[Special] Washington Post Article Dump, December 2016 Edition

• Trump’s Demagogic Illogic Strikes Again by Kathleen Parker (December 2, 2016):

More than a month and a half away from Inauguration Day, Trump’s only discipline seems to be making good on bad faith. His attacks both on the media and on those who, rather rarely, burn an American flag, are fundamentally assaults on the Constitution and the First Amendment.

• Trump’s Proposed Tax ‘Reform’ is Hardly Reform at All by the WaPo Editorial Board (December 2, 2016):

President-elect Donald Trump and his team are sending mixed signals. During the campaign, he put forward an irresponsible plan to slash revenue by an estimated $620 billion per year (roughly 19 percent of fiscal 2015 receipts) over 10 years, with no credible offset in the form of spending cuts. Meanwhile, the top 0.1 percent of taxpayers would experience an average tax cut of nearly $1.1 million, while households in the middle fifth of the income distribution would receive an average tax cut of $1,010, according to the Tax Policy Center . On Wednesday, however, Mr. Trump’s choice for secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, spoke reassuringly, but cryptically, of middle-class relief with “no absolute tax cut for the upper class.” Rate cuts for the rich could be offset by eliminating itemized deductions, such as the break for mortgage interest or state and local taxes, Mr. Mnuchin said, though most experts say that won’t actually work for the rates Mr. Trump proposed.

• A Guide to All the Ways Trump’s Transition is Like a Reality Show by Elahe Izadi and Emily Yahr (December 2, 2016):

Princeton University presidential historian Sean Wilentz put it this way: “No previous president-elect, let alone president, has acted with the high-pitched drama that Trump has displayed. Five crises a day — keep ’em coming.”

• Trump’s Emerging Cabinet is Looking Less Trumpian Than Expected by John Wagner and Sean Sullivan (December 3, 2016):

The emerging Cabinet has gone a long way toward mollifying some of Trump’s Republican critics, and several of the picks — including the wife of the Senate majority leader as transportation secretary — are tailor-made to encourage cooperation between the administration and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill. The incoming team is preparing not only to implement longtime Republican goals — such as repealing the Affordable Care Act and cutting taxes — but also to push for Trump’s iconoclastic and controversial campaign promises on issues such as a border wall and trade.

• Trump’s Taiwan Phone Call Was Long Planned, Say People Who Were Involved by Anne Gearan, Philip Rucker and Simon Denyer (December 4, 2016):

The historic communication — the first between leaders of the United States and Taiwan since 1979 — was the product of months of quiet preparations and deliberations among Trump’s advisers about a new strategy for engagement with Taiwan that began even before he became the Republican presidential nominee, according to people involved in or briefed on the talks.