memeorandum: Maria Bartiromo isn't done with misinformation just yet (Philip Bump/Washington Post)

4:40 PM ET, March 16, 2023

Top Items:

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

GOP lawmakers cringe over Trump's effort to destroy DeSantis — Senate Republicans are wincing over former President Trump's early barrage of attacks against his chief rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), fearing they're seeing a preview of a brutal primary to come that could leave …

Discussion: Alternet.org

The Daily Beast:

The GOP Campaign Trail Is Already Getting DeSantis-Proofed — As he explores a run for president, the demanding Florida governor is already coming across as a “nightmare” in the early primary states. — At any given fundraiser or VIP room where he's present, Ron DeSantis is usually easy to find—in the corner, keeping to himself.

Discussion: The Hill, Raw Story, Metro.co.uk, National Review, PoliticusUSA, Politico, Mediaite, New Republic, Vanity Fair, Louder With Crowder, RedState, Newsbusters, Alternet.org, Washington Examiner, Twitchy and USA Today

Politico:
Ron DeSantis has a Florida problem

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and One America News Network

Amanda Carpenter / The Bulwark:
Could the GOP Divide Over Ukraine Become a Lasting Split?

Discussion: Hopium Chronicles, Tangle, New York Magazine, Washington Post, Newsbusters, MSNBC, Tampa Bay Times, National Review, Alternet.org, Sputnik News, Puck and Punchbowl News

Jeffrey Blehar / National Review:
DeSantis's Ukraine Statement Was Careful Electoral Politics, and That's a Good Thing

Discussion: HotAir

Rich Lowry / Politico:

Republicans Are Delusional If They Think Biden Will Be Easy to Beat — At this juncture, no one else in the country is as likely to be president of the United States come January 2025 as Joe Biden. — Republicans telling themselves otherwise are engaged in self-delusion.

Discussion: The Wrap, Raw Story and Fox News

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:
Much of the 2024 GOP field focuses on dark, apocalyptic themes

Discussion: NBC News, National Review and Raw Story

Heidi Przybyla / Politico: Inside the Trump world-organized retreat to plot out Biden oversight

Washington Post:
As 2024 election looms, Pence implies Trump is a bad Christian

Discussion: Raw Story and Alternet.org

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:
Swamp GOP ‘secretly’ worked with Democrats to doom Trump: Voters

Discussion: Rasmussen Reports and Political Wire

CNN:

EXCLUSIVE: Dozens of Mar-a-Lago staff, from servers to aides, are subpoenaed in classified documents probe — At least two dozen people - from Mar-a-Lago resort staff to members of Donald Trump's inner circle at the Florida estate - have been subpoenaed to testify to a federal grand jury that's investigating …

ABC News:

Investigators seek to question attorney about phone call with Trump in classified docs probe: Sources — Special counsel Jack Smith wants to force Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran to testify. — Special counsel Jack Smith is pushing to question an attorney for former President Donald Trump …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

Jason Leopold / Bloomberg:
Trump's Self-Proclaimed ‘Standing Order’ Remains a Mystery as US Stays Silent

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite

Variety:

21% of Fox News Viewers Trust Network Less After Texts Revealed in Dominion Lawsuit: Survey — More than a fifth of Fox News Channel viewers are less trusting of the cable network in the wake of publicly disclosed text messages and emails from Fox executives and on-air personalities, according to a new survey.

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story, Wall Street Journal, The Hill and RedState, more at Mediagazer »

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Maria Bartiromo isn't done with misinformation just yet

Discussion: Mediaite

Washington Post:
At center of Fox News lawsuit, Sidney Powell and a ‘wackadoodle’ email

Discussion: Election Law Blog

Popular Information:

Silicon Valley Bank donated zero dollars to Black Lives Matter — Rebecca Crosby, Tesnim Zekeria, and Judd Legum — Tuesday night on Fox News, host Jesse Watters asserted that Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) “donated $74 million to Black Lives Matter.” That was why, Watters claimed …

Discussion: The Nation, Digby's Hullabaloo, The Daily Wire, Daily Mail, MSNBC, Breitbart, The Wisconsin Daily Star, Washington Examiner, American Greatness and Talking Points Memo

Linda Qiu / New York Times:
No, ‘Wokeness’ Did Not Cause Silicon Valley Bank's Collapse

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Post, USA Today and Financial Times

Joseph Zeballos-Roig / Semafor: After Silicon Valley Bank's failure, one policy response is gaining bipartisan momentum

Washington Post:

Ukraine live briefing: Poland to send Ukraine fighter jets; U.S. released footage of apparent drone collision — Poland plans to give Ukraine Soviet-designed MiG-29 fighter jets, becoming the first NATO country to provide long-sought warplanes since the Russian invasion began last year …

Discussion: Reuters, CNN, NPR, Fox News, BBC, The Sun, New York Daily News, Financial Times, The Daily Caller, Euractiv, Albuquerque Journal, Bloomberg, Semafor, Politico, Al Jazeera, The Hill, Deseret News, CNBC, New York Times, UPI, HotAir and Wall Street Journal

Fox News:
US video shows moment Russian fighter jet collides with US drone

Bloomberg:

US Pushes First Republic Rescue With Big Banks After Stock Slump — The US government is trying to orchestrate a rescue of First Republic Bank with the aid of the nation's biggest banks, according to people with knowledge of the matter, after the California lender's shares plunged.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, CNN, Politico, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Washington Examiner, Fortune, WKBN-TV, CBS News, Breitbart, The Guardian, Financial Times, TechCrunch, Quartz and New York Times

Dean Obeidallah / The Dean's Report:

Glenn Kirschner is right: “We will see charges way beyond 'hush money” by Manhattan DA versus Trump. Here is how we know. — The media is missing the bigger case — Many in the media reporting on the Manhattan District Attorney's investigation into Donald Trump are solely fixated …

Discussion: Raw Story, CBS News, ABC7, Insider, CNN, USA Today and Alternet.org

Hugo Lowell / The Guardian:
Stormy Daniels: Donald Trump legal team ‘pushes for end to hush money case’

Discussion: Raw Story, Forbes, UPI, NBC News, Political Wire, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, USA Today, Washington Post, ABC7, Insider, CBS News and Decider

ProPublica:

Wealthy Executives Make Millions Trading Competitors' Stock With Remarkable Timing — The Secret IRS Files — On Feb. 21, 2018, August Troendle, an Ohio billionaire, made a remarkably well-timed stock trade. He sold $1.1 million worth of shares of Syneos Health the day before a management shake …

Rolling Stone:

A Pro-Trump Social Network Wants to Corner the Anti-Vax ‘Jizz Market’ — Gettr, a struggling right-wing social media company, is looking to create a marketplace for men who won't take the Covid vaccines to sell their sperm … But it's not just any sperm.

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and Alternet.org

Lauren Egan / Politico:

Marianne Williamson's ‘abusive’ treatment of 2020 campaign staff, revealed — The best-selling author Marianne Williamson has built a career preaching love and forgiveness. It is the cornerstone of her second Democratic campaign for president which she launched on March 4.

Discussion: HotAir, BizPac Review, New York Post, IJR, National Review, Fox News, Mediaite, Mock Paper Scissors and The Guardian

Eric Cortellessa / TIME:

Louis DeJoy's Surprising Second Act — Louis DeJoy thought his workday was done as he arrived home one evening in February 2022. The Postmaster General was locked in a grueling, monthslong battle with Congress over a bill to shake up the Postal Service. But as he settled in …

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Democrats' Sympathies in Middle East Shift to Palestinians — Democrats sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis for first time — Independents, Republicans still side more with Israelis in the conflict — Favorable views of Israel remain high across party groups

Discussion: Axios, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Post, Semafor, New York Post, Common Dreams, BizPac Review and The Hill

Sarah Mervosh / New York Times:

Florida Scoured Math Textbooks for ‘Prohibited Topics.’ Next Up: Social Studies. — Behind the scenes, one publisher went to great lengths to avoid mentions of race, even in the story of Rosa Parks. — The nitty-gritty process of reviewing and approving school textbooks has typically …

Discussion: Raw Story and Fred Klonsky in Retirement

Aubrie Spady / Fox News:

Sen. Rand Paul walks out of Homeland Security hearing after butting heads with Democrat chair over amendments … Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., stormed out of a Homeland Security Committee hearing Wednesday and suggested every Republican leave the meeting after Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. …

Discussion: RedState, The Hill, One America News Network, The Daily Caller, BizPac Review, Washington Examiner, IJR and Mediaite

Berkeley Lovelace Jr / NBC News:

Sanofi announces insulin price cap after actions by Ely Lilly and Novo Nordisk — Sanofi will cap the out-of-pocket cost of its most popular insulin, called Lantus, at $35 per month for people with private insurance, the French drugmaker said Thursday. The change will take effect Jan. 1, 2024.

Discussion: CNN and Associated Press

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Former editor of Jewish newspaper charged for Jan. 6 actions — The former editor of an Orthodox Jewish newspaper in New York City — identified two years ago as a member of the Jan. 6 mob by POLITICO — was charged Thursday with two felonies for his actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Times of Israel, The Post Millennial and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Eric Hananoki / Media Matters for America:

Fox's Tucker Carlson questions 9/11 attacks, complains you'd “lose your job” on TV for bringing it up — Fox News host Tucker Carlson recently appeared on a podcast and pushed a central tenet of the conspiracy theory that 9/11 was an inside job, stating: “What actually happened with building 7?

Discussion: AE911Truth

Tom Jones / Poynter:

Did an email about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis get this Axios reporter fired? — ‘This is propaganda, not a press release,’ Ben Montgomery wrote in an emailed response to the governor's office. Axios fired him shortly after. — Ben Montgomery, a former Pulitzer Prize finalist and a reporter …

Politico:

Chinese companies are shipping rifles, body armor to Russia — Chinese companies, including one connected to the government in Beijing, have sent Russian entities 1,000 assault rifles and other equipment that could be used for military purposes, including drone parts and body armor …

Dylan Gwinn / Breitbart:

WATCH: Conor McGregor Donates $1 Million to Tunnel to Towers on Hannity — UFC star Conor McGregor came through for America's fallen heroes in the military and law enforcement on Wednesday night by donating $1 million to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation on the Fox News Channel.

Discussion: Daily Mail, Fox News, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, The Western Journal, TMZ.com and IJR

Nikolas Lanum / Fox News:

Loyola professor claims organized pantries are rooted in ‘racist and sexist’ social structures … The recent TikTok trend of showing off perfectly organized and styled home pantries is rooted in a history of classist, racist and sexist social structures, according to one Chicago professor.

Discussion: The Conversation, RedState and Twitchy