| | | | | 🌟Happy holidays from The Point! 🌟 The newsletter team is on vacation until Jan. 2, 2019, but you can still get your dose of all things The Point on our YouTube page throughout the week -- subscribe if you haven't! And stay tuned for a special Christmas Day audio briefing! Make sure to subscribe to The Point with Chris Cillizza on all those fancy new Google Home and Amazon Echo devices you bought your loved ones. | | | 'Twas the Friday before Christmas... |  | | 'Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the Senate
The press was assembled, all in a panic.
Would the government shut down, would Trump get his steel slat barrier,
Or would the electeds vote and go home, making their constituents all the merrier?
OK, so my topical reboot of the rhyme is a bit rusty, but at least you get a sense of where things stand in Washington right now.
It's a yuletide-tinged blur as we hurtle toward the midnight shutdown deadline, but let's not forget this week hasn't JUST been about a potential partial government shutdown.
We saw major developments in the Russia investigation as Michael Flynn was dressed down by a judge who said, "Arguably, you sold your country out." The judge then reversed course and held off on sentencing Flynn.
We also laid to rest the Trump Foundation, forced to close by regulators who say it was used to break campaign finance laws and abuse its tax-exempt status.
But the week also brought something new into this world: US Space Command, which the administration says is a precursor to Trump's Space Force.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is now not long for the administration -- he announced his planned departure from his post, effective at the end of February. Mattis cited policy differences with President Donald Trump in his departure letter, though he did not mention Trump's announcement from the day before that he would withdraw US troops from Syria.
The Point: Washington is kicking off the holiday weekend feeling anything but holly and jolly.
-- Lauren
And without further ado, here's a recap of this week in 17 headlines:
Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: | | "Why is any meeting over there colorful?"
-- Sen. Bob Corker, when asked why Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's lunch with President Trump was described as "colorful," had a Socratic response, per Lauren Fox. | | | Sunny South Florida is ready for the President to arrive -- if he does.
Trump was scheduled to spend Christmas at his Palm Beach resort, Mar-a-Lago, but like many others' plans this holiday season, that has been scrambled due to the shutdown talk.
A bummer, considering the place is ready for the President. CNN's Kevin Liptak reports: "The massive security apparatus that travels ahead of the President is already in place. Aides and agents are standing by. And Trump's suitcases have already been zipped up with his golf clothes."
The White House says Trump will not travel to Florida if the shutdown occurs, though that doesn't mean the the rest of the family's stuck in Washington. too.
First lady Melania Trump and son Barron announced their departure for Mar-a-Lago on Friday afternoon. | | | Wishing you a legendary holiday with John Legend's "What Christmas Means to Me." | | Capitol Hill watering hole Capitol Lounge is ready for a shutdown -- and has the drinks menu to prove it.
The bar will begin offering $5 cocktails to everyone with a federal employee ID at 12:01 Saturday (when a shutdown would go into effect).
The drink offerings are creative - if incredibly inside baseball - and include the topically titled concoctions "Nothing Really Mattis," "Mexico Will Pay for This" and "The AOC Bourgeoisie." | |  | The year of Trump, according to Trump | | | It's hard to remember everything that happened this year in politics -- so we assembled these soundbites from President Donald Trump to help you out. | | Ruth Bader Ginsburg had two cancerous nodules removed from her lung while in New York today.
Ginsburg should be breathing easy here on out -- There is no evidence of any remaining disease, says a court spokesperson, nor is there evidence of disease elsewhere in the body. | | | | | | |
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