News Reporter: The Daily 202: Trump’s Midwest swing today is the unofficial kickoff of his 2020 reelection campaign

Trump's Midwest swing today is the unofficial kickoff of his 2020 reelection campaign

President-elect Donald Trump will hit the road today. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

BY JAMES HOHMANN

with Breanne Deppisch

THE BIG IDEA: Donald Trump is coming back to the Midwest today for the first time since the election to take a victory lap in the region that gave him the presidency. The billionaire businessman quipped throughout the campaign that America is going to win so much when he's president that people are going to get tired of winning. This morning he flies to Indiana to tout the first such win, a deal he cut with Carrier to keep 1,000 jobs in the U.S. that were otherwise going to Mexico. (He'll tour a plant that will no longer be closing.) From there, he flies to Cincinnati for a blowout rally at U.S. Bank Arena, the first stop of a "Thank You Tour" that will also take him to Iowa and Michigan in the coming days.

-- Like so many issues throughout 2016, from Trump's support for waterboarding to his proposed Muslim ban, there is a wide chasm between elite skepticism of the Carrier deal and the unadulterated excitement of Trump's base.

Intellectuals, conservative economists and good-government experts have many substantive concerns about the agreement and the secretive process in which it was negotiated. The real reason that the jobs are staying appears to be that United Technologies, which owns Carrier, is one of the largest defense contractors and worries about losing billions a year in high-margin business with the federal government if it doesn't placate the incoming president. While Carrier publicly attributes its reversal to an aid package offered by Indiana, a state economic development official said yesterday that the company rejected similar terms before the election.

You know who doesn't care that Trump might have shaken down a federal contractor to score an early political victory? People who live in the Rust Belt and want good-paying jobs. The non-college-educated, blue-collar workers who voted for Trump, who feel that free trade is bad for them and who believe government has been working for others – not them. More fundamentally, the vast majority of Americans will see nothing more than the headline that just says Trump saved 1,000 jobs. For the president-elect, that is mission accomplished.

Trump scores publicity win after Carrier keeps jobs in Indiana. Now will other companies take advantage?

-- We live in the age of the permanent campaign, and Trump is intent on continuing to play the outside game – even before his inauguration. One reason he spends so much time on Twitter is that he sees it as a direct line to the people, unfiltered by the mainstream media. Big rallies give him the same opportunity, and his advisers say to expect a lot of them, even during the first year – when presidents traditionally focus on winning the inside game. Aides say he is not going to let the bully pulpit of the presidency go to waste.

-- Moreover, his early focus on the Midwest demonstrates a clear recognition of how crucial the region will be to his reelection hopes in 2020. He recognizes that people in this region have high expectations that he can bring back their jobs and make their lives better, and he wants to create a sense of forward progress and momentum to keep them from growing disillusioned.

Trump carried Ohio by nine points and Iowa by 10 points, after Barack Obama carried both four years ago. After Obama picked off Indiana in 2008, Mitt Romney prevailed by 10 points in 2012. This year, Trump won the Hoosier State by 19. That's quite a swing and evidence of what might be a larger political realignment, as certain states in the Rust Belt move toward the Republican column while traditionally-Republican states in the Sunbelt (Arizona) and Intermountain West (Colorado, Nevada) drift toward the Democrats.

-- But Wisconsin and Michigan – Trump's two biggest upset victories – were so close that Jill Stein is legally entitled to request recounts. (Wisconsin's begins today. Michigan's starts tomorrow.)

Hillary Clinton probably could have kept both states in the Democratic column had her campaign deployed its resources more wisely. The fact that the floor was falling out underneath her in Ohio, which has key demographic similarities to Michigan and Wisconsin, should have set off alarm bells in Brooklyn before the final week about the rest of the Midwest. But, just days before the election, Clinton officials were pooh-poohing complaints from people in Wisconsin that the candidate had not stumped in the Badger State, insisting that she didn't need to. Instead they were holding conference calls to boast about investing (i.e. wasting) money in states like Missouri, Arizona and even Texas. In retrospect, the hubris is even more breathtaking than it felt in the moment.

I point this out not to kick the Clinton people while they're down but to convey the important point that Trump still has his work cut out for him in this region, especially when it comes to reassuring some of the suburban moderates who broke for him only after FBI director James Comey's announcement.

Dan Quayle speaks with the media on his way out of Trump Tower. (Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images)

-- New Yorkers are poised to hold the most sway in Trump's administration (think Jared Kushner and the Goldman guys), but Midwesterners will be very well represented in the upper echelons of government.

Since Mike Pence, the outgoing Indiana governor, replaced Chris Christie as head of the transition team, he's invited several Hoosiers who are loyal to him to Trump Tower for meetings with the president-elect. The day before yesterday, Dan Quayle came. Then yesterday, retiring Sen. Dan Coats (who succeeded Quayle in the Senate when he became vice president) visited. Coats is now reportedly under consideration for the Director of National Intelligence job. An Indianapolis consultant who has done work for Pence is going to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which will be a very important job with the repeal of Obamacare near the top of the new president's agenda. This, and other pending picks, will increase the new vice president's influence.

Pence yesterday also huddled with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, whose son ran Trump's campaign in the state:

Incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, who may try to run for governor in Wisconsin down the road, is expected to bring some fellow Badgers with him to the West Wing.

Trump's pick for Education Secretary is Michigan billionaire Betsy DeVos, who married into the Amway fortune. Her husband ran unsuccessfully for governor against Jennifer Granholm in 2006.

Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) listens at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. (Lauren Victoria Burke/AP)

-- There are 2018 implications, as well. Democratic senators Joe Donnelly (Indiana) and Claire McCaskill (Missouri) are up for reelection in Midwestern states that broke heavily for Trump. Romney won Missouri by nine. Trump won by 19. Democrats bet that McCaskill will benefit from the inevitable backlash to any new president in his first midterm, but depending on how everything shakes out Trump could be a quite effective surrogate for whomever emerges as the GOP nominee.

-- To be sure, Democrats are not ceding the Rust Belt. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, one of the most progressive members of Congress, is very likely to win reelection in two years. Rep. Tim Ryan, whose challenge against Nancy Pelosi for Democratic minority leader failed yesterday, may now try to run for governor in 2018 to succeed John Kasich. Democratic leaders from four states in the Midwest have also invited the candidates for DNC chair to speak at the Ohio Democratic Party's executive committee meeting next week about how they'll try to win in the region again.

Welcome to the Daily 202, PowerPost's morning newsletter.
With contributions from Elise Viebeck (@eliseviebeck).

A demonstrator waves a Colombian national flag to agitate for the new peace accord outside the Colombian Congress in Bogota. (Guillermo Legaria/AFP/Getty Images)

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

-- Colombia's congress approved a revised peace accord with the FARC rebels, bypassing voters who narrowly rejected an earlier version of the agreement in an October referendum. From Joshua Partlow and Nick Miroff: "The revised agreement, a 310-page document, gave Colombia's justice system more oversight over the deal, offered additional assurances to landowners that private property rights would be respected and re-affirmed the government's right to use aerial spraying as a technique for eradicating illegal coca. Santos's decision to pursue a legislative route angered Colombia's conservatives and raises the possibility that the peace deal will turn into a political football next year when the presidential campaign to replace Santos kicks off." Congressional opponents of the deal abstained from voting and walked out of the chamber in protest.

Two cars are among the massive fire damage in Gatlinburg, Tenn. (Andrew Nelles/The Tennessean via AP)

GET SMART FAST:

Deadly wildfires that ravaged through two Smokey Mountain-area towns, killing seven and injuring more than 50 others, were likely "human-caused," officials said. Their comments come as Red Cross and state officials continue emergency rescue efforts in the blaze, which left popular tourist areas completely engulfed in flames. (Lindsey Bever, Angela Fritz and Peter Holley)
A Saudi Prince is urging his country to end a ban on female drivers, taking to Twitter and his personal blog website as he seeks to advance women's rights in the country. (New York Times)
Bob Dylan did not attend a White House meeting this week to honor Nobel winners, continuing to dodge public recognition for his 2016 award in literature. The folk singer's announcement comes as little surprise, however, after he snubbed calls from the Nobel committee for weeks. (Emily Heil)
A well-known, upstart auto hacker has released a code that turns cars into self-driving machines, seeking to foster innovation of autonomous vehicles while skirting potentially burdensome government regulations. (Elizabeth Dwoskin)
Police are searching for a wily New York thief who stole an 86-pound bucket of gold flakes from an armored truck in broad daylight. Security footage shows the man executing the flawless heist in the time it took for a guard to check his cell phone. He then struts past a group of Midtown bystanders, unsuspecting of his large bucket or the $1.5 million it contains. (Portland Press-Herald)

Nancy Pelosi celebrates her victory in the House Democratic leadership elections. (EPA/Michael Reynolds)

CONGRESS:

-- Nancy Pelosi was reelected as House minority leader, 134 to 63, staving off the challenge from Tim Ryan as she clinched an eighth term atop the caucus. Still, her margin of victory comes as a signal of discontent with her leadership – and more broadly with a party agenda that many believe is growing stale, Paul Kane and Ed O'Keefe write. "Many were left wondering whether a more seasoned Democrat could have actually toppled Pelosi, with several privately suggesting these next two years would have to be Pelosi's last as leader." Ryan's 63 votes mark the largest bloc of opposition Pelosi has faced in 15 years. Ryan and his allies declared his upstart bid a "symbolic victory," noting Pelosi's new plans to elevate junior lawmakers and lead a more inclusive leadership table. Also a critical priority, Ryan said, is a clear-eyed Democrat economic agenda that "resonates in every part of the country." Moderates expressed panic about the power of liberals in the Democratic Party: "We're going to be in the minority for the next 15 years," said Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Oregon), a member of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition. In order to succeed, he said, the party must develop "a farm team that's not just the socialist side of our party."

Orrin Hatch speaks to constituents back home. (Rick Bowmer/AP)

-- Senate Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch promised to not seek another term when he sought reelection in 2012. It was a crucial commitment that helped clear his path to re-nomination. But the Utah senator and his allies have been carefully trying to lay the groundwork to let him go back on his word with as little political fallout as possible. The latest assist in their effort comes via today's Wall Street Journal, which claims that many his colleagues are pleading with the 82-year-old to stick around. "I have urged Orrin to run and I hope he does," Mitch McConnell is quoted as saying. Rob Portman and Roger Wicker are also mentioned.

-- Seven Democratic members of the Senate intelligence committee hinted pretty strongly last night that significant information about Russian interference in the presidential election remains secret and ought to be declassified. From the Guardian's Spencer Ackerman: "The seven senators, including the incoming ranking member Mark Warner of Virginia, wrote to Obama to request he declassify relevant intelligence on the election. … 'We believe there is additional information concerning the Russian government and the US election that should be declassified and released to the public. We are conveying specifics through classified channels,' wrote Warner and his colleagues Ron Wyden of Oregon, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and independent Angus King of Maine."

Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (R) talks with Qamar Javed Bajwa, Pakistan's newly designated Army Chief, at the Prime Minister's House in Islamabad earlier this week. (Handout via Reuters)

TRUMP'S TELL-EVERYONE-WHAT-THEY-WANT-TO-HEAR FOREIGN POLICY:

-- Pakistan's Press Information Bureau released a detailed readout of a Monday phone call between Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Here are all 193 words of the statement, unedited: "Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif called President-elect USA Donald Trump and felicitated him on his victory. President Trump said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif you have a very good reputation. You are a terrific guy. You are doing amazing work which is visible in every way. I am looking forward to see you soon. As I am talking to you Prime Minister, I feel I am talking to a person I have known for long. Your country is amazing with tremendous opportunities. Pakistanis are one of the most intelligent people. I am ready and willing to play any role that you want me to play to address and find solutions to the outstanding problems. It will be an honor and I will personally do it. Feel free to call me any time even before 20th January that is before I assume my office. On being invited to visit Pakistan by the prime minister, Mr. Trump said that he would love to come to a fantastic country, fantastic place of fantastic people. Please convey to the Pakistani people that they are amazing and all Pakistanis I have known are exceptional people, said Mr. Donald Trump."

-- Trump also lavishes praised on India, Pakistan's archrival. He said this fall that India and the United States will be "best friends." "There won't be any relationship more important to us," Trump said at a New Jersey rally organized by self-described Indian nationalists.

A leading newspaper in India last week quoted a Trump supporter saying that the new president will approve a bill to declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism if it arrives on his desk from Congress. "President Trump and PM Narendra Modi will undoubtedly share a good chemistry. The Indo-US partnership is expected to touch new heights under Trump Presidency," Shalabh Kumar, described as "a key Indian-origin member of Donald Trump's advisory council and prominent businessman," was quoted as telling The Economic Times. (The lead photo on the story is he and Trump giving a thumbs up to the camera.)

-- Of note: "Sharif, the Pakistani prime minister, is markedly less loved in his country than Trump's praise would make it seem," our Max Bearak notes. "He is dogged by allegations of corruption, and the release of the Panama Papers last summer appeared to confirm many Pakistanis' suspicions. He is being investigated for conflicts of interest stemming from four luxurious apartments occupied by members of his family in London, and has vowed to step down if found guilty of siphoning funds."

-- As Post Fact Checker and former diplomatic correspondent Glenn Kessler points out:

-- An editor at the New York Times said the readout should not be joked about:

A nurse prepares a vaccine in Boston. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

TRUMP'S AMERICA:

-- "The discredited researcher who launched the anti-vaccine movement met with [Trump] this summer — and found him sympathetic to the cause," according to Stat News' Rebecca Robbins. "Now, with Trump preparing to move into the White House, leaders of the movement are newly energized, hopeful they can undermine decades of public policy promoting childhood vaccinations. At the most basic level, they're hoping Trump will use his bully pulpit to advance his oft-stated concern …. that there's a link between vaccines and autism. 'He didn't rely upon [drug makers] to get him elected … So we shall see,' said [Andrew] Wakefield. A former doctor whose medical license was revoked, Wakefield launched the movement to question the safety of vaccines nearly two decades ago with a fraudulent study (which has since been retracted) suggesting that a widely administered vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella can cause autism." Wakefield said he and a small cadre of like-minded activists spent nearly an hour with Trump in the closing months of the campaign. 'I found him to be extremely interested, genuinely interested, and open-minded on this issue, so that was enormously refreshing,' Wakefield said."

-- Trump said earlier this week that people who burn the American flag should be "jailed" or stripped of their U.S. citizenship. But just last year he took the opposite position during an interview with David Letterman. From John Wagner: During a Jan. 8, 2015 appearance on "The Late Show," Trump told Letterman he was "100 percent right" for saying that flag burning represents an American freedom. "If that's how you feel, go ahead and burn the flag," the television host said. "Because this country is far greater than that symbol, and that symbol is standing for freedom of expression." "Sure. You're 100 percent right," Trump agreed, "I understand where you're coming from. It's terrific."

A motorcade carrying Trump leaves Trump Tower. (Andres Kudacki/AP)

FOLLOW THE MONEY:

-- When the younger president Bush began forming his cabinet in 2001, reports dubbed his appointees a "team of millionaires," fretting that they could be out of touch. "Combined, that group had an inflation-adjusted net worth of about $250 million — which is roughly one-tenth the wealth of Trump's nominee for commerce secretary alone," Jim Tankersley and Ana Swanson tabulate. "Trump is putting together what will be the wealthiest administration in modern American history, with rumored candidates for other positions suggesting more ultra-rich appointees to come. "Many of the Trump appointees were born [and raised] wealthy ... As a group, they have much more experience funding political candidates than they do running government agencies. Their collective wealth in many ways defies Trump's populist campaign promises. But the group also amplifies Trump's own campaign pitch: that Washington outsiders who know how to navigate and exploit a "rigged" system are best able to fix that system for the working class."

-- "If Goldman Sachs is the swamp, Trump is putting on waders," Matea Gold writes.

-- Among the two dozen or so people who have been picked for key positions, or are serious contenders for the roles, at least nine have some tie to the finance industry, Philip Bump notes. (He made a comprehensive chart to keep track.)

-- Trump is considering Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn to be director of the Office of Management and Budget. "He has long been the heir apparent to Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein. But with Blankfein showing no inclination to leave after battling cancer, Cohn may be looking to take on a new challenge," Politico reports. "He is friendly with Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner."

Steven Mnuchin, Trump's nominee for Treasury, gets on an elevator in the lobby of Trump Tower yesterday. (Evan Vucci/AP)

-- "Mnuchin foundation donated to groups that vouched for his bank," by Politico's Isaac Arnsdorf and Kenneth P. Vogel: "Trump's choice for treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, earned tens of millions of dollars from a 2015 bank sale that got a boost from an array of nonprofit groups that had one thing in common — they had received tens of thousands of dollars each from the bank's foundation, which was run by Mnuchin. The sale of OneWest, a bank that Mnuchin co-founded and chaired, to CIT Group for $3.4 billion drew significant opposition from public interest groups because OneWest had been accused of wrongful foreclosures and racial discrimination. ... But a parade of community-based nonprofits stepped forward to testify to the federal regulators considering the merger about the good corporate citizenship of OneWest. All of the groups — ranging from a pair of local Boys & Girls Clubs to a pair of Junior Achievement clubs — were beneficiaries of grants from the bank's charitable arm, the OneWest Foundation, which Mnuchin chaired. … In all, 14 groups that sent letters to the Fed in support of the merger received a combined total of $2.5 million from the OneWest Foundation in the four years leading up to the merger." And at least two of the nonprofits acknowledged that they were explicitly asked by OneWest to write a supportive letter.

-- Trump's nascent administration began outlining contours of its strategy for "jump-starting" the U.S. economy, including how it would overhaul the tax code, rethink trade agreements and directly negotiate with major corporations, Ylan Q. Mui and Max Ehrenfreund write. "On Wednesday, Trump's new economic team said that overhauling taxes — particularly cutting the corporate tax rate — would create incentives for businesses to invest and hire more workers, eventually resulting in higher tax revenue. Mnuchin and Ross reiterated the administration's commitment to cutting taxes for the middle class, but that remains a key difference between the president-elect's campaign plan and the tax blueprint put forth by GOP leaders on Capitol Hill."

-- They also walked back some of the president-elect's boldest pronouncements a little. Wilbur Ross, the pick for Commerce secretary, downplayed the much-feared prospect of hefty import duties and trade wars during a CNBC interview: "Everybody talks about tariffs as the first thing. Tariffs are the last thing," he said. "Tariffs are part of the negotiation. The real trick is going to be increase American exports. Get rid of some of the tariff and nontariff barriers to American exports. ... We've been doing a lot of dumb trade, and that's the part that's going to get fixed." "I think one of the good things about both Wilbur and I, we have actually been bankers," Mnuchin told CNBC during a joint interview. "We understand what it means to make loans." (USA Today's Paul Davidson)

-- U.S. attorney Preet Bharara will stay on in the same job. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Trump, Bharara -- who was previously Chuck Schumer's chief counsel on Judiciary -- said he told Trump he will continue to be independent and operate "without fear or favor," as he has for the last seven years. He's prosecuted several powerful Democrats for corruption.

Trump and Romney dine Tuesday night. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

-- One by one, Republicans who previously stood up to or opposed Trump have made a pilgrimage to Midtown this month – kissing his ring, joining his administration, or uncharacteristically deciding to hold their fire on the president-elect. And this week, after lead anti-Trumper Mitt Romney also capitulated – thus solidifying Trump's takeover of the GOP, Philip Rucker writes. "Romney's turnabout illustrates the power that comes with winning — the ability to reshuffle the political hierarchy. In less than two months, Trump will be the president of the United States. And with Romney's move, Trump has officially and almost completely cowed the elements of the Republican Party that had shunned the real estate tycoon and reality-television star during the turbulent campaign. "The GOP is folding like cheap tents to Trump's authoritarian nature/nationalist message," Matthew Dowd, formerly a top strategist on President George W. Bush's campaigns and now an ABC News analyst, tweeted Wednesday morning. He added, "The degree of difficulty in Romney's dive last night was greater than a reverse 4½ somersault in tuck position. Stunning flipflop."

-- "At this point, the secretary of state position has been narrowed down to four candidates," RNC strategist Sean Spicer told reporters during a conference call yesterday when asked about Trump's dinner with Mitt Romney. "There is no timetable set." (CNN's Stephen Collinson)

-- "Trump, a Free-Form Leader, Experiments and Invites Drama," by the New York Times's Alexander Burns: "For longtime [Trump] critics, the spectacle of his transition has come as a kind of nightmarish vindication, seeming to confirm their warnings about what it would mean to have a reality television star in the nation's most powerful office." [Former Obama speechwriter] Jon Lovett … described a sense of horror at seeing the joke turn into reality. 'It is extremely chilling that Donald Trump views the spectacle of choosing cabinet appointments in a way that is similar to deciding whether or not to fire Lil Jon or Joan Rivers,' Mr. Lovett said … Even Republicans concede that it is not clear how Mr. Trump's roller-coaster approach to the transition will carry over to governing. But enacting sweeping changes or passing even modest legislation requires intensive, sustained attention from presidents and their teams, of a kind Mr. 'Trump has never dedicated to matters of policy. But [so far], he has not situated any of his pronouncements within a larger, cohesive agenda, or answered even basic questions about them."

Alyssa Bermudez protests in front of the headquarters of the TSA. (Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

THREE WAPO HIGHLIGHTS:

-- "She says she was harassed by superiors. Now she protests outside the TSA for hours," by Manuel Roig-Franzia: "The whistleblower wears high heels. They would be her uniform, as much as combat boots and fatigues once had been. Yet now she marches in them [on the streets] of Arlington – not the sands of Iraq. She hoists a protest sign instead of a rifle. She draws stares rather than salutes. [Alyssa] Bermudez says she was driven to protest by the allegedly piggish behavior of men with whom she worked at the [TSA] headquarters across the street. These men ogled her, she claims, snickered about her … and retaliated against her when she complained, ultimately stripping her of employment five days before her probationary period ended." Bermudez's unusual protest ritual has served to surface broader problems at a troubled agency assailed by Congress for its treatment of whistleblowers: "TSA has a saying: If you see something, say something," Bermudez recalls. "Little did I know that when I said something, I would be fighting the agency. … It's a very daunting task."

-- "In Yemen's war, trapped families ask: Which child should we save?," by Sudarsan Raghavan: "The family of Osama Hassan faced a wrenching choice as his tiny body wasted away. Should they use the little money they had, in a time of war, to take the 2-year-old to a hospital? Or should they buy food to feed their other children? His family chose food. Every day children are perishing in rural Yemen, where two-thirds of the nation's population lives. Parents are forced to decide between saving their sick children and preventing healthier ones from following the same perilous route. [But] help for the region is hardly on the way. … The Houthi administration is struggling financially as the war strangles the economy. And the U.N. has raised less than half of its appeal to international donors this year as Yemen remains in the shadow of Iraq, Syria and other crises. 'Yemen ultimately is a media blackout,' said Jamie McGoldrick, the top U.N. humanitarian official in the country. "This is an entire generation that's at risk here," said [aid director] Erin Hutchinson. "… And it's not stabilizing.

-- College journalist Kevin Stankiewicz, who interviewed The Ohio State University terrorist Abdul Razak Ali Artan for the college paper on the first day of school, reflects on their conversation: "I found a thoughtful, engaged guy, a Muslim immigrant who wanted to spread understanding and awareness while expressing muted fears that U.S. society was becoming insular and fostering unfair stereotypes of his people. He was measured and intellectual, not angry or violent. He told me, in great detail, about the biggest struggle of his first day on campus: finding a place to pray. That became the central element of the feature … something that felt both important and relevant, enlightening and humanizing. 'This place is huge, and I don't even know where to pray,' Artan told me. He even told me the possibility of being shot if he prayed had crossed his mind."

SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ:

Want to check out what Trump sees on Twitter? Follow this list assembled by the Intercept's Robert Mackey of all the people he follows.

Some of Trump's most conservative supporters are not pleased with his cabinet picks:

Neither is Bernie Sanders:

Donald Trump's many potential conflicts of interest, explained

The Office of Government Ethics posted a stream of very bizarre tweets at Trump. Many initially thought it was a hacker. They were briefly taken down but then re-posted. A spokesman for the federal agency said that these posts were authorized. One of the things that makes them weird is it assumes that Trump is going to take steps which he has not actually announced. But the agency said it knows nothing beyond what Trump tweeted early yesterday morning:

There are a bunch more posts like this, which all basically say the same thing. Perhaps someone is trying to force his hand?

Pence sat down with Condi Rice in D.C.:

Some observations about the Carrier deal:

The Romney dinner was apparently quite expensive:

Check out the Obamas' final White House Christmas decorations:

Speaking of Christmas, the Rockefeller tree is lit:

A staffer for Paul Ryan marked Winston Churchill's birthday:

The Senate and House released their 2017 calendars:

Eric Swalwell snapped this photo of the vote-counting operation for the Democratic leadership election:

Here's Tim Ryan's statement after he lost to Pelosi:

Lawmakers honored the legacy of Shirley Chisholm:

And marked Charles Rangel's upcoming retirement:

House Republican leaders shared a moment of levity:

John Thune is tall -- but Shaquille O'Neal is taller:

Apparently Tim Scott likes ice cream on his broccoli:

It was a rainy day (finally) in D.C.:

Will Jeff Sessions miss the press corps on Capitol Hill? He would not say:

GOOD READS FROM ELSEWHERE:

-- Rolling Stone, "Bernie Sanders: Where We Go From Here," by Matt Taibbi: "Sanders' rise is a remarkable story, obscured by the catastrophe of Trump's win. When I first visited with [the Vermont senator] 11 years ago … he was a little-known Independent in the House from a tiny agrarian state, an eccentric toiler pushing arcane and unsexy amendments through Congress. [His] experiences growing up in the hardscrabble Flatbush neighborhood still seem central to the way he looks at the world. …. The loss of the support of those kinds of people still eats at Sanders, like a childhood wrong not yet corrected. Thus the opportunity he has now to push the Democrats back in that direction is something he doesn't take lightly. He's spent his whole life getting to this point.

ON TRUMP: "[Trump] has rewritten the rules of politics. Let's give the guy credit where credit is due … I think if there's a lesson to be learned from Trump's success, it is that timidity is no longer the path to success. The Democrats have got to start thinking big."
ON THE RISE OF MIDDLE-CLASS ISSUES: "…Seeing that [these issues] resonated did not surprise me. How weak the Democratic establishment was, and how removed they were … surprised me."
ON THE MOMENT TRUMP STOPPED BEING A PUNCHLINE: "I didn't realize right away. I didn't know much about him. [But] when I started seeing him bring these large turnouts of working-class people, I knew that that was real, you know? What politics passes for now is somebody goes on Meet the Press and they do well … No one cares about Meet the Press. But that you can go out and bring out many, many thousands of people … that is real stuff.
ON MEDIA DISTRUST, AND A CATALYST FOR CHANGE: "The corporate media, if you read the last chapter of the book, they don't see it as their job to educate the American people. Because those are easy things. It's a little bit harder to write about why the middle class is collapsing, the threat that climate change poses for the planet, and all the other important issues. They're not going to do it. It's not their job."

HOT ON THE LEFT

HOT ON THE RIGHT

"Justin Bieber Jokes Instagram Is 'For the Devil','" from Billboard: Justin Bieber has a love/hate relationship with Instagram. After leaving the service in August, Bieber joked to a London audience on Tuesday night (Nov. 29) that he's "90 percent sure" that the pic-posting app is "for the devil" and that it is "hell." "Justin Bieber has a love/hate relationship with Instagram. After leaving the service in August, Bieber joked to a London audience …that he's '90 percent sure" that the pic-posting app is 'for the devil' and that it is 'hell.' Then, in a fan-posted video of the show [of] the singer's Purpose Tour, Bieber said, 'Nah, I don't want to get my Instagram back... I'm sure... I think hell is Instagram. I'm 90 percent sure. We get sent to hell, we get like locked in the Instagram server.' Considering it was the final show on the European leg of the tour, Justin told the crowd he wasn't sure what he was going to do when he went home, teasing that he might just take some Instas and not upload them."

DAYBOOK:

In Trump's world: Trump and Pence hold events in Indianapolis, Ind. and Cincinnati, Ohio.

At the White House: The first family attends the National Christmas Tree Lighting. Biden travels to Cartagena for a bilateral meeting and dinner hosted by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

On Capitol Hill: The Senate meets at 9:30 a.m. and starts considering the Iran Sanctions Extension Act at 1:45 p.m. The House meets at noon for legislative business, with votes expected between 5 and 6 p.m.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"It's sort of ridiculous to go after him when his financial disclosure is already online." – House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz explains why he does not plan to do oversight of Trump (Huffington Post)

NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:

-- A Prince George's councilman was charged with a DUI after he crashed a government-owned SUV into a Mercedes that was completely stopped at a Pennsylvania Avenue. County officials said in a statement that he has "relinquished the use of his county vehicle" and no longer has use of or access to any others. (Lynh Bui and Arelis R. Hernández)

-- Alexandria's city manager halted design work on a recreation center and long-delayed installation of road signs, blaming what he billed as "enormous" infrastructure challenges. (Patricia Sullivan)

VIDEOS OF THE DAY:

Pelosi said she was "exhilarated" to be reelected by House Democrats: