memeorandum: There's No Question: It's Still Donald Trump's Republican Party (Michael Tomasky/New Republic)

12:50 PM ET, February 20, 2023

Top Items:

On surprise trip to Kyiv, Biden vows enduring support for Ukraine — KYIV, Ukraine — President Biden made a dramatic, unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday, in a display of robust American support for Ukraine just four days before the anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion. — Are you on Telegram?

New York Times:

Biden Visits Kyiv, Ukraine's Embattled Capital, as Air-Raid Siren Sounds — President Biden took a nearly 10-hour train ride from the border of Poland to show his administration's “unwavering support” a year into Russia's invasion of Ukraine. — KYIV, Ukraine — President Biden …

David Rothkopf / The Daily Beast:

Biden's Trip to Kyiv is the Ultimate Humiliation for Putin—and Trump — Biden joined a great history of American presidents standing up to Russian aggression, and significantly broke from the shameful actions of his predecessor. — Kennedy and then Reagan in Berlin. Now Biden in Kyiv.

Discussion: The White House, The Kyiv Independent, Resolute Square and Politico

Associated Press:

Biden declares ‘Kyiv stands’ in surprise visit to Ukraine — 1 of 21 — President Joe Biden paid an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Monday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a defiant display of Western solidarity with a country still fighting what he called “a brutal and unjust war” …

Mark Antonio Wright / National Review:

Biden's Secret Trip to Kyiv Took Guts — President Biden's secret visit to wartime Kyiv is an example of America in its finest tradition. — The New York Times reports that after a “trans-Atlantic flight to Poland, Mr. Biden crossed the border by train, traveling for nearly 10 hours to Kyiv …

Discussion: The Post Millennial, WHTM-TV, Washington Examiner and CBS News

Eliot A. Cohen / The Atlantic:

Biden Just Destroyed Putin's Last Hope — The president's visit to Ukraine was a gut punch to the Russian leader. — The long-range missiles matter. So do the super-accurate artillery shells, the surface-to-air missiles, and the winter weather gear; the training in the English countryside …

Discussion: CBS News and Political Wire

The Guardian:

US informed Russia of Joe Biden's Kyiv visit hours before departure — Details emerge of how White House planned ‘unprecedented’ visit and meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy — Peter Beaumont in Kyiv and Julian Borger — The White House notified the Kremlin of President Joe Biden's intention …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Insider, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Twitchy, Bloomberg and Associated Press

NPR:
Latest on Ukraine: The first anniversary of Russia's invasion approaches (Feb. 20)

Discussion: Bloomberg

Peter Nicholas / NBC News:
Biden makes surprise visit to Ukraine nearly one year after Russia's invasion

Discussion: ABC News, The Hill, Washington Post, Mediaite, BBC, The Guardian, Washington Times, PoliticusUSA, Raw Story, TMZ.com, Sputnik News, Washington Examiner, The Sun, UPI, Forbes, Fox News, USA Today, Financial Times and New York Daily News

New York Times:
One Year Into War, Putin Is Crafting the Russia He Craves

Discussion: Washington Post, Resolute Square, The Nation, Informed Comment, Insider, The Sun, NPR, CBS News, Daily Mail, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and The Guardian

Mike Allen / Axios:

Scoop: McCarthy gives Tucker Carlson access to trove of Jan. 6 riot tape — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given Fox News' Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 41,000 hours of Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 riot, McCarthy sources tell me. — Carlson TV producers …

Discussion: RedState, The New Civil Rights Movement, Raw Story, BizPac Review, Mediaite and The Post Millennial, more at Mediagazer »

Alex Leary / Wall Street Journal:

Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis to Court Big-Money Donors at Dueling Palm Beach Events — The former president and the Florida governor this week intensify fight for campaign cash — Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis have battled in polls for months over who has a better shot at the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

Discussion: Raw Story, BizPac Review, Mock Paper Scissors and Fox News

Erin Doherty / Axios:
Michigan GOP selects 2020 election denier as party leader

Discussion: CNN, Just The News, Associated Press, Michigan Advance, Reuters, Raw Story, Nikki Haley's Road …, RedState, New York Magazine, MLive.com and Detroit Free Press

Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:

Supreme Court hears a case that could transform the internet — Oral arguments begin in Gonzalez v. Google, a landmark case tackling whether tech companies should be liable for harmful content their algorithms surface — In November 2015, three rifle-wielding ISIS gunmen opened fire …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Associated Press and HuffPost, more at Mediagazer »

Rebecca Kern / Politico:
Big Tech is about to have an epic week in the Supreme Court

Discussion: Slate, New York Post, Lawfare, jihadwatch.org, Axios, New York Times, Reason, Sputnik News, SCOTUSblog, The Hill, Fox News and HuffPost, more at Mediagazer »

Rasmussen Reports:

Trump Dominates Presidents Day Poll — As the nation celebrates Presidents Day, a plurality of Americans consider former President Donald Trump both the best and worst of recent leaders. — The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 20% …

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:

Only Donald Trump: #1 ‘best’ and ‘worst’ president — As Americans celebrate President's Day, a new White House poll shows that there is really only one dominant recent chief executive — Donald Trump. — In a timely Rasmussen Reports survey shared with Secrets Monday, the 45th president tops both the …

Discussion: The Wrap, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

Leslie Josephs / NBC News:

United says it will make it easier for families to book seats with their children for free — United Airlines said Monday that new technology will open up more seats on its flights so children can sit with an adult in their party without paying a fee, a type of charge that's drawn scrutiny …

Discussion: Bloomberg

Gary Leff / View from the Wing: United's New Family Seating Policy Helps Customers, Hurts Competitors, And Curries Political Favor

Joe DePaolo / Mediaite:

Fox's Media Host Totally Ignores THE Story the Press is Buzzing About — Fox News's Sunday morning show MediaBuzz — which highlights the week's biggest news from the media world — chose to ignore the dominant story in the cable news world — Hosted by Howard Kurtz …

Discussion: The Nation

Garrett M. Graff / New York Times:

What Ford's Pardon of Nixon Means (and Doesn't Mean) for Trump — The release on Thursday of parts of a report from a grand jury in Georgia that investigated election interference by Donald Trump and his allies offers the most recent evidence of his growing legal exposure.

Discussion: Raw Story

Rolling Stone:
Charges Against Trump Lawyer ‘Very Likely,’ Colleagues Warn Donald

Discussion: Raw Story

Jennifer Hassan / Washington Post:

Salman Rushdie calls revisions to Roald Dahl books ‘absurd censorship’ — LONDON — A decision to change hundreds of words in Roald Dahl's children's books has drawn condemnation from author Salman Rushdie, who called it “absurd censorship.” — His is the latest prominent voice …

Washington Post:

Feeling ‘overwhelmed’ and ‘fatigue,’ some GOP voters look beyond Trump — In recent focus groups of persuadable Republican primary voters from key early states, most stood by their past support for Trump, but the future was a different issue — Nearly all of the focus group participants …

Discussion: CNN and New York Times

New York Times:
Biden Drawing Up a 2024 Playbook That Looks a Lot Like 2020's

Discussion: RedState, Associated Press, The Hill and Axios

Douglas Foster / Politico:

The Activist Pastor Running to Remake the Wisconsin Supreme Court — MADISON, Wis. — It's a frigid morning at the county courthouse here, and an experiment in crime prevention is on the docket, Judge Everett Mitchell presiding. He's a tall, trim, soft-spoken Black man in his mid-40s …

Discussion: Raw Story, NBC News, CNN and Washington Post

Perry Bacon Jr / Washington Post:
There is only one way to rein in Republican judges: Shaming them.

Discussion: Reason

Steve Benen / MSNBC:

Despite her role, Marjorie Taylor Greene backs ‘national divorce’ — As Marjorie Taylor Greene endorses the dissolution of the United States, the question is whether House GOP leaders will bother to care. — In late 2021, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene briefly referenced “a National Divorce scenario” …

Discussion: The Hill, Fox News, New Republic, Raw Story, The New Civil Rights Movement, The Post Millennial and New York Daily News

Melissa Block / NPR:

Parents raise concerns as Florida bans gender-affirming care for trans kids — When 13-year-old Liz Bostock thinks back, she remembers feeling in-between genders as early as preschool. — Assigned male at birth, she identified as nonbinary by fifth grade and decided to use they/them pronouns.

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo