memeorandum: Theater of the Absurd Has Taken Over the Senate (Jonah Goldberg/National Review)

2:20 PM ET, September 7, 2018

Top Items:

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:

My Wife Has a Good Theory on Who the White House Mole Is — The family is in agreement. — As every room in the White House echoes with the sound of cocks crowing, I am going to subcontract the job of guessing who the Anonymous Op-Ed writer is to my wife, Margaret Doris—journalist,

Discussion: Raw Story, Breitbart, The Daily Beast, POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite, Fox News and NBC News, more at Mediagazer »

Mark Landler / New York Times:

Trump Wants Attorney General to Investigate Source of Anonymous Times Op-Ed — WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Friday that he wants Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate the source of an anonymous Op-Ed piece published in The New York Times, intensifying his attack on an article …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Yahoo! Finance, CNN, Washington Post and CBS Pittsburgh, more at Mediagazer »

Mark Penn / The Hill:

White House in chaos — what's new? — The president decided the entire staff was working against him, running their own agenda, not his or the nation's. Poll ratings had plummeted, with job approval in the 30s. Leaks were commonplace as staffers hyped their own policy positions, even brazenly floated them in trial balloons.

William Saletan / Slate:

The Obvious Suspect — The quest to unmask the New York Times op-ed writer has been filled with speculation. But the article's prose points to one person in particular. — Who wrote the anonymous op-ed against President Trump in Wednesday's New York Times?

Discussion: New York Times, Shareblue Media and The Resurgent

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Melania's Lament Rings Hollow in Trump's Glass House

Discussion: New York Magazine, Weekly Standard and The Week

Axios:
Trump calls on Justice Department to investigate anonymous NYT writer

Discussion: Hit & Run and The Gateway Pundit

Loren DeJonge Schulman / Washington Post:
Civil servants can't stop Trump. Stop asking them to.

Discussion: Raw Story and Associated Press

Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
Trump wants Sessions to investigate New York Times op-ed

Discussion: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, ThinkProgress and ABC News, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:
Trump says Justice Department should investigate who wrote anonymous New York Times op-ed …

Discussion: Associated Press and Political Wire

Newt Gingrich / Fox News:
Anonymous NY Times op-ed is a liberal media attack on President Trump

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Vox, Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed News and MelaniePhillips.com

Chauncey DeVega / Salon:
Exclusive: Psychiatrist Bandy Lee says White House officials told her Trump was “unraveling”

Discussion: The Atlantic, CNN, BuzzFeed News, Shareblue Media and Splinter

David Nakamura / Washington Post:
'There's a new sheriff in town': Trump uses official events to wage campaign against press

Discussion: The Guardian, The Resurgent, The Daily Caller and Raw Story

Jay Michaelson / The Daily Beast:

Newly Released Emails Show Brett Kavanaugh May Have Perjured Himself at Least Four Times — Formerly confidential emails have been released that show the Supreme Court nominee contradicting statements he made under oath to the Senate. — You can forgive Democratic senators for saying “I told you so.”

Discussion: ABC News, Talking Points Memo, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Politico, Breitbart, Media Matters for America, USA Today, Washington Post, Raw Story, Fox News, ThinkProgress, New York Times and Media Matters for America

Lisa Graves / Slate:

I Wrote Some of the Stolen Memos That Brett Kavanaugh Lied to the Senate About — Much of Washington has spent the week focusing on whether Judge Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed to the Supreme Court. After the revelations of his confirmation hearings, the better question is whether …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Vox, News One, Above the Law, SARAH PALIN, twitchy.com and Common Dreams

John Wagner / Washington Post:

‘Unusual behavior’: McConnell says Booker could face Ethics Committee scrutiny — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in an interview that aired Friday that Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) could face scrutiny from the Senate Ethics Committee for violating a rule that prohibits the release of confidential material.

Discussion: Breitbart, Axios and Political Wire

Al Franken / USA Today:
Kavanaugh Supreme Court hearings showcase Republican partisanship, hypocrisy

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Free Beacon, CNN, Reason and The Daily Caller

Timothy P. Carney / Washington Examiner: Democrats bring in their closer against Kavanaugh: Felon and ‘master manipulator’ of Watergate, John Dean

Jonah Goldberg / National Review: Theater of the Absurd Has Taken Over the Senate

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Booker to McConnell on ethics charges: ‘Bring it!’

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Breitbart

Jenavieve Hatch / HuffPost:
Brett Kavanaugh Refers To Birth Control As ‘Abortion-Inducing Drugs’ At Confirmation Hearing

Discussion: New York Times, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, USA Today, Common Dreams, Salon and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

New York Times:

'I Don't Talk' That Way, Trump Says. Except When He Does. — President Trump said he has never used terms like “mentally retarded” or “dumb Southerner,” as he is quoted in Bob Woodward's new book. But the record shows he has. — Numerous Trump officials denied writing the anonymous Op-Ed published by The New York Times.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

John Wagner / Washington Post:

'I don't talk the way I am quoted': Trump offers fresh criticism of Woodward book — President Trump took fresh aim Friday at Bob Woodward's forthcoming book on his presidency, calling it “a scam” and disputing quotes attributed to him. — “I don't talk the way I am quoted,” Trump said in a tweet.

Discussion: ABC News, MSNBC, Sputnik International, Politico and HuffPost

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker: Crazytown: A Bob Woodward Book, an Anonymous New York Times Op-Ed, and a Growing Crisis for the Trump Presidency

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

Obama delivers full-throated rebuttal to Trump's presidency — In rare public speech, Obama says Trump poses such a threat to America that it forced him to speak out. — CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Barack Obama launched his midterm campaigning Friday at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign …

Discussion: Axios and twitchy.com

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Obama Takes on Trump in Debut of 2018 Campaign Role — URBANA, Ill. — Former President Barack Obama assailed President Trump on Friday as a “threat to democracy” as he emerged from a period of political silence to kick off a campaign blitz intended to help Democrats take control of Congress in the November midterm elections.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Michael Scherer / Washington Post:
Former president Barack Obama, saying President Trump is capitalizing on 'fear and anger …

Discussion: Politico

David Crow / Financial Times:

Opioid billionaire granted patent for addiction treatment — A billionaire pharmaceuticals executive who has been blamed for spurring the US opioid crisis stands to profit from the epidemic after he patented a new treatment for drug addicts. — Richard Sackler, whose family owns Purdue Pharma …

Discussion: STAT, The Daily Caller and Raw Story

The Guardian:

Tesla shares crash after Elon Musk smokes joint on live web show — Two senior executives quit electric carmaker as market value falls 8% — Play Video — Tesla shares crashed 8% on Friday as two of its senior executives quit, just hours after the electric carmaker's chief executive …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Fox News, The Verge, CBS Chicago and Motherboard

Brandon Morse / RedState:

Beto O'Rourke's Campaign Requests VFW Hall Take Down American Flags Before His Rally There — Ted Cruz's Challenger, Beto O'Rourke has made a name for himself by saying that he can think of “nothing more American” than kneeling during the National Anthem. We can now add stripping American flags …

Erick Erickson / The Resurgent:
Beto's Campaign Tries to Get a VFW Hall to Take Down Their American Flags

Discussion: The Navasota Examiner

Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:

Cuomo Often Takes Taxpayer-Funded Planes and Helicopters, Far More Than Other Big State Governors — On a hot July day in 2017, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo visited a country club on Long Island to address business leaders about the future of rail lines that are the lifeblood of commerce and suburban commuters.

Jeff Cox / CNBC:

Economy adds more jobs than expected in August, and wage growth hits post-recession high — Nonfarm payrolls grew by 201,000 in August. Economists surveyed by Reuters expected a 191,000 increase.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Daily Wire, Scared Monkeys, Front Page Magazine and NTK Network

Bryan Lowry / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Fearful mother in ad attacking Sharice Davids is a Kansas GOP official — A fearful mother stares into a camera and warns that Democratic candidate Sharice Davids will put her four children at risk. — In a new ad from a super PAC linked to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Alana Roethle of Leawood …

Denis Slattery / New York Daily News:

White House officials flagged Trump's behavior to psychiatrist last year — White House officials reached out to a noted Yale University psychiatrist last fall out of concern over President Trump's increasingly erratic behavior. — Dr. Bandy Lee, who edited the best-selling book …

Discussion: The Hill, POLITICUSUSA, No More Mister Nice Blog, CANNONFIRE, Booman Tribune, KASW-TV, New York Times, Washington Times, Political Wire and Tennessean.com

David Fickling / Bloomberg:

The Trade Slowdown Has Already Begun — As tariffs pile up, the world economy is starting to look holed below the waterline. — One of the paradoxes of this year's trade tensions is that in many parts of the world, it doesn't yet feel like a crisis. — For all the turmoil …

NBC News:

Yes, Democrats do have a legitimate path to win back the Senate — First Read is your briefing from “Meet the Press” and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter. — WASHINGTON — The takeaway from the trio of NBC/Marist polls we released this week is that …

Discussion: MSNBC, New York Times, Outside the Beltway, POLITICUSUSA and Talking Points Memo

New York Times:

Trump to Preside Over U.N. Security Council, Prompting Anxiety All Around — WASHINGTON — Three weeks from now, in New York, President Trump will find himself in the setting he most relishes: seated at the head of a polished table, calling on those seated around him, rewarding those he likes and cutting off those who displease him.

Discussion: Defense One and The American Conservative

Sam Tanenhaus / Vanity Fair:

“I'm Tired of America Wasting Our Blood and Treasure”: The Strange Ascent of Betsy DeVos and Erik Prince — Since the 1970s, the DeVos family has been quietly advancing a plan to make government act more like a private business. Now, they appear ready to take the next step.

Washington Post:

Florence is predicted to restrengthen and is a hurricane threat to the East Coast — The once powerful Florence took a hit Thursday, but its life as a major hurricane is likely not over just yet, and it has East Coast residents on the edge of their seats. — The tropical storm is predicted …

Discussion: BloombergQuint and NHC Atlantic Wallet 1

Dominic Patten / Deadline:

Eagles Bring Out “Philly Special” To Win But NFL Kickoff Ratings Down From 2017 — The Heavens did not seem well disposed to the official beginning of the NFL season last night as rain and possible lightening in the City of Brotherly Love pushed back the start of the Philadelphia Eagles gridiron battle against the Atlanta Falcons.

Discussion: Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit

Hannah Allam / BuzzFeed News:

For A Lot Of Muslim Republicans, Their Party's Over — Anwar Khalifa is about as Texan as you can get. He speaks in a sharp twang and cruises around in a Chevy truck with real longhorns mounted on the front. He never skips “worship day,” he taught his three daughters to shoot, and …

Discussion: Raw Story

Los Angeles Times:

How eight elite San Francisco families funded Gavin Newsom's political ascent — Gavin Newsom wasn't born rich, but he was born connected — and those alliances have paid handsome dividends throughout his career. — A coterie of San Francisco's wealthiest families has backed him at every step …

Discussion: Politico

Jonathan Lemire / Associated Press:

Giuliani to AP: Trump will not answer obstruction questions — NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump will not answer federal investigators' questions, in writing or in person, about whether he tried to block the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.