"Possibility number one: 12 Years a Slave wins Best Picture. Possibility number two: You're all racists. And now, please welcome our first white presenter, Anne Hathaway." Scott Meslow

President Donald Trump lost the popular vote by almost 3 million people, but he secured the presidency by earning 304 electoral votes to Hillary Clinton's 227. Nevertheless, Trump proposed eliminating the Electoral College in favor of simple popular vote this week, but was shot down by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), The Wall Street Journal reports:

Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration over losing the popular vote, claiming without evidence that millions of illegal votes were cast in the election, predominately in large blue states. Jeva Lange

As far as President Donald Trump has announced, there are no plans to make the southern border wall 700 feet tall or constructed out of ice. Even so, a wall spanning the 1,989 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border is a feat that could use the help of a little bit of magic.

To put it in some fantastical perspective:

"I will build a great wall," Trump promised during the 2016 campaign, "and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me." Tell that to the Night's Watch. Jeva Lange

A secret tape of Thursday's closed-door Republican meeting about the Affordable Care Act revealed that not everyone in the House and Senate is as confident about the repeal as they outwardly appear. The authenticity of the tape's recordings was confirmed with lawmakers by The Washington Post, and it catches Republicans expressing fear about the hasty repeal process and defunding Planned Parenthood.

"We'd better be sure that we're prepared to live with the market we've created [with repeal]," said Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.). "That's going to be called TrumpCare. Republicans will own that lock, stock, and barrel, and we'll be judged in the election less than two years away."

Rep. John Faso (R-N.Y.) expressed similar concerns about the 2020 election: Defunding Planned Parenthood in the reconciliation bill, as proposed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, would be "arming our enemy," he said. "Health insurance is going to be tough enough for us to deal with without having millions of people on social media come to Planned Parenthood's defense and sending hundreds of thousands of new donors to the Democratic Senate and Democratic congressional campaign committees. So I would just urge us to rethink this."

Others expressed fears about the breakneck pace of the repeal process, which President Trump launched this week with executive action. "Our goal, in my opinion, should be not a quick fix. We can do it rapidly — but not a quick fix," said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). "We want a long-term solution that lowers costs."

"We're telling those people that we're not going to pull the rug out from under them, and if we do this too fast, we are in fact going to pull the rug out from under them," agreed Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.). Jeva Lange

President Trump applauded Brexit during his joint press conference Friday with British Prime Minister Theresa May, following their meeting at the White House. He predicted Brexit would be "a wonderful thing" for Britain because "you're going to have the people you want in your country," and he vowed that "today the U.S. renews our deep bond with Britain."

May later announced that Trump has accepted a state visit invitation from the Queen for later this year, and she also said Trump has indicated he is "100 percent behind NATO." "I'm delighted to be able to congratulate you on what was a stunning election victory," she said.

During the question-and-answer portion of the press conference, Trump was asked about his scheduled Saturday phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump said he's had "many times where I thought I'd get along with people and I don't like them at all," apparently implying this could happen with Putin, and he also said it's "very early" to be talking about whether his administration will drop the U.S. sanctions on Russia. He also reiterated his belief that torture is effective, though he said he would defer to Defense Secretary James Mattis, who has stated his opposition to the tactics.

May was the first world leader Trump has hosted since taking office last week. He was scheduled to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto next Tuesday, but Peña Nieto canceled after Trump expedited plans to build a Mexico border wall. Becca Stanek

President Donald Trump filed for re-election just five hours after he was sworn in as commander-in-chief on Inauguration Day, the Free Beacon's Lachlan Markay discovered Friday:

By comparison:

Start your engines! Jeva Lange

They say history repeats itself, but what they don't tell you is that sometimes it doesn't take very long. President Donald Trump and his closest staffers are seemingly making the exact same missteps as Hillary Clinton. Here's a look. Jeva Lange

The private email server

Hillary Clinton famously used a private email server while serving as secretary of state, an act Trump once claimed "disqualifies her from seeking presidency." But Trump's senior White House staff use a private Republican National Committee server, Newsweek reports. This isn't explicitly illegal — but it's led to some scrutiny in the past, such as when 22 million emails vanished under former President George W. Bush, or when the Russians possibly compromised the RNC server at the same time as their hack on the Democratic National Committee. Any emails that aren't forwarded from the private server to a White House address are also in violation of the Presidential Records Act. "Given how hard the Trump campaign hammered Clinton [on] her own use of a private email server during her tenure [...] this is not a good look," Engadget writes.

The personal email account

While government officials have not always used .gov accounts, Clinton's usage was ruled as "more serious" in 2016. "The audit did note that former Secretary of State Colin Powell had also exclusively used a private email account. ... But the failings of Clinton were singled out in the audit as being more serious than her predecessor," The Associated Press reported last May. This past Thursday, Twitter users noticed that Trump's @POTUS Twitter account appeared to be linked to the personal Gmail account of his White House social media director, Dan Scavino. Scavino has apparently fixed that, but linking to a commercial email address made the Twitter account more vulnerable to hacking.

The ties to Teneo

Trump's former spokesman, Jason Miller, turned down a White House position in December, citing commitments to his family. On Friday, Axios reported Miller was taking a position with Teneo Strategy, a company that once put the Clintons in hot water. The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee scrutinized for years whether Teneo had "improper access to the highest levels of U.S. government" when Clinton was secretary of state, Reuters reports. While Miller does not have a job in the White House, he assured in December that he looks "forward to continuing to support the president-elect from the outside after my work on the transition concludes."

President Trump is going to face resistance from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) if he repeals sanctions on Russia, as is reportedly "under consideration" by his administration. In a statement released the day before Trump's phone call Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, McCain urged Trump to "put an end to this speculation and reject such a reckless course." "If he does not, I will work with my colleagues to codify sanctions against Russia into law," McCain wrote in the statement.

McCain went on to recall Russia's wrongdoings, including its annexation of Crimea, its intervention in Syria, its "massive military buildup along NATO's eastern flank," and its "flagrant demonstration" of "disdain and disrespect" in its cyberattacks ahead of the U.S. presidential election. McCain also reminded Trump the last three U.S. presidents have had "high hopes for building a partnership" with Russia, though each attempt "failed" because "Putin wants to be our enemy."

Trump "should remember that the man on the other end of the line is a murderer and thug who seeks to undermine American national security interests at every turn," McCain said. "For our commander-in-chief to think otherwise would be naïve and dangerous."

McCain's statement is available in full below. Becca Stanek