memeorandum: Donald Trump just got the best polling news of his presidency (Chris Cillizza/CNN)

1:10 PM ET, February 4, 2020

Top Items:

This Is The Buzzy Democratic Firm That Botched The Iowa Caucuses — Shadow, a Democratic digital firm, created the app that was supposed to deliver quicker caucus results. — The tech arm of ACRONYM, a Democratic digital nonprofit group that has rapidly expanded in recent years …

Discussion: Vox, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, CNBC, New York Times, The Intercept, National Review, The Last Refuge, FiveThirtyEight, The Boston Globe, The Hill, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, The Smoke Eater and Bleeding Heartland, more at Techmeme »

Tim Alberta / Politico:

The Death of Iowa — DES MOINES, Iowa — There can be no doubting it now, not after so many years spent in the crosshairs, not after active presidential candidates began challenging its privileged position atop the nominating calendar, and certainly not after Monday night's debacle …

Discussion: New Yorker, The Moderate Voice, Talking Points Memo, Getty Images, Vanity Fair, Vox, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, ABC News and The Hill

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:

The most important Iowa result is in. Democrats should worry. — DES MOINES — No one knows how long it will be before it is clear which Democratic presidential candidate won the Iowa caucuses. — But the most important tally of the night has been reported, and it should worry Democrats.

VICE:

The Democrats Screwed America With an App No One Asked For — Normally, by now, we'd have a clear winner in the Iowa caucus. A Democratic candidate for president would have won their first delegates and talking heads on cable news would have started constructing narratives with the first actual votes …

Discussion: Townhall, Reason and NBC News

New York Times:

App Used to Tabulate Votes Is Said to Have Been Inadequately Tested — The state Democratic Party commissioned a new app to tabulate caucus results. It did not appear to go as planned. — DES MOINES — The app that the Iowa Democratic Party commissioned to tabulate and report results …

New York Times:

‘A Systemwide Disaster’: How the Iowa Caucuses Melted Down — Unexplained “inconsistencies” in results, heated conference calls and firm denials of hacking left the contest in a strange state of almost suspended animation. — DES MOINES — Sean Bagniewski had seen the problems coming.

Discussion: Bloomberg, National Review, Washington Post, Commentary, No More Mister Nice Blog, Shero, Vox, Jezebel, VICE and Fox News

Tom Perez:

How We Prepared for 2020 — Tonight, our party's presidential nominating process officially kicks off in Iowa. Today, I'm reflecting on the three years we've spent preparing for this moment, the changes we've made to make sure we are ready. I'm proud of the historic reforms we passed …

Discussion: Townhall, Power Line, PJ Media Home, Shot in the Dark and Twitchy

Politico:

'It's a total meltdown': Confusion grips Iowa with no official results in sight — DES MOINES, Iowa — A technical meltdown in Iowa Monday night set off bedlam in the critical first contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, triggering competing claims of victory and stoking doubts about the legitimacy of the eventual outcome.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill, Vox, Washington Free Beacon, Des Moines Register, Washington Post, Breitbart, New York Post, Raw Story, WHOTV, NBC News, The Verge, Spectator USA, Slate, Power Line, Mediaite and Fox News

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Watch: Iowa Voter Freaks Out on Buttigieg Precinct Capt. After Finding Out Mayor Pete is Gay

Discussion: The Hill and The Daily Caller

John Podhoretz / New York Post: Iowa caucus mess nothing compared to intra-Democratic Party chaos on the horizon

Amanda Carpenter / The Bulwark:
Democrats Did the Russians' Work for Them

Discussion: The Guardian, Washington Post, The American Independent, Vox, The Atlantic and Raw Story

German Lopez / Vox:
“A total mess”: Critics call for an end to Iowa's first-in-the-nation status

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, Townhall, Axios and Breitbart

Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
After Iowa — Everyone loses. Literally everyone.

Discussion: Washington Post, Fox News and New York Times

Charlie Warzel / New York Times:
Move Fast and Break the Caucus

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, The Independent and Redstate

Clare Malone / FiveThirtyEight:
That Last, Unreleased Des Moines Register Poll Of Iowa Really Did Show Biden In Fourth

Discussion: The Federalist, Des Moines Register, LifeSiteNews, NBC News, Townhall, Mediaite, Redstate, The Gateway Pundit and Twitchy, more at Mediagazer »

Jim Geraghty / National Review:
Iowa's Democratic Disaster

Discussion: The Capitolist, The Hill and Washington Post

New York Times:
Iowa Caucus Results 2020: Live

Discussion: Townhall, McSweeney's, IJR, Redstate, TalkLeft, Mother Jones and Clash Daily

Kevin Roose / New York Times:
The Only Safe Election Is a Low-Tech Election

Discussion: The Verge

Elizabeth Elkind / CBS News:
Amid Iowa caucus chaos, Pete Buttigieg claims victory and shrugs off criticism

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Jeff Bercovici / Los Angeles Times:
Tech firm started by Clinton campaign veterans is linked to Iowa caucus reporting debacle

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Bloomberg, Fox News, Big League Politics, The Gateway Pundit, VICE, Mediaite, Washington Examiner, JONATHAN TURLEY and Althouse

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:
Iowa caucuses 2020 live updates: State's Democratic Party says it will release results by 5 p.m. EST

Discussion: Associated Press, CNN, Tangle, New York Times, National Review, Common Dreams, The American Independent, Slate, The Guardian, Townhall, Vox, WHOTV, Florida Politics and Bloomberg

TMZ.com:
PETE BUTTIGIEG IOWA CAUCUS-GOER FINDS OUT HE'S GAY ... I Want To Change My Vote!!!

Discussion: The Guardian, Big League Politics, The Daily Beast and Townhall

Wall Street Journal:
Iowa Caucus Results Delayed by Apparent App Issue

Discussion: The Federalist, Fox News, Townhall, Engadget, CNN, Mother Jones, Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Vox

Axios:
Majority of Iowa caucus results expected Tuesday afternoon after app meltdown

Discussion: NBC News, Spectator USA and Disrn

Politico:
Dem candidates stuck in limbo as Iowa Dems scramble to release caucus results

Discussion: NBC News, ABC News and The Hill

Lex Haris / CBS News:
Republicans gloat over Iowa caucus meltdown

Discussion: Twitchy

Associated Press:
Dems lay a big caucus egg: No results from Iowa election

Discussion: Politico, ABC News, The Daily Caller, The Hill and KTLA

Tyler Olson / Fox News:
App used in Iowa Democratic caucus fiasco linked to ex-Clinton campaign staffers

Discussion: Washington Post, National Review, New York Times and Instapundit

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Frustration, questions as delays hamper Iowa caucuses

Discussion: Redstate, The Nation and Politico

CNN:
Problematic app used in Iowa caucuses also set to be used in Nevada, sources tell CNN

Discussion: HuffPost, Axios, New York Times and WHOTV

Wall Street Journal:
Trump Campaign Ejects Bloomberg News Reporter From Iowa News Conference

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, Breitbart and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

John F. Harris / Politico:
The winner is ... no one — “Iowa,” a smiling Pete Buttigieg said …

Discussion: Breitbart and The Hill

Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:
R.I.P. the ‘First-In-the-Nation’ Iowa Caucuses (1972-2020)

Discussion: Vox, Redstate, Associated Press, Reason, NBC News, Daily Kos and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Trump Job Approval at Personal Best 49% — WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump's job approval rating has risen to 49%, his highest in Gallup polling since he took office in 2017. — The new poll finds 50% of Americans disapproving of Trump, leaving just 1% expressing no opinion.

Discussion: National Review, The Hill, Fox News, Townhall, Redstate, Bloomberg, Axios, CNBC, Althouse, New York Post, Mediaite, CNN, Washington Times, The Daily Caller, Twitchy and The Guardian

Chris Cillizza / CNN:

Donald Trump just got the best polling news of his presidency — (CNN)Donald Trump has never made it to the 50% approval mark in Gallup polling, which makes him the first president never to rise above the halfway mark in the poll. But he's pretty damn close right now.

Discussion: Townhall, Bloomberg and Raw Story

David Enrich / New York Times:

The Money Behind Trump's Money — The inside story of the president and Deutsche Bank, his lender of last resort. — One Day in early 2017, Mike Offit went to the Yale Club in Manhattan for a lunch hosted by a group called Business Executives for National Security.

Discussion: Raw Story

Brian Stelter / CNN:

White House excludes CNN from annual pre-SOTU lunch with news anchors — New York (CNN Business)President Donald Trump's targeting of CNN is moving to yet another arena: The annual presidential lunch with television network anchors. — CNN anchors are being excluded from Tuesday's lunch, three sources said on Monday night.

Discussion: Townhall, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Mediaite, Breitbart, The Daily Caller and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Iowa Might Have Screwed Up The Whole Nomination Process — In trying to build a forecast model of the Democratic primaries, we literally had to think about the entire process from start (Iowa) to finish (the Virgin Islands on June 6). Actually, we had to do more than that.

Nick R. Martin / The Informant:

Threat against Adam Schiff — Hi, and welcome to The Informant, a publication covering hate and extremism in America, written and edited by me, Nick R. Martin. — A lot has happened in the past several days, so today's intelligence briefing is packed full of links and information.

Discussion: Raw Story and Daily Kos

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Trump is about to get a lot more dangerous. Here's what's coming. — When President Trump is acquitted by the Senate on Tuesday afternoon, he'll surely take from it the message that he can continue abusing his powers however he sees fit to corrupt the 2020 election. He now knows he'll face zero consequences.

Discussion: Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA and Vanity Fair

Richard L. Hasen / Slate:

Trump's Jokes About Defying Election Results Could Create Chaos — There's a real possibility he could declare victory before all the ballots are counted. — As President Donald Trump plans a triumphant State of the Union address anticipating his likely acquittal by the Senate …

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Bloomberg says he hopes Sanders changes — Mike Bloomberg tells me he'd support Bernie Sanders over Donald Trump if those were his two options, but that people should understand Sanders at this moment is “so far to the left it's not practical” and that “what he wants to do would never get through Congress.”

Discussion: Breitbart and The Hill

Sean Colarossi / POLITICUSUSA: Nicolle Wallace Tells Bernie Backers That Their Vicious Attacks On Fellow Dems Are Helping Trump

Vanity Fair:

“I WANT THAT GODDAMN FUCKING STATEMENT”: Behind the Scenes of Trump's Secret Birther Implosion — Just before his first debate with Hillary Clinton, Trump's campaign decided it was time for him to revoke birtherism at long last. But, as Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng report in Sinking In the Swamp …

Discussion: Mediaite

Daniel Bice / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

‘An unacceptable and upsetting environment’: 2020 Democratic Host Committee under investigation — The two top officials overseeing Milwaukee's host committee for the 2020 Democratic National Convention were sidelined Monday amid allegations of a toxic work culture.

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