memeorandum: Man accused of threatening Arkansas mayors over Common Core, religion in schools sent back to jail (Lynn Larowe Texarkana/Arkansas Online)

3:05 PM ET, May 9, 2016

Top Items:

Ryan says he would step down as convention chair if Trump asks — Related Coverage — By Mary Spicuzza and Craig Gilbert of the Journal Sentinel — Janesville — House Speaker Paul Ryan said Monday that if Donald Trump wants him to step down as a co-chairman of the GOP convention, he will respect his wishes.

Discussion: Washington Post, Guardian, CNN, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite, Washington Times, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, Politicus USA, The Daily Caller and RealClearPolitics

Glenn Thrush / Politico:

‘I think he could come apart’ — Mark Salter, the most prominent and most defiant Republican to announce his support of Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, thinks the 2016 campaign could literally — no joke — drive the billionaire developer insane. — Salter, one of Sen. John McCain's top aides during …

Discussion: Raw Story and No More Mister Nice Blog

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Donald Trump's Warning to Paul Ryan Signals Further G.O.P. Discord

Discussion: Power Line, Heat Street, Salon, Hullabaloo, CNN, FiveThirtyEight, Politicus USA, New York Magazine, USA Today, Washington Post, Towleroad, The Huffington Post, Slantpoint, The Gateway Pundit and The Moderate Voice

Megan Cassella / Reuters:
Speaker Ryan says he would step down as Republican convention chair if Trump asks: report

Discussion: Political Wire

Nicholas Riccardi / Associated Press:
For some Republicans, Trump-Clinton matchup is ‘nightmare’

Discussion: Mother Jones and Associated Press

Michael Nunez / Gizmodo:

Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News — Facebook workers routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers from the social network's influential “trending” news section, according to a former journalist who worked on the project.

CNN:

Poll: 6-in-10 oppose bills like the North Carolina transgender bathroom law — Washington (CNN)Americans broadly oppose laws that would require transgender people to use facilities that correspond with their gender at birth rather than their gender identity, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll …

Discussion: Reuters, Daily Kos, Hot Air, Shakesville, Joe.My.God. and Towleroad

Joshua Berlinger / CNN:

Showdown looms over North Carolina's bathroom bill — (CNN)It's deadline day for North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory. — The U.S. Justice Department sent his office a letter Wednesday claiming that the state's controversial bathroom law is in violation of the Civil Rights Act.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Times, Mashable, Hot Air, mrctv.org/videos and Joe.My.God.

Associated Press:
North Carolina Governor Files Lawsuit Over LGBT Rights Law

Discussion: WNCN, Vox, RedState, ABC News, USA Today, WLNS-TV, Rewire, LawNewz, Washington Examiner, Washington Post and Joe.My.God.

Pete Williams / NBC News:
North Carolina Sues Feds Over Controversial LGBT Law

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

Nick Gass / Politico:

Trump enlists Christie to head White House transition team — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will serve as the chairman of Donald Trump's transition team should he win the presidency, the presumptive Republican nominee's campaign announced Monday. — “Governor Christie is an extremely knowledgeable …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Washington Monthly, RedState, New York Times, Daily Kos, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Booman Tribune

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Obama itches for Trump fight

Discussion: Politico and Heat Street

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:
Christie to lead Trump White House transition team

Discussion: Political Insider blog

Allegra Kirkland / Talking Points Memo: Trump Announces Chris Christie Will Take Charge Of His Transition Team

Bobby Jindal / Wall Street Journal:

I'm Voting Trump, Warts and All — I stand by all my criticisms of the New Yorker, but the stakes for the country are too great to elect Clinton. — Some of my fellow Republicans have declared they will never, under any circumstances, vote for Donald Trump.

Discussion: National Review, New York Times, Washington Times and Althouse

Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard:

He'll Do It His Way — Don't expect a New Trump. — If you're expecting Donald Trump to change now that he's the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, forget it. Trump says he can act presidential any time he wants to. But that time rarely comes. There's a reason for this.

Christopher Massie / BuzzFeed:
Pat Toomey Says He Might Not Be Able To Back Trump

Discussion: Philly.com, Vox and Business Insider

Nick Gass / Politico:

Trump: U.S. can never default because it prints money — Donald Trump assailed the media on Monday for what he said was a misrepresentation of his comments on debt, rejecting the notion that he would have the United States default on his debt. — “I said if we can buy back government debt as a discount.

Discussion: The Hill, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, RedState, TheStreet.com, Vox, zerohedge.com/fullrss2 …, Washington Post, Business Insider, Red Alert Politics and Media Matters for America

Nick Gass / Politico: Trump, pivoting to general, lashes out at everyone

Michael Goodwin / New York Post:
Meet the Democratic Liars Club

Discussion: FOX News Radio and Betsy's Page

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress: Trump's Dangerous National Debt Plan Is Also Unconstitutional

Fred Hiatt / Washington Post:

Democrats, don't celebrate Trump's nomination. Fear it. — I know the polls say Donald Trump cannot win. But what if we are looking at the wrong poll question? — What if Trump's overwhelming negatives don't matter? Or, to put it another way, what if the country's negatives matter more?

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
Rapper Azealia Banks Endorses Trump - Says Hillary Talks to Black People “Like We're Pets”

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, AOL and The Daily Caller

Kurt Schlichter / Townhall.com:
I Am Going To Vote For Trump Though It Makes Me Want To Projectile Vomit

Discussion: Hot Air

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

RNC Chair: Trump Should Reassure GOP That He Won't Change The Party Platform — Priebus said Trump standing by the current platform and releasing names of potential Supreme Court nominees would ease the anxiety of some in the party. — Kevin Lamarque / Reuters — w.soundcloud.com

Discussion: Politico

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Americans Don't Trust Trump on Supreme Court Vacancy; 65% Want Hearings

Discussion: Daily Kos and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

Nancy A. Youssef / The Daily Beast:

She Spoke Up About Cooked ISIS Intel. They Booted Her—for Cursing. — An employee at CENTCOM's Joint Intelligence office says she was reassigned, supposedly for cursing at work, after speaking out about cherry-picked ISIS war intel. — TAMPA, Florida — She worked on and off …

Discussion: Jihad Watch and Washington Free Beacon

Jack Jenkins / ThinkProgress:

Now Trump Is Just Openly Attacking The Religious Right — Businessman and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is now openly attacking leaders of the Religious Right who are critical of him, using Twitter to blast the head of the Southern Baptist Convention's political arm as “a nasty guy with no heart.”

Discussion: Religion News Service and The Resurgent

Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar / Associated Press:

Study: Sanders' economic plan piles $18T on federal debt — WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders' tax and spending proposals would provide new levels of health and education benefits for American families, but they'd also blow an $18-trillion hole in federal deficits, piling on so much debt they would damage the economy.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:

Cashing in: Illegal immigrants get $1,261 more welfare than American families, $5,692 vs. $4,431 — Illegal immigrant households receive an average of $5,692 in federal welfare benefits every year, far more than the average “native” American household, at $4,431, according to a new report on the cost of immigration released Monday.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Scared Monkeys, mrctv.org/videos and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Trump Biographer: Trump Had Me Change Cover Photo Because It Made Him Look Fat — Trump also requested unflattering details about his divorce be removed from the book. — View Video › — Donald Trump biographer Robert Slater revealed in a 2005 lecture that he removed unflattering details from the book at Trump's request.

Discussion: Mediaite

Ben Rhodes:

How We Advocated for the Iran Deal — In recent years, few things have been as exhaustively debated or written about than the Iran deal. — That debate reignited this week after a long article about me included a section about the Iran deal. There are many issues raised in an article of this length …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Post, The Last Tradition, Mediaite and Politico