memeorandum: CBO says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's drug pricing plan saves Medicare $345 billion over decade (Berkeley Lovelace Jr/CNBC)

4:00 PM ET, October 14, 2019

Top Items:

David E. Sanger / New York Times:

Trump Followed His Gut on Syria. Calamity Came Fast. — All the warnings were there. But President Trump's reliance on his instincts, and his relationships, led him to ignore the consequences of a move that has emboldened Russia, Iran and the Islamic State.

Discussion: Slate, New Republic, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Washington Post and Econlib

Washington Post:

Trump's blunder in Syria is irreparable — UNTIL NOW, it was possible to hope that the damage caused by President Trump's terrible incompetence, ignorance and impulsivity in foreign policy was largely theoretical, and possibly reparable. That is no longer true.

Discussion: Military Times and Hullabaloo

Rebecca Kheel / The Hill:
Furious Republicans prepare to rebuke Trump on Syria

Discussion: Daily Kos

Marisa Fernandez / Axios:
Pelosi and Graham team up to oppose Trump's Syria decision

Discussion: Political Wire, The Hill, Bloomberg and Mediaite

Berkeley Lovelace Jr / CNBC:
CBO says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's drug pricing plan saves Medicare $345 billion over decade

Discussion: Shareblue Media

Telegraph:
Kurds agree to Russian-brokered plan to allow Assad into their territory

Discussion: Reuters and Foreign Policy, more at Techmeme »

Natasha Turak / CNBC:
Hundreds of ISIS prisoners are escaping from camps in northern Syria amid Turkish offensive

Discussion: Foreign Policy, The Week, Patterico's Pontifications, NBC News, Raw Story and PJ Media Home

New York Times:

Macabre Video of Fake Trump Shooting Media and Critics Is Shown at His Resort — WASHINGTON — A video depicting a macabre scene of a fake President Trump shooting, stabbing and brutally assaulting members of the news media and his political opponents was shown at a conference for his supporters …

Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:

About That Trump Video — Over the weekend at a conference for supporters of President Trump, a video was shown of Trump shooting, stabbing, and murdering various of his political opponents (such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and others), journalists (such as Rachel Maddow) …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Variety, Axios and The Wrap, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:
Violent spoof video of Trump killing his critics shows how memes have reshaped politics

Discussion: New York Times, The Verge, BuzzFeed News, PJ Media Home and twitchy.com

Allyson Chiu / Washington Post:
‘Vile and horrific’: Fake video of Trump massacring media shown at his Miami resort draws backlash

Discussion: Daily Kos, Contemptor, The Gateway Pundit, Occupy Democrats, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Mike Bloomberg keeps talking to allies about running for president as Joe Biden struggles against Elizabeth Warren — Mike Bloomberg has indicated to associates in recent weeks that Joe Biden's recent struggles are making him rethink his decision to stay out of the 2020 Democratic primary …

Discussion: Townhall, FiveThirtyEight, The Week, The Daily Caller and NBC News

FIREHOUSE Strategies:

Exclusive Survey: Big Moves among Early State Democrats — This year, Firehouse Strategies has been partnering with the data analytics team at 0ptimus to learn more about what early state primary voters think about their presidential candidates and key issues.

Discussion: Axios, Washington Times and The Hill

Alexi McCammond / Axios:
Focus group: These Ohio swing voters are outraged over impeachment

Discussion: The Rush Limbaugh Show, Breitbart, Associated Press, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Week and Townhall

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Warren's Rise Hasn't Come At Biden's Expense

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox and Washington Monthly

O. Kay Henderson / Radio Iowa:
Biden says if he's elected in 2020, he will not pardon Trump

Discussion: Political Wire, The Daily Caller, The Hill and twitchy.com

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The (Full) Case for Impeachment A menu of high crimes and misdemeanors. — The crimes for which impeachment is the prescribed punishment are notoriously undefined. And that's for a reason: Presidential powers are vast, and it's impossible to design laws to cover every possible abuse of the office's authority.

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:

Among the Witches Inside the Republicans' bunker. — “It's hard to be worried when you don't really like the guy.” That's what one senior Republican Senate aide had to say when I asked how concerned conservatives are about Donald Trump's fate. — The truth is, Trump fatigue is a condition …

Discussion: Raw Story and The Daily Caller

Matt Novak / Gizmodo:

ABC News Broadcasts Fake Syria Bombing Video That's Actually From a Kentucky Military Show in 2017 — ABC News aired a video on Sunday that host Tom Llamas said depicted a Turkish attack in northern Syria against Kurdish civilians. Turkey is indeed pushing into Syria and slaughtering Kurds along the way …

Discussion: National Review, twitchy.com, Townhall, Breitbart, Washington Free Beacon, Deadline, The Gateway Pundit, Conservative Christian News and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Becket Adams / Washington Examiner:
ABC News ‘slaughter in Syria’ footage appears to come from a Kentucky gun range

Discussion: RedState, NB Blog, The Hill, Patterico's Pontifications, Louder With Crowder, Fox News, The Daily Caller and twitchy.com

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

Inside Mark Zuckerberg's private meetings with conservative pundits — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been hosting informal talks and small, off-the-record dinners with conservative journalists, commentators and at least one Republican lawmaker in recent months to discuss issues like free speech and discuss partnerships.

Discussion: RedState, NB Blog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Mediaite, Political Wire, Gizmodo, Axios, NBC News and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

Susan Ferrechio / Washington Examiner:

GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz ejected from closed-door impeachment meeting — A Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee was ejected from a closed-door impeachment hearing. — Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida tried to enter a hearing Monday in which lawmakers from three different committees …

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
Why Democrats are sure Adam Schiff is the perfect person to take on Trump

Discussion: Fox News, Althouse and New York Post

Sean Davis / The Federalist:
Democracy Dies In Darkness: Adam Schiff Just Banned A GOP Lawmaker From Attending Key Ukrainegate Deposition

Discussion: Occupy Democrats

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Former Trump Aide to Testify on Pressure to Oust Ambassador to Ukraine — WASHINGTON — Fiona Hill, President Trump's former top Russia and Europe adviser, headed to Capitol Hill on Monday morning where she is prepared to testify that she and other officials objected strenuously to the removal …

Discussion: The Hill, Townhall, New York Post, Shareblue Media, Roll Call and CBS News

Bobby Allyn / NPR:
Trump's Former Russia Adviser Testifies As Part of Impeachment Inquiry

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, The Guardian, UPI, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, Axios and Political Wire

Bloomberg:

China Wants More Talks Before Signing Trump's ‘Phase One’ Deal — China wants further talks as soon as the end of October to hammer out the details of the “phase one” trade deal touted by Donald Trump before Xi Jinping agrees to sign it, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reports.

Discussion: National Review, CNBC, Breitbart, Washington Post, The Week, Vanity Fair, Politico, Political Wire and Mediaite

Mary Papenfuss / HuffPost:

Now That Shep Smith Is Gone, Trump Zeroes In On Fox News' Chris Wallace — Wallace will “never be his father,” Trump complained, referring to the late TV journalist Mike Wallace. — Now that President Donald Trump doesn't have Shepard Smith to kick around at Fox News any longer, he's attacking “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace.

Discussion: New York Times, Breitbart, The Daily Caller and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Andrew Kerr / The Daily Caller:

Hunter Biden Still Holds Stake In Chinese Private Equity Firm. His Business Partner Retains Supervisor Role — Hunter Biden announced Sunday that he will resign from the board of a Chinese private equity firm called BHR Partners, but he's still one of the two directors of the company …

Discussion: Vox, NPR and Good Morning America

Michael McGovern / Innovation Ohio:

New Poll Finds Trump Underwater in Ohio, Trailing Generic Democrat — Columbus, OH - A new poll from Public Policy Polling and Innovation Ohio shows that Ohio is set to return to its traditional status as a battleground state in 2020. — A memo on the results and the cross tabs can be found on Innovation Ohio's website.

Discussion: Political Wire and Raw Story

Janet Hook / Los Angeles Times:

Elizabeth Warren, 70, flaunts her fitness as Democratic candidates' health becomes a debate issue — As hundreds of people gathered for a recent Elizabeth Warren rally in Rock Hill, S.C., the heat built so much that one woman in the crowd passed out before the event started.

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:
Missing From Elizabeth Warren's 2020 Surge: Democratic Endorsements

Discussion: Fox News, PJ Media Home and Axios

Alex Daugherty / Miami Herald:

Rick Scott silent on donations from indicted Giuliani associate — Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott is the only non-retiring member of Congress who hasn't returned campaign contributions from Igor Fruman or Lev Parnas, the South Florida businessmen who were arrested on campaign finance charges five days ago.

Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post: Power Up: ‘Just the tip of the iceberg.’ …

William J. Burns / Foreign Affairs:

The Demolition of U.S. Diplomacy — Not Since Joe McCarthy Has the State Department Suffered Such a Devastating Blow — In my three and a half decades as a U.S. Foreign Service officer, proudly serving five presidents and ten secretaries of state from both parties, I've never seen an attack …

John Tamny / RealClearMarkets:

Elizabeth Holmes Is a Visionary, and We Need More Like Her — “It is a fact that man can't fly.” The Washington Post concluded the latter in an editorial published around the beginning of the 20th century. Few disagreed with the Post. Indeed, in his excellent biography of Orville and Wilbur Wright …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics

Sam Stanton / Sacramento Bee:

FBI investigating whether Sacramento pot businesses paid bribes to public officials — The FBI has been investigating whether Sacramento-area marijuana businesses have made payoffs to public officials in the region in exchange for favorable treatment and license approvals, The Sacramento Bee has learned.

Discussion: CalMatters