Until Jeff Bezos takes me up on my offer to write the Washington Post’s fabled annual signature IN/OUT list feature as a freelancer, the paper is going to have to deal with the regular December indignity of my doing the same thing both earlier and better.
It’s painful all around, but it must be done.
The offer stands, Jeff.
So, without further ado:
IN: Crew socks
OUT: Athletic socks
IN: Matt Gaetz scheming
OUT: Matt Gaetz rising
IN: Holding space
OUT: Rushing to judgment
IN: Drone fears
OUT: Y2K
IN: Greenland
OUT: Green Bay
IN: Watching Juan Soto in Queens
OUT: Watching Juan Soto in the Bronx
IN: Commutations
OUT: Pardons
IN: Chappell Roan
OUT: Renee Rapp
IN: Eric Adams legal troubles
OUT: Eric Adams presidential aspirations
IN: Luigi Mangione
OUT: The Menendez Brothers
IN: Sabrina Carpenter
OUT: Katy Perry
IN: Norm Coleman
OUT: Tim Walz
IN: Gracie Abrams
OUT: All other nepo babies
IN: America First
OUT: Bottom Up
IN: Scrutinizing Josh Shapiro
OUT: Not picking Josh Shapiro
IN: Spinoffs
OUT: Ratings
IN: Kylie Kelce
OUT: Sports talk radio
IN: Democrats in disarray (again)
OUT: Trump can’t win
IN: Pressure on Zelensky
OUT: Pressure on Bibi
IN: Scott Jennings
OUT: David Axelrod
IN: Southern universities
OUT: Northeastern schools
IN: Young people focused on the homeland
OUT: Pro-Palestine activism
IN: Chris Evans as “The Human Torch”
OUT: Chris Evans as “Captain America”
IN: Who covered up Joe Biden’s acuity decline?
OUT: Has Joe Biden suffered acuity decline?
IN: James Gunn
OUT: Zack Snyder
IN: Tracking Musk’s influence
OUT: Predicting Musk’s demise
IN: Don’s relationship
OUT: Hunter’s laptop
IN: Kate Moss hips
OUT: Kardashian lips
IN: Chinese EVs
OUT: Cybertrucks
IN: Oval Office access
OUT: Mar-a-Lago access
IN: Every detail about Martin Short and Meryl Streep
OUT: Every detail about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce
IN: Andrew Cuomo suing
OUT: Andrew Cuomo being sued
IN: Susan Collins
OUT: Joe Manchin
IN: BIG TEN/ SEC College Super Bowl
OUT: Insufferable College Football Playoff Selection Committee
IN: Drew Holden
OUT: Steve Schmidt
IN: Gobbling up Central American canals
OUT: America First Isolationism
IN: “Superman” trailer
OUT: “Captain America: Brave New World” trailer
IN: Retribution
OUT: Joy
IN: 2WAY
OUT: one way
IN: The Beatles
OUT: The Beatles
IN: Paris
OUT: Lisbon being in
IN: It was a winnable race
OUT: It was an unwinnable race
IN: Charlie Kirk
OUT: Dan Pfeifer
IN: Bryce Young
OUT: C.J. Stroud
IN: Anthony Jeselnik making fun of anti-woke comics
OUT: Anti-woke comics
IN: Pilates
OUT: Yoga
IN: Mocking Tatte
OUT: Meeting at Tatte
IN: Boasting about being online
OUT: Pretending you’re not online
IN: Dave McCormick
OUT: Mitt Romney
IN: Is Mike Johnson going to make it?
OUT: Is John Thune going to make it?
****
ESSENTIAL READING
* Tom Homans lays out the Trump border plan in detail in a surprising interview with the Washington Post.
* OMG, the New York Times has a “deeply reported” piece on the Final Days – and surprising/not surprising doesn’t mention Biden’s mental acuity decline.
* Henry Olsen on the prospect of a realignment if Trump plays his cards a certain way.
* The Associated Press’ very serviceable update on the status of the Trump nominees has this:
While most Senate Republicans have scrambled to display as much loyalty to Trump as possible, a handful have made clear that they are willing to defend the body’s “advise and consent” role. Among the senators to watch are moderate Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and incoming freshman Sen. John Curtis of Utah.
“Anybody who wants to give me heat for doing my job, bring it on,” Curtis said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” when asked about vetting Trump’s nominees. “This is my job. It’s my constitutional responsibility.”
Still, even moderate senators have shied away from directly criticizing Trump’s picks. And not a single Republican has gone on the record against a nominee.
* Gotta hand it to the Kansas City Star, which found a way to write this many stories about the Chiefs game without even one on Taylor being a no-show:
