memeorandum: Isolated and agitated, Trump rattles White House from within (CNN)

8:50 PM ET, May 13, 2017

Top Items:

White House ‘systems failed’ with Comey firing, but Trump pushed the buttons — In deciding to abruptly fire FBI Director James B. Comey, President Trump characteristically let himself be guided by his own instincts — fueled by his creeping anger and sense of victimhood about a probe …

Discussion: Axios, New York Times, The Guardian, The Hill, Mediaite, Raw Story, CBS New York, CBS Miami, BillMoyers.com, Gizmodo, IJR, The Daily Caller, CNBC and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:

Isolated and agitated, Trump rattles White House from within — Many in Trump's circle now view the past four days as the worst stretch of Trump's presidency so far — Pence wasn't fully briefed on the President's reasoning for firing Comey before he went in front of cameras, an aide said

Discussion: Raw Story, IJR, New York Magazine and The Daily Beast

Brandon Carter / The Hill:

Cutout of Sean Spicer in the bushes becomes Internet meme — Cutouts of press secretary Sean Spicer in bushes have quickly become a new Internet meme. — The joke began after a report from The Washington Post on Tuesday following President Trump's stunning decision to fire FBI Director James Comey.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Business Insider, Washington Post, Axios and New York Times

New York Times:

‘Looking Like a Liar or a Fool’: What It Means to Work for Trump — WASHINGTON — President Trump has never shown any reluctance to sacrifice a surrogate to serve a short-term political need, so he apparently did not think twice this week about exposing a series of staff members to ridicule …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Raw Story, Daily Kos, The Hill, The Week, Politico, Mediaite, Hot Air, Washington Post, Washington Free Beacon, Shareblue, The Guardian, CNN, Deadline, Wall Street Journal and Balloon Juice

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:
Gingrich urges Trump: ‘Close down the press room’

Discussion: RedState

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
Hannity: Trump Should End Press Briefings and ‘Tweet Out All of His Accomplishments’ Instead

Discussion: Raw Story, Refinery29, New York Times and Geller Report, more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Cohn / HuffPost:

A Top Trump Official Just Flunked The Jimmy Kimmel Test — It's fine to pay for sick kids, Mulvaney says, but diabetics are another story. — You've heard of the undeserving poor? Get ready for the undeserving sick. — A top Trump administration official defended the American Health Care Act …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Axios and Politicus USA

Kristine Phillips / Washington Post: Woman attempts to drive GOP congressman off road over health-care vote, police say

New York Times: The Health Care Bill's Insults to Women

Elaina Plott / Washingtonian:

Jason Chaffetz Has Been Telling House Republicans He Will Join Fox News — When House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz announced in April that he would not seek reelection, speculation reigned—did the powerful Utah Republican have his eyes on another office?

Discussion: Mediaite, Axios and Talking Points Memo

Jonah Goldberg / National Review:

The Comey Debacle — Rather than rationalizing and enabling the president's behavior, conservatives need to convince Trump that he's his own worst enemy. — EDITOR'S NOTE: — The following is Jonah Goldberg's weekly “news"letter, the G-File. Subscribe here to get the G-File delivered to your inbox on Fridays.

Ali Vitali / NBC News:

Trump at Liberty University Bashes ‘Critics’ in First Commencement Address — LYNCHBURG, Va. — President Donald Trump wasn't in Washington, but the politics the nation's capital embodies wasn't far from his mind after a week of uproar engulfing his administration.

Discussion: The Hill, Raw Story and Reuters

Emma Green / The Atlantic:
Trump: ‘In America We Do Not Worship Government, We Worship God’

Discussion: Washington Post, Mother Jones and Christianity Today

New York Times:

The Election Is Over, but Trump Can't Seem to Get Past It — WASHINGTON — In the small dining room next to the Oval Office where he works much of the time, President Trump keeps a stack of color-coded maps of the United States representing the results of the 2016 election.

Discussion: RealClearPolitics and CNN

Sydney Ember / New York Times:

Sinclair Requires TV Stations to Air Segments That Tilt to the Right — They are called “must-runs,” and they arrive every day at television stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group — short video segments that are centrally produced by the company. Station managers around the country …

Discussion: Shareblue and Raw Story

New York Times:

Hacking Attack Has Security Experts Scrambling to Contain Fallout — Governments, companies and security experts from China to Britain raced on Saturday to contain the fallout from an audacious global cyberattack amid fears that if they did not succeed, companies would lose their data unless they met ransom demands.

Discussion: Sputnik International, Gizmodo, ABC News, The Atlantic and Hot Air, more at Techmeme »

MSRC:
Customer Guidance for WannaCrypt attacks

Discussion: Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Verge, Gizmodo, Engadget, Mashable, New York Times and New York Magazine, more at Techmeme »

Saba Hamedy / CNN:

Democratic Rep.: ‘Very strong case’ for obstruction of justice against Trump — Washington (CNN)Rep. Jerrold Nadler said in an interview Friday that President Donald Trump's dismissal of FBI Director James Comey and subsequent tweet that Comey “better hope” their conversations weren't taped add up to a …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Raw Story, Daily Mail, IJR, Mashable and KTLA, more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Trump Has Sparked the Biggest Political Crisis Since Watergate — The disorienting quality of the Donald Trump administration lies in the tension between the vastness of the threat it poses to the health of the republic and the smallness of the president himself.

New York Times:

President Trump Craves Loyalty, but Offers None — It is often at moments of crisis that Americans get the clearest glimpses of a president's character, and this week they had the chance to learn a good deal about the true Donald Trump after his abrupt decision to fire James Comey, the F.B.I. director.