memeorandum: Trump invited Yemen raid widow to speech during condolence call (Tara Palmeri/Politico)

3:45 PM ET, March 1, 2017

Top Items:

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:

What the emotional moment with a Navy SEAL's widow proves about President Trump — There was one moment in President Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night that people will remember for a very long time. It came when Trump honored the wife of Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, who was killed in a raid in Yemen last month.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, The Concourse, Politico, The Week and The Gateway Pundit

Jason Kurtz / CNN:

Van Jones on Trump: ‘He became President of the United States in that moment, period’ — (CNN)Shortly after President Donald Trump addressed a Joint Session of Congress for the first time since taking the oath of office, CNN's Van Jones called one particularly moving moment from the speech …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, ABC News, Raw Story, Washington Free Beacon, Shakesville, National Review and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Kimberly Dozier / The Daily Beast:

Generals May Launch New ISIS Raids Without Trump's OK — The White House is considering delegating more authority to the Pentagon to greenlight anti-terrorist operations like the SEAL Team 6 raid in Yemen that cost the life of a Navy SEAL, to step up the war on the so-called Islamic State, multiple U.S. officials tell The Daily Beast.

Derek Hunter / The Daily Caller:
Liberals Attack SEAL's Widow, President Trump Over Tribute

Discussion: twitchy.com, Infowars and RedState

Tara Palmeri / Politico:
Trump invited Yemen raid widow to speech during condolence call

Discussion: ABC News, Hot Air and NewsBusters

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
With Nation Watching, Widow of Fallen SEAL Becomes a Face of Bravery

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, Faithwire, BizPac Review, NPR, Vox, AOL, The Week and The Daily Caller

Ben Shapiro / Daily Wire:
AWFUL: Top Democrats Refuse To Stand, Clap For Navy SEAL Widow Honored By Trump

Discussion: Breitbart, BizPac Review, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, IJR, Snopes.com, twitchy.com, Western Journalism, Hot Air, TheBlaze, Townhall.com and ABC News

Brian Beutler / New Republic:

The Worst Performance of Trump's Presidency Now Belongs to the Press Corps — The media's reaction to his speech to Congress was shameful. — By the time Mitt Romney selected him to be his running mate in 2012, Paul Ryan (then chairman of the House Budget Committee) had already cultivated …

Discussion: Vox, more at Mediagazer »

Alex Pareene / The Concourse:

You Cretins Are Going To Get Thousands Of People Killed — Here's what you have to understand about the sort of people who become anchors, nonpartisan pundits, centrist columnists, and cable news political correspondents: They didn't sign up to be the resistance. They don't want Donald Trump to fail.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Washington Post

CNN:

7 in 10 Speech-Watchers Say Trump Boosted Optimism — (CNN)President Donald Trump's first address to Congress received largely positive reviews from viewers, with 57% who tuned in saying they had a very positive reaction to the speech, according to a new CNN/ORC poll of speech-watchers.

CBS News:

Viewers strongly approve of Trump's speech to Congress — Viewers nationwide strongly approved of President Trump's speech Tuesday night, with many Democrats joining Republicans in calling it “presidential” and positive in tone. Republicans and Independents found it “unifying,” …

Discussion: The Hill, Scared Monkeys, CBS New York, NPR, Washington Post, Hot Air, Daily Wire, Power Line and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

Glenn Thrush / New York Times:
5 Key Takeaways From President Trump's Speech

Discussion: Washington Post, American Prospect, The Slot and Politico

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter:

TV Ratings: Trump's Congress Address Pulls 43 Million Viewers, Far From Comparable Obama Speech — Up from recent State of the Union addresses, the event is still off a steep 17 percent from 2009. — President Donald Trump made his first big televised appearance from the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday night …

Discussion: Politicus USA, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, Towleroad and Business Insider

Oriana Schwindt / Variety:
Updated: Trump's First Address to Congress Draws Smaller Audience Than Obama's First Address

Discussion: Politicus USA

Justin Baragona / Mediaite:
Overnight Ratings: Obama's First Presidential Address Outdrew Trump's by 17%

Discussion: Raw Story, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Joe.My.God.

CNNMoney:

White House: Conway acted ‘without nefarious motive’ in Ivanka Trump plug — White House plugs Ivanka Trump's brand — The White House has concluded that Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to President Trump, was acting “without nefarious motive” when she plugged Ivanka Trump's products in a TV interview …

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, Axios, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and AOL

Darren Sands / BuzzFeed: “You People” Are Doing An Amazing Job, Trump Told HBCU Presidents

Daniel Halper / New York Post:
Was Kellyanne Conway raised in a barn?

Discussion: Slate, Washington Post, Mediaite and The Week

Media Matters for America:

CNN Reports That It Got Played On Its Not-So-Anonymous Immigration Scoop From Trump — SARA MURRAY: Let's just change gears entirely and talk about the bait and switch that the president pulled when it came to immigration yesterday. He had this meeting with the anchors, he talked about a path to legal status.

Discussion: RedState, BuzzFeed, Media Matters for America and Political Wire, more at Mediagazer »

Tatiana Siegel / Hollywood Reporter:

Will Disney's Bob Iger Run for President in 2020? Hollywood Friends Are Nudging — Iger told THR in June that “a lot of people have urged me to seek political office,” and now he's considering the prodding for him to lead the Democratic ticket. — Disney CEO Bob Iger already runs the world's most successful media company.

Discussion: Hot Air, Axios and Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »

Mike Hayes / BuzzFeed:

Bomb Threats To Jewish Centers Were Made Using “Spoofing” And Voice-Masking Technology — Investigators believe the perpetrators responsible for the latest wave of bomb threats targeting Jewish centers and schools around the US used sophisticated technology to shield their identity.

Discussion: Raw Story

Ali Breland / The Hill:
Schumer asks FCC for waiver to trace Jewish center bomb threats

Discussion: RedState

Julia Ioffe / The Atlantic:

The State of Trump's State Department — The flags in the lobby of the State Department stood bathed in sunlight and silence on a recent afternoon. “It's normally so busy here,” marveled a State Department staffer as we stood watching the emptiness. “People are usually coming in for meetings …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Raw Story, Washington Post and Mediaite

Sarah Knapton / Telegraph:

Oldest fossil ever found on Earth shows alien life on Mars is likely — It's life, but not as we know it. The oldest fossil ever discovered on Earth shows that organisms were thriving 4.2 billion years ago, hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Week, Washington Post and Gizmodo

Bill Nye / National Review:

Bill Nye's Embarrassing Face-off with Tucker Carlson on Climate Change — It didn't end well for the ‘Science Guy.’ — Climate-change alarmists who have been largely unchallenged by the media over the past decade have finally met their match in Fox News host Tucker Carlson. And it ain't pretty.

Discussion: TheBlaze

Rong-Gong Lin II / Los Angeles Times:

Oklahoma's earthquake threat now equals California's due to man-made temblors, USGS says — A magnitude 5.0 earthquake damaged buildings Nov. 6 in Cushing, Okla. (Jim Beckel / Oklahoman) — The earthquake risk for Oklahoma and southern Kansas is expected to remain significant in 2017 …

Discussion: KTLA

Doyle Rice / USA Today: 3 million Americans at risk from man-made earthquakes in 2017

Austin Wright / Politico:

Graham: Require 2020 candidates to release tax returns — Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday he wants all presidential candidates to be required by law to release their tax returns, starting in 2020. — The South Carolina Republican said his proposal would include Donald Trump if the president seeks reelection.

Discussion: Mediaite, Political Wire and The Hill

Katie Hopkins / Daily Mail:

Where females fear to tread: KATIE HOPKINS reports from Sweden, the Scandi-lib paradise where terrified women have vanished from the streets and a conspiracy of silence and self-censorship on immigration buries the truth — By , KATIE HOPKINS FOR MAILONLINE — I didn't come to Sweden for the riots.

Marisa Guthrie / Hollywood Reporter:

CNN Chief Jeff Zucker Unveils Plan to Dominate Digital: New Shows, a $25M YouTuber and Donald Trump (Of Course) — Amid his feud with the president ("We all know the truth"), Zucker is taking his battle for TV news dominance online with a monthly audience of 100 million and a strategy …

Discussion: The Hill, Raw Story and TVNewser

Ben Casselman / FiveThirtyEight:

Trump's Speech Was Quiet — And Quietly Radical — Reviews of President Trump's first address to Congress on Tuesday night seem to be converging around a single theme: It was Trump at his most subdued. “Trump Softens Tone in Outlining Goals,” read the lead headline on The New York Times homepage Wednesday morning.

Discussion: New York Times, CNBC, Taylor Marsh and Wall Street Journal

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:

GOP lawmaker: ‘Poorly dressed’ Democratic women wore ‘bad-looking white pantsuits’ — A Republican congressman who is potentially eyeing a Senate run mocked Democratic women on Wednesday for wearing white at President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress.

Joseph Farah / WND:

The greatest start for any modern president — Exclusive: Joseph Farah declares, ‘There could be a new face on Mount Rushmore’ — Joseph Farah is founder, editor and chief executive officer of WND. He is the author or co-author of 13 books that have sold more than 5 million copies …

Cynthia Cox / kff.org:

How Affordable Care Act Repeal and Replace Plans Might Shift Health Insurance Tax Credits — An important part of the repeal and replacement discussions around the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will involve the type and amount of subsidies that people get to help them afford health insurance.

Discussion: New York Times, Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, MSNBC, The Daily Signal, Rewire, The Atlantic, The Week and The Federalist

Melissa Jacobs / Fox News:

GOP wants to eliminate shadowy DOJ slush fund bankrolling leftist groups — The Obama administration funneled billions of dollars to activist organizations through a Department of Justice slush fund scheme, according to congressional investigators. — “It's clear partisan politics played …

Discussion: Daily Wire

Elizabeth Nolan Brown / Hit & Run:

Moral Outrage Is Self-Serving, Say Psychologists — When people publicly rage about perceived injustices that don't affect them personally, we tend to assume this expression is rooted in altruism—a “disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others.”

Discussion: Vox Popoli

Peter Beinart / The Atlantic:

Trump Scapegoats Unauthorized Immigrants for Crime — Donald Trump is worried about violence by unauthorized immigrants. When he spoke before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, he invited three relatives of people that unauthorized immigrants had killed to attend as his guests.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, New York Times and Talking Points Memo

Hannah Fry / Los Angeles Times:

Video of men reeling in shark at Huntington Beach Pier sparks state investigation — The video of an angler reeling in a juvenile great white shark has received over 4,600 views on YouTube since it was posted Friday. — Video showing fishermen reeling in what appears to be a juvenile great white shark …

Axios:

Ivanka's role in Trump's speech — A senior administration official emails : “The speech was all [Stephen] Miller, but Ivanka worked hard on it with him on many of the parts, especially affirming that the president's desire to have an uplifting and aspirational speech was right. ...