memeorandum: Budget battles loom on Capitol Hill (Jonathan Swan/Axios)

6:15 AM ET, October 2, 2017

Top Items:

Olivia Beavers / The Hill:

Trump dedicates golf trophy to hurricane victims — President Trump on Sunday dedicated a golf trophy to the victims of recent powerful storms that tore through Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, all the while defending the government's response to the disasters.

Discussion: Raw Story and RedState

Caroline Orr / Shareblue:

Trump heads off to golf trophy ceremony after a weekend spent attacking Puerto Rico — After two days of golfing and tweeting insults at hurricane victims in Puerto Rico, Donald Trump will cap off his weekend by participating in the Presidents Cup Golf Tournament trophy presentation Sunday evening.

Discussion: Raw Story

Fox News:

FEMA's Long: No time for mayor's ‘spout off,’ focused on Puerto Rico — FEMA Director Brock Long, leading the federal hurricane response in Puerto Rico, on Sunday slammed critics and the media for what he considers misinformation, saying “I don't have time for that.”

Discussion: NBC News

Katherine Faulders / ABC News:
Trump dedicates golf trophy to hurricane victims amid controversy over response

Discussion: The Week and Associated Press

Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:
Pentagon: More than half of Puerto Ricans without access to drinking water

Discussion: Raw Story, RedState and Shareblue

Ingrid Arnesen / The Daily Beast:
Puerto Rican Troops Are Still Waiting for Orders While Residents Cry for Help

Discussion: Philly.com, Mother Jones and Althouse

Molly Hennessy-Fiske / Los Angeles Times: In one Puerto Rican nursing home, a struggle to get power and keep patients alive

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE:
DoD Accelerates Hurricane Relief, Response Efforts in Puerto Rico

Discussion: Shareblue and Raw Story

Richard Fausset / New York Times:
Puerto Rico Is Getting a Surge of Aid, Governor Says

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Guardian, Maggie's Farm and The Root

Mike Allen / Axios:
Scoop: Homeland security adviser pushes upbeat PR campaign for Puerto Rico

Discussion: Politico, Raw Story, Washington Post, ABC News, The Week, The Hill, Mother Jones, Business Insider, IJR, Mediaite, ThinkProgress, Hullabaloo and New York Magazine

Brooke Seipel / The Hill:
Baldwin returns to SNL as confused Trump responding to Puerto Rico

Discussion: RedState

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Scoop: Trump urges staff to portray him as “crazy guy” — In an Oval Office meeting earlier this month, President Trump gave his top trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, an Art of the Deal-style coaching session on how to negotiate with the South Koreans. — Trump's impromptu coaching came …

Discussion: Raw Story, Splinter, Business Insider, New York Magazine, Mashable, The Daily Caller, IJR and Mediaite

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Trump Says Tillerson Is ‘Wasting His Time’ on North Korea — WASHINGTON — President Trump undercut his own secretary of state on Sunday, calling his effort to open lines of communication with North Korea a waste of time, and seeming to rule out a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear-edged confrontation with Pyongyang.

Discussion: CNN, Washington Monthly, Business Insider, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Shareblue, IJR, The Daily Caller, NPR, NBC News, Mediaite, The Week, Talking Points Memo, Vox, Splinter, Washington Free Beacon, Althouse, SARAH PALIN and Gizmodo

Washington Post:
Trump signed presidential directive ordering actions to pressure North Korea

Discussion: The Diplomat, 38 North, The Hill, RedState, Engadget, The Daily Caller and The Week, more at Techmeme »

Dave Lawler / Axios:
Trump v. Trump admin on foreign policy

Discussion: Politico

Krishnadev Calamur / The Atlantic:
Trump's Undermining of Rex Tillerson

Discussion: Washington Post, The Last Refuge, RedState, ThinkProgress and Business Insider

David Cohen / Politico:
Trump undercuts Tillerson's efforts on North Korea

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

New York Times:

Grace du Pont, Conor Sutherland — Grace Hays Holcomb du Pont was married Sept. 30 to Conor Jackson Sutherland in Manhattan. The Rev. J. Donald Waring performed the ceremony at Grace Episcopal Church. — The bride and groom both graduated from Princeton, she cum laude and he magna cum laude

Los Angeles Times:

More than 20 dead and 100 injured in shooting on Las Vegas Strip; police say one suspect is ‘down’ and there are no more shooters — People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after apparent gun fire was heard around the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. (David Becker / Getty Images)

Discussion: The Atlantic, CNN, Axios, New York Times, CNBC and CANNONFIRE

Erin Dooley / ABC News:

Program that provides low-cost health care to 9M children set to expire — Amid intense debates about the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, the Senate and House missed the deadline to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) — meaning federal funding for the program will expire at the end of the month.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Valerie Strauss / Washington Post:

9 million kids get health insurance under CHIP. Congress just let it expire. — Congress just allowed the Children's Health Insurance Program, which provided low-cost health insurance to 9 million children, to expire. — If action is not taken soon to restore the funding …

Discussion: Splinter

Olivia Beavers / The Hill:

Trump called Cowboys' Jerry Jones four times about anthem protests: report — President Trump last Monday reportedly called Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones four times imploring him not to let his team kneel during the national anthem. — The president repeatedly called Jones while the owner stood …

Discussion: RedState and SARAH PALIN

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Budget battles loom on Capitol Hill — Republicans on Capitol Hill are focused on one thing this week: the budget. The House and Senate need to pass budgets — and sign off on a single product in conference — in order to get a bill ready to pass tax reform.

Discussion: Politico

ESPN:

NFL owners struggled to retain control after Trump's attacks, rise of player protests — As DeMaurice Smith drove Monday morning to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport for a flight to his annual locker room meeting with the Buffalo Bills, his phone rang. It was Roger Goodell.

Discussion: Slate, IJR, East Bay Times, Washington Post and ProFootballTalk

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:

The Vietnam War gets the Ken Burns treatment — I didn't watch all 18 hours of Ken Burns' series about the Vietnam War, but I forced myself to endure roughly two-thirds of it. I found Burns' version of the war biased and superficial. — Scott has performed a service by posting a conference …

Amy B Wang / Washington Post:

Semen-contaminated flutes might have been given to children, California school officials warn — Several school districts in Southern California warned parents this weekend that flutes and recorders given to children through a nonprofit music program may have been contaminated with bodily fluids.

Discussion: Associated Press, Orange County Register and CBS Los Angeles

Akbar Shahid Ahmed / HuffPost:

John Kasich Hints That He May Need To Leave The GOP — The Ohio governor also noted that Americans seem enthusiastic about the idea of candidates outside the two main parties. — WASHINGTON Ohio governor John Kasich, a top Republican leader and former candidate for the party's presidential nomination …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and IJR