MORNING MESSAGE
Donald Trump's Victory Is Not The Last Word
Trump’s campaign has already been building a wall—not between the United States and Mexico but between American communities. He is building this wall with myths about white people under siege from black and brown “others”—immigrants stealing jobs, Black Lives Matter activists threatening “law and order,” or Muslim Americans undermining shared values ... I know firsthand how well this story plays. But I also know we have the capacity to tear down walls so that people can unite and build an economy and political system that works for all of us.
POPULAR VOTE MINORITY ELECTS DONALD TRUMP
Cook Political Report's David Wasserman: "Thinking HRC will easily win the popular vote by 1-2 million."
Rust Belt backlash breaks Democratic coalition. American Prospect's Harold Meyerson: "... the Rust Belt—whose rust buildup Bill Clinton signally contributed to by signing deals that offshored millions of decent-paying jobs—revolted. Last night, from Pennsylvania in the east to Iowa in the West, one formerly-solid Democratic state after another saw their white working class, their small town and rural voters, get vengeance against an establishment that had left much of their economy in ruins ... There’s one other crucial factor in the revolt of the Rust Belt: deunionization."
TNR's Brian Beutler analyzes how Trump won the "missing white vote": "...we have to accept that there was a great deal of truth to what the political analyst Sean Trende dubbed the 'Missing White Voter' thesis—that every election year, in rural communities in the rust belt and the panhandle of Florida, millions of white people without college degrees just don’t vote ... What it took was a campaign of undisguised white nationalism—brash, unapologetic scapegoating of immigrants and Muslims. It took not only misogyny, but the endorsement of sexual assault."
NYT's Nate Cohn: "Clinton suffered her biggest losses in the places where Obama was strongest among white voters. It's not a simple racism story"
The Nation's Joan Walsh envisions what Republicans will now do: " With control of all three branches of government, the GOP is able to promote an agenda that, in its particulars, Americans tell pollsters they reject: austerity, tax cuts for the rich, abortion and gay marriage either condemned or illegal, college unaffordable, Social Security and Medicare slashed. It will ignore, even suppress, the just claims of the Black Lives Matter movement; the cruelty of mass incarceration and the killings of young black people will continue. We had a chance to stop this, and we weren’t able to."
"Don't Mourn, Fight Like Hell" says Mother Jones' Clara Jeffrey: "There is no time, no room, no space to do anything but push back against what, in large part, this will turn out to be: not just a protest vote by rural whites who feel left behind, but the coming out of a burgeoning white nationalist, authoritarian movement."
Clinton team "saw it coming." Politico: "They recognized that Sanders and Trump had correctly defined the problem—addressing anger about a rigged economy and government—and that Clinton already never authentically could. Worse still, her continuing email saga and extended revelations about the Clinton Foundation connections made any anti-establishment strategy completely impossible. So instead of answering the question of how Clinton represented change, they tried to change the question to temperament, what kind of change people wanted, what kind of America they wanted to live in. It wasn’t enough."
REPUBLICANS SET TO CONTROL WASHINGTON
Politico previews Trump cabinet: "...Trump campaign is seriously considering Forrest Lucas, the 74-year-old co-founder of oil products company Lucas Oil, as a top contender for Interior secretary, or donor and Goldman Sachs veteran Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary ... Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie ... are being considered for top posts. ... Trump campaign officials have worried privately that they will have difficulty finding high-profile women to serve in his Cabinet ... [But] aides have also discussed tapping Sarah Palin for Interior Secretary..."
Relations with congressional Republicans may not be smooth. Politico: "...Republicans on the Hill will fall in line with the Trump agenda when they have to do so ... And they'll have a prime chance to advance their agenda with the policy-lite Trump in the Oval Office ... [But] Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) must navigate his rocky relationship with Trump and the many Republicans on the Hill whose positions on abortion, taxes and immigration conflict with the president-elect’s values."
"President-elect Trump due to appear in court later this month" notes Politico: "Before Donald Trump raises his right hand to take the oath of office in January, he’s set for a less-auspicious swearing-in: taking the witness stand in his own defense in a federal court civil trial over alleged fraud in his Trump University real estate seminar program ... In addition to several suits over Trump University, Trump has threatened lawsuits against a dozen or more women who’ve accused him of sexual impropriety in recent months—and several of those women have threatened to counter sue if he comes after them. There’s also a New York state investigation into his charitable foundation and a reported federal investigation into some of his advisers’ ties to Russia."
WORLD (MOSTLY) SHUDDERS
Nations worry about world order. NYT: "...Trump’s promise to pull back militarily and economically left many overseas contemplating a road ahead without an American ally ... Perhaps nowhere was Mr. Trump’s win more alarming than in Mexico ... One of the few places where Mr. Trump’s victory was greeted enthusiastically was Russia, where state-controlled television has been feasting on the circuslike elements of the American election ... Israel was another place where Mr. Trump enjoyed some support, mainly because of the perception that he would give the country a freer hand..."
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn reacts. Telegraph: "Donald Trump's victory is an 'unmistakable rejection of a political establishment and an economic system that simply isn't working for most people', Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said. Mr Corbyn did not congratulate the US President-elect on his victory, unlike [PM] Theresa May who praised his 'hard-fought campaign'."
PROGRESSIVES WIN KEY BALLOT INITIATIVES
Minimum wage ballot initiatives pass. WSJ: "Colorado, Arizona, Maine and Washington all passed minimum-wage increase initiatives, with Washington raising it to $13.50 per hour by 2020 and the others to $12 per hour in the same time frame. That would put them on the level of what is deemed the current statewide living wage by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living-wage calculator, which uses location-specific expenditure data to estimate the wage needed to support an individual or family in a given area."
Massachusetts voters reject charter school expansion. MassLive: "In a devastating loss for supporters of charter schools, Massachusetts voters on Tuesday voted against a ballot question that would have allowed the state to approve up to 12 new or expanded charter schools a year, outside of an existing cap ... The pro-charter school money came from a mix of Massachusetts corporations, individuals working in the financial industry, out-of-state donors like the Walton family who owns Wal-Mart and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg."
Washington State rejects "revenue-neutral" carbon tax. Seattle Times: "Initiative 732, which sought to apply a tax on energy-derived coal, oil gas garnered just 42 percent after ballot counts around the state ... The measure had trouble marshaling consensus among progressive and environmental groups."
"Florida voters say no to misleading solar amendment" reports Miami Herald: "Florida voters rejected Amendment 1 on Tuesday, the utility-backed measure to limit rooftop solar expansion, after a scrappy, grassroots campaign and last-minute revelations raised doubts about the proponents’ claims that their goal was to expand solar generation ... with nearly three-quarters of precincts reporting, the vote was almost evenly split, falling short of the 60 percent needed for a state constitutional amendment to become law."
Progressive rising star Pramila Jayapal wins House seat. Huffington Post: "...she will be the first Indian-American woman to hold a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives ... Jayapal will also join Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), the first Indian-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate ... Jayapal earned an early endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)."
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