Democrats line up for 2020 like it's a Black Friday sale

Watch out for runners

Given how much Donald Trump obsesses about crowd size, even he may be impressed by the multitude of Democrats who are thinking about becoming or being mentioned as possible contenders to run against him in 2020.

Ballotpedia, a digital encyclopedia of American politics and elections, counts more than 50. The Washington Post winnowed down the list to a "top 15."

Don't expect to know a lot of the names yet. But you might sooner than you think as the hopefuls get started early in 2019, hoping to stand out from the pack by the time of the Iowa caucuses, which are less than 14 months away.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who raised her profile during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, said on ABC's "This Week" that she is "still thinking about" running but hasn't made up her mind. She pitched herself as a candidate who did well in her re-election this month "in a number of those places where Donald Trump won" in 2016.

Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio said on the show he, too, is "seriously thinking" about it, and that he has been "overwhelmed by the number of people from around the country that have said we should think about doing this.”

Also on ABC, Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio said he's “very seriously” considering either challenging Trump for the GOP nomination or running as an independent.

You'll see many more potential candidates testing the waters via the Sunday talk shows in the weeks and months ahead.

Border controlled

A group of several hundred migrants from a caravan group camped in Tijuana pushed through a blockade of Mexican police and rushed the U.S. border Sunday but were repulsed by U.S. Border Patrol agents who fired tear gas. Pedestrian and vehicles crossings were suspended at the San Ysidro, California, port of entry.

Trump earlier renewed a call to shut down the country's southern border, putting pressure on Mexico. A top Mexican official there publicly denied a report of an agreement with Washington for asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico until their claims for asylum claims for entry to the U.S. are processed. For more, see Candice Ferrette's story for Newsday.

The president also repeated his false scenario by which he blames his predecessors for a child-separation policy that didn't make him look good. 

Janison: That's nonconstitutional

The Constitution and the limits it puts on presidential power keep getting in Trump's way, to his constant irritation.

His attempts to get around Congress and the 14th Amendment on immigration law provide some of the most recent examples, writes Newsday's Dan Janison. Trump blasted a federal judge who blocked his order to restrict where migrants could apply for asylum, and Trump's assertion that he could nullify birthright citizenship by executive order was met with wide skepticism.

Earlier this year, in response to mass shootings, Trump suggested authorities seize firearms from dangerous people without court approval, rattling Second Amendment advocates and sparking reminders of the Fourth Amendment's bedrock requirement about searches, seizures, warrants and probably cause. Trump didn't pursue it. He does, however, claim Democrats "will take away your Second Amendment." No, they can't do that either.

Fog machine

The adage "never let them see you sweat" could apply to the Trump administration's decision to choose the day after Thanksgiving for the release of a frightening government scientific report on global warming.

The National Climate Assessment — written before the deadly fires and hurricanes of recent months — said warming-charged extremes "have already become more frequent, intense, widespread or of long duration." The report notes the past few years have smashed U.S. records for damaging weather, costing nearly $400 billion since 2015.

The report, written because it is required by law, said more than 90 percent of the current warming is human-caused. By the end of the century, the U.S. will be 3 to 12 degrees hotter, depending on how much greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere, it report warns. Trump, a skeptic on climate change, has moved to loosen restrictions on emissions.

A White House statement said the report, begun during the Obama administration, was “largely based on the most extreme scenario” of global warming.

The spare-little-expense deficit plan

Trump is asking top advisers for a plan to reduce soaring budget deficits, but has ruled out many measures that could help and keeps seeking new spending, The Washington Post reported.

The president's grasp on details is less than firm, according to one anecdote. Chief of Staff John Kelly was watching TV with Trump one day and asked the president how much he thought the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff earns. Trump guessed $5 million. Kelly responded that he made under $200,000. The president suggested he get a big raise.

Government debt has risen by roughly $2 trillion since Trump took office.

C'est moi, n'est-ce pas?

What do the violent protests in Paris over rising fuel prices have to do with Trump and his priorities? Nothing. For raisons inexplicables, that seemed to bother him.

"The large and violent French protests don’t take into account how badly the United States has been treated on Trade by the European Union or on fair and reasonable payments for our GREAT military protection," Trump tweeted.

What else is happening:

• A Trump tweet on the final day of Thanksgiving weekend reminded Americans of what he thinks they should be thankful for: Trump. “So great that oil prices are falling (thank you President T),” he said, touting "good Economic news."
• Trump will hold two rallies Monday in Mississippi to prop up Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. Her victory in a runoff Tuesday is no longer a sure thing since she told a supporter she'd happily attend a "public hanging" if he invited her, and photos surfaced showing her affinity for Confederate kitsch.
• A federal judge on Sunday turned down a bid by former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos to delay his two-week prison term. Papadopoulous, who pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents in the Russia investigation, was ordered to surrender Monday as scheduled.
• Several Republican senators on Sunday rejected Trump’s embrace of Saudi Arabia and his dismissal of the CIA's findings of the kingdom's role in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Some GOP lawmakers said Congress must take additional action.
• Former Trump White House official Cliff Sims told Axios how Trump gets near-instant gratification from a tweet. "He goes into the private dining room and within about 5 minutes, he can see this creation ... how it's playing out on the television."