memeorandum: ‘This Is Hell.’ Prime Minister Modi's Failure to Lead Is Deepening India's COVID-19 Crisis (Rana Ayyub/TIME)

3:35 PM ET, April 23, 2021

Top Items:

Scoop: Caitlyn Jenner makes it official for California governor — Former Olympic decathlete and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner has filed her initial paperwork to run for governor of California and will officially announce her bid later today, her campaign tells Axios.

NBC News:
Republicans say Newsom recall is all about the virus. That's not how it started

Discussion: Reason

CNN:
Caitlyn Jenner announces run for California governor in likely recall election

Discussion: Washington Examiner, ABC News, NPR, The Sun, Los Angeles Times, Deadline and Twitchy

Steven Perlberg / Insider:

The New York Times is readying a big newsletter push as Substack tries to poach its top writers with advances worth hundreds of thousands — The New York Times is readying a newsletter push as Substack comes after top journalists. — Substack offered opinion writer Liz Bruenig a $200,000 advance, double her Times salary.

more at Mediagazer »

Will Oremus / Slate:

What Substack Is Really Doing to the Media — This week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg granted a rare, live, hourlong interview to a tech journalist, where he revealed the company's plans for a slew of new audio products. Normally, such a scoopy, wide-ranging interview would be a coup for the media company that landed it.

Discussion: Techonomy and Forbes, more at Mediagazer »

Andrew Solender / Forbes:

GOP Sen. Ron Jonhson Criticizes ‘Big Push’ To Get Everyone Vaccinated — Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) on Thursday questioned the “big push” to ensure everyone is vaccinated against coronavirus, putting him at odds with many of his Senate Republican colleagues who have attempted to close the partisan gap in vaccination rates.

Discussion: Insider, Daily Kos, The Week, HotAir, Vanity Fair, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Crooks and Liars, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., WisPolitics.com and The Intellectualist

Cassidy Morrison / Washington Examiner:
Ron Johnson ‘highly suspicious’ of federal vaccination push

Discussion: HuffPost, ABC News, CNN, Associated Press, The Hill and IJR

Jonathan VanBoskerck / Orlando Sentinel:

I love Disney World, but wokeness is ruining the experience | Commentary — My family and I have been loyal Disney customers for decades. We vacation at Disney World every year. We take a Disney cruise every year or two. Consequently, we spend way too much money in Orlando.

Discussion: Raw Story and Gothamist

Tom LoBianco / Insider:

Donald Trump plots temporary move from Mar-a-Lago north to New Jersey — The Trump National Golf Club Bedminster will serve as the former president's summer base. — Expect New Jersey to become the new center of Republican politics for a few months. — Trump will gain easy access …

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite and Balloon Juice

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Democrat Joe Manchin says there's one GOP senator he'd endorse ‘in a heartbeat’ — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin bucked his own party's political operation in 2020 by endorsing a Republican. Now, he's doing it again. — The West Virginia senator is backing Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski's reelection bid …

Discussion: CNN, Must Read Alaska, IJR, Forbes, CBS News, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, HotAir, The Hill and Talking Points Memo

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Manchin endorses Murkowski, and the border crisis Trump saw coming

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Post, CNN, Raw Story and FiveThirtyEight

Mike Levine / ABC News:

After Chauvin's conviction for Floyd murder, DOJ weighs charging him for 2017 incident involving Black teen: Source — The judge in Chauvin's murder trial didn't let lawyers bring up the incident. — DOJ reportedly looking into 2017 incident between Chauvin and Black teen

Discussion: Joe.My.God., TheGrio, Insider, Raw Story and The Intellectualist

Lou Raguse / KARE-TV:
'I wish it didn't have to happen': Alternate juror reflects on Derek Chauvin trial

Discussion: The Federalist, Breitbart, Page Array, BizPac Review, New York Times, Summit News, Washington Examiner, Associated Press, Twitchy, Townhall and The Daily Caller

Harvard University:

Youth Poll — A national poll of America's 18-to-29 year olds released today by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School shows that despite the state of our politics, hope for America among young people is rising dramatically, especially among people of color.

Discussion: The American Independent, Los Angeles Times and NPR

Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:
Power Up: Biden scores record high approval rating among young voters, according to new poll

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and The Hill

Washington Post:
Most Americans support greater scrutiny of police as discrimination concerns persist, Post-ABC poll finds

Discussion: HotAir, Vanity Fair and Political Wire

Anita Kumar / Politico:

The border turned out to be a better attack on Biden than even Republicans thought — When Donald Trump took his final trip as president to the southwest border in January, the publicly stated purpose was to tout his record. Privately, however, his Republican allies had hatched a plan …

Discussion: Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Sun, Roll Call, Raw Story, Daily Kos, DCReport.org, American Thinker, allsides.com, Advancing American Freedom and The Wrap

Katherine Doyle / Washington Examiner:
Biden border response was ‘never going to satisfy everyone,’ White House says

Discussion: Townhall, Mediaite and Raw Story

Zeke Miller / Associated Press:
Biden to make first overseas trip in office to UK, EU

Discussion: CNN, Bloomberg and Political Wire

Hans Nichols / Axios:

Biden will unveil eye-popping new tax rates for wealthiest Americans — Officials haven't made clear whether the rate would apply in 2021 or 2022.

Discussion: Media Matters for America and Wall Street Journal

Rana Ayyub / TIME:

‘This Is Hell.’ Prime Minister Modi's Failure to Lead Is Deepening India's COVID-19 Crisis — Ayyub is an Indian journalist and the author of Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up — Dr. Jalil Parkar, one of India's leading pulmonologists, wears his exhaustion on his face.

Discussion: BBC, NDTV.com, The Guardian and The Daily Beast

Brian Contreras / Los Angeles Times:

How Trump's zombie Facebook page became a weird internet memorial — At first glance, Donald Trump's Facebook page seems like it's been dead for months. — The former president's last post is dated 3:14 p.m. Jan. 6, 2021, the afternoon of the Capitol riots, as he called for “everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful.”

Politico:

Demings ‘seriously considering’ challenging DeSantis or Rubio — Florida Rep. Val Demings said she's “seriously considering” a statewide bid against Sen. Marco Rubio or Gov. Ron DeSantis, boosting Democratic hopes in a battleground state that's growing increasingly red.

Discussion: Breitbart, IJR and Joe.My.God.

Olivia Beavers / Politico:
The Florida Democrat weighing a statewide run

Discussion: Raw Story and The Daily Caller

Brad Schrade / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Businesswoman image key to Marjorie Taylor Greene's rise — Marjorie Taylor Greene relentlessly repeated her central argument: Democrats were destroying the country, and she was ready to fight them.In stump speeches and on social media posts, in television ads and on campaign signs …

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

Bobby Burack / OutKick:

Tucker Carlson Goes One-on-One With OutKick — Tucker Carlson sat down, one on one with OutKick for a deep conversation about the problems that face our country. We got into what we are told to believe, the lies we hear, and who we are as a country. We also discuss the media's role and their fear of the word “why.”

Discussion: Twitchy and The Daily Caller

The Times of Israel:

Dozens hurt, arrested in Old City clash as extremist Jews chant ‘Death to Arabs’ — Arab counter-protesters also skirmish with police trying to keep groups apart; 105 Palestinians, 20 officers injured as cops use water cannons, stun grenades against rock throwers — 1,840 shares

Discussion: BBC, Al Jazeera, The Daily Caller, New York Times, The Globe Post, ABC17NEWS and Haaretz

Politico:

It's been exactly one year since Trump suggested injecting bleach. We've never been the same. — One year ago today, President Donald Trump took to the White House briefing room and encouraged his top health officials to study the injection of bleach into the human body as a means of fighting Covid.

Discussion: Raw Story, Joe.My.God. and Mediaite

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The Jolt: Herschel Walker rumors blocking top Republicans in Senate race — The former Bulldog great Herschel Walker is still making noise about a U.S. Senate bid, floating the possibility of a campaign against Democrat Raphael Warnock to a growing number of media outlets while refusing …

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Daily Kos, Lawyers, Guns & Money, thedispatch.com and New York Magazine

Molly Jong-Fast / Vogue:

Why The U.S. Should Be Shipping Its Vaccines to the Rest of the World—Right Now — It's time to vaccinate the world. — Last year, America led the world in coronavirus deaths. We were a cautionary tale, a country to be avoided. The rest of the world looked at us in pity …

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

Tim Scott often talks about his grandfather and cotton. There's more to that tale. — My grandfather “suffered the indignity of being forced out of school as a third-grader to pick cotton, and never learned to read or write. ... Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime.”

Discussion: The Hill, RedState, Fox News, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Federalist, Axios, NPR and Twitchy

Washington Post:

Ted Cruz maintains ties to right-wing group despite its extremist messaging — On Aug. 4, 2019, the day after a gunman who had posted a hateful diatribe against Hispanics fatally shot 23 people at an El Paso Walmart, a leader of a tea party group in Texas said on Facebook …

Smithsonian's National Zoo:

Smithsonian To Reopen Seven Museums and the National Zoo in May — All Other Smithsonian Museums Remain Temporarily Closed … The Smithsonian will reopen eight of its facilities to the public in May, starting with the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, Wednesday, May 5.

Discussion: ABC17NEWS and NBC4 Washington

New York Times:

U.K. Far Right, Lifted by Trump, Now Turns to Russia — The anti-Islam agitator Tommy Robinson struck gold in America. Keeping it might require help from Moscow, where other British far-right activists are also finding friends. — LONDON — Two days after supporters …

Josh Hammer / MSN:

The Toxicity of the Permanent Outrage Mentality — The conviction of disgraced former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on both manslaughter and murder charges ought to be, at least in theory, a seminal moment for a country hoping to foster a greater civic unity and recoil …

Will Wilkinson / Model Citizen:

The Anti-Majoritarian Mistake — Jonah Goldberg thinks liberal societies don't need much democracy. He's wrong. — 18 hr ago — This Dispatch piece by Jonah Goldberg is extremely useful in illustrating the centrality of anti-majoritarianism on the right.

Discussion: Pawprints

New York Times:

Some mass vaccination sites in U.S. begin to close as some demand falls. — Some county health departments that a month ago couldn't keep up with vaccine demand have now started closing some of their mass vaccination sites for lack of customers, and some counties are declining vaccine shipments.

Discussion: Texas Standard

Politico:

White House writes off Johnson & Johnson vaccine after string of production failures — The Biden administration has stood by Johnson & Johnson as the vaccine maker struggled to deliver promised doses of its Covid-19 vaccine — but privately, frustrated senior health officials have largely written off …

Discussion: Axios, HotAir, Associated Press and New York Times

Regina M. Egea / RealClearPolicy:

New Jersey's Self-Inflicted Fiscal Woes May Bring Statewide Property Tax — Bipartisan legislative concern is brewing over the self-inflicted crisis that lies ahead for New Jersey. Governor Phil Murphy's (D) proposed budget would increase spending by 7.2% above this year.

Discussion: Instapundit and Real Clear Politics