memeorandum: Rep. Poliquin drops challenge to ranked-choice voting, clearing way for Jared Golden to take seat (Edward D. Murphy/Press Herald)

5:00 PM ET, December 24, 2018

Top Items:

Kalhan Rosenblatt / NBC News:

Dow drops 653 points in worst Christmas Eve trading day ever — The plummet followed a tumultuous few days in Washington, amid reports that Trump was discussing how to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. — Both major stock indexes nosedived on Monday in the worst …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, CNBC, Washington Post, New York Times, Mother Jones, Breitbart, The Guardian, Associated Press, The Daily Caller, Little Green Footballs, TheStreet and The Mahablog

CNBC:

Dow dives 600 points to below 22,000, S&P 500 enters bear market - worst Christmas Eve ever — Trump resumed his attack on the Fed on Monday, tweeting that the central bank is “the only problem” with the U.S. economy. — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held calls on Sunday with the heads …

Discussion: Breitbart, Politico, Associated Press, The Guardian, TheStreet, FOX31 Denver, The Week, Raw Story, Wall Street Journal, Joe.My.God., The New Civil Rights Movement, Washington Times, Mediaite and twitchy.com

Washington Post:

Markets stage one of worst Christmas Eves ever, closing down more than 600 points as Trump blames Fed for stock losses in a tweet — The Dow Jones industrial average followed its worst week in a decade with a 650- point drop Monday, and President Trump once again took to Twitter to interject himself into financial markets.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Annie Lowrey / The Atlantic:

What Was Steve Mnuchin Thinking? Three Possibilities — Imagine having a runny nose, itchy eyes, congestion, and a sore throat, and your doctor telling you that you shouldn't worry about cancer—she consulted her colleagues and they're certain it is not cancer, and if it were, they could fight it.

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, Hullabaloo, Raw Story, Bloomberg and The Guardian

CNN:

Dow's wild ride continues after Steven Mnuchin fails to calm markets — New York (CNN Business)Markets took a wild ride on Monday, and the Dow briefly fell below 22,000, after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's attempts to calm investors backfired. — The Dow, which crossed 22,000 …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, KTLA, FOX2now.com, The Week, Bloomberg, Mediaite, twitchy.com and New York Times

Alan Rappeport / New York Times:

Trump Renews Attack on Fed as Mnuchin Tries to Calm Markets — With stocks extending their slide Monday, President Trump took another swipe at the Federal Reserve, writing on Twitter that the “only problem our economy has is the Fed” as he continued to blame the central bank for recent volatility in the financial markets.

Discussion: Political Wire

Alex Veiga / Associated Press: Not very merry: US stocks plunge before Christmas

Bloomberg: U.S. Stocks Hit 19-Month Low as D.C. Tumult Weighs: Markets Wrap

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Trump hands out lumps of coal to enemies on Christmas Eve

Discussion: New York Times, Townhall, One America News Network and Task & Purpose

Niv Elis / The Hill:
Dow has worst Christmas Eve on record, S&P enters bear market

Discussion: Axios, The Resurgent, CNBC, Deadline and Raw Story

Emily Flitter / New York Times:
Stocks Close in on Bear Market as Trump and Mnuchin Fuel Christmas Eve Drop

Discussion: TheStreet

Wall Street Journal:
Stocks Extend Fall Despite Mnuchin Bid to Reassure Investors

Discussion: Contemptor, Joe.My.God. and The Week

Washington Post:
Treasury secretary startles Wall Street with unusual pre-Christmas calls to top bank CEOs

Discussion: Mediaite, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Raw Story, Bangor Daily News, Daily Wire, skippy the bush kangaroo, Splinter, The Guardian and New York Times

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Shutdown day 3, and Mnuchin talks with bank CEOs about liquidity

Discussion: Financial Times, One America News Network, The Week and Reuters

Matt Rocheleau / BostonGlobe.com:

Actor Kevin Spacey faces criminal complaint in alleged sexual assault at Nantucket bar — Actor Kevin Spacey faces a felony charge for allegedly sexually assaulting the teenage son of former Boston WCVB-TV news anchor Heather Unruh at a Nantucket bar in July 2016, authorities said Monday.

Discussion: Vox, Associated Press, The Daily Beast, Gothamist, Contemptor, AOL, Althouse, PinkNews, The Daily Caller and Deadline

Ryan Parker / Hollywood Reporter:

Kevin Spacey Charged With Felony Sexual Assault — The actor — who posted a bizarre 'House of Cards'-style video address on Monday — will be arraigned in Massachusetts on Jan. 7. — The Cape and Islands, Massachusetts, district attorney announced Monday that Kevin Spacey will face …

Discussion: HuffPost, BostonGlobe.com, Raw Story, Law & Crime, YouTube, Breitbart, CBS New York, Mashable, Daily Wire and Boing Boing

Benjamin Fearnow / Newsweek:

Lebron James Posts ‘Jewish Money’ Selfie With 21 Savage Rap Lyrics, Angering Conservative Critics — Los Angeles Lakers superstar Lebron James landed himself in a second racially-charged controversy this weekend after posting rap lyrics about “Jewish money.”

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Front Page Magazine and Breitbart

Dave McMenamin / ESPN:

LeBron James apologizes for ‘Jewish money’ Instagram post — LOS ANGELES — LeBron James apologized Sunday for lyrics he shared on his Instagram account over the weekend that included the line, “getting that Jewish money.” — “Apologies, for sure, if I offended anyone,” …

Discussion: Breitbart, Algemeiner.com, twitchy.com, The Root, AOL, The Daily Caller, The Guardian and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Associated Press:

Trump tweets he's alone at White House waiting for Dems deal — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was meeting with his Homeland Security secretary and other officials on Monday to discuss border security issues as a partial government shutdown over his U.S.-Mexico border wall entered Christmas without …

Discussion: WCCB Charlotte

Ed Rogers / Washington Post:
The vice president should be preparing for the worst

Discussion: Raw Story

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
A Shutdown for Weeks? Washington Merely Shrugs

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, CNN and Politico

Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times:

How Banks Unwittingly Finance Mass Shootings — The New York Times reviewed hundreds of documents including police reports, bank records and investigator notes from a decade of mass shootings. Many of the killers built their stockpiles of high-powered weapons with the convenience of credit.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Axios and twitchy.com

Jane C. Timm / NBC News:

Mystery case that appears tied to Mueller investigation reaches Supreme Court — The matter involving a foreign company remains shrouded in unusual secrecy. — A legal battle that appears to involve Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation has reached the Supreme Court.

Discussion: Hot Air, Politico, CNN and BuzzFeed News

Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Roberts, Leader of Supreme Court's Conservative Majority, Fights Perception That It Is Partisan

Discussion: SCOTUSblog

Kevin Daley / The Daily Caller: Supreme Court Intervenes In Apparent Mystery Mueller Case

Tom Boggioni / Raw Story:

‘No bottom for Trump’: Disgusted conservative launches epic rant over ouster of Mattis on MSNBC — Conservative commentator Charlie Sykes battered Donald Trump on MSNBC's “Morning Joe,” calling him the “chaos candidate” and stating that there is “no bottom” to his lack of “decency.”

Discussion: RedState

Manu Raju / CNN:

McCaskill warns Dems about ‘cheap’ rhetoric; says GOP senators privately believe Trump is ‘nuts’ — (CNN)Sen. Claire McCaskill has some advice for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the incoming freshman who has rapidly risen from obscurity to one of the most well-known figures in the Democratic Party: Talk is cheap.

Peter Hamby / Vanity Fair:

“They Are Suspicious of Beto”: Why Are Democrats Trying to Annihilate an O'Rourke Campaign Before It Has Even Started? — The howls about O'Rourke from the Chapo wing of the Internet say as much about Bernie Sanders's diminished stature as they do about the golden boy from Texas.

Discussion: Hot Air, Politico and NBC News

John A. Nagl / New York Times:

Jim Mattis and I Fought Together. No One Called Him Mad Dog. — Jim Mattis was a scholar of war, blunt, courageous and loyal to his troops. Our enemies will cheer his departure. — Mr. Nagl is a former Army officer. — I met Jim Mattis in Anbar Province, Iraq, in 2004.

NBC News: Full Durbin: 'Depth of dysfunction I've never seen in Washington'

Dan Lamothe / Washington Post:

Patrick Shanahan, Trump's pick for acting defense secretary, steps into spotlight after Mattis's ouster — When Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan faced the Senate Armed Services Committee 17 months ago during his confirmation hearing, Sen. John McCain quickly turned up the heat.