Transition Briefing: Donald Trump’s Agenda: Find a Secretary of State, Tweet Often.



President-elect Donald J. Trump will meet with Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee and Mitt Romney on Tuesday as he tries to decide who he wants as secretary of state. In the meantime, he cannot seem to pull himself away from Twitter.

In extended Twitter rant, Trump goes after CNN.

It started around 10 p.m. and kept coming: The man who will lead the free world could not stop attacking CNN.

Or rather, he kept affirming other attackers, by retweeting posts from one user who described himself as an “unbiased, unfiltered voice against Islamist Terror & Stupidity on the far left AND far right!”; by another who defined himself as “Family, God, country, Patriot, 2-A, Harley Owner. Siberian Husky Lover. Certified RV Tech;” and by a 16-year-old fan of the Oakland Raiders, Los Angeles Angels, Anaheim Ducks and Charlotte Hornets.

First came:

Then:

Then:

Then:

And finally a composition of his own:

As Mr. Trump noted, the certification of his win in Michigan did give him a comfortable, 306 electoral votes, but a landslide seems like a stretch. Hillary Clinton’s popular vote lead climbed overnight to 2,332,814, nearly five times Al Gore’s margin over George W. Bush in 2000. At 1.7 percentage points, her margin is the largest for a losing presidential candidate since 1876.

Mr. Trump did add one last coda to his overnight rant. Around 6:30 a.m., he concluded:

And then there is the First Amendment.

Mr. Trump appears unsatisfied with his Twitter broadsides against CNN and its failure to support unsubstantiated claims of widespread vote fraud. On Tuesday morning, he also went against an old standby: flag burning.

Meanwhile, a cabinet must be named.

Mr. Trump formally tapped Representative Tom Price of Georgia, an orthopedic surgeon and a fervent opponent of the Affordable Care Act, on Tuesday to be his secretary of health and human services.

Mr. Price, who has focused much of his work in Congress on trying to insulate physicians from the dictates and price controls of agencies that would be under his control if he is confirmed, responded on Tuesday:

There is much work to be done to ensure we have a health care system that works for patients, families and doctors; that leads the world in the cure and prevention of illness; and that is based on sensible rules to protect the well-being of the country while embracing its innovative spirit.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the incoming minority leader, was not happy:

“Congressman Price has proven to be far out of the mainstream of what Americans want when it comes to Medicare, the Affordable Care Act and Planned Parenthood. Thanks to those three programs, millions of American seniors, families, people with disabilities and women have access to quality, affordable health care. Nominating Congressman Price to be the H.H.S. secretary is akin to asking the fox to guard the hen house.”

But because Senate Democrats gutted the filibuster rule for presidential appointees, there may be little opponents can do to stop Mr. Price’s confirmation.

A leavening influence?

Rounding out his health care appointees, Mr. Trump also said on Tuesday that he had chosen Seema Verma, a health policy expert in Indiana, to be the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Working in state government and later as president of a consulting company, she helped Indiana expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act, with conservative policies that emphasized “personal responsibility.”

Ms. Verma worked closely with Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, the vice president-elect, and with the former governor of that state, Mitch Daniels, also a Republican. She has won praise from health care providers and state legislators of both parties. She has also provided technical assistance and advice to Medicaid officials in other states.

Under President Obama, the agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid has also led efforts to carry out the Affordable Care Act, supervising most of the online marketplaces where people can buy health insurance and obtain subsidies to help cover the cost.

A 2016 post-mortem.

Still hankering to understand what happened in the election that shocked the news media, the pundits and much of America?

Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, has your rundown. Hint: Demographics are not destiny when anger at the status quo drives parts of the electorate.

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