* Given Trump’s global business interests–from Brazil to India–he’s at least a de facto co-brand with the U.S. Beyond awkward. Geopolitically complicating. Nationally embarrassing.
* Donald Trump: Get the hell off Twitter and make sure incoming calls are not from Taipei. At least give the impression of trying to look presidential–rather than being a weekly mother lode of Alec Baldwin fodder. Speaking of, Baldwin’s SNL Trump portrayal–despite the steady stream of material–is not as easy as first appears. He has to satirize a parody.
* President-elect ______ _ _____. Sorry, I just couldn’t finish that. Still in recovery.
* Progressive can be a relative term. Now more than ever. Think: Ivanka Trump.
* For those advocating compulsory voting–as in, say, Australia–they should be aware of what would still be beyond any legal decree. As we know all too well, you cannot mandate being informed and impervious to blatant pandering. American exceptionalism wasn’t supposed to yield this.
* Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Secretary of Transportation nominee Elaine Chao: Are they not candidates for oddest couple since Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki?