Top Items:
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
Republicans are quiet quitting on Trump — The White House chief of staff says the president has “an alcoholic's personality” — Donald Trump is worried that Republicans aren't as afraid of him as they used to be. Despite his self-billing as a dealmaker, the president has only ever had one tool to control his party: fear.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Vanity Fair, Axios and The Wrap
RELATED:
Hailey Fuchs / Politico:
Jack Smith makes his case against Trump in closed-door deposition … He maintained that this team found evidence to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.”
Victoria Craw / Washington Post:
Marjorie Taylor Greene says ‘dam is breaking’ within GOP against Trump
Justin Glawe / Public Notice:
2025 was a political disaster for MAGA
Politico:
Jack Smith wants to tell Congress about his Trump investigations. That comes with risks.
Jack Smith wants to tell Congress about his Trump investigations. That comes with risks.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, New York Daily News, MS NOW and Fox News
John Dowd / MS NOW:
I was Donald Trump's lawyer. Jack Smith should be celebrated, not vilified.
I was Donald Trump's lawyer. Jack Smith should be celebrated, not vilified.
Discussion:
Politico, Associated Press and CNN
Rebecca Beitsch / The Hill:
Jack Smith says he'd do it all over again in testimony on Trump to House GOP
Jack Smith says he'd do it all over again in testimony on Trump to House GOP
Discussion:
Fox News, Associated Press, CBS News, Townhall, New York Post, Raw Story and Mediaite
Tim Hanrahan / Wall Street Journal:
GOP Lawmaker Who Backed Trump Impeachment to Quit Congress
GOP Lawmaker Who Backed Trump Impeachment to Quit Congress
Discussion:
NBC News, Fox News, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Axios, UPI, Election Law Blog, Roll Call, Washington Times, IJR, NewsMax.com and The Gateway Pundit
Joyce Vance / Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance:
Jack Smith Testifies Before The House Judiciary Committee
Jack Smith Testifies Before The House Judiciary Committee
Discussion:
Washington Post, Washington Times, Breitbart, Raw Story, American Thinker and New Republic
Kevin Freking / Associated Press:
Republicans defy Speaker Johnson to force House vote on extending ACA subsidies — Four centrist Republicans broke with Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday and signed onto a Democratic-led petition that will force a House vole on extending for three years an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy …
Discussion:
CNN, ABC News, Straight Arrow News, New York Times, Bloomberg, CNBC, New Republic, NBC News, New Jersey Online, Raw Story, MS NOW, The Parnas Perspective, New York Daily News, NewsMax.com, The Guardian, Truthout, The Hill, NOTUS, PoliticusUSA, The Independent, RedState, CBS News, Washington Times, Washington Examiner, Salon, UPI, Breitbart and Axios
RELATED:
Axios:
House Republicans help Democrats defy Johnson on ACA in stunning revolt — Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) signed Democrats' discharge petition Wednesday to force a vote on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies — a pointed rebuke of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, New York Times, NOTUS, NewsMax.com, The Hill, Politico, CBS News, Associated Press, Raw Story and Bloomberg
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
GOP Reps. Fitzpatrick and Lawler join Democrats' Obamacare discharge petition — Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mike Lawler of New York became the first Republicans Wednesday to join a Democratic effort to force a House vote on a straight three-year extension of the enhanced Obamacare tax credits that will expire Dec. 31.
NBC News:
Centrist Republicans revolt, signing a petition to force a vote on Obamacare funding
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, The Hill, NOTUS, HotAir, Townhall, Deseret News, Newsweek, Axios, NewsMax.com, MS NOW, IJR, Fox News and Washington Examiner
Washington Post:
Moderate House Republicans join Democrats to force vote on ACA subsidies
Moderate House Republicans join Democrats to force vote on ACA subsidies
Discussion:
Punchbowl News, Scripps News, NewsMax.com, Political Wire, CNBC, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, The Hill, Bloomberg, STAT and Politico
Joey Garrison / USA Today:
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado — WASHINGTON ‒ The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Discussion:
Axios, Ars Technica, Scientific American and The Colorado Sun
RELATED:
New York Times:
National Center for Atmospheric Research to Be Dismantled, Trump Administration Says — Russell Vought, the White House budget director, called the laboratory a source of “climate alarmism.” — The Trump administration said it will be dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado …
Discussion:
The Hill and The Colorado Sun
Ruby Mellen / Washington Post:
Trump administration to dismantle key climate research center
Discussion:
The Guardian, NewsMax.com, CBS News and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Gregory Svirnovskiy / Politico:
Vought says National Center for Atmospheric Research will be dismantled
Vought says National Center for Atmospheric Research will be dismantled
Discussion:
NOTUS, Washington Times, Raw Story and Crooks and Liars
Ron Dicker / HuffPost:
Senator Reaches Damning Conclusions After Classified Briefing With Hegseth, Rubio — Sen. Chris Murphy trashed a meeting with the Cabinet duo about the Trump administration's boat bombings. — Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said a classified meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth …
Discussion:
UPI, Raw Story, Reuters, The Hill, Washington Examiner, twitchy.com, Straight Arrow News, New York Sun, ABC News, NewsMax.com and CBS News
RELATED:
Stephen Groves / Associated Press:
Senate voting on $901 billion defense bill that pushes Hegseth for boat strike video — The Senate is nearing final passage Wednesday of an annual military policy bill that will authorize $901 billion in defense programs while pressuring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide lawmakers …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Fox News, The Hill, CBS News and UPI
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
December 16, 2025 — While President Donald J. Trump was gloating over the horrific murders …
December 16, 2025 — While President Donald J. Trump was gloating over the horrific murders …
Discussion:
New York Times, The Good in Us, The Dispatch, The Independent, al.com, Daily Mail, The Hill, Reuters, NOTUS, Washington Times, Wall Street Journal, CT Mirror, Bloomberg, Politico and Scripps News
Connor O'Brien / Politico:
Senate passes defense bill that defies Trump and forces sharing of boat strike videos
Senate passes defense bill that defies Trump and forces sharing of boat strike videos
Discussion:
New York Times, Fox News, Washington Examiner, The Independent and New York Sun
New York Times:
Trump Dangles Cash Payments to Buoy Voters' Views of the Economy — With tariffs unpopular and prices still high, the White House has teased the promise of tariff rebates and large tax refunds next year. — Tariffs are unpopular, prices remain stubbornly high and Americans are souring on President Trump's handling of the economy.
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Independent, Reason and Fox News
RELATED:
Josh Boak / Associated Press:
Trump is previewing his 2026 agenda in an address to the nation as his popularity wanes
Discussion:
Scripps News, WWL-TV, The Hill and NewsMax.com
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
Why Aren't Dems Going After Trump's Tariffs?
Why Aren't Dems Going After Trump's Tariffs?
Discussion:
New York Post, Semafor and MS NOW
Reuters:
They prosecuted the Capitol rioters. Now the rioters and the DOJ are after them. — After Trump's mass pardons of the U.S. Capitol rioters, some have gained influence inside the Justice Department, meeting with officials to push for prosecutions of the federal lawyers who once helped convict them, Reuters found.
RELATED:
Sarah N. Lynch / Reuters:
Unprecedented errors are eroding the credibility of Trump's Justice Department — As President Donald Trump's crime crackdown got underway in Washington, D.C., in August, federal agents and police spotted a man named Torez Riley tugging at his backpack inside a Trader Joe's store, searched it and recovered two firearms.
Paul Krugman:
An A+++++ Economy, My A++ — Trump made big boasts but he isn't delivering — When Politico recently asked Donald Trump to grade the current U.S. economy, he replied “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.” He made this boast at a time when actual economic data were still scarce …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Fortune, Truthout, Eye On Housing, UPI, The Post Millennial, Blue Virginia and emptywheel
RELATED:
Philip Bump / MS NOW:
Trump and Vance give the economy high marks — the numbers say otherwise
Trump and Vance give the economy high marks — the numbers say otherwise
Discussion:
Cafe Hayek and New York Times
Vivek Ramaswamy / New York Times:
What Is an American? — There are two competing visions now emerging on the American right, and they are incompatible. One vision of American identity is based on lineage, blood and soil: Inherited attributes matter most. The purest form of an American is a so-called heritage American …
RELATED:
Brady Knox / Washington Examiner:
Ramaswamy warns Fuentes's ‘Groyper’ movement shows identity politics on the Right
Ramaswamy warns Fuentes's ‘Groyper’ movement shows identity politics on the Right
Discussion:
The Dispatch
ProPublica:
Inside the Trump Administration's Man-Made Hunger Crisis — On July 18, a mild, overcast night in Nairobi, Kenya, a team of President Donald Trump's top foreign aid advisers ducked into a meeting room at the Tribe Hotel, their luxury accommodations in the city's diplomatic quarter, for a private dinner.
John Podhoretz / Commentary Magazine:
Norman Podhoretz, 1930-2025 — My father died tonight, December 16, a month shy of his 96th birthday. Norman Podhoretz passed peacefully and without pain, with a new translation of The Odyssey on his desk that had been sent to him by his friend Roger Hertog.
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Post, Plain Dealer, The Daily Caller, The Forward and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
New York Times:
Harvard Secretly Investigates Students Over Larry Summers Video on Epstein — The students face discipline for recording Mr. Summers, the former Harvard president, discussing his ties to Jeffrey Epstein in a Harvard class. — Harvard officials have opened a secret disciplinary investigation …
Discussion:
IJR
Carol Leonnig / MS NOW:
FBI's No. 2 quietly tells colleagues he's moving on — Speculation and anticipation has gripped the nation's premier law enforcement agency over the future of one of its top leaders, FBI deputy director Dan Bongino. — Bongino has quietly told confidants he plans to formally leave …
Discussion:
Townhall, Mediaite, BizPac Review and Crooks and Liars
Politico:
Appeals court clears way for Trump to keep National Guard on DC streets … In particular, the judges said it would be “constitutionally troubling” for the president to borrow National Guard troops from one state to conduct law enforcement missions in another “non-consenting” state.
Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:
The Man Who Rules the Country Presides Over Nothing — There is a presidency at work in Washington, but it is not clear that there is a president at work in the Oval Office. — Ask Donald Trump about the goings on of his administration, and there is a good chance he'll defer to a deputy rather than answer the question.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Marist Poll:
2026 Economic Outlook, December 2025 — More Than Six in Ten Say Economy is Not Working for Them Personally.... Economic Pessimism for 2026 Widespread — Americans have serious concerns about the economy and how these larger economic forces will influence their personal finances in 2026.
Discussion:
PBS NewsHour, NPR, Houston Public Media, New Jersey Online, Mediaite, Newsweek and The Independent
Isaac Arnsdorf / Washington Post:
DHS fast-tracked $1 billion contract to pro-Trump donor's company — A DHS official leading the process previously worked at the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump nonprofit where the contractor's CEO was a donor. — Just now … The Department of Homeland Security fast-tracked …
Conor Wight / CBS News:
Minneapolis police chief critical of ICE agents' conduct after woman dragged through street — New video appears to show who agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement were targeting during a chaotic traffic stop Monday in south Minneapolis. — ICE officials say they were conducting a …
Discussion:
TMZ.com, New Republic, Daily Caller News Foundation, ACLU, HuffPost, Blaze Media, MPR News and The Daily Caller
Axios:
FCC chair suggests agency isn't independent, word cut from mission statement — FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in his Wednesday Senate testimony that the agency he governs “is not an independent agency, formally speaking.” During his testimony, the word “independent” was removed from the FCC's mission statement on its website.
Discussion:
The Hill, Washington Times, Deadline, Raw Story, NBC News and Associated Press
Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
Why Are Democrats So Afraid to Even Mention the Source of Trump's Political Power? … Discussions of race are everywhere and nowhere in 2025. On one hand, President Donald Trump is openly insulting Somali immigrants, describing entire nations as “shithole” countries, and insisting …
Discussion:
Raw Story
