Top Items:
Ashley Feinberg / Slate:
Jake Tapper Appears to Have Taken a Break From Truth-Telling — Late this afternoon, after increasing tensions among the House Democratic caucus seemed to pause in the wake of Donald Trump's racist tweets about Reps. Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib, CNN anchor Jake Tapper had some news.
Discussion:
Breitbart, Lawyers, Guns & Money, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller and Townhall
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Trump leans on issue of race in bid for a 2nd term in 2020 — NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump has placed racial animus at the center of his reelection campaign, and even some of his critics believe it could deliver him a second term. — Every successful modern presidential campaign …
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, Boston Globe, Fortune, Mediaite, Florida Politics, Daily Mail, No More Mister Nice Blog, Politico, PJ Media Home and KTLA
Quint Forgey / Politico:
McConnell: Trump ‘on to something’ with attacks on four congresswomen — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that Donald Trump is “on to something” with his inflammatory attacks against four congresswomen, attempting to frame the president's racist rhetoric as rooted …
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: What Trump might not get about impeachment — DRIVING THE DAY — IT BARELY TOOK THE PRESIDENT ANY TIME before he said this Wednesday evening at his campaign rally in Greenville, N.C.: “I just heard that the United States House of Representatives has overwhelmingly voted …
Discussion:
Haaretz, Jewish Insider and Jerusalem Post
Axios:
Shifting demographics are the biggest threat to Republicans' long-term viability — The single biggest threat to Republicans' long-term viability is demographics. — The big picture: The numbers simply do not lie. America, as a whole, and swing states, in particular, are growing more diverse, more quickly.
Discussion:
Associated Press
Gabby Orr / Politico:
Senate Republicans pray Trump will take budget deal — Congress and the White House are moving toward an ambitious budget deal, but the big question still remains: What will President Donald Trump do? — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican senators are pushing Trump …
Discussion:
One America News Network
Steven Shepard / Politico:
House Republican campaign chairman says there's no place for ‘send her back’ language — The chairman of House Republicans' campaign arm on Thursday criticized the “send her back” chant that animated the crowd at Donald Trump's Wednesday night rally and added a dimension to the president's attacks on four Democratic freshman women.
Discussion:
Washington Post and Political Wire
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Fury just beneath the surface: With a tiny push, Trump's crowd chants ‘Send her back!’
Fury just beneath the surface: With a tiny push, Trump's crowd chants ‘Send her back!’
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and ImmigrationProf Blog
CNN:
‘Squad’ drama frustrating some House Democrats
‘Squad’ drama frustrating some House Democrats
Discussion:
Daily Wire, Washington Free Beacon, The Stream and Vox
Amber Athey / The Daily Caller:
Poll: ICE Is More Popular Than Any Member Of Freshman Democrat ‘Squad’
Poll: ICE Is More Popular Than Any Member Of Freshman Democrat ‘Squad’
Discussion:
Geller Report News
Michael Crowley / New York Times:
At Rally, President Accuses Liberal Critics of Seeking the Nation's ‘Destruction’
At Rally, President Accuses Liberal Critics of Seeking the Nation's ‘Destruction’
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, New York Daily News, National Review, NPR, Washington Post, The Guardian and Mother Jones
Wall Street Journal:
Epstein Scandal Brings Legal Titans to Blows — Four-year battle between David Boies, Alan Dershowitz turns uglier following financier's arrest — The arrest of Jeffrey Epstein is escalating a long-simmering fight between two of the nation's best-known lawyers, Alan Dershowitz and David Boies.
RELATED:
Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:
“IT'S GOING TO BE STAGGERING, THE AMOUNT OF NAMES”: AS THE JEFFREY EPSTEIN CASE GROWS MORE GROTESQUE, MANHATTAN AND DC BRACE FOR IMPACT — The disgraced financier “collected people,” said a source. Could some of them be implicated in his crimes? Meanwhile, Alan Dershowitz ("He's a bad person" …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Eschaton and New York Times
Elizabeth Warren / Team Warren:
End Wall Street's Stranglehold On Our Economy — Last month, I announced my economic patriotism agenda — a commitment to fundamentally change the government's approach to the economy so we put American workers and middle-class prosperity ahead of multinational profits and Wall Street bonuses.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, CNBC, American Prospect and UPI
RELATED:
Thomas Gibbons-Neff / New York Times:
U.S. to Send About 500 More Troops to Saudi Arabia — WASHINGTON — The United States is sending hundreds of troops to Saudi Arabia in what is intended as the latest show of force toward Iran, two Defense Department officials said Wednesday. — The roughly 500 troops are part of a broader tranche …
Discussion:
Radio Free Europe
RELATED:
Marc Caputo / Politico:
Scaramucci disinvited from Florida GOP fundraiser for bashing Trump's ‘racially charged’ attacks — The Palm Beach County GOP disinvited Anthony Scaramucci from addressing its annual fundraising event after the short-lived White House communications director criticized President Trump's …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Political Wire, Washington Post, American Greatness and Latino Rebels
Mediaite:
Brian Kilmeade: Trump Rally ‘Send Her Back’ Chants Gave ‘MSNBC and CNN Something to Focus On’ — “Send her back” chants broke out during Wednesday night's Trump Rally held in Greenville, North Carolina after President Donald Trump began criticizing Rep. Ilhan Omar, which has caused something …
RELATED:
Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:
Trump Rally Crowd Launches Into ‘Send Her Back’ Chant Over Ilhan Omar
Trump Rally Crowd Launches Into ‘Send Her Back’ Chant Over Ilhan Omar
Discussion:
Politico, The Bulwark, Washington Post, HuffPost, middleeastmonitor.com and Breitbart
Noah Bierman / Los Angeles Times:
Trump rally has a new chant: ‘Send her back’
Trump rally has a new chant: ‘Send her back’
Discussion:
Mediaite and Talking Points Memo
Morning Consult:
Morning Consult's Senator Approval Rankings — On a daily basis, Morning Consult is surveying over 5,000 registered voters across the United States on their senators. Each quarter, we'll update this page with the latest survey data, providing an in-depth look at how all 100 U.S. senators stand with voters in their state.
RELATED:
Eli Yokley / Morning Consult:
How Trump Is Weighing on 2020's Most Vulnerable Senators
How Trump Is Weighing on 2020's Most Vulnerable Senators
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA
Elaina Plott / The Atlantic:
Where Is Ivanka? — Ivanka Trump wants it both ways. — Since joining her father's White House as a senior adviser in early 2017, the first daughter has reserved the right to toggle between a strict and loose construction of her portfolio. When flashy opportunities arise …
Miami Herald:
Leaked documents show Jeffrey Epstein kept funds offshore. Can the money even be tracked? — Jeffrey Epstein's attorneys, hoping to persuade a judge to release the accused sexual predator on bail while awaiting trial, submitted a bare bones accounting of his financing this week.
Discussion:
CNBC
Victor Fiorillo / Philadelphia Magazine:
Inga Saffron and Stu Bykofsky Absolutely Savaged Each Other at Stu's Farewell Party — Don't worry. There's video. — When it's your last day on the job, assuming you've worked at your job for a long time, there will probably be a toast with some sort of alcoholic beverage. You'll say a few words.
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Just a random group of ‘Republicans’? CNN doesn't tell the whole story about a Trump-loving panel — There's no question that the panel of women CNN interviewed about President Trump liked him a lot and don't think he's a racist, despite a congressional resolution to the contrary on Tuesday.
Discussion:
Mediaite, twitchy.com, CNN, Hullabaloo and VICE, more at Mediagazer »
Quartz:
William Barr's donations to Senate Republicans spiked just before they confirmed him as attorney general — In between stints as US attorney general for George HW Bush in the early 90s and now for Donald Trump, while making millions as an executive at Verizon and a lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis …
Kaitlyn Folmer / ABC News:
Former IT contractor for Jeffrey Epstein says he quit over concerns about revealing pictures and topless young women — A former IT contractor for Jeffrey Epstein who said that he ended their business relationship over personal concerns about gaggles of apparently unsupervised young women …
Discussion:
New York Post
Jacob Heilbrunn / NYR Daily:
National Conservatism: Retrofitting Trump's GOP with a Veneer of Ideas — From the outset of his campaign for the presidency, Donald Trump has sought to reinvent the Republican Party in his own image by sounding nationalist themes, including his initial pledge in his foreign policy speech …
Discussion:
Reason and Spectator USA
RELATED:
Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
Trump and the dead end of conservative nationalism
Trump and the dead end of conservative nationalism
Discussion:
The Atlantic and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Sarah Maslin Nir / New York Times:
Mt. Vernon Has 2 Mayors and a Police Chief Arrested by His Own Officers — Things are really not O.K. in this New York suburb. — MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. — On one side of City Hall, Richard Thomas, the former and possibly still-current mayor of Mount Vernon was in his office on Tuesday, the door guarded by two police officers.
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
Gizmodo Media Staff Enraged at New CEO's ‘Insane’ Direction — High-level staffers at the company that now owns ex-Gawker sites like Jezebel and Deadspin complain their new leader is destroying a famously freewheeling culture. — Leaning on editors to be nice to advertisers.
Maggie Severns / Politico:
Obama and Clinton's bundlers are betting on these 3 candidates — Big-money Democratic donors have jumped off the sidelines of the presidential race, and three candidates are the clear winners of their support: Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris. — Each of those three candidates received …
Discussion:
NBC News
Washington Post:
Behind the scenes the night Trump partied at Mar-a-Lago with Jeffrey Epstein and NFL cheerleaders — Donald Trump was coming off a bruising few years: His casino and real estate business had teetered on the edge of collapse, awash in debt. His marriage to Ivana Trump had disintegrated …
Discussion:
NPR, Hot Air, Daily Kos, KTLA, The Daily Caller, BuzzFeed News, Variety and Balloon Juice
Agence France-Presse:
‘You had the Nobel Prize?’ Trump learns of Yazidi activist Murad — Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump on Wednesday appeared unfamiliar with the work and cause of Nobel laureate Nadia Murad as she pleaded with him to help the Yazidis of Iraq. — Murad, one of thousands of women …
Emma Best:
Renowned hacker and former WikiLeaks source Phineas Fisher says organization misled people about their files — Three days before the first batch of DNC emails were unveiled in 2016, WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands of akparti.org.tr emails in what has alternately been called the AKP Emails and the Erdogan Emails.
ABC News:
Iranian Republican Guard seizes foreign oil tanker in Persian Gulf, state media says — Iran claims it has seized a “foreign vessel” carrying oil with 12 crew members aboard in the Persian Gulf, according to a statement from the country's Republican Guard carried by the state media agency Fars.
John F. Kerry / BostonGlobe.com:
Trump can't hold a candle to Ayanna Pressley — Of course President Trump's comments about Representative Ayanna Pressley are racist. But even more revolting is his defense: pretending he's not attacking her race, but rather her lack of patriotism. Pressley's entire life has been a story of patriotism …