memeorandum: President Donald Trump addresses nation after Iran's attack

12:40 PM ET, January 8, 2020

Top Items:

President Donald Trump addresses nation after Iran's attack - latest updates — David Jackson John Fritze Courtney SubramanianUSA TODAY — WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is addressing the nation from the Grand Foyer at White House just hours after Iran rained more than a dozen rockets …

CNN:

Some administration officials believe Iran intentionally missed areas with Americans — Washington (CNN)There is a growing belief among some Trump administration officials that Iran's missiles intentionally missed areas populated by Americans when they targeted two Iraqi bases housing US …

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Power Line, Raw Story, KTLA, East Idaho News, NBC News, HillReporter.com, fox8.com, The American Spectator and UPI

Washington Post:

Live updates: More than a dozen missiles hit U.S. bases in Iraq; Iran claims they caused heavy casualties — Iranian forces launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against two military bases in Iraq early Wednesday local time, marking the most significant Iranian attack in a growing conflict with the United States.

Discussion: Bloomberg, CNBC, The Week, Vox and New York Times

Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:
The Trump We Did Not Want to See — When are we going to stop trying …

Discussion: Responsible Statecraft, The Bulwark, Washington Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Outside the Beltway, Hullabaloo and Al Jazeera

Morgan Chalfant / The Hill:
Trump to deliver address after Iran missile attacks on Iraqi bases housing US troops

Discussion: NBC News and Breitbart

Washington Post: After days of dire threats, Trump's tone shifts in the wake of Iran's retaliation

Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Trump to make statement on Iranian missile strikes, assures nation ‘All is well’

Discussion: Reason, Reuters and The Federalist

ABC News:
Trump announces ‘powerful’ sanctions but not military retaliation after Iran missile strikes

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and One America News Network

Frank Miles / Fox News:
Iran launches ‘more than a dozen’ missiles into Iraq targeting US, coalition forces, Pentagon says

Discussion: Townhall, Washington Examiner, Jerusalem Post, CNN, The Federalist, The Gateway Pundit, PJ Media Home, Daily Mail, The Economic Collapse, Task & Purpose and Reason

ABC News:
Iran launches missiles at US military facilities in Iraq, Pentagon confirms

Discussion: New York Times, Redstate, Defense One, Fox News, UPI, Slate, Breitbart, HuffPost, NPR, Foreign Policy, Coffee House, Common Dreams, No More Mister Nice Blog, CANNONFIRE, The Root and Raw Story

Public Policy Polling:

Democratic Unity Will Determine Trump's Fate — Over the last couple weeks PPP did polls testing the leading Democratic contenders for President against Donald Trump in both Arizona and Iowa. — On the surface the numbers are decent but not amazing for Democrats. Donald Trump won Arizona by 4 points in 2016.

Kyle Blaine / CNN:

CNN announces moderators for Iowa Democratic debate — 10 of 11 Iowa voters picked this Democrat after debate — (CNN)The seventh Democratic presidential debate will be moderated by CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Abby Phillip as well as The Des Moines Register's Brianne Pfannenstiel next week, the network announced on Wednesday.

Discussion: The Hill

Matt Smith / WISN:
Trump's Republican challengers won't appear on Wisconsin primary ballot

Discussion: Political Wire

Associated Press: Fears of Sanders win growing among Democratic establishment

Associated Press:

Ukrainian airplane crashes near Iran's capital, killing 176 — SHAHEDSHAHR, Iran (AP) — A Ukrainian passenger jet carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday, just minutes after taking off from the Iranian capital's main airport, turning farmland on the outskirts of Tehran into fields of flaming debris and killing all on board.

Discussion: Jerusalem Post, Reuters, Redstate, The Hill, BBC, The Guardian, Breitbart, Townhall, Fox News, NBC News, Patterico's Pontifications, The Week and Mediaite

David Martosko / Daily Mail:

Was the Ukrainian jet brought down by an Iranian missile - or were the 176 people on board killed by a mechanical failure? Here are the five key theories — Theory one: Mechanical failure or pilot error — Iranian authorities have said that initial investigations point to either an engine failure - or a catastrophic pilot error.

Peter Baker / New York Times:

A Strategy for the Mideast That Has Even Trump's Allies Scratching Their Heads — Conflicting statements, crossed signals and mixed messages have left the president and his top officials scrambling to explain his mission and goals after the death of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Nation, Politico, Columbia Journalism Review, Financial Times and Brookings, more at Mediagazer »

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Trump is a war president now — DRIVING THE DAY — WITH A RAIN OF BALLISTIC MISSILES at Iraq's Ain al-Asad and Irbil air bases, President DONALD TRUMP became a wartime leader at the dawn of an election year, and the contours of his ever-changing presidency have again shifted.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Politico and New York Times

New York Times:
In Address, Trump Announces New Sanctions vs. Iran: Live Updates

Discussion: Wired, Washington Post, ABC News, CNN, The Federalist, New York Post, Talking Points Memo, IJR, Patterico's Pontifications, Althouse and Vox

New York Times:
Pompeo Upended Middle East by Pushing Trump to Kill Iranian General

Discussion: Washington Post, Hullabaloo, The Week and Foreign Policy

Joanna Piacenza / Morning Consult:

Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can. — A 47% plurality support the airstrike that killed Soleimani — Morning Consult Illustration by Vladimir Gorshkov — As tensions between the United States and Iran rise in the aftermath of the American drone strike that killed the country's …

Discussion: Tangle, The Hill and Mediaite

Josh Lederman / NBC News:
Iran leaves Trump an off-ramp, but will he take it?

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Hill, PJ Media Home, One America News Network and Politico

Burgess Everett / Politico:

McConnell's win on impeachment trial procedure was months in the making — Chuck Schumer demanded Tuesday morning that Republicans allow witnesses to testify during President Donald Trump's impeachment trial. But Mitch McConnell already knew he had the votes to roll over his adversary.

Discussion: The Editorial Board, Townhall, Washington Post, The Federalist, The Hill, Raw Story, Bangor Daily News, Blue Delaware, Balkinization, Slate, Power Line, Daily Kos, Breitbart, The Week and Balloon Juice

Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
Dear Colleague on Senator McConnell's Untrue Claims Regarding Impeachment

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNN, UPI, Associated Press, ABC News, C-SPAN.org and Politico

CNN:
McConnell on impeachment: ‘There will be no haggling with the House over Senate procedure’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

A popular theory for Trump's popularity among Republicans appears to be wrong — It is not the case, despite President Trump's regular assertions, that his approval rating among Republicans is a consistent 95 percent. While that figure appears regularly in the president's Twitter feed …

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup: U.S. Party Preferences Steady During Trump Era

Declan Garvey / The Dispatch Fact Check:

Are Democratic Leaders and Presidential Candidates ‘Mourning’ Qassem Suleimani's Death? — Joining Sean Hannity's Fox News show on Monday night, former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley discussed the response to the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Suleimani, saying that …

Discussion: Washington Post and IJR

Sacramento Bee:

U.S. contractor killed in Iraq, which led to strike on Iranian general, buried in Sacramento — The Iraqi-American contractor who was killed in a rocket attack in Iraq in late December was buried in Sacramento on Saturday. His death was the start of a chain of events that U.S. leaders …

Discussion: The Week, Task & Purpose and The Daily Caller

Aaron Davis / Washington Post:
Contractor whose death Trump cited was a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Iraq

Discussion: The Week and CBS Sacramento

CNN:

Glacier National Park is replacing signs that predicted its glaciers would be gone by 2020 — (CNN)The signs at Glacier National Park warning that its signature glaciers would be gone by 2020 are being changed. — The signs in the Montana park were added more than a decade ago …

Discussion: Twitchy

Teen Vogue:

How Facebook Is Helping Ensure the Integrity of the 2020 Election — With the company's huge platform comes huge responsibility. — Editor's note: This is sponsored editorial content. — As the 2020 campaign gains speed, Facebook is taking measures to protect against foreign interference and stop the spread of misinformation.

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

The media should spotlight a different kind of war expert: Those who voted ‘no’ on Iraq — There she was: Judith Miller, the former New York Times reporter most closely identified with the paper's flawed reporting in the run-up to the Iraq War, chattering away on Fox News.

more at Mediagazer »

Jonah Goldberg / The Dispatch:

The Right's Bullsh*t Problem — Unless you're very, very, new to political debates, you're probably familiar with the “No True Scotsman” fallacy. — My favorite practitioner of it is the Twitter account of the Socialist Party of the United Kingdom. Somewhat like Beto O'Rourke's short-lived …

Maya Earls / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Texts telling people they've just been drafted into the Army are fake, officials say — The U.S. Army is warning about fake text messages saying people have been selected for the military draft. — In a statement Tuesday, the Army said that several people around the country …

Discussion: ABC13

Luis Andres Henao / Associated Press:

Stabbings, shootings, assaults weigh on US Jewish youth — NEW YORK (AP) — When a man spewed anti-Semitic slurs and spat on her face, Shoshana Blum remembered her ancestors who survived the Holocaust, and instead of looking down - she defiantly stared at him eye to eye.

Jennifer Schuessler / New York Times:

Robert Caro's Papers Headed to New-York Historical Society — After decades of dogged (and still-unfinished) efforts to chronicle every detail about Lyndon B. Johnson, the master biographer's vast paper trail finds a permanent home. — Robert Caro is famous for colossal biographies of colossal figures.

Discussion: Political Wire

Jacqueline Feldscher / Politico:

How Trump created a credibility problem for the Pentagon — President Donald Trump's Twitter broadsides and military threats are creating more than just headaches for U.S. commanders: They are stoking fears the Pentagon is losing its prized credibility. — In the past three months …

Discussion: Raw Story

Clayton Sandell / ABC News:

High-tech plane joins search for mysterious drones in Colorado — The plane, intended for use in wildfires, carries sophisticated cameras. — In the latest bid to solve the question of mysterious drone sightings vexing authorities in northeastern Colorado, a state surveillance airplane loaded …

Malachi Barrett / MLive.com:

John James out-raising incumbent Democrat in high-profile Senate race — John James, the likely Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, started the new year by announcing he's gathered more donations than his incumbent Democratic opponent for the second consecutive fundraising quarter.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Brad Reed / Raw Story:

Trump's ‘crappy’ Iran speech torn to shreds after he spent much of it attacking Obama — President Donald Trump's big speech about the situation in Iran is not getting strong early reviews, in no small part because he spent much of it blaming former President Barack Obama for the current tensions with Tehran.