memeorandum: UW-Madison student trying to start ‘alt-right’ group was convicted of arson at black churches (Nico Savidge/madison.com)

9:40 AM ET, January 27, 2017

Top Items:

Donald Trump's Mexico Tantrum — Less than a week into the job, President Trump on Thursday raised the specter of a trade war with America's third-largest partner, Mexico, as the White House warned that the United States could impose a 20 percent tariff on Mexican imports.

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, Washington Post, Daily Kos, FiveThirtyEight, Outside the Beltway and Taylor Marsh

Michael Waldman / New York Times:

Voting Fraud Inquiry? The Investigators Got Burned Last Time — For days President Trump has promoted the absurd notion that three million to five million people voted illegally in the presidential election. — On Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump went further.

Discussion: The Guardian, Talking Points Memo, twitchy.com, Business Insider and Associated Press

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Trump Plans 20% Tax on Mexican Imports to Pay for Border Wall

Discussion: Politicus USA, Wall Street Journal, Refinery29, ThinkProgress, Mediaite, The Atlantic and Washington Post

Azam Ahmed / New York Times:
In a Corner, President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico Punches Back

Associated Press:
Questions Swirl After Trump Admin Says Tax Will Pay for Wall

Discussion: Politico, ABC News and The Republic

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:
GOP congressional leaders: The border wall will cost $12 billion to $15 billion

Discussion: Politico, ABC News and Political Wire

Dallas Morning News:
White House floats tax on Mexican imports that would force Americans to pay for wall

Discussion: NPR, Jamie Dupree, The Guardian and Washington Post

Bob Bryan / Business Insider:
Trump press secretary says the administration is considering a 20% border tax on Mexican imports …

Discussion: Washington Post, CANNONFIRE, TheBlaze, ABC News, Raw Story, The Atlantic, Hot Air, IJR, Talking Points Memo, The Week, NPR, Washington Monthly, Common Dreams and Mediaite

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Trump Strategist Stephen Bannon Says Media Should ‘Keep Its Mouth Shut’ — WASHINGTON — Just days after President Trump spoke of a “running war” with the media, his chief White House strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, ratcheted up the attacks, arguing that news organizations had been “humiliated” …

Mike Allen / Axios:

The Bannon coup — White House and Hill GOP leaders are astonished by the unambiguous, far-reaching power of Steve Bannon and policy guru Stephen Miller over, well, just about everything. — They wrote the Inaugural speech and set in fast motion a series of moves to cement Trump as an America-first Nationalist.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Week, Daily Kos, AOL, Raw Story, alan.com and New York Magazine

Michael Wolff / Newsweek:

Why the media keeps losing to Donald Trump — Donald Trump is obsessed with the media. And the media is obsessed with Trump. Let's take it as a given that this obsession is unhealthy. The last time there was such a level of neurotic fixation and overwhelming distrust between a president …

Dylan Byers / CNNMoney:
Steve Bannon: Media should ‘keep its mouth shut’

Discussion: The Hill, alan.com, RedState, Raw Story, BizPac Review, The Week, CNN, Mediaite, Business Insider, TheBlaze, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, Althouse and Axios, more at Mediagazer »

Nicholas Weaver / Lawfare:

President Trump's Insecure Android — Lost amid the swirling insanity of the Trump administration's first week, are the reports of the President's continued insistence on using his Android phone (a Galaxy S3 or perhaps S4). This is, to put it bluntly, asking for a disaster.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Lily Hay Newman / Wired:

Trump's Still Using His Old Android Phone. That's Very, Very Risky — As part of a broader look at President Donald Trump's acclimation to the White House, the New York Times noted on Wednesday that Trump still uses his personal, consumer-grade Android smartphone in the White House. That's worrying.

Discussion: The Week, Refinery29, Motherboard, The Guardian, Techdirt, Raw Story, New York Times, Politico, Business Insider, Salon and The Hill

Washington Post:

Trump pressured Park Service to find proof for his claims about inauguration crowd — On the morning after Donald Trump's inauguration, acting National Park Service director Michael T. Reynolds received an extraordinary summons: The new president wanted to talk to him.

Discussion: New York Times, The Week, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Gizmodo, Daily Kos, The Guardian, Little Green Footballs, Washingtonian, Political Wire and CNET, more at Mediagazer »

Patricia Mazzei / miamiherald:

Miami-Dade mayor orders jails to comply with Trump crackdown on ‘sanctuary’ counties — Fearing a loss of millions of dollars for defying immigration authorities, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez on Thursday ordered county jails to comply with federal immigration detention requests …

Discussion: New York Times, CNN, Hot Air, BizPac Review, New York Post, NPR, AOL, The Lid, The Gateway Pundit, Politico, IJR, TheBlaze, Fox News Insider and twitchy.com

Henry Grabar / Slate:
The Siege of Sanctuary Cities Has Begun

Discussion: Above the Law, Shareblue, Washington Post and The Daily Signal

Associated Press:

In Need of Allies, Trump and Britain's Theresa May to Meet — President Donald Trump is set to meet his first world leader since taking office — British Prime Minister Theresa May, a friendly ally who hopes to nudge the populist president toward the political mainstream.

Discussion: Politico and The Republic

David Tweed / Bloomberg:
Need a Proofreader? Team Trump Spells British PM's Name Wrong

Discussion: The Week

Fortune:

Mexico's Richest Man Carlos Slim Just Called a Rare Press Conference — Mexican mogul Carlos Slim, who was attacked by President Donald Trump during his election campaign but who later met with the U.S. leader in Florida, on Thursday called a press conference for Friday amid growing tensions between the two nations.

Paul Demko / Politico:

Trump White House abruptly halts Obamacare ads — The Trump administration has pulled the plug on all Obamacare outreach and advertising in the crucial final days of the 2017 enrollment season, according to sources at Health and Human Services and on Capitol Hill.

Discussion: Vox, NBC News, Balloon Juice, The Week, Talking Points Memo, Axios, Business Insider, Bloomberg and Political Wire

New York Times:

Trump Will Call for a Pentagon Plan to Hit ISIS Harder, Officials Say — WASHINGTON — The White House is drafting a presidential directive that calls on Defense Secretary James N. Mattis to devise plans to more aggressively strike the Islamic State, which could include American artillery …

Discussion: Political Wire

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:

Republicans Now Marching With Trump on Ideas They Had Opposed — PHILADELPHIA — From the time he became their candidate until he took the oath of office, congressional Republicans treated President Trump's policy pronouncements — largely out of step with Republican dogma — as essentially a distraction.

Bloomberg:

Trump Will Keep Vow on Jerusalem Embassy Move, Giuliani Says — Ex-New York mayor delivers message from Trump to Netanyahu — Devising new approach to Mideast peace efforts may take months — President Donald Trump will keep his pledge to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem …

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / USA Today:

Trump is playing with the press: Glenn Reynolds — He's gaslighting them and they fall for it every time. — Why are the relations between Donald Trump and the press so bad? There are two reasons. One is that Trump is a Republican, and the press consists overwhelmingly of Democrats.

Discussion: Hot Air

Peter Kafka / Recode:

Facebook wants you to watch longer videos, so it's going to show you longer videos — Because that's what's on TV. — You know how mobile + social is supposed to = short attention span? — No more, says Facebook: It says it is going to start rewarding video makers who create longer clips.

Discussion: Engadget, more at Mediagazer »

Nico Savidge / madison.com:

UW-Madison student trying to start ‘alt-right’ group was convicted of arson at black churches — A UW-Madison student seeking to start what he calls a “pro-white student club” was convicted in 2005 of setting fires at predominantly black churches in a racially motivated arson attack, officials confirmed Thursday.

Discussion: Badger Pundit and Raw Story

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

The Trump Administration's Day One Moves Were Copied From Mitt Romney's Playbook — WASHINGTON — When White House press secretary Sean Spicer was asked Wednesday about a potential executive order that would revive Bush-era detention and interrogation policies, he flatly denied any knowledge of its existence.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Washington Monthly

Kaveh Waddell / The Atlantic:

‘Look, a Bird!’ Trolling by Distraction — In April 2014, an attack at the main railway station in Urumqi, a city in the northwest Chinese province of Xinjiang, killed three people and injured dozens more. The incident—an explosion followed by a knife attack—came at the end …

Discussion: Defense One

Kim Janssen / Chicago Tribune:

Rod Blagojevich's 20-year-old daughter Amy unloads on Barack Obama — Patti Blagojevich with her daughters Annie, center, and Amy on Aug. 9, 2016, at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago after former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's resentencing. — Scratch the Obamas off Amy Blagojevich's Christmas card list.

Peter Hasson / The Daily Caller:

Women's March Featured Speaker Who Kidnapped And Tortured A Man — The Women's March on Washington last week featured as a speaker convicted felon Donna Hylton who, along with several others, kidnapped a man and then tortured him to death. — Hylton's name is listed on the Women's March …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Instapundit

Jerry Mitchell / The Clarion Ledger:

Voter fraud probe traced back to ex-MS welfare head — The former Mississippi official whose tweet may have inspired President Trump to order a “major investigation” into voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election says he has been receiving death threats.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo