The December 21, 2016 Thread

As analysts who’ve spent years studying Russia’s influence, we’re confident the spooks have it mostly right: https://t.co/sS7W87H1mZ

— POLITICO Magazine (@POLITICOMag) December 21, 2016

Well, I am glad the beltway pundits at Politico are on board.

President Obama “blacklisted 15 Russian individuals and companies for their dealings in Crimea and Ukraine, creating an early test for the new administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump, who is widely expected to roll back the pressure campaign against Russia,” the New York Times reports.

“The Treasury Department designated seven individuals and eight corporate entities involved in a range of projects, including the construction of a bridge connecting Russia to the Crimean peninsula. It also targeted businesspeople who are associates of President Vladimir V. Putin or are involved in activities that aid in Russia’s destabilization of Ukraine.”

Louisiana Department of Health asking people in St. Joseph not to drink the tap water for at least 30 days. https://t.co/hMV60we4HO pic.twitter.com/L7ryz0OXwb

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) December 21, 2016

Flint II.

In the latest HuffPost/YouGov survey, half of the respondents were asked if they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “Over the past few years, blacks have gotten less than they deserve.” The other half was provided with the exact same statement, except the word “blacks” was switched to “average Americans.” You know what is going to happen, don’t you?

Among those who voted for Hillary Clinton, there was no difference in the two samples. But among those who voted for Donald Trump, nearly two-thirds agreed with the statement when it pertained to “average Americans” while just 12% though the same for blacks. Yep. It’s all Economic Anxiety.

Twice now in last 5 days Trump kids have rolled back plans for fundraising events after ethical questions raised.https://t.co/T1IQ27UhXd

— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) December 21, 2016

Maybe the pattern will become obvious to Usay and Qusay Hussein. If you want to do unethical shit, you will get bad publicity and questions.

Seth Masket: “Given the closeness of this election, it’s plausible that any number of things could have made the difference. Had Russia never hacked Democratic National Committee data, had Comey not made his public insinuations about Clinton a few weeks before the election, had the Clinton campaign had better polling data, etc., we’d likely be calling her president-elect today. But it’s hard to know what lesson to draw from that to use in future campaigns. It’s easy to say that you shouldn’t take your lead for granted, but exactly how do we translate that into a specific recommendation for the next campaign?”

“Perhaps the most important lesson is that any major party nominee, no matter how seemingly awful or unpopular, has a shot at winning. This is a lesson not so much for the general election campaigns, but for the parties: Be careful whom you nominate. Pick someone you’d be comfortable seeing in office. You’d be surprised who can lose. And who can win.”

.@oreillyfactor: “The left wants power taken away from the white establishment and they want a profound change in the way America is run.” pic.twitter.com/EggkBz7kvZ

— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 21, 2016

So @DavidCornDC says what we all must: Bill O'Reilly has passed into Afrikaner territory. We are becoming South Africa.

— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) December 21, 2016

Vanity Fair: “Throughout the year, the tapes were a subject of almost mythical fascination within the media. People involved with The Apprentice had received calls from reporters at the Associated Press, BuzzFeed, Politico, The New York Times, CNN, the Huffington Post, and The Washington Post. Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign would also obsessively try to find the tapes up until Election Day. In fact, one person close to the Clinton campaign told me that he had spoken to someone, on the Sunday before the election, who said he had a damaging clip of Trump…”

“Nevertheless, the Clinton campaign, which had seen Trump survive previous raucous scandals, refused to give up its own search. Two days before the election, one entertainment executive with ties to Clinton contacted someone in the industry who had said he had a copy of a tape depicting Trump that could create problems for the then candidate. Would this person be willing to pass him the footage to give to the Clinton campaign? Since the latest poll numbers indicated it was clear Clinton would win the election—likely in a landslide—this person didn’t want to risk it.”

The FBI had nothing to justify its election-changing intervention against #Clinton. Zero. Zilch. It was all politicshttps://t.co/9xzY2GNbYt

— EJ Dionne (@EJDionne) December 21, 2016

“A newly unsealed search-warrant application confirms the Federal Bureau of Investigation found thousands of emails potentially linked to Hillary Clinton on a laptop used by former congressman Anthony Weiner, who was then married to top Clinton aide Huma Abedin,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The search warrant application doesn’t offer any new revelations or insight—if anything, it repeats and reaffirms past assertions by officials about the case regarding how and why they decided to search the laptop in the final days of a heated presidential campaign.”

John Cassidy asks if the Iraq War led to Trump: “While the connection between the war to depose Saddam and the election of 2016 is indirect, it is etched in history. Without the invasion of Iraq, and the disillusionment with the U.S. political establishment that its terrible aftermath created, it is hard to see how a demagogue like Trump could ever have gained traction in national politics.”

“Yes, many factors played into his rise to power: deindustrialization, stagnant wages, racial resentments, class resentments, sexism, a craven broadcast media that gave him huge amounts of free airtime, strategic blunders by his opponent and her campaign, and the last-minute intervention of James Comey, the director of the F.B.I. Indeed, the problem with trying to explain Hillary Clinton’s defeat is that it was overdetermined: all sorts of arguments can seem persuasive. But the popular perception of a world gone haywire, a perception that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan helped to create, was also an important factor.”

Went to see Khizr Khan. He said Terry McAuliffe urged him to run for office in Virginia https://t.co/0z7Hsslutn

— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) December 21, 2016

Actor Tom Arnold claims to have video of Donald Trump “using racist language, obscenities and denigrating his own son in outtakes of The Apprentice,” The Guardian reports. Said Arnold: “I have the outtakes to The Apprentice where he says every bad thing ever, every offensive, racist thing ever. It was him sitting in that chair saying the N-word, saying the C-word, calling his son a retard, just being so mean to his own children.” Arnold said “he did not release it because of a confidentiality clause and the expectation that Trump would lose.”

Thanks, Tom. Lots of courage there.

I guess the theory here is that if they're not state actors, they don't owe you any constitutional rights. https://t.co/Jbne5xz8x1

— David Waldman (@KagroX) December 20, 2016

Politico: “Among the key appointments that are expected to be announced in the coming days are political director (a post for which sources say former Chris Christie aide Bill Stepien is considered the favorite) and communications director (sources say senior communications adviser Jason Miller is the leading option). Other appointments expected soon include advance director (campaign advance chief George Gigicos is seen as a lock) and body man (sources say campaign trip director John McEntee is likely to get the post).”

“Republican National Committee chief strategist Sean Spicer is the heavy favorite for the press secretary post.”

Also interesting: “One of Trump’s earliest and most loyal staffers — former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski — is not expected to be included in the first wave of prime White House jobs, and the fate of another top campaign aide, David Bossie, also is unclear.”

How different are our political parties right now? Imagine if Obama were handling the transition as NC's McCrory is. https://t.co/zThoRq6k1D

— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) December 20, 2016

McClatchy: “Obama is trying to put the people and policies in place that he wants to outlast his presidency in the final weeks before Donald Trump takes over. And his supporters want more, way more.”

“Every president tries to push through last-minute policies before their time in office comes to a close. But this year has a more frantic feel as special interest groups push Obama to do more, not just because the president-elect is of a different party but because few people know what he will do.”

“With six weeks remaining, their to-do list for Obama is long.”

The Media Need to Focus on Context, Not “Balance” https://t.co/AUar1whT7D

— Nancy LeTourneau (@Smartypants60) December 20, 2016

More Obama action, this time to protect the environment:

President Obama moved to solidify his environmental legacy Monday by withdrawing hundreds of millions of acres of federally owned land in the Arctic and Atlantic Ocean from future offshore oil and gas drilling.

Obama used a little-known law called the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect large portions of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in the Arctic and a string of canyons in the Atlantic stretching from Massachusetts to Virginia from oil exploration and the potential for spills.

The announcement by the White House late in the afternoon was coordinated with similar steps being taken by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to shield large areas of that nation’s Arctic waters from drilling. Neither measure affects leases already held by oil and gas companies and drilling activity in state waters.

White House officials said the withdrawals under Section 12-A of the 1953 act used by presidents dating to Dwight Eisenhower cannot be undone by an incoming president. It is not clear if a Republican-controlled Congress can rescind Obama’s action.