memeorandum: Trump lowers expectations for debate (Mark Hensch/The Hill)

6:10 PM ET, July 30, 2015

Top Items:

Trump Tops Republican Pack By Wide Margin, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; But Dems Trump Trump In General Election — With 20 percent of Republican voters, Donald Trump is the clear leader in the crowded Republican presidential primary field, but he trails any of three leading …

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:

Rand Paul attributes Trump's rise to a ‘loss of sanity’ — Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) is attributing GOP rival Donald Trump's rise in the polls to a momentary “loss of sanity.” — “I think this is a temporary sort of loss of sanity, but we're going to come back to our senses and look …

Discussion: ABC News and Political Wire

Mark Hensch / The Hill:

Trump lowers expectations for debate — GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday he has “no idea” how he will perform in next week's Republican 2016 debate. — Trump argued that he is a man of action rather than words during a news conference in Turnberry, Scotland, that afternoon.

Discussion: ABC News and Raw Story

Jon WardSenior / Yahoo Politics:

Donald Trump offered access to the Republican National Committee's voter file — The Republican National Committee has offered to share its voter file with Donald Trump's presidential campaign and is waiting to hear back from the businessman's still assembling operation. — Trump announced his candidacy on June 16.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, NPR and EcoWatch

Natalie Andrews / Wall Street Journal:
Donald Trump Winning Facebook by a Landslide

Discussion: Politico, Business Insider, Sun-Times National, OnPolitics, Fox News and Political Wire

David Daley / Salon:
“Ted Cruz gives me the willies”: Camille Paglia analyzes the GOP field — and takes on Hillary Clinton

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Washington Free Beacon and Washington Monthly

David Daleiden / The Center for Medical Progress:

Planned Parenthood VP Says Fetuses May Come Out Intact, Agrees Payments Specific to the Specimen — #PPSellsBabyParts PLANNED PARENTHOOD VP SAYS FETUSES MAY COME OUT INTACT, AGREES PAYMENTS SPECIFIC TO THE SPECIMEN — Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains VP & Medical Director Savita Ginde …

Discussion: CNN, The PJ Tatler, RH Reality Check, Washington Free Beacon, Fox News, National Review, The Daily Caller, Moonbattery and The Federalist

Burgess Everett / Politico:
How Planned Parenthood could shut down the government

Discussion: NBC News, Slantpoint, Daily Kos, Reuters, US News, LifeNews.com, PoliticusUSA, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air and CNN

Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:
Fourth video on Planned Parenthood released

Discussion: Christian Science Monitor, The Center for Medical …, Washington Free Beacon, Sun-Times National, Common Dreams and No More Mister Nice Blog

Sean Davis / The Federalist:
Planned Parenthood “Hacking” Sure Looks Like An Orchestrated PR Stunt

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, The NonProfit Times, LifeNews.com, Truth Revolt, Mediaite and The Right Scoop

Sarah Rumpf / BREITBART.COM:
Planned Parenthood's ‘Hacked’ Website Looks Like PR Stunt

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Young Conservatives and BizzyBlog

The Daily Beast:
Why Dems Don't Want to Talk About Planned Parenthood

Discussion: Commentary Magazine, Hot Air, LifeNews.com, Washington Post, msnbc.com, Wired, The Hill, The Federalist, Shakesville, National Review, Truth Revolt, Mother Jones and Twitchy

Cecile Richards / Washington Post:
Planned Parenthood president: These extremist videos are nothing short of an attack on women

Discussion: Guardian, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, Rush Limbaugh, New York Times, Addicting Info and RH Reality Check

Lauren French / Politico:
Pelosi: Dems ‘overwhelmingly’ against defunding Planned Parenthood

Discussion: LifeNews.com, Daily Kos and Hit & Run

Ken Goldstein / Bloomberg Business:

Many Republican Polls Are Measuring a Unicorn Electorate — Recent elections around the world have not been kind to pollsters. In contests in Israel and Britain, and in a referendum in Scotland, pre-election polls all showed tight races that ended up being, well, not so tight.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Progress Pond and Outside the Beltway

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:

The Fox News GOP Debate Could Draw the Biggest Audience in Cable News History — and Roger Ailes Is Making All the Rules — “Crazy stuff! You have a TV executive deciding who is in — and out — of a presidential debate! ” — Shares

Discussion: Poynter. and Raw Story

New York Times:
Stakes for Donald Trump in First G.O.P. Debate (in a Word): Huge

Discussion: Eschaton

David Knowles / Bloomberg Business:

New Hampshire Voters Explain the Appeal of Donald Trump — A Bloomberg Politics focus group of Donald Trump supporters in the Granite State helps illuminate the billionaire's rise in the polls. — t writerknowles — Donald Trump is a brand, and his New Hampshire supporters are itching to buy it.

Discussion: SaintPetersBlog, Progress Pond, Shakesville, Raw Story, Balloon Juice and Business Insider

Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
Trump's immigration plan: Deport the undocumented, ‘legal status’ for some

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Daily Kos, America's Voice, Hot Air and Hullabaloo

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Bring on the Cattle Cars, the Police State!

Discussion: CNN and America's Voice

McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Facts in Clinton's ‘secret’ emails came from five intelligence agencies — Revelations put Clinton in the cross-hairs of a broadening inquiry into whether she mishandled classified information — Officials reviewed five classified emails and determined that they included information from five intelligence agencies

Discussion: Guardian, American Spectator, Business Insider, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, Power Line and Politico

Rachael Bade / Politico:

Judge explodes over Hillary email delays — An irritated federal judge Thursday put the Hillary Clinton email scandal into stark terms, grilling the State Department on a pattern of delayed document releases that has turned a possible bureaucratic logjam into a major problem for the leading Democratic presidential contender.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, BizPac Review and Washington Free Beacon

Neetzan Zimmerman / The Hill:

Jon Stewart opens up on ‘secret’ White House visits — “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart is opening up about his “secret” White House meetings with President Obama, revealing that they were far more sinister than initially reported. — “It was a roundtable meeting with the president …

Discussion: Daily Mail and Sun-Times National

Ray Rahman / EW.com:
THE DAILY SHOW PRODUCERS ON JON STEWART'S LAST SHOW: 'DONALD TRUMP IS NOT COMING ON THE SHOW

Discussion: FishbowlDC and Sun-Times National

Brent Budowsky / The Hill:

A tale of two Hillarys — Charles Dickens could have been writing about the American economy, national politics or the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign when he began A Tale of Two Cities with this: — “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom …

ABC News:
Canary in Coal Mine: Trouble Ahead for Poll Leaders Trump and Clinton

Discussion: The Hill

Eric Morath / Wall Street Journal:

The Worst Expansion Since World War II Was Even Weaker … The economic expansion—already the worst on record since World War II—is weaker than previously thought, according to newly revised data. — From 2012 through 2014, the economy grew at an all-too-familiar rate of 2% annually …

Discussion: BizzyBlog, Rush Limbaugh, Daily Mail and The Gateway Pundit

Sho Chandra / Bloomberg Business:
U.S. GDP Rises 2.3% in Second Quarter; First Quarter Revised Upward

Discussion: Reuters, BizzyBlog, Hot Air and The Week

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

James Woods Sues Twitter User for $10 Million Over “Cocaine Addict” Accusation — The actor files a defamation lawsuit against an individual who replied to his tweets about Barack Obama and Caitlyn Jenner. — Incivility on social media seems to be a regular occurrence …

Discussion: Mediaite, BizPac Review, Mashable and Guardian

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

After Firedoglake — As many of you know, Firedoglake has been on hiatus for eight months while I recovered from hip replacement surgery. During that time I've been contemplating what the next chapter should be for the website. After some personal reflection, I have decided to pass …

Discussion: skippy the bush kangaroo

Julian Hattem / The Hill:

Obama gives Dems hard sell on ‘odious’ Iran — President Obama gave a personal presentation on Wednesday outlining the merits of the nuclear deal with Iran, in the latest hands-on sales pitch to Congress. — The meeting, which went for around 30 minutes, was billed by the White House as a …

Discussion: Weekly Standard

Macdonald Dzirutwe / Reuters:

‘What lion?’ Zimbabweans ask, amid global Cecil circus — As social media exploded with outrage this week at the killing of Cecil the lion, the untimely passing of the celebrated predator at the hands of an American dentist went largely unnoticed in the animal's native Zimbabwe.

Discussion: Mediaite, petitions.whitehouse.gov, Joe. My. God. and The Daily Caller

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Trump's Campaign Manager: We'll Release Specific Policies When We Want To — “We will not be dictated to of how best to run the campaign or how best to move forward with our plan to make America great again.” — Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images — Donald Trump's campaign manager says Trump …

Discussion: Political Wire

Associated Press:

AP Investigation: Olympic teams to swim, boat in Rio's filth — 24 photos — RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Athletes in next year's Summer Olympics here will be swimming and boating in waters so contaminated with human feces that they risk becoming violently ill and unable to compete in the games …

Discussion: Mashable, Guardian, Business Insider, Just Sayin', NBC News, ThinkProgress, SBNation.com and Press Association

Wall Street Journal:

UBS Deal Shows Clinton's Complicated Ties — Donations to family foundation increased after secretary of state's involvement in tax case — A few weeks after Hillary Clinton was sworn in as secretary of state in early 2009, she was summoned to Geneva by her Swiss counterpart to discuss an urgent matter.

Discussion: Fox News, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Hot Air and The Week