memeorandum: The most memorable RNC speakers are not the stars (Karol Markowicz/Spectator USA)

8:20 AM ET, August 26, 2020

Top Items:

Trump shatters norms on second night of convention: Key moments — President Donald Trump staged a norm-busting show on the second night of the Republican National Convention, pardoning a convicted bank robber, hosting a naturalization ceremony, and providing a primetime platform to Americans …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Hill, Breitbart, Fox News and NBC News

Washington Post:

Focus on Trump's official White House actions as part of Republican convention programming raises Hatch Act concerns — The decision by the Republican National Convention to feature President Trump conducting official business inside the White House underscores how he is leveraging the powers …

Discussion: Reuters, Mother Jones, The American Independent, CBS News, ABC News, Vox, Raw Story, The Hill, Breitbart, Forbes, Digital Chosunilbo, The Week, The Daily Beast and Political Wire

Nancy Cook / Politico:

Republicans revel in Trump's prime-time convention surprises — President Donald Trump trails former vice president Joe Biden in polls nationwide and in key battleground states. The majority of Americans say they dislike the president and believe the country is on the wrong track.

Discussion: Associated Press, Bloomberg, Vanity Fair and Forbes

Matthew Choi / Politico:

Melania Trump goes where other Republicans won't in convention address — Melania Trump pushed for racial unity during her keynote on the second night of the Republican National Convention, offering a far more conciliatory address than other speakers who used their lecterns to bombastically promote the president.

Discussion: New York Times, The Daily Beast, Reuters, One America News Network, Twitchy, The Guardian and The Gateway Pundit

Jacob Pramuk / CNBC:

Coronavirus concerns fall and Trump approval ticks higher in swing states, CNBC/Change Research poll finds — Serious concerns about the coronavirus fell in six 2020 swing states, while approval of President Donald Trump's handling of Covid-19 rose, according to a new CNBC/Change Research poll.

Discussion: New York Daily News, Political Wire, Florida Politics, Redfield & Wilton Strategies and The National Interest

Karol Markowicz / Spectator USA:

The most memorable RNC speakers are not the stars — Let's be real, the warm-up acts are never the draw. For every Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees (true story) there's, well, every other opening act you've ever sat through to get to the main event. — But the Republican National Convention …

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: ‘This is absolutely not how it works’ — DRIVING THE DAY — OK, SORRY ... WE KNOW the convention was Tuesday night, but this was too good to bury. THE USPS is looking for a VP of government affairs and public policy. It might be smart to poke around …

Discussion: Politico, NPR and Townhall

Matthew Choi / Politico:
Hillary Clinton to Biden: Don't concede if the election is close

Discussion: Reuters, American Greatness, Breitbart, Big League Politics, Townhall, The Hill, Fox News, Power Line, New York Post and Mother Jones

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Brought out to bolster Trump's campaign, Pam Bondi offered numerous reminders of its flaws

Discussion: Spectator USA, Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, The Hill and Washington Times

CNN:
Melania Trump Rose Garden speech attendees not all required to get coronavirus tests

Discussion: New York Times

Washington Post:
Trump is going out of his way to blow off the Hatch Act this week

Discussion: The Hill, The Week, Deadline and Slate, more at Mediagazer »

David Rothkopf / The Daily Beast:
Why the Fuck is the Secretary of State Talking, from Israel, at the Republican National Convention?

Discussion: Axios, Al Jazeera, Politico and Vox

Jason Easley / POLITICUSUSA:
Trump's Convention Flops As Biden DNC Drew 3 Million More Viewers

Discussion: Politico, Los Angeles Times, Raw Story and New York Post

New York Times:
Melania Trump's Unique Role at the R.N.C.: Expressing Sympathy on the Virus

Discussion: Washington Post and Reuters

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:
Registered Foreign Agent Pam Bondi Says Biden Is Corrupt

Discussion: Raw Story, Politico and NBC Connecticut

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:

RNC Speaker Cancelled After Boosting QAnon Conspiracy Theory About Jewish Plot to Enslave the World — Mary Ann Mendoza, an “angel mom,” was set to speak on Tuesday night. But then she took to Twitter to encourage followers to read a thread about the Rothschilds.

Amanda Becker / The 19th:

On eve of suffrage centennial milestone, RNC to feature speaker supporting policies barring women from voting — Anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson has advocated for a head-of-household voting system that has historically barred women and people of color from casting ballots.

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico and Rewire.News

Jane C. Timm / NBC News:
Fact check: Sen. Rand Paul on Trump's Iraq War opposition

Discussion: The Daily Beast, New York Post, Washington Post, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, The Hill, Just The News, Fox News, Axios and WINK NEWS

Washington Post:

Two dead and one wounded in Kenosha shootings during Jacob Blake protests — KENOSHA, Wis. — Two people were killed and one was seriously wounded by gunfire late Tuesday at a protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake Jr., Kenosha police said early Wednesday.

Discussion: New York Times, CNN, The Dispatch, jsonline, New York Post, Breitbart, The Week, NPR and blogTO

jsonline:

2 shot dead and 1 injured in Kenosha during protests; police looking for man armed with a long gun — Kenosha Police said early Wednesday morning that two people had been shot and killed and a third injured during protests over the shooting of Jacob Blake; authorities were looking for a man armed with a long gun.

Discussion: National Review, Slate, Florida Politics, UPI, New York Post, The Daily Beast, Associated Press, Twitchy, Washington Post and The Week

NBC News:

2 dead, 1 injured, in Wisconsin protests over shooting of Jacob Blake — Two people were killed and one was injured as shots rang out during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, just before midnight Tuesday, according to the city's police department, amid anger over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man.

Discussion: Jacobin, NBC Los Angeles and ProFootballTalk

Associated Press:
Kenosha police: 3 shot, 2 fatally, during Wisconsin protests

Discussion: WTOP, Reuters, The Hill, NBC Chicago, Bangor Daily News, ABC News and Raw Story

Angelica Stabile / Fox News:
Kenosha congressman responds to riots over Jacob Blake shooting, calls for order to be restored ‘now’

Discussion: One America News Network, NBC Chicago and Breitbart

Jason Whitlock / OutKick:
LeBron James Is A Bigot

Discussion: Breitbart, Chicago Sun-Times and WISC-TV

Maya King / Politico:
Lindsey Graham questions why Jacob Blake 'didn't yield' in Wisconsin police shooting

Discussion: The Hill and Chicago Sun-Times

Skyler Swisher / Sun-Sentinel:

Congressman's old social media posts about sex with 15-year-old girls, rape surface in South Florida re-election fight — South Florida Congressman Brian Mast joked about rape and referenced sex with 15-year-old girls in old Facebook comments to a friend who is now his campaign manager.

Discussion: Florida Politics, Raw Story and The Hill

Carol Morello / Washington Post:

Pompeo stirs up outrage among some diplomats over speech to RNC — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will make history Tuesday night when he addresses the Republican National Convention, a move that critics say violates a long-standing State Department policy that draws a line between diplomacy and politics.

Discussion: Slate, Mother Jones, Chicago Sun-Times, New York Post, The Week, Fox News and KNSD-TV

Robin Wright / New Yorker:
A Dubious Pompeo Speech for an Empty Trump Foreign Policy

Discussion: The Hill, Just The News and The Daily Caller

Justine Coleman / The Hill:
Pelosi calls Pompeo's convention address from Jerusalem ‘appalling’

Discussion: Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Post, Jewish Insider, The Gateway Pundit, Sean Hannity, TheBlaze and New York Times

Jennifer Hansler / CNN:
House Democrat opens investigation into Pompeo's RNC speech

Discussion: UPI, NBC News, The Daily Caller, Forbes, WISC-TV, The Week and IJR

Ryan Grim / The Intercept:

Aaron Coleman's Ex-Girlfriend Says He Slapped and Choked Her in the Past Year … When Taylor Passow first met Aaron Coleman last November, she was impressed by his drive and his passion for a better world. “I had never been with somebody who seemed so focused on a career, and how he wanted to change the country.

Discussion: Slate, Fox News, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Atlantic

Robby Soave / Reason:

‘Silence Is Violence’: D.C. Black Lives Matter Protesters Adopt Strategy of Intimidating Random White People — Following yet another horrific and unjust police shooting of a black man—this time the victim is 29-year-old Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin—protesters have again taken to the streets.

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Townhall, The Gateway Pundit and Breitbart

Fredrick Kunkle / Washington Post:
Protesters target D.C. diners, triggering backlash after heckling woman

Discussion: The American Conservative

Kyle Hopkins / ProPublica:

Alaska's Attorney General Resigns Hours After We Published “Uncomfortable” Texts He Sent to a Younger Colleague — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. — Alaska Attorney General Kevin …

Discussion: The Hill, Anchorage Daily News, Fox News, The Week and Washington Times

Betsy Woodruff Swan / Politico:

They tried to get Trump to care about right-wing terrorism. He ignored them. — Elizabeth Neumann spent March 13 and 14 of 2019 at a conference in the picturesque Spanish port city of Málaga. The topic: terrorism. Western leaders were deeply worried about the dangers foreign …

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:

Jerry Falwell Jr. confirms he has resigned as head of Liberty University — Jerry Falwell Jr. on Tuesday confirmed his resignation as president of Liberty University, ending back-to-back Falwell leadership eras at an evangelical institution that is a major power center for conservative Christians and politicians.

Discussion: The Week, Political Flare, TheBlaze, New York Post, Fox News, Religion Unplugged, Gothamist, Politico, CBS Baltimore, Rewire.News, The Root and IJR

Irin Carmon / New York Magazine:

Yale Law Professor Jed Rubenfeld Has Been Suspended for Sexual Harassment — On Monday morning, members of the Yale Law School faculty received a terse message from their provost informing them that Professor Jed Rubenfeld “will leave his position as a member of the YLS faculty for a two-year period …

Joseph Simonson / Washington Examiner:

EXCLUSIVE: Trump's electoral vulnerabilities were visible in 2018, internal RNC report showed — President Trump's dimming reelection prospects were visible before the 2018 midterm elections, according to an internal Republican National Committee report seen by the Washington Examiner.

Discussion: New York Magazine

Alex Horton / Washington Post:

Fort Hood soldier likely found dead, attorney says, after disappearance, sexual assault claims — A soldier assigned to Fort Hood who was missing was likely found dead on Tuesday, his family's attorney said, adding to the toll of soldiers at the Texas installation who have vanished or died in recent months.

Discussion: Task & Purpose, CBS Boston, ABC News and MyNorthwest.com

Frank Bruni / New York Times:

The Epic Shamelessness of the Republican Convention — Norms are for chumps, not for Trumps. — Conventions lie. Or at least they tell extravagant fibs. That's how they transform their nominees from mere mortals to near messiahs. That's how they whip up the faithful and woo the agnostics.

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Post, Raw Story and IJR