memeorandum: Mark Cuban supports Biden's proposal to forgive $10,000 in student debt per borrower as long as ‘ridiculous tuition fees’ … (Insider)

1:50 PM ET, May 18, 2022

Top Items:

Reid J. Epstein / New York Times:

Election Deniers Thrive Even as Trumpism Drifts: 5 Primary Takeaways — Pennsylvania's Republican Senate contest, the biggest and most expensive race of a five-state primary night, is a photo finish between David McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity surgeon.

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Takeaways from the biggest primary night of the year — With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross — DRIVING THE DAY — LATEST FROM THE OZ-MCCORMICK NAIL-BITER — “McCormick and Oz neck-and-neck in Pennsylvania as Fetterman gets Dem Senate nod,” by Natalie Allison, Zach Montellaro & Ally Mutnick

Discussion: Law & Crime, Ace of Spades HQ, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Hill

Philippe Naughton / The Daily Beast:

Knife-Edge Pennsylania GOP Senate Race May Come Down to Party-Despised Mail-In Votes — FULL CIRCLE — When 2 million mail-in ballots carried Joe Biden over the line in Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump was the first to cry foul.

Discussion: Associated Press, PennLive, The Guardian and Bloomberg

New York Times:

Primaries Show Limits, and Depths, of Trump's Power Over G.O.P. Base — The tumultuous start to the Republican primary season, including a down-to-the-wire Senate race that divided conservatives in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, has shown how thoroughly Donald J. Trump has remade his party in his image …

Discussion: The Atlantic

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

Doug Mastriano does not plan to run from the middle — Can a DeSantis-style base play win a statewide election in Pennsylvania? — When Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano was declared the victor in Tuesday night's Republican gubernatorial nominating contest, he gave the customary speech to mark the occasion.

Discussion: Fox News

Jim Swift / The Bulwark:

Don't Read Too Much Into Madison Cawthorn's Defeat — The GOP isn't turning the corner. — Come next January, Democrats won't have Madison Cawthorn to kick around anymore. The freshman North Carolina congressman lost his primary tonight in a close race—33 to 32 percent, as of this writing—to a state senator.

Discussion: Morning Shots, Jezebel, Political Wire, Mic, New York Magazine, Politico, New York Times, Yahoo News, Washington Post, ABC7, Fox News, Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast, Insider, The Guardian, New York Times and Daily Kos

Colby Itkowitz / Washington Post:
Oz, McCormick neck-and-neck as vote tally continues in Pa. Senate primary

Discussion: Politico, Fox News, The Hill, Insider, The Guardian, NPR, New York Post, BizPac Review, Voice of America, WITF, The Daily Caller and Associated Press

Amanda Carpenter / The Bulwark:
Are Republicans Now Going to Endorse Doug Mastriano?

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Pennsylvania U.S. Senate Primary Election Results

Discussion: Election Law Blog, Slate, Vanity Fair, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Associated Press, Washington Free Beacon, POLITICUSUSA, Common Dreams, Washington Examiner, Breitbart, The Western Journal, Washington Post, The Racket News, Raw Story, News Items, Common Dreams, POLITICUSUSA and TheBlaze

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:
The Democrats Wanted Doug Mastriano, and Now They've Got Him

Discussion: New York Times, New York Magazine, HuffPost and York Dispatch

David A. Graham / The Atlantic:
John Fetterman Wins on Vibes

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Post, The Hill, New York Times and Vanity Fair

Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:

How the Biden administration let right-wing attacks derail its disinformation efforts — A ‘pause’ of the Department of Homeland Security's newly created board comes after its head, Nina Jankowicz, was the victim of coordinated online attacks as the administration struggled to respond

Shashank Bengali / New York Times:

A Russian soldier accused of killing a civilian pleads guilty in a Kyiv court. — The Russian Defense Ministry said that nearly 1,000 fighters had surrendered to Kremlin custody at the Azovstal steel plant. Finland and Sweden formally asked to join NATO, potentially the alliance's biggest expansion in decades.

Discussion: Associated Press, Radio Free Europe/Radio … and Raw Story

The Economist:

The Putin Show — How the war in Ukraine appears to Russians — When vladimir putin was first elected president of Russia in 2000, he changed little in the office he inherited from Boris Yeltsin. Yet in place of a pen on the desk, Mr Putin put a television remote control, one visitor noted.

Discussion: New York Times

Brian Stewart / The Bulwark:
Pope Francis Is Dangerously Wrong About Ukraine

Discussion: Rational Exuberance and Reuters

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:

Fearing ‘Extinction-Level Event,’ N.Y. Democrats Turn Against Each Other — Newly drawn congressional maps have led some House members to quickly lay claim to certain districts, even if it means challenging fellow incumbents. — Two weeks ago, Representative Sean Patrick Maloney warned fellow Democrats …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, Politico and CBS News

Punchbowl News:
5/18/22 ☀️ Punchbowl News AM.

Discussion: HotAir, Townhall, Newsweek and Twitchy

Juliegrace Brufke / Washington Examiner: A new New York rivalry: Reps. Maloney vs. Nadler in House Democratic primary

Politico:
Dems question whether Maloney can run DCCC while battling freshman colleague

Discussion: Fox News, Raw Story and Washington Times

Axios:

Scoop: DHS preparing for violence following abortion ruling — The U.S. government is bracing for a potential surge in political violence once the Supreme Court hands down the ruling that's expected to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by Axios.

Discussion: NBC News, HuffPost, CNN, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Fox News, Townhall, POLITICUSUSA, New York Post, RedState, The Western Journal, CBS News, Twitchy, LifeNews.com, The Daily Wire, Mediaite, American Greatness and Very Serious

Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:

Progressives hoped for big 2022 primary gains, but the results have been mixed — WASHINGTON — Progressives are blaming a flood of super PAC money for the disappointing showing of several of their candidates in Tuesday's primaries, though they remain confident about two races where NBC News has yet to declare a winner.

Discussion: Jacobin

Emily Cureton Cook / OPB:
In Oregon's 5th District primaries, Democrat McLeod-Skinner leads Schrader, while GOP contest remains tight

Discussion: Oregonian, The Stranger, Breitbart, The Lever and Associated Press

Ben Blanchet / HuffPost:

‘South Park’ Writer Beats Rep. Elise Stefanik To Her Own Website — The website mocks the congresswoman's controversial ads echoing the “great replacement theory” in the wake of the Buffalo mass shooting. — Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) may have to look for a new domain name come midterms.

Discussion: The Hill, NBC News, Daily Kos, Politico, Mediaite and North Stars and Cowboy Bars

Ramesh Ponnuru / Bloomberg:
Great Replacement Theory Is a Grand Delusion

Discussion: RealityChek, The Daily Beast and Washington Post

Mona Charen / The Bulwark:

The Time to Prevent the Next Coup Attempt Is Now — Down-ballot, unsexy races at the state and local level will determine if there's a free and fair election in 2024. — (SHUTTERSTOCK) — In 1980, because I was an idealistic conservative eager to do my bit for democracy, I volunteered for my local Republican party.

Discussion: Politico and New Republic

Insider:

Mark Cuban supports Biden's proposal to forgive $10,000 in student debt per borrower as long as ‘ridiculous tuition fees’ are addressed alongside it: 'We don't want this being a perennial problem' — Entrepreneur Mark Cuban told Insider that he's in favor of Biden's proposal to cancel $10,000 in student debt per borrower.

Discussion: The Hill, Forbes, New York Times and Common Dreams

Helen Branswell / STAT:

CDC expresses concern about possibility of undetected monkeypox spread in U.K. — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expressed concern Tuesday about an unusual outbreak of monkeypox in the United Kingdom, suggesting there appears to be at least some undetected transmission …

Discussion: The Hill, The Guardian and Insider

Christina Prignano / The Boston Globe: Map: A county-by-county look at COVID-19 transmission in the United States

Colin Moynihan / New York Times:

A Central Park Birder Has a New TV Show — Christian Cooper's encounter in Central Park with a white woman who called 911 to falsely accuse him of threatening her spurred a national outcry. Now he is hosting a birding series for National Geographic. — For years, Christian Cooper …

Andrew Das / New York Times:

U.S. Soccer and Top Players Agree to Guarantee Equal Pay — Landmark labor agreements with members of the men's and women's national teams will include higher paychecks and shared World Cup prize money. — For the first time, soccer players representing the United States men's …

Discussion: Washington Post, CBS News and abc7NY

U.S. Soccer Official Website:
U.S. Soccer Federation, Women's And Men's National Team Unions Agree To Historic Collective Bargaining Agreements

Discussion: TODAY.com, Washington Examiner, Sports Illustrated, Breitbart, NBC News, Jezebel, Sportico, UPI, al.com, Insider, The Daily Caller, The Hill, IJR and NPR

Tyler Olson / Fox News:

Stefanik joins House resolution to expunge second Trump impeachment — Rep. Mullin's resolution won't pass Dem-controlled House, but underscores GOP support for Trump — Biden brands ‘MAGA crowd’ the ‘most extreme political organization’ — FIRST ON FOX: House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Human Events and Political Wire

Cook Political Report:

Post-Primary Update: Something For Everyone; PA GOV Moves To Lean Dem — There was something for everyone in the primary contests held in five states on Tuesday night. Trump-backed candidates had a mixed record of success, as did those from the GOP's more centrist or ‘establishment’ wings.

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo and Mock Paper Scissors

Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:

The Supreme Court's History of Protecting the Powerful — Laurence Tribe discusses the leaked Alito draft, the inherent politics of the judicial branch, and how to behave on Twitter. — Laurence Tribe, who turned eighty last year, has been one of the most prominent liberal legal scholars of the last half century.

Discussion: Reason

C. Ryan Barber / Insider:

Trump and his associates just had a very bad day thanks to a cascading series of Justice Department moves — Bad news for Trump and associates as a key Democrat confirms DOJ asked for January 6 transcripts. — A federal grand jury also returned more charges against the ex-chair of Trump's 2017 inaugural committee.