memeorandum: The New Disinformationists — We have seven more months before the midterms. (Victor Davis Hanson/American Greatness)

10:10 AM ET, May 2, 2022

Top Items:

Mike Allen / Axios:

Scoop: Esper says Trump wanted to shoot protesters — Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper charges in a memoir out May 10 that former President Trump said when demonstrators were filling the streets around the White House following the death of George Floyd: “Can't you just shoot them?

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite, Insider, Rolling Stone, The Moderate Voice and Washington Times

New York Times:

Russian Tycoon Criticized Putin's War. Retribution Was Swift. — Oleg Y. Tinkov was worth more than $9 billion in November, renowned as one of Russia's few self-made business tycoons after building his fortune outside the energy and minerals industries that were the playgrounds of Russian kleptocracy.

Discussion: Forbes, New York Post, Today's Edition Newsletter, Washington Post, UPI, Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, The Hill, Townhall, Breitbart, Associated Press, Washington Examiner, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal and New York Times

BBC:

Israel outrage at Sergei Lavrov's claim that Hitler was part Jewish — Israel has reacted with fury after Russia's foreign minister claimed that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler “had Jewish blood”. — Sergei Lavrov made the comments to try to justify Russia's portrayal of Ukraine as “Nazi” despite the fact that its president is Jewish.

Discussion: The Guardian, The Hill, HotAir, Associated Press, The Times of Israel, Forbes, New York Post, Breitbart, UPI, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Reuters and Fox News

Reuters:

Lavrov Compares Ukraine's Zelenskyy to Hitler, Who Also ‘Had Jewish Blood’ — Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview on Italian television on Sunday that the fact Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish does not negate the Nazi elements in his country.

Discussion: Politico, The Times of Israel, National Review, Washington Post, The Times of Israel, Associated Press, New York Post, The Daily Caller, Insider, Al Jazeera, Mother Jones, ABC News, Forbes and NBC New York

CNN:

Russians plunder $5M farm vehicles from Ukraine — to find they've been remotely disabled — (CNN)Russian troops in the occupied city of Melitopol have stolen all the equipment from a farm equipment dealership — and shipped it to Chechnya, according to a Ukrainian businessman in the area.

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ

New York Times:
Russia's top officer visited the front line to change the offensive's course, U.S. and Ukraine officials say.

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantean Glimpse, The Most Revolutionary Act, New York Post, Washington Times, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, Mercury News, CNN, Politico and Reuters

New York Times:
Long lines at Ukrainian gas stations reveal just the tip of a looming crisis.

Discussion: ABC News and Washington Post

Washington Post:
Big majority of Americans back sanctions on Russia, aid to Ukraine, poll finds

Discussion: The Hill and ABC News

Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
Hacking Russia was off-limits. The Ukraine war made it a free-for-all.

Discussion: Bob's Newsletter, UPI and Breitbart, more at Techmeme »

Peter Pomerantsev / The Atlantic:
‘We Can Only Be Enemies’ — When the Russian army first began shelling Lukashivka …

Discussion: The Dispatch

Scott Dworkin / Newsweek:

There's No Choice in the Midterms. The Democrats Are the Only Side Defending Democracy — , EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE DEMOCRATIC COALITION — As we get closer and closer to November's midterm elections, doomsday predictions about a bloodbath for Democrats have come to dominate the news.

Discussion: Salon

Jonathan Lemire / Politico:

Bidenworld wants to make the midterms more about Trump and hopes Elon Musk helps — President Joe Biden and fellow Democrats have struggled to overcome historical headwinds and worrisome economic trends in the lead-up to the midterms. — So aides are scheming up something else …

Discussion: Associated Press and CNN

Axios:
Dems punch back against GOP's “culture war” attacks

Discussion: New York Times, Politico, American Greatness and RedState

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Opinion Can Democrats knock Republicans off their two-faced midterm strategy?

Discussion: Vox, The Hill, CNN, FiveThirtyEight, Townhall, Responsible Statecraft, Supercreator, Opinion Today, Fox News and Washington Times

David Remnick / New Yorker:
A Role Model for the Midterms

Discussion: Political Currents

CNN:

Georgia official frantically texted Mark Meadows as Trump badgered secretary of state to ‘find’ votes — (CNN)As Donald Trump badgered Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on an hour-long call to “find” the votes necessary to flip the battleground state to Trump's column after the 2020 election …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Raw Story, New York Times and Peach State Politics …

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic:

Disney vs. DeSantis Is the Future of Politics — This is how a culture war death spirals. — The drama in Florida between Governor Ron DeSantis and the Walt Disney Company has taken so many unusual turns in so little time that providing a truly straightforward account of what's transpired is not easy.

Discussion: Based and Reformed

Marc Caputo / NBC News: DeSantis eyes big Florida win in November as a White House springboard

Wall Street Journal: Disney's Clash With Florida Has CEOs on Alert

Washington Free Beacon:

The Nurse Ratched of Disinformation — LOL. — When we first heard Alejandro Mayorkas announce a Department of Homeland Security “Disinformation Governance Board,” we thought he was trolling. Then he said Nina Jankowicz, best known as TikTok's “Mary Poppins of Disinformation,” would head it.

Discussion: The Bulwark, Townhall and The Daily Caller

Victor Davis Hanson / American Greatness: The New Disinformationists — We have seven more months before the midterms.

David Siders / Politico:

Trumpworld braces for ‘a couple of ugly nights’ in May — The first big test of former President Donald Trump's clout comes Tuesday in Ohio's bitterly fought Senate primary, where J.D. Vance surged into the lead after winning Trump's endorsement. — A Vance victory would remind his party that Trump is still king.

Discussion: The Hill, Fox News, Punchbowl News, Breitbart, WKBN-TV, CNN, Raw Story, NPR, No Tribe and Associated Press

Trafalgar Group:

OH Sen GOP April 29 - May 1, 2022 — See Report Here — Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

New York Times:

What Democrats Don't Understand About Rural America — Ms. Maxmin, 29, is the youngest female state senator in Maine's history. Mr. Woodward ran her two campaigns. They are the authors of the forthcoming book “Dirt Road Revival,” from which this essay is adapted.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Federalist and The Hill

Sharyn Alfonsi / CBS News:

Parodying conspiracy theories with the Birds Aren't Real movement — There have always been conspiracy theories: the moon landings were fake, Elvis is alive, Paul is dead. But as disinformation has sprouted across the internet, more malicious conspiracy theories have entered our homes, workplaces and even the halls of Congress.

Discussion: Freddie deBoer

The Daily Beast:

Trump Organization Accused of Hiding Witness Who Knew if Trump Lied — There's a new witness in a civil case against the Trump Organization. And this witness could help show that Trump was lying. — Of all Donald Trump's legal problems, the lawsuit over the way his company's security guards beat …

Discussion: Raw Story

Mike Allen / Axios:

First look: Jared Kushner to publish White House memoir in August — Jared Kushner will be out Aug. 8 with “Breaking History: A White House Memoir,” with the publisher promising never-before-reported tales from the 2016 campaign, the Russia investigation, impeachment and COVID.

Anti-Defamation League:

Remarks by Jonathan Greenblatt to the ADL Virtual National Leadership Summit — Thank you for that kind introduction. I am so glad to welcome you - leaders from coast to coast committed to the fight against antisemitism and hate. — I don't need to tell you how important and pressing this work is.

Ben Samuels / Haaretz: ADL Chief Compares ‘Radical Left’ Critics of Israel to Right-wing Extremists