memeorandum: American commandos ‘forced to run away’ from US-backed Syrian rebels (Raf Sanchez/Telegraph)

4:50 PM ET, September 16, 2016

Top Items:

Hadas Gold / Politico:

Network pools refuse to cover Trump hotel tour — In a show of joint defiance, the major television networks collectively voted to pull a camera and erase video of Donald Trump giving a tour of his hotel, a protest of the campaign preventing any editorial presence on the tour.

Discussion: alan.com, TVNewser, Talking Points Memo, Washington Times and The Gateway Pundit, more at Mediagazer »

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Trump Outsmarts the Press — Sometimes you really have to hand it to Donald Trump. The press has been after him recently about whether he believes the Hillary Clinton campaign's claim that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S. For years, the press has obsessed on “birtherism,” …

Discussion: Liberty Unyielding, Infowars and The American Spectator

NBC News:

First Read: Why Trump Can't Escape His ‘Birther’ Past — Donald Trump's campaign - but not the candidate - says Obama was born in US 3:00 — 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.

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News, Mediaite, alan.com, New York Magazine, heave-ho.org, Vox, ABC News, The Times of Israel, Hot Air and Independent Journal Review

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

Trump is trying to rewrite his history of birtherism. This is what really happened. — ‘We have to keep the suspense going’ — Since 2011, Donald Trump has been the most prominent spokesperson for birtherism—the racist conspiracy theory that Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen.

Discussion: Politico, Mother Jones, NBC News, Talking Points Memo, Independent Journal Review, The Week, The Atlantic and Politicus USA

New York Times:

Trump Drops False ‘Birther’ Theory, but Floats a New One: Clinton Started It — Donald J. Trump publicly retreated from his “birther” campaign on Friday, tersely acknowledging that President Obama was born in the United States and saying that he wanted to move on from the conspiracy theory that he has been clinging to for years.

Andrew Prokop / Vox:

Trump fanned a conspiracy about Obama's birthplace for years. Now he pretends Clinton started it. — The GOP nominee was the highest-profile figure to question President Obama's birthplace. — One of the oddest features of the 2016 presidential race is that the Republican nominee …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Politico, Slate, The Week, heave-ho.org, Correct The Record, Mediaite, Media Matters for America, Raw Story and Business Insider

Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart:
Hillary Clinton Campaign Manager Admits 2008 Birther Link

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Politico and Mediaite

Donald J Trump for President:
TRUMP CAMPAIGN STATEMENT

Erica Scott / ABC News:
First Ladies Obama and Bush Urge Next President to Prioritize Veterans

Discussion: Politico

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:
Media Outraged After Trump Tricks Them To Cover Endorsements From Military Heroes

Discussion: alan.com

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:
Kasich: ‘Very unlikely’ I'll vote for Trump

Discussion: Politico, Macleans.ca, CNN, ABC News, The Daily Caller, Common Dreams, Hot Air, BizPac Review and Business Insider

Libby Nelson / Vox:
Donald Trump fooled cable news into airing a 25-minute infomercial for his campaign

Discussion: Shareblue, Independent Journal Review, Shakesville, The Gateway Pundit and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:
So Will Trump Follow Through On His $5 Million Birther Charity Promise?

Discussion: New Yorker, TheStreet.com, Forbes, USA Today and Joe.My.God.

Libby Nelson / Vox:
Donald Trump's birther speech is a commercial for his new hotel

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hit & Run and alan.com

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Trump Preps New Round of Racist Agitation

Discussion: Mother Jones, twitchy.com, Business Insider, NPR and The Week

Media Matters for America:
As Trump Prepares To Discuss His Birtherism, Top Adviser Roger Stone Says Trump Still Has …

Discussion: Mediaite

Media Matters for America:
Seven Reasons The Media Shouldn't Let Trump Move On From Birtherism

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Little Green Footballs, Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, Politico, WND, BuzzFeed, heave-ho.org and Hullabaloo

Robert Costa / Washington Post:
Trump defiant as polls rise, won't say Obama was born in United States

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Megyn Kelly Grills Trump Spox On Birtherism: 'That's A Dodge!'

Discussion: The Week and Fox News Insider

Nick Gass / Politico:
Trump concedes Obama was born in the U.S.

Discussion: Mother Jones, ABC News, BuzzFeed, RedState, CNBC, Fox News, Talking Points Memo, Independent Journal Review, Business Insider, Infowars, The Frisky, Daily Kos, Guardian, fox8.com, Washingtonian and Joe.My.God.

Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:
Trump admits Obama was born in U.S., but falsely blames Clinton for starting rumors

Discussion: Vox, Townhall.com, Politico, Media Matters for America, Guardian, The Concourse, Capitol View, RedState, Politicus USA, Washington Free Beacon, Refinery29, Talking Points Memo, The Week, heave-ho.org, Mother Jones, Raw Story and Balloon Juice

Commission on Presidential Debates:

CPD Invites Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump to Debate — Washington, D.C. (September 16, 2016) - The nonpartisan, non-profit Commission on Presidential Debates ("CPD") announced today that it has applied its Nonpartisan Candidate Selection Criteria for 2016 General Election Debate participation …

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, Hit & Run, NPR, Outside the Beltway, The Week, Business Insider and Courthouse News Service

Harper Neidig / The Hill:

Third-party candidates miss cut for first debate — The Commission on Presidential Debates announced on Friday that Hillary Clinton — and their running mates are the only candidates who will participate in the first debates. — This means Trump and Clinton will take part in the Sept. 26 debate …

Discussion: Political Wire and alan.com

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:
Gary Johnson cuts into Clinton's lead

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Monthly and The Week

Byron Tau / Wall Street Journal: Gary Johnson, Jill Stein Fail to Qualify for First Presidential Debate

David Sims / The Atlantic:

The Embarrassment of Jimmy Fallon — The Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, went on NBC's Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon yesterday. Here, in chronological order, is every question Fallon asked his guest. —This is getting real. You still have time, do you still want to do this?

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The Daily Caller

Maxwell Strachan / The Huffington Post:

People Are Justifiably Infuriated With How Jimmy Fallon Handled Trump — “The Tonight Show” host humanized a dangerous man on Thursday night. — Jimmy Fallon had Donald Trump on “The Tonight Show” Thursday night, and all some people could talk about afterward was a head rub.

Discussion: BizPac Review, The New York Observer, Shareblue, Hollywood Reporter, Business Insider, Raw Story, Infowars, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Matt Taibbi / Rolling Stone:

Stop Whining About ‘False Balance’ — Everyone wants to blame reporters for the rise of Donald Trump. How about the media consumer? — All Stories » — News media outlets are increasingly coming under fire for the sin of “false balance” or “false equivalency.”

Raf Sanchez / Telegraph:

American commandos ‘forced to run away’ from US-backed Syrian rebels — Video footage appears to show US commandos fleeing a Syrian town under a barrage of abuse and insults hurled at them by fighters from the American-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel group.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Shadowproof, Pamela Geller, The Counter Jihad Report, Sputnik International, Moon of Alabama, Vocativ, Jihad Watch and Vox Popoli

Allen Abel / Macleans.ca:

Why I'm voting for Donald Trump — These are Donald Trump's “deplorables,” as Hillary Clinton calls them—11 unashamed Trump-train riders from across the United States, writing in their own words. — To Clinton, they—or at least “half of them,” as the Democratic nominee chuckled last weekend …

Sam Wang / Princeton Election Consortium:

Sometimes life comes at you fast — National polls currently show Clinton ahead by only 1.0 ± 0.6 % (median ± estimated SEM, 7 pollsters with at least some post-Phlegmghazi respondents). However, our state poll-based analysis moves more slowly.

Discussion: Vox, Mother Jones and Politico

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

Why the Senate Couldn't Pass a Crime Bill Both Parties Backed — WASHINGTON — A major criminal-justice overhaul bill seemed destined to be the bipartisan success story of the year, consensus legislation that showed lawmakers could still rise above politics and take on a serious societal problem.