memeorandum: He's Getting Worse (Jeffrey Goldberg/The Atlantic)

9:25 AM ET, August 5, 2019

Top Items:

Terminating Service for 8Chan — The mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio are horrific tragedies. In the case of the El Paso shooting, the suspected terrorist gunman appears to have been inspired by the forum website known as 8chan. Based on evidence we've seen …

New York Post:

The Post urges Trump to take action on assault weapons — Two mass shootings within 24 hours in El Paso and Dayton, days after the Garlic Festival killings. Three months after Virginia Beach, six months after Aurora, nine months after Thousand Oaks, 10 months after Tree of Life …

Discussion: Washington Post, National Review, The Week, CNN, The Wrap and Associated Press

New York Times:

We Have a White Nationalist Terrorist Problem — America's leaders need to do more to condemn and combat the extremist ideology — white nationalism — in their midst. — 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: USA Today, ABC News, Slate, CNN, The Atlantic, UPI, Refinery29, The Moderate Voice, Mediaite, Daily Kos, VICE, Right Wing Watch, twitchy.com and Balloon Juice, more at Techmeme »

Jessica McBride / Heavy.com:

Connor Betts: Twitter Posts on Being a Leftist, Guns — Connor Betts, the Dayton, Ohio mass shooter, was a self-described “leftist,” who wrote that he would happily vote for Democrat Elizabeth Warren, praised Satan, was upset about the 2016 presidential election results, and added …

Discussion: PJ Media Home, CNN, Washington Post, Instapundit, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The American Spectator, Big League Politics, Breitbart, No More Mister Nice Blog, twitchy.com, Front Page Magazine, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, The Daily Beast and The Other McCain

Tom Scocca / Slate:

Where Taking the Concerns of Racists Seriously Has Gotten Us — Within last week's story of how Ronald Reagan made a racist phone call to Richard Nixon, there was a second story—a parable, effectively: a small point that contained a much larger point. It had nothing, or almost nothing …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

New York Times:

El Paso Shooting Suspect's Manifesto Echoes Trump's Language — At campaign rallies before last year's midterm elections, President Trump repeatedly warned that America was under attack by immigrants heading for the border. “You look at what is marching up, that is an invasion!” he declared at one rally.

Discussion: The Atlantic, The Federalist, NPR, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Post, spiked, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The Daily Caller, Vox, Law & Crime, Indian Country Today, Common Dreams, Breitbart and Quartz

Devlin Barrett / Washington Post:

FBI faces skepticism over its efforts against domestic terrorism — The FBI insists it is fully engaged in combating the threat of violence from white supremacists, but some former federal officials charge that the government is still coming up short in the face of a strain of American terrorism that now seems resurgent.

Discussion: Townhall, The Week, New York Post and Talking Points Memo

National Review:

Crush This Evil — Yesterday, in the Texan border town of El Paso, a young white supremacist opened fire at a Walmart, killing 20 people and injuring dozens more. His intention, per a manifesto he left on the website 8chan, was to exact revenge against “the Hispanic invasion of Texas,” …

Discussion: The American Spectator, Patterico's Pontifications, The Guardian and Balloon Juice

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:

On guns and white nationalism, one side is right and one is wrong — When one side proposes ways that human beings might begin to solve a deadly problem while the other side leaves it up to God, you know which side is right. — When one side proposes solution after solution to contain gun violence …

Discussion: Refinery29, UPI and NBC News

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
‘How do you stop these people?’: Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric looms over El Paso massacre

Kevin Roose / New York Times:
8chan, Megaphone for Gunmen, Has Gone Dark. ‘Shut the Site Down,’ Says Its Creator.

David French / National Review:
It's Time to Declare War on White-Nationalist Terrorism

Discussion: CNN, ABC News and BuzzFeed News

Jonathan Lemire / Associated Press:
After pair of mass shootings, Trump remains out of sight

Discussion: Denver Post, KTLA, The Atlantic, Associated Press, WTVR-TV, Politico, WPSD Local 6WPSD Local 6, Townhall, The Week and Florida Politics

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Republican state lawmaker in Nebraska says his party is ‘enabling white supremacy’

Discussion: Politico and The Hill

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Trump calls for ‘strong background checks’ after massacres, suggests pairing gun legislation with new immigration laws

Discussion: Balloon Juice

New York Times: White Extremist Ideology Drives Many Deadly Shootings

Bonchie / RedState:
NEW: The Dayton Shooter Was a Satanist, Leftist-Socialist, and Bernie/Warren Fan, Supported Antifa

Discussion: Power Line, PJ Media Home and Clayton Cramer

Kathleen Belew / New York Times: The Right Way to Understand White Nationalist Terrorism

Daniel W. Drezner / Washington Post:
America's head of state, M.I.A.

Discussion: The Week, The North Star and Breitbart

David Frum / The Atlantic:
The American Exception

Discussion: Chicago Sun-Times, Outside the Beltway and Quartz

New York Times:
After El Paso Attack, Mexico Demands Protections for Mexicans in the U.S.

Discussion: Bloomberg, NBC News, CNN, Common Dreams and Axios

Victor Morton / Washington Times:
Ohio gunman described himself as pro-Satan ‘leftist’ who supported Elizabeth Warren

Discussion: National Review, Associated Press, Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit

CNN:
The Dayton shooter wore a mask, bulletproof vest and hearing protection as he opened fire, police chief says

Discussion: WTVR-TV, KTLA, The Last Refuge, NPR, WGN-TV, WPSD Local 6WPSD Local 6, Foreign Policy, UPI, The Week, Daily Wire, Variety, New York Post, WPIX 11 New York, The Root, Daily Kos, Townhall and Mediaite

Washington Post:
Republicans struggle to respond in wake of El Paso, Dayton shootings

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, One America News Network, New Republic, The Texas Observer, The Week, CNN, twitchy.com, Daily Kos and Florida Politics

New York Times: Walmart Store Connected Cultures, Until a Killer ‘Came Here for Us’

Jane Coaston / Vox:
The top House Republican is blaming video games for the weekend's mass shootings

Discussion: The Atlantic, Townhall and Poynter

Trip Gabriel / New York Times:

Steve King Narrowly Won in Iowa in 2018. Now His Challenger Will Run Again. — J. D. Scholten, a Democrat who nearly toppled Representative Steve King of Iowa in a heavily Republican district in 2018, will announce on Monday that he will run again for the seat in 2020.

Discussion: The Atlantic, YouTube and Political Wire

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

A Fourth Texas Republican Congressman Plans to Retire in 2020 — Representative Kenny Marchant of Texas is planning to announce his retirement on Monday, according to two Republican officials, becoming the fourth Republican House member from Texas in recent weeks to head for the exits rather …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Outside the Beltway

The Texas Tribune:
U.S. Rep. Kenny Marchant will not seek reelection, marking the fourth recent GOP retirement in Texas

Discussion: Roll Call

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic:

He's Getting Worse — The current, and (to date) most debased, phase of the Trump presidency—the phase that includes the unceasing demonization of minority legislators and the endorsement of North Korean communism—began, in retrospect, on May 8, in the Florida Panhandle, at a rally in Panama City.

Breaking911:

‘TRAGEDY AVERTED’: Feds Say They Have Thwarted a Mass Shooting Plot In Lubbock, Texas — TEXAS — A Lubbock man allegedly contemplating a mass shooting has been charged by criminal complaint with making false statements to a federally-licensed firearms dealer. — The potential shooting has been averted.

Victor Davis Hanson / American Greatness:

The Dream Team Loses to the Nobodies — When figurehead Robert Mueller likely allowed Andrew Weissman to form his special counsel team to investigate so-called charges of Russian collusion involving Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Kremlin, Washington elites became bouncy.

Paul Kane / Washington Post:

McConnell fractures shoulder in fall at Kentucky home — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was briefly hospitalized after suffering a fractured shoulder from a fall outside his home in Louisville on Sunday, his office said in a statement. — “This morning, Leader McConnell tripped …

Discussion: Tennessee Star, The Daily Caller, Townhall and Breitbart

Marianne LeVine / Politico:
Mitch McConnell fractures his shoulder

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Post, Slate and Talking Points Memo

Elizabeth Thomas / ABC News:

In bloody August weekend, gun violence beyond mass shootings — It has been a bloody August weekend in the U.S., with multiple shootings reported across the country. In addition to mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, gun deaths were reported in other states, including Illinois, Virginia, Louisiana, Florida and Maryland.

Discussion: UPI, Chicago Sun-Times and Front Page Magazine

Ted Anthony / Associated Press: Life in public-shooting-era America: 'You can't just not go'

Christina Schaefer / WRGT:

Police: Suspect's sister among those killed in Oregon District shooting — BELLBROOK, Ohio (WKEF/WRGT) — Dayton Police, the FBI and Bellbrook Police have descended upon a neighborhood in Bellbrook in connection with the deadly mass shooting in the Oregon District.

Discussion: Heavy.com, The Daily Caller, Slate, Washington Post and Associated Press

NBC Chicago:

7 Wounded In Shooting Near Playground on Chicago's West Side — Seven people were wounded in a shooting Sunday as they gathered in Douglas Park on the West Side. — At about 1:20 a.m. Sunday, a group was standing in the park in the 2900 block of West Roosevelt Road when someone opened fire from a black Camaro, Chicago police said.

Discussion: WGN-TV, RedState and The Gateway Pundit