memeorandum: Democrats plan ‘unprecedented’ effort to flip state legislative chambers in 2020 state races (Tim Craig/Washington Post)

2:45 PM ET, December 14, 2019

Top Items:

Impeach. — The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists — whose views are informed by expertise, It is separate from the newsroom. — In the end, the story told by the two articles of impeachment approved on Friday morning by the House Judiciary Committee is short …

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Daily Caller, New York Daily News, The Nation, Occupy Democrats, VICE and Axios

Douglas MacKinnon / The Hill:

Is a trap being set for Trump in the Senate trial? — Can 20 U.S. Senators withstand the potentially irresistible temptation to reverse the results of the 2016 election and remove a president a number of them openly or privately dislike? — Since Donald Trump announced his intention to run …

Veronica Stracqualursi / CNN:

'I'm not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here': Graham predicts Trump impeachment will ‘die quickly’ in Senate — Graham: I'll do all I can to make impeachment die quickly — (CNN)Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a close ally of President Donald Trump …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hill, FOX31 Denver, FOX2now.com, fox5sandiego.com, FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV and Raw Story

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

McConnell, Coordinating With White House, Lays Plans for Impeachment Trial — Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, said he was taking his cues from the White House. Democrats are outraged. — WASHINGTON — With the House headed to a vote to impeach President Trump next week …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, U.S. Representative … and Washington Post

Washington Post:

On impeachment, Democrats can put Republicans on defense. Here's how. — When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blithely suggested on Fox News that he will conduct the Senate impeachment trial in full collusion with President Trump's legal team, he handed Democrats a big opening.

Discussion: Redstate, Daily Kos, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Spectator USA and Occupy Democrats

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:

Melania Trump's indefensible defense of her bully husband — There is a classic dodge that bullies can be relied to fall back on when they abuse someone who is smaller and weaker than they are. — He (or she) asked for it. — First lady Melania Trump, it appears, subscribes to that defense of the indefensible as well.

Discussion: Redstate, The Guardian, IJR, Sputnik News, POLITICUSUSA, Townhall, New York Times, HuffPost, Raw Story and Watts Up With That?

James Mills / Daily Mail:

Greta Thunberg tells cheering crowd ‘we will make sure we put world leaders against the wall’ if they do not tackle global warming as she attends climate protest in Turin — Greta Thunberg told cheering protesters today ‘we will make sure we put world leaders against the wall’ if they fail to take urgent action on climate change.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, PJ Media Home, Breitbart and Twitchy

Sky Palma / Raw Story: Melania justifies Trump's bullying of Greta Thunberg: She's ‘an activist who travels the globe’

Kate Irby / Fresno Bee:

How is Devin Nunes paying for his many lawsuits? — Rep. Devin Nunes' critics have obsessed over how he is paying for the six lawsuits he filed this year, but there are no public records showing how he has paid his Virginia lawyer. — That means Nunes is either paying for the lawsuits …

Discussion: Raw Story

Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:

What the U.K. Election Does (and Doesn't) Teach Democrats — A small island nation governed by a constitutional monarchy — where voters consider the concept of government mail delivery borderline communistic, and socialized medicine common sense — held an election on Thursday.

Discussion: Conservative Christian News, Washington Post, CNN, PJ Media Home and DNyuz

Harold Meyerson / American Prospect: Et Tu, U.K.?

Toby Young / Quillette:
Britain's Labour Party Got Woke—And Now It's Broke

Discussion: Lord Ashcroft Polls

New York Times:
Labour's Crushing Loss in Britain Adds to ‘Too Far Left?’ Debate in U.S.

Discussion: CNN, NBC News, DNyuz and Fox News

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:

The Breach Widens as Congress Nears a Partisan Impeachment — Fleeting efforts at persuasion by members of the Judiciary Committee gave way to disputes over basic facts during a marathon debate over articles of impeachment. — WASHINGTON — It was the rarest of moments in the nation's capital …

Washington Post: ‘The grand finale’: Inside Trump's push to rack up political victories as impeachment looms

David Rogers / Politico:

Judge stymies Trump's border wall by invoking GOP law targeting Obama — What goes around, Republicans are learning, comes around. — President Donald Trump's border wall prototypes stand near the U.S.-Mexico border on July 2018 in San Diego, California. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Danielle Wallace / Fox News:
Biden confronted on Ukraine but doesn't answer, later links Trump to El Paso massacre

Discussion: The Hill and The Daily Caller

CNN:

Former Breitbart Editor: Stephen Miller is a white supremacist. I know, I was one too. — (CNN)She was already a racist when she took a publishing job in Washington, DC. But when she became a reporter for Breitbart News, Katie McHugh says she was taken to new depths of hate with the help of Stephen Miller.

Kansas City Star:

Mike Pompeo launches personal Twitter account ‘for future plans,’ sources say — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has launched a personal Twitter account in anticipation of a run for an open Senate seat in Kansas. — A source close to Pompeo said that the Republican “needed to set …

Discussion: HotAir

Tim Craig / Washington Post:

Democrats plan ‘unprecedented’ effort to flip state legislative chambers in 2020 state races — National Democratic leaders, backed by activist groups formed in response to President Trump's election, are planning an unprecedented push to flip legislative chambers in at least seven states next year …

Discussion: Axios and The Hill

New York Times:

Wisconsin Judge Says State Must Purge 200,000 Voter Registrations — The decision, which was derided by Democrats, comes in a fight to win Wisconsin in the 2020 presidential election. — Three years ago, fewer than 23,000 votes handed Donald J. Trump a crucial victory in Wisconsin …

Discussion: WILL vs Wisconsin …

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Judge orders state to purge more than 200,000 Wisconsin voters from the rolls

Discussion: UPI, Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, The Hill, Tallahassee Democrat and Real Clear Politics

Spencer Ackerman / The Daily Beast:

How Biden Kept Screwing Up Iraq—Over and Over and Over Again — BLOOD AND MALARKEY — Biden didn't just vote to authorize the Iraq war for “peace and security.” He got it wrong at every stage, from invasion to occupation to a withdrawal that led to ISIS' rise.

Washington Post:

Trump urges Rep. Van Drew, anti-impeachment Democrat, to switch parties — President Trump on Friday personally urged a vocally anti-impeachment Democrat, Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, to switch parties — a request he is now believed to be strongly considering.

CNN:

100 Jewish graves were desecrated in France. A search for the websites that fueled the hate led to the US — Westhoffen, France (CNN)Guillaume Debré didn't know how to break it to his young daughters and has yet to show them a photograph of the swastika.

William Saletan / Slate:

Barr Is Trying to Erase the Truth — In December 2018, President Donald Trump nominated William Barr to be his attorney general. Trump wanted Barr to bury the Russia investigation, and in April, Barr did just that. Brushing aside the evidence compiled by special counsel Robert Mueller …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Jonathan Turley / The Hill:

An apology to Carter Page — After he was acquitted in a major fraud trial, former Labor Secretary Ray Donovan asked, “Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?” The trial was ruinous for Donovan, personally and financially, and the question was a fair one. Donovan, however, at least received a trial.

Associated Press:

AP Exclusive: China tightens up on info after Xinjiang leaks — The Xinjiang regional government in China's far west is deleting data, destroying documents, tightening controls on information and has held high-level meetings in response to leaks of classified papers on its mass detention camps …

Discussion: New York Post

Agence France-Presse:

UN deadlocked, detached from climate emergency — Madrid (AFP) - A UN climate summit in Madrid risked collapsing Saturday after marathon negotiations between countries left them more divided than ever over on how to fight global warming and pay for its ravages.

Discussion: Power Line

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

Amid adversity and missteps, Biden's resilience has been one theme of 2019 — For most of the year, former vice president Joe Biden has often been described in negative terms. It's been said he's not as sharp as he should be or once was, that he's well-liked but can't excite the base …

Associated Press:

Brazilians arrive in waves at the US-Mexico border — CEDAR ATTANASIO and PHILIP MARCELODecember 13, 2019 GMT — EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Growing up along the U.S.-Mexico border, hotel clerk Joe Luis Rubio never thought he'd be trying to communicate in Portuguese on a daily basis.

Discussion: Axios and Breitbart