Top Items:
NBC News:
Test of steel prototype for border wall showed it could be sawed through — NBC News obtained a photo showing results of a test on a steel wall prototype. — President Donald Trump has repeatedly advocated for a steel slat design for his border wall, which he described as …
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Patterico's Pontifications, Splinter, Joe.My.God., VICE News, POLITICUSUSA, twitchy.com, Daily Kos, Raw Story, The Week, USA Today, Political Wire and Eschaton
Bloomberg:
For Trump, Storming Out of a Meeting Is a Signature Ploy — He has long used dramatic exits as a negotiating tactic — Trump once walked out on a judge during a divorce proceeding — President Donald Trump's decision to abruptly storm out of a meeting with congressional leaders on Wednesday shocked some on Capitol Hill.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, New York Times, BloombergQuint and Raw Story
RELATED:
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Trump's one way out — DRIVING THE DAY — SHUTDOWN ... DAY 20 ... TRUMP'S ONLY WAY OUT ... THERE IS AN INCREASING RECOGNITION in the White House and among his most important allies on Capitol Hill that the only way for PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP to get movement …
Discussion:
Fortune, Political Wire, Washington Press and POLITICUSUSA
Wall Street Journal:
White House Meeting Started With Sweets, but Quickly Turned Sour
White House Meeting Started With Sweets, but Quickly Turned Sour
Discussion:
CCN
Michael Tackett / New York Times:
Trump Heading to Texas Border Town to Press His Case for a Wall
Trump Heading to Texas Border Town to Press His Case for a Wall
Discussion:
Joe.My.God., The Guardian, Raw Story and ABC News
New York Times:
Trump Thinks He's His Own Best Messenger. Where Does That Leave Bill Shine?
Trump Thinks He's His Own Best Messenger. Where Does That Leave Bill Shine?
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Washington Post:
'He's a gut politician': Trump's go-to negotiating tactics not working in shutdown standoff
'He's a gut politician': Trump's go-to negotiating tactics not working in shutdown standoff
Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:
Power Up: The Art of Prolonging a Government Shutdown
Power Up: The Art of Prolonging a Government Shutdown
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Townhall and KTLA
Trip Gabriel / New York Times:
Before Trump, Steve King Set the Agenda for the Wall and Anti-Immigrant Politics — Years before President Trump forced a government shutdown over a border wall, triggering a momentous test of wills in Washington, Representative Steve King of Iowa took to the House floor to show off a model of a 12-foot border wall he had designed.
Discussion:
Law & Crime and Joe.My.God.
RELATED:
Dave Price / WHOTV:
Governor Reynolds Won't Back Congressman Steve King in 2020 Primary Fight … DES MOINES, Iowa-2020 is not 2018. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds chose U.S. Representative Steve King, 4th District Congressman from Kiron, to serve as one of her ceremonial campaign co-chairs in the 2018 re-election.
Discussion:
Roll Call
Christopher Mathias / HuffPost:
White Supremacist Rep. Steve King Gets A Primary Challenger
White Supremacist Rep. Steve King Gets A Primary Challenger
Discussion:
Splinter
National Enquirer:
Married Amazon Boss Jeff Bezos Getting Divorce Over Fling With Movie Mogul's Wife — The ENQUIRER's blockbuster exclusive of world's richest couple's break-up! — The marriage of the world's richest couple is set to explode in all-out war — after billionaire Jeff Bezos was caught cheating …
Discussion:
The Atlantic and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
TMZ.com:
Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos Did NOT Have a Prenup so $137 Billion on the Line in Divorce — Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos did NOT have a prenuptial agreement so, by all rights, they will split their incredible fortune right down the middle ... sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ,.
Discussion:
Page Six, The Daily Beast and The Daily Caller
Doug Sovern / KCBS 740AM:
Kamala Harris Ready To Enter Race For President, Sources Say — She's Finalizing Plans For Bay Area Rally To Announce Candidacy — Sen. Kamala Harris has decided to run for president in 2020 and will announce her candidacy on or around Martin Luther King Jr. Day, probably at a campaign rally in Oakland …
Discussion:
Shakesville, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Week, Political Wire, CNN and Mediaite
RELATED:
Nomaan Merchant / Associated Press:
Texas landowners prepare wall fight; Trump to visit border — HIDALGO, Texas (AP) — As President Donald Trump travels to the border in Texas to make the case for his $5.7 billion wall, landowner Eloisa Cavazos says she knows firsthand how the project will play out if the White House gets its way.
Discussion:
Boing Boing
Matthew Lee / Associated Press:
Pompeo repudiates Obama Mideast policy, takes aim at Iran — CAIRO (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a scathing rebuke of the Obama administration's Mideast policies on Thursday as he denounced the former president for “misguided” and “wishful” thinking that diminished America's role …
RELATED:
Christal Hayes / USA Today:
Trump's team had over 100 contacts with Russian-linked operatives, report shows — WASHINGTON - Members of President Donald Trump's campaign and transition team had more than 100 contacts with Russian-linked operatives, according to a new report. — The milestone illustrates …
Discussion:
Washington Post
Owen Daugherty / The Hill:
Texas county GOP set to vote this week to remove leader because he is Muslim — The Tarrant County Republicans in Texas will vote this week to remove their vice chairman because he is Muslim. — Republican Dorrie O'Brien is leading a group of colleagues in an attempt to unseat Shahid Shafi …
Discussion:
The Texas Tribune, The Daily Caller and Raw Story
Manu Raju / CNN:
Facing gridlock, GOP senators seek big immigration deal to end shutdown — (CNN) — Staring at a prolonged government shutdown, Republican senators are privately planning to court Democratic senators on an immigration deal that would give President Donald Trump money for his border wall …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The Right Scoop, The Week, TheBlaze and illegal immigration …
RELATED:
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Graham launches last-ditch push to end shutdown
Graham launches last-ditch push to end shutdown
Discussion:
CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Conservative News Today, Townhall, Joe.My.God. and The Daily Caller
Heidi Przybyla / NBC News:
House Democrats now asking questions about Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — Mnuchin will give the House a classified briefing Thursday, after a request from the Democratic chairs of the main House investigative panels. — WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has agreed …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Raw Story
Matt Dixon / Politico:
Rick Scott blindsides DeSantis on his way out — Scores of 11th-hour appointments by outgoing Gov. Rick Scott. Roadblocks for the new transition team. A rival inaugural ball. — The contentious handoff of the Florida governor's office from Scott to fellow Republican Ron DeSantis …
Kathryn Watson / CBS News:
Trump will “probably” declare national emergency absent a deal in Congress — President Trump indicated Thursday he will likely declare a national emergency if Congress doesn't reach an agreement to fund his border wall — a move that is sure to set off challenges in the courts if he goes ahead with it.
Alan Cross / The Bulwark:
Jerry Falwell Jr.'s Trumpian Theology — Do Christians have a moral duty to support Trump, no matter what? — Like many Christians, I read Jerry Falwell, Jr's New Year's Day interview with the Washington Post with both my mouth open and my heart racing. “He can't be saying what I'm reading!”
Discussion:
Raw Story and New Yorker
Alex Thompson / Politico:
Top Bernie Sanders 2016 adviser accused of forcibly kissing subordinate — On the final night of the Democratic National Convention in July of 2016, Bernie Sanders' staffers went out to a Mediterranean restaurant and hookah bar in Center City Philadelphia to celebrate and mourn the end of the campaign.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Washington Free Beacon, LifeNews.com, The Daily Caller, CNN and Washington Post
Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:
Trump's Wall Could Cost Him in 2020 — President Donald Trump may now be talking more about steel than cement, but his proposed border wall remains the Rosetta Stone for understanding both his conception of the presidency and his political strategy. — Nothing better illustrates Trump's …
Discussion:
CNN
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
The 5 Key Constituencies Of The 2020 Democratic Primary — Over the long course of the Republican presidential nomination process in 2015 and 2016, we frequently featured a diagram called “The Republicans' Five-Ring Circus.” The chart was based on the idea that the GOP essentially consisted …
Discussion:
Political Wire
Tarini Parti / BuzzFeed News:
Here's Trump Allies' Plan To Meddle In The 2020 Democratic Primary — The pair of outside groups tied closely to President Donald Trump has retained the top Republican opposition group in an effort to smother Democrats seeking to challenge him — and perhaps even help pick his 2020 challenger.
Brad Wilmouth / NewsBusters:
Cable News Repeats Myth Illegals Commit Less Crime Than Citizens — Between Monday evening and Wednesday morning, a significant number of journalists and regular commentators across CNN, MSNBC, and even Fox News have cited claims from a handful of flawed studies claiming that illegal immigrants commit crimes …
Discussion:
RedState and Daily Wire
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Trump's Emergency Powers Threat Could End Shutdown Crisis, but at What Cost? — WASHINGTON — President Trump's repeated threat to declare a national emergency so he can build his border wall without congressional approval has been denounced by Democrats as extreme and an overreach.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Joe.My.God., Common Dreams and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:
'If there's a concrete wall in front of you, go through it,' Trump said in 2004 speech — Donning an emerald green graduation gown, Donald Trump stood grinning on the stage at Wagner College in Staten Island as a faculty member offered a glowing introduction in May 2004: “A New York original.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Mashable, POLITICUSUSA, IJR and Slate
Hamed Aleaziz / BuzzFeed News:
ICE Might Be Violating Federal Law By Keeping Immigrants Detained During The Shutdown — A lengthy government shutdown over border wall funding has potentially put Immigration and Customs Enforcement at risk of violating a more than 100-year-old law that could not only require the release of …
Clare Lombardo / NPR:
Virginia Study Finds Increased School Bullying In Areas That Voted For Trump — After the 2016 presidential election, teachers around the country reported they were seeing increased name-calling and bullying in their classrooms. Now, research shows that those stories — at least in one state — are confirmed by student surveys.
Washington Post:
‘This is ridiculous’: Small-business owners can't get loans as shutdown enters Day 20. — Brooks Troxler is a small-business owner in North Carolina who's known as “Trox the tech” for his ability to fix any computer problem. Business is growing and he had big plans to start 2019 by cutting …
Brendan Cole / Newsweek:
Evangelical Pastor Robert Jeffress Defends Trump's Border Wall: ‘Heaven Itself Is Going to Have a Wall Around It’ — An evangelical preacher who is a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump has said that if a wall is good enough for heaven, then it is good enough for the U.S. southern border.
Lawrence Wright / New Yorker:
A Memorial for Jamal Khashoggi — On Thursday, I will be joining the documentarian Alex Gibney and the former F.B.I. special agent Ali Soufan, along with lawmakers, journalists, human-rights advocates, and friends, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., to honor Jamal Khashoggi …