memeorandum: Trump says he's banning TikTok in the U.S. (NBC News)

2:30 PM ET, August 1, 2020

Top Items:

Kevin Liptak / CNN:

‘Nobody likes me,’ Trump complains, as even his allies fade — (CNN)Lamenting his plunging popularity this week, a self-pitying President Donald Trump wondered how it all went wrong. — “Nobody likes me,” he said, confounded at how his administration's health experts could be receiving accolades …

Stuart Emmrich / Vogue:

Is Sarah Cooper the Reason Donald Trump Wants to Ban TikTok? — Donald Trump abruptly announced on Friday that he plans to ban TikTok from the United States, telling reporters traveling with him on Air Force One that he could issue an executive order as early as Saturday to shut down the Chinese-owned video app.

Discussion: Redstate, TheBlaze, ABC News, The Hill, Mediaite and Variety

Dan Primack / Axios:
Trump has TikTok deal “on his desk”

Discussion: Rolling Stone, Scripting News and Bloomberg

NBC News:
Trump says he's banning TikTok in the U.S.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNBC, The Hill and The Root, more at Mediagazer »

Reuters:
Exclusive: TikTok's Chinese owner offers to forego stake to clinch U.S. deal - sources

Discussion: New York Times, Fox News and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Brian Fung / CNN:
Trump says he will ban TikTok

Discussion: Mother Jones, Vanity Fair, TheGrio, Slate, BuzzFeed News, The Daily Caller and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Associated Press:
Trump says he'll act to ban TikTok in US as soon as Saturday

Discussion: Reuters and One America News Network

Alexander S. Vindman / Washington Post:

Coming forward ended my career. I still believe doing what's right matters. — Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (Ret.), a career U.S. Army officer, served on the National Security Council as the director for Eastern European, Caucasus and Russian affairs, as the Russia political-military affairs officer …

Discussion: Politico, Mother Jones, Raw Story and The Week

USA Today: Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman retires, cites ‘bullying’ by Trump after impeachment testimony

Hugh Hewitt / Washington Post:

The case for Trump will come down to his record. It's a strong one. — President Trump's record of accomplishments is easy to compile. — Most significantly, he has brought the existential threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party into the sunlight. No more nice words.

Shane Harris / Washington Post:

DHS official whose office compiled ‘intelligence reports’ on journalists and protesters has been removed from his job — A senior Department of Homeland Security official whose office compiled “intelligence reports” about journalists and protesters in Portland, Ore., has been removed from his job …

Discussion: The Hill and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Politico: DHS removes official who oversaw intelligence reports on journalists

Washington Post:

Barr may try to spin his ‘investigation’ before the election. Don't believe him. — The attorney general has previously mischaracterized a government report ahead of time — One of William P. Barr's weaknesses is a godsend for the rule of law: The attorney general is not completely effective at lying.

Politico:

Barr Makes It Official—He's Trump's New “Fixer” — Of President Donald Trump's many career skills, perhaps the least appreciated is his lifelong and uncanny ability to sniff out lawyers who will serve his will. — In slightly more than 500 days in office, Attorney General William Barr …

Discussion: Raw Story

Arizona Republic:

Rep. Raúl Grijalva tests positive for COVID-19, is symptom-free — Rep. Raúl Grijalva has tested positive for COVID-19 after a week in Washington, D.C., that included a hearing with Rep. Louie Gohmert, who also tested positive in recent days. — Grijalva, D-Ariz. …

Discussion: The Hill and Eschaton

Eliza Shapiro / New York Times:

A School Reopens, and the Coronavirus Creeps In — As more schools abandon plans for in-person classes, one that opened in Indiana this week had to quarantine students within hours. — One of the first school districts in the country to reopen its doors during the coronavirus pandemic …

New York Times:

Alienated by Trump, Suburban Voters Sour on G.O.P. in Battle for the House — House Republicans are on the defensive in suburban strongholds as voters reject President Trump's handling of the coronavirus and calls for racial justice. — BALLWIN, Mo. — For Heather Vaughn …

Discussion: Raw Story

Roni Caryn Rabin / New York Times:

The Coronavirus Infected Hundreds at a Georgia Summer Camp — The camp took precautions but did not require campers to wear masks, the C.D.C. reported. Singing and cheering may have helped spread the virus. — As schools and universities plan for the new academic year …

WSB-TV:
Hundreds of Georgia campers infected with coronavirus at YMCA camp in just days, CDC report finds

Discussion: Latest from Crooks and Liars, Centers for Disease Control … and LiveScience

Chelsea Janes / Washington Post:
Report: Coronavirus infected scores of children and staff at Georgia sleep-away camp

Discussion: Gothamist and Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sarah Rumpf / Mediaite:

Lincoln Project Gets Personal In New Ad, Mocking ‘Impotus Americanus’ Trump's Weight and ‘Ruddy Orange’ Color — The anti-Trump PAC The Lincoln Project has been open about their goal to not just communicate with voters, but to pester President Donald Trump and distract him from attacking his Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Discussion: Althouse

Roxanne Roberts / Washington Post:
The Lincoln Project's plan for preserving the union: Drive Trump out of office by driving him nuts

Discussion: The Guardian and Mediaite

Wall Street Journal:

Biden's Top Running-Mate Contenders Emerge as He Enters Key Week — Candidates and allies have been making final pitches; an announcement is likely to come week of Aug. 10. — Joe Biden is entering his most crucial week since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee …

Politico:
Harris allies granted call with Biden campaign after Dodd blowup

Discussion: Axios, Althouse and Political Wire

Washington Post:

On a call with SEC leaders, worried football players pushed back: 'It's not good enough' — College football's most powerful conference, the SEC, announced Thursday that it plans to forge ahead with a season this fall. But a day earlier, in a private meeting with conference leaders and medical advisers …

Discussion: Sports Illustrated

Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:

Trump Is the One Who Wants to Burn It All Down — Maybe stop worrying about the Never Trumpers and start worrying about the guy actually blowing up the GOP? — 1. Incentives — In 1996, everyone knew Bob Dole was going to lose. You knew it. I knew it. The American people knew it.

Discussion: Raw Story

Timothy P. Carney / Washington Examiner:

St. Damien ministered to Native Hawaiians in a leper colony. Now, AOC calls him a ‘colonizer’ — Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pointed to a Catholic martyr who gave his life to minister to the least fortunate Hawaiian natives. Probably knowing little or nothing about his life's story …

Washington Post:

Coronavirus threat rises across U.S.: ‘We just have to assume the monster is everywhere’ — The coronavirus is spreading at dangerous levels across much of the United States, and public health experts are demanding a dramatic reset in the national response, one that recognizes that the crisis …

Katrin Bennhold / New York Times:

Body Bags and Enemy Lists: How Far-Right Police Officers and Ex-Soldiers Planned for ‘Day X’ — Germany has woken up to a problem of far-right extremism in its elite special forces. But the threat of neo-Nazi infiltration of state institutions is much broader.

Matt Flegenheimer / New York Times:

Tammy Duckworth Is Nothing and Everything Like Joe Biden — Despite their disparate backgrounds, the Illinois Democrat has carved out a public life most evocative of the man she could join on the presidential ticket. — Senator Tammy Duckworth, like the man she might serve as vice president …

Farnaz Fassihi / New York Times:

Iran Will Expand Nuclear Program and Won't Talk to U.S., Ayatollah Says — In a televised speech, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, said that negotiating with Washington over his country's nuclear program would only help President Trump get re-elected.

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

New Disclosures Confirm: Trump Himself Was the Target of Obama Administration's Russia Probe — Assertions that the focus was ‘the Trump campaign’ are now known to be ludicrous — Long-sought documents finally pried from U.S. intelligence agencies prove that the Obama administration used …

Washington Post:

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner earned at least $36 million in outside income last year, new disclosures show — Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner earned at least $36.2 million as they served in the White House last year, reporting a boost in income from some companies they own that hold residential …

Discussion: TheGrio, Politico, The Daily Beast, New York Post, Raw Story and The Hill

Mike Miller / Redstate:

What Better Way to ‘Honor’ Christian George Floyd Than by Firing Up a Good Old-Fashioned Bible-Burning in Portland? — Let's just come right out and say it. This was never about George Floyd. I'd venture a bet that a majority of these people couldn't care less about Floyd.

Discussion: The Federalist, Sara A. Carter and Breitbart

David Lazarus / Los Angeles Times:

Column: Trump taps Kodak (yes, that Kodak) to bring stability to the drug market — More than a few people likely were left scratching their heads when President Trump announced this week that the federal government will loan Eastman Kodak $765 million in taxpayer money to develop ingredients for generic drugs.

John Walcott / TIME:

How Maine's Lobster Industry Got Trapped in Trump's Trade Wars — Standing on the deck of the Captain Carl, his 34-foot lobster boat, Jeff Woodman reflects on how the rocky shores of Spruce Head, Maine, have become an unlikely frontline in both President Donald Trump's global tariff wars …