memeorandum: The ‘Red Wave’ Illusion (Wall Street Journal)

2:35 PM ET, August 9, 2018

Top Items:

Jessie Balmert / USA Today:

Ohio race just got closer after county finds hundreds of uncounted votes — A special election in Ohio's 12th Congressional District was too close to call early Tuesday. It could produce an automatic recount for Democrat Danny O'Connor and Republican Troy Balderson, who was backed by President Donald Trump.

Discussion: Associated Press, HuffPost, The Gateway Pundit, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Shareblue Media, Cincinnati.com, Daily Wire, The Week, CBS News, Splinter, POLITICUSUSA and Guns.com

Wall Street Journal:

The ‘Red Wave’ Illusion — Evidence builds of major GOP losses in November. — Republicans on present trend are poised in November to lose their majority in the House of Representatives and a slew of governorships. That's the clear message from Tuesday's election contests and a growing body of evidence.

Discussion: Raw Story and Instapundit

Sam Baker / Axios:
How one failed drug ensnared so many GOP lawmakers

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Raw Story and Breitbart

Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:
Democrats are losing this race. And they're thrilled about it.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Shareblue Media, Washington Post and Booman Tribune

Washington Post:
‘Nothing bodes well’: Lackluster election results spark debate over Trump's midterm role

Discussion: IJR, New York Times, Daily Kos, Detroit Free Press and Politico

New York Times:
Republicans Gird for House Battle as Ohio and Kansas Races Remain Close

Discussion: MSNBC, Lawyers, Guns & Money, HuffPost, Politico, CNN, Political Wire, Splinter, The Atlantic and The Daily Beast

Aris Folley / The Hill:
Ohio county finds hundreds of uncounted votes in already too-close-to-call special election

Discussion: Joe.My.God., POLITICUSUSA, Townhall and The Week

The Daily Beast:

Laura Ingraham's Anti-Immigrant Rant Was So Racist It Was Endorsed by Ex-KKK Leader David Duke … Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham's Wednesday night monologue about immigrants destroying America was so racist it got the endorsement of David Duke, the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, ThinkProgress, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, WJLA-TV and Media Matters for America

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic:

Laura Ingraham Doesn't Love Her Country Anymore — The Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham declared on a recent episode of her cable-television show that “in some parts of the country, it does seem like the America that we know and love doesn't exist anymore.” What ended it?

Discussion: The Daily Caller

John Podhoretz / Commentary Magazine:

A Warning from 1995 — In November 1995, COMMENTARY published a symposium called “The National Prospect” in which dozens of writers offered their view of America's possible future. I just went and looked at my entry in that symposium, which I had not thought of in years …

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
Ingraham: 'America We Know and Love Doesn't Exist Anymore' in Some Places Because of ‘Massive Demographic Changes’

Discussion: HuffPost, Joe.My.God., IJR and The Gateway Pundit

Associated Press:

Puerto Rico concedes Hurricane Maria deaths more than 1,400 — SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico has conceded that Hurricane Maria killed more than 1,400 people on the island last year and not just the 64 in the official death toll. — The government acknowledged the higher death toll …

Discussion: Political Wire and Mediaite

Frances Robles / New York Times:

Puerto Rican Government Acknowledges Hurricane Death Toll of 1,427 — SAN JUAN, P.R. — The government of Puerto Rico has quietly acknowledged in a report posted online that in all likelihood more than 1,400 people died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria — a figure that is more than 20 times the official death toll.

Discussion: Latino Rebels, Vox, New Republic, Daily Kos, The Week, ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Splinter, Daily Wire, Washington Times and The Daily Caller

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:

Devin Nunes, in secretly recorded tape, tells donors GOP majority is necessary to protect Trump: 'We're the only ones' — Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, appears to have moved from criticizing the investigation into Russian interference …

Discussion: CNN, MSNBC, Hullabaloo, CBS Chicago, The Root and POLITICUSUSA

Phil Helsel / NBC News:
Secret recording shows GOP's Nunes saying Rosenstein impeachment would delay Supreme Court pick

Discussion: Business Insider, Joe.My.God., IJR, Politico, MSNBC, No More Mister Nice Blog, Common Dreams, Raw Story, New Republic, HuffPost and Roll Call

Aaron Blake / Washington Post: The worst — and most intriguing — parts of the secret Devin Nunes tape

MSNBC:
TRMS Exclusive: Devin Nunes speaks candidly at fundraiser

Discussion: Vox and The Week

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Devin Nunes, Trump's political stooge, is at it again

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

CNN:

Melania Trump's parents are now US citizens — (CNN)President Donald Trump's in-laws are officially United States citizens. — Viktor and Amalija Knavs, the parents of first lady Melania Trump, were granted citizenship Thursday, their immigration attorney, Michael Wildes, announced.

Kyle Mizokami / Popular Mechanics:

Should the U.S. Air Force Bomb Forest Fires? — It sounds ridiculous, but it's an idea that's grounded in physics. — Earlier this summer, the Swedish Air Force dropped a laser-guided bomb on a forest fire to help suppress the flames. Now there's a proposal for the United States to do the same …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and New York Times

Associated Press:

Melania Trump's parents are sworn in as US citizens — First lady Melania Trump's parents have been sworn in as U.S. citizens. — A lawyer for Viktor and Amalija Knavs says the Slovenian couple took the citizenship oath on Thursday in New York City. — They had been living in the U.S. as permanent residents.

Discussion: Axios, ABC News and The Daily Caller

Andrew Cain / Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Kaine leads Stewart by 23 points in poll from VCU's Wilder school — Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., led GOP rival Corey Stewart by 23 percentage points in a July poll of likely voters released Wednesday. — Kaine had 49 percent to 26 percent for Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors …

Discussion: Political Wire

Politico:

Cranky judge, flawed witness threaten Mueller's Manafort case — A seeming slam-dunk case runs up against ‘improper statements’ and other obstacles as the prosecution prepares to wrap up. — Special counsel Robert Mueller's team of prosecutors have spent several days building …

Discussion: One America News Network, Daily Kos, ABC News, Politico and Mediaite

New York Times:
Judge in Manafort Trial Is a ‘Caesar’ in His Own Rome

Discussion: Daily Kos

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Rudy's Mueller demand: No questions on Flynn, Comey — With his constant commentating and public negotiating, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani is setting up unmeetable expectations for special counsel Robert Mueller — a kind of insurance policy with the president's base.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, MSNBC, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Politico and POLITICUSUSA

Major Garrett / CBS News:
Rudy Giuliani puts odds of a Trump-Mueller interview at “50-50”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

GOP Rep. Chris Collins used campaign funds to pay legal bills for insider-trading investigations — Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., used campaign funds to pay legal bills while he faced investigation for alleged insider trading for more than a year. — A federal criminal investigation culminated …

James Hohmann / Washington Post:
The Daily 202: The Chris Collins indictment ensures ethics will be a major issue in the midterms

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Bloomberg, The Week and Political Wire

George Hawley / Institute for Family Studies Blog:

The Demography of the Alt-Right … Divorce does seem to increase the likelihood a respondent will believe whites suffer discrimination and the likelihood that a white person will agree with all three of the basic premises of white identity politics. — Higher incomes are associated …

Discussion: BloombergQuint, theGrio and Raw Story

Washington Post:

Pence details plan for creation of Space Force in what would be the sixth branch of the military — Vice President Pence laid out an ambitious plan Thursday that would create a military command dedicated to space this year and eventually establish a “Space Force” as the sixth branch of the U.S. military.

Discussion: Vox, Engadget, Splinter and The Week

Nancy Cook / Politico:

Hope Hicks getting sucked back into Trump's orbit — Hope Hicks had no intention of traveling on Air Force One when she arrived at President Donald Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club to hang out with White House friends including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Week and Talking Points Memo

Arelis R. Hernández / Washington Post:

Judge halts mother-daughter deportation, threatens to hold Sessions in contempt — This is a developing story. It will be updated. — A federal judge in Washington halted an apparent deportation in progress Thursday and threatened to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt …

Discussion: Breitbart

Kara Swisher / New York Times:

Rules Won't Save Twitter. Values Will. — The platform won't ban the dangerous liar Alex Jones because he “hasn't violated our rules.” Then what's the point of these rules? — This week, Alex Jones, the persistently mendacious conspiracy-theory spouter — yeah, that's a real job in 2018 …

Discussion: NewsBusters, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Daily Wire, PinkNews and The Verge, more at Mediagazer »

Thomas Gibbons-Neff / New York Times:

The Marines Didn't Think Women Belonged in the Infantry. She's Proving Them Wrong. — MOUNT BUNDEY TRAINING AREA, Australia — First Lt. Marina A. Hierl watched a dozen Marines charge toward human silhouettes made of paper atop a nearby hill. Despite the early hour …

Samantha Schmidt / Washington Post:

Sikh man beaten, spat on. ‘Devastated’ police chief says suspect is ‘my 18-year old son’ — A surveillance video of the brutal attack began circulating widely across social media earlier this week, drawing anger from the large Sikh community in California's Central Valley.

Discussion: Union City Police Department, The Daily Beast, The Root, Althouse and CBS Sacramento

Caitlin Flanagan / The Atlantic:

Why the Left Is So Afraid of Jordan Peterson — Two years ago, I walked downstairs and saw one of my teenage sons watching a strange YouTube video on the television. — “What is that?” I asked. — He turned to me earnestly and explained, “It's a psychology professor at the University of Toronto talking about Canadian law.”

Discussion: The Rush Limbaugh Show

New York Times:

Trump's Tariffs on Canadian Newsprint Hasten Local Newspapers' Demise — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration's decision to impose tariffs on Canadian newsprint is hastening the demise of local newspapers across the country, forcing already-struggling publications to cut staff …

Pew Research Center:

For Most Trump Voters, ‘Very Warm’ Feelings for Him Endured — Also: A detailed look at the 2016 electorate, based on voter records — In the wake of Donald Trump's 2016 election victory, an overwhelming majority of those who said they had voted for him had “warm” feelings for him.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Jeff Coltin / CSNY:

Sean Patrick Maloney unleashes his inner bro — After a month of relative quiet from his campaign for attorney general, Sean Patrick Maloney is finally sprinting out of the gate. — The congressman and more than a dozen supporters showed up bright and early Wednesday morning decked …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

John R. Schindler / Observer:

Donald Trump's Nightmare Isn't Robert Mueller — Judging from the unhinged tone of his tweets—which is nothing new, but still perhaps the best barometer of our 45th president's mood on any given day—Donald Trump is worried about his future. He should be, as the Special Counsel investigation …

Discussion: Raw Story, ThinkProgress, KTLA and CNN

Associated Press:

For now, Army suspends discharges of immigrant recruits — The U.S. Army has stopped discharging immigrant recruits who enlisted seeking a path to citizenship — at least temporarily. — A memo shared with The Associated Press on Wednesday and dated July 20 spells out orders …

Discussion: Axios