memeorandum: What McCain did was hard. What Murkowski and Collins did was much harder. (Alexia Fernández Campbell/Vox)

6:50 PM ET, July 28, 2017

Top Items:

Emily Smith / Page Six:

Anthony Scaramucci's wife files for divorce — MORE FROM: … Anthony Scaramucci, the White House's potty-mouthed new communications director, has been dumped by his beautiful blond wife because of his “naked political ambition,” multiple sources exclusively tell Page Six.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, IJR, Washington Free Beacon, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite, AOL, twitchy.com, TMZ.com and The Daily Caller

New York Times:

Reince Priebus Pushed Out After Rocky Tenure as Trump Chief of Staff — WASHINGTON — Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff who failed to impose order on a chaos-wracked West Wing, was pushed out on Friday after a stormy six-month tenure, and President Trump replaced him with John F. Kelly …

Mike Allen / Axios:

Trump “loved” Scaramucci's quotes — but he hates being upstaged — Top Republicans tell us that yesterday may have been an inflection point in the West Wing meltdown — that if behavior like this continues, apparently sanctioned by the President, people will finally leave.

Discussion: Politico, Political Wire, Mediaite, ABC News and New York Post

Wall Street Journal:

Trump Names Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as New Chief of Staff — Kelly to replace former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus — WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump said Friday that he has replaced his chief of staff Reince Priebus with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general.

Discussion: CNBC, Geller Report and The Gateway Pundit

Vicky Ward / HuffPost:

Here's The Real Reason Anthony Scaramucci Hates Reince Priebus — It all started in January. … In the public feud between Anthony Scaramucci and Reince Priebus, what hasn't been fully explained is why Scaramucci so dislikes the president's now-former chief of staff …

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, Politico, Above the Law, The Gateway Pundit and Mashable

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:

Why Anthony Scaramucci's Rant Probably Ticked Off the FBI … In his immediately infamous phone call to a New Yorker staff writer, Anthony Scaramucci didn't just say the White House chief of staff was a “f-king paranoid schizophrenic” or accuse the president's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, of engaging in autofellatio.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, USA Today, CNN, Mashable, Bloomberg, The Federalist, The Gateway Pundit, Salon, Washington Free Beacon, Hullabaloo, Mediaite, MyNewsLA.com, Above the Law, Refinery29, ThinkProgress, IJR, CNBC and Vox

Max Greenwood / The Hill:

Trump says he wants a ‘general’ to replace Priebus: report — President Trump has said privately that he wants to appoint “a general” to replace White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, The New York Times reports. — The president, the Times reported on Thursday, has so far focused …

Discussion: Axios, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, Power Line, ABC News, ThinkProgress, New York Times, The Gateway Pundit, No More Mister Nice Blog and Hot Air

Tara Palmeri / Politico:
Priebus out as chief of staff, Gen. John Kelly to replace him

Discussion: ABC News and Mediaite

James Hohmann / Washington Post:
The Daily 202: Trump's hardball tactics backfire as ‘skinny repeal’ goes down

Discussion: Politico, VICE News, Conservative News Today and Just Security

CNN:
Reince Priebus out, John Kelly in as White House chief of staff

Discussion: TheStreet

Washington Post:
Trump names Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as White House chief of staff, ousting Reince Priebus

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Weekly Standard, Military.com, New Yorker, NewsBusters, New York Times, Reuters, TheStreet and The Daily Signal

The Onion:
Onion Fact Checks: Anthony Scaramucci's ‘New Yorker’ Interview

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Peter Beinart / The Atlantic:
Anthony Scaramucci's Empty Feud With Reince Priebus

Discussion: Washington Post, VICE News, Raw Story and CNN

Alexia Fernández Campbell / Vox:

What McCain did was hard. What Murkowski and Collins did was much harder. — In the early-morning hours after Senate Republicans' last-ditch attempt to repeal Obamacare failed, a common narrative began to emerge: that while three “no” votes from Republicans killed the bill, only Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) saved the day.

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, CNN, NBC News, Fox News, Daily Kos, The Guardian, New York Magazine, Media Matters for America, The Daily Caller, vice, IJR and Raw Story

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

House Republicans despair after health care collapse — Speaker Paul Ryan had none of his Eagle Scout-like optimism. — At a closed-door conference meeting with House Republicans hours after Sen. John McCain scuttled perhaps the last best hope of repealing Obamacare, Ryan read an excerpt from …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Vox, Mediaite and Politicus USA

David Mack / BuzzFeed:
Watch The Shocking Moment John McCain Killed The Republican Health Care Bill

Discussion: The Atlantic and Washington Post

Josh Barro / Business Insider:
John McCain saved Republicans from themselves

Discussion: Washington Post, bradford-delong.com, Refinery29 and AOL

John Amato / Latest from Crooks and Liars: Rep. Gohmert: I Prayed For McCain, Cancer 'Doesn't Give Him Right To Make People Suffer'

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:
The night John McCain killed the GOP's health-care fight

Discussion: Shareblue, The Daily Beast, The Independent, FiveThirtyEight, Wall Street Journal, CNN, CNBC, NPR, IJR, Splinter, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller and ThinkProgress

mccain.senate.gov:
STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON VOTING “NO” ON “SKINNY REPEAL”

Discussion: Vox, Breitbart, Bloomberg, CNNMoney, Conservative News Today, New York Times, VICE News, The Gateway Pundit, neo-neocon, The Atlantic, Washington Post, TheBlaze, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, twitchy.com and New York Magazine

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Taking Stock Of Trumpcare's Epic Collapse

Discussion: bradford-delong.com

Guy Benson / Townhall.com:
WATCH: John McCain and Lisa Murkowski Railing Against Obamacare Within the Past Two Years

Discussion: Investor's Business Daily, ABC News and Daily Wire

Associated Press:
House lawmakers left Washington for their weeks long August vacation …

Discussion: Politico

Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:
How McCain tanked Obamacare repeal

Discussion: ABC News, Vox, Political Insider blog, Common Dreams, Mashable, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, Washington Free Beacon and The Week

New York Times:
Senate Rejects Slimmed-Down Obamacare Repeal as McCain Votes No

BuzzFeed:

Part Four: The Secrets Of The Spy In The Bag — Vladimir Putin's former media czar was murdered in Washington, DC on the eve of a planned meeting with the U.S. Justice Department, according to two FBI agents whose assertions cast new doubts on the US government's official explanation of his death.

Discussion: IJR and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Dara Lind / Vox:

Trump just delivered the most chilling speech of his presidency — The president of the United States is explicitly encouraging police violence. — In a speech to law enforcement officials in Long Island on Friday, the president of the United States delivered a clear and chilling message …

Discussion: Axios

Dan Lieberman / CNN:
MS-13 members: Trump makes the gang stronger

Discussion: Mother Jones, Jezebel, VICE News, TheBlaze, CBS New York, The Gateway Pundit, The Guardian, Media Matters for America, IJR and Mediaite

Daniel Hoffman / New York Times:

The Russians Were Involved. But It Wasn't About Collusion. — Russians are fond of a proverb, “besplatniy sir biyvaet tol'ko v mishelovke”: “Free cheese can be found only in a mousetrap.” — Having long considered the United States its main enemy, the Kremlin deploys a full quiver …

Discussion: JustOneMinute

Neil MacFarquhar / New York Times:
Russia Seizes 2 U.S. Properties and Orders Embassy to Cut Staff

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, TASS, Vox, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and New York Magazine

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Trump Is Woody Allen Without the Humor — Half his tweets show utter weakness. They are plaintive, shrill little cries, usually just after dawn. — The president's primary problem as a leader is not that he is impetuous, brash or naive. It's not that he is inexperienced, crude, an outsider.

Discussion: alicublog

Ryan J. Reilly / HuffPost:

Donald Trump Endorses Police Brutality In Speech To Cops — The president said law enforcement officers shouldn't protect suspects' heads when putting them into police cars. — WASHINGTON President Donald Trump received applause on Friday when he endorsed police brutality while delivering …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Raw Story and Daily Wire

Alan Pyke / ThinkProgress: Trump praises police violence to audience of laughing cops

John Delaney / Washington Post:

Why I'm running for president — John Delaney, a Democrat, represents Maryland's 6th Congressional District in the House. — The American people are far greater than the sum of our political parties. It is time for us to rise above our broken politics and renew the spirit that enabled us to achieve the seemingly impossible.

Discussion: CNN, TheBlaze, AOL, Outside the Beltway, Washington Free Beacon and The Daily Caller

Sally Q. Yates / New York Times:

Sally Yates: Protect the Justice Department From President Trump — The spectacle of President Trump's now daily efforts to humiliate the attorney general into resigning has transfixed the country. But while we are busy staring at the wreckage of Attorney General Jeff Sessions' relationship …

Discussion: Politico, Raw Story and Shareblue

Susan Ferrechio / Washington Examiner:

Mark Meadows: New healthcare bill is coming ‘that can get to 51’ — Rep. Mark Meadows, a key negotiator in the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, said a new effort is underway to write a bill that can pass the Senate that would include proposals offered by Sens. Lindsey Graham, Bill Cassidy, Ted Cruz, and Rob Portman.

Discussion: Vox, Axios, TheBlaze and STAT

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Democrats want to know who's behind Trump dossier — There's been a stark partisan divide over the Trump dossier — the collection of “salacious and unverified” allegations about Donald Trump (the words are former FBI Director James Comey's) that was reportedly gathered by Trump's opponents …

Discussion: RedState