned to repeatedly,” report says. — Two days before the 2016 presidential election …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Contemptor and Hill Reporter
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:
Hill Reporter, The Week, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite
Washington Post:
Trump's shutdown stunt is an act of needless stupidity — “IT'S ACTUALLY part of what you do when you sign up for any public service position.” So said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) when asked about the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who will have to work without pay …
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA, Vox, Mother Jones, The Daily Caller, Patterico's Pontifications, ThinkProgress and New York Daily News
Eliot A. Cohen / The Atlantic:
You Can't Serve Both Trump and America — The story is told of Jim Mattis, when he was the commanding general at Quantico, relieving a young lance corporal on Christmas. The rest of that wintry day, those entering the front gate of the Marine base were startled to see that the sentry was a general …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
New York Times:
Trump Policy Gyrations Threaten Fragile Republican Coalition — WASHINGTON — President Trump's near-simultaneous decisions this week to force a government shutdown over his demand to fund a border wall and withdraw American troops from Syria and Afghanistan have imperiled the fragile Republican coalition …
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Americans have a different view about indicting a sitting president — Much has been made of the Justice Department's standing opinion that a sitting president cannot be indicted while in office. That's an opinion, not settled law, and one that is the subject of lively debate among legal scholars.
Karen Zraick / New York Times:
Student Targeted by ‘Troll Storm’ Hopes Settlement Will Send Message to White Supremacists — An African-American student leader who was targeted by a racist “troll storm” says she hopes an unusual legal settlement with one of her harassers will send a strong message to white supremacists …
Lili Loofbourow / Slate:
The Year of the Old Boys — It's hard to overstate the extent to which childish masculinity revealed itself in 2018 as the engine of power in America. — Many of us have spent 2018 trying to wrap our heads around how, exactly, the country whose slightly priggish brand was once meritocracy …
Amy B Wang / Washington Post:
A girl in Mexico attached her Christmas list to a balloon. A man across the border found it. — The spot of red was what first caught Randy Heiss's attention last Sunday as he hiked the remote expanse of land behind his ranch in Patagonia, Ariz., a town near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
The Syria Fairy Tale Lives! — Americans will no longer support Washington's incoherent Middle East adventurism. — Unlike my colleagues, I've been a bemused spectator during this week's Syria follies. As readers of these columns know (see, e.g., here, here, here, here, and here) …
Discussion:
Breitbart
Harry Enten / CNN:
Trump learned nothing from the midterms. Exhibit A: the shutdown. — (CNN)First things first: The theme song of the week is the theme to “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. — Number of the week: A Quinnipiac University poll finds that 43% of voters support building a wall along the Mexican border.
Discussion:
New York Times, New Republic and Washington Post
Marty Lederman / Just Security:
What's Noticeably Missing from the Whitaker Nonrecusal Explanation — The Department of Justice issued a letter yesterday explaining why Matthew Whitaker has decided he won't recuse from superintending the Russia Investigation overseen by Special Counsel Robert Mueller …
Discussion:
Washington Post
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Jack Shafer / Politico:
Week 83: BuzzFeed Takes a Victory Lap — Sweet vindication embraced BuzzFeed News this week as federal Judge Ursula Ungaro tossed out a defamation suit filed against it by a Russian tech CEO named in the 35-page “Steele Dossier” the site famously—and controversially—published on Jan. 10, 2017.
Ben Golliver / Washington Post:
LeBron James: NFL owners are ‘old white men’ with ‘slave mentality’ toward players — For LeBron James, the fundamental difference between the NBA and the NFL is the level of respect shown to players by the respective leagues and their team owners. The Lakers forward, who in recent years …
Discussion:
Breitbart, Conservative News Today, AOL, The Daily Caller and Mediaite
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