memeorandum: Scary signs for Republicans (Jonathan Swan/Axios)

9:35 PM ET, September 9, 2018

Top Items:

Bob Woodward: “People better wake up to what's going on” in the Oval Office — Watergate journalist Bob Woodward made headlines once again this past week, with his new book about the Trump White House, entitled “Fear.” This morning, in his first TV interview, Woodward paints a picture …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Raw Story, HuffPost, Splinter, Shareblue Media, Daily Kos, Fox News Insider, PJ Media Home, The Guardian, Spectator USA, CNN, New York Times and Al Jazeera English, more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

The stress on Trump's machine — It's hard to overstate the extremity and variety of pressures bearing down on President Trump and his understaffed White House. — The bottom line: Taken together, it's a jaw-dropping list of problems, and Trump's “fine-tuned machine” is creaking under this stress.

Isaac Chotiner / Slate:

Nobody's Heroes — Bob Woodward's new book presents Trump staffers as our last line of defense. We're doomed. — Nearly 300 pages into Bob Woodward's new book, Fear: Trump in the White House, a West Wing aide named Zach Fuentes cautions fellow staffers.

Discussion: Shareblue Media

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

'I wouldn't have used it': Bob Woodward disses New York Times op-ed — A massively circulated anonymous New York Times op-ed depicted a crisis situation within the corridors of President Trump's administration. “I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts …

Discussion: Raw Story, Daily Kos and The Daily Caller

Axios:
Omarosa claims White House staffers had hashtag to discuss 25th Amendment

Discussion: Breitbart

Politico: At-risk House Republicans say no to new tax bill

Jamilah King / Mother Jones:
Trump Almost Sent a Tweet That Could Have Signaled War With North Korea

Discussion: Reuters and Balloon Juice

Ronan Farrow / New Yorker:

As Leslie Moonves Negotiates His Exit from CBS, Women Raise New Assault and Harassment Claims — Members of the board of the CBS Corporation are negotiating with the company's chairman and C.E.O., Leslie Moonves, about his departure. Sources familiar with the board's activities …

William D. Cohan / Vanity Fair:

Les Moonves Admits to Unwanted Kissing of His Doctor 19 Years Ago — Another wrinkle emerges in Moonves's negotiated exit from CBS, and within one of the more head-spinning #MeToo storylines yet. — BY - WILLIAM D. COHANSeptember 9, 2018, — The career arc of Les Moonves …

Discussion: Deadline and Mediaite

CBS News:

Leslie Moonves departs as chief of CBS, financial package to be withheld pending investigation — CBS Corporation announced on Sunday that chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves is departing the company, effective immediately. Moonves' exit comes hours after The New Yorker published accounts …

Discussion: Mashable

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:

Les Moonves is about to leave CBS, sources say — Farrow on new allegations against Moonves — Longtime CBS chief executive Les Moonves, facing new claims of sexual misconduct, will step down soon as part of a wide-ranging corporate settlement of a separate fight for control of CBS.

Discussion: CBS Corporation, Reuters, One America News Network, CNBC, Mediaite, Deadline, Raw Story and IndieWire, more at Mediagazer »

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
CEO Leslie Moonves will leave CBS without severance package; separate deal will reshape CBS board, sources say

more at Mediagazer »

Sara Fischer / Axios:
New Moonves accusations prompt reports of his imminent departure

Discussion: Associated Press, One America News Network, The Guardian, abc7chicago.com and AOL

New York Times:

Dirty Politics in New York — A last-minute mailer from Democrats wrongly describing Cynthia Nixon as anti-Semitic is a disgrace. — The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section.

Discussion: New York Post and Splinter

New York Times: A Delayed Bridge Opening and an ‘Inappropriate’ Mailer Puts Cuomo on the Defensive

Axios:

Trump expected to declassify Carter Page and Bruce Ohr documents — President Trump is expected to declassify, as early as this week, documents covering the U.S. government's surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and the investigative activities of senior Justice Department lawyer Bruce Ohr …

Discussion: Political Wire and Mediaite

David Leonhardt / New York Times: The Urgent Question of Trump and Money Laundering

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Inside the GOP's rescue mission for Ted Cruz — With a string of polls showing GOP Sen. Ted Cruz's lead slipping, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick showed up in Washington on July 25 to deliver an urgent plea to White House officials: Send President Donald Trump. — Patrick, who chaired Trump's …

Discussion: Raw Story, Vox, Political Wire, POLITICUSUSA, Outside the Beltway, Hullabaloo, Talking Points Memo and New York Times

Eli Watkins / CNN:
Cruz: Democrats want Texas to be ‘like California,’ have ‘tofu’ and ‘dyed hair’

Discussion: CBS News and Political Wire

Roger Kimball / Spectator USA:

Whining Serena Williams is tennis's Hillary Clinton … No one expected Naomi Osaka to win the US Open yesterday. Everyone favoured her opponent. The crowd was solidly with Serena Williams, as were the bookies. But the 20-year-old Japanese-Haitian, who became the first player representing Japan …

Discussion: twitchy.com

Jonathan V. Last / Weekly Standard:
Serena Williams Got What She Deserved

Discussion: Sporting News, Washington Post and New York Times

Maureen Callahan / New York Post:
It's shameful what US Open did to Naomi Osaka

Discussion: Daily Wire, Althouse and The Atlantic

Rebecca Traister / The Cut:
Serena Williams and the Game That Can't Be Won (Yet) What rage costs a woman.

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, New York Times, Longreads, The Root, New York Post, Outside the Beltway and Vox

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Scoop: Inside Trump's biggest hire — President Trump was bluffing when he tweeted that he knows the successor to White House counsel Don McGahn, and instead he is vacillating about new legal leaders as he girds for open warfare with Democrats and Robert Mueller.

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Scary signs for Republicans — My colleague Mike Allen, who's covered a few midterm elections in his time, says it's rare to see so much evidence of a trend accumulate so many months out, only for all the signals to be proven wrong. — The big picture: Yes, the punditocracy is being cautious …

Frank Miele / Daily Inter Lake:

‘I am part of the resistance inside the news media,’ and I'm not anonymous — Over the years, I've been asked to run anonymous letters dozens of times, but I've never done so. The explanation is always the same: Our readers have a right to judge the validity of a submitted opinion based …

Crispian Balmer / Reuters:
U.S. President Trump facing a ‘coup’: Bannon

Discussion: Axios

Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:
Pence plays role of Trump's ardent defender in wake of Times op-ed, Woodward book

Discussion: Breitbart

Washington Post:

GOP candidate for Fla. governor spoke at racially charged events — Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), a gubernatorial nominee who recently was accused of using racially tinged language, spoke four times at conferences organized by a conservative activist who has said that African Americans owe …

Emily Birnbaum / The Hill:

Three Miami Dolphins players protest during national anthem — Three Miami Dolphins players protested during the national anthem before their season opener against Tennessee on Sunday. — Wide receivers Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson knelt during the anthem while defensive end Robert Quinn raised …

Discussion: Palm Beach Post, Breitbart, One America News Network and New York Times

Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz / USA Today:
Dolphins' Kenny Stills, Albert Wilson first NFL players in Week 1 to kneel during anthem

Discussion: ABC News, ESPN, Bloomberg, The Gateway Pundit, AOL, abc7chicago.com, ThinkProgress and JONATHAN TURLEY

Paul Wiseman / Associated Press:

Despite Trump tweet, Ford says it won't make hatchback in US — WASHINGTON (AP) — Ford won't be moving production of a hatchback wagon to the United States from China — despite President Donald Trump's claim Sunday that his taxes on Chinese imports mean the Focus Active can be built in America.

Matthew Mosk / ABC News:

Trump campaign members were ‘fully aware’ of efforts to set Putin meeting: Papadopoulos — George Papadopoulos, the one-time foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump who became swept up in the special counsel investigation, says members of the Trump campaign team were “fully aware” …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Washington Press, Politico, POLITICUSUSA, Law & Crime and Political Wire