memeorandum: At Trial, a Focus on the Facts, Not the Politics, of Benghazi (New York Times)

10:25 AM ET, October 1, 2017

Top Items:

Tobin Harshaw / Bloomberg:

No, Trump Didn't Botch the Puerto Rico Crisis — A Q&A with former Navy Captain Jerry Hendrix on smart preparations the White House and Pentagon made for the looming storm. — “Send in the cavalry.” — That was the advice retired Army General Russel Honore gave President Donald Trump …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Daily Caller and Instapundit

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

The Media Needs To Stop Rationalizing President Trump's Behavior — Whenever President Trump lashes out against someone or something in a way that defies traditional expectations for presidential behavior — for instance, his decision to criticize the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Washington Post, Bangor Daily News, Mediaite, Business Insider, New York Times, ThinkProgress, NPR, AOL, The Mahablog, Outside the Beltway, The Hill and IJR

Brooke Seipel / The Hill:

Baldwin returns to SNL as confused Trump responding to Puerto Rico — Actor Alec Baldwin resumed his impersonation of President Trump on “Saturday Night Live” this week for the season premiere, appearing in the cold open as a confused Trump responding to the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico.

Discussion: RedState

Max Greenwood / The Hill:

Dem senator compares Trump to Marie Antoinette — (D-Ore.) is comparing President Trump to Marie Antoinette, the French queen whose lavish spending and aloofness became the subject of public ire during the French Revolution. — “Trump plays Marie Antoinette: Sits at his golf club …

Discussion: ABC News, Politico and Raw Story

Mike Allen / Axios:

Full text: Homeland security adviser's update on Puerto Rico — Here's the full text of an update on Puerto Rico that White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert sent his West Wing colleagues: — To inform you, I traveled with Brock to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands on Monday …

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:

Neighboring mayor praises Trump, says San Juan mayor playing ‘politics,’ AWOL at meetings … The mayor of a Puerto Rican city that sits next to San Juan praised the administration's help Saturday night, and chided the “politics” of San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who has been criticizing President Trump.

Discussion: RedState, CNN, The Daily Caller, Hullabaloo and Refinery29

Justin Baragona / Mediaite:

General Defends San Juan Mayor: She's ‘Living on a Cot...Hope the President Has a Good Day at Golf’ — President Donald Trump once again used his Twitter account to set off widespread outrage when he personally attacked San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz after she criticized the federal response to Hurricane Maria.

Jennifer Hansler / CNN:
Lin-Manuel Miranda to Trump: 'You're going straight to hell'

Discussion: RedState, Althouse, Conservative News Today, ABC News, The Hill, Daily Kos, Washington Post, CANNONFIRE, USA Today, IJR and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Lee Moran / HuffPost:
San Juan Mayor Responds To Trump's Attacks: ‘I Was Asking For Help’

Discussion: ABC News, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, France 24, IJR, Washington Post and Conservative News Today

Washington Post:
Trump called San Juan's mayor a weak leader. Here's what her leadership looks like.

New York Times:

At Trial, a Focus on the Facts, Not the Politics, of Benghazi — WASHINGTON — Almost from the moment that Islamist militants overran the American consulate and assaulted a C.I.A. annex in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012, politics consumed the deadly attacks.

Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times:

Column Time's up: As CHIP expires unrenewed, Congress blows a chance to save healthcare for 9 million children — Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price voted twice against expanding CHIP as a George state legislator. — Advocates for children's health started worrying months ago …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

Speaking Ill of Hugh Hefner — Hugh Hefner, gone to his reward at the age of 91, was a pornographer and chauvinist who got rich on masturbation, consumerism and the exploitation of women, aged into a leering grotesque in a captain's hat, and died a pack rat in a decaying manse where porn blared during his pathetic orgies.

Discussion: Slate

Taylor Gee / Politico:

Could America's Socialists Become the Tea Party of the Left? — If America's democratic socialists learned anything from watching Bernie Sanders' deep run in the Democratic primary last year, it's that they don't have to be losers any more. — Inspired by the Vermont senator's success …

Max Greenwood / The Hill:

Trump: Strange gained in polls because of my endorsement — President Trump on Saturday accused the so-called “fake news” media of failing to recognize that Sen. Luther Strange — (R-Ala.), who was vanquished in a runoff election against GOP candidate Roy Moore this week …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and RedState