Absent an act of God, at 12:01 pm on Friday, January 20th, @realDonaldTrump will (simultaneously) be sworn in as our nation's president and violate the Constitution.
As Americans brace themselves for the "soft sensuality" of Trump's inauguration and presidency, more and more details about how we got ourselves into this precarious situation have come to light—each more disturbing than the last.
If even half of the allegations found in the (classified?) dossier assembled by a former British spy turn out to be true, it would mean that, not only did Vladimir Putin help Trump get elected, he's now got Trump by the balls, so to speak.
Nothing Trump said or did this week, nor anything we previously knew about him, gives much reason to doubt the allegations—quite the opposite, in fact.
Bottom line: We are so fucked.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus; Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Rep. John Lewis (D-GA).
Face The Nation: Vice President-Elect Mike Pence; Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV); David Ignatius (Washington Post); Roundtable: John Heilemann (Bloomberg Politics), Ruth Marcus (Washington Post), Ben Domenech (The Federalist) & Ed O'Keefe (Washington Post).
This Week: Incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT); Former Obama Chief Ethics Lawyer Norman Eisen & Former Bush Chief Ethics Lawyer Richard Painter; Roundtable: Democratic Pollster Cornell Belcher, Republican Strategist Sara Fagen, Jonathan Karl (ABC News), Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard) & Katrina vanden Heuvel (The Nation).
Fox News Sunday: Vice President-Elect Mike Pence; CIA Director John Brennan; Roundtable: Gerald F. Seib (Wall Street Journal), Former Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA); Republican Strategist Lisa Boothe & Bob Woodward (Washington Post).
State of the Union: Outgoing White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough; Roundtable: Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), Marc Morial (National Urban League), Former Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner (D) & Spokesman for Jeff Sessions Sarah Isgur Flores.
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: an interview with President Obama and a look back at his eight years in the White House (preview).
Late night shows:
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Monday: Actress Sarah Paulson; Actor Corey Stoll; Musical Artist Nick Grant feat. Watch the Duck.
Tuesday: Comedian Billy Eichner; Singer Mel B; Comedian Gilbert Gottfried.
Wednesday: Guests TBA.
Thursday: Guests TBA.
Friday: Guests TBA.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Monday: David Fahrenthold (Washington Post), Actor Bryshere Gray; Tuesday: Co-Founder of Lyft John Zimmer; Wednesday: US Ambasador to the UN Samantha Power; Thursday: Journalist Scott Conroy, Actor James McAvoy; Friday: Joy Ann Reid (MSNBC).
Elsewhere...
Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX) equated Mexican entertainers with Russian hackers.
A Texas lawmaker on the House intelligence committee says it wasn't just the Russians who interfered in last year's election.
Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Midland, is comparing the use of Mexican entertainers to energize Democratic voters to the email hacking that officials say was orchestrated by Vladimir Putin's government.
"Harry Reid and the Democrats brought in Mexican soap opera stars, singers and entertainers who had immense influence in those communities into Las Vegas, to entertain, get out the vote and so forth," Conaway told The Dallas Morning News this week. "Those are foreign actors, foreign people, influencing the vote in Nevada. You don’t hear the Democrats screaming and saying one word about that."
Asked whether he considers that on par with Russian cyber-intrusions that aimed to damage Hillary Clinton's campaign, Conaway said: "Sure it is, it's foreign influence. If we're worried about foreign influence, let's have the whole story."
And, to bring this post back full circle...
An applicant to be Trump's White House Press Secretary reportedly suggested pee-testing the press corps.
One proposal on dealing with the media that was pitched to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team calls for drug testing the White House press corps.
The pee-in-a-cup proposal (yellow journalism indeed) was one of 13 ideas one candidate for White House press secretary wrote in November in a confidential memo to members of the Presidential Transition Team's Executive Committee.
"Journalists who are at the White House more than one day per week should be subject to drug screenings to occur no more than twice a year at random times," the memo states. "Refusal to comply should exclude them from credentialing entirely."
The Trump administration, the candidate wrote, "should clear a path to communicate more directly with the people and end White House press practices that serve no useful purpose other than feeding the beast."
Yellow journalism, indeed.
– Trix