Top Items:
New York Times:
For Trump, ‘a War Every Day,’ Waged Increasingly Alone — At the midpoint of his term, the president has grown more sure of his own judgment and more isolated from anyone else's than at any point since he took office. — WASHINGTON — When President Trump grows frustrated with advisers during meetings …
Discussion:
Axios, Mediaite, Mother Jones and Raw Story
RELATED:
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:
Raw Story and Washington Post
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:
The Guardian, Mother Jones, The Gateway Pundit, The Last Refuge, Politico, Axios, FOX31 Denver, KXLF-TV, POLITICUSUSA, Joe.My.God. 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:
ThinkProgress, BBC, Washington Post, Splinter, Chicks On The Right, Hill Reporter and The Daily Beast
The Times of Israel:
Departing Mattis said to cancel Israel trip, as Israel feels ‘betrayed’ on Syria — TV report says US defense secretary was set to hold talks with in Israel next week on Iran and Syria; senior Israeli officials said to harshly criticize Syria pullout decision
Discussion:
New York Times
Josh Lederman / NBC News:
White House says Erdogan promised Trump he'd finish off ISIS in Syria — What took place during Trump's phone call with the Turkish leader has been a central question in the debate over Trump's decision to pull all U.S. troops out of Syria. — In his phone call with President Donald Trump …
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:
NPR, The Daily Beast, Raw Story and Daily Kos
Washington Post:
U.S. envoy to coalition fighting ISIS resigns in protest of Trump's Syria decision
U.S. envoy to coalition fighting ISIS resigns in protest of Trump's Syria decision
Discussion:
Washington Press
Stephen M. Walt / Foreign Policy:
Good Riddance to America's Syria Policy
Good Riddance to America's Syria Policy
Discussion:
Althouse, The American Conservative and Breitbart
Elise Labott / CNN:
US envoy in ISIS fight, Brett McGurk, resigns over US withdrawal from Syria
US envoy in ISIS fight, Brett McGurk, resigns over US withdrawal from Syria
Discussion:
The Week
New York Times:
Government Shutdown to Continue for Days as Senate Adjourns Until Thursday — WASHINGTON — The partial government shutdown that began early Saturday will continue for the next several days, as Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, adjourned the Senate until Thursday and the White House indicated …
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Politico, Outside the Beltway and The DC Chronicle
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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 …
Discussion:
Associated Press
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, Mother Jones, The Daily Caller and ThinkProgress
Washington Post:
Shutdown to stretch on until at least Thursday as Senate adjourns with no deal over budget, Trump's border wall — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Saturday afternoon that the Senate would shutter for legislative business until Thursday, leaving many federal agencies closed until later next week at the earliest.
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Political Wire, Splinter and Townhall
Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
‘A rogue presidency’: The era of containing Trump is over
‘A rogue presidency’: The era of containing Trump is over
Discussion:
The Atlantic
CBS News:
Senate adjourns through Christmas with government partially shut down — live updates
Senate adjourns through Christmas with government partially shut down — live updates
Discussion:
BuzzFeed News, USA Today, Roll Call and The Week
John Bresnahan / Politico:
Inside the frantic negotiations that failed to avert a shutdown
Inside the frantic negotiations that failed to avert a shutdown
Discussion:
Washington Post, Breitbart, Politico, Raw Story, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Viking Pundit and Wall Street Journal
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:
The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress, Raw Story, Contemptor and Hill Reporter
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, Outside the Beltway, AOL, Hullabaloo, POLITICUSUSA, Hill Reporter, Mediaite, Axios, Townhall, The Daily Beast and Raw Story
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Brendan Murray / Bloomberg:
Fed Scholar Expects Immediate ‘Market Chaos’ If Trump Ousts Powell
Fed Scholar Expects Immediate ‘Market Chaos’ If Trump Ousts Powell
Discussion:
Raw Story
BuzzFeed News:
Cory Booker Is Building A 2020 Campaign That's Just Like Him: Vegan, Hyperactive, And Unapologetically Unconventional — French fries with Iowans in Newark. Eager big donors. A clearly defined message of “radical love.” Cory Booker has spent a year laying the groundwork for an ambitious possible presidential bid.
Discussion:
twitchy.com
Antonia Noori Farzan / Washington Post:
A reporter's dispatch from Trump country featured a ‘Mexicans Keep Out’ sign. But he made it all up. — When an out-of-town journalist showed up in Fergus Falls, Minn., in February 2017, Michele Anderson couldn't help but feel skeptical. Claas Relotius had been telling residents …
Jelani Cobb / New Yorker:
The Enduring Russian Propaganda Interests in Targeting African-Americans — In the spring of 2010, I taught a college course on the watershed moments in the American struggle for racial equality, from Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 Supreme Court decision that enshrined segregation …
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Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
It's official. We lost the Cold War.
It's official. We lost the Cold War.
Discussion:
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE and CNN
HuffPost:
The GOP Ends Its One-Party Rule In Shambles — The government is literally shut down as Republicans get ready to hand over the House to Democrats. — WASHINGTON Republicans couldn't believe their luck after the 2016 elections. Many of them fully expected Hillary Clinton to become president.
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
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.
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 …