For the Record: The Trumpire strikes back

Several members of the media expected Donald Trump to cancel — instead, less than 24 hours after the so-called "Trump dossier" was leaked, Trump stood before the assembled media to hold court over a sometimes-combative press conference. It was the first post-election press conference, so there was lots of ground to cover. Several topics that could have been the subject of a press conference all their own got little or no answer from the president-elect. And CNN might as well have just watched the whole thing on CNN ... because Trump's not taking their questions at all.

The main course (aside from awkward turtle soup) was the unveiling of the long-awaited plan for Trump's businesses while he's in office. We've got that and more in today's edition of For the Record.

The Trumpire strikes back

If it's all the same to you, Trump's gonna just hang on to his businesses, thanks. Trump's claim to fame, his business acumen, is the reason that many voters backed him in November. But the businesses he owns could now benefit from his political actions. Many government ethicists and even a few aestheticians called on Trump to sell off his business interests before taking office — or at the very least putting them under the control of a blind trust. A blind trust is where businesses are put under the control of a third party who has no communication with the owner. Trump said, sure, I got your blind trust right here ... I'm putting my sons in charge of Trump empire.

"I could actually run my business and run government at the same time," Trump said Wednesday during a news conference, his first since winning the presidency. "I don't like the way that looks, but I would be able to do that if I wanted to."

Critics aren't thrilled with the plan. "The plan the president has announced doesn't meet the standards that the best of his nominees are meeting and that every president in the past four decades has met," Walter Shaub, the head of the Office of Government Ethics, told reporters Wednesday. "I don't think divestiture is too high a price to pay to be the president of the United States of America."

Trump lawyer Sheri Dillon says Team Trump sees it differently. "The American people were well aware of President-elect Trump's business empire and financial interests when they voted," Dillon said. "Many people voted for him precisely because of his business success."

Garbage Fail Kids

Let's talk about the bigger issue: Trump called BuzzFeed a "failing pile of garbage"? BuzzFeed, the site that published in full the 35-page document outlining Trump's alleged ties to Russia, met with specific ire during the press conference. But ... failing? We would have gone with "flaming pile of garbage," personally. First there's the garbage, which is bad enough; then there's that burning garbage smell, so it's a double-whammy.

We're sure Trump wanted to get the whole "failing" aspect in there, but it would be pretty difficult to fail at being a pile of garbage ... maybe if someone tried to contain all the garbage into a neat pile, but got lazy and wound up with a garbage-strewn area? That's at least one method to fail at garbage-piling. We're gonna be thinking about this all day. Either way, BuzzFeed is selling t-shirts now.

Oh, and then there's the secretary of State hearings

If we learned anything from the early rounds of confirmation hearings, it's that Trump's nominees to key cabinet positions don't always see eye to eye with The Donald (and it's not a bad thing that there are differences of opinion). Rex Tillerson, former Exxon CEO and secretary of State nominee, agrees with the president-elect that China is a growing threat to the country's Asia policy and that ISIS is our top security threat.

On the other hand, Tillerson takes a harder line against Russia than Trump has, saying that "Russia today poses a danger. It invaded Ukraine, including Crimea, and violated the laws of war.” He advocates arming Ukraine to defend against further Russian incursions. As for Trump's proposed freeze on Muslim immigration? “I don’t support a blanket type of travel ban on people coming to this country,” he said. Instead, he backs more documentation of foreign travel destinations and more "judgment" about immigrants.

Talk is cheap, however. If Tillerson is confirmed, Americans will keep a close eye on how he handles foreign relations with nations where he's done business before — namely Russia, Syria, Iran and Sudan.

More from the Paste BN Network

• So it begins: Senate votes on first step to repealing Obamacare (Paste BN)
• Kasich wants to make sure Republicans remember the 'replace' part of 'repeal and replace Obamacare (Cincinnati Enquirer)
• Trump probably won't take any questions from McCain now, either (Arizona Republic)

Seems like somebody should get around to some fact-checking, right?

Say what you will about BuzzFeed and CNN, Mr. President-elect, but the true OGs of fake news will always be the folks behind The Onion and Clickhole.