memeorandum: A Lovely Little Trade War (Wall Street Journal)

12:10 PM ET, March 3, 2018

Top Items:

Marwa Eltagouri / Washington Post:

Shortly before Trump announced tariffs, his former adviser dumped millions in steel-related stocks … President Trump's decision Thursday to impose crippling tariffs on the imports of steel and aluminum took many by surprise — particularly investors, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, CNBC, Washington Press, ABC News, New York Times and Mediaite

NBC News:

Trump was angry and ‘unglued’ when he started a trade war, officials say — WASHINGTON — With global markets shaken by President Donald Trump's surprise decision to impose strict tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, the president went into battle mode on Friday: “Trade wars are good, and easy to win,” he wrote on Twitter.

Bloomberg:

Scaramucci Is on White House ‘Exclusion List’ Blocking Visits — White House official had denied his claim he was on blacklist — Statement confirms he is on list requiring special approval — Anthony Scaramucci, President Donald Trump's former communications director …

Discussion: CNN, AOL, Raw Story, Axios, Political Wire and Mediaite

Simon Johnson / Reuters:
Electrolux puts $250 million U.S. investment on hold over Trump tariff hike

Discussion: RedState and Raw Story

Kris Maher / Wall Street Journal:

In a Pennsylvania Steel Town, Donald Trump's Tariff Is a Winner — Local workers hope for more jobs and better pay from the president's proposed levies — BRADDOCK, Pa.—President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports have many economists and lawmakers worried about a coming trade war.

Larry Kudlow / The Hill:

Trump must think twice about tariffs — BY LARRY KUDLOW, ARTHUR LAFFER AND STEPHEN MOORE, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS — 03/03/18 07:00 AM EST THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL — One of the ironies of trade protectionism is that tariffs and import quotas …

Joy-Ann Reid / The Daily Beast:

The Right Can't Fight the Future … It seems axiomatic that the past and the future cannot exist at the same time. Thanks to the space-time continuum, people from different centuries cannot live simultaneously. The same goes for a nation, which cannot survive pulling toward the future and toward the past at once.

Discussion: Pew Research Center and The Daily Beast

Washington Post:

Days before the election, Stormy Daniels threatened to cancel deal to keep alleged affair with Trump secret … The 2016 election was less than a month away, and Donald Trump's attorney had blown the deadline for paying Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about her alleged affair with the future president.

Discussion: The Hill, RedState, AOL, Washington Press and Mediaite

Caroline Orr / Shareblue Media:

Roy Moore embarrassed as Americans reject his pathetic pleas for cash — The GOP may be fine with giving money to accused sexual predators, but the American people are not. — Accused pedophile and failed Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore is desperately begging for donations to cover …

Associated Press: Roy Moore pleads for money, saying resources ‘depleted’

Judge Roy Moore for U.S. Senate:
First, I wanted to write you to say thank you most sincerely …

Discussion: Axios, New York Magazine, The Guardian, Mediaite, Forward Progressives and Raw Story

Eli Rosenberg / Washington Post:
Roy Moore issues grievance-laden plea for money: ‘My resources have been depleted’

Discussion: LGBTQ Nation

Jack Shafer / Politico:

Week 41: Mueller's Digging Picks Up Speed — For the longest time, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation of the Russia mess looked like a backyard drainage ditch. Into it flowed a regular stream of witnesses, evidence and press speculation. But when was it ever going to amount to anything real?

Discussion: Raw Story, Axios, The Guardian, NPR, Towleroad, CNN and RedState

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Trump to launch major donor initiative after disastrous week

Discussion: Political Wire and ABC News

Jackie Wang / Dallas Morning News:

Texas early voting numbers a ‘wake-up call’ for GOP as Democrats double their 2014 turnout — AUSTIN — With one day of early voting to go, turnout in the Democratic primary had nearly doubled since the last midterm election in 2014. — According to the Texas secretary of state's website …

Discussion: Off the Kuff and Political Wire

Abby Livingston / The Texas Tribune: Amid national controversy, Houston Democrats hustle votes in 7th Congressional District

Jason Horowitz / New York Times:

Why Italy's Insular Election Is More Important Than It Looks — ROME — The campaign before Italy's national elections on Sunday has been self-obsessed and often petty and unedifying. But it has been instructive about one thing: The political forces that have torn at the global order …

Discussion: The Local

Politico: How Italy does Putin's work

Virginia Heffernan / Los Angeles Times:

Ivanka Trump: Born to legitimize corruption and make the shoddy look cute — On July 27, 2017, near the end of the one of the most compelling hearings yet on the Trump-Russia affair, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) offered an extraordinary insight. It shot through the proceedings like a comet.

Discussion: New York Times, Breitbart and Washington Monthly

New York Times:

‘All-In or Nothing’: How West Virginia's Teacher Strike Was Months in the Making — GILBERT, W. Va — Home from a long day teaching English last month at Mingo Central High School, Robin Ellis told her husband the latest talk among the teachers. They were tired of low pay and costly health benefits …

Discussion: Vox and Washington Post

Benjamin Wallace-Wells / New Yorker:
The New Old Politics of the West Virginia Teachers' Strike

Discussion: New York Magazine, Washington Post, ThinkProgress and Diane Ravitch's blog

Monica Hesse / Washington Post:

Six teenagers are running for governor in Kansas, and suddenly this doesn't seem so preposterous … MERRIAM, Kan. — And now, a report from the Midwest, where a gangly hope has arrived in the form of children enrobed in various assortments of khakis and blazers, because six teenage boys are running for governor of the state of Kansas.

Steve Kovach / Business Insider:

Amazon will stop selling Nest smart home devices, escalating its war with Google — Amazon currently sells a limited number of Nest products, but those will disappear from the site after it sells the inventory it has left.Nest decided to no longer work with Amazon selling the limited number of products it was selling on the site.

Discussion: The Verge, Engadget and Mashable, more at Techmeme »

Washington Post:

Trump pushes Republicans to oppose crucial New York-New Jersey tunnel project … President Trump is pushing congressional Republicans not to fund a crucial infrastructure project — a long-delayed plan to build a new rail tunnel between Manhattan and New Jersey — setting up a confrontation …

Discussion: New York Times and Axios

Peter Holley / Washington Post:

The Silicon Valley elite's latest status symbol: Chickens — Their pampered birds wear diapers and have personal chefs — but lay the finest eggs tech money can buy — Excelling at his work, Land said, requires an obsessive focus on it. But maintaining that passion …

Benjamin Weiser / New York Times:

A ‘Bright Light,’ Dimmed in the Shadows of Homelessness — Nakesha Williams resisted help from social workers, friends and acquaintances, some who only knew her as a homeless woman, and others who knew of her past. — They met on a rainy morning several years ago, at the base of the Helmsley Building in Midtown Manhattan.

FOX31 Denver:

Expelled Rep. Lebsock changed party prior to vote, giving State House seat to GOP — DENVER — Democratic state Rep. Steve Lebsock was expelled from the House in a 52 - 9 vote Friday, following allegations of sexual misconduct by five women. — The effort, led by Democrats, was successful in barring Lebsock from his position.

Discussion: Daily Wire and The Daily Caller

Deborah Yetter / Courier-Journal:

Kentucky's ‘child bride’ bill stalls as groups fight to let 13-year-olds wed — Donna Pollard describes getting married at 16 to a 29-year-old man who was her counselor. She is behind Senate Bill 48 to raise the legal age of marriage in Kentucky to 18 years old. Matt Stone, Courier Journal

Discussion: Raw Story and Washington Press

Wall Street Journal:

A Lovely Little Trade War — Donald J. Trump explains his theory of comparative advantage. — Donald Trump doubled down Friday on his plan for steel and aluminum tariffs, telling his advisers he won't exempt any countries from the new blunderbuss border taxes, and issuing on Twitter …

Discussion: EconLog

Christopher Ingraham / Washington Post:

The best available evidence suggests NRA-backed gun policies are making crime worse … The best available evidence suggests two major National Rifle Association gun policy prescriptions — what are known as “stand your ground” self-defense laws and permissive concealed carry laws — increase homicides and violent crime.

Discussion: Vox, Infowars, Mother Jones, NPR, CityLab and The Guardian

New York Post:

California Dems' hard-left turn could be the whole party's future — How far left is the Democratic Party headed? Look to California, where last month's state party convention went off the deep end. — The first sign of lunacy was the delegates' refusal to endorse impeccably liberal Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Dan Merica / CNN:

A presidential milestone: Trump has spent 100 days in office at one of his golf clubs — WASHINGTON (CNN)President Donald Trump reached a presidential milestone at his Palm Beach County, Florida, golf club on Saturday: One hundred days in office at a golf club that bears his name.