The Trumpster Fire: President Trump keeps melting down without quite being reduced to a puddle of orange goo.

Fixated on the Special Counsel investigation, the President has begun saying the country is in a new McCarthy era. He told The NY Post, “We are in the McCarthy era. This is no better than McCarthy. And that was a bad situation for the country.”

He also tweeted, “While the disgusting Fake News is doing everything within their power not to report it that way, at least 3 major players are intimating that the Angry Mueller Gang of Dems is viciously telling witnesses to lie about facts & they will get relief. This is our Joseph McCarthy Era!”

With his former campaign chairman deeper in trouble with the law, accused of lying after agreeing to cooperate, Trump told The NY Postthat he has not talked about a pardon for Paul Manafort, but it’s not off the table. “It was never discussed, but I wouldn’t take it off the table,” Trump said. “Why would I take it off the table?”

The President also retweeted a graphic suggesting his critics and legal opponents should be in jail. The meme originally posted under the identity of The Trump Trainsays,“Now that Russian collusion is a proven lie, when do the trials for treason begin?” Featured behind bars are The Clintons, fired FBI Director James Comey, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and Deputy Attorney Gen. Rod Rosenstein — in all, 11 people Trump perceives as enemies.

It’s Political:Democrat TJ Cox is the winner in California’s 21^stHouse district, ending the last contested race in the midterm elections. Votes are still being counted, but the trend suggests Cox has it.

His victory would give the Democrats 40 new seats in the House, which counts as a crushing win over the Republicans.

But there’s plenty of politicking ahead. The House Democrats nominated Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker once again, but 32 of them defected, setting up what could be a fight going into the final vote. Pelosi is 78 and some representatives campaigned on a promise to replace her as the leader.

Permawar:Furious after the administration appeared to have blocked the CIA director from briefing the Senate on the murder of Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi, senators from both parties threatened yesterday to withdraw US financial support for the Saudi war against rebels in Yemen. The Senate voted 63 to 37 on a measure to limit presidential war powers in Yemen.

The CIA by all reports has concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing, but the administration refuses to back that up. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis briefed senators yesterday and both later said there’s no proof bin Salman was responsible.

South Carolina’s Sen. Lindsey Graham, who’s been a big Trump supporter but also pretty damn outspoken said he won’t vote for anything the administration wants until he gets a CIA briefing. “I’m talking about any key vote,” Graham said. “Anything that you need me for to get out of town, I ain’t doing it until we hear from the CIA.”

The Bank Job:Police raided the headquarters of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurter, Germany today in a major investigation of international money laundering. The investigation was sparked by revelations from the so-called Panama Papers, which showed in 2016 how the rich stash dark money all over the world.

What Goes Down:The Dow Jones jumped 618 points yesterday on news from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that the central bank could slow down on raising interest rates. The Fed has to juggle between historically low rates in effect since 2008, and raising them, tipping the economy into recession.

Checkmate: After a match lasting three weeks with 12 straight draws and a tiebreaker of faster games, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen beat American Fabiano Caruanafor the world chess championship yesterday. The 26-year-old Caruana was attempting to become the first American world champion since Bobby Fischer beat Boris Spassky in 1972.

Just Another Day:A friend posted yesterday on Facebook, “After Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday, what is today? Just Wednesday? With no guidance, what will I do today?”

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