memeorandum: Washington's Angriest Progressive Is Winning Over Conservatives - and Baffling Old Allies (Nancy Scola/Politico)

6:30 PM ET, April 21, 2023

Top Items:

Donald Trump Tops Ron DeSantis in Test of GOP Presidential Field, WSJ Poll Finds — No candidate beyond the two leaders draws substantial support in the still-developing primary race — WASHINGTON—Donald Trump has gained command of the GOP presidential-nomination race over Ron DeSantis …

Washington Post:

Trump touts authoritarian vision for second term: ‘I am your justice’ — The former president is proposing deploying the military domestically, purging the federal workforce and building futuristic cities from scratch — Mandatory stop-and-frisk. Deploying the military to fight street crime, break up gangs and deport immigrants.

Discussion: Raw Story and Associated Press

Politico:

Playbook: How to lose friends and alienate people, by Ron DeSantis — Presented by The U.S. Chamber of Commerce — With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross — DRIVING THE DAY — NEW 2024 POLLS — “Donald Trump Tops Ron DeSantis in Test of GOP Presidential Field, WSJ Poll Finds,” …

Discussion: USA Today, New York Times, The Daily Beast, National Review, Alternet.org, Semafor, Associated Press, The Daily Caller, The Dispatch, Lawyers, Guns & Money, VICE, RedState, Mock Paper Scissors, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Fox News, TIME and Balloon Juice

Eric Daugherty / Florida's Voice:
Trump campaign releases lengthy statement trashing Florida: ‘Misery and despair’

Discussion: Raw Story, acecomments.mu.nu, New York Times and Washington Examiner

Politico:
Trump killed the ‘values voter’ wing of the GOP. It isn't coming back in 2024.

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Times and Just The News

Eugene Daniels / Politico:
'I don't think he cares about people': DeSantis struggles with former Hill colleagues

Discussion: New York Magazine, NBC News, Breitbart, Raw Story and The Daily Caller

Zachary Cohen / CNN:

Exclusive: Text messages reveal Trump operatives considered using breached voting data to decertify Georgia's Senate runoff in 2021 — In mid-January 2021, two men hired by former President Donald Trump's legal team discussed over text message what to do with data obtained from a breached voting machine …

Discussion: Rolling Stone, Raw Story, PoliticusUSA and Joe.My.God.

Bloomberg:

McCarthy Is Coming Up Short in Support for House Debt-Limit Bill — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is coming up short in support for his first big legislative effort, a bill tying a debt ceiling increase to spending cuts, risking serious damage to both his stature and the US economy.

Discussion: Jacobin, PoliticusUSA, Political Wire, Washington Examiner, CBS News, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin …, Axios, Politico and Financial Times

Arthur Delaney / HuffPost:
Republicans' Proposed Medicaid ‘Work Requirements’ Would Affect 10 Million

Discussion: Axios

Jim Tankersley / New York Times:
The Debt Ceiling Debate Is About More Than Debt

Discussion: Daily Kos, CNN and Letters from an American

Washington Post:
Enraged by GOP debt limit extortion? Blame MAGA's moderate enablers.

Discussion: Washington Times

Matt Binder / Mashable:

Dril and other Twitter power users begin campaign to ‘Block the Blue’ paid checkmarks — After Elon Musk removed legacy verified users' checkmarks, Twitter's biggest users are blocking everyone who pays. — On Thursday, April 20, Elon Musk made a rare move: He delivered on a promise.

CNN:

Details about multimillion-dollar stock holding concealed in abortion pill judge's financial disclosures — The federal judge who issued a nationwide ruling blocking the approval of a common abortion medication redacted key information on his legally mandated financial disclosures …

Discussion: Washington Post, Joe.My.God. and Techdirt

Marshall Cohen / CNN:

Smartmatic wants more than Dominion's $787 million payout, plus a retraction from Fox for its 2020 election lies, lawyer says — A top lawyer for Smartmatic, the voting technology company whose defamation lawsuit against Fox News is still pending, said Thursday that he won't accept …

Discussion: Mediaite, Alternet.org, HuffPost, Heartland Signal, CNBC, The Western Journal, The Nation, ABC News and New York Times

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
Fox News Doesn't Do Apologies

Discussion: MyNorthwest.com, Raw Story, The Moderate Voice, Steady, Insider, RedState and El País

Ben Makuch / VICE:

Rightwing Edgelords Are the Real Threat to National Security — “The amount of Three Percenters and Boogaloo guys I work with is untenable,” said one Department of Defense worker. — Ben Makuch — Since the beginning of the Biden Administration, the GOP has painstakingly attacked the Pentagon as a …

Tom Boggioni / Raw Story: Department of Defense riddled with ‘Three Percenters and Boogaloo guys’: report

Nancy Scola / Politico:

Washington's Angriest Progressive Is Winning Over Conservatives - and Baffling Old Allies — The activist who breathed new life into the antitrust movement wants support from the other side. But it could cost him. — American Economic Liberties Project Director of Research Matt Stoller speaks …

Wall Street Journal:

JPMorgan's Ties to Jeffrey Epstein Were Deeper Than the Bank Has Acknowledged — The bank has said it shut the convicted sex offender's accounts in 2013, but its bankers were still meeting with him years later, people familiar with the matter said. — JPMorgan Chase & Co. had ties …

Discussion: The Information

Steven Monacelli / The Texas Observer:

Abbott Aims to Pardon Racist Murderer Who Sent Explicit Texts to Apparent Minor — After an Austin jury unanimously convicted Sergeant Daniel Perry of murder, it took Governor Greg Abbott less than one full day to call for his pardon. — Legal experts and lawmakers have described …

Adam Gabbatt / The Guardian:

Rightwing extremists defeated by Democrats in US school board elections — Republican-backed culture warrior candidates fare poorly in Illinois and Wisconsin, offering hope to the left — Scores of rightwing extremists were defeated in school board elections in April …

Discussion: Political Wire

Washington Post:

Abortion ban states see steep drop in OB/GYN residency applicants — States that have enacted abortion bans saw a 10.5 percent drop in applicants for obstetrics and gynecology residencies in 2023 from the previous year, according to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Madison Alder / Bloomberg Law:

Justice Thomas Is ‘Man of Integrity’ Says Ex-Colleague Breyer — Retired Justice Stephen Breyer said Clarence Thomas is a “man of integrity,” as his former US Supreme Court colleague faces ethics questions over ties to a Republican donor. “As far as I'm concerned, I sat next to him on the bench for 28 years.

Discussion: Alternet.org, Washington Examiner and The Daily Caller

CNN:

EXCLUSIVE: Hunter Biden lawyers to meet with Justice Department officials next week as scrutiny of investigation intensifies — Lawyers for Hunter Biden are scheduled to meet next week with US attorney David Weiss and at least one senior career official from Justice Department headquarters …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Fox News, Washington Free Beacon, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, RedState and The Daily Caller

Mary Anne Franks / Slate:

Chief Justice John Roberts' Mockery of Stalking Victims Points to a Deeper Problem — The justices take their own safety very, very seriously. Everybody else's? Not so much. — Stalking is so closely correlated with lethal violence that experts refer to it as “slow motion homicide” …

Danielle Jackson / WSMV-TV:

Lawmakers speak out after Rep. Campbell's resignation — Rep. Justin Jones says Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton is part of the “coverup.” — NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - As the legislative session wrapped up for the day, former Rep. Scotty Campbell's desk inside of the House chambers was empty Thursday evening.

Discussion: Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, The Root, Washington Press, USA Today, Lawyers, Guns & Money, WKRN-TV, New Republic, Rolling Stone and The Daily Beast

Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:

Kari Lake says she told ‘Morning Joe’ hosts to stop ‘badmouthing’ her — Former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake says she confronted the hosts of MSNBC's “Morning Joe” at an airport in Florida this week. — “I happened to be at the airport in Palm Beach and I happened …

Discussion: Mediaite, RADAR, The Wrap, New York Post, Crooks and Liars, The Gateway Pundit and Raw Story

Jeremiah Poff / Washington Examiner:

Princeton students perform in musical titled: To All the Babies I've Killed Before — A Princeton undergraduate student is directing and starring in a pro-abortion musical she wrote that explores feminist themes of the patriarchy while using a literary saying that evokes abortion.

Discussion: Louder With Crowder

Claire Goforth / The Daily Dot:

Brewery tapped to make Ultra Right beer backed out when they found out what it was — The brewery reportedly said it ‘took a pass’ after seeing the marketing. — A right-wing influencer appears to be having trouble finding a brewery willing to craft his anti-woke beer.

Discussion: Joe.My.God., Wired and Brewbound

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

More than 60 California liberal groups call on Feinstein to resign — A coalition of more than 60 progressive grassroots groups claiming to represent more than 100,000 Californians sent a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) asking her to resign. — The coalition, which includes …

Discussion: Political Wire, Breitbart, NewsNation and Los Angeles Times

Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:

We will hold the country hostage until our demands are met — once we know them — It's a stickup! Don't move! We are serious! There is a reason we are holding up this bank, and it's because — well, the point is, we can agree, things are out of control with the money!

Emily Baker-White / Forbes:

Security Failures At TikTok's Virginia Data Centers: Unescorted Visitors, Mystery Flash Drives And Illicit Crypto Mining — Other security issues at the sites included unattended boxes of hard drives and a sanctioned supplier. — For years, TikTok has told lawmakers that the private data …

more at Techmeme »

Kyle Hopkins / ProPublica:

In Secret Recording, a Top City Library Official Calls Alaska Natives “Woke” and “Racists” — Despite Judy Eledge's history of inflammatory comments and social media posts, Alaska's governor has awarded her public money and a national role. What's more, city and state agencies meant …

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:

Any Questions? Biden Holds Fewest News Conferences Since Reagan — As President Biden prepares to announce his bid for a second term as soon as Tuesday, his decision to keep the news media at arm's length is part of a deliberate strategy. — WASHINGTON — In the 100 years since Calvin Coolidge …

Discussion: Politico, Breitbart, Al Jazeera, The Hill, Political Wire and Fox News

Richard North Patterson / Wall Street Journal:

Why My New Novel About Racial Conflict Ran Into Trouble — Today's identity politics has led many in the publishing industry to insist that writers can only tell stories about people like themselves. That's bad for fiction and for our democracy. Last January, my agents began submitting …

Gerrard Kaonga / Newsweek:

Nikki Haley's White Dress at Daughter's Wedding Sparks Fierce Debate — Presidential candidate Nikki Haley has inadvertently sparked a fierce debate on social media about wedding no-noes on her daughter's big day. — Most guests at weddings get excited about the traditional moments …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Fox News, The Western Journal, RADAR, BizPac Review, Twitchy, New York Post, NDTV, The Hill, The Daily Caller and IJR

J.M. Berger / WORLD GONE WRONG:

Liable Sources — If you're wondering why your AI is racist, here's a clue — The Washington Post had a barn-burner of a story on the data used to train AI chatbots and generative text apps, based on a paper out of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Republicans follow their new leader, Marjorie Taylor Greene — This is the price America pays for Kevin McCarthy's ambition. — To understand the consequences of the many concessions the House speaker made to get his job, look at what has happened to the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Discussion: Raw Story, BizPac Review and Daily Kos

Ryan Mills / National Review:

Pennsylvania Teachers, Activists Concocted Bogus LGBTQ Bullying Epidemic for Political Gain, Investigation Finds — The protests outside Lenape Middle School carried on for four straight days last May. — Young students, some drawn by the lure of free pizza, walked out of their Pennsylvania school …

Discussion: Philadelphia Gay News

Washington Post:

Kremlin tries to build antiwar coalition in Germany, documents show — Marrying Germany's far right and far left is a Kremlin goal, according to a trove of Russian documents reviewed by The Washington Post — BERLIN — When 13,000 demonstrators gathered at the Brandenburg Gate on Feb. 25 …

Discussion: TASS and emptywheel

Todd Spangler / Variety:

BuzzFeed News Is Shutting Down, Company Laying Off 180 Staffers — BuzzFeed is shutting down BuzzFeed News because it is not able to turn a profit, according to a memo CEO Jonah Peretti sent to company staff Thursday. The digital publisher is laying off 15% of its employees, or about 180 people …

The Economist:

Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks — A couple of years ago Jake Morgan, a farmer who lives just outside Raleigh, in North Carolina, realised he needed a new vehicle to get around his property. At first he was looking at “side-by-sides”—a sort of off-road utility vehicle.

Discussion: The Daily Caller