memeorandum: The Raw Desperation of the Republican Party (David Frum/The Atlantic)

11:55 AM ET, October 30, 2020

Top Items:

In Texas, More Have Voted Early Than the State's Entire 2016 Turnout — More than 9 million people have voted early in Texas. Polls show a near dead-heat in the state, with a slight edge for President Trump. — Mr. Trump canceled plans to appear at Trump International Hotel for an election night party.

Discussion: Politico, Business Insider, POLITICUSUSA, Balloon Juice, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, The Week, Washingtonian, TMZ.com, Mediaite and HillReporter.com

Ursula Perano / Axios:

Texas early voting surpasses 2016's total turnout — Texas' early and mail-in voting totals for the 2020 election have surpassed the state's total voter turnout in 2016, with 9,009,850 ballots already cast compared to 8,969,226 in the last presidential cycle.

Discussion: Reuters, The Hill and New York Times

Associated Press:

Texas early voting exceeds total of all 2016 ballots — AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texans have already cast more ballots in the presidential election than they did during all of 2016, an unprecedented surge of early voting in a state that was once the country's most reliably Republican, but may now be drifting toward battleground status.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth and CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

Sahil Kapur / NBC News:

Trump adviser Stephen Miller reveals aggressive second-term immigration agenda — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's senior adviser Stephen Miller has fleshed out plans to rev up Trump's restrictive immigration agenda if he wins re-election next week, offering a stark contrast to the platform of Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Discussion: Washington Post, Vanity Fair, Houston Public Media, Mother Jones and The American Independent, more at Mediagazer »

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: It's the pandemic, stupid

Discussion: Raw Story and The Week

Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:

My Never Trump Elegy — Shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, the author John le Carré's most famous creation, the fictional British spy George Smiley, reflected on a career spent fighting a now-vanquished enemy. — “There are some people,” Smiley said at a dinner among young recruits …

Discussion: Twitchy and Althouse

Politico:

'We've got to stop the bleeding': Democrats sound alarm in Miami — MIAMI — Democrats are sounding the alarm about weak voter turnout rates in Florida's biggest county, Miami-Dade, where a strong Republican showing is endangering Joe Biden's chances in the nation's biggest swing state.

Discussion: Florida Politics, The Last Refuge, Townhall, Washington Times, Althouse and Axios

Timothy Evans / HillReporter.com:
Miami GOP Mayor Caught Trying to Suppress Voting

Discussion: The Stern Facts

Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Kamala Harris is returning to Georgia on Sunday — Vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris is returning to Georgia on Sunday to rally voters as the campaign intensifies efforts to flip a state that hasn't voted Democratic in a White House race since 1992. — The campaign announced the visit Friday …

Donald Trump / Fox News:
Reelect me and I will continue to deliver safety, prosperity and opportunity for all Americans

Discussion: American Greatness, New York Times and Breitbart

Scott Walker / Washington Times:
Donald Trump delivered on promises and gets results

Discussion: Spectator USA

NBC News:

How a fake persona laid the groundwork for a Hunter Biden conspiracy deluge — One month before a purported leak of files from Hunter Biden's laptop, a fake “intelligence” document about him went viral on the right-wing internet, asserting an elaborate conspiracy theory involving former Vice …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Breitbart, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Twitchy, Gizmodo, The Week, Raw Story and POLITICUSUSA

Timothy Bella / Washington Post:

Donald Trump Jr. said covid-19 deaths are at ‘almost nothing.’ The virus killed more than 1,000 Americans the same day. — Donald Trump Jr. declared on Thursday night that coronavirus deaths had dropped to “almost nothing,” questioning the seriousness of the pandemic on a record-breaking …

Discussion: USA Today, The American Independent, The Daily Beast, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA and Mediaite

Quint Forgey / Politico:
Don Jr. dismisses coronavirus deaths: ‘The number is almost nothing’

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post and National Review

Darryl Fears / Washington Post:

A top Interior official has controversial views on race. He used a white supremacist website to support them. — Jeremy Carl called Black Lives Matter a racist organization in articles written before his appointment this month. He also cited an opinion by Jared Taylor, who said Black people destroy any civilization they control.

Katie Shepherd / Washington Post:

Police took a Black toddler from his family's SUV. Then, the union used his photo as ‘propaganda,’ attorneys say. — On Thursday, the nation's largest police union posted a photo to social media taken during the unrest in Philadelphia this week, where hundreds of protesters clashed …

Discussion: The Hill, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Slate, Raw Story, Fox News, New York Post and The Root

Greenwald:

Emails With Intercept Editors Showing Censorship of My Joe Biden Article — Given The Intercept's vehement denials, readers are entitled to see for themselves what the truth is: transparency journalism with integrity requires. — Following are the communications I had over the last week …

Matt Taibbi / Reporting:
Glenn Greenwald On His Resignation From The Intercept

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Instapundit, Greenwald, Twitchy, Fox News, Mediaite, The Western Journal and The Wrap, more at Mediagazer »

April Siese / CBS News:

Louisville police officer sues Kenneth Walker, boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, for emotional distress, assault and battery — An officer involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor has filed a civil suit against the 26-year-old's boyfriend for emotional distress, assault and battery on the night she was killed.

Discussion: New York Post, Law & Crime, The Root, TMZ.com, Louder With Crowder, REVOLT and The Hill

Joe Walsh / The Bulwark:

Hannity, Tucker, and Me — Mirrors don't lie. — Donald Trump will lose in four days. Or in five days. Or in six days. But he will lose. And when he loses, everyone in the conservative media world will have a decision to make. If past is prologue, the vast majority of these folks …

Josh Venable / Detroit News:

As a Republican, I'm tired of Trump's division, discord, vitriol and hate — I am a lifelong Republican. And I am exhausted. — Nearly all my career, I have worked for Republican candidates and conservative causes, managing campaigns, organizing coalitions and raising money.

Discussion: HillReporter.com

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

Neither Trump Nor Biden Drink Alcohol — Spirits may be low around the country, but don't expect them to be raised in the White House after the election; neither President Trump nor Joseph R. Biden Jr. partakes in alcohol. — A presidential election that has driven a nation to drink …

Discussion: Mediaite

Celine Castronuovo / The Hill:

Trump changes election night plans, cancels party at Trump International: report — President Trump has reportedly called off plans to host an election night event at Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., a person familiar with the plans told T he New York Times.

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

Denialism, Dishonesty, Deflection: The Final Days of the Trump Campaign Have It All — The President is ending his reëlection bid with scandals that call into question the legitimacy of next week's vote. — No one wants to admit it, but in Washington, D.C., the election might as well be over …

Discussion: Washington Times, Al Jazeera, FactCheck.org and Raw Story

Ron Suskind / New York Times:

The Day After Election Day — Current and former Trump administration officials are worried about what might happen on Nov. 4. — Mr. Suskind is an investigative journalist who has written about the presidency and national affairs for more than three decades.

Discussion: Raw Story

David Fahrenthold / Washington Post:

The State Department wouldn't reveal its payments to Mar-a-Lago. Here's how we found them. — In April 2018, President Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club charged taxpayers $3 so that Trump could drink water. — That charge was one of many bills that Mar-a-Lago sent to the State Department …

Discussion: Raw Story

David Frum / The Atlantic:

The Raw Desperation of the Republican Party — I doubted that Mitch McConnell could do it, but he did. With only a week remaining before Election Day, McConnell crammed through the confirmation of a sixth conservative justice to the U.S. Supreme Court. The people who tally such things reckon …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Tampa Bay Times, Jacobin, Kaiser Health News and Michigan Advance

The Atlantic:

The Pandemic Is in Uncharted Territory — Editor's Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here. — The United States set a new record for reported cases this week, breaking 500,000 for the first time in the pandemic …

Discussion: CNN and The COVID Tracking Project

Marshall Cohen / CNN:

How to spot a red or blue ‘mirage’ in early election night results — Road to 270: Trump running against Biden and his own record — Washington (CNN)Election night will be an unusual experience this year. Early results that pop up shortly after the polls close might look very different …

Discussion: Palm Beach Post, Real Clear Politics and The Bulwark

Stacy Fernández / The Texas Tribune:

Despite polls showing a close race, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick claims if Democrats win on Election Day, it will be “because they stole it” — Voter fraud in absentee voting, as with any type of voting, is rare. Many states, including many run by Republicans, have expanded mail-in voting options during the pandemic.

Discussion: American Prospect and Talking Points Memo

Jo Craven McGinty / Wall Street Journal:

With No Commute, Americans Simply Worked More During Coronavirus — Employees spent over 22 million extra hours on their primary job each workday — What would you do with an extra hour each day? — For many people, the answer is...work more. — From mid-March to mid-September …

Rachel Adams-Heard / Bloomberg:

Texas Beats Total 2016 Vote Count Four Days Before Election Day — Early voting shatters records in both cities and rural areas — Polls suggest reliably Republican stronghold is now a toss up — In a sign of the passions sparked by the U.S. presidential race …

Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:

Why the 2020s Could Be as Dangerous as the 1850s — If Joe Biden beats Donald Trump decisively next week, this election may be remembered as a hinge point in American history: the moment when a clear majority of voters acknowledged that there's no turning back from America's transformation …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Vox, Raw Story, Washington Post, CNN, Bloomberg, The Sun, Reuters, UPI and Instapundit

Steven Shepard / Politico:

Trump's chances hinge on a polling screw-up way worse than 2016 — President Donald Trump still has a path to a second term. But it would take a polling debacle that would make 2016 look like a banner year. — According to a series of battleground state polls conducted and released …

Discussion: Inside Elections, Marist Poll, The Daily Caller, The Atlantic and Issues & Insights

Andrew Kerr / The Daily Caller:

EXCLUSIVE: NY Post's ‘Smoking Gun’ Hunter Biden Email 100% Authentic, Forensic Analysis Concludes — An email Hunter Biden received in April 2015 from a Burisma executive discussing an introduction to then-Vice President Joe Biden, which lies at the heart of a New York Post investigation …

Discussion: The Federalist, The Post Millennial, Louder With Crowder, TheBlaze, redstate.com and JustOneMinute

Ronan Farrow / New Yorker:

How a C.I.A. Coverup Targeted a Whistle-blower — When a Justice Department lawyer exposed the agency's secret role in drug cases, leadership in the intelligence community retaliated. — Before dawn on January 23, 2019, Mark McConnell arrived at the Key West headquarters of the military …

Reuters:

Exclusive: Russian hackers targeted California, Indiana Democratic parties — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The group of Russian hackers accused of meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election earlier this year targeted the email accounts of Democratic state parties in California and Indiana …

Discussion: The Daily Beast and The Verge

Kathleen Gray / New York Times:

In Michigan, a Suburban County That Flipped Blue Isn't Looking Back — Oakland County, Mich., a Republican stronghold 12 years ago that is now solidly Democratic, is a prime example of the political evolution taking place in many of the nation's suburbs. — WATERFORD, Mich. …

Tim Alberta / Politico:

A Trump-Fueled Tsunami of Distrust Has Swamped Our Elections. Americans Are Voting Anyway. — LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — Shelby Watchilla leaned forward, her amber hair brushing against the plexiglass barrier, lowering her voice so that it was barely audible from behind her blue mask.

Discussion: Salon, Raw Story and NBC Chicago

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:

Yes, Media Are Rigging The Election Against Half The Country. Here's How — Will all this be enough for mass media to win the day? People will find out next week. — Even if Donald Trump had lost the 2016 election, instead of won it in a surprise, the media's coverage of his campaign …

Discussion: Fox News, The Guardian and Byline Times

The Forward:

We're Orthodox IDF veterans. We're voting Biden because Trump has endangered Israel. — We are proud Orthodox Israeli-Americans, alumni of Israeli education institutions and former IDF soldiers. We are both voting for Joe Biden in the upcoming elections. — We realize that we are an anomaly in our milieu.

Project Syndicate:

Will Fascism Win the US Election? | by Jason Stanley, Federico Finchelstein and Pablo Piccato — For months leading up to the US presidential election, Donald Trump has been doubling down on the quintessential features of fascism, presenting himself as a messiah and father of the nation …

CNN:

Thousands call Pennsylvania county about requested ballots that never arrived — Mailing in your ballot? Here's how it works — (CNN)The whereabouts of an untold number of ballots in Pennsylvania's Butler County that were slated for delivery to would-be voters in next week's election remain unaccounted …