memeorandum: The cheater in the Oval Office should be banished from the tribe (Virginia Heffernan/Los Angeles Times)

4:25 PM ET, June 9, 2019

Top Items:

Reid Wilson / The Hill:

Biden slumps, Buttigieg soars: 6 takeaways from benchmark Iowa poll — Just hours before presidential candidates will pitch themselves to Iowa Democratic activists in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, a new poll of likely caucusgoers is rattling the race — and hinting that a formidable front-runner …

Discussion: Politico, Breitbart and Des Moines Register

Dan Guild / Bleeding Heartland:

Joe Biden will probably lose Iowa — Dan Guild examines what history tells us about how to interpret the latest Iowa Democratic caucus poll by Selzer & Co for the Des Moines Register, Mediacom, and CNN. -promoted by Laura Belin — It has been two months since the last good Iowa caucus poll.

Discussion: The Guardian

Des Moines Register:
How proposed Democratic caucus rules make polling even harder, and how we crafted our best shot

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, The Week and Axios

Brianne Pfannenstiel / Des Moines Register:
Iowa Poll: Joe Biden leads, followed by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg

Discussion: New Republic, Washington Post, Slate, The Guardian, Iowa Starting Line, Newsweek, Breitbart, Daily Wire, Washington Monthly, Bloomberg, Mediaite and Political Wire

John Verhovek / ABC News:
Beto O'Rourke shrugs off early polls, says importance of Trump's trade deal with Mexico ‘overblown’

Discussion: Washington Times, Breitbart and IJR

CNN:
CNN Iowa Poll: Biden leads a tighter top tier in first caucus state

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Outside the Beltway, New York Times, Townhall, Des Moines Register, Yahoo News, The Week, WHOTV and Florida Politics

Murtaza Hussain / The Intercept:

An Iranian Activist Wrote Dozens of Articles for Right-Wing Outlets. But Is He a Real Person? — In 2018, President Donald Trump was seeking to jettison the landmark nuclear deal that his predecessor had signed with Iran in 2015, and he was looking for ways to win over a skeptical press.

more at Mediagazer »

Peter Baker / New York Times:

A Drama of Trump's Own Making Ends With a Familiar Hero — WASHINGTON — For nine days, he had his finger on the trigger and threatened to pull. For nine days, he put two countries, entire multinational industries, vast swaths of consumers and workers and even his own advisers and Republican allies …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and New York Post

Ben LaBolt / The Atlantic:

I Helped Obama Win in 2012. Now Trump Is Using the Same Playbook. — The general-election campaign is happening today. And Donald Trump is running unopposed. — Presidents who have recently won reelection seeded their victories not in the final sprint before Election Day …

Jennifer Creery / Hong Kong Free Press HKFP:

Over a million attend Hong Kong demo against controversial extradition law, organisers say — Over a million people have joined a mass protest against the Hong Kong government's controversial extradition bill, according to organisers. — Jimmy Sham, a spokesperson for organisers …

BBC:
Hong Kong protesters demonstrate against extradition bill

Discussion: The Week

Austin Ramzy / New York Times:
A Million March in Hong Kong Over Eroding Freedoms, Organizers Say

Discussion: Vox, Mother Jones, Reuters, Outside the Beltway, UPI and Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

David Cohen / Politico:

Trump says there's more in Mexico deal but doesn't say what — There's more to the U.S.-Mexico tariff agreement than meets the eye, President Donald Trump said on Sunday, as critics continued to suggest that the deal didn't accomplish much. — “Importantly, some things. …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Andrew O'Reilly / Fox News:
Acting DHS secretary praises White House deal with Mexico on immigration, defends Trump's tariff threat

Discussion: Washington Times and Breitbart

Peter Hermann / Washington Post:

A Foreign Service couple's contentious divorce ends in deadly violence — They were scheduled to be in D.C. Superior Court Friday morning to work out the final details of a fiercely contested divorce. — But Lola Gulomova and Jason Rieff never made it. — Shortly before the 10 a.m. hearing …

Emily Wax-Thibodeaux / Washington Post:

In Alabama — where lawmakers banned abortion for rape victims — rapists' parental rights are protected — When a young woman came to the Family Services of North Alabama office last year for help with trauma, saying she had been raped by her step-uncle when she was 15 …

Discussion: Progress Pond

Virginia Heffernan / Los Angeles Times:

The cheater in the Oval Office should be banished from the tribe — The Mueller report amply chronicles President Trump's staggering, decades-long crime spree. Like an iron skillet to the head, the extent of Trump's corruption seems to have stupefied voters, legal scholars and, of course …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Mary Clare Jalonick / Associated Press:

Case opened: Democrats begin public airing of Mueller report — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says it's “case closed .” But Democrats are just getting started with Robert Mueller . — House Democrats have scheduled a series of hearings this coming week on the special counsel's report …

Washington Post: For Democrats, Trump impeachment question is a personal struggle transcending politics

Marc Tracy / New York Times:

Google Made $4.7 Billion From the News Industry in 2018, Study Says — $4,700,000,000. — It's more than the combined ticket sales of the last two “Avengers” movies. It's more than what virtually any professional sports team is worth. And it's the amount that Google made from the work …

Tom McCarthy / The Guardian:

Can Trump win in 2020? This Pennsylvania county may hold the key — Northampton county, Pennsylvania voted twice for Barack Obama before flipping for Trump - and could decide whether Trump gets a second term — Can Trump really make America great again?

Nick Valencia / CNN:

A veteran died in police custody. His body was returned to his family with some organs missing — (CNN)Two days before he died, Everett Palmer Jr. called his brother, Dwayne, to tell him he was on his way from Delaware to New York to visit him and their sick mother.

Discussion: The Root

Will Bunch / Inquirer.com:

George Nader's abuse of kids is disgusting. His abuse of U.S. democracy should alarm us all — Meet George Nader, millionaire. He owns mansions — in Abu Dhabi and his native Lebanon — and $1 million in Bitcoin cryptocurrency. He also, according to the U.S. government, has some very unusual things on his cell phones.

Mary Papenfuss / HuffPost:

Former White House Ethics Chief Proposes ‘Golf On Your Own Damn Dime Act’ — Walter Shaub thinks Donald Trump's nearly $106 million golf tab is getting way out of hand. — The former White House ethics chief is sarcastically proposing a “Golf on Your Own Damn Dime Act of 2019.”

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Splinter

Astead W. Herndon / New York Times:

Kamala Harris, Seeking a Campaign Jolt, Defends Record as Prosecutor — WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — Senator Kamala Harris of California has, for months, faced criticism from activist Democrats who have said her record as California attorney general was at odds with her progressive reputation.

Meg Kinnard / Associated Press:
Kamala Harris says prosecutor past will help defeat Trump

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Axios and Politico

Connor Mannion / Mediaite:

Mexico Reportedly Didn't Agree to New Farm Deal Despite Trump Tweeting About One — MEXICO HAS AGREED TO IMMEDIATELY BEGIN BUYING LARGE QUANTITIES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT FROM OUR GREAT PATRIOT FARMERS! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 8, 2019 — The U.S.-Mexico Joint Declaration …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway and Bloomberg