memeorandum: The Daily 202: Freewheeling immigration debate in Senate will test power of conservative outside groups (James Hohmann/Washington Post)

9:45 AM ET, February 12, 2018

Top Items:

Damian Paletta / Washington Post:

In big reversal, new Trump budget will give up on longtime Republican goal of eliminating deficit … President Trump on Monday will offer a budget plan that falls far short of eliminating the government's deficit over 10 years, conceding that huge tax cuts and new spending increases …

Discussion: The Week and Political Wire

Bloomberg:

U.S. Budget Director Warns Interest Rates May ‘Spike’ on Deficit — Mulvaney says Trump's economic moves ‘not a sugar high’ — OMB is adjusting 2018, 2019 budgets after spending bill passed — The U.S. will post a larger budget deficit this year and could see a “spike” …

Washington Post:

Trump plan will drop GOP's traditional goal of balancing budget within 10 years … President Trump is remaking the Republican economic playbook in his own image, abandoning ideological consistency in favor of a debt-busting strategy that will upend how Washington taxes and spends trillions of dollars each year.

Discussion: Reuters

Jennifer Scholtes / Politico:
Trump to demand tough budget cuts for domestic programs

Discussion: TheBlaze

Axios:

Trump's real plan for 2018 — President Trump today will unveil a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan that his own aides don't think will pass, and a $4 trillion budget that Axios' Jonathan Swan calls “science fiction.” — It's the strangest of year-ahead plans for a party that controls …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Raw Story, Los Angeles Times and Politico

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Twisted: Trump says Porter sick, guilty; defends him publicly — President Trump is defending Rob Porter even though, privately, he says he's guilty. — Behind closed doors: The president has told multiple people that he believes the accusations about Porter, and finds him “sick.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, ABC News, Business Insider, The Week, Mediaite, AOL and Raw Story

Louis Nelson / Politico:

Rob Porter's ex-wife says she ‘was floored’ by Trump's response — The ex-wife of a former Trump administration official accused of domestic violence wrote that she was “floored” when President Donald Trump seemingly implied she made up the allegations, lamenting that the president's response …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, ABC News, RedState, NBC News and The Week

David Remnick / New Yorker:
A Reckoning with Women Awaits Trump

Discussion: Hullabaloo, The Week and CNN

Kurt Schlichter / Townhall.com:
Principles, Schminciples - Lynch Mobs Are Cool If They Derail Trump

Discussion: Philly.com, CNN, Women in the World, CBS New York and Common Dreams

New York Times:
Abuse Case Exposes Fissures in a White House in Turmoil

Discussion: Politico, Political Wire and AOL

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
White House can't get its story straight on Rob Porter exit

Discussion: The Week, Splinter, Shareblue Media and AOL

Josh Rogin / Washington Post:

Pence: The United States is ready to talk with North Korea — Despite the mutual chilliness between U.S. and North Korean officials in South Korea last week, behind the scenes real progress was made toward a new diplomatic opening that could result in direct talks without preconditions between Washington and Pyongyang.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNN, Reuters, The Guardian, The Week, Business Insider, CNBC, NBC News and The Daily Caller

Susan B. Glasser / Politico:

Kim Jong Un, North Korea's ‘10-Foot-Tall Baby’ — President Donald Trump, defying his own advisers and intelligence agencies, loves to call North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a “madman,” when he isn't taunting Kim about his height, weight and the relative size of his nuclear button.

Discussion: One America News Network and Raw Story

New York Times:

Kim Jong-un's Sister Turns On the Charm, Taking Pence's Spotlight — PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — When the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, decided to send a large delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea this month, the world feared he might steal the show.

Daniel W. Drezner / Washington Post:
Is North Korea really winning the soft power Olympics?

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Bloomberg:
Kim's Smiling Sister Exploits Trump-Moon Divide

Discussion: NPR and The Week

Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:

He Predicted The 2016 Fake News Crisis. Now He's Worried About An Information Apocalypse. — In mid-2016, Aviv Ovadya realized there was something fundamentally wrong with the internet — so wrong that he abandoned his work and sounded an alarm. A few weeks before the 2016 election …

Discussion: Political Wire, more at Mediagazer »

Burgess Everett / Politico:

McConnell's immigration gamble — Mitch McConnell is taking the reins of an immigration debate that may prompt a fix for “Dreamers” — or quickly spiral out of control. — Usually careful with his every move, the Senate majority leader is taking a gamble this week with his pledge for a free …

Discussion: Bloomberg and ImmigrationProf Blog

James Hohmann / Washington Post: The Daily 202: Freewheeling immigration debate in Senate will test power of conservative outside groups

Albert R. Hunt / Bloomberg: Nearly Everyone Loses If Immigration Deal Fails

Joel Rose / NPR: As Congress Debates Immigration, DREAMers Are In Limbo Along With Their Families

Wall Street Journal:
Senate Conservatives Offer Immigration Plan Heavy on Border Security, Quick Deportations

Discussion: Splinter and CNN

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

First-class travel distinguishes Scott Pruitt's EPA tenure … Just days after helping orchestrate the United States' exit from a global climate accord last June, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt embarked on a whirlwind tour aimed at championing President Trump's agenda at home and abroad.

Discussion: The Week and Splinter

Daniel Lippman / Politico:
PLAYBOOK SCOOP: PELOSI pulls in nearly 50 million bucks for House Dems in 2017 …

Discussion: New York Times, Mediaite and The Week

Washington Post:

Trump takes ‘shackles’ off ICE, which is slapping them on immigrants who thought they were safe … A week after he won the election, President Trump promised that his administration would round up millions of immigrant gang members and drug dealers. And after he took office …

Discussion: The Week

Fox News Insider:

Doubling Down: Ginsburg Blames ‘Macho Atmosphere’ & ‘Sexism’ for Clinton Loss — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg doubled down on comments she made last year that sexism “no doubt” played a role in Hillary Clinton's 2016 election defeat. — During a Columbia University Women's Conference event …

Discussion: Washington Times and Scared Monkeys

Ariane de Vogue / CNN:
MeToo will have staying power, Ruth Bader Ginsburg insists

Discussion: Axios and AOL

Paul Sperry / RealClearInvestigations:

Exclusive: CIA Ex-Director Brennan's Perjury Peril — House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes next plans to investigate the role former CIA Director John Brennan and other Obama intelligence officials played in promoting the salacious and unverified Steele dossier on Donald Trump …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics and The Gateway Pundit

Robert Costa / Washington Post:

Hillary Clinton, a favorite GOP foil, plans discreet 2018 strategy — There was a long line for selfies with Hillary Clinton last week at a Georgetown soiree for Lanny Davis, a Clinton loyalist whose latest book blames former FBI director James B. Comey for her 2016 presidential defeat.

Washington Post:

Trump's big infrastructure plan has a lot of detail on everything but how to pay for it … President Trump is poised to unveil a long-awaited plan Monday that aims to stimulate $1.5 trillion in new spending on the country's ailing infrastructure over the coming decade, but many lawmakers …

Discussion: Daily Kos