memeorandum: Campaign season kicks off in earnest with primaries in 13 states in May (Domenico Montanaro/NPR)

2:10 PM 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: HuffPost, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Raw Story, Mediaite, USA Today, CNN, The Hill, Insider, Uniic Media, Talking Points Memo, Rolling Stone, The Moderate Voice, Washington Times and Mock Paper Scissors

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: ABC News, HotAir, Fox News, RedState, The Status Kuo, Mock Paper Scissors, Raw Story, American Greatness, Political Currents, Wide World of News, Opinion Today, Associated Press and CNN

Andrew Solender / Axios:

Jan. 6 panel seeks info from three GOP House members — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol sent letters on Monday to three House Republicans, seeking their testimony: Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and Ronny Jackson (R-Texas).

Discussion: Fox News, CBS News, Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNN, NPR and Raw Story

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: BizPac Review, Salon, Axios, Washington Post and New Yorker

Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:
Judge rejects RNC bid to block email, fundraising data from Jan. 6 panel

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Rolling Stone, Raw Story and Election Law Blog

Rebecca Beitsch / The Hill:
Jan. 6 panel wants testimony from GOP lawmakers Brooks, Biggs, Jackson

Discussion: Insider, CNBC, USA Today, Roll Call, Rolling Stone, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

Cami Mondeaux / Washington Examiner:
Judge rejects RNC lawsuit seeking to block Jan. 6 committee subpoena

Discussion: Politico, Wall Street Journal, HotAir, Bloomberg, NBC News, Human Events, Law & Crime, Los Angeles Times, Talking Points Memo, UPI, CBS News, Reuters, The Hill 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: Washington Post, National Review, The Hill, Today's Edition Newsletter, Forbes, New York Post, Washington Times and Wall Street Journal

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: Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Times of Israel, NPR, The Hill, Defense One, The Independent, Boing Boing, Politico, Forbes, New York Post, Breitbart, UPI, HotAir, Radio Free Europe/Radio … and Fox News

CNN:
Russians plunder $5M farm vehicles from Ukraine — to find they've been remotely disabled

Discussion: The Dispatch, Washington Examiner, Boing Boing, Ace of Spades HQ, New York Post and The Times of Israel

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

Discussion: Yahoo News, New York Times, The Atlantic, The Hill, ABC News, New York Times, The Guardian, Reuters and Stars & Stripes

Andrew Roth / The Guardian:
Israel summons Russia envoy over minister's Hitler comments

Discussion: Raw Story

Devin Dwyer / ABC News:

Supreme Court rules for group in dispute with Boston over flying Christian Flag — The court ruled the city of Boston violated the group's First Amendment rights. — A unanimous Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the city of Boston violated the First Amendment when it denied a civic group …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Post, HotAir, CBS News, CNBC, Fox News, NBC News, The Gateway Pundit, SCOTUSblog, CNN, RedState and National Review

John Fritze / USA Today: Supreme Court: Boston can't deny Christian flag if it flies other flags on City Hall flagpole

Associated Press:
Supreme Court rules against Boston in Christian flag case

Discussion: Reuters, New York Post, New York Times and Bloomberg

Natalie Allison / Politico:

Arizona GOP Senate frontrunner loses lead amid air assault — Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has fallen out of first place in the state's Republican Senate primary, a slide that corresponds with aggressive advertising spending by his opponents — and Donald Trump's ire.

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Arizona Republic

David Siders / Politico:
Trumpworld braces for ‘a couple of ugly nights’ in May

Discussion: Bloomberg, Punchbowl News, FiveThirtyEight, The Hill, The Entermation Age, Breitbart, No Tribe, Fox News, Raw Story and WKBN-TV

Adam Wren / Politico: The GOP senator who faulted Trump for Jan. 6 — and lived to tell about it

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

Domenico Montanaro / NPR:
Campaign season kicks off in earnest with primaries in 13 states in May

Discussion: The Transom, Al Jazeera and CNN

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic:

This Is How America's Culture War Death Spirals — Sign up for Derek's newsletter here. — 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: Vanity Fair and Based and Reformed

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

Discussion: Washington Post, BizPac Review and Raw Story

Caroline Kitchener / Washington Post:

The next frontier for the antiabortion movement: A nationwide ban — Advocates and some GOP lawmakers have started mobilizing around potential federal legislation to outlaw abortion after six weeks of pregnancy — Leading antiabortion groups and their allies in Congress have been meeting behind …

Discussion: Activate

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

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Tucker Carlson Is a White Nationalist, and Conservatives Are Okay With It … Ten years ago, National Review fired longtime contributor John Derbyshire over a column urging white and Asian American parents to warn their children that Black people posed a danger to them.

Discussion: Media Matters for America, The Hill and Morning Shots, more at Mediagazer »

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.

Discussion: The Hill and New York Post

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Biden's transgender decree — BIDEN'S TRANSGENDER DECREE. One way to shut down debate on a contentious subject is to declare that there is no debate on the subject. Everyone, absolutely everyone, agrees with one side, so why are you even trying to argue? It's settled.

Discussion: The Daily Wire, National Review, Daily Mail and CNSNews

Jacob Anbinder / The Atlantic:

What Historic Preservation Is Doing to American Cities — When news broke earlier this year that the modest but attractive house on Long Island known as Geller I was going to be demolished, the outcry was immediate. The home's significance in architectural history was beyond question.

Elena Schneider / Politico:

Pro-abortion rights groups to spend $150M on midterms — The groups — Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America and EMILY's List — have targeted nine states in this year's elections. — A trio of pro-abortion rights groups is rolling out a $150 million spending plan ahead of the 2022 midterms.

Discussion: From the Backroads and Townhall

Sudhin Thanawala / Associated Press:

Herschel Walker, other candidates test skipping debates — ATLANTA (AP) — Herschel Walker is expected to skip a second debate against his Republican rivals for a crucial U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday after missing the first one. — Ted Budd has skipped four Republican primary debates …

Discussion: HotAir, Georgia Recorder, Associated Press and POLITICUSUSA

New York Times:

New York City Enters Higher Coronavirus Risk Level as Case Numbers Rise — The city moved into the medium risk level, known as yellow, as it sees a troubling increase in cases and the mayor weighs bringing back some restrictions. — As coronavirus cases continue to rise in New York City …

Discussion: Forbes