The Commentariat -- Dec. 26, 2018

"Trump's Christmas Message: 'It's a Disgrace What's Happening'" Katie Rogers & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Trump invited reporters into the Oval Office on Christmas morning to listen to him call military troops overseas. He then unleashed another demand for a border wall -- a $5 billion price tag that has stalled the federal government through the holidays -- and introduced a murky new claim that federal workers are happy to work for free until the wall is fully funded. 'Many of those workers have said to me -- communicated -- stay out until you get the funding for the wall,' Mr. Trump said. 'These federal workers want the wall.' Mr. Trump described immigrants as criminals and human traffickers, and espoused plans for his wall. But he declined to answer questions that invited him to be more specific, especially on a contract he said was signed Monday to begin construction on a lengthy section of the barrier.... Mr. Trump both insisted, without evidence, that the wall was being built and could be 'either renovated or brand-new by Election Day,' and reiterated his demand that Congress allocate billions of dollars for it." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Read on for Trump's description of that contract he says he signed. You can be absolutely sure that either (1) he signed a contract Monday but has no idea what it was for, or (2) he didn't sign a contract Monday. (2) is much more likely. I seriously doubt the POTUS signs relatively minor construction contracts. (He might of course do so to show off progress on Great Wall of Trump, but since there was no big PR production associated with this supposed signing, I don't believe it.) At least it's good to know that God won't strike you dead if you repeatedly lie on Jesus's birthday. ...

     ... Full video of the press availability here. ...

... Eliza Collins, et al., of USA Today: "... Nancy Pelosi accused ... Donald Trump of using 'scare tactics' to build support for his proposed U.S.-Mexican border wall, which she joked had been reduced from a giant, cement structure 'to, I think, a beaded curtain.'" ...

     ... BTW, in the likely event you missed it, near the bottom of yesterday's page, there is evidence that Trump does sometimes tell the truth -- at least in regard to Santa Claus. To a seven-year-old. ...

     ... Update: Okay, so Trump was worse than we knew. Hannah Alani of the Charleston, S.C. Post & Courier reports that when Trump asked seven-year-old Collman Lloyd if she believed in Santa, she said, "Yes, sir." It was then -- after her affirmative answer -- that Trump said, 'Because at 7, that's marginal, right?' Perhaps it's fortunate that Collman had no idea what "marginal" meant. And likely neither did her five-year-old brother, who was listening in on the speaker phone. Mrs. McC: I just hope the Christmas Dickhead tradition is short-lived. ...

... Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner of NBC News: "By staying home on Tuesday, Trump became the first president since 2002 who didn't visit military personnel around Christmastime." Mrs. McC: As we know, Trump has "an unbelievably busy schedule" kvetch-tweeting, making up stuff & denigrating everyone who fails to show him sufficient deference. ...

... Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: "President Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended Christmas Eve services at one of the city's most prominent -- and liberal -- houses of worship, Washington National Cathedral, and heard a sermon about the Christmas narrative -- in particular, the use of power, human cruelty and the struggle of refugees who are turned away in 'their greatest hour of need.' Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, Washington's Episcopal leader, said she learned of the decision by the Trumps and Vice President Pence and his wife to attend services shortly before they began and had written her sermon long before. She gave the same sermon to the 6 p.m. Service of Christmas Lessons and Carols, which the Pences attended, and the 10 p.m. Holy Eucharist, which the Trumps attended.'" ...

... Niraj Chokshi & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "An 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died in United States custody early Christmas Day, according to the United States Customs and Border Protection. The boy died just after midnight on Tuesday at a hospital in Alamogordo, N.M., where he and his father had been taken after a Border Patrol agent saw what appeared to be signs of sickness, according to a news release from the agency. The boy's death comes just weeks after a 7-year-old girl from the same country died in Border Patrol custody.... In a Christmas morning question-and-answer session with reporters, President Trump touted his administration's immigration policies and demanded further funding for a border wall. While he castigated migrants, the president did not bring up the boy's death hours earlier." ...

... Feliz Navidad. Julian Aguilar of the Texas Tribune: "Hundreds of asylum-seekers spent part of Christmas Eve in a downtown parking lot [in El Paso, Texas,] without knowing where they'll end up next. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents began dropping off the migrants late Sunday at a local bus station without warning local shelters that usually take in large groups after they seek asylum and are released by federal agents. About 200 arrived Sunday, about 200 more arrived Monday and the total number could exceed 800 by Wednesday, according to U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso. Normally, ICE would alert the Annunciation House, a local shelter that has taken in tens of thousands of migrants and has several locations across this border city. But that didn't happen Sunday night, O'Rourke said.... O'Rourke said when the shelters are full, there is a coordinated effort with the city's office of emergency management to set up temporary shelters and that ICE usually gives local responders 24 hours' notice. The shelters are at capacity but volunteers and workers are usually able to find temporary housing elsewhere if they are given enough notice.... O'Rourke said he and his staff have been in touch with ICE and Customs and Border Protection offices and are doing what they can to ensure the migrants are placed at shelters or hotels -- at least temporarily -- until they make their way toward their final destinations." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Beto is already a better president than Donald. ...

... Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "The Christmas Eve grievances billowing from the White House on Monday formed a heavy cloud of Yuletide gloom. In his third straight day holed up inside the White House during the partial federal government shutdown that he initiated over his demand to construct a border wall, President Trump barked out his frustrations on Twitter: Democrats are hypocrites! The media makes up stories! Senators are wrong on foreign policy -- and so is Defense Secretary Jim Mattis! Trump said war-ravaged Syria would be rebuilt not by the United States but by Saudi Arabia. 'Thanks to Saudi A!' he tweeted, two weeks after the Senate unanimously rebuked the kingdom's crown prince for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. As the stock market closed out its worst December since 1931, the president placed sole blame for the staggering sell-off on the Federal Reserve, likening the central bank to a golfer who 'can't putt.' That was all before noon. And then, at 12:32 p.m., came Trump's 10th tweet of the day, a plaintive complaint from a president who craves constant interaction and praise: 'I am all alone (poor me) in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come back and make a deal on desperately needed Border Security,' he wrote. Even for a president accustomed to firing at foes on social media, Monday's cascade of angry tweets on a day when many Americans were celebrating the season with their families was extraordinary." ...

"Birthmark on Both Heels." Steven Eder of the New York Times: "In the fall of 1968, Donald J. Trump received a timely diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels that led to his medical exemption from the military during Vietnam. For 50 years, the details of how the exemption came about, and who made the diagnosis, have remained a mystery, with Mr. Trump himself saying during the presidential campaign that he could not recall who had signed off on the medical documentation. Now a possible explanation has emerged about the documentation. It involves a foot doctor in Queens who rented his office from Mr. Trump's father, Fred C. Trump, and a suggestion that the diagnosis was granted as a courtesy to the elder Mr. Trump.... Elysa Braunstein said the implication from her father [-- podiatrist Dr. Larry Braunstein, who died in 2007 --] was that Mr. Trump did not have a disqualifying foot ailment." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The Times has published a facsimile of Trump's Selective Service registration card, which is dated June 1964. Under "Other Obvious Physical Characteristics," the typed entry is "birthmark on both heels." You might be surprised to learn that birthmarks, which I think we can all agree are skin pigmentations, can attach themselves to bones & grow into "spurs." I'd guess the notation on the registration card was what gave Donnie the idea of claiming he had a disqualifying foot condition.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.... -- William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming" ...

... Gene Robinson: "The chaos all around us is what happens when the nation elects an incompetent, narcissistic, impulsive and amoral man as president. This Christmas, heaven help us all. Much of the government is shut down over symbolic funding for an insignificant portion of a useless border wall that President Trump said Mexico would pay for. The financial markets are having a nervous breakdown that Trump and his aides are making worse. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, widely seen as having kept Trump from plunging national security off some vertiginous cliff, resigned in protest over the president's latest whim and is being shoved out the door two months early. The world's leading military and economic power is being yanked to and fro as if by a bratty adolescent with anger management issues."

Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "Nowhere in an 1,800-word executive order to address forest management and wildfires -- quietly issued on Friday -- does President Donald Trump draw a connection between climate change and increased wildfire risk. Instead, critics say it looks like a potential handout to the logging industry.... As part of his wildfire fuel reduction plan, the president ordered the easing of regulations in order to allow for the harvest of least 3.8 billion board feet of timber -- a measure of volume of lumber -- from lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and another 600 million board feet of timber on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property.... In 2017 the Forest Service harvested more than 2.9 billion board feet of timber. And in 2016, the BLM harvested more than 233.2 million board feet of timber for sale.... But experts contend boosting the level of logging on federal lands will not help the growing wildfire threat. In fact, commercial logging and road building have been found to increase wildfire risk." --safari: No word on how many acres will be raked.

To those in the field or at sea, 'keeping watch by night' this holiday season, you should recognize that you carry on the proud legacy of those who stood the watch in decades past. In this world awash in change, you hold the line. Storm clouds loom, yet because of you, your fellow citizens live safe at home.... Merry Christmas and may God hold you safe. -- Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, in a Christmas message to U.S. troops

Declan Walsh & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "American fingerprints are all over the air war in Yemen, where errant strikes by the Saudi-led coalition have killed more than 4,600 civilians, according to a monitoring group. In Washington, that toll has stoked impassioned debate about the pitfalls of America's alliance with Saudi Arabia under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who relies on American support to keep his warplanes in the air. Saudi Arabia entered the war in 2015, allying with the United Arab Emirates and a smattering of Yemeni factions with the goal of ousting the Iran-allied Houthi rebels from northern Yemen. Three years on, they have made little progress. At least 60,000 Yemenis have died in the war, and the country stands on the brink of a calamitous famine.... At the same time, American efforts to advise the Saudis on how to protect civilians often came to naught.... While American officials often protested civilian deaths in public, two presidents [-- Trump & Obama --] ultimately stood by the Saudis." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Read on for the implications of Trump's naming Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, as acting Secretary of Defense. Trump & Shanahan are two guys who like wars that pay, the human consequences be damned.

** Jay Michaelson of The Daily Beast: "Most liberals would like to forget the nightmare of the 115th Congress. But its most lasting legacy will be with us until the 2050s: the 83 conservatives now serving lifetime positions as federal judges. In the aggregate, this cohort ... is the least qualified and least diverse in recent memory. According to an analysis by NPR, President Trump's nominees were 77 percent male and 82 percent white (compared to Obama's 57 percent male and 63 percent white nominees). An unprecedented six nominees, including one just confirmed by the lame-duck congress, were deemed 'not qualified' by the non-partisan American Bar Association.... Trump's nomination rate is more than twice that of his predecessor.... And while the Federalist Society claims 4 percent of America's lawyers as members, those members make up over 80 percent of Trump's appellate court nominees.... Here are ten of the worst[.]" --s

Simon Tisdall of the Guardian reviews 2018, highlighting the year of the autocrats & the year global order frayed. --s

Way Beyond the Beltway

... Watch it, if only for the boys' choir of King's College, Cambridge, before & after Elizabeth's remarks. It's a good speech. And a stunning contrast to the crude bleats & barks from the White House. ...

Merry Christmas from the guy with no off switch pic.twitter.com/Zm1LUX7A0u

— Arlen Parsa (@arlenparsa) December 25, 2018

Justin McCurry of the Guardian: "Japan is facing international condemnation after confirming it will resuming commercial whaling for the first time in more than 30 years. The country's fleet will resume commercial operations in July next 2019, the government's chief spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said of the decision to defy the 1986 global ban on commercial whaling. Suga told reporters the country's fleet would confine its hunts to Japanese territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.... Japan will join Iceland and Norway in openly defying the ban on commercial whale hunting." --s

** Juan Cole: "2018 was in many ways a turning point for the position of Israel in the system of Western, liberal, capitalist democracies.... Israel at the end of 2018 is now unambiguously an Apartheid state, admired only in the US Deep South among those who are nostalgic for their own Jim Crow Apartheid. Its leaders deprived nearly a quarter of Israeli citizens of any share in national sovereignty. They sped up the colonization program in the Palestinian West Bank and coddled armed, violent squatters (who are often secretly subsidized by the Israeli state). But worse of all, the Israeli elite decided just to shoot down unarmed protesters in the thousands, a clear war crime.... 2018 was the year Israel finally went completely rogue and ensured that it can no longer be considered to be in the club of liberal capitalist democracies." --s

Chico Harlan of the Washington Post: "Inside the stone walls of the Trisulti monastery [in Collepardo, Italy, in the Appenines], for more than eight centuries, monks have lived in quiet seclusion.... But now, only one 83-year-old monk remains. A longtime chef-gardener still lives there, as well.... The other resident at Trisulti is the newcomer: a 43-year-old Briton who is one of Stephen K. Bannon's closest associates in Europe and who hopes to transform the monastery into a 'gladiator school for culture warriors.' One recent morning, Benjamin Harnwell, the Bannon acolyte..., said the monastery would be filled with students who wanted to master the tools of populist politics. The halls with centuries-old oil paintings would serve as classrooms where students could learn 'the facts' -- the worldview espoused by Bannon, who, since being booted from the White House and Breitbart News, has turned to fomenting right-wing populism in Europe and beyond." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: There are ironies within ironies here. But in the end, I suppose there is a certain gruesome symmetry in using a complex built for peaceful contemplation in medieval times to allow men will be used to house men bent on forcefully returning society to a medieval model.

The Best Christmas Ever

Worst Christmas Ever:

Original:

Politically-Correct Update:

The Worst Rendition of the Worst Christmas Song Ever:

A Reprieve:

A Lump for Coleman. Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I had every intention to make this a Trumpless Christmas, but that turns out to be impossible. He probably ruined little Coleman's Christmas, so he might as well ruin ours, too:

... It's Worse Than You Think. Daniel Victor of the New York Times: "The president made the comments from the White House while he and the first lady, Melania Trump, fielded calls from a hotline for children wondering where Santa was.... [The occasion] is part of the annual Santa-tracking program run by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, known as Norad." Mrs. McC: What makes this even richer: it comes from a guy who himself has little touch with reality. ...

Earlier tonight walking next to some tourists on M Street, I heard the kid ask his parents if Santa was shut down too. The mom replied, 'No, even Trump can't screw that up.' He screwed it up! -- Jonathan Chait, in a tweet ...

... Luckily, Ken W. reminds us that there are fathers whose holiday manners top those of He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Mentioned:

The Commentariat -- Dec. 24, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "With stocks extending their slide Monday, President Trump took another swipe at the Federal Reserve, writing on Twitter that the 'only problem our economy has is the Fed' as he continued to blame the central bank for recent volatility in the financial markets. But Mr. Trump's comments only exacerbated the sell-off on Wall Street, and stocks were on track for their worst year since 2008 and the largest December decline since the 1930s. The S&P 500 closed down 2.7 percent after a shortened trading session because of the Christmas holiday. The president's latest shot at the Fed undercut efforts over the weekend by Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, and Mick Mulvaney, the incoming chief of staff, to calm jittery investors and ease concerns that Mr. Trump might move to fire Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chairman." ...

... Michael Sheetz & John Melloy of CNBC: "U.S. stocks plunged on Monday in their worst day of Christmas Eve trading ever, as the S&P 500 entered a bear market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 653 points Monday in volatile trading, falling below 22,000. The Dow sank more than 2 percent, then recovered nearly all of the day's losses, before again falling more than 2 percent. The S&P 500 fell 2.7 percent, slipping into a bear market as it fell 20.06 percent from recent highs. Wall Street traditionally considers a drop of 20 percent or more from recent highs to be a bear market. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 2.2 percent."

... Jonathan Chait: "The long list of Deep State operatives working covertly to undermine Donald Trump now includes numerous officials appointed by Trump himself. (This a testament to their deviousness.) The most recent is Jerome Powell.... The argument about Powell and the Fed is in large part an argument about how strong the economy is. As the New York Times reports, 'the Fed's rate increases have upset investors -- who seem to have a darker view of economic growth than the central bank does.' But you know who doesn't have a dark view of the economy? Trump. The president has relentlessly touted the recovery as the greatest ever. If Trump is right, of course, then this soaring rocket ship of a recovery which..., according to Trump, single-handedly engineered ... could easily withstand some small interest rate hikes. Indeed, it would be prudent to raise rates now, while the economy is in the midst of the greatest recovery ever.... Oddly, that is not Trump's position.... When Barack Obama was presiding over essentially the same economic conditions, Trump derided it as 'the weakest so-called recovery since the Great Depression.'... This dismal analysis would imply that the Federal Reserve needed the lowest possible rates.... But no -- Trump lambasted the Fed for leaving rates too low."

In the Spirit of the Season. Trump on Christmas Eve -- Railing against Democrats on the wall -- Criticizing U.S. allies for taking 'total advantage' of friendship with US -- Rebuking Mattis' worldview -- slams top U.S. envoy on ISIS fight (whom he said earlier he didn't know) -- Calls Bob Corker 'little' -- Manu Raju of CNN, in a tweet

The Shutdown Trumpertantrum Will Come out of Your Paycheck. Ari Natter of Bloomberg: "Even though paychecks stop going out to hundreds of thousands of workers, shutting down the federal government actually costs money -- and the longer it goes on, the more it will cost. Museums and parks can’t collect entry fees or sell souvenirs, the Internal Revenue Service collects less taxes, and it costs money for federal workers to mothball and restart operations. Plus hundreds of thousands of thousands of furloughed workers are likely, ultimately, to get back pay -- for not working."

Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "The United Nations monitor who acts as global watchdog on the treatment of migrants is calling for an in-depth independent investigation into what happened to Jakelin Caal Maquin, a seven-year-old Guatemalan girl who died in the custody of the US government. Felipe González Morales, the UN's special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, has sent a formal complaint to US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, via officials in Geneva, in which he sounds the international alarm about the death. Jakelin died on 8 December, less than 48 hours after she was detained by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) at a remote border crossing in New Mexico."

Ruth Eglash of the Washington Post: Israel's "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition announced Monday plans to dissolve the country's parliament and hold a snap general election in April, after his government was significantly weakened more than a month ago when a key coalition partner resigned. The departure of Avigdor Liberman as defense minister on Nov. 14 left Netanyahu's government teetering on the edge with a single-seat majority in Israel's 120-seat parliament, the Knesset. As the government struggled to pass legislation important to each of Netanyahu's five coalition partners, questions were also raised over the chances of a formal indictment against the longtime Israeli leader in at least three criminal bribery cases against him. On Monday, it was an attempt to pass controversial legislation aimed at drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military that ultimately prompted the 61-member coalition to agree unanimously that this government could no longer survive under the current circumstances."

Ryan Parker of the Hollywood Reporter: "The Cape and Islands, Massachusetts, district attorney announced Monday that Kevin Spacey will face a charge of felony sexual assault, the Boston Globe reports.... The actor will be arraigned on a charge of indecent assault and battery at Nantucket District Court on Jan. 7, 2019, according to The Globe. The alleged assault on a male victim took place at a Nantucket bar in July 2016."

*****

... at times it is a very wise thing to simulate madness. -- Niccolo Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, Book 3, 2

I call it the Madman Theory, Bob. I want the North Vietnamese to believe I've reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war. We'll just slip the word to them that, 'for God's sake, you know Nixon is obsessed about communism. We can't restrain him when he's angry -- and he has his hand on the nuclear button' and Ho Chi Minh himself will be in Paris in two days begging for peace. -- Richard Nixon, to H.R. Haldeman, The Ends of Power

Trump is not simulating, nor is he testing a "theory." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Sunday that he would remove Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who issued a stinging rebuke of the president when he announced his resignation last week, from his post by Jan. 1, two months before he had planned to depart. Mr. Trump, in a Twitter post, said that Patrick M. Shanahan, Mr. Mattis's deputy, would serve as the acting defense secretary. Aides said that the president was furious that Mr. Mattis's resignation letter -- in which he rebuked the president's rejection of international allies and his failure to check authoritarian governments -- had led to days of negative news coverage. Mr. Mattis resigned in large part over Mr. Trump's hasty decision to withdraw American forces from Syria. When Mr. Trump first announced that Mr. Mattis was leaving, effective Feb. 28, he praised the defense secretary on Twitter, saying he was retiring 'with distinction.' One aide said that although Mr. Trump had already seen the resignation letter when he praised Mr. Mattis, the president did not understand just how forceful a rejection of his strategy Mr. Mattis had issued." Mrs. McC: Because Trump is really, really stupid and/or he can't read. Also too, Mattis thought he had resigned, but Trump has now managed to fire him by tweet. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

Reports of the president’s aversion to reading are not as damning as reports of his poor reading comprehension IMO. -- Olivia Nuzzi of New York, in a tweet

David Cohen of Politico: 'I was one of many senators who privately sat down with General Mattis and said, "Please stay, stay as long as you possibly can,"' [Sen. Dick] Durbin (D-Ill.) said on NBC's Meet the Press. '"We desperately need your mature voice, your patriotism in the room when this president's making life or death decisions about national security...."' Added the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate: 'It breaks my heart that he's going to step aside. We counted on him to be there and to stop this president from his worst impulse.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Connor O'Brien & David Brown of Politico profile Patrick Shanahan., Trump's new acting Defense Secretary. ...

... Another Win for the Kleptocracy. David Axe of the Daily Beast: "By tapping former Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan to temporarily replace famed former Marine Gen. James Mattis as secretary of defense, President Trump may have found a like-minded advocate for the U.S. weapons industry. Shanahan is a controversial choice. During Shanahan's two-year stint as Mattis's deputy defense secretary, Boeing has landed a series of lucrative military contracts worth $20 billion, on top of the Chicago company's previous deal to build aerial-refueling tankers and naval fighters for the Pentagon.... On Dec. 21, Bloomberg reported that the Pentagon would request funding in the 2020 defense budget for a dozen upgraded F-15X fighters worth $1.2 billion. Boeing builds the 1970s-vintage, non-stealthy F-15 at its plant in St. Louis. The Air Force for years has said it does not want more F-15s, instead preferring to order F-35 stealth fighters from Lockheed for around the same price as the F-15X, per plane. But the Pentagon reportedly overruled the Air Force and added the new Boeing fighters to the budget. Shanahan 'prodded' planners to include the planes, according to Bloomberg -- this despite the requirement that Shanahan recuse himself from decisions involving Boeing." ...

... Alex Horton of the Washington Post: Brett "McGurk was tasked with coordinating international efforts, from NATO allies to militia groups, in the effort against Islamic State militants in the region.... 'Brett McGurk, who I do not know, was appointed by President Obama in 2015, Trump said Saturday on Twitter. 'Was supposed to leave in February but he just resigned prior to leaving. Grandstander? The Fake News is making such a big deal about this nothing event!' It is not clear whether Trump meant he never met McGurk or was otherwise unfamiliar with him. McGurk was scheduled to leave in February, making his instant resignation symbolic.... Trump's assertion raised questions about his awareness of or interest in the intricate policies surrounding one of his cornerstone campaign promises -- the defeat of the Islamic State, in which McGurk played a central role in Washington, Baghdad and elsewhere.... The fallout over McGurk's departure and the Syria withdrawal brought sharp rebukes from former officials and some conservatives. 'Why don't you know the man who has done more than any civilian to degrade ISIS?' Susan E. Rice, Obama's national security adviser and U.N. ambassador, wrote on Twitter. McGurk has been described by current and former officials as tirelessly dedicated and respected by militia commanders and ambassadors alike, and his commanding expertise was sought and deferred to within the U.S. government." ...

... David Boddiger of Splinter points to a number of other observers who marvel at Trump's claim/admission that he does not know his own coordinator of anti-ISIS efforts, an admission made even more startling by the fact that Trump last week falsely claimed that he (and here he could be either McGurk or Trump) defeated ISIS in Syria. ...

... The Greatest Threat to U.S. National Security: Donald Trump. Susan Rice, in a New York Times op-ed: "This country's national security decision-making process is more broken than at any time since the National Security Act became law in 1947. Nothing illustrates this dangerous dysfunction more starkly than President Trump's reckless, unilateral decisions to announce the sudden withdrawal of all 2,000 United States troops from Syria and to remove 7,000 from Afghanistan. These decisions went against the advice of the president's top advisers, blindsided our allies and Congress, and delivered early Christmas presents to our adversaries from Russia and Iran to Hezbollah and the Taliban. The costs of this chaos are enormous, starting with the blunt, unnerving resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, one of the last senior administration officials committed to preserving American global leadership and alliances.... In abandoning the role of a responsible commander in chief, Mr. Trump today does more to undermine American national security than any foreign adversary." ...

... David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "Trump is proving himself an insecure weakling and coward: lashing out at his subordinates, bullying Senators, refusing to explain his decision process, refusing to address the serious concerns raised, and appearing mercurial at best in his decisions. The White House appears to be unraveling from all sides. That's one thing for the country to deal with as a matter of domestic political turmoil. But it's quite another when an intemperate and insecure commander-in-chief is making dramatic and enormously consequential decisions for what can only be assumed to be the worst of reasons." ...

... Bruce Blair & Jon Wolfsthal of the Washington Post: "For over a year, Mattis has been trying to reassure congressional leaders that he could help check some of Trump's impulses, in part by intervening in the nuclear chain of command. In a break with normal procedures, Mattis reportedly told the commander of the Strategic Command to keep him directly informed of any event that might lead to a nuclear alert being sent to the president. He even told the Strategic Command 'not to put on a pot of coffee without letting him know.' Congressional leaders interpreted this to mean that Mattis would either deal with a possible threat before it reached Trump or ensure he was present to advise Trump when such an alert arrived. This assurance may have helped ease concerns about our nuclear weapons for some members of Congress, but only if they were unfamiliar with how the command and control structure truly works. Personal relationships and back channels are no way to manage a nuclear arsenal.... [BUT] The secretary of defense has no legal position in the nuclear chain of command, and any attempts by a secretary of defense to prevent the president from exercising the authority to use nuclear weapons would be undemocratic and illegal. With or without Mattis, the president has unchecked and complete authority to launch nuclear weapons based on his sole discretion.... [AND] Trump, as he is proving in stark terms, listens only to himself." ...

... David Cohen: "Lamenting that ... Donald Trump doesn't share the foreign policy views of many Republicans, Sen. Pat Toomey [R-Pa.] said Sunday on NBC that James Mattis' resignation letter 'put his finger on' those differences. 'I strongly disagree with this decision to withdraw, prematurely in my view, from Syria.'... 'I think senators need to step up and reassert a bigger role for the Senate' in foreign policy, Toomey said, adding that he would be looking for Trump to nominate a new Defense secretary who has 'a more traditional view' of U.S. foreign policy. Toomey said he customarily gives the president wide latitude in picking his Cabinet but would be more cautious in this case. 'The president's views are so divergent, certainly, from mine that I think I'll be much -- this one's going to be tough,' he said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Michael Burke of the Hill: "French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday criticized President Trump over his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, saying that ]an ally should be dependable.' Macron added that fighting 'shoulder to shoulder' is the 'most important thing for a head of state.' 'I very deeply regret the decision made on Syria,' Macron said during a news conference, according to Reuters.... Macron also emphasized that Kurdish forces in Syria, whom the U.S. forces have supported, have done important work, Reuters reported. 'I call on everyone ... not to forget what we owe them,' he said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Cohen of Politico: "In explaining Democratic opposition to border wall funding, Sen. Jeff Merkley on Sunday dubbed the wall 'a fourth-century strategy' that his party would not support." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... David Jackson, et al., of USA Today: "The partial government shutdown could go on for potentially many more days -- and perhaps weeks -- but the White House indicated Sunday that it was backing down on its main sticking point: It was requesting less than $5 billion for border wall funding. Still, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney didn't indicate what that number was.... Donald Trump is not backing down from his "fight over border security," Mulvaney told Fox News Sunday. 'I don't think things are going to move very quickly,' Mulvaney said. He also said 'there's a chance this could go into the next Congress,' which begins Jan. 3. Mulvaney said the White House provided "a counteroffer" Saturday to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and is awaiting a response. While not providing many details, Mulvaney said the White House has reduced its demand for $5 billion in wall funding but is also demanding more than the $1.3 billion Democrats are talking about. He did not provide the new number." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Why provide a number? The "number" is whatever number comes into Trump's head at any given moment. It could change dozens of times between the moment Mulvaney & Schumer agree on a number & the Congress puts a bill in front of Trump. AND it could change AFTER Trump signs a bill. One reason Trump stiffed so many contractors is that after he'd signed a contract, he decided the terms & costs were unfaaair to him.

... Quinn Scanlan & Kris Schneider of ABC News: "The president's incoming chief of staff [Mick Mulvaney] said Sunday that any money for the border wall would have to come from the Treasury Department, saying 'the Department of Homeland Security can't actually spend money from Mexico,'.... when pressed about President Trump's campaign promise that Mexico would pay for the wall.... Mulvaney also echoed a claim from President Trump and the White House that Mexico will 'pay' for the wall through cost savings to the U.S. from the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, or the USMCA." Mrs. McC: Actually, Mulvaney did not "echo" the cost-savings claim; he more-or-less agreed it was a silly assertion. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Shocking Scandal! It's Not Just the Government Shutdown. ...

... The "Real" Trump War on Christmas. Adam Gabbatt of the Guardian: "During Donald Trump's presidential campaign he talked often about his determination to win ... the war on Christmas. But despite Trump's repeated claims that 'people are saying Merry Christmas again' instead of the more inclusive 'happy holidays', there are several places where the Christmas greeting is absent: Trump's own businesses.... Instead of a Christmas gift guide ...[the Trump S]tore offers a holiday gift guide. 'Shop our Holiday Gift Guide and find the perfect present for the enthusiast on your list,' the online store urges. 'Carefully curated to celebrate the most wonderful time of year with truly unique gifts found only at Trump Store. Add a bow on top with our custom gift wrapping. Happy Holiday's! The use of the phrase 'Happy Holiday's' [sic] in Trump marketing would seem particularly egregious. The long-standing 'War-on-Christmas' complaint from the political right is that stores use the phrase 'Happy Holidays', rather than specifically mentioning the Christian celebration.'... But it's not just the online Trump store, that is failing to keep the president's Christmas promise." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the likely incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, says Democrats will subpoena special counsel Robert Mueller's report if President Trump tries to invoke executive privilege to keep it secret. 'I'm prepared to make sure we do everything possible so that the public has the advantage of as much of the information as it can,' Schiff said on CNN's 'State of the Union.'... Schiff argued that the Justice Department has set an important precedent by making public findings from its investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her time as secretary of State."

Kevin Bohn & Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Chief Justice John Roberts on Sunday issued a temporary pause on an order holding an unnamed, foreign government-owned company in contempt over a mystery court case related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.The order puts on hold the contempt citation issued by a DC federal judge against the company related to a grand jury subpoena it received, but only long enough for the justices to decide whether they want to intervene in the case.... This is the first known legal challenge apparently related to Mueller's investigation to make its way to the Supreme Court."

Damian Paletta & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin startled financial analysts, bankers and economists on Sunday by issuing an unusual statement declaring that the nation's six largest banks had ample credit to extend to American businesses and households. Mnuchin made the statement on Twitter after calling the leaders of the six banks, seeking to address an issue that had attracted little concern ahead of the treasury secretary's tweet. The statement came hours before Asian markets were set to open and following a sharp sell-off that made last week the worst for U.S. markets in a decade. President Trump has been furious at the sell-off, and efforts by Mnuchin to inspire confidence in the market have so far failed. Several analysts said Sunday night that his outreach to the banks and subsequent statement were likely to backfire and drive even more concern. 'Panic feeds panic and this looks like panic in the administration,' said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton. 'Suggesting you might know something that no one else is worried about creates more unease.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It seems kinda perfect that the Munchkin wrote this tweet while vacationing in Cabo San Lucas.

"Trump's School Safety Commission Goes after Black Children Instead of the NRA." Washington Post Editors: "We didn't have high expectations for the school safety commission established by President Trump following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. When asked if guns would be a subject, the study leader, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, replied, 'That is not part of the commission's charge, per se.' But even low expectations proved optimistic when the commission revealed its brightest idea: scrapping a federal policy that protects minority students from unfair discipline.... The guidance was non-binding and, as Rep. Robert C. 'Bobby' Scott (Va.), ranking Democrat on the House Education Committee who will become committee chair next year, rightly pointed out, had absolutely no connection to school shootings. 'Rather than confronting the role of guns in gun violence, the Trump administration blames school shootings on civil rights enforcement,' he said in a statement.'" Mrs. McC: Because disproportionately punishing black kids is really going to cut down on mass murders perpetrated mostly by white males.

Kelly Weill of the Daily Beast: It's hard to be a crazy conspiracy theorist during the holidays. At traditional get-togethers, all your friends & family think you're, um, crazy.