memeorandum: Column: Where QAnon goes, so goes the Republican Party (Jonah Goldberg/Los Angeles Times)

3:50 PM ET, February 2, 2021

Top Items:

Trump's actions described as ‘a betrayal of historic proportions’ in trial brief filed by House impeachment managers — House Democrats made their case to convict former president Donald Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in a sweeping impeachment brief filed with the Senate Tuesday …

Alayna Treene / Axios:

Scoop: Fees — not just strategy — blew up Trump's legal team — Disagreements over legal strategy weren't the only reason Donald Trump's defense team collapsed just days before his second impeachment trial, Axios has learned. — What we're hearing: The notoriously stingy former president …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Salon, National Review, Daily Kos, Townhall, The Hill, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mock Paper Scissors, Raw Story, New York Times and Business Insider

New York Times:
Read the Brief from Trump's Defense Team on Impeachment Charge

Discussion: Business Insider

Tim Miller / The Bulwark:
Dare Trump to Testify

Discussion: Washington Post, Dave Dubya's Freedom Rants, Mercury News, Raw Story and Political Wire

Politico:
Conservative groups go MIA on Trump's impeachment

Discussion: ABC News, No More Mister Nice Blog, New York Times, Townhall and The Carpentariat

Jerry Dunleavy / Washington Examiner:
Trump defense team argues impeachment trial violates Constitution

Discussion: Fox News, The Hill, Washington Post, HotAir, Law & Crime, Boston Herald, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Bangor Daily News, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg and UPI

Cmte Judiciary (D) RSS Articles:
Impeachment Managers File Trial Brief, Explain Senate's Obligation to Hear Case against Donald Trump

Discussion: CNN, New York Magazine, Boston Herald, WRBL-TV, Orange County Register, Washington Times, Washington Post, Business Insider, New York Post and POLITICUSUSA

Jonathan Bernstein / Bloomberg:
The Wrong Way to Impeach Trump

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, True Pundit and Raw Story

Bob Bauer / New York Times:
The Republican Argument Against Impeaching Trump Is Dangerous

Discussion: IJR, Raw Story, Roll Call, Daily Kos, ABC News, Bloomberg, Crooks and Liars and The Dispatch

Axios:

Bonus episode: Inside the craziest meeting of the Trump presidency — Last month, Axios published “Off the rails,” a series taking you inside the end of Donald Trump's presidency, from his election loss to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection that triggered his second impeachment — and a Senate trial set to begin next week.

Discussion: Washington Post, Business Insider, Mediaite, Law & Crime, Raw Story, The Week and Patterico's Pontifications

Jonah Goldberg / Los Angeles Times:

Column: Where QAnon goes, so goes the Republican Party — Warning: Disturbing stuff ahead. — There's a conspiracy theory called Frazzledrip. Even for QAnon types, it's pretty fringe, which is saying something. Recall that the central belief in Q-world is that there's a secret cabal …

Discussion: The Hill, The American Independent, Daily Kos and Slate

Roger Sollenberger / Salon:

In 2019, Marjorie Taylor Greene told protesters to “flood the Capitol,” feel free to use violence — As a candidate, Greene told followers “we should feel like we will” resort to violence “if we have to” — In a video posted to social media months before announcing her congressional candidacy …

Discussion: HotAir, Washington Post, The Intellectualist, The Daily Caller, IJR, Michigan Advance, CNN, UPI and Power Line

Tiana Lowe / Washington Examiner:
Punishing vile lawmakers is not cancel culture

Discussion: Washington Post, National Memo and Daily Montanan

Rachel E. Greenspan / Insider:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's history of spreading bizarre conspiracy theories, from space lasers to Frazzledrip

Discussion: Business Insider, New York Times, Media Matters for America, Slate, Raw Story and The Guardian

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:

Ginni Thomas apologizes to husband's Supreme Court clerks after Capitol riot fallout — Conservative political activist Virginia Thomas told her husband Justice Clarence Thomas's former law clerks that she was sorry for a rift that developed among them after her election advocacy …

Discussion: New York Times, Business Insider, POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story

Politico:

Progressive PAC kick-starts search for challengers to Manchin, Sinema — A trio of progressives who helped launch Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 2018 upset campaign are now setting their sights on Senate Democrats. — The co-founders of No Excuses PAC — Saikat Chakrabarti, Corbin Trent and Zack Exley …

Discussion: New York Post, National Review, Townhall, HotAir, Washington Examiner, Twitchy and Fox News

Amber Athey / spectator.us:

AOC's body politics — The congresswoman uses a sexual assault allegation as a political cudgel — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez talks about the July 6 storming of the Capitol building during a livestream video (Twitter Screenshot) — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is no stranger to attention.

Discussion: New York Magazine, RedState, Slate, Mic, HotAir and The Right Scoop

Katie Glueck / New York Times:
Ocasio-Cortez Says She Is a Sexual Assault Survivor

Discussion: The Guardian, The Daily Caller, Politico, Common Dreams, Al Jazeera, theslot.jezebel.com, Gothamist, The Daily Beast, The Week, Conservative News Today, Business Insider and The Intellectualist

Tiana Lowe / Washington Examiner:
AOC's ‘trauma’ doesn't make the violent Capitol riot any worse than it already was

Discussion: National Review

Lyanne Melendez / ABC7:

Are acronyms a symptom of ‘white supremacy culture?’ SFUSD makes another disputable decision — SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — First the San Francisco School Board decided to rename 44 schools because they are named after people with ties to racism or slavery. Now the Arts Department has taken …

Discussion: HotAir, Washington Examiner, Breitbart, Reason, New York Post and San Francisco Chronicle

David Knowles / Yahoo News:

Did Bernie's inauguration outfit epitomize ‘white privilege’? A San Francisco teacher thinks so. — SAN FRANCISCO — Within hours of President Joe Biden's inauguration, the Internet was consumed by images of Sen. Bernie Sanders sitting, stone-faced, bundled against the cold in a parka and colorful mittens.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Townhall, Fox News and The Daily Caller

Gary Kamiya / The Atlantic:
The Five-Second Cancellation of Abraham Lincoln

Discussion: Washington Post and The Week

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

The weird threats Lindsey Graham and Trump's lawyer are making about calling impeachment witnesses — Former president Donald Trump's impeachment trial is set to begin in a week's time. And judging by a couple interviews Monday, his side is focused on delivering a not-so-veiled threat …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, IJR, Crooks and Liars, The Daily Caller and Raw Story

Lee Moran / HuffPost:
Lindsey Graham Warns Democrats Against Calling Witnesses In Trump Impeachment Trial

Discussion: Fox News, Daily Kos, IJR, TheBlaze, Althouse, New York Post, Breitbart and Washington Examiner

Marisa Schultz / Fox News:
McConnell rips DHS nominee Mayorkas for creating an ‘unethical favor factory for Democratic Party royalty’

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Associated Press, National Review, The Daily Caller, New York Post, IJR, CNN and Townhall

Politico:

Austin ousts Pentagon advisory board members as he roots out Trump appointees — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has removed members of the Pentagon's advisory boards in a sweeping effort to oust a series of last-minute appointees by the Trump administration, according to defense officials and a memo obtained by POLITICO.

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Nancy A. Youssef / Wall Street Journal:

Defense Chief Clears Out Pentagon Advisory Boards to Oust Last-Minute Trump Picks — With clean sweep, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin avoids selectively firing Trump supporters — WASHINGTON—Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dismissed every member of the Pentagon's policy advisory boards Monday …

Discussion: New York Post, Political Wire and Raw Story

New York Times:

An Extremely Detailed Map of the 2020 Election — An interactive map that lets readers explore in new detail how most states voted in the 2020 presidential election.

Konrad Putzier / Wall Street Journal:

Amazon Unveils Outdoorsy New HQ2, Renewing Its Commitment to Offices — Centerpiece of design is a 350-foot building dubbed the Helix, which features two spiraling outdoor walkways — Amazon. com Inc.'s plans for its new northern Virginia headquarters feature an outdoor theme …

Discussion: AppleInsider and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

The Moscow Times:

As It's Happening: Navalny Sentenced to 2.5 Years in Penal Colony — A Moscow court is beginning a hearing Tuesday on whether jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, whose arrest has triggered mass protests, should face years in prison. — Navalny, 44, was detained on Jan. 17 when he returned …

Discussion: Business Insider and The Intellectualist

Mike Brest / Washington Examiner:
Judge sentences Navalny to more than three years in prison

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press, Cyprus Mail, Reason and Forbes, more at Mediagazer »

Bridget Read / The Cut:

The Nightmare Share She posted an ad for a roommate. What's the worst that could happen? — As it goes in New York City, the apartment was small, it was expensive, but it was theirs. Heidi Russell and Valentina Bajada owned an 860-square-foot second-floor walk-up, and they loved …

Ken Klippenstein / The Intercept:

Inside the Brutal Power Struggle at Homeland Security … Tensions ran so high at the Department of Homeland Security's oversight wing that one senior official fantasized about Arya Stark, the fictional assassin in “Game of Thrones,” “taking care of” the agency chief, according …

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

Samantha Kubota / TODAY.com:

Dolly Parton turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice — Besides being East Tennessee's songbird, country superstar Dolly Parton has always had a philanthropic side and it turns out even presidents have noticed! — The queen of country, 75, told TODAY in an interview …

Discussion: Forbes, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, The Guardian, CBS News, Vanity Fair, The Week, NPR, Deadline, The Daily Beast, The Sun, Business Insider, WRBL-TV, Mic and IJR

Jonathan Larsen / TYT Network:

Democrats Support Prayer Breakfast After Its Leaders Backed Trump Lies — Will President Biden and other Democrats participate in this week's National Prayer Breakfast? A given in past years, presidential attendance has taken on new weight this year in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Amanda Carpenter / The Bulwark:
The Ridiculous ‘Free Speech’ Defense of Trump

Discussion: Fox News, NPR, CBS News, Reuters, Deseret News, DCReport.org, The American Independent, IJR, fox8.com, The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Raw Story

Lachlan Markay / Axios:

Hawley rakes in grassroots cash after Capitol attack — January was Sen. Josh Hawley's best fundraising month—by far—since his 2018 election, with a flood of small-dollar donations more than eclipsing the corporate cash he lost after leading an effort to block certification of President Biden's Electoral College win.

Discussion: Fox News, Josh Hawley, Washington Examiner, Business Insider, Forbes, National Review and Mock Paper Scissors

Robert A. Pape / The Atlantic:

The Capitol Rioters Aren't Like Other Extremists — On January 6, a mob of about 800 stormed the U.S. Capitol in support of former President Donald Trump, and many people made quick assumptions regarding who the insurrectionists were. Because a number of the rioters prominently displayed symbols …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Manchin says he doesn't support raising minimum wage to $15 per hour — Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said on Tuesday that he does not support increasing the minimum age to $15 an hour—a critical roadblock to including the proposal in the final coronavirus relief bill. — “No I'm not.

Discussion: Raw Story

Jan Wolfe / Reuters:

‘He invited us’: Accused Capitol rioters blame Trump in novel legal defense — (Reuters) - Emanuel Jackson, a 20-year-old Washington area man, was caught on video using a metal bat to strike the protective shields wielded by police officers as they tried to fend off rioters storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Andrew Romano / Yahoo Entertainment:

Yahoo News/YouGov poll: More than two-thirds of Americans side with Biden on COVID relief — and most support the rest of his agenda — When asked about the 20 policies that define President Biden's agenda, more Americans support than oppose all 20 of them, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll.

Discussion: Politico, Daily Kos and The American Independent

Rebecca Baird-Remba / Commercial Observer:

Grand Central's Grand Hyatt Replacement: A First Look at the 1,600-Foot Tower — Previous Next — RXR Realty and TF Cornerstone are planning to replace the Grand Hyatt Hotel by Grand Central Terminal with a dramatic 1,600-foot office-and-hotel tower known as 175 Park Avenue.

Marthe de Ferrer / living:

Scientists have taught spinach to send emails and it could warn us about climate change — It may sound like something out of a futuristic science fiction film, but scientists have managed to engineer spinach plants which are capable of sending emails. — Through nanotechnology …

Discussion: Power Line

Vandana Rambaran / Fox News:

2 FBI agents dead, others injured in Florida shooting while serving warrant: source — FBI was reportedly attempting to serve a warrant in a child pornography case — Fox News Flash top headlines for February 2 — Two FBI agents were killed Tuesday morning while trying to serve …