memeorandum: POLITICO Playbook: A shifting center of attention reshapes 2022 (Politico)

8:30 AM ET, August 22, 2022

Top Items:

Anton Troianovski / New York Times:

Hawkish Russian Commentator Is Killed in Car Bombing — The daughter of a prominent ultranationalist, herself a hawkish commentator, was killed by a car bomb deep in Russian territory. — A brazen car bombing in a Moscow suburb that killed the daughter of a prominent backer …

Discussion: Telegraph, All that has been hidden …, Alexander Ziperovich, The Hill, The Bona Fide, The Daily Wire and The Guardian

Neil MacFarquhar / New York Times:

What Russians See in the News: A War Over Western Plans to Subjugate Them — In the Kremlin-controlled news media, the war is not about Ukraine, but about a long history of enemies trying to keep Russia down. — “Vesti Nedeli,” the flagship weekly roundup of Kremlin-controlled television news …

Discussion: NaturalNews.com

Mark Galeotti / Spectator:

What the Dugin assassination tells us about Russia — Putin's regime is weaker than it looks — Car bombs used to be a fixture of gangland feuds in 1990s Russia but have since fallen out of fashion. This makes it all the more striking when, as happened last night, such a device rips through …

Discussion: Financial Times, Diane Francis, Telegraph, National Review, The Guardian, ABC7, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Associated Press and NBC Connecticut

Anton Troianovski / New York Times: Who Was Daria Dugina and What Were Her Beliefs?

New York Times:

An Unusual $1.6 Billion Donation Bolsters Conservatives — A low-profile Republican financier donated his company to a new group run by the influential operative Leonard A. Leo. — WASHINGTON — A new conservative nonprofit group scored a $1.6 billion windfall last year via a little-known donor …

Discussion: Alternet.org and Wide World of News

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: A shifting center of attention reshapes 2022 — With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross — DRIVING THE DAY — THE WEEK —Today: U.S. and South Korea begin largest joint military exercises in half a decade (more from Reuters). ... Tuesday: Statewide primaries in New York and Florida. ...

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Post, The Hill, CNN, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Ace of Spades HQ

Hannah Knowles / Washington Post:
2024 meets 2022: Trump, Pence, others ramp up for allies in midterms

Discussion: Washington Examiner, USA Today, The Daily Caller, Washington Post and Associated Press

Politico:

‘We got rolled’: How the conservative grassroots lost the fight with Biden because it was focused on Trump — In years past, it would have been a political Waterloo moment for Republicans: President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats racing frantically to finalize sweeping legislation …

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story and Battleground

Andrew Stanton / Newsweek:

Trump Allies Will Betray Him, Former Lawyer Predicts: ‘So Much Flipping’ — Former President Donald Trump's allies will eventually turn on him to avoid prison, his former attorney Michael Cohen said on Sunday. — Cohen's comment came nearly two weeks after FBI agents executed a search warrant …

Kansas City Star:

Kansas recount confirms landslide win for abortion rights, but highlights risk to democracy — Kansas reaffirmed its landslide vote to uphold abortion rights after election officials on Sunday finished a recount that never had any chance of changing the outcome but was sought by an election denier …

Discussion: Raw Story

Mary Ilyushina / Washington Post:

A Russian soldier's journal: ‘I will not participate in this madness’ — RIGA, Latvia — Russian paratrooper Pavel Filatyev spent more than a month fighting in Ukraine after his poorly equipped unit was ordered to march from its base in Crimea for what commanders called a routine exercise.

Justin Phillips / San Francisco Chronicle:

A coalition of AAPI groups says the far right is targeting its communities with disinformation — A first-of-its-kind study this month examines how disinformation is being used, often online, to sow discord between the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and other ethnic or racial groups.

Sophia Ankel / Insider:

GOP lawmaker says Trump may have kept classified documents at Mar-a-Lago to write a memoir — A GOP congressman called for the release of the FBI affidavit underpinning the Mar-a-Lago raid. — Rep. Mike Turner told CBS News on Sunday that Trump may have kept classified documents to write a memoir.

Discussion: CBS News and Just The News

Marianne LeVine / Politico:

Senate prepares to pick up the judicial-pick pace as November looms — With most of their biggest legislative priorities accomplished and control of the Senate a toss-up, Democrats are about to dig into territory more closely associated with the GOP: ramping up judicial confirmations.

Discussion: The Hill, NPR and The Federalist

Edward-Isaac Dovere / CNN:

Biden officials see a second chance to promote last year's infrastructure law with projects underway — Most of the money from President Joe Biden's massive infrastructure bill is being handed out this summer and fall, nearly a year after passage, just in time for a campaign season he hopes will keep his fellow Democrats in power.

Discussion: AOL

Wall Street Journal:

Liz Cheney Says New Political Group Will Target Trump Allies — The representative formed the new PAC shortly after her GOP primary loss last week — Liz Cheney Loses Wyoming GOP Primary, Vows to Continue Fighting Trump — Created with sketchtool.

Discussion: Fox News and The Hill

David Edwards / Raw Story:

Ron Johnson says he only participated in election overthrow plot for ‘a couple seconds’ — Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) has refused to speak to the Jan. 6 Committee because his participation in a plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election only lasted “a couple seconds.”

Sarah Maslin Nir / New York Times:

In the Lanternfly War, Some Take the Bug's Side — Even as the invasive pest spreads across 11 states and threatens agriculture, lanternflies are winning sympathizers who resist kill-on-sight orders. — When Lee Weiss, 31, sees a spotted lanternfly — an invasive pest so voracious …