memeorandum: Pope on Trump: Anyone who wants border walls isn't Christian (Nicole Winfield/Associated Press)

2:30 PM ET, February 18, 2016

Top Items:

Pope Francis Suggests Donald Trump Is ‘Not Christian’ — ABOARD THE PAPAL AIRLINER — Inserting himself into the Republican presidential race, Pope Francis on Wednesday suggested that Donald J. Trump “is not Christian” because of the harshness of his campaign promises to deport more immigrants …

Donald J Trump for President:

DONALD J. TRUMP RESPONSE TO THE POPE — If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS's ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, Hit & Run, The Hinterland Gazette, Right Wing Watch, Hot Air, VDARE, CNN, Refinery29, Mediaite, Friendly Atheist, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Vatican Radio English, New York's PIX11 and New York Times

Nick Gass / Politico:

Trump goes to war with the pope — Pope Francis suggested Thursday that Donald Trump is “not Christian” because he wants to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. Trump fired back with his own statement, suggesting to the leader of the Roman Catholic Church that the Islamic State …

Discussion: Yahoo Politics, Washington Post, ABC News, Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, New York Times, Right Wing Watch, Business Insider, Booman Tribune and Informed Comment

Nicole Winfield / Associated Press:

Pope on Trump: Anyone who wants border walls isn't Christian — ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Thursday that Donald Trump is “not Christian” if he wants to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. Trump immediately fired back, saying it is disgraceful for a religious leader to question a person's faith.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, National Review and Daily Wire

Daniel Burke / CNN:

Pope suggests Trump ‘is not Christian’ — (CNN)Thrusting himself into the combative 2016 presidential campaign, Pope Francis said Thursday that GOP frontrunner Donald Trump “is not Christian” if he calls for the deportation of undocumented immigrants and pledges to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.

Discussion: Washington Post, National Review and The San Diego Union …

Ben Shapiro / Breitbart:

Pope Francis Rips Capitalism, American Immigration Policy at Mexican Border — Pope Francis, apparently desperate to reach out to the Catholic Church's growing base in Latin America, spent the day slapping Americans in the face from across the US-Mexico border.

Discussion: Daily Wire and Reuters

Yahoo Politics:
Pope says Trump ‘not Christian’ in views, plans over immigration

Discussion: Washington Post and Politico

Gillian Mohney / ABC News:
Pope Francis Says Contraception May Be ‘Lesser of Two Evils’ During Zika Virus Outbreak

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, CRUX and abc11.com

Meghan Keneally / ABC News:
Pope Francis Says Donald Trump Is ‘Not Christian’

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, addictinginfo.org, abc11.com and Associated Press

Los Angeles Times:
Pope Francis decries ‘human tragedy’ that forces migration in landmark Mass at the U.S.-Mexico border

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Times, ImmigrationProf Blog and KTLA

CBS News:

CBS News poll: Trump maintains commanding lead over GOP field — Donald Trump (35 percent) continues to hold a commanding lead over the rest of the field, with a 17 point lead over his closest rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz (18 percent). John Kasich (11 percent) has now risen to a virtual third-place tie with Marco Rubio (12 percent).

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Political Insider blog, Politico, Hot Air and USA Today

CBS News:

CBS News poll: The next Supreme Court justice, Obama, and the economy — The U.S. Supreme Court — With an unexpected vacancy on the Supreme Court as a result of Justice Antonin Scalia's death, it's unclear if he will be replaced before the November election.

Discussion: ABC News, New York Times, Politico, NBC News, mprnews.org, BizPac Review, Wall Street Journal, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, abc11.com, Washington Post and The Week

Garrett Epps / The Atlantic:

The Republicans' Scalia Hysteria — A half-century ago, the brilliant British comedy troupe Beyond the Fringe produced “The End of the World,” a skit in which a group of cultists gather atop a mountain to greet the Apocalypse, prophesied for that very day. “Now is the end!” they chant.

Discussion: New York Times, BloombergView.com, SCOTUSblog, Fusion, Prairie Weather and PrawfsBlawg

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Scalia's death has landed Republicans in a nasty trap — THE MORNING PLUM: — A new CBS News poll out this morning finds that Donald Trump continues to dominate among Republican voters nationally: He's backed by 35 percent; Ted Cruz has 18 percent; and Marco-Mentum has 12 percent.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, CNN, Politicus USA, Daily Kos, CBS News and Common Dreams

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
White House: Obama ‘regrets’ his filibuster of Supreme Court nominee

Discussion: CNN, Business Insider, American Spectator, Politico, ABC News, The Daily Signal, CNBC, Power Line and The Week

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:
Outside Groups Warn GOP: Don't Even Think About Holding A SCOTUS Hearing

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Daily Kos

Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money:
Summing Up Scalia — Getting right to the point:

Discussion: Balkinization

David Lat / Above the Law:
Controversy Erupts At A T14 Law School Over How (Or Even Whether) To Mourn Justice Scalia

Discussion: Independent Journal Review, Althouse, Instapundit, Campus Reform, The Daily Caller and The College Fix

New York Times:
The Potential for the Most Liberal Supreme Court in Decades

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Prairie Weather, ACS Blog and BloombergView.com

Dylan Byers / CNN:
Glenn Beck: God took Scalia to give America Ted Cruz as president

Discussion: TPNN, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller and The Gateway Pundit

JCN / Judicial Crisis Network:
JCN Launches “Let the People Decide” Campaign

Discussion: Politico and Talking Points Memo

Mark Murray / NBC News:
Donald Trump Falls Behind Ted Cruz in National NBC/WSJ Poll

Dana Blanton / Fox News:

Fox News Poll: Trump leads in South Carolina — Donald Trump still leads in the race for the Republican nomination in South Carolina, according to a new Fox News poll. — Trump captures 32 percent among South Carolina likely Republican primary voters. Ted Cruz gets 19 percent to Marco Rubio's 15 percent.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Power Line, Political Wire, Politico and Hot Air

Alexis Levinson / National Review:
The Kasich Campaign's Next Moves

Discussion: RedState

Patrick Howley / Breitbart: Exclusive — SC Blogger: Marco Rubio's Campaign Manager Pushed Story That Nikki Haley Had An Affair With Me

Michael Falcone / ABC News:
The Note: Palmetto Pummel

Discussion: Associated Press and abc11.com

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:
Jeb Bush confronted like never before by worried supporters

Discussion: National Review, addictinginfo.org, FiveThirtyEight, Marco Rubio, Florida Politics, Yahoo Politics, BostonGlobe.com and Politico

Isaac Chotiner / Slate:

MSNBC's Town Hall With Donald Trump Was Disgraceful — The media's coverage of Trump has been soft, insufficient, and without substance. — Is Donald Trump in trouble? After facing hostile questions from Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski Wednesday night—they comprehensively laid out his flip-flops …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Politicus USA, Washington Post and Mother Jones

Mark Hensch / The Hill:
Trump: I'll be ‘neutral’ on Israel and Palestine

Discussion: RedState, Daily Wire, Yahoo Politics, Betsy's Page, Hot Air, American Spectator and Mondoweiss

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Trump Mistakenly Thinks Description Of Sanders Is About Himself (VIDEO)

Discussion: MSNBC, Daily Wire and The Week

Ben Rhodes:

President Obama is going to Cuba. Here's why: — Cuba is only 90 miles from Florida, but for a long time the distance between our two countries seemed a lot greater. — For more than fifty years, the United States pursued a policy of isolating and pressuring Cuba.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The White House, Yahoo Politics, The Daily Signal, Business Insider, KTLA, Fort Smith/Fayetteville News, Independent Journal Review and Politico

Jim Avila / ABC News:
President Obama to Visit Cuba in Historic Trip Next Month

Discussion: CNN, Guardian, abc11.com, The Right Scoop, Weasel Zippers, New York Magazine and The Week

Bill Chappell / NPR:

Oregon Occupier Countersues For $666 Billion, Citing ‘Works Of The Devil’ — Shawna Cox, one of the last militants to be arrested for occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge last month, has filed a counter-suit against the U.S. government and others in which she alleges “damages from the works of the devil in excess of 666,666,666,666.66.”

Discussion: Friendly Atheist

CNN:
Cliven Bundy indicted by federal grand jury

Discussion: New York Magazine, Politicus USA, Mashable and The Atlantic

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

How to Break a Party — Beginning with the Tea Party wave and continuing through the not-Romney musical chairs of the 2012 Republican primary and the battles over debt limits and fiscal cliffs, most coverage of the Republican Party's internal divisions during the Obama era fell into an easy groove …

Bradford Richardson / The Hill:

Obama ‘Hope’ designer endorses Sanders — Artist and activist Shepard Fairey, who designed the iconic “Hope” poster during then-Sen. Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, is backing Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders. — “I'm supporting Bernie Sanders …

Discussion: Daily Wire, Politico, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller and Vox

Spencer Hall / SBNation.com:

A note from the editorial director — Earlier today, SB Nation posted a story called “Who is Daniel Holtzclaw?” that attempted to find out the backstory of convicted serial rapist Daniel Holtzclaw. The story focused on his football background in particular.

Discussion: Deadspin, New York Times, Jezebel, Talking Points Memo, Slate, archive.is, Shakesville, FanSided and Slantpoint, more at Mediagazer »

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Mainstream G.O.P. Field of Three Faces Brutal Delegate Math — If the Republican Party remains divided for much longer, it will start getting more difficult for a mainstream candidate to win the nomination. — Yet Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and John Kasich all have incentives to stay in the race …

Discussion: Shakesville