The November 14, 2016 Thread

Wall Street Journal: “During their private White House meeting on Thursday, Mr. Obama walked his successor through the duties of running the country, and Mr. Trump seemed surprised by the scope, said people familiar with the meeting. Trump aides were described by those people as unaware that the entire presidential staff working in the West Wing had to be replaced at the end of Mr. Obama’s term.”

“After meeting with Mr. Trump, the only person to be elected president without having held a government or military position, Mr. Obama realized the Republican needs more guidance. He plans to spend more time with his successor than presidents typically do, people familiar with the matter said.”

Glenn Thrush: “This is what winging it looks like, America. Donald Trump is compulsively improvisational, and ran the most successful back-of-the-napkin operation in American political history, but the challenge confronting him is, by his own admission, nothing like anything anybody has ever faced. Like practically everybody else in the country, Trump (despite his statements to the contrary) really didn’t think he’d be spending this weekend trying to staff the upper management of the world’s sole remaining superpower.”

“It’s been five days since the reality TV star became the reality president and judging from his public pronouncements and a slightly dizzy 60 Minutes appearance, he still seems to be grappling with the vast implications of his stunning and unexpected victory. But in the past few days — amid protests in several major cities and a massive case of the national frights about his fitness to govern — Trump has made a handful of moves that offer the first hints of what kind of president he will be.”

How to live with, for, and against Trump’s America, by @jonathanchait https://t.co/XDnvbVtiat

— New York Magazine (@NYMag) November 14, 2016

“President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to appoint Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist in the White House has drawn a sharp rebuke from political strategists who see in Bannon a controversial figure too closely associated with the ‘alt-right’ movement, which white nationalists have embraced,” the Washington Post reports.

“The announcement has produced intense hand-wringing in Washington and sharp denunciations from political observers and strategists critical of Breitbart News’s close association with the alt-right, a fringe conservative movement saturated with racially insensitive rhetoric and elements of outright white nationalism.”

GOP strategist John Weaver on Twitter: “The racist, fascist extreme right is represented footsteps from the Oval Office. Be very vigilant America.”

Whites who voted for Obama and then flipped for Trump or didn't vote doesn't make them less sexist, racist or uninformed @falameufilho pic.twitter.com/eKPKlKVtfA

— Adam Khan (@Khanoisseur) November 12, 2016

New York Times: “On Day 1, Mr. Trump has promised, he will redirect immigration enforcement, alter trade relations with China and other nations, relax restrictions on energy production, impose new rules on lobbyists, halt efforts to combat global warming, lift curbs on guns, push for congressional term limits and demand a new strategy for defeating the Islamic State. He may face some legal and procedural hurdles, but most of his Day 1 pledges involve issuing presidential directives, executive orders or memorandums that do not need legislative approval.”

According to a new book, Unprecedented: The Election that Changed Everything, Donald Trump told Gov. Chris Christie in 2015 that he “didn’t expect to make it past October — at which point he would endorse Christie,” CNN reports.

The misogyny apocalypse: Turns out being white and male counts for more than intelligence, grace or decency https://t.co/5Qv11Bzz0Y

— Ed Skipper (@EdSkipper) November 14, 2016

“The Democrats’ stunning defeat in the presidential race and continued struggles in lower-level contests have jolted party leaders into concluding that their emphasis on cultural issues has all but crippled them by diverting voters’ attention from the core Democratic message of economic fairness,” the New York Times reports.

“But even as Democrats agree about the need to promote their agenda more aggressively for the middle class and voters of modest means, especially in parts of the country where the party has suffered grievous losses, they are divided over how aggressively to position themselves on the economic left, with battle lines already forming over the lightning-rod issue of foreign trade.”

Donald Trump told 60 Minutes that he hasn’t decided yet on whether he’ll appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton.

Said Trump: “I’m going to think about it.”

However, he that Clinton “did some bad things,” but that ultimately the Clintons are “good people. I don’t want to hurt them, I don’t want to hurt them. They’re, they’re good people. I don’t want to hurt them.

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham is under serious consideration to be Donald Trump’s White House press secretary, The Hill reports.

“Trump appreciated Ingraham’s loyalty through the campaign. A former white-collar defense attorney and Supreme Court law clerk, Ingraham helped Trump with debate preparation. She also campaigned on his behalf and offered occasional strategic advice.”

“President-elect Donald Trump is so disgusted with Chris Christie’s handling of the Bridgegate scandal that he’s kicking the New Jersey Gov. out of his inner circle,” the New York Post reports.

Said one source close to the transition team: “Trump thought it was shameful that Christie didn’t take the fall for [convicted aide] Bridget Kelly. Trump is really angry that Christie is sending a soccer mom to jail. He believes 100 percent that Christie was behind it all.”

Bloomberg: “With his stunning election victory on Tuesday night, Trump now confronts more potential conflicts of interest than any other president in U.S. history. How — or even whether — the billionaire navigates this minefield could have sweeping implications at home and abroad.”

“How Trump, the first billionaire to become president, will handle these investments and other conflicts will face intense scrutiny, with little precedence to guide him or the public. No laws exist that will require him to distance himself from the Trump Organization. While he will be required to continue to file asset disclosures, presidents are otherwise mostly exempt from the 1978 Ethics in Government Act — an exception derived from the belief that such rules could keep commanders-in-chief from making tough decisions.”

David Remnick: “The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for the American republic, a tragedy for the Constitution, and a triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny, and racism. Trump’s shocking victory, his ascension to the Presidency, is a sickening event in the history of the United States and liberal democracy. On January 20, 2017, we will bid farewell to the first African-American President—a man of integrity, dignity, and generous spirit—and witness the inauguration of a con who did little to spurn endorsement by forces of xenophobia and white supremacy. It is impossible to react to this moment with anything less than revulsion and profound anxiety.”