We begin today’s roundup with The New York Times and its editorial on the National Popular Vote interstate compact:
The Electoral College, which is written into the Constitution, is more than just a vestige of the founding era; it is a living symbol of America’s original sin. When slavery was the law of the land, a direct popular vote would have disadvantaged the Southern states, with their large disenfranchised populations. Counting those men and women as three-fifths of a white person, as the Constitution originally did, gave the slave states more electoral votes.
Today the college, which allocates electors based on each state’s representation in Congress, tips the scales in favor of smaller states; a Wyoming resident’s vote counts 3.6 times as much as a Californian’s. And because almost all states use a winner-take-all system, the election ends up being fought in just a dozen or so “battleground” states, leaving tens of millions of Americans on the sidelines.
There is an elegant solution: The Constitution establishes the existence of electors, but leaves it up to states to tell them how to vote. Eleven states and the District of Columbia, representing 165 electoral votes, have already passed legislation to have their electors vote for the winner of the national popular vote. The agreement, known as the National Popular Vote interstate compact, would take effect once states representing a majority of electoral votes, currently 270, signed on. This would ensure that the national popular-vote winner would become president.
Matthew Rozsa at Salon explains how Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s pick for budget chief, wants to cut Social Security and Medicare:
Mulvaney has introduced numerous bills that have attempted to cut government spending, particularly on Medicare and Social Security. His argument has been that the programs need to be reformed in order to avoid bankruptcy.
As OMB director, Mulvaney would play a crucial role in shaping the national budget and determining which government agencies are allowed to issue regulations.
Steve Benen at MSNBC:
When GOP lawmakers shut down the federal government in 2013, it was Mulvaney who helped lead the charge, celebrating the shutdown as “good policy.” When Republicans launched their debt-ceiling hostage crisis in 2011, threatening to push the nation into default unless the party’s demands were met, Mulvaney not only championed the dangerous scheme, he publicly argued that default wouldn’t be a big deal, and undermining the full faith and credit of the United States would carry few consequences.
Now he’s being promoted – to a position where he can do even more damage.
At Mother Jones, Pema Levy details Mulvaney’s John Birch Society connections:
In July, Mulvaney spoke at a dinner held by a local chapter of the group, which has long been exiled from mainstream conservatism. Founded in the 1950s, the outfit promoted a paranoid obsession with communist infiltration. It declared President Dwight Eisenhower "a conscious agent of the communist conspiracy." It opposed the civil rights movement as a communist plot. Ever since William F. Buckley Jr., the intellectual godfather of modern conservatism, felt compelled to disavow the John Birch Society in the early 1960s, most mainstream conservatives have dismissed the organization as an embarrassment for the right. But the group still exists and continues to emphasize the communist threat. In recent years, it has pushed more modern conspiracy theories: Obamacare finances euthanasia, the United Nations has a sinister scheme for world domination, Moscow is the hidden force behind Islamic terrorism.
Greg Allen at NPR takes a look at Trump’s Doral golf course and his massive conflicts of interest:
As president, he will be able to steer environmental and labor policies that could boost the income from his golf courses. [...] it's not just labor laws that can affect golf-course profits. There are four golf courses at Trump National Doral and under a new federal rule, environmental regulations may increase.
A new federal rule called "The Waters of the U.S." seeks to safeguard water quality by giving the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers authority over thousands of new waterways and wetlands. [...] Trump has promised to repeal the rule. It's an action that would directly affect Doral and his other U.S. golf courses.
Ari Berman analyzes the attack on democracy in North Carolina:
Republicans have turned North Carolina, previously one of the most progressive states in the South, into a laboratory for voter suppression and offered a disturbing preview of what’s to come under Trump. The legislative coup is merely the latest in a series of outrageous and illegal actions by the North Carolina GOP to undermine democracy in the state. [...]
The pattern in North Carolina is clear: When Republicans win, they suppress the Democratic vote to solidify power in future elections. And when they lose, they rig the rules to prevent their opponents from being able to fairly exercise and maintain power. This is what happens in a dictatorship, not a democracy. And it’s a preview of what’s to come in Trump’s America.
At The Week, Ryan Cooper agrees:
This should be viewed as a potential test run for the nation as a whole. Republicans have near-unprecedented dominance across all levels of governance in the United States. But their party and their president-elect are actually quite unpopular. The agenda taking shape for a Trump administration is even more so. Chances of an electoral backlash are very good. So to cling to power, Republicans will likely cheat. [...]
That does not mean all hope is lost. Even the height of Jim Crow was not a full dictatorship, and some sort of democratic ideology is deeply instilled in the American consciousness. Just look at how North Carolina Republicans kicked out the public and the press before passing their anti-democratic bills. They know what they're doing, and many are probably ashamed, deep down. They would wilt before a popular front of sufficient size and power.
Make sure to read this piece by The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove on the attacks on journalist Kurt Eichenwald:
On Thursday night, Eichenwald was sitting in front of his home computer in Dallas, he says, when he clicked on his Twitter notifications, only to be confronted by a flashing orange image with @jew_goldstein’s message: “YOU DESERVE A SEIZURE FOR YOUR POSTS.”
Dr. Theresa Eichenwald, the reporter’s wife of 26 years who has lived with his epilepsy since they started dating, said she first realized something was wrong when her husband called out to her.
“I heard him from the other room,” she told The Daily Beast. “I came in, and he was in his chair, slightly turned away from the flashing computer screen. He was incoherent.
On a final note, The Mercury News praises California Governor Jerry Brown for his outspoken stance against the Trump administration:
Brown went on to remind the scientists and Californians that the state, if it were a separate nation, would represent the world’s sixth largest economy.
“We’ve got a lot of firepower,” Brown said. “We’ve got the scientists, we’ve got the universities. We’ve got the national labs, and we have the political clout and sophistication for the battle. And we will persevere, have no doubt about that.” [...]
It’s comforting to know that Brown will continue to lead the fight to save the planet, making this promise to scientists and Californians:
“We will set the stage, we’ll set the example, and whatever Washington thinks it’s doing, California is the future.”