memeorandum: ‘A Whole Bunch of Crazy’: Inside the South Carolina GOP's MAGA Coup (Sam Brodey/The Daily Beast)

9:50 AM ET, April 7, 2021

Top Items:

Matt Gaetz, Loyal for Years to Trump, Is Said to Have Sought a Blanket Pardon — The congressman was at the time under investigation over whether he violated sex trafficking laws, though it was unclear what he knew of the inquiry. — Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida …

Politico:

MTG's eye-popping fundraising haul — With Nicholas Wu. — GREENE RAKES IN THE GREEN: We have a scoop for you this morning: Freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), the controversial MAGA firebrand, raised over $3.2 million in the first three months of this year, according to a source close to her campaign.

Discussion: CBS News, New York Times, The American Conservative, Roll Call, Wall Street Journal, Florida Politics, Insider and Mediaite

Marc Caputo / Politico:
The congressman and his wingman — Florida has never seen a tax collector like Joel Greenberg.

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Daily News, Orlando Weekly, Insider, Washington Examiner, Bark Bark Woof Woof, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo and CNN

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Quarterly Gap in Party Affiliation Largest Since 2012 — WASHINGTON, D.C. — In Gallup polling throughout the first quarter of 2021, an average of 49% of U.S. adults identified with the Democratic Party or said they are independents who lean toward the Democratic Party.

Discussion: USA Today, The American Independent, No More Mister Nice Blog, Outside the Beltway and The Week

Emma Kinery / Bloomberg:
Share of Democrats in U.S. Spikes After Biden Win, Poll Shows

Discussion: Political Wire

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Boehner Blasts Trump, Saying He ‘Incited That Bloody Insurrection’ — In his new book, John Boehner, the Republican former House speaker, sharply rebukes the former president for his role in the “mob violence” at the Capitol on Jan. 6. — John Boehner, the Republican former House speaker …

Discussion: The Hill, Raw Story, Mediaite, The Week and New Republic

Dan Zak / Washington Post:

Goodbye to Gate 35X, cursed portal to the rest of America — Let's get right to it: It was a bus station. A bus station in an airport. It was two places you'd rather not be, melded into one place. — There was no flourish to its badness. Gate 35X at Reagan National Airport …

Brent Kendall / Wall Street Journal:

Stephen Miller's Next Act Finds a Stage in the Courts — Trump senior adviser—and conservative lightning rod—launches new legal group to challenge Democratic policies through lawsuits — WASHINGTON— Stephen Miller has come to admire the effectiveness—and aggressiveness …

Discussion: The Hill, Advancing American Freedom and New York Post

David Roth / Defector:

What Exactly Is Donald Trump Upset About Here? — One remarkable and inspiring thing about former President of the United States Donald Trump is that he has somehow spent unimaginable thousands of hours in his life watching television without ever getting good at it.

Discussion: The Daily Beast and The Colorado Sun

Fay Vincent / Wall Street Journal:
Rob Manfred's All-Star Error

Discussion: OutKick and The Federalist

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:

Justice Breyer says expanding the Supreme Court could erode trust — Justice Stephen G. Breyer said Tuesday that proposals to expand the Supreme Court to dilute the power of its conservative majority risk making justices appear more political and could hurt the court's influence with the public.

Discussion: NBC News, CBS News, The Hill, National Review, Bloomberg, SCOTUSblog, Reason and New York Magazine

Associated Press:
Justice Breyer says big Supreme Court changes could diminish trust

Discussion: HotAir

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Chuck Schumer is thinking big — gridlocked Senate be damned — Chuck Schumer vowed in November that when his Democrats “take Georgia, then we change the world.” He wasn't far off. — The New Yorker's ascension to Senate majority leader gave President Joe Biden the power to spend trillions …

Discussion: NBC News, National Review, New York Times and Blue Virginia

Jennifer Haberkorn / Los Angeles Times:
Dianne Feinstein signals she's open to abandoning Senate filibuster for voting rights

Discussion: New York Times and Political Wire

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Kyrsten Sinema is misleading her constituents. And she almost surely knows it.

Discussion: HuffPost, RedState, Breitbart, IJR, Discourse Blog and The Hill

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

The Trump media era ends not with a wow but a whisper — For about half an hour on Tuesday, a former president of the United States appeared on television to offer his unfiltered assessment of the state of American politics, of foreign policy and of the various controversies flitting around the political world.

Discussion: Althouse, POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story

Jeff Bezos / About Amazon:

A message from Jeff Bezos — Amazon founder and CEO shares a statement in support of investment in American infrastructure.

Discussion: NBC News, CBS News, Axios, National Review, Forbes, IJR and The Intellectualist, more at Techmeme »

Ben White / Politico:
Corporate America tears down Biden's infrastructure plan

Discussion: KARK-TV

Courtenay Brown / Axios:

Dimon calls on companies to be policymakers — JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is calling on companies to play a bigger role in the world's problems, saying today in his annual shareholders letter that the business sector should be a “responsible community citizen.”

Hugh Son / CNBC: Jamie Dimon says economic boom fueled by deficit spending, vaccines could ‘easily run into 2023’

Ashton Pittman / Mississippi Free Press:

Mississippi Elections Chief Warns Biden May Register ‘Uninformed,’ ‘Woke’ College Voters — Mississippi's top election official says he is worried that the nation will suffer if more “woke” and “uninformed” college students become registered voters. Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson …

Kyle Mantyla / Right Wing Watch:

Jim Bakker Is Now Using His End Times Broadcast to Warn About Zombies — For years, right-wing pastor Jim Bakker has been using his daily television program to terrify his audience into believing that the End Times are upon us, often for the apparent purpose of selling them products designed to help them survive the apocalypse.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Raw Story

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:

Exclusive: Andrew Giuliani targets Cuomo, plans 2022 gubernatorial bid — Andrew Giuliani, a former top Trump aide and son of “America's Mayor,” is “heavily considering” a bid for governor of New York in 2022, potentially setting up an epic clash between the two biggest political families in recent New York history.

Alan Feuer / New York Times:

Fears of White People Losing Out Permeate Capitol Rioters' Towns, Study Finds — Counties with the most significant declines in the non-Hispanic white population were the most likely to produce insurrectionists. — When the political scientist Robert Pape began studying the issues …

Discussion: Insider, Daily Kos, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Post and Raw Story

Robert A. Pape / Washington Post:
What an analysis of 377 Americans arrested or charged in the Capitol insurrection tells us

Discussion: Insider, MyNorthwest.com, The Root, Balloon Juice, Digby's Hullabaloo, littlegreenfootballs.com and Raw Story

Rob Crilly / Washington Examiner:

EXCLUSIVE: Pence returns to MAGA world with Trump-backed political group — Former Vice President Mike Pence will take a step back into public life and a possible 2024 run with the launch Wednesday of the Advancing American Freedom advocacy group, designed to merge traditional conservative thinking with Trumpism.

Discussion: CBS News, Bloomberg, The Hill, Raw Story and IJR

Tory Newmyer / Washington Post:

Corporate America isn't welcoming former Trump Cabinet officials with open arms, headhunters say — The toxicity of the former president's brand is choking off traditional money-making opportunities for members of his inner circle. — Before she joined the Trump administration as transportation secretary …

Discussion: Raw Story

David Gambacorta / The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Conspiracy Land … Omar Sabir explained his decision to his wife quietly, out of earshot of their six children, who were all under the age of 12. He needed to start spending nights at a hotel. Just in case. — The Nov. 3 presidential election was just days away.

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

What a photo of Trump's new office reveals about how he wants to be remembered — Americans got a glimpse of Donald Trump's post-presidential office for the first time on Monday, when former White House aide Stephen Miller tweeted out a picture of himself with Trump.

Discussion: Insider

Joseph Wulfsohn / Fox News:

Florida Dem claims he told CBS DeSantis-Publix story was ‘bulls—’; producer says info used ‘on background’ — ‘60 Minutes’ producer claimed in email to DeSantis office ‘deadline has passed’ for interview with Florida emergency management director — ‘60 Minutes’ continues to receive backlash for Ron DeSantis-Publix package

Discussion: IJR

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:

Biden wants to cement a governing majority. His Build Back Better bill is his plan to do it. — President Joe Biden's sprawling infrastructure plan doesn't just attempt to turn decades-old progressive policy pursuits into law. Aides and operatives inside and out of the White House …

Katie Rogers / New York Times:

Harris Is Moving Into Newly Renovated Official Residence — The vice president had been living temporarily in Blair House while Number One Observatory Circle underwent repairs. — WASHINGTON — Number One Observatory Circle is finally ready for its newest resident.

Discussion: Bloomberg

Sam Brodey / The Daily Beast:

‘A Whole Bunch of Crazy’: Inside the South Carolina GOP's MAGA Coup — Local Tea Party leader Pressley Stutts said Trump's instructions to the faithful were clear: “'Go purge, get rid of the RINOs in the Republican Party.' So we took him seriously.” — When Lenna Smith arrived …

Discussion: Raw Story

Katherine Eban / Vanity Fair:

“We Are Hoarding”: Why the U.S. Still Can't Donate COVID-19 Vaccines to Countries in Need — On the morning of March 31, roughly 25 Biden administration officials gathered at the White House, double-masked, for a meeting called on short notice by a member of the National Security Council.

Gabby Deutch / Jewish Insider:

Kyrsten Sinema's independent streak runs deep … When Republican Sen. John McCain cast a tie-breaking vote against a GOP effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017, he signaled his opposition with a dramatic thumbs down on the Senate floor. Three and a half years later …

Discussion: HotAir, National Review and Wall Street Journal

Axios:

Scoop: Caitlyn Jenner explores run for California governor — Former reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner is talking with political consultants as she actively explores a run for governor of California, three sources with direct knowledge of her deliberations tell Axios.

Robert Burns / Associated Press:

US military cites rising risk of Chinese move against Taiwan — WASHINGTON (AP) — The American military is warning that China is probably accelerating its timetable for capturing control of Taiwan, the island democracy that has been the chief source of tension between Washington and Beijing …

Discussion: CNN, Associated Press and The National Interest

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Mo Brooks nabs Trump endorsement in Alabama Senate race — Former President Donald Trump is endorsing Rep. Mo Brooks in the Alabama Senate race, a nod that could dramatically reshape next year's GOP primary for the state's open seat. — “Few Republicans have as much COURAGE and FIGHT …

Discussion: The Hill and Alabama Political Reporter

David Edwards / Raw Story:

‘Built on a lie’: Jen Psaki annihilates Peter Doocy's misleading question on Georgia voting — White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday pushed back against the assertion that Georgia's new voting laws are less restrictive than Colorado's laws. — Psaki was asked the question …