memeorandum: 21,000 deaths later, do-nothing DeSantis takes a COVID victory lap (Orlando Sentinel)

1:55 PM ET, October 30, 2021

Top Items:

During Jan. 6 riot, Trump attorney told Pence team the vice president's actions caused attack on Capitol — As Vice President Mike Pence hid from a marauding mob during the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol, an attorney for President Donald Trump emailed a top Pence aide to say that Pence …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Insider, POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite, Alternet.org, Mock Paper Scissors, Joe.My.God., Chicago Sun-Times, Raw Story, Political Wire and Daily Kos

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

The Most Damning Jan 6th Revelation Yet — New Emails Show Trump and Eastman Saw the Insurrectionists as the Foot Soldiers of the Coup. They Cheered Them on and Used Them in Real Time. — As I have noted in other recent posts, much of the recent ‘news’ about the insurrection has not been terribly new.

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Call logs, speech drafts among records Trump is trying to block from Jan. 6 investigators — Donald Trump is seeking to prevent Jan. 6 investigators from accessing daily presidential diaries, drafts of election-related speeches, logs of his phone calls, handwritten notes and files of top aides …

Discussion: Washington Post, Insider, USA Today, UPI, Mock Paper Scissors, Mediaite, Raw Story, WPTA21 and Political Wire

Washington Post:

Read: Pence aide Greg Jacob's draft opinion article denouncing Trump's outside lawyers — Below is the text of a draft op-ed Greg Jacob wrote in January 2021, when he was chief counsel to Vice President Mike Pence, but ultimately decided not to publish. The Washington Post obtained a copy …

Ed Pilkington / The Guardian:

‘A deliberate, orchestrated campaign’: the real story behind Trump's attempted coup … n 4 January, the conservative lawyer John Eastman was summoned to the Oval Office to meet Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence. Within 48 hours, Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election …

Discussion: Associated Press, Raw Story and Washington Post

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

The most shocking new revelation about John Eastman — He and Trump weren't just pressing forward despite the mob; they were apparently trying to leverage it. — There was little new evidence presented at Donald Trump's second presidential impeachment trial back in February.

Discussion: Rolling Stone, HuffPost and Raw Story

CNN: Trump lawyer John Eastman said ‘courage and the spine’ would help Pence send election to the House in comments before January 6

Kanishka Singh / Reuters:

Group of anti-Trump Republicans was behind tiki torches in Virginia campaign — A group of mostly Republican critics of former U.S. President Donald Trump claimed responsibility on Friday for a demonstration in the Virginia governor's campaign that recalled an infamous 2017 rally in the state.

Discussion: Twitchy and Crooks and Liars

Ed Morrissey / HotAir:

Today's deep question: Just how badly will the tikis torch Terry? — Actually, a better question might whether the Lincoln Project is really a crypto-double-cross operation working for Glenn Youngkin. Naah, but's amusing to consider that it's not a non-zero probability.

Discussion: MSN, The Gateway Pundit and CNN

Washington Post:
Fearful Democrats look at Virginia and worry about 2022

Discussion: New York Times, Townhall and Daily Kos

Washington Post:
Lincoln Project organized a group to carry torches at Youngkin event in Charlottesville

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Althouse, National Review, Breitbart and Washington Times

Cameron Joseph / VICE:
Lincoln Project Posed as Charlottesville White Supremacists at GOP Event

Discussion: National Review, Insider, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Free Beacon, HotAir, Breitbart, Mediaite, Forbes, The Hill, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, RedState and Twitchy

Joseph Wulfsohn / Fox News:
The Lincoln Project roasted as ‘deranged hacks’ for orchestrating viral hoax to smear Youngkin

Discussion: Slate, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Louder With Crowder and Washington Examiner

WTOP: Anti-Trump group takes credit for Virginia tiki torch stunt

Kay Smythe / The National Pulse:
Democrat Operatives Caught Dressing Up As White Supremacists in Desperate Last-Ditch Virginia Election Stunt.

Discussion: New York Post, TheBlaze, RedState, Fox News and The Right Scoop

Emily / The Lincoln Project:
Statement from the Lincoln Project

Discussion: RedState, New York Post, BizPac Review, Breitbart, WVIR-TV, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, National File, Townhall, Blue Virginia, Twitchy, Crooks and Liars, The Daily Wire and The Daily Caller

Isaac Schorr / Yahoo News:
New Poll Shows Youngkin, Fellow Republicans Sweeping Virginia

Discussion: Fox News, Associated Press, Washington Post, CNN, Politico and Breitbart

Michael Wines / New York Times:

Florida Bars State Professors From Testifying in Voting Rights Case — After being hired as expert witnesses for groups opposing a restrictive voting law, three University of Florida academics were told they could not participate in the lawsuit against the state.

Discussion: Insider, Politico, Can We Still Govern?, Slate, Joe.My.God., The Daily Beast, Raw Story, FIRE and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Andrew Jeong / Washington Post:
University of Florida bars faculty members from testifying in voting rights lawsuit against DeSantis administration

Discussion: Balloon Juice

The White House:

Joint Statement by the President of France Emmanuel Macron, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland Boris Johnson, and President of the United States Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on Iran — We, the President of France, Chancellor of Germany …

David M. Herszenhorn / Politico:
Western leaders warn Iran on nuclear deal

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Los Angeles Times and The Times of Israel

Morgan Chalfant / The Hill:

G20 leaders endorse global minimum tax — Leaders of the world's largest economies are endorsing the establishment of a global minimum tax at the opening of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Rome on Saturday. — The global minimum tax seeks to block corporations from moving jobs or profits overseas in order to avoid paying taxes.

Discussion: Insider, CNBC, The White House, New York Magazine, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, CNN and Press Herald

New York Times:
Biden Finds Raising Corporate Tax Rates Easier Abroad Than at Home

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo

Colleen Long / Associated Press:

How 'Let's Go Brandon' became code for insulting Joe Biden — WASHINGTON (AP) — When Republican Rep. Bill Posey of Florida ended an Oct. 21 House floor speech with a fist pump and the phrase “Let's go, Brandon!” it may have seemed cryptic and weird to many who were listening.

Discussion: justoneminute.typepad.com

Alexander Nazaryan / Yahoo News:

Vaccine confers better protection than natural immunity, CDC finds — American writer, speaker, radio and TV commentator. — WASHINGTON — Earlier this month, the conservative radio host Dennis Prager announced he had contracted the coronavirus. This was, as far as he was concerned, good news.

Discussion: Centers for Disease Control …, Forbes and Raw Story

Washington Post:

Trump looks to 2024, commanding a fundraising juggernaut, as he skirts social media bans — Facebook has banned former president Donald Trump from posting on its platform, and he is barred by law from using his current fundraising to finance another campaign for the White House.

Discussion: Insider

Katelyn Polantz / CNN:

New January 6 court filings reveal what Trump is trying to keep secret from Congress — (CNN)Specifics about former President Donald Trump's efforts to keep secret the support from his White House for overturning his loss of the 2020 election were revealed in late-night court filings that show …

Discussion: New York Times and The American Independent

Kieran Healy:

The Polarization of Death — I'm continuing to update the covdata package in anticipation of a Data Visualization for Social Science course I'll teach next semester. I revisited the Partisan Trajectories graph, as it seems there's more that could be done with it. More on that in the future, I hope.

Douglas Belkin / Wall Street Journal:

Mask Mandates, Critical Race Theory Heat Up School-Board Elections — Colorado district reflects national surge in number of candidates; police step in as board members are called sociopaths, liars, tyrants — CASTLE ROCK, Colo.—For the better part of four hours Tuesday night …

Kate McGee / The Texas Tribune:

911 transcripts filed in updated “Trump Train” lawsuit reveal San Marcos police refused to send escort to Biden bus — The highway confrontation between a Biden bus and Trump supporters made national news in the final days of the heated 2020 presidential campaign.

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Alia Shoaib / Insider:

A gun church that glorifies the AR-15 and is led by the son of the ‘Moonies’ church founder has been making alliances with far-right figures — The Rod of Iron Ministries is a far-right church founded by the son of accused Moonies cult leader. They worship carrying AR-15s.

Discussion: Raw Story

Joseph Wulfsohn / Fox News:

Bill Maher rails against COVID restrictions: It's time to admit pandemic is ‘over’ — The HBO star claimed Friday that red states were “a joy” to visit these days while blue states were “a pain in the a—” because of coronavirus rules — Florida COVID cases, death rate drop to among lowest levels in US

Discussion: RedState and BizPac Review

Politico:

Jayapal warned Klain not to push an infrastructure vote. Then chaos ensued. — Speaker Nancy Pelosi brought President Joe Biden in this week to finally close the deal on Democrats' domestic agenda. Rep. Pramila Jayapal had other plans. — As Biden prepared for the high-stakes meeting …

Discussion: New Republic, New York Magazine, NBC News and Wall Street Journal