memeorandum: Majority Say January 6th Was An Attack On Democracy, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; About A Quarter Of U.S. Still Not Planning To Get Vaccinated (Quinnipiac University Poll)

3:10 PM ET, May 27, 2021

Top Items:

GOP frets behind the scenes over potential Trump 2024 bid — Republicans largely oppose forming a commission to examine the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, hoping to block out further Donald Trump-induced chaos while they try to retake Congress next year. — The former president is making clear he isn't going anywhere.

Discussion: HotAir, The Hill, Vanity Fair, CNN, Insider, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Crooks and Liars

Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:

Democrats Are Running Out of Time — Anxiety is growing among a broad range of civil-rights, democracy-reform, and liberal groups over whether Democrats are responding with enough urgency to the accelerating Republican efforts to both suppress voting and potentially overturn future Democratic election victories.

Discussion: HotAir, CNBC, Associated Press, National Review, Washington Post, The Editorial Board, Bloomberg and OpenSecrets.org

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: GOP dreads the return of Trump rallies — DRIVING THE DAY — FILIBUSTER DAY — It's taken longer than anyone expected, but the first GOP filibuster of a big JOE BIDEN priority in the Senate is expected today when Republicans plan to block legislation to create a Jan. 6 commission.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Hackwhackers, Washington Times, Bloomberg, NBC News, Joe.My.God. and Salon

David Siders / Politico:
'It's insane': Proud Boys furor tests limits of Trump's GOP

Discussion: Raw Story, Las Vegas Review-Journal and The Nevada Independent

Russell Berman / The Atlantic:
Mitch McConnell's Gift to Progressives

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Daily Caller and NBC4 Washington

Politico:
Senate Republicans prepared to block Jan. 6 commission

Discussion: HotAir

Ryan Cooper / The Week:
Democrats are falling for Republicans' fake negotiations again

Discussion: Insider, New York Magazine, The Hill, National Review, Washington Post, Daily Kos, UPI, Politico, The American Independent and The Daily Caller

Trish Turner / ABC News:
Republicans poised to block creation of Jan. 6 commission

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Hill and Townhall

CNN:
Senate Republicans expected to block vote on January 6 commission

Discussion: Politico, HotAir, The Hill, KEYT-TV, The Guardian, Daily Kos, NBC New York, POLITICUSUSA and KTAR.com

PRRI:

Understanding QAnon's Connection to American Politics, Religion, and Media Consumption — THREE COMPONENTS OF THE QANON CONSPIRACY MOVEMENT — Three Components of the QAnon Conspiracy Movement — The far-right conspiracy theory movement known as QAnon emerged on the internet in late 2017 …

Discussion: Forbes, NPR, Insider, Washington Post and Raw Story

NBC News:
Study finds nearly one-in-five Americans believe QAnon conspiracy theories

Discussion: Washington Post

Marc Caputo / Politico:

‘The only Bush who got it right,’ as far as Trump is concerned — No Republican political family has been as tormented by Donald Trump as the Bush dynasty. — Now Trump has one more opportunity to twist the knife, as George P. Bush — the last remaining Bush in public office …

Discussion: Insider and Raw Story

Jonathan V. Last / The Triad:

The Worst Bush — Picking sides in the Lone Star State's Iran-Iraq war. — 1. The Iran-Iraq War of Texas — Politico has a story about George P. Bush's coming campaign for Texas AG. He's going up against Ken Paxton. — Who d'ya got? — In one corner we have Paxton …

Discussion: HotAir, New York Times and TheBlaze

Olivia Troye / The Bulwark:

How the Trump Administration Twisted Coronavirus Intelligence — Rather than use intelligence to inform the government's response to the pandemic, the Trump administration tried to bend the facts for political ends. — Two stories reported by CNN yesterday seem to conflict.

Discussion: Washington Post, KEYT-TV and The Daily Signal

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:
How China Can Quash the Wuhan Lab-Leak Theory

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Examiner, CNN, Tangle, Washington Post and NBC News, more at Mediagazer »

Miranda Devine / New York Post:
Enough of Fauci's lies!

Discussion: IJR, Breitbart and Washington Examiner

David Leonhardt / New York Times:
The Lab-Leak Theory — We have an explainer. — Suddenly, talk of the Wuhan lab-leak theory seems to be everywhere.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Tangle, Vanity Fair, Nieman Lab and Pharyngula

Joseph Wulfsohn / Fox News:
Chris Cuomo falsely claims US gov ‘had not been open to the lab theory’ after he reported it last year

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Jim Tankersley / New York Times:

Biden to Propose $6 Trillion Budget to Boost Middle Class and Infrastructure — The president's plans to invest in infrastructure, education, health care and more would push federal spending to its highest sustained levels since World War II. — WASHINGTON — President Biden will propose …

Discussion: National Review, Washington Post, Breitbart, The Hill, New York Post, Insider, UPI, The Gateway Pundit, IJR, Steve Bannon's War Room, HotAir, KEYT-TV, The Daily Caller, CNN, Brookings and The National Interest

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:

Rush Limbaugh's Radio Show to Be Taken Over by Clay Travis and Buck Sexton — Duo's show to begin airing in the coveted weekday time slot on June 21 in hundreds of markets — The Rush Limbaugh replacements are in, as Clay Travis and Buck Sexton will take over his three-hour conservative talk radio show …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill, OutKick, National Review, RedState, Forbes, Deadline, The Daily Caller, Twitchy and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

David Corn / Mother Jones:

Emails Tie Top Trump Exec Allen Weisselberg to Yet Another Trump Financial Scandal — Allen Weisselberg is in the hot seat—and that's bad news for Donald Trump and his family. Assorted news reports have identified Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization …

Discussion: Current, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Decider, Hackwhackers, Washington Post and New York Times

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Emily Wilder's firing is a story of bad faith, not bad tweets. Newsrooms must do better. — There's a lot of talk in journalism circles these days about social media rules. — What kind of things, exactly, are journalists allowed to tweet or post on Facebook without running afoul of their newsrooms' policies?

Discussion: Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:
Associated Press tells staff it made mistakes in firing of Emily Wilder

Discussion: PRESS RUN, Poynter, New York Post, Fox News, The Hill and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Samuel Chamberlain / New York Post:

Book reveals Bernie's hotel demands: King-size beds and 60-degree rooms — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is a demanding hotel guest whose requirements would make even the most pampered celebrity blush, according to a new book detailing Democratic Party politics.

Discussion: Jezebel, Mediaite and Twitchy

Thomas Barrabi / Fox News:
Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders has a long list of diva demands when it comes to his travel: Book

Discussion: The Hill and Breitbart

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:

Exclusive: Meet The Murky Russian Network Behind Anti-Pfizer Disinformation Drive In Europe — A network of Russian marketing companies known for selling dubious nutritional supplements and pushing malware is behind a disinformation campaign to denigrate Western coronavirus vaccines, according to a new RFE/RL investigation.

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post and Insider

Kyle Kondik / Sabato's Crystal Ball:

The Senate: Sununu's Vital Choice — Dear Readers: Virginia lost one of its most prominent and successful political figures on Tuesday, as former Sen. John Warner (R-VA) died at the age of 94. Warner served for three decades in the Senate (1979-2009), becoming known for his expertise …

Discussion: WMUR and Politico

Simone Pathe / CNN:
The 10 Senate seats most likely to flip in 2022

Discussion: Arizona Republic, Washington Post, New York Times, The Hill, USA Today, Common Dreams, Politico, Washington Examiner, Hackwhackers and Political Wire

Molly Fischer / The Cut:

Guilty Parties Two entrepreneurs have built a business dredging up white women's shame. — Were White Fragility to be adapted as reality TV, the result might look something like this: A collection of affluent white women, equipped with varying degrees of vanity and self-delusion, gather at a well-appointed dinner table.

Tess Owen / VICE:

Gun Church That Worships With AR-15s Bought a 40-Acre Compound in Texas for Its ‘Patriots’ — The Rod of Iron Ministries has become more militant since leader Hyung Jin “Sean” Moon attended the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. — TO — A religious sect known for worshipping …

Discussion: Raw Story

New York Times:

Can Removing Highways Fix America's Cities? … ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Built in the 1950s to speed suburban commuters to and from downtown, Rochester's Inner Loop destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses, replacing them with a broad, concrete trench that separated downtown from the rest of the city.

Sean Illing / Vox:

Are Democrats sleepwalking toward democratic collapse? — “I'm not sure people appreciate how much danger we're in.” — Donald Trump may be out of Washington, but his spirit very much lives on in the party he left behind. This month, Republican congressional leaders Kevin McCarthy …

Discussion: CNN, Occupy Democrats, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Times, The Economist, Hackwhackers, Raw Story, CBS New York, ABC7 and KEYT-TV

New York Times:

A Wave of Afghan Surrenders to the Taliban Picks Up Speed — Dozens of besieged outposts or bases, and four district centers, have given up to the insurgents this month, in an accelerating rural collapse as American troops leave. — MEHTARLAM, Afghanistan — Ammunition was depleted inside the bedraggled outposts in Laghman Province.

Discussion: HotAir, Defense One and CNN

Quinnipiac University Poll:

Majority Say January 6th Was An Attack On Democracy, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; About A Quarter Of U.S. Still Not Planning To Get Vaccinated — mail_outline — With lawmakers divided over whether to form an independent 9/11 style commission to investigate the storming …

Discussion: Political Wire

Reuters:

EXCLUSIVE Turkey pushed NATO allies into softening outrage over Belarus plane, diplomats say — Turkey pushed NATO allies into watering down an official reaction to the forced landing by Belarus of a passenger plane and the detention of a dissident journalist on Sunday, two diplomats familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Ron DeSantis Forces Cruise Ships to Take Unvaccinated Passengers It's not like they're doing something harmful, like ordering a gay wedding cake. — A few years ago, conservatives became obsessed with the legal travails of a bakery that refused to sell a wedding cake to a gay couple.

Discussion: Miami Herald

Jocelyn Gecker / Associated Press:

Killer of 8 in California had talked of workplace attacks — SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — An employee who gunned down eight people at a California rail yard and then killed himself as law enforcement rushed in had talked about killing people at work more than a decade ago, his ex-wife said.

Discussion: The Hill

Tarini Parti / Wall Street Journal:

Biden Administration Taps Private Sector to Invest in Central America — Harris is set to unveil agreements with Microsoft, Mastercard and others as part of effort to ease surge of migrants at border — Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday will unveil the agreements of 12 companies …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Fox News, The Hill and CNN

Charlie LeDuff / Deadline Detroit:

Clueless — Michigan Doesn't Know True Nursing Home Death Toll From Covid — It appears that Michigan wildly under-counts Covid deaths in its long term care facilities. — A joint investigation by the “No BS News Hour” and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy reveals that the Department …

Discussion: Daily Mail, Twitchy, Fox News and RedState

Katherine Tully-McManus / Roll Call:

'They wouldn't care if I was dead' — staffer fallout from Jan. 6 continues — A congressional staffer froze recently when elevator doors opened and there stood a member of the House who has downplayed the violence of the Jan. 6 insurrection. Some congressional employees are shaken …

Richard Rubin / Wall Street Journal:

Biden Budget Said to Assume Capital-Gains Tax Rate Increase Started in Late April — Congress must still approve any rate changes and retroactive effective dates — WASHINGTON—President Biden's budget assumes that his proposed capital-gains tax rate increase took effect in late April …