memeorandum: Trump Blames Democrats For ‘Forcing’ Him To Sign Spending Bill (Frances Langum/Latest from Crooks and Liars)

4:10 PM ET, March 23, 2018

Top Items:

Matthew Waxman / Lawfare:

The John Bolton I Knew — Most of the commentary about John Bolton's appointment as national security advisor has focused on his extreme policy views, especially with regard to military strikes against North Korea and Iran. I want instead to offer here a few firsthand thoughts about his formidable skills …

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, Hit & Run, The American Conservative, Politico, The Guardian and Niskanen Center

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Bolton bombshell: the clashes to come — Sources close to President Trump say he feels John Bolton, hurriedly named last night to replace H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, will finally deliver the foreign policy the president wants — particularly on Iran and North Korea.

Discussion: New York Times, National Review, ABC News, RedState, Politico, Bloomberg, Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Weekly Standard, Breitbart, Common Dreams, The Daily Caller, The Week and CANNONFIRE

Max Boot / Washington Post:

Add another zealot to the White House — Most presidents initially stock their administrations with cronies and ideological purists. Then, after suffering inevitable setbacks, they usher them out in favor of less ideological and more competent professionals. President Trump is doing it in reverse.

Discussion: Vox, CNN, Slate, New York Magazine, Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, The Atlantic, CNBC, New York Times, Foreign Policy and LobeLog

Foreign Policy:

John Bolton Is a National Security Threat — John Bolton wants regime changes in North Korea and Iran, and he'll do whatever it takes to get them. — Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster is out as Trump's national security adviser and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (and current Fox News contributor) John Bolton is in.

Discussion: USA Today, New York Magazine, Vox, Washington Post, The Guardian, Hit & Run, The Atlantic, Haaretz, ThinkProgress, New York Times, Salon, The Nation, HuffPost and CNN

Bloomberg:
Inside Trump's Snap Decision to Oust McMaster

Discussion: Politico

Washington Post:
The return of John Bolton, a hawk on North Korea and Iran, sparks concerns around the world

Discussion: New York Times, Vox, Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway, CNN, Bloomberg, New York Magazine and The Guardian

Cory Bennett / Politico:
Bolton, McMaster present contrast on Russian hacking

Discussion: South China Morning Post, CBS News, Shakesville, One America News Network and israpundit.org

Joe Scarborough / Washington Post:
John Bolton's appointment is a fitting coda to conservatism's failures

Discussion: CNN and Axios

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Nobody Is Left to Save the World From Trump Now

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox, LobeLog, IJR, The Daily Caller, VICE News, Daily Kos and ThinkProgress

Matthew Rosenberg / New York Times:

Bolton Was Early Beneficiary of Cambridge Analytica's Facebook Data — WASHINGTON — The political action committee founded by John R. Bolton, President Trump's incoming national security adviser, was one of the earliest customers of Cambridge Analytica, which it hired specifically …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Vox, Washington Post, ABC News, The Guardian, TechCrunch, New Republic, Axios, Engadget, The Daily Caller, Shakesville, Media Matters for America, Raw Story, VICE News, Global Voices, Daily Kos, Bangor Daily News, AOL, Althouse and Gizmodo

The Guardian:

Leaked: Cambridge Analytica's blueprint for Trump victory — Exclusive: Former employee explains how presentation showed techniques used to target voters … The blueprint for how Cambridge Analytica claimed to have won the White House for Donald Trump by using Google, Snapchat, Twitter …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Guardian, Splinter, Axios, Washington Post, Politico, Hullabaloo, Raw Story, VentureBeat, Press Association and Mashable, more at Techmeme »

Andy Kroll / Mother Jones:

Cloak and Data: The Real Story Behind Cambridge Analytica's Rise and Fall — 1. “I can't stand lying to you every day” — In the late summer of 2015, Chris Wilson, the director of research, analytics, and digital strategy for Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign, had a conversation with a contractor that left him furious.

Discussion: Washington Post

Washington Post: Facebook had a closer relationship than it disclosed with the academic it called a liar

Jacob Pramuk / CNBC:

Trump threatens to veto omnibus spending bill over DACA and the border wall — President Donald Trump threatened to veto the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill already passed by Congress on Friday. — The about-face comes a day after White House officials issued public assurances …

Discussion: Vox, Weekly Standard, ABC News, National Review, Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit, Right Wing Watch, Roll Call, Mediaite, New York Times, Jamie Dupree - AJC, The Daily Caller, Conservative Review, Washington Free Beacon, Daily Wire and Fox News Insider

Adam Shaw / Fox News:
Trump threatens veto of $1.3 trillion spending bill, risking government shutdown

Frances Langum / Latest from Crooks and Liars:
Trump Blames Democrats For ‘Forcing’ Him To Sign Spending Bill

Discussion: Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, ABC News and Reuters

CNN:
Trump signs spending bill, blasts Congress

Discussion: The Federalist, WTKR-TV and KTLA

Tara Golshan / Vox:
Trump is threatening to shut down the government — and blame Democrats for DACA

Discussion: Washington Post, Breitbart and Politics K-12

New York Post:
Trump signs $1.3 trillion spending bill with a warning

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and Mediaite

Washington Post:

‘You should do it.’ Trump officials encouraged George Papadopoulos's foreign outreach, documents show. … When a Russian news agency reached out to George Papadopoulos to request an interview shortly before the 2016 election, the young adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump made sure to seek approval from campaign headquarters.

Discussion: Political Wire and Raw Story

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

White House lawyer McGahn eager to exit — President Donald Trump's top White House lawyer, Don McGahn, is expected to step down later this year, though his resignation is contingent on the president finding a replacement and several other factors, according to four sources familiar with McGahn's thinking.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Political Wire and Axios

Eliana Johnson / Politico:
McMaster firing upends plan to oust other top Trump officials

Discussion: Axios, Vox, NBC News, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, Just Security, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, The Week, IJR, The Hill and Political Wire

Eliana Johnson / Politico: Why Trump Hasn't Fired Mattis

Andrew Sullivan / New York Magazine:

America Takes the Next Step Toward Tyranny — Every now and again, when I find myself buried in the latest blizzard of invariably disturbing news emanating from the Trump White House, I go back and remind myself of the core narrative. I read Plato's Republic again, the prism through …

Discussion: The Week

The Intercept:

Joshua Kushner Met with Government of Qatar to Discuss Financing in the Same Week Father Charles Kushner Did — Joshua Kushner, a venture capitalist and the younger brother of White House adviser Jared Kushner, met with Qatari Finance Minister Ali Sharif Al Emadi the same week as his father …

Bloomberg:

Trump Fundraiser Offered to Help Lift Sanctions on Russian Firms — Elliott Broidy proposed work for clients of Moscow lawyer — Pre-inauguration discussions didn't lead to Broidy's hiring — Elliott Broidy, a top fundraiser for President Donald Trump, offered last year to help …

U.S. Department of Justice:

Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein Delivers Remarks Announcing Nine Iranians Charged with Conducting Massive Cyber Theft Campaign on Behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — Remarks as prepared by delivery. — Good morning. — For many decades, the United States has led the world in science …

Discussion: CNN, CBS News, Al Jazeera English, Daily Caller News Foundation and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

U.S. Department of Justice:
Nine Iranians Charged With Conducting Massive Cyber Theft Campaign on Behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Discussion: U.S. Department …, Breitbart, Cyberscoop, emptywheel, IJR, The Week, The Verge and NBC News

CNN:

DiGenova role on President's legal team in flux — Washington (CNN)Veteran Washington attorney Joseph diGenova's role as part of President Donald Trump's legal team is still in question, according to two sources familiar with the matter. — DiGenova's hiring was announced on Monday by Jay Sekulow, counsel to the President.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Joe.My.God., Raw Story and Eschaton

Amy L. Wax / Wall Street Journal:

The University of Denial — Aggressive suppression of the truth is a central feature of American higher education. — 'Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away," observed Philip K. Dick in “I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon. Somewhere deep in a file drawer …

Discussion: Instapundit

Paul Campos / Lawyers, Guns & Money: How to win friends and influence people

Gerrit De Vynck / Bloomberg:

Musk Takes Down the Tesla and SpaceX Facebook Pages — Musk and Zuckerberg have traded barbs on AI, rockets before — Facebook is facing criticism after Trump-tied firm took data — Elon Musk is hopping on the #DeleteFacebook digital bandwagon. — The chief executive officer …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, New York Times, BGR, IJR, The Guardian and Reuters

Shannon Vavra / Axios:
Elon Musk deletes Facebook accounts for Tesla, SpaceX

Discussion: CNNMoney, TechCrunch, Daily Caller News Foundation and Motherboard

The Daily Beast:

Liberal PAC Wants Unreleased Footage From Netflix's Roger Stone Doc After Daily Beast Report — The liberal PAC American Bridge 21st Century is seeking unused footage from the Netflix documentary on long-time Trump adviser Roger Stone, following revelations that the DNC hacker …

The Daily Beast:
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Lone DNC Hacker’ Guccifer 2.0 Slipped Up and Revealed He Was a Russian Intelligence Officer

U.S. Department of Justice:

Virginia Beach Man Arrested for Threatening a Member of Congress — NORFOLK, Va. - A Virginia Beach man was arrested today on charges of threatening to murder and assault a member of Congress. — According to court documents, Wallace Grove Godwin, 69, visited the Virginia Beach Office of Congressman Scott Taylor yesterday.

Discussion: National Review, Politico, WTKR-TV and The Gateway Pundit

Former U.S. Senator Al Franken:

“Lack of candor.” — That's one of the reasons that Attorney General Jeff Sessions used to justify his decision to fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe last week, just two days before Mr. McCabe was set to retire from a distinguished 21-year career with the Bureau.

Discussion: Politico and Raw Story

Marc Caputo / Politico:

'Oh my God...It's fake': Far right falls for hoax about Broward County sheriff — In the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, the far-right fever swamps buzzed with false information and conspiracy theories about student “crisis actors” who were paid to lie about the mass shooting.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Orlando Weekly and ABC News

Ovetta Wiggins / Washington Post:

U.S. Sen. Kamala D. Harris endorses Ben Jealous in run for Maryland governor … Maryland gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous has received an endorsement from Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), adding to the list of nationally-known progressives who are backing his bid for governor.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Cardinal Timothy Dolan / Wall Street Journal:

The Democrats Abandon Catholics — If you value religious education or life's sanctity, you're not welcome in the party. — A couple of events over the past few weeks brought to mind two towering people who had a tremendous effect on the Archdiocese of New York and the U.S. more broadly.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and The Daily Caller