Top Items:
New York Times:
Meadows and the Band of Loyalists: How They Fought to Keep Trump in Power — A small circle of Republican lawmakers, working closely with President Donald J. Trump's chief of staff, took on an outsize role in pressuring the Justice Department, amplifying conspiracy theories and flooding …
Discussion:
CNN, The Daily Beast, Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money
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Kyle Cheney / Politico:
The Jan. 6 puzzle piece that's going largely ignored — As Donald Trump and his allies squeezed then-Vice President Mike Pence to single-handedly stop Joe Biden's presidency in the weeks ahead of Jan. 6, they used one particular tool that's been largely ignored ever since.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Political Wire and Washington Examiner
Edward Luce / Financial Times:
The US system is no match for Donald Trump — Absence of consequences for the Capitol riots makes it likelier that democracy will be subverted again — Democrats hate to be reminded that the saviour of US democracy is Mike Pence, the former vice-president, whose fawning loyalty to Donald Trump lasted until the moment it counted.
CNN:
Jim Jordan sent one of the texts revealed by January 6 committee — Rep. Liz Cheney reveals frantic texts from GOP lawmakers to Mark Meadows on January 6 — (CNN)Rep. Jim Jordan forwarded a text message to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on January 5, outlining a legal theory …
David Rohde / New Yorker:
Is There a Smoking Gun in the January 6th Investigation? — As the Democrats discover what Mark Meadows, Donald Trump, and others did, experts say they must also enact reforms to safeguard democracy—while they still control Congress. — Mark Meadows, it seems, is now a bellwether of American democracy.
Discussion:
Letters from an American and Alternet.org
Washington Post:
Role as Trump's gatekeeper puts Meadows in legal jeopardy — and at odds with Trump — From his time as chief of staff for Donald Trump, Mark Meadows has provided a gold mine of information to the House committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection: urgent texts from the president's son …
Stephen Fowler / Georgia Public Broadcasting:
Exclusive: More Georgia Secretary of State's office officials interviewed by Jan. 6 committee — Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is one of several Georgia officials that have spoken to representatives of a U.S. House committee investigating the lead up to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Discussion:
The Guardian, Political Wire and Alternet.org
New York Times:
Facing Subpoenas, Trump Allies Try to Run Out the Clock on Democrats
Facing Subpoenas, Trump Allies Try to Run Out the Clock on Democrats
Discussion:
Raw Story
Miranda Devine / New York Post:
Liz Cheney at forefront of hollow Jan. 6 war
Liz Cheney at forefront of hollow Jan. 6 war
Discussion:
Salon, New York Times and Political Wire
William Saletan / Slate:
The Chilling Lesson of Mark Meadows' Text Messages
The Chilling Lesson of Mark Meadows' Text Messages
Discussion:
Raw Story, New York Times, Washington Post and DCist
Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post:
Meadows referral creates new legal, political challenge for Garland and DOJ
Meadows referral creates new legal, political challenge for Garland and DOJ
Discussion:
The Hill, Vox, IJR and OpenSecrets.org
Kevin D. Williamson / National Review:
One of These Riots Is Not Like the Other — It is true that some of the disorder …
One of These Riots Is Not Like the Other — It is true that some of the disorder …
Discussion:
The Dispatch, Outside the Beltway, Raw Story, Washington Examiner, Townhall and The Gateway Pundit
Jonah Goldberg / The G-File:
Donald Trump's Megaphone — Fox News news hosts knew that Trump's lies were lies—and they amplified them anyhow. — Screw it. — I've shown a good deal of restraint since news broke that I left Fox News. — I haven't done any TV about it, and I've let a lot of nonsense go by without a response.
David Freedlander / New York Magazine:
Bill de Blasio Did What New Yorkers Wanted … He should have been a contender. As backbenchers and prattling senators piled into the 2020 race for president, Bill de Blasio entered as the manager of the nation's largest city, overseeing a police force the size of a small army …
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Washington Post:
More Americans than usual have been changing parties. Why? — Here's what our research found — As we head into 2022, expect a deluge of predictions about the upcoming U.S. midterm elections. Will Democrats maintain, widen or lose their slight advantage in the Senate?
Discussion:
Insider, WHTM-TV, The Federalist and The American Independent
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Eli Stokols / Los Angeles Times:
Republicans' belief in Trump's ‘Big Lie’ holds steady as confidence in U.S. elections dips
Republicans' belief in Trump's ‘Big Lie’ holds steady as confidence in U.S. elections dips
Discussion:
Mercury News and The Bulwark
Ramesh Ponnuru / Bloomberg:
The Two Reasons Trump Is Stronger Than He Looks for 2024 — Not only is he the undisputed leader of the Republican Party. He is also indifferent to anything but his own self-interest. Both are political assets. — People who think that Donald Trump's influence on the Republican Party …
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Emma Hurt / Axios:
Scoop: Perdue rejected GOP appeals to skip governor race
Scoop: Perdue rejected GOP appeals to skip governor race
Discussion:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Insider
Elena Schneider / Politico:
Jeff Jackson drops out of North Carolina Senate race — Democrat Jeff Jackson dropped out of the North Carolina Senate race on Thursday, endorsing his primary opponent, former state Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley. — “Pat McCrory and Ted Budd are gearing up to spend millions …
Discussion:
The Hill and The Charlotte Ledger
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Paul Sperry / RealClearInvestigations:
DC Bar Restores Convicted FBI Russiagate Forger to ‘Good Standing’ Amid Irregularities and Leniency — A former senior FBI lawyer who falsified a surveillance document in the Trump-Russia investigation has been restored as a member in “good standing” by the District of Columbia Bar Association …
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Sinema pops Democrats' filibuster trial balloon on voting rights — Kyrsten Sinema supports the elections reform bill that Democrats are considering a year-end push to pass. She doesn't support a shortcut around the filibuster to get it done. — The Arizona moderate is making clear …
Discussion:
NBC News, The Daily Beast, Common Dreams, Raw Story, The Hill, Townhall, HotAir, RedState, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Washington Examiner, Talking Points Memo and Insider
RELATED:
Jessica Contrera / Washington Post:
A QAnon con: How the viral Wayfair sex trafficking lie hurt real kids — An Internet mob wanted to rescue a 13-year-old girl. Instead, they terrified her, derailed real trafficking investigations and incited ‘save the children’ violence. — The real Samara Duplessis was sprawled across her comforter, her thumb on Instagram.
Chris Isidore / CNN:
Two major airline CEOs question the need for masks on planes — New York (CNN Business)The CEOs of two of the nation's major airlines say they don't think wearing masks on planes does much to help limit exposure to Covid. — The comments from American Airlines (AAL) CEO Doug Parker …
Discussion:
Daily Mail, HotAir, Reason, The Daily Wire, Daily News and UPI
New York Post:
MTA manager caught using blow-up doll in apparent attempt to skirt HOV laws — Surely, he can't be serious. — An MTA manager claims an inflatable doll that's been riding shotgun in his Kia Telluride is there “for the company” — and not to skirt HOV restrictions, as his coworkers suspect.
Discussion:
RedState
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
The bulldogs of Benghazi roll over for insurrectionists — Paging Trey Gowdy! Where's the bulldog of Benghazi when his country needs him? — On Sept. 11, 2012, terrorists attacked the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans died. — On Jan. 6, 2021, terrorists attacked the U.S. Capitol.
Discussion:
Alternet.org
New York Times:
That Job at Harvard? It's Not Real. — For over a year, prominent women in India, including journalists, were reeled into a labyrinthine online scam, offering work with Harvard University. Who targeted them, and why, is a mystery. — NEW DELHI — Nidhi Razdan was all set to travel …
Henry Mance / Financial Times:
My trip into the metaverse with Facebook defender-in-chief Nick Clegg … Nick Clegg may be available in Berlin. He has a slot in Paris. He'll make time for lunch in Brussels. Then Omicron hits, and the vice-president of global affairs at Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is not coming to Europe after all.
Matt Viser / Washington Post:
In Trump country, a willingness to set aside politics as Biden visits — MAYFIELD, Ky. — Cliff Giambrone most certainly didn't vote for President Biden and, in fact, was outside the U.S. Capitol protesting the election results on Jan. 6. On the trailer hitch on the back of his van …
Washington Post:
GOP candidates are flocking to Mar-a-Lago to pay Trump for the privilege of hosting their events — The Washington Post identified at least 30 events held by GOP candidates or conservative groups at Trump properties through mid-December, more tallied than in any previous year
American Greatness:
Why Is the Left Worried Suddenly About the End of Democracy? — They are fearful and angry not because democracy does not work, but because it does despite their own media and political efforts to warp it. — What is behind recent pessimistic appraisals of democracy's future …