memeorandum: Dems stand back and watch Chuck and Joe show (Burgess Everett/Politico)

7:30 AM ET, May 19, 2022

Top Items:

The Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary is probably headed for a recount — It's not over yet. And it might not be for a while.Pennsylvania's Republican Senate primary was still undecided Wednesday, with celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz clinging to a narrow lead of about 2,500 votes over David McCormick.

Discussion: Axios, Politico, WITF, Associated Press, CNN, Raw Story and Mediaite

Politico:
Inside the last-minute Trump endorsement that enraged Pa. Republicans

Discussion: The Hill, Insider, Washington Post, PennLive, Steve Bannon's War Room, WITF, New York Times, New Republic and Raw Story

Reid J. Epstein / New York Times:
Midterm Stakes Grow Clearer: Election Deniers Will Be on Many Ballots

Discussion: Boston.com, Today's Edition Newsletter, The Hill, The Scroll, Washington Times, USA Today and Common Dreams

Paul Kane / Washington Post:
GOP voters choose nominees with first loyalty to Trump, not McConnell

Discussion: Sabato's Crystal Ball, Washington Post, HuffPost, New York Times, Raw Story, Substack, Cook Political Report, Deadline and Washington Post

Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:
What the Primaries Reveal About the Future of Trumpism

Discussion: Newsweek, Election Law Blog, Washington Post, Opinion Today, HuffPost, HotAir, Forbes, The Hill, Vanity Fair, New York Times, Salon and Slate

Aamer Madhani / Associated Press:

US intel shows Russians fear Mariupol abuse will backfire — WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has gathered intelligence that shows some Russian officials have become concerned that Russian forces in the ravaged port city of Mariupol are carrying out grievous abuses, a U.S official familiar with the findings said Wednesday.

Discussion: Radio Free Europe/Radio …, New York Post, NPR and Associated Press

Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
Opinion U.S. mistakes in Ukraine can't all be pinned on bad intelligence

Discussion: Radio Free Europe/Radio …, nationalinterest.org and Wall Street Journal

Antony J. Blinken / United States Department of State:
Raising the Flag at U.S. Embassy Kyiv

Discussion: Radio Free Europe/Radio …, The Dispatch, Bloomberg, Euractiv, nationalinterest.org, Metro Philadelphia, Washington Examiner, UPI, KyivPost, NPR and The Hill, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:
Turkey blocks start of NATO talks on Finland's and Sweden's applications

Michaeleen Doucleff / NPR:

Rare monkeypox outbreak in U.K., Europe and U.S.: What is it and should we worry? — There's a monkeypox outbreak in England, Portugal and Spain. The outbreak is quite small - just 36 suspected cases spread across the three countries, including 8 in England and 20 in Portugal.

Discussion: Al Jazeera, HotAir, ABC News and The Guardian

Mary Kekatos / ABC News:

1st monkeypox case in US this year reported in Massachusetts — It comes after nine cases of monkeypox were detected in the U.K. this month. — A Massachusetts resident has tested positive for monkeypox, health officials confirmed Wednesday, making it the first case of the rare virus detected in the United States this year.

Discussion: Washington Post, STAT, Axios, Mass.gov, Sydney Morning Herald, UPI, WCDC-TV, Wall Street Journal, NOQ Report, No More Mister Nice Blog, New York Post, The Hill, WCDC-TV, Fortune, WPRI-TV and MindWar

Lora Kolodny / CNBC:

Why Tesla was kicked out of the S&P 500's ESG index — In a blog post Wednesday, the S&P explained why it kicked Tesla out of its ESG index earlier this month. — It said that Tesla's “lack of a low-carbon strategy” and “codes of business conduct,” along with racism …

Discussion: Indexology® Blog, Def-Con News, Bloomberg, Forbes, New York Times, The Daily Caller, The Daily Beast, The Daily Wire, New York Post, Electrek and Jezebel

CNBC:
Dow drops 1,100 points for its biggest decline since 2020 as the sell-off this year on Wall Street intensifies

Discussion: Trends Journal, Fortune, UPI, Washington Examiner, Forbes, Ace of Spades HQ, Townhall and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

New York Times:

U.S. health officials say a third of people live in areas with so much virus they should consider masks indoors. — Federal health officials on Wednesday warned that one third of Americans live in areas where the threat of infection from the coronavirus is now so high that they should consider wearing …

Discussion: Deseret News and The White House

Emma G. Fitzsimmons / New York Times:
Mayor Eric Adams resists mask mandates as N.Y.C. enters a high alert level for the virus.

Discussion: New York Post, Deseret News, Bloomberg and abc7NY

Maya Yang / The Guardian:
White House resumes Covid briefings after six-week hiatus as cases rise

Discussion: The Daily Caller and CNN

John Haltiwanger / Insider:

Fiona Hill says Putin got ‘frustrated many times’ with Trump because the Russian leader ‘had to keep explaining things’ to him — Putin often became frustrated with Trump over his lack of knowledge on big issues, Fiona Hill said. — “He had to keep explaining things, and Putin doesn't like to do that,” Hill said.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Raw Story and YouTube

Timothy Snyder / New York Times:

Russia's War on Ukraine Shows That It Is Fascist — Dr. Snyder is a professor of history at Yale University and the author of many books on fascism, totalitarianism and European history. — Fascism was never defeated as an idea. — As a cult of irrationality and violence …

Victoria Balara / Fox News:

Fox News Poll: Georgia's GOP primary race for governor sees Kemp holding wide lead over Perdue — Former NFL star Herschel Walker dashes ahead by 58 points in Republican Senate primary contest — Fox News Flash top headlines for May 18 — Incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp leads former …

Discussion: Politico and The Hill

Robby Soave / Reason:

Nina Jankowicz's Faulty Record, Not Her Critics, Doomed the Disinformation Board — The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has placed a “pause” on the newly-minted Disinformation Governance Board; its first executive director, Nina Jankowicz, has resigned.

Discussion: American Greatness, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, The Daily Wire and Instapundit

Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:
How the Biden administration let right-wing attacks derail its disinformation efforts

Kyle Morris / Fox News:
White House says DHS disinformation board ‘never met,’ denies involvement in pause

Discussion: New York Post, ABC News and Washington Times

Washington Post:

Biden, after months focused on Ukraine, makes first trip to Asia — President will try to reassure Asian allies he is still committed to leading a coalition to counter China — For almost three months, President Biden and his top foreign policy aides have been immersed in the Russian war in Ukraine …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Politico, ABC News, USA Today, Associated Press, NPR, Voice of America and CNN

Michael Williams / Dallas Morning News:

George W. Bush compares Zelenskyy to Churchill, mistakenly calls Iraq invasion unjustified — At Bush center event, Condoleezza Rice compares Jan. 6 to non-democratic countries — In some of his most extensive public comments about the Russian invasion of Ukraine since the war began …

Discussion: Fox News, Summit News, Raw Story, Informed Comment and Townhall

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Dems stand back and watch Chuck and Joe show — The fate of Senate Democrats' yearlong drama over the party's signature bill essentially boils down to two people: Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin. — After months of intrigue and disagreements between the duo on critical Senate votes …

Department of Defense Office of Inspector General:

Whistleblower Reprisal Investigation: Colonel Yevgeny S. Vindman, U.S. Army (DODIG-2022-097) — We conducted this investigation in response to a complaint filed with the DoD Hotline on August 18, 2020, alleging that various administration officials, including former President Donald J. Trump …

Discussion: UPI and CNN

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Scoop: Chris Wallace to anchor new show on CNN — Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN's new parent company, plans to announce during its upfront presentation to advertisers on Wednesday that Chris Wallace will host a Sunday evening show on CNN. … - CNN struck a multimillion-dollar contract with Wallace last year.

Discussion: Deadline, HotAir, Mediaite, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Townhall, The Western Journal, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, Raw Story and The Hill, more at Mediagazer »

Nicholas Wu / Politico:

Pramila Jayapal endorses Jessica Cisneros in Texas runoff — Immigration lawyer Jessica Cisneros has picked up a key endorsement from Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, in her primary bid against Rep. Henry Cuellar. — “At a time when our reproductive freedoms …

Kyle Clark / KUSA-TV:

GOP candidate for Colorado governor says eliminate one-person, one-vote system — Under Greg Lopez's proposal, the 2018 gubernatorial race would have been a runaway win for Republicans, who lost the actual race by double-digits. — DENVER — Coloradans have elected just one Republican governor in the last 50 years.

Discussion: Raw Story

Matthew Kassel / Jewish Insider:

Rob Bassin on the impact of the United Democracy Project — Steve Irwin found himself down 25 points; after UDP PAC's infusion he finished neck and neck — United Democracy Project, a super PAC recently launched by the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, claimed decisive wins in two races …

Discussion: Vanity Fair, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and TheGrio

Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:

Brothers behind Democrats' ‘crypto PAC’ say they're actually pandemic focused — WASHINGTON — Gabe Bankman-Fried knows you're going to have a hard time believing him when he says he's only interested in using his crypto-billionaire brother's money to stop the next pandemic.

Discussion: Slate

Theodore Schleifer / Puck: Inside S.B.F.'s $12 Million Long Shot

New York Times:

U.S. Eyeing Russian Energy Sanctions Over Ukraine War, Officials Say — BERLIN — The Biden administration is developing plans to further choke Russia's oil revenues with the long-term goal of destroying the country's central role in the global energy economy, current and former U.S. officials say …

Discussion: Al Jazeera, Washington Post, Andrew Korybko's Newsletter, Taipei Ne0liberal and War on the Rocks

Bilge Ebiri / Vulture:

Tom Cruise's Last Stand — Thirty-six years after the original, Top Gun: Maverick eulogizes the actor's entire career. — I'd never noticed the curiously melancholy overtones of Harold Faltermeyer's famous Top Gun theme until the opening moments of the brand-new Top Gun: Maverick.

Discussion: The A.V. Club, Variety and Deadline