Friday evening, President Trump tweeted, "Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named "Man (Person) of the Year," like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!"
Why it matters: Trump has been tweeting about Time Magazine since 2012, when he said, "I knew last year that @TIME Magazine lost all credibility when they didn't include me in their Top 100." He complained in 2015 that they didn't choose him as person of the year, and earlier this year the Washington Post discovered that there were fake Time Magazine covers featuring Trump in several of his golf clubs.
One of Sen. Jeff Flake's sons has filed a malicious prosecution lawsuit against Sherriff Joe Arpaio, claiming the sheriff pursued charges of animal cruelty against him and his wife for publicity's sake and to hurt his father's political reputation, AP reports. The case will go to trial on December 5.
Why it matters: This is just the latest in a list of serious accusations of misconduct against Arpaio. President Trump pardoned Arpaio over criminal contempt charges earlier this year.
The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu claims President Trump promised to stop arming the Syrian Kurds during a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, AP reports.
Why it matters: The White House has yet to comment on the claim, but some U.S. officials told the AP they were caught off guard by the announcement. Turkey views Kurdish fighters in Syria as terrorists because of the affiliation with the Kurdish fighters in their own country, but the Kurds have been effective in the anti-ISIS fight.
Former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara tweeted on Friday that the only "rational move" for former national security adviser Mike Flynn is to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller. The tweet follows a NY Times report that Flynn's lawyers have cut ties with Trump's, possibly in order to cut a deal with Mueller.
"If you're dead to rights, flipping on others and cooperating with the prosecution is the only sane and rational move. Also, prosecutors accept cooperation only if you can provide 'substantial assistance.' Higher up in the food chain."
President Trump took to Twitter early on the Friday after Thanksgiving:
Worth noting: This White House treats golf as a clandestine operation, never saying whether or not Trump is actually playing, so this is a rare bit of candor.
This week, Donald Trump defended Alabama Senator candidate Roy Moore in the face of several sexual harassment and assault charges, drawing attention to the fact that Moore has denied the accusations (and contending that electing a Democrat would be much worse).
Why it matters: While the President has not commented on every high-profile allegation, there is a clear pattern in his comments — Democrats get his quick condemnation, while Republicans and allies get his support. And let's not forget, Trump has himself been accused by at least 11 women of sexual assault or harassment.
Trump addressed U.S. service members stationed abroad by video conference today, telling them they're "very, very special people to me, and to everyone in this country."
Trump's overall message: The military is succeeding because he's letting them "fight to win," and the economy back home is doing great too.
Over the next month, we're likely to see careers of multiple members of Congress thrown into peril over new sexual claims. Newsrooms are throwing serious resources into this story and victims feel liberated. This is the beginning, not the end, of a story that will upend the Capitol.
Below we take a look at the allegations of sexual misconduct plaguing both parties.
Donald Trump was a symptom, not the cause, of our cancerous politics — and the disease is metastasizing. Signs of it spreading are everywhere: in politics, in media and in business.
Without the calming influences in those spheres, there are no checks on the forces reshaping the national discourse. People talk about how they are worried that what's happening now will be normalized. They've got it backwards. This is now normal. And it will only get worse.
Donald Trump was a symptom, not the cause, of our cancerous politics — and the disease is metastasizing. Signs of it spreading are everywhere: in politics, in media and in business.
Without the calming influences in those spheres, there are no checks on the forces reshaping the national discourse. People talk about how they are worried that what's happening now will be normalized. They've got it backwards. This is now normal. And it will only get worse.
The cable news channel you watch is now a statement of your politics. Once a bipartisan issue, feelings about Russia are now a marker of right vs. left. Thirty million people even believe it's acceptable to hold neo-Nazi views.
The partisan gap in the concerns of Americans about U.S.-Russian relations has widened — and flipped — since Trump was elected last year, per a Pew Research report.
Democrats and Republicans generally agreed on whether Russia posed a threat to the U.S. until the Trump era. Now 63% of Democrats see Russia as a threat, compared to 38% of Republicans.
A September poll found that Trump has 98% approval with Republicans who voted for him in both the primary and the general. Trump has an almost magical hold on his voters. He makes regular deposits in the Bank of Base, and has a nice balance.
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