BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — They ate. They talked. They struck a temporary cease-fire to a trade war that has roiled relations for the past year.

Most of all, President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping postponed the day of reckoning in U.S.-China trade relations for another three months.

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That outcome from a much-anticipated dinner meeting between Trump and Xi in Buenos Aires on Saturday sets up an extremely challenging time frame for China to make the extensive structural changes that the U.S. has been demanding all year and that hard-liners in the Trump administration will undoubtedly seek during the coming talks.

“If Xi’s history is any judge, we will just see more of the same and no substantial changes,” said Scott Kennedy, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Chinese president has the authority to “drive a new wave of liberalization,” but may avoid taking steps that could risk threatening China’s economic order, Kennedy added.

Trump has imposed tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods since July after accusing Beijing of effectively subsidizing state-owned firms, forcing U.S. firms to hand over technology in order to do business there and tolerating outright intellectual property theft.

The cease-fire arrangement came with no public guarantee from China that it would address those issues.

At least one win for Trump would be if China carries through on its promise to resume buying soybeans and other farm products right away. The $110 billion in retaliatory tariffs imposed by China have hurt U.S. farmers particularly hard.

As part of the deal reached Saturday night, China agreed to buy “a very substantial amount of agricultural, energy, industrial, and other product from the United States to reduce the trade imbalance between our two countries,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “China has agreed to start purchasing agricultural product from our farmers immediately.”

Other China watchers, however, said the news from the dinner amounted to the two countries kicking the can down the road. The official Chinese statement made no mention of specific products or dollar amounts it would buy.

“The obvious takeaway is we’ve gotten nowhere on conventional trade talks,” said Derek Scissors, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who has provided advice to the administration on China policy.

For his part, Trump called the outcome of the meeting an “incredible deal.”

“China will be opening up. China will be getting rid of tariffs,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One after the meeting. “You know, China right now has major trade barriers — they’re major tariffs — and also major non-tariff barriers, which are brutal.”

The most immediate outcome from the agreement was a U.S. decision to delay tariff increases on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods that were scheduled to go into force on Jan. 1.

But to avoid those duties rising to 25 percent, from 10 percent currently, the two sides have reached agreement on an array of tough issues that have stymied them so far.

Trump has already set another 25 percent on another $50 billion of Chinese goods and threatened eventually to slap tariffs on all of China’s exports to the United States. Those totaled about $505 billion in 2017.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and other hard-liners in the administration believe China’s actions pose both an existential threat and an intentional grab at U.S. innovation in order for Beijing to dominate next-generation, high-tech sectors.

The main question many were asking was whether China would be able to commit to making any substantive changes to the U.S. complaints that justified the tariffs.

“We’re now eight months into this conflict. So why will the Chinese government move in 90 days when they didn’t [on Saturday]? What changes between now and then?” said Scott Lincicome, a trade attorney and adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute.

However, the Trump administration has shown an aversion to lengthy negotiations and has voiced particular concern about getting drawn into long, drawn-out talks with China that prove unsuccessful.

Dan DiMicco, a former trade adviser to the Trump campaign and transition official, said he doesn’t trust China to make “fundamental changes” without a stronger response from the U.S.

“They should have put the 25% tariffs in place and then negotiated….and that may still happen in 90 days. If [China does] as I believe and just stall, then we will see the final $270 billion get tariffs as well!” DiMicco, a former CEO of Nucor, one of the largest U.S. steel producers, said in an email.

One source speculated “the three Ms — Mueller, midterms and markets” may have prompted Trump to strike a deal that would restart agricultural and energy exports to China — referring to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, the Republican loss of the House in last month’s elections and stock market losses over the past several months because of concerns stemming from the trade war.

Meanwhile, major U.S. business groups like the U.S.-China Business Council struck a hopeful tone that the 90-day cease-fire could result in a positive outcome on U.S. demands.

The group’s president, Craig Allen, applauded the decision to freeze the tariff increase but also called for a plan that would remove all the tariffs that countries have imposed on one another and make meaningful progress on the range of concerns the U.S. has raised.

Retailers were happy that Trump is not going forward with an action that would raise duties on everyday consumer items like mattresses, apparel items, paper goods and furniture. In addition, Trump’s threat to impose duties on all Chinese imports is on hold for at least another three months.

“Negotiators on both sides now have a reasonable 90-day window to achieve meaningful outcomes in key areas of concern affecting U.S. businesses, such as IP theft, forced technology transfer, and market access,” Myron Brilliant, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s head of international affairs, said in a statement.

“The hard work begins now,” he added.

Adam Behsudi reported from Washington and Andrew Restuccia reported from Air Force One. Ben White contributed reporting from New Jersey.

This story is being published for Pros as part of a content partnership with the South China Morning Post. It originally appeared on scmp.com on Dec. 2, 2018.

While a trade war truce was the biggest menu item at the 2 1/2-hour dinner between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, there were other key takeaways from their historic summit in Buenos Aires.

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Both nations will be relieved that the escalating trade tensions — which erupted with the imposition of tariffs on July 6 — are contained, but the United States took the opportunity to raise demands which may lead to further confrontation ahead.

It also appears Taiwan may still be a stumbling block for the two nations.

But Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described the talks as “friendly and candid,” indicating the Chinese side was satisfied with the outcome.

“The agreements reached not only prevent the trade confrontation from further escalating, but also open up more space for win-win cooperation of both nations,” Wang said after the two leaders’ met.

Both nations agreed that no additional tariffs would be imposed on Jan. 1.

Trump agreed he would leave the existing tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products at the 10 percent rate, rather than raising it to 25 percent.

Wang said both nations were working towards removing the existing tariffs and that negotiations would continue.

But a White House statement said both sides would immediately begin negotiations over a wide range of issues, including forced technology transfers, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers and cyber intrusions.

If the two sides cannot reach agreement over these within the next 90 days, the U.S. will raise tariffs to 25 percent.

What did the U.S. say about Taiwan?

According to Wang, the U.S. said it would continue to adhere to the one-China policy regarding Taiwan. But the self-ruled island was not mentioned in the White House statement.

The U.S. has in the past acknowledged the one-China position but has not recognized Beijing’s sovereignty over Taiwan.

Beijing, which regards Taiwan as its breakaway province, described the island as a core interest.

China has repeatedly demanded that the U.S. not support the island’s pro-independence forces and also cut off military exchanges with Taiwan.

The absence of a clear statement from the U.S. side on the one-China policy could indicate a future source of tension between the two powers.

China will buy more from U.S., but how much?

Wang said China would buy more U.S. products based on market demand to ease the trade imbalance with Washington.

The White House said China would purchase a not-yet agreed upon, but very substantial, amount of agricultural, energy, industrial and other products from the US. China would also buy agricultural products from U.S. farmers immediately.

More market access for U.S. firms

Wang said China would expand market access to American firms and take steps to address legitimate concerns of U.S. companies.

Xi said he was open to approving the Qualcomm-NXP deal when the document was presented to him again, according to the White House, but Wang did not mention the deal, which was previously rejected.

U.S. chip maker Qualcomm walked away from its $44 million bid for NXP Semiconductors — the biggest potential takeover in the chip industry — when it failed to secure the approval of China’s antitrust regulators.

China joins opioid war

The synthetic opioid fentanyl was one of the issues discussed between the two leaders. China said it would designate fentanyl as a controlled substance. The U.S. has previously said efforts to stem the flow of synthetic opioids from China were being stymied by China’s inadequate regulations on pharmaceutical and chemical production.

Support for North Korea meeting

China supports the upcoming meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Wang said China hoped the U.S. and North Korea could be accommodative of each other’s interests, and that the U.S. would continue coordination with Beijing over North Korea.

The White House statement said Trump, Xi and Kim would work for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

HOW BUSH IMPACTS LEGISLATING … SHUTDOWN DELAYED? … It appears completely plausible that GEORGE H.W. BUSH’S death could push off a government shutdown, at least for a bit. Remember: a slice of government is slated to shut down FRIDAY. But the growing consensus is that Congress won’t want to fight during a week of remembrance for Bush.

THE MAIN THOUGHT RIGHT NOW is a a one- or two-week stopgap funding bill, to place the deadline a bit farther from the Bush remembrance week.

TWO WEEKS makes the most sense, because it would put the funding deadline on FRIDAY, DEC. 21 — and there would be major incentive to get something done then, because Christmas is the following Tuesday. But Congress almost never does what makes sense, so they’ll probably do a one-week stopgap.

TRUMP himself seemed OK with a short-term extension, per a pool report from AF1. “If they [lawmakers] come, which they have, to talk about an extension because of President Bush’s passing, I would absolutely consider it and probably give it,” the president said. Andrew Restuccia filed by phone from AF1 — he has several “Aboard Air Force One” datelines on the site now

TIME COVER: “GEORGE H.W. BUSH 1924-2018” — The cover

NEW … DETAILS about GEORGE H.W. BUSH’S lying in state. BUSH will arrive at 5 p.m. Monday evening, and will have a private ceremony with members of Congress and the Bush family. The details — including street closures — from Capitol Police

— THE FUNERAL is being planned by the Army’s military district of Washington — akin to an inauguration. Their homepage for the events

THE SCHEDULE for the week.

STORY OF THE DAY … NYT’S PETER BAKER, “‘I Love You, Too’: George Bush’s Final Days”: “George Bush had been fading in the last few days. He had not gotten out of bed, he had stopped eating and he was mostly sleeping. For a man who had defied death multiple times over the years, it seemed that the moment might finally be arriving.

“His longtime friend and former secretary of state, James A. Baker III, arrived at his Houston home on Friday morning to check on him. Mr. Bush suddenly grew alert, his eyes wide open. ‘Where are we going, Bake?’ he asked. ‘We’re going to heaven,’ Mr. Baker answered. ‘That’s where I want to go,’ Mr. Bush said.

“Barely 13 hours later, Mr. Bush was dead. The former president died in his home in a gated community in Houston, surrounded by several friends, members of his family, doctors and a minister. As the end neared on Friday night, his son George W. Bush, the former president, who was at his home in Dallas, was put on the speakerphone to say goodbye. He told him that he had been a ‘wonderful dad’ and that he loved him. ‘I love you, too,’ Mr. Bush told his son. Those were his last words.” NYT

FRONT PAGES … Houston Chronicle: “A LIFE OF SERVICE” … Dallas Morning News: “A point of light” … Greenwich Time: “A LIFE OF SERVICE: 41st president considered ‘Greenwich as home and friends’” … Maine Sunday Telegram (Portland, Maine): “George H.W. Bush 1924-2018: President, War Hero, Statesman, Mainer”

SUNDAY BEST …

— DICK CHENEY to CHUCK TODD on NBC’s “MEET THE PRESS” on which Bush was harder to debate: “Probably — well, as vice president they couldn’t fire me, so I could be a little bit more forthright in speaking. But they both — they were great guys to work for. The — I’m very proud of what I was able to do with both of them. The fact that I was asked to serve, those were remarkable years. And there were difficult times, no question about it, in both administrations. But it was a, well — the highlight of my career.”

— JAMES BAKER to GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS on ABC’S “THIS WEEK”: STEPHANOPOULOS: “That is a blessing. And I guess you also had the blessing of friendship with him for so long. Have you ever imagined how different both your lives would have been had you not met?”

BAKER: “Well, I’ve certainly imagined how different my life would have been had he not been my friend. You know, I never intended to get into politics or public service, George. And I was a lawyer in Houston, Texas. I was content to continue that.

“Then I lost my wife to cancer at the age of 38 and Barbara and George were the last people to come see her other than family before she died. And, George wanted — George came to me and said, you know, you need to take your mind off your grief, how about helping me run for the Senate here in — in Texas?

“I said, well, George, that’s great idea except for two things. Number one, I don’t know anything about politics. I was sort of apolitical. And number two, I’m a Democrat. He said, well, he said, we can — we can cure latter problem. And — and we did. I — and I — I changed parties and helped him in that Senate race. And from there on out, it was an extraordinarily warm and close friendship. And as you’ve said, I think in your introduction, I did — I did lead all of his campaigns for president.”

— COLIN POWELL to GEORGE: STEPHANOPOULOS: “He was also the last president to serve in combat. How did that shape his work as commander in chief?” POWELL: “He knew what combat was all about. He knew that combat meant the death of people, people on your side and people on the other side. And so, he wanted to avoid a war.”

TWO FASCINATING STORIES …

— FIRST PERSON … WAPO’S TOM BOSWELL, “George H.W. Bush had a love of sports and an affinity for at least one sportswriter”

— TODD PURDUM, “A president with a poet’s eye: With a pen and paper, the 41st president showed a depth greater than what his public persona suggested”: “In retirement, when Ann Devroy, the Washington Post reporter who had been among the toughest chroniclers of his administration, was dying of cancer, he wrote to her that in his White House days ‘there was a tension; perhaps an inevitable tension, that clouded things between us — never a visceral dislike, but a tension. I was the out of touch President, the wimp; you were the beltway insider who thrived on who’s up, who’s down — who will be fired, who will win.

“‘But now I am out of it, happy in my very private life, away from the arena; and you are on leave fighting a battle that far transcends the battles of the political wars. Strangely, wonderfully, I feel close to you now. I want you to win this battle. I want that same toughness that angered me and frustrated me to a fare-thee-well at times to see you through your fight…’” POLITICO

— DAVID HOFFMAN in WaPo: “George H.W. Bush valued expertise, prudence in navigating a world on fire”: “Bush placed high value on personal relationships, cultivated over many years, and worked hard at them, often frenetically. Some aides called him the ‘mad dialer’ for all his telephoning; he woke up British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the middle of the night. He relished a private word with King Hussein of Jordan on a speedboat in the Gulf of Aqaba, or with Gorbachev on a hiking trail at Camp David, or with French President François Mitterrand looking out at the sea at Walker’s Point. In a crisis, he called the White House Situation Room at 5 a.m. for updates. He didn’t like to be alone and was rarely idle.” WaPo

— CLICKERS … @FaceTheNation: “Is @GeorgeHWBush too nice a guy to be president? @FaceTheNation asked him in 1979”. 90-second video … WaPo: “Back in time with Bush White House photographer David Valdez”

— DANIEL LIPPMAN: “Despite bitter family rivalry, Bush wanted Trump at his funeral”

THE PRESIDENT is sending Air Force One to Houston to pick up Bush’s casket.

Good Sunday morning. HANUKKAH begins tonight.

CONFIDENCE! … JAKE TAPPER spoke to SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-Ohio) on CNN’S “STATE OF THE UNION”: TAPPER: “You’ve said you’re seriously considering a run for the White House in 2020 … Do you think you are the best person to take on President Trump?” BROWN: “I don’t know.”

CHINA NEWS …

— DOUG PALMER and ANDREW RESTUCCIA in Buenos Aires: “Trump, Xi declare truce on new tariffs as trade talks continue”: “President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed Saturday to a temporary trade ceasefire to allow time for more negotiations. The move means that U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods will not rise to 25 percent on Jan. 1, from 10 percent currently.

“As part of the deal, China agreed to buy ‘a very substantial amount of agricultural, energy, industrial, and other product from the United States to reduce the trade imbalance between our two countries,’ White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. Although precise quantities still need to be worked out, China will ‘start purchasing agricultural product from our farmers immediately,’ Sanders said.

“That would be welcome news for U.S. soybean and other agricultural producers, who have borne the brunt of China’s retaliation against Trump’s tariffs.” POLITICO

ATTN. CONGRESS: PRESIDENT TRUMP aboard AF1 from Buenos Aires to D.C.: “We get rid of NAFTA. It’s been a disaster for the United States. It’s caused us tremendous amounts of unemployment and loss and company loss and everything else. That’ll be terminated. And so Congress will have a choice of the USMCA or pre-NAFTA, which worked very well. You got out, you negotiate your deals. It worked very well. Okay?”

— TRUMP SAID it would be a six-month withdrawal period.

MISSOURI SEN. ROY BLUNT (R) to CHRIS WALLACE on “FOX NEWS SUNDAY”: BLUNT: “People like me who have really been concerned about the President’s stated trade policy can take some encouragement in what happened in the last couple of days, the signing of the US Canada and Mexico agreement that’s a big step that 6 months ago or even just a few weeks ago we were concerned that we would not be making that kind of progress and on the Chinese front you are right, we need more specifics here.”

WAPO’S SEUNG MIN KIM: “In election’s wake, Trump courts Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin”: “Fresh off the midterms, President Trump is making nice with one of the Democratic senators he repeatedly hammered on the campaign trail: Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia.

“Trump will host Manchin at the White House at 12:30 p.m. Monday, a spokesman for the senator confirmed Saturday. During a post-election chat, the two decided to meet for lunch, and Monday is the first day since that conversation that has worked with both their schedules.

“One particular issue Manchin plans to press with Trump, according to spokesman Jonathan Kott, is the fate of expiring pension benefits for miners. Lawmakers faced a Nov. 30 deadline to put together a proposed solution for the expiring benefits that affect not only miners but also retired truck drivers and supermarket clerks.” WaPo

THEY’VE GOT JOKES! … SEN. TED CRUZ (R-Texas) at the GRIDIRON DINNER last night: “[My first Gridiron appearance] came during what my panicky political advisors were calling a ‘crisis in likeability.’ And just one night here, that brief, shining moment of seeming less odious to you than usual – it really turned my image around. The only problem is, impressions are fleeting, and I’m afraid we might need to make this an annual event.”

— “In any event, I’m sure I’ve shaken off my 2016 nickname for good, along with any hard feelings that might have lingered from my clash with Donald Trump. Sometimes you just have to put minor squabbles behind you … you know, like whether or not your dad was the guy on the Grassy Knoll.”

— “For the next year, I’ll keep working on my relations with Mitch McConnell, with whom I’m pleased to report have seen a pretty amazing transformation. These past couple of years, some strange new influence has been at work to make Mitch stop thinking of me as the most unreasonable, uncivil, uncontrollable person he could imagine. Somehow I don’t seem so bad anymore. I just wish I knew who to thank.”

— Also next year, we Republicans will have Senator-elect Romney soon to join our ranks. And though I probably shouldn’t mention this – in the Senate we often go by friendly nicknames. Not that a guy called Mitt needed another handle, but for no particular reason he is going to be known as ‘Squi.’ One thing’s for sure – the Kavanuagh hearings gave us all plenty to think about, as I did one quiet evening by the fireplace, watching the flames consume my high school yearbooks.” His full remarks

— REP.-ELECT ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-Va.) also spoke at the Gridiron: “There were a lot of dirty tricks played against me and my campaign this year – including someone from James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas trying to infiltrate my campaign office with a hidden camera. That’s right folks – James O’Keefe thought it was a good idea to send an amateur spy into the campaign office of an actual spy. I don’t have a joke about this – I just want all of you to think about that before you go to bed tonight.” …

— “Maybe I mentioned I was in the CIA too much. But you can’t really tell people you’re in the CIA when you’re still in the CIA, so you gotta make up for lost time. People ask me all the time about my time in the CIA, and I think tonight is the right time to make a confession: CIA actually stands for ‘Culinary Institute of America.’

“I just felt weird about correcting people when they thought it was the other one. And I make a mean pepper steak. … Voters in my district really liked the fact that I was in the intelligence service. And I know because they’d said so in their emails and phone calls to each other.”

SPOTTED: Janet Yellen and Philippe Reines separately in first class on the 3 p.m. Acela to D.C. … Justice Elena Kagan at Le Diplomate Saturday night … John Kerry at the Friday night performance of “Springsteen on Broadway.” Pic

THE INVESTIGATIONS — “Michael Cohen, Ex-Trump Lawyer, Asks U.S. Judge for Leniency,” by NYT’s Benjamin Weiser and Maggie Haberman: “In a deeply personal memorandum that expressed Mr. Cohen’s contrition and shame, defense lawyers portrayed him as a man whose personal and professional lives had been shattered, and who had harmed himself legally while trying to protect Mr. Trump. Arguing against a prison sentence, the lawyers cited Mr. Cohen’s cooperation with the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, whose legitimacy is regularly denounced by the president. ‘In the context of this raw, full-bore attack by the most powerful person in the United States,’ the lawyers wrote,

“‘Michael, formerly a confidant and adviser to Mr. Trump, resolved to cooperate, and voluntarily took the first steps toward doing so even before he was charged.’ … Mr. Cohen consulted with White House staff members and Mr. Trump’s ‘legal counsel’ as he prepared for his false congressional testimony, though it did not identify the lawyer, according to the memo. The document did not say if Mr. Cohen was asked to lie, nor did it identify which counsel he spoke with.” NYT

BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:

— “The Inside Story of Mike Isabella’s Fallen Empire,” by Jessica Sidman and Spiegel in Washingtonian: “How alcohol, infighting, and a sexual harassment scandal turned the prince of DC dining into a pariah.” Washingtonian

— “How MSNBC Created a Cable-News Addiction Epidemic,” by Michael Hirschorn in Vanity Fair: “It can feel like monitoring every twist and turn of Trump’s tumultuous presidency is a crucial civic duty. But the TV is distracting from the real story.” Vanity Fair

— “Beneath the Surface of Bruce Springsteen,” by Michael Hainey in Esquire – per Longreads.com’s description: “At Esquire, Bruce Springsteen talks to Michael Hainey about Trump’s divisive politics, raising kids to become solid citizens, how to learn to deal with the baggage of your upbringing to be the person you truly want to be, and how, at age 69 after two serious bouts of depression, he’s still figuring it all out, just like the rest of us.” Esquire

— “The Open Office and the Spirit of Capitalism,” by Scott Beauchamp in American Affairs Journal: “The borderless fluidity of open offices seems perfectly suited to the ambitions of the internet age—while also replicating its failed aspirations toward ‘connectivity.’ Just as hyper-modulated online interactions … cordon people into niche micro experiences, so the open office counterintuitively isolates office workers.” American Affairs Journal (h/t ALDaily.com)

— “Feds Say Imprisoned Hacker Ran a Drone Smuggling Ring,” by the Daily Beast’s Kevin Poulsen: “The white-hat consultant turned black-hat hacker was this close to getting out of prison when he was charged with running a wild scheme from behind bars.” Daily Beast

— “The Genius Neuroscientist Who Might Hold the Key to True AI,” by Shaun Raviv in Wired – per Longform.org’s description: “Karl Friston’s free energy principle might be the most all-encompassing idea since Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection.” Wired

— “Secrets of the Magus,” by Mark Singer in the New Yorker in April 1993: “Ricky Jay [who died Nov. 24] does close-up magic that flouts reality. But, rather than headline in Las Vegas, Jay prefers to live in the mysterious world of ancient mountebanks, eccentric entertainers, and sleight-of-hand artists, whose secrets he preserves with a scholarly passion, and who are his true peers in the realm of illusion.” New Yorker

— “Four years to go: Qatar on course for its improbable World Cup,” by the Guardian’s David Conn in Qatar – per TheBrowser.com’s description: “The rich, tiny, embattled Gulf State is spending $10 billion on new stadiums and $200 billion on new infrastructure including a metro. If the expected 1.5 million football fans arrive, a two-way culture shock seems inevitable. Qatar is a conservative Muslim country where homosexuality is illegal, ‘modest’ dress is required at sporting events, and public drinking is illegal.” Guardian

— “The Insect Apocalypse Is Here,” by Brooke Jarvis in the NYT Magazine: “What does it mean for the rest of life on Earth?” NYT Magazine

— “The Club and the Mob,” by James Meek in the London Review of Books, reviewing “Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now,” by Alan Rusbridger: “Before [the internet], we were isolated recipients of the news; now, we are self-consciously members of groups reacting to news in shared ways. This facilitates solidarity for the truly oppressed, for campaigners, for those with minority interests. But it also means that the paranoid, the suspicious, the xenophobic and the conspiracy-minded know they’re not alone.” LRB … $18.30 on Amazon (h/t TheBrowser.com

— “‘I Don’t Want to Shoot You, Brother,’” by ProPublica’s Joe Sexton – per Longreads.com’s description: “Officer Stephen Mader chose not to shoot R.J. Williams, choosing instead to de-escalate. He was right — Williams’ gun wasn’t loaded, so he was never a real threat — but another officer on the scene shot him anyway. And then Mader got fired.” ProPublica

— “Meet Alexa: inside the mind of a digital native,” by Sophie Elmhirst in the Dec./Jan. issue of 1843 Magazine: “She is 24 and Instagram is her life, even though she sometimes wishes it wasn’t. But what happens when she meets a guy who doesn’t feel the same way about social media?” 1843 Magazine

— “Turning the desert into detention camps,” by Philip Wen and Olzhas Auyezov in Reuters – per TheBrowser.com’s description: “An attempt to catalogue the vast network of prison-like camps and detention centres which the Chinese government is constructing in its western province of Xinjiang to intimidate and indoctrinate indigenous Muslims. There could be as many as 1,200 such centres — at least one for every county and township.” Reuters

MEDIAWATCH — STEPHEN BROWN will be executive editor of POLITICO Europe. He most recently has been managing editor of the publication.

OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a party last night celebrating Brendan Buck and Rebecca Berg: Luke Russert, Phil and Chelsea Mattingly, Derek and Alex Moe Flowers, Kevin Madden, James Arkin, Sam and Danielle Feist, David Swerdlick, Brendan Martin, Dan Ronayne, Paul Kane, Scott Mulhauser and Kara Carscaden, Kevin Madden, Ryan Williams, Kevin Sheridan and Erika Gutierrez, Jay Newton-Small, AshLee Strong, Frank Thorpe, David Drucker, Jake and Jenna (Sakwa) Kastan, Ryan Lizza and Olivia Nuzzi, Mike and Mary Kathryn Steel, Ken and Emily Spain, Will Ritter, Antonia Ferrera and Doug Heye.

— SPOTTED at a book party last night hosted by the Niskanen Center at Juleanna Glover’s house for Tyler Cowen and “Stubborn Attachments: A Vision for a Society of Free, Prosperous, and Responsible Individuals” ($17 on Amazon): Siobhan Gorman, Mike Franc, Gretchen and Tom Toles, Evelyn Farkas, Andrew Sullivan, Michael Kinsley, Jay Newton-Small, Eli Lake, David Brooks and Anne Snyder Brooks, Josh Dawsey, Joey Coon, Kevin Cirilli, Neil Irwin, Tim Burger, John McConnell, Ben Schreckinger, David and Suzanne Chavern, David and Adele Malpass, Heather Podesta and Steve Kessler, Miriam Sapiro and Stephen Labaton, Jerry Taylor, Eric and Jennifer Felten and Janet Donovan.

WEEKEND WEDDING – OBAMA ALUMNI: “Kalisha Dessources, Shomari Figures” – N.Y. Times: “Ms. Dessources, 28 … is studying for a Ph.D. in sociology at Yale. … She was formerly a policy adviser to President Obama’s White House Council on Women and Girls, directing policy work on women and girls of color. … Mr. Figures, who is 33 and works in Washington, is a lawyer and legislative aide in the United States Senate. From 2015-17, he served as White House liaison to the Department of Justice, and previously was the White House domestic director of presidential personnel for President Obama.” With a pic. NYT

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Sarah Silverman (hat tip: Doug Heye)

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Brad Mielke, host of ABC News’ “Start Here” podcast. What he’s been reading recently: “I finally got around to reading an incredible Ian Frazier piece in the New Yorker about the wildfires that ripped through towns in the Plains. We’re used to hearing about how California is a tinderbox, but this is a minute by minute account of how a network of small prairie towns, connected by hundreds of thousands of dried-out acres, can suddenly be wiped out. It’s a wowzer.” Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is 79 … former Attorney General Edwin Meese III is 87 … Stone Phillips is 64 … Nancy Haberman is 71 … Cal Thomas is 76 … Ken Babby … Alex Short … Grant Everett Starrett … Bob Carey … Rep. Carol Shea Porter (D-N.H.) is 66 … former Rep. Pete Gallego (D-Texas) is 57 … Jason Huntsberry … Emily Schultheis … Carrie Wofford (h/ts Ben Wofford and Colin Crowell) … Kelly Klass of Locust Street Group (h/t Ben Jenkins) … Rep.-elect Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) is 58 … Marc La Vorgna, founder of MLV Strategies … GPG’s Mina Moore … Lauren Cross … Sam Schneider … Megan McCafferty … Caroline Gangware …

… Mark Irion, head of strategic communications in D.C. at Hogan Lovells (h/t Chase Kroll) … Eleanor Schiff … Dan Puskar … Mairead Lynn, Democratic press secretary for the Senate HELP committee … Erin Bailey … Sara Siskind … Andrew Howell, partner at Monument Policy Group, is 5-0 … Patricia Rojas-Ungar, new VP at Outdoor Industries Association … John Hollis, author and comms officer at GMU (h/ts Stewart Verdery) … former Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) is 75 … Conyers Davis is 4-0 … Mark A. Shiffrin is 62 … Audrey Lavin … Celeste Brown … Rayshon Payton … … Dan Puskar, executive director of the Public Lands Alliance, is 4-0 (h/t Jedd Rosche)

• Anna Palmer @apalmerdc
• Jake Sherman @JakeSherman
• Daniel Lippman @dlippman

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