memeorandum: EXCLUSIVE: ‘Duck Dynasty’ patriarch Phil Robertson says he'll back Donald Trump despite endorsing … (Daily Mail)

5:45 PM ET, May 10, 2016

Top Items:

GOP Quickly Unifies Around Trump; Clinton Still Has Modest Lead — PPP's new national poll finds that Republicans have quickly unified around Donald Trump, making the Presidential race more competitive than it has previously been perceived to be. — Hillary Clinton leads Trump 42-38 …

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Atlantic, Guardian, The Moderate Voice, New York Magazine, Politicus USA, Hit & Run, Althouse, CBS Pittsburgh and miamiherald

Francis Wilkinson / Bloomberg:

Clinton Has a Weakness. That's Trump's Only Hope. — There are two ways that Donald Trump can become president. Either he must become significantly more popular among general-election voters. Or his likely opponent, Hillary Clinton, must become significantly more unpopular.

Discussion: AOL

Steve M. / No More Mister Nice Blog:

TIGHT CLINTON-TRUMP POLLS! START FREAKING OUT NOW! (OR MAYBE NOT.) (updated) — Here's a tweet written last week by Ross Douthat, who's not a Trump fan and who's certain Trump is doomed: … And, well, he's right. Last night, Rachel Maddow previewed a new Public Policy Polling survey showing ... Trump within four:

Discussion: Common Dreams, Washington Monthly, NPR and taxpolicycenter.org

Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Duck Dynasty’ patriarch Phil Robertson says he'll back Donald Trump despite endorsing Ted Cruz in January: 'I'll be enthusiastically behind him' — The long-bearded eccentric told DailyMail.com that 'I'll definitely be there for him' since Trump will likely face Hillary Clinton in November

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, The Right Scoop and The Hayride

Amy Chozick / New York Times: Hillary Clinton, the First ‘E.T. Candidate,’ Has U.F.O. Fans in Thrall

Nick Gass / Politico:
Dead heat: Trump, Clinton tied in 3 swing-state polls

Discussion: Washington Post, Hot Air, The Last Refuge, The Daily Caller, Heat Street, Washington Times, The Gateway Pundit, Independent Journal …, Talking Points Memo and The Resurgent

Arlette Saenz / ABC News:
Vice President Joe Biden ‘Confident’ Hillary Clinton Will Be Democratic Nominee

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico and The Daily Caller

NBC News:
Clinton Sounds Off on ‘Loose Cannon’ Trump 0:49

Discussion: Washington Post, Rush Limbaugh, Hot Air and WCBD News 2

David M Jackson / USA Today:
Poll: Clinton, Trump ‘dead even’ in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Scared Monkeys, Washington Post, The Daily Caller and National Review

Josh Harkinson / Mother Jones:

Trump Selects a White Nationalist Leader as a Delegate in California — On Monday evening, California's secretary of state published a list of delegates chosen by the Trump campaign for the upcoming Republican presidential primary in the state. Trump's slate includes William Johnson …

Discussion: Washington Post, Little Green Footballs, Talking Points Memo, Vox, Raw Story, Guardian and The Resurgent

Michelle Moons / Breitbart: Trump Surprises with Celebrities on California Delegates List

Tom Stocky / Facebook:

My team is responsible for Trending Topics, and I want to address today's reports alleging that Facebook contractors manipulated Trending Topics to suppress stories of interest to conservatives. We take these reports extremely seriously, and have found no evidence that the anonymous allegations are true.

Michael Nunez / Gizmodo:

Senate GOP Launches Inquiry Into Facebook's News Curation — The US Senate Commerce Committee—which has jurisdiction over media issues, consumer protection issues, and internet communication—has sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg requesting answers to questions it has on its trending topics section.

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:

Cruz floats restarting campaign if he wins Nebraska primary — on Tuesday floated the possibility of restarting his presidential campaign if he wins Nebraska's GOP primary, as he avoided saying whether he supports Donald Trump — 's bid for president. — Cruz, who ended his White House run …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, Independent Journal …, RedState, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, The Hayride, Mediaite and New York Times

Mark Wilson / Co.Design:

Budweiser Renames Its Beer “America” — Until the November election, Budweiser is swapping out everything on its can—including its own name—to be as patriotic as possible. — With the backdrop of the Olympics and a comically botched election, this summer is bound to be what Ricardo Marques …

Discussion: The Verge, The Atlantic, Washington Post, AOL, The Daily Caller, WCBD News 2, NPR and Mashable

Robert Costa / Washington Post:

Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski will oversee the vice-presidential search — Political adviser Beth Myers headed up the process for Mitt Romney. Washington lawyer A.B. Culvahouse managed the selection for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Now, Corey Lewandowski will have that responsibility for Donald Trump.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo, CNN, Fox News, The Hill, Mother Jones, Independent Journal …, The Gateway Pundit, Shakesville, Hullabaloo and Guardian

U.S. ELECTIONS:
AP Interview: Donald Trump says he's narrowed VP shortlist

Discussion: Politico and Political Wire

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Trump In 2006: Clinton Should Be Forgiven For Iraq Vote “Based On Lies Given To Her” — “She's very smart and has a major chance to be our next president,” Trump said. — Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images — Donald Trump is already going after Hillary Clinton for her vote to authorize …

Discussion: The Right Scoop

Alex Griswold / Mediaite:

State Department Appears to Edit Briefing Video to Remove Admission of Falsehood — Fox News's James Rosen called out the State Department Monday, accusing them of deleting a damaging exchange from their archive video of a December 2013 press briefing. — In 2012, Rosen had the following exchange …

Discussion: RedState and The Daily Caller

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
White House seeks to contain fallout from aide's comments

Discussion: Politico, The Huffington Post, Bloomberg, Slate and Power Line, more at Mediagazer »

Cathy Young / The Daily Beast:

Ann Coulter's Anti-Semitism Runs Deeper Than You Know — The Trump cheerleader shares his habit of promoting ethnic nationalists and their ugly ideas. — The white nationalists of the so-called alternative right, an extremist movement that rejects mainstream conservatism as too gutless …

Discussion: Vox Popoli

David French / National Review:

The Obama Administration Provokes a Legal Crisis — the War against North Carolina — Attorney general Loretta Lynch (Jonathan Earnst/Reuters) — The state of North Carolina and the federal government are now in a state of declared legal war. On Wednesday afternoon …

Discussion: Media Matters for America, New York Times, Washington Post, ThinkProgress and RedState

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
North Carolina GOP Reps To The Feds: Don't You Dare Defund The Tarheels!

Discussion: Raleigh News & Observer and Daily Kos

ABC News:

Congressional Republicans Grapple With New Trump Reality — Congressional Republicans returned to Capitol Hill Tuesday to confront an awkward new reality: Donald Trump is their presumptive presidential nominee. Instead of uniting behind him, leading figures like House Speaker Paul Ryan are withholding their support.

Discussion: Politico and Associated Press

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Top GOP senators urge unity on Trump

Discussion: Business Insider and Hot Air

Patrick Svitek / The Texas Tribune:

Heidi Cruz Likens Husband's Campaign to Efforts to End Slavery … Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout. — Drawing a parallel between the long-term efforts of her husband's supporters and the fight to end slavery, Heidi Cruz said Tuesday that it took “a lot longer than four years” …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Trail Blazers Blog and Mediaite

CNN:

Flint mayor diverted water-crisis money to political PAC, suit says — (CNN)The former city administrator of Flint, Michigan, filed a federal lawsuit against the current mayor's office, claiming she was fired after raising concerns about donors being directed away from a charity for victims …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit and RedState

Mary Jordan / Washington Post:

From playboy to president? Trump's past crude sex talk collides with his White House bid. — Over 15 years, radio shock jock Howard Stern and his buddy Donald Trump periodically carried on like towel-snapping “bros” in a locker room, rating women's tops and bottoms, debating whether oral sex is …

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Cruz: I won't make third-party run — (R-Texas) ruled out a third-party run for president as he returned to the Senate on Tuesday. — Cruz reiterated that he could restart his campaign if he wins Tuesday night's Nebraska primary, but conceded that was nearly impossible.

Discussion: Political Wire

Joe Schoffstall / Washington Free Beacon:

Hillary Rakes in Nearly $75,000 From Justice Department Employees — Hillary Clinton has received nearly $75,000 in political contributions from employees at the Department of Justice, the agency that would decide whether or not to act if the FBI recommended charges against Clinton …

Discussion: The Right Scoop, Washington Times and The Resurgent

Christopher Massie / BuzzFeed:

Huckabee: Trump Hasn't Thought Through Every Issue And Won't Have To As President — “I think a lot of people are expecting him to be this professional at politics where he has thought through the details of every issue. He hasn't.” — Christopher Furlong / Getty Images — w.soundcloud.com

Katherine Krueger / Talking Points Memo:

Bundy Accuses Obama Of Conspiracy To Snatch His Land In Bizarre Lawsuit — Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, jailed for his role in instigating an armed standoff with federal authorities in 2014, alleges a vast conspiracy to violate his civil rights in a federal lawsuit expected to be filed Tuesday.

Julia Hahn / Breitbart:

Paul Ryan Says U.S. Must Admit Muslim Migrants, Sends Kids to Private School that Screens Them Out — After the Paris terrorist attack, House Speaker Paul Ryan declared that the United States cannot turn away the hundreds of thousands of Islamist migrants now being approved for visas to enter the United States.

Discussion: American Spectator, Independent Journal …, Guardian and Mediaite

Ben Rhodes / Medium:

The First Sitting U.S. President to Visit Hiroshima — President Obama will visit Hiroshima, Japan after the conclusion of the G-7 Summit later this month. — There has been intense interest on both sides of the Pacific in the possibility of a presidential visit to Hiroshima …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, The White House, Breitbart, Politico, The Hill, New York Times, The Atlantic, ABC News, Mediaite, The Diplomat, Daily Kos, New York Magazine and Washington Free Beacon

Dennis Prager / Townhall.com:

The Scariest Reason Trump Won — There are many reasons why Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. The four most-often cited reasons are the frustrations of white working-class Americans, a widespread revulsion against political correctness, disenchantment …

Discussion: American Spectator

Katherine Long / The Seattle Times:

‘Trump wall’ draws crowd and controversy at UW — A group of University of Washington students showed their support for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump by building a “Trump wall” on the school's Red Square. — Two days after Donald Trump made his first campaign visit to Washington state …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit and Infowars