memeorandum: During gloomy Washington Christmas, Trump takes kids' Santa calls (Makini Brice/Reuters)

11:00 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: CNBC, ABC News, The Daily Beast, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, The Guardian, Raw Story, MyNorthwest.com, Deadline, Bloomberg, Booman Tribune 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, The New Civil Rights Movement, Wall Street Journal, Raw Story, Bloomberg, Mediaite, Associated Press, The Week, Politico, TheStreet, FOX31 Denver, Little Green Footballs, Contemptor, The Guardian, Joe.My.God., 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, Breitbart, USA Today 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 Daily Wire

Makini Brice / Reuters:

During gloomy Washington Christmas, Trump takes kids' Santa calls — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It was the night before Christmas, and U.S. President Donald Trump was on the phone with children, peppering them with questions about whether they were looking forward to the holiday.

Discussion: Boing Boing

Associated Press:
Trump tells boy that believing in Santa at 7 is ‘marginal’

Discussion: The Daily Beast

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: KTLA and WCCB Charlotte

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

Discussion: Raw Story, Reuters, Mother Jones and TheStreet

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

Discussion: Raw Story, Wall Street Journal and Mediaite

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

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

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: CNBC, The Gateway Pundit, Axios, The Resurgent and KTLA

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

Discussion: TheStreet and Politico

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

Andy Campbell / HuffPost:
Kevin Spacey Releases Bizarre Video Monologue Amid Sexual Assault Charge

Discussion: BostonGlobe.com, Raw Story and Mashable

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

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.

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 …

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

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: Daily Wire and Breitbart