The December 26, 2016 Thread

Filed in National by on December 26, 2016

“Merry Christmas to all! Over two millennia ago, a new hope was born into the world, a Savior who would offer the promise of salvation to all mankind. Just as the three wise men did on that night, this Christmas heralds a time to celebrate the good news of a new King.” — RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, in a statement.

This quote sparked outrage on Twitter and the Internets yesterday, as it was assumed that the good news of a new King referred to Trump and that anything involving him was good news, or that Trump was a King. Nah, as much as I loathe to defend Republicans here, this is typical evangelical speak: the new King refers to Jesus Christ. These fanatical evangelicals love referring to Jesus in that way.

George Michael is dead. Carrie Fisher had a massive heart attack and is in the ICU. Queen Elizabeth II is ill. 2016 continues its murderous rampage.

“Donald Trump’s sudden embrace this week of a nuclear arms race — and his staff’s scramble to minimize the fallout — underscored an emerging modus operandi for the president-elect: governance by chaos,” the Washington Post reports.

“Since winning the election, Trump has seemed to revel in tossing firecrackers in all directions, often using Twitter to offer brief but provocative pronouncements on foreign and domestic policies alike — and leaving it to others to flesh out his true intentions.”

The Washington Post on why AG Loretta Lynch did not stop FBI Director James Comey’s letter: “Justice officials laid out a number of arguments against releasing the letter. It violated two long-standing policies. Never publicly discuss an ongoing investigation. And never take an action affecting a candidate for office close to Election Day. Besides, they said, the FBI did not know yet what was in the emails or if they had anything to do with the Clinton case.”

“Remarkably, the country’s two top law enforcement officials never spoke. As Comey’s boss, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch could have given the FBI director an order to not send the letter. But Lynch and her advisers feared that Comey would not listen. He seemed to feel strongly about updating Congress on his sworn testimony about the Clinton investigation. Instead, they tried to relay their concerns through the Justice official whom the FBI had called.”

Rick Klein says the country is not moving right: “With the North Carolina legislature keeping the so-called ‘bathroom bill’ in place, 2017 gets to deal with some more unfinished business from 2016. But the issue serves as a reminder that this new era of Republican dominance has severe limits. The tide has already turned in North Carolina, and new efforts to repeal the bill – under public and economic pressure – are likely to be more successful after Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper takes office. While there’s no predicting the president-elect’s Tweets, does anyone think Donald Trump will provide air cover on the issue next year? It’s a reminder – like the minimum-wage increases that passed last month – the country is shading red, but not necessarily moving right.”

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team “asked employees at the State Department to submit details of programs aimed at promoting gender equality, including a list of the positions primarily focused on such issues, fanning fears within the agency that the incoming administration might roll back a cornerstone initiative of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,” the New York Times reports.

“It also asks for information on positions dedicated to those activities, as well as how much funding was directed to these programs in 2016. The responses were due by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, the same day the questionnaire was circulated within the department.”

“Senate Democrats are approaching the January confirmation battle over Donald Trump’s Cabinet as a chance to launch their political comeback and expose the president-elect as a fraud,” Politico reports.

“Lawmakers know they’re unlikely, at best, to stop any of Trump’s Cabinet picks from being installed. But they still see major opportunity in the confirmation hearings. The goal, according to lawmakers and aides: to depict Trump’s chosen inner circle of billionaires and conservative hard-liners as directly at odds with the working-class Americans he vowed to help.”

City Lab: “Jane Jacobs was one of the most prescient writers of the 20th century… But she may well have saved her best for last.”

“At a time when pundits and political scientists were celebrating the end of history, pointing to an emerging Democratic majority and extolling the virtues of a flat world of globalization, she ominously predicted a coming age of urban crisis, mass amnesia, and populist backlash in her final work, Dark Age Ahead. Eerily prescient as always, rereading the 2005 book today serves as a survivors’ guide to the Age of Trump.”

“Facing a years-long wait before they can fully implement a planned repeal of Obamacare, Republicans lawmakers are exploring how the Trump administration can quickly trim required health insurance benefits under the law and lower the cost of health plans, said key GOP congressional aides,” Bloomberg reports.

“Republicans plan to use a fast-track procedure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but with a built-in delay to postpone full repeal for years while they navigate the complexities of passing a replacement. By going after the benefit rules now, however, they can take advantage of the broad authority given to the executive branch when the law passed to make faster changes.”

Charlie Cook: “In­creas­ingly Demo­crats are be­com­ing a party of urb­an areas, col­lege towns, minor­ity voters, and the East and West Coasts. The heart­land, of­ten de­rided by Demo­crats as ‘fly­over coun­try,’ is now be­com­ing a no-fly zone for the party.”

“Simply put, Demo­crats need to ex­pand their sens­it­iv­ity-train­ing courses to in­clude people who live in small-town and rur­al Amer­ica—middle-class white voters, people who live paycheck to paycheck, and whites who at­tend church at least once a week. Frank­lin Roosevelt’s New Deal co­ali­tion of voters is now of­fi­cially dead. Demo­crats were los­ing these voters be­fore Don­ald Trump came along and will con­tin­ue to do so bey­ond his pres­id­ency un­less they show genu­ine con­cern for these con­stitu­en­cies. To be sure, the coun­try is chan­ging and be­com­ing more di­verse, but it is not do­ing so at the same pace every­where. Demo­crats are run­ning up the score in places that do not help them win ma­jor­it­ies in the House, Sen­ate, and Elect­or­al Col­lege.”

President-elect Donald Trump and President Obama “have been unfailingly polite toward each other since the election. But with Mr. Trump staking out starkly different positions from Mr. Obama on Israel and other sensitive issues, and the president acting aggressively to protect his legacy, the two have become leaders of what amounts to dueling administrations,” the New York Times reports.

“The split widened on Friday when the Obama administration abstained from a United Nations Security Council vote that condemned Israel for Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and allowed the resolution to pass. A day earlier, Mr. Trump had publicly demanded that Mr. Obama veto the measure, even intervening with Egypt at the request of Israel to pressure the administration to shelve the effort.”

Nate Cohn: “Mr. Trump’s gains among white working-class voters weren’t simply caused by Democrats staying home on Election Day.”

“The Clinton team knew what was wrong from the start, according to a Clinton campaign staffer and other Democrats. Its models, based on survey data, indicated that they were underperforming Mr. Obama in less-educated white areas by a wide margin — perhaps 10 points or more — as early as the summer.”

“The campaign looked back to respondents who were contacted in 2012, and found a large number of white working-class voters who had backed Mr. Obama were now supporting Mr. Trump. The same story was obvious in public polls of registered voters. Those polls aren’t affected by changes in turnout.”

“The best data on the effect of turnout will ultimately come from voter file data, which will include an individual-level account of who voted and who didn’t. Most of this data is only beginning to become available. But the limited data that’s already available is consistent with the story evident in the pre-election polling: Turnout wasn’t the major factor driving shifts among white voters.”

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