Trump facing calls to reverse appointment of Stephen Bannon

President-elect Donald Trump faced demands on Monday to reverse his appointment of Stephen Bannon, the executive chairman of the far-right website Breitbart News and the CEO of Trump’s presidential campaign, as his chief strategist. The selection of Bannon deepened fears that the Trump administration would embolden and enable antisemites, racists and misogynists. “There must be no sugarcoating the reality that a white nationalist has been named chief strategist for the Trump administration,” the US House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, said.

Steve Bannon: appointment of ‘white nationalist’ must be reversed, critics declare

Clinton and Obama urge party to rebuild

On a conference call with congressional lawmakers, Clinton said the party must “analyze” and warned lawmakers against becoming “distracted or divided” in the many fights ahead. Obama also addressed supporters on a separate conference call late on Monday, and encouraged the party to evaluate what went wrong and rework strategy. “We have better ideas,” Obama said. “But they have to be heard for us to actually translate those ideas into votes and ultimately into action.” Both acknowledged the difficulty of Clinton’s defeat to Trump. “No one is sorrier than me,” Clinton said, according to a Democrat on the call. “Heartbreaks don’t heal overnight, and this one won’t.”



Meanwhile, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders called on progressives to fight back against Trump in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today program. “Our job is to oppose him vigorously through millions of people in many, many different ways,” he said. He said he is working to find and support new leadership in the Democratic party.

Clinton and Obama urge Democrats to rebuild party after election defeat

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Obama will not restrict drone strike ‘playbook’ before Trump takes office

Barack Obama will not tighten the rules governing US drone strikes ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Guardian has learned. Trump will inherit the apparatus for what Obama calls “targeted killing” – the so-called drones “playbook” formally known as the 22 May 2013 Presidential Policy Guidance or PPG – that has turned drone strikes into Obama’s signature counter-terrorism tactic. The PPG was kept secret until Jameel Jaffer, formerly of the ACLU, sued to compel its disclosure. The Guardian is republishing once-secret documents relevant to Obama’s drone strikes program, included in Jaffer’s new book, The Drone Memos.

Obama will not restrict drone strike ‘playbook’ before Trump takes office

Trump’s Nafta threats would severely harm US, Mexican chief negotiator says

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Jaime Serra Puche, Mexico’s chief negotiator during the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations, said scrapping the treaty and introducing protectionist measures as touted by President-elect Donald Trump would amount to the US “shooting itself and the region in the foot”. During his campaign, Trump spoke of withdrawing from Nafta, which he called the “worst deal ever”, claiming the trade treaty favors Mexico at the expense of American jobs.

Trump’s Nafta threats would severely harm US, Mexican chief negotiator says

Facebook and Google move to kick fake news sites off their ad networks

Both Google and Facebook have announced plans to go after the revenue of fake news sites, kicking the hoaxers off their ad networks in an attempt to prevent misleading the public from being profitable. On Monday, Google announced a policy update which restricts its adverts from being placed on fake news sites and Facebook updated the language in its policies. The social media site has been facing increasing pressure to improve the way it handles fake news after the election outcome, with reports saying some of the company’s staff have formed an unofficial taskforce to address the problem.

Facebook and Google move to kick fake news sites off their ad networks

What happens to the alt-right now that it’s establishment?

Adherents to the alt-right, a loosely defined rightwing part of the internet firmament, are a group of outsiders defined by their opposition to things – like feminism in video games, the “political correctness” of “social justice warriors” on the left and the political establishment itself. But now the alt-right is having something of an identity crisis. “The alt-right can no longer hit out at the establishment. They are the establishment now,” Nicky Woolf writes.

The alt-right thrives in opposition. What happens now it’s the establishment?

Ivanka Trump and the art of co-opting feminism

“For some women on the right, Ivanka was more than a symbol of conservative femininity – she was permission to vote for a monster: the face of a distorted ‘feminism’ that helped to usher in 53% of white women’s votes,” Jessica Valenti writes. With a role on Trump’s transition team, Ivanka Trump will continue to be presented as a shield to her father’s overt sexism and racism, and it may well work.

The empowerment trap: Ivanka Trump and the art of co-opting feminism

Completion of Dakota Access pipeline delayed as army calls for more analysis

The US army corps of engineers has completed its review of the Dakota Access pipeline and is calling for “additional discussion and analysis”. The statement comes amid heightened tensions between Native American activists and the surrounding community over the pipeline, which the Standing Rock Sioux tribe says could contaminate its water supply and destroy sacred sites. The pipeline operator announced on election day that it was preparing to begin drilling under the Missouri river, but the company still lacks permission from the army corps of engineers to perform the drilling. On Saturday, a man brandished a gun during a confrontation with protesters and fired his weapon into the air.

Completion of Dakota Access pipeline delayed as army calls for more analysis

And finally …

“It’s time for salsaaaaa!” croons the newest DJ on Venezuela’s national daytime radio. Amid an escalating humanitarian crisis, and after the abrupt suspension of a referendum designed to oust him from power, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has launched a midday radio show. His critics see the show as tactless and mistimed.

As Venezuela lurches from crisis to crisis President Maduro moonlights as salsa DJ