2016 Election

Via Politico: Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, the only statewide elected Republican who endorsed Donald Trump before the state’s GOP primary, secured a spot Friday on the executive committee of the president-elect’s transition team. “I’m honored to serve President-elect Donald J. Trump in making this historic transition and assisting in finding the best individuals to bring change to Washington on …

From Evan Wolfson, founder of Freedom To Marry: The election was a catastrophe and much of what we all care about and have worked for, our country, and even the world are in real danger. Like pretty much everyone I heard or know, I was wrong about how it would go, so it’s okay to take a moment for some …

USA Today reports: Jane Sanders, the wife of Hillary Clinton’s top rival for the Democratic nomination during the primary campaign, thinks the Democratic Party needs to move left to succeed. Her husband, Bernie Sanders, “absolutely” had a better chance to defeat Donald Trump than Clinton, she told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Friday, pointing to how well Sanders performed in the primaries, …

The New York Times reports: President-elect Donald J. Trump, who campaigned against the corrupt power of special interests, is filling his transition team with some of the very sort of people who he has complained have too much clout in Washington: corporate consultants and lobbyists. Jeffrey Eisenach, a consultant who has worked for years on behalf of Verizon and other …

Politico reports: President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi — all of them offered conciliatory statements about Donald Trump’s election victory. Then there was Harry Reid. In a blistering statement Friday, the retiring Senate minority leader attacked the president-elect as a “sexual predator who lost the popular vote and fueled his campaign with bigotry and hate” and …

Four years ago when he thought that Mitt Romney had won the popular vote, Donald Trump went on a Twitter tirade, calling for a “revolution” against the Electoral College. This week, millions of liberals have agreed with him. Via Mediaite: Over 2.2 million people have signed a petition urging the electoral college to ignore the actual result of the 2016 …

Don’t expect Donna Brazile-level outrage from the right. From the New York Times report about her new memoir: Ms. Kelly writes that her problems started in August, the Monday before the first Republican presidential primary debate. She had just done a segment on her show, “The Kelly File,” that infuriated Mr. Trump. He refused to make his own scheduled appearance …

Jonathan Chait writes for New York Magazine: “Your solution has always been to put things together, including entitlement reform,” says Baier, using Republican code for privatizing Medicare. Ryan replies, “If you’re going to repeal and replace Obamacare, you have to address those issues as well. … Medicare has got some serious issues because of Obamacare. So those things are part …

So much for Mexico paying for it. Politico reports: Congress should have no problem finding the money to pay for Donald Trump’s proposed border wall once the president-elect is sworn in, Rep. Louie Gohmert said Friday morning. The Texas Republican said Congress has already appropriated money for similar projects in the past, only to have them thwarted by uncooperative officials …

Via Politico: President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway suggested Thursday that she has been offered a job in her boss’ administration. “False. Could it be those “sources” want the WH job I’ve been offered?” she wrote on twitter responding to New York Magazine’s Gabriel Sherman tweeting that sources say she is reluctant to take a job in the upcoming …

The New York Times reports: President Obama and Donald J. Trump made a public show on Thursday of putting their bitter differences aside after a stunning election upset. The Oval Office meeting brought together a president who has darkly warned that Mr. Trump could not be trusted with the nuclear codes and a successor who rose to political prominence questioning …

The Hill reports: The day after Donald Trump’s presidential election victory marked the strongest day of ObamaCare signups in this year’s open enrollment period so far. More than 100,000 people selected plans through HealthCare.gov on Wednesday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced. “Best day yet this Open Enrollment,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell wrote in a tweet. …

CNN reports: Neither Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson nor the Green Party’s Jill Stein managed to make a dent in the Electoral College, but they did post a significant enough showing in several states arguably to help elect Donald Trump. Trump won 290 Electoral College votes to 232 for Hillary Clinton, as of Wednesday evening, with Clinton topping him in …

ABC News reports: President Obama has invited his successor, Donald Trump, to the White House Thursday in order to facilitate a “successful transition between our presidencies.” The two will meet in the Oval Office mid-morning Thursday, while first lady Michelle Obama and future first lady Melania Trump meet in the White House residence. During remarks in the Rose Garden Wednesday, …

The Washington Post reports: Russian government officials had contacts with members of Donald Trump’s campaign team, a senior Russian diplomat said Thursday, in a disclosure that could reopen scrutiny over the Kremlin’s role in the president-elect’s bitter race against Hillary Clinton. Facing questions about his ties to Moscow because of statements interpreted as lauding Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, Trump repeatedly …

The Telegraph reports: A statement calling for a ban on Muslims entering the United States has been removed from Donald Trump’s campaign website. The Trump team appears to have removed the statement, in which Mr Trump said on December 7, 2015: “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our …

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory is furious that Roy Cooper has claimed victory before elections officials have called the race. Via Raw Story: “Claiming an outcome before the process has concluded is irresponsible and disrespectful to the voters of North Carolina whose voices have yet to be heard,” McCrory campaign strategist Chris LaCivita said in a statement. The campaign and …

Buzzfeed reports: President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has put together a who’s who shortlist of Trump surrogates and advisers to take top positions in his administration next year, ranging from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for attorney general to 39-year-old Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr. to be the secretary of defense. The list of 41 names, obtained by BuzzFeed News, …

NBC News reports: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg appeared to be wearing her dissent “jabot” on Wednesday —one day after an incredibly divisive and contentious presidential campaign ended in the election of Donald Trump. Ginsburg wore the embellished collar ruffle meant to show disagreement and stray from the majority opinion on decisions before the high court. But there were …

USA Today reports: Protesters took to the streets Wednesday in at least 10 cities to march against president-elect Donald Trump – and numerous college students and faculty leaders took to social media to announce support groups and even postponed exams. Protests were underway in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Portland, Ore., St. Paul, Minn. and several …