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2:55 PM ET, December 18, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
New York Times:
'Don's Best Friend': How Epstein and Trump Bonded Over the Pursuit of Women  —  The president has tried to minimize their friendship, but documents and interviews reveal an intense and complicated relationship.  Chasing women was a game of ego and dominance.  Female bodies were currency.
Thomas Novelly / Defense One:
Trump rebrands Congressionally-approved troop housing subsidy as ‘warrior dividend’ bonus  —  President Donald Trump's $1,776 checks for more than a million troops, announced Wednesday, come from Congressionally-allocated reconciliation funds intended to subsidize housing allowances for service members …
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Defends Handling of Economy, Announces Military Dividend
Darlene Superville / Associated Press:
Trump's handpicked board votes to rename Washington performing arts center the Trump-Kennedy Center  —  President Donald Trump's handpicked board voted Thursday to rename Washington's leading performing arts center as the Trump-Kennedy Center, the White House said.
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Kennedy Center board votes to rename ‘Trump-Kennedy Center’  —  Trustees voted to rename the center after President Donald Trump, who is also the board chair.  It was unclear whether such a change is legal. … The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has voted …
Avery Lotz / Axios:
Kennedy Center to be renamed Trump-Kennedy Center
Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
This Is What Presidential Panic Looks Like  —  Donald Trump delivered a fear-drenched rant live from the White House.  —  The president of the United States just barged into America's living rooms like an angry, confused grandfather to tell us all that we are ungrateful whelps.
RELATED:
Isaac Arnsdorf / Washington Post:
Fast, harsh, alone: Trump beams into prime time with uncertain results
Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
The revealing pointlessness of Trump's primetime speech
New York Times:
Trump Moves to End Gender-Related Care for Minors, Threatening Hospitals That Offer It  —  Proposed new rules would punish the hospitals by pulling all federal financing.  Advocates say lawsuits will follow.  —  The federal government on Thursday acted to put an end to gender-related care …
RELATED:
Selena Simmons-Duffin / NPR:
RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz announce moves to ban gender-affirming care for young people  —  The Trump administration is expected to announce several moves Thursday that will have the effect of essentially banning gender-affirming care for transgender young people, even in states where it is still legal.
Parker Molloy / The Present Age:
Watch Rep. Sarah McBride's Powerful Statement on Republicans' Anti-Trans Obsession
Ben Geman / Axios:
Trump's media company to merge with nuclear fusion startup  —  Trump Media & Technology Group is merging with nuclear fusion power startup TAE technologies in an all-stock deal valued at $6 billion. … - It will provide new resources to the fusion player, and signals Trumpworld's enthusiasm …
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
Trump Media Targets Nuclear Fusion Through Merger With TAE  —  Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., the company behind Truth Social, is getting into nuclear fusion.  —  The company said Thursday it will merge with TAE Technologies Inc., a closely held fusion developer founded in 1998, in a transaction valued at more than $6 billion.
Greg Sargent / New Republic:
Dem Leaders Decide to Bury Damning Report on Why Trump Won in 2024  —  In a move that should unleash harsh criticism and recriminations, the Democratic National Committee has decided against publicly releasing its long-awaited report on the 2024 election, which could end up protecting key actors inside …
Discussion: The Guardian
RELATED:
Dan Merica / Washington Post:   Democrats will not release the autopsy of their 2024 loss
Eric Garcia / The Independent:
Inflation spikes 2.7 percent despite Trump's claims ‘prices are down’  —  Prices on numerous goods spike as the labor market continues to be sluggish  —  Inflation spike 0.2 percent in November and 2.7 percent in the past 12 months, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report.
RELATED:
New Republic:
Transcript: Mike Johnson Unnerved as ACA Revolt Worsens: “Bullshit!”  —  The following is a lightly edited transcript of the December 18 episode of the Daily Blast podcast.  Listen to it here.  —  Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.
RELATED:
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
This morning, four vulnerable Republicans signed onto the discharge petition all House Democrats …
Luke Broadwater / New York Times:
Trump Signs Executive Order to Reclassify Marijuana, Easing Restrictions on the Drug  —  Marijuana's classification as one of the most dangerous and habit-forming substances has long drawn criticism.  —  President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to downgrade cannabis …
RELATED:
Elizabeth Elkind / Fox News:
House Republicans demand Trump reverse course after ‘strongly considering’ marijuana executive order
Toby Buckle / New Republic:
The Americans Who Saw All This Coming—but Were Ignored and Maligned  —  Imagine I sent you back in time to July 2015 with the goal of saving liberal democracy in America.  Donald Trump announced his candidacy a month ago, the polls are showing him with a narrow lead, and the media …
Joanna Stern / Wall Street Journal:
We Let AI Run Our Office Vending Machine.  It Lost Hundreds of Dollars.  —  Anthropic's Claude ran a snack operation in the WSJ newsroom.  It gave away a free PlayStation, ordered a live fish—and taught us lessons about the future of AI agents. … You'd toss Claudius's résumé in the trash immediately.
Washington Post:
Stephen Miller's hard-line Mexico strategy morphed into deadly boat strikes  —  The Trump administration originally planned to go after Mexican drug cartels, but pivoted to Venezuela, according to current and former officials.  A trio of legal documents and directives have subsequently authorized an unorthodox lethal campaign.
Discussion: Raw Story, Bloomberg and Al Jazeera
New York Times:
Trump Pressed Georgia Speaker to Overturn State's Election Vote in 2020 Call  —  During much of the 12.5-minute call, President Trump reiterated his claims that he had won Georgia, a state he lost by more than 11,000 votes that year.  —  In a newly obtained recording of a phone call from late 2020 …
Fred Imbert / CNBC:
November consumer prices rose at a 2.7% annual rate, lower than expected, delayed data shows … Consumer prices rose less than expected in November, giving investors hope that inflationary pressures may be cooling enough for the U.S. monetary policy to be eased more than Wall Street anticipates.
Annie Grayer / CNN:
More photos from Epstein's estate released by House Democrats as deadline to release DOJ files looms  —  Congressional news Federal agencies Homes  —  Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released photos from Jeffrey Epstein's estate Thursday — the latest in a series of intermittent disclosures …
The Washington Free Beacon:
Illegal Immigrant Arrested for Murder One Day After Being Released from Jail  —  An illegal immigrant from El Salvador was arrested Wednesday after police say he shot a man to death inside a Reston, Va., home—just one day after being released from jail.  —  Authorities identified the suspect …
Discussion: WJLA-TV, Washington Examiner and IJR
Emerson Polling:
December 2025 National Poll: Trump's Approval Flips Since Start of the Year  —  Home Polls December 2025 National Poll: Trump's Approval Flips Since Start of the Year  —  Voters Favor “Moderates” in 2028 Matchups  —  The final Emerson College Polling national survey of 2025 finds President Trump …
Tom Jones / Poynter:
Why a single word disappearing from the FCC's website matters for press freedom  —  FCC Chair Brendan Carr says the agency is not ‘independent,’ sharpening concerns about political pressure on the media … If you went to the Federal Communications Commission website first thing Wednesday morning, you would have read the following:
New York Times:
Threats Against Judges Could Lead to a Judicial System Crisis  —  “The Domino's pizzas arrived at the homes of federal judges without explanation,” the Times editorial board wrote earlier this year.  “The message was clear: We know where you live.”  In the Opinion Video above, Esther Salas …
NBC News:
Whooping cough cases soar as vaccination rates drop  —  In an NBC News data investigation of 31 states, about 70% of counties and jurisdictions fell below the target vaccination rate needed for community protection.  —  At just 2 weeks old, Feleena Owens was struggling to breathe.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Joseph Cox / 404 Media:
ICE Contracts Company Making Bounty Hunter AI Agents
Axios:
Trump weighs declaring Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 as federal holidays
Jonah Kaplan / CBS News:
“Fraud tourists” traveled to Minnesota after a friend told them state programs were “a good opportunity to make money,” prosecutors say
Sarah Fortinsky / The Hill:
Sean Duffy's daughter calls out TSA as ‘unconstitutional’ after pat-down
Discussion: Washington Examiner and Raw Story
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
Trump's Bad Economy Is Even Worse Than It Looks
Discussion: Bloomberg
Washington Post:
Trump administration prepares sweeping crackdown on leftist networks
Discussion: Raw Story and Advocate
New York Times:
Venezuelan Navy Escorts Vessels in Defiance of Trump's Blockade Threat
 Earlier Items: 
Claire Giangravé / RNS:
Bishop Hicks, Chicago ally of Pope Leo XIV, named to lead New York after Dolan era
Erin Doherty / Politico:
Poll: The economy is fueling political anger in 5 major countries
Discussion: New York Magazine and Semafor
Politico:
Prosecutors tried and failed to add 3rd felony charge against Letitia James, court docs show
Discussion: Law & Crime
 

 
From Techmeme:

Financial Times:
Trump Media agrees to merge with Google-backed fusion energy company TAE in a $6B deal and build the “world's first utility-scale fusion power plant” in 2026

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Filing: Sony and Tencent reach a “confidential settlement” over Tencent's Light of Motiram, a game that Sony alleged was a “slavish clone” of its Horizon series

OpenAI:
OpenAI releases GPT‑5.2-Codex, with improvements on long-horizon work through context compaction, stronger performance on large code changes, and more
 
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