memeorandum: Trump picks Dow Chemical lawyer for key role at EPA (Michael Biesecker/Associated Press)

1:10 PM ET, March 3, 2018

Top Items:

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

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

Discussion: Raw Story and RedState

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, Politico, AOL, Washington Press and Mediaite

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, RedState, Politicus USA, CNBC, Washington Press, ABC News and New York Times

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, Daily Kos, New York Magazine, al.com, Washington Post, The Guardian, LGBTQ Nation, Mediaite, Forward Progressives and Raw Story

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

CNN:
Trump's week was not so crazy after all

Discussion: Daily Kos and Althouse

NBC News:
Trump was angry and ‘unglued’ when he started a trade war, officials say

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

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

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: Outside the Beltway and Off the Kuff

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

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.

Discussion: RedState and The Hill

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.

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 …

Discussion: Althouse, Instapundit and Mercury News

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.

Discussion: Mother Jones

Avery Anapol / The Hill:

Lindsey Graham: War with North Korea would be ‘worth it’ in the long run — (R-S.C.) said this week that a war with North Korea would be “worth it” in the long term. — Graham made the comments in an interview with CNN. — “All the damage that would come from a war would be worth …

Discussion: CNN, Outside the Beltway, Washington Monthly and Political Wire

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, Politicus USA, The Guardian, NPR, Towleroad and Shareblue Media

CNNMoney:

Advertisers flee InfoWars founder Alex Jones' YouTube channel — Facebook, YouTube fail to blunt conspiracy theories — Some of the biggest brands in the U.S. had ads running on the YouTube channels for far-right website InfoWars and its founder, notorious conspiracy theorist Alex Jones …

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.

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Trump to launch major donor initiative after disastrous week — Donald Trump is wrapping up the most chaotic week of his presidency by rolling out a major new donor push — one of his most serious steps yet to prepare for a 2020 reelection campaign. — Trump will appear before big GOP givers …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Shareblue Media, Political Wire and ABC News

HuffPost:

Exclusive: Florida Public School Teacher Has A White Nationalist Podcast — Dayanna Volitich suggests Muslims be eradicated from the earth, believes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories ... and teaches middle school social studies. — Dayanna Volitich, a 25-year-old social studies teacher …

Discussion: Raw Story

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 »

Michael Biesecker / Associated Press:

Trump picks Dow Chemical lawyer for key role at EPA — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday tapped a chemical industry insider to run the Environmental Protection Agency office that oversees emergency response to hazardous spills and cleanups of the nation's most toxic sites.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

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

Associated Press:

New headaches for Trump's Mideast hopes as Netanyahu visits — Under the best of circumstances, a Mideast peace deal is the Holy Grail of diplomacy, a goal that has eluded American presidents for generations. — With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set to visit Washington this coming week …

Discussion: Washington Post

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

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