It's like every morning now, I wake up and say to myself, "Well, let's see what horrible thing he's done today…"
- In his maniacal campaign to undo everything Obama did, Trump will be making Obamacare less affordable for everyone but mainly for those who voted for him in the last election. Kevin Drum explains this and notes that "Most of these folks don't seem to realize it, though. They'll either blame Democrats or else shrug and figure that at least Trump hates the same people they do."
- And as Hannah Levintova reports, he's set off a war at the Consumer Protection Agency. I don't think there's anything Trump dislikes more in this world than Consumer Protection. In fact, the whole goal of the Republican Party now seems to be to ensure that nothing ever stops a large company from maximizing its profits. Not health concerns, not environmental concerns, not truth in advertising…
- Ed Kilgore reports that as vital as Trump says it is to elect Judge Roy Moore and keep that Senate seat for the G.O.P., he won't go to Alabama to campaign for the man. He'll probably stay in Mar-a-Lago and compose tweets to use in case Moore loses…tweets explaining why that's not a loss for Donald Trump.
- Here's a Visual Guide to the Key Events in the Trump-Russia Scandal. For an administration where everyone said they had no contact with Russia, there sure are a lot of them.
- Ryan Lizza runs down some of the things Trump and the Republican Congress are going to try to enact next month so they don't end the year with no major legislative accomplishments. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
- And by God, it looks like Trump is really trying to sell the idea that that Access Hollywood tape of him — the one for which he apologized — wasn't really him after all. Maybe he's going to insist it was Alec Baldwin.
Are there still people left who think this guy is a straight-talker? I can understand those who think — and I have some friends who feel this way — that the guy's a supreme bullshitter but that he's going to accomplish things they want to see accomplished. I really don't get those who believe he stands for truth or integrity or anything resembling a Christian Value.