memeorandum: What happens if a candidate—say Donald Trump—drops out of the presidential race (Ivan Levingston/CNBC)

4:25 PM ET, August 3, 2016

Top Items:

Trump Allies Plot Candidate Intervention After Disastrous 48 Hours — Key Republicans close to Donald Trump's orbit are plotting an intervention with the candidate after a disastrous 48 hours led some influential voices in the party to question whether Trump can stay at the top …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Politico, RedState, Little Green Footballs, Mediaite, Hot Air, neo-neocon, TalkLeft, alan.com, The Week, Washington Post, Politicus USA, Guardian, NBC News and Business Insider

Jonathan Karl / ABC News:

Senior GOP Officials Exploring Options if Trump Drops Out — Republican officials are exploring how to handle a scenario that would be unthinkable in a normal election year: What would happen if the party's presidential nominee dropped out? — ABC News has learned that senior party officials …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Townhall.com, Outside the Beltway, New York Magazine, Liberal Values, Bloomberg.com, Washington Post, AOL, Reuters, KFOR-TV, KTLA, Daily Wire, The Right Scoop and FOX31 Denver

Washington Post:

GOP reaches ‘new level of panic’ over Trump's candidacy — The Republican Party was in turmoil again Wednesday as party leaders, strategists and donors voiced increasing alarm about the flailing state of Donald Trump's candidacy and fears that the presidential nominee was damaging the party …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed, Mediaite, Politicus USA and The Week

John Harwood / CNBC:

Ally of Trump staffer Paul Manafort: The staff is ‘suicidal,’ he's mailing it in — Donald Trump's behavior in recent days, from criticizing the parents of a fallen American soldier to declining to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan, has strained the nerves of his campaign staff as he falls behind in the polls.

Discussion: Vox, RedState, Politico, Guardian, Occupy Democrats, Washington Post, Business Insider, Taylor Marsh, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, Politicus USA, CANNONFIRE and Little Green Footballs

John Harwood / CNBC:

Former top Gingrich ally calls Trump nom ‘mistake of historic proportions’ — Vin Weber, a key early lieutenant in the Newt Gingrich revolution that transformed the U.S. House of Representatives and the GOP, rejected the candidacy of Donald Trump on Wednesday as “a mistake of historic proportions” for his party.

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

NBC News:

GOP Reels After Unprecedented 24 Hours From Trump — First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter. — GOP, Trump go from ‘unraveling’ to ‘break glass’ mode

Discussion: ABC News, Sputnik International, Wall Street Journal, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Mediaite and Slate

CNN:

Sources: Trump-world frustrated by their candidate — (CNN)Donald Trump aides and people close to his campaign are increasingly frustrated by his insistence on waging various fights that steer him off message. — Sources close to the campaign are describing a series of missteps that are trailing …

Discussion: New York Daily News, Townhall.com, New York Post, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, In Flex We Trust, Booman Tribune, Guardian, Political Wire and Reuters

Nick Gass / Politico:

Gingrich blasts Trump's ‘very self-destructive’ behavior — Donald Trump's behavior over the past week has been “very self-destructive” to his campaign, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday, comparing the Republican nominee to a Hall of Fame quarterback who is in the midst of an interception-throwing slump.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Mediaite, CNBC, Townhall.com, Washington Post, CBS New York, Associated Press and Arizona Republic

Washington Post:

Donald Trump transcript: The Republican nominee in his own words — Republican nominee Donald Trump sat down with The Post's Philip Rucker for an interview at Trump National Golf Club on Aug. 2 following a rally at a nearby high school. This is a lightly edited transcript of the 50-minute interview.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Politico, Shakesville, Hullabaloo, Media Matters for America, Daily Kos, Althouse, Mediaite, The Colorado Independent and Daily Wire

Patrick Marley / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Walker, Johnson, Ryan skipping Trump event

Discussion: Political Wire and The Week

Katherine Krueger / Talking Points Memo:
Reports: Priebus ‘Apoplectic,’ Trump Aides ‘Suicidal’ After String Of Blunders

Discussion: twitchy.com, Lawyers, Guns & Money and BizPac Review

Katy Tur / NBC News:
RNC Chairman Priebus ‘Apoplectic’ Over Trump's Refusal to Endorse Ryan

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Vox, Politico, The Daily Beast, Heat Street, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, New York Times, France 24, The Resurgent, Hot Air, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, Political Insider blog, Media Matters for America, National Review and Shakesville

Washington Post:
Mike Pence endorses Paul Ryan in split with Donald Trump

Discussion: The Week

Ivan Levingston / CNBC:
What happens if a candidate—say Donald Trump—drops out of the presidential race

Discussion: Washington Monthly, RedState and Talking Points Memo

New York Times:
Mike Pence Splits With Donald Trump on Paul Ryan Endorsement

Discussion: CNN, Townhall.com, The Atlantic, Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Daily Wire, Heat Street, ABC News, New York Magazine and Daily Kos

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:
Meg Whitman, Calling Donald Trump a ‘Demagogue,’ Will Support Hillary Clinton for President

Discussion: CNN, Business Insider, Hot Air, TheStreet.com, Mashable, The Week, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Los Angeles Times, CBS San Francisco, The Verge, Towleroad, Politico and Outside the Beltway

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Over the last 24 hours, Donald Trump has insulted his party's …

Discussion: The Atlantic, TheStreet.com, Politico, Daily Kos, Business Insider, Raw Story and The Week

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
Pence: Trump ‘strongly encouraged me to endorse Paul Ryan’

Discussion: RedState

Martinlongman / Washington Monthly:
With Trump, Every Day is a New Buffet

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Computerworld and Booman Tribune

Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:
Mike Pence ‘strongly’ endorses Paul Ryan, as Trump refuses to do the same

Discussion: Political Wire, New York Times and Daily Kos

Julian Hattem / The Hill:

Trump denies asking why nukes aren't used — 's presidential campaign denied a report on Wednesday that the Republican presidential nominee had three times asked a foreign policy adviser why the U.S. could not use its vast nuclear arsenal. — “There is no truth to this,” …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mashable, alan.com, AOL, Hot Air, Infowars and Joe.My.God.

Matthew J. Belvedere / CNBC:
Trump asks why US can't use nukes: MSNBC

Discussion: Washington Post, The Resurgent, RedState, twitchy.com, War in Context, Mashable, Mediaite, Raw Story, Slate, Patterico's Pontifications, ThinkProgress, Fox News Insider, Business Insider, The Week and New York Magazine

Media Matters for America:
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough: Trump Asked “Three Times In An Hour Briefing, 'Why Can't We Use Nuclear Weapons?'”

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Hullabaloo and Politicus USA

Esme Cribb / Talking Points Memo:
Former Nuke Weapons Officer Goes Off: Trump Is ‘So Damn Dangerous’

Discussion: Mother Jones, RedState, Daily Wire, Media Matters for America, Raw Story, Daily Kos and The Week

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

Obama Commutes Sentences Of More Than 200 People Serving Federal Sentences — Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images — WASHINGTON — President Obama commuted the sentences of 214 people serving federal sentences on Wednesday — the most commutations issued by a president in a single …

Discussion: New York Times, Hit & Run, Crime and Consequences Blog, Daily Kos and The Week

Neil Eggleston / Blog Daily Listings RSS:

President Obama Commutes the Sentences of 214 Additional People — Today began like any other for 214 federal inmates across the country, but ultimately became a day I am confident they will never forget. This morning, these individuals received a message from the President: your application for clemency has been granted.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Politico, ABC News, USA Today and New Urban Legends

Jim Galloway / Political Insider blog:

Georgia Republican says he might withhold electoral college vote from Donald Trump — I just finished a highly unusual telephone conversation with Baoky Vu, a naturalized U.S. citizen and longtime GOP activist in Georgia. — Vu will be on the November ballot as an elector …

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox, Mother Jones, Raw Story, Josh Blackman's Blog, Political Wire and The Resurgent

New York Times:

Voices From Donald Trump's Rallies, Uncensored — “Trump that bitch!” — “Build a wall — kill them all.” — New York Times reporters have spent over a year covering Donald J. Trump's rallies, witnessing so many provocations and heated confrontations at them that the cumulative effect can be numbing …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Little Green Footballs and Politicus USA

Wall Street Journal:

George W. Bush Delivers Critique of Donald Trump's Policies — Former president stops short of putting his remarks in the context of the 2016 presidential campaign — Without naming Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, former President George W. Bush delivered an incisive critique …

Discussion: The Hill, Occupy Democrats, AOL, Washington Free Beacon, The Federalist, The Daily Caller and RedState

Lauren Fox / Talking Points Memo:

Freedom Caucus Blasts House GOP Leaders For Kansas Rep's Primary Loss — Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) released a scathing statement Wednesday morning blasting House GOP leaders for the primary loss of fellow Freedom caucus member Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS), a fifth generation farmer who found himself without …

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Molly Ball / The Atlantic:
A Tea Party Defeat in Kansas

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Magazine and Politico

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Sent Cash to Iran as Americans Were Freed — Obama administration insists there was no quid pro quo, but critics charge payment amounted to ransom — WASHINGTON—The Obama administration secretly organized an airlift of $400 million worth of cash to Iran that coincided with the January release …

Jamelle Bouie / Slate:

A Trump Victory Is a Scary Thought. A Disputed Loss Might Be Scarier. — Why his “rigged” comments are so corrosive and dangerous. — We have a tradition in the United States. When you lose an election, you take the L, and you move on. It's what John Adams did after he lost …

Discussion: Salon and Mediaite

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:

Trump Tells Virginia Town It's Failing, Cites the Wrong Place — Whoever prepped Trump for his visit to Ashburn apparently has never been there before. — ASHBURN, Virginia — When Fawad Rahimyar learned Donald Trump was coming to his neck of the woods, he hopped on Facebook.

Discussion: alan.com and No More Mister Nice Blog

Mary McGuire / WFLA-TV:

‘Pinky’ the flamingo dies after attack by man at Busch Gardens — TAMPA, FL (WFLA) — An Orlando man has been arrested for picking up, and throwing a beloved flamingo named “Pinky” to the ground at Busch Gardens Tampa on Tuesday. Pinky's injuries were so severe, she had to be euthanized.

Discussion: WSLS-TV and fox8.com