Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 355th day of the year. There are 11 days remaining in 2016.
Utahns are mostly pleased with Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks. Trump wins the Electoral College vote. Opposing rallies about Bears Ears take place on Utah’s Capitol Hill.
The clock:
- 31 days until Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President (1/20/2017)
- 34 days until the first day of the 2017 Utah Legislature (1/23/2017)
- 79 days until the final day of the 2017 Utah Legislature (3/9/2017)
- 322 days until the 2017 municipal elections (11/7/2017)
- 686 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
Ten talking points for Tuesday:
- Cabinet positivity. Half of Utahns say they are pleased with Donald Trump‘s Cabinet selections so far according to our latest survey [Utah Policy].
- Countdown continues. Orrin Hatch‘s change in political fortune is our #6 Utah political news story from 2016 [Utah Policy].
- A victory, but no landslide. As expected, Donald Trump wins the electoral college vote. Trump called his victory a “historic landslide.” It was nowhere near a landslide [Politico]. Utah’s six electors cast their votes for Trump despite protests [Tribune, Deseret News]. A historic number of electors voted for someone other than the two major-party candidates. Most of those defectors were supposed to vote for Hillary Clinton [New York Times].
- Terror attacks. A gunman killed the Russian Ambassador to Turkey on Monday while yelling about Russia’s role in the war in Syria [Wall Street Journal]. Donald Trump called the assassin of the Russian ambassador a “radical Islamic terrorist” [Politico]. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says a truck crash at a Berlin Christmas market is believed to be a terror attack. The incident killed 12 and injured 48 [Wall Street Journal]. German police raided a temporary refugee shelter following the attack [NBC News].
- Olive branch. Donald Trump met with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim over the weekend in an effort to undo some of the harsh rhetoric about the country he used during the 2016 campaign [Washington Post].
- Late deciders. A new analysis shows many voters settled on casting ballots for Donald Trump in the final weeks of the election [FiveThirtyEight].
- Bears Ears brouhaha. Dueling rallies at the Utah Capitol express opposition and support for President Barack Obama creating a Bears Ears National Monument before he leaves office [Utah Policy, Deseret News, Tribune].
- A Utah snub. Donald Trump may not visit Utah on his post-election “thank you” tour [Tribune, Deseret News].
- Homeless relocation. Salt Lake City leaders considered 11 sites for the relocation of homeless services before settling on the final four announced last week [Tribune].
- Dee resigns. Rep. Brad Dee stepped down from his Utah House seat last month in order to let his successor, Kelly Miles, take over early. Dee will also step down from his job with Weber County at the end of the year [Standard-Examiner].
On this day in history:
- 1803 – The United States formally took over territory acquired from France in the Louisiana Purchase.
- 1860 – South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the United States.
- 1989 – The United States invaded Panama to oust Manuel Noriega and install the duly elected civilian government.
