memeorandum: House Speaker Paul Ryan Refuses to Back Donald Trump (ABC News)

8:25 PM ET, May 5, 2016

Top Items:

Donald J. Trump / Facebook:

Happy Cinco de Mayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics!

Mitt Romney will skip Trump's nominating convention in Cleveland … Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, plans to skip this summer's Republican National Convention in Cleveland where Donald Trump will be officially nominated — an unusual move that underscores the deep unease …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Guardian, RedState, Political Wire, Western Journalism, AOL, Politico, Business Insider, Independent Journal …, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Washington Free Beacon, The Week, New York Times, The Daily Caller and CBS Boston

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:

Paul Ryan Says He Cannot Support Donald Trump for Now — WASHINGTON — Speaker Paul D. Ryan, the nation's highest-ranking elected Republican, said Thursday that he was “not ready” to endorse Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. — Mr. Ryan, who is also chairman …

Discussion: Western Journalism, Political Wire, National Review and Politico

Streiff / RedState:

BREAKING. Donald Trump Renounces His Own Tax Plan — We've said over and over... and to no avail... that Donald Trump believes in absolutely nothing more than Donald Trump. During the course of this campaign, Donald Trump has proposed any number of half-baked, nonsensical ideas and now he's in the process of reneging on them.

Discussion: MSNBC and TheStreet.com

Eric Bradner / CNN:

Paul Ryan: 'I'm just not ready' to back Donald Trump — (CNN)House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday he cannot yet support presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump's presidential campaign. — “I'm just not ready to do that at this point. I'm not there right now,” the Wisconsin Republican told CNN's …

Discussion: Vox, The Atlantic, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, Complex, NY State of Politics, ABC News, The Huffington Post and The Week

Danielle Allen / Washington Post:

Hillary Clinton is walking into Donald Trump's trap — The writer is a political theorist at Harvard University and a contributing columnist for The Post. — Donald Trump has set a big, fat trap for Hillary Clinton, and so far she has stepped right into it. He turned his attacks against women against her.

Discussion: Althouse, Liberal Values and The Slot

Jake Sherman / Politico:

How Ryan decided to ditch Trump — On Wednesday morning, not even 24 hours after Donald Trump effectively clinched the Republican nomination, Paul Ryan convened his top advisers for a call. With Congress out of session, Ryan was bouncing between multiple states, raising the piles of money needed …

Discussion: Political Wire

ABC News:
House Speaker Paul Ryan Refuses to Back Donald Trump

Discussion: Associated Press

Dan Riehl / Breitbart:
Paul Nehlen: Paul Ryan ‘Sold His Vote! I Absolutely Believe That’

Discussion: The Last Refuge

J.K. Trotter / Gawker:
The Best of New York Times Columnist Ross Douthat's Incorrect Predictions That Trump Would Lose the GOP Nomination

Discussion: Booman Tribune and The Intercept

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:
Dole alone in not shunning GOP convention

Discussion: Politico and Talking Points Memo

Burgess Everett / Politico: Reid spoiling for a fight with Trump

Wall Street Journal:
The Trump Reality — He may be the highest variable nominee in American history.

Discussion: Guardian

Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:
The Republican Party's Woman Problem

Discussion: New York Magazine

Dan Turkel / Business Insider:
NATE SILVER: ‘We basically got the Republican race wrong’

Discussion: Chicago Boyz, New York Times, Hullabaloo, JustOneMinute, Slate, Liberty Unyielding and Balloon Juice

Bryce Covert / ThinkProgress:
Donald Trump Walks Back His Only Detailed Economic Proposal

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

Nick Gass / Politico:
Scarborough: I won't vote for Trump if he doesn't change

Joe Klein / TIME:

Why the Clintons Don't Fear the Coming Armageddon With Donald Trump — Hillary Clinton's ultimate trump card will not be her gender but her relative humanity — On the night that Donald Trump effectively won the Republican nomination for President, Hillary Clinton observed radio silence.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

John Cassidy / New Yorker:
Why Bernie Sanders Is Staying in the Race

Discussion: The Atlantic, NBC News, Washington Post, Sky Dancing, New York Times and CBS New York

David Roberts / Vox:
Why the media will lift Trump up and tear Clinton down

Discussion: Washington Post, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, CNN, Liberty Unyielding, No More Mister Nice Blog, Towleroad, NPR, Booman Tribune, Boston Globe, The Week, Washington Monthly, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Independent Journal …, KFOR-TV, Business Insider and The Daily Caller

CNN:

First on CNN: FBI interviews Clinton aides including Huma Abedin as part of email probe — (CNN)Some of Hillary Clinton's closest aides, including her longtime adviser Huma Abedin, have provided interviews to federal investigators, as the FBI probe into the security of her private email …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Los Angeles Times, Politicus USA, AOL, U.S. Uncut, LawNewz, NBC News, Political Wire and Washington Free Beacon

NBC News:
Hacker ‘Guccifer’: I Got Inside Hillary Clinton's Server

Discussion: Power Line, LawNewz, The Daily Caller, Media Matters for America, Independent Journal …, Scared Monkeys, Politico, New York Magazine and Washington Times

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Report: Hillary Clinton aides interviewed by FBI in email probe

Discussion: ABC News

Ben Sasse / Facebook:

AN OPEN LETTER TO MAJORITY AMERICA — TO: Those who think both leading presidential candidates are dishonest and have little chance of leading America forward: — (...or, stated more simply) — TO: The majority of America: — Note: If you are one of those rare souls …

Discussion: NBC News, The Daily Caller, RedState, Washington Post, Guardian, Hot Air, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Red Alert Politics, Hit & Run, New York Magazine, JP Updates, neo-neocon, Independent Journal …, Talking Points Memo, Media Matters for America, Washington Free Beacon, Politico and Mediaite

The Cook Political Report:

New Electoral Scorecard Ratings in 13 States — This has been an exceedingly unpredictable year. Although we remain convinced that Hillary Clinton is very vulnerable and would probably lose to most other Republicans, Donald Trump's historic unpopularity with wide swaths of the electorate …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, RedState, Balloon Juice and Wall Street Journal

Harry Enten / FiveThirtyEight:
Americans' Distaste For Both Trump And Clinton Is Record-Breaking

Discussion: The Week

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Woman Who Built Trump Tower Says She's Backing Clinton Over Trump

Discussion: Shakesville

Tarini Parti / BuzzFeed:

New Trump Finance Chair Has Given Twice As Much To Democrats As To The GOP — Donald Trump has hired a Wall Street tycoon who has donated more than twice as much to Democrats as to Republicans to be his campaign's finance chair, according to a review of Federal Election Commission filings.

Discussion: Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, Politicus USA, Washington Free Beacon and The Resurgent

Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg:
Trump Names Hedge Fund Manager as National Finance Chairman

Discussion: The Daily Beast, zerohedge.com/fullrss2 …, CANNONFIRE, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo and The Talking Dog

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

This brutal new ad shows the shredding machine that awaits Trump — THE MORNING PLUM: — Predictably enough, the hand-wringing has already begun among some Democrats over the prospect of Donald Trump waging “unpredictable” attacks on Hillary Clinton and the possibility that the Clinton camp will be …

Discussion: CNN, Politico, The Stranger …, Althouse, Talking Points Memo, Townhall.com, Mother Jones, Slate, The Moderate Voice and Shakesville

Barack Obama:

A Nation of Second Chances — Earlier this spring, I met with a group of individuals whose sentences were commuted either by President Bush, President Clinton, or myself. They were all at different stages of a new chapter in their lives, but each of their stories was extraordinary.

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, Medium, The Atlantic, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller and Independent Journal …

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Obama commutes sentences of 58 prisoners

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Medium

Wall Street Journal:

Ben Carson Says Donald Trump Could Consider Democrat for Running Mate — Former GOP candidate, now a Trump ally, also takes his name out of the running as possible pick — Ben Carson, the former rival now helping presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump choose a running mate …

Discussion: RedState, Talking Points Memo and The Week

FOX Carolina 21:

Tow truck owner said he refused service to woman because she supports Bernie Sanders — A local tow truck driver said he refused to tow a woman's car after he saw Bernie Sanders stickers on the vehicle. — Kenneth Shupe said he was called to pick up a woman stranded on I-26 in Asheville on Monday.

Discussion: WLOS-TV, The Huffington Post, Western Journalism, Mediaite, Raw Story, Fox News Insider, mrctv.org/videos, Independent Journal …, The American Mirror, WNCN, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo and Guardian

Colin Campbell / Raleigh News & Observer:

NC won't meet Obama administration's Monday deadline on House Bill 2, House speaker says — Department of Justice says HB2 violates the U.S. Civil Rights Act and Title IX — Tim Moore: ‘We will take no action by Monday’ — House Speaker Tim Moore said Thursday that legislators won't meet …

Discussion: Politico, Raw Story, Towleroad, Talking Points Memo, Washington Blade, The New Civil Rights Movement and NPR

fda.gov:

FDA takes significant steps to protect Americans from dangers of tobacco through new regulation — Rule extending oversight to all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, allows agency to address public health concerns such as youth access to tobacco products … For Immediate Release

Discussion: CNN, USA Today, Washington Post, ABC News, Hit & Run, OpenMarket, Consumerist and Refinery29

David Samuels / New York Times:

The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama's Foreign-Policy Guru — How Ben Rhodes rewrote the rules of diplomacy for the digital age. — Picture him as a young man, standing on the waterfront in North Williamsburg, at a polling site, on Sept. 11, 2001, which was Election Day in New York City.

Discussion: EconLog