memeorandum: ‘I am all alone’: An isolated Trump unleashes a storm of Yuletide gloom (Philip Rucker/Washington Post)

9:50 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: CNBC, ABC News, The Daily Beast, The Gateway Pundit, Deadline, Breitbart, MyNorthwest.com, The Guardian, Booman Tribune, Bloomberg, The Daily Caller and The Mahablog

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

‘I am all alone’: An isolated Trump unleashes a storm of Yuletide gloom — The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter's insights — The Christmas Eve grievances billowing from the White House on Monday formed a heavy cloud of Yuletide gloom.

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Raw Story, Mediaite and The Week

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: ABC News, Breitbart, Raw Story, The New Civil Rights Movement, Politico, The Week, FOX31 Denver, Little Green Footballs, The Guardian, TheStreet, Joe.My.God., Mediaite, Washington Times and twitchy.com

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Trump hands out lumps of coal to enemies on Christmas Eve — President Trump unveiled his naughty list on Christmas Eve, the latest outburst of frustration from a president who is under siege on multiple fronts. — In a string of Monday morning tweets, Trump railed against Democrats …

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, USA Today, CNBC and One America News Network, more at Techmeme »

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, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The New Civil Rights Movement and Splinter

Annie Lowrey / The Atlantic:
What Was Steve Mnuchin Thinking? Three Possibilities

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Mother Jones, Raw Story, Mediaite, Hullabaloo and Daily Wire

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
This is what we were afraid of — When the new year begins next week …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Guardian and Associated Press

Alan Rappeport / New York Times: Trump Renews Attack on Fed as Mnuchin Tries to Calm Markets

Associated Press:
Trump tweets he's alone at White House waiting for Dems deal

Discussion: WCCB Charlotte

Heather Long / Washington Post:
Trump's White House tried to calm markets. It backfired.

Discussion: Raw Story, Reuters, Mother Jones and Wall Street Journal

Neil Irwin / New York Times:
Economy Is Strong. Leadership Is Shaky. Which Will Win Out in 2019?

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite

CNN:
Dow's wild ride continues after Steven Mnuchin fails to calm markets

Discussion: FOX2now.com, ThinkProgress, Bloomberg, Joe.My.God., The Week, twitchy.com, Mediaite, New York Times and Raw Story

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

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

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Axios, The Resurgent, KTLA and Associated Press

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

Discussion: TheStreet and Politico

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

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

Discussion: Bloomberg, TheStreet and Contemptor

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: YouTube, AOL, The Daily Beast, NPR, KTLA, Law & Crime, Mashable, CBS Boston, Daily Wire, CBS New York, Breitbart and Boing Boing

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, The Guardian, New York Times, Joe.My.God., AOL, The Daily Beast, Gothamist, Contemptor, Althouse, PinkNews, The Daily Caller and Deadline

Andy Campbell / HuffPost:

Kevin Spacey Releases Bizarre Video Monologue Amid Sexual Assault Charge — “You never actually saw me die, did you? Conclusions can be so deceiving. Miss me?” — Kevin Spacey, fresh off the news that he faces a felony charge over an alleged sexual assault at a bar in 2016 …

Discussion: BostonGlobe.com, CBS Philly and Raw Story

Michael Burke / The Hill:
Kevin Spacey to be arraigned on charge of sexual assault

Discussion: Vox

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Time for G.O.P. to Threaten to Fire Trump — Republican leaders need to mount an intervention. — Up to now I have not favored removing President Trump from office. I felt strongly that it would be best for the country that he leave the way he came in, through the ballot box.

Discussion: Raw Story

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.

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

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

Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters:

Scarborough: ‘Terminal’ Trump Presidency Threatens a Global ‘Pandemic’ — The End is Nigh, take umpteen. . . As we've noted before, the challenge for Morning Joe is to outdo itself in doom-laden declarations about President Trump. By that standard, the show did well this morning.

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

Burgess Everett / Politico:

‘Hunker down like a jackass’: Shutdown could drag on for weeks — A large swath of the federal government is shut down — and so are negotiations to reopen it. — President Donald Trump's standoff with Democratic leaders over the border wall dragged into a third day on Monday …

Ed Rogers / Washington Post:

The vice president should be preparing for the worst — One good thing about holding a senior position in government is you get a lot of free advice — which brings me to the choice Vice President Mike Pence is about to make when he chooses a new chief of staff.

Discussion: Raw Story

Anna Giaritelli / Washington Examiner:

TSA moving toward floppy-ear airport dog force because pointy-ear dogs ‘scare children’ — The Transportation Security Administration is in the process of swapping out pointy-ear dogs for floppy-ear ones in an effort to put more of the public at ease when interacting with its canines.

Discussion: Breitbart and Daily Wire