memeorandum: Licht's Dispassion Punch (Dylan Byers/Puck)

8:00 PM ET, May 12, 2023

Top Items:

Dylan Byers / Puck:

Licht's Dispassion Punch — Inside CNN, the reverberations from Wednesday's town hall are still being profoundly felt, further testing the long-strained relationship between the network's anchors and journalists on one side and their newly dispassionate boss on the other.

Discussion: Mediaite, Wall Street Journal, Raw Story, The Hill, Adweek, One America News Network, Semafor, The Hollywood Reporter, Fox News and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

Trump supporters are neither underrecognized nor half the country — The morning after the channel's widely pilloried “town hall” with former president Donald Trump, CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht defended the program in a call with staffers. — “While we all may have been uncomfortable …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Raw Story, PoliticusUSA, Digby's Hullabaloo, CNN, HotAir, TMZ.com, The Mahablog, The Moderate Voice, Fox News, Poynter and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Hugo Lowell / The Guardian:

Trump's team revels in town hall victory as CNN staff rages at ‘spectacle of lies’ — Questions also linger over what the network offered the ex-president in exchange for what some called a Trump infomercial — Donald Trump and his circle believe he got everything that he wanted …

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

GOP senators disavow Trump on debt ceiling, signaling growing rift — Senate Republicans are disavowing former President Trump's call to let the federal government default on its debts unless President Biden agrees to “massive” spending cuts, dismissing Trump's suggestion as something far too risky to seriously consider.

Discussion: New York Magazine, Axios, Insider, Raw Story, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Reuters, HuffPost, Fortune and Al Jazeera

Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:
CNN's Trump town hall was a fascist ritual

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill, Raw Story and CBS News

Samantha Chery / Washington Post:
Anderson Cooper scolds critics of CNN's town hall with Trump

CNBC:

DeSantis allies could shift $86 million to help him run for president as watchdogs cry foul — Allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are reportedly planning to move nearly $86 million of state campaign money to support his expected 2024 presidential campaign.

Discussion: Raw Story, New Republic and Orlando Sentinel

Philip Klein / National Review:
DeSantis Enjoys Huge Haul of Iowa Endorsements Ahead of Visit

Discussion: The Floridian, CBS News, Florida Politics and Des Moines Register

NBC News: Ron DeSantis is on the verge of announcing his presidential bid

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
DeSantis rolls out a major slate of Iowa endorsements

Discussion: Alternet.org, Washington Times, Florida Politics, Fox News, Political Wire and Des Moines Register

Jonathan Martin / Politico:
Why the DeSantis Braintrust Thinks It Can Actually Beat Trump

Discussion: The Post Millennial, Mediaite, Election Law Blog, Washington Examiner, Raw Story and Insider

Andrew Romano / Yahoo News:
New poll: Is DeSantis's war on ‘woke’ Disney falling flat?

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill and Political Wire

Adam Nichols / Raw Story:

CNN told ‘disgusted’ audience members to stay silent during Trump's town hall: report — The audience at CNN's town hall Wednesday appeared to be lapping up Donald Trump's every word, but there were many dissenters in the crowd - and they were told to stay quiet, a new report claims.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Political Wire, Talking Points Memo and Puck

Charlie Nash / Mediaite:

Republican at Trump Town Hall Says Many in Audience Were ‘Disgusted’ or ‘Bewildered’ By Ex-President — Many audience members at CNN's town hall with former President Donald Trump on Wednesday were “disgusted” and “bewildered” by the spectacle, but were told to be respectful and not to boo, according to a report.

Discussion: Raw Story

Jamison Foser / Finding Gravity:
Anderson Cooper, company man

Discussion: Deadline, Insider and Twitchy, more at Mediagazer »

Stephen Groves / Associated Press:

GOP lawmaker: Former Trump prosecutor declined to provide details on hush-money investigation — An ex-prosecutor who once oversaw Manhattan's yearslong investigation of former President Donald Trump repeatedly declined to substantively answer questions at a closed-door meeting Friday …

Discussion: Law & Crime, Raw Story, Washington Examiner, RedState, National Review, The Gateway Pundit and New York Times

Mychael Schnell / The Hill:

Former Trump prosecutor slams GOP ‘political theater,’ takes the Fifth at deposition — Former Trump prosecutor Mark Pomerantz invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during his deposition before the House Judiciary Committee on Friday, slamming the GOP-led panel's investigation as “political theater” in his opening statement.

Discussion: CNBC, Raw Story, Breitbart, PoliticusUSA, The Daily Caller and Washington Press

Associated Press:
Trump to get schooled on judge's rules barring him from using evidence to slam witnesses

Discussion: New Republic and Raw Story

Sky Palma / Raw Story:

Russian lawyer claims Putin is building settlements for conservatives looking to leave the US for ‘ideological reasons’ — A Moscow-based immigration lawyer claims that a settlement for conservative American and Canadian immigrants seeking to leave the West “for ideological reasons” is being built in Russia, Vice News reported.

Discussion: VICE

The Moscow Times:
Russia to Build ‘Migrant Village’ for Conservative American Expats

Discussion: The Daily Beast and New Republic

Matthew Loh / Insider: Russia is floating a plan to build a village for conservative Americans who want to move to a ‘Christian country’ and are tired of liberal ideology in the US

Ben Collins / NBC News:

Cat and dog torture videos litter Twitter, adding to concerns about moderation — Twitter's search function suggested searches for animal abuse, leading some viewers to the video. As of Friday afternoon, Twitter appeared to have turned off all suggestions.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

American Oversight:

American Oversight Receives Indication That Durham Investigation Has Closed — On Friday, the Department of Justice dropped a key objection to the release of more than 4,500 pages of documents related to the Durham investigation, the Trump-era inquiry into the origins of the FBI's probe of the Trump campaign's ties to Russia.

New York Times:

Ex-ByteDance Executive Accuses Company of ‘Lawlessness’ — The former executive sued ByteDance, which owns TikTok, for wrongful termination and accused the company of lifting content from rivals and “supreme access” by the Chinese Communist Party. — A former executive at ByteDance …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, The Hill, The Hollywood Reporter, RedState, Gizmodo and Fox News, more at Techmeme »

Brooke Leigh Howard / The Daily Beast:

Cops Win $40M Over Racial Discrimination in Massachusetts — Abel Cano Jr., one of the Massachusetts officers continually passed over for promotion due to his skin color, said he can't help but wonder how much better his life may have been. — After nearly 15 years of litigation …

Jim Geraghty / Washington Post:

The primaries haven't started, and Biden has a problem: New Hampshire — There were fireworks in New Hampshire on Wednesday night at CNN's town hall with former president Donald Trump. But there's a slow-burning fuse in the Granite State that has the potential to blow up Democratic Party primary politics next year.

Discussion: Maryland Matters

Washington Post:
Sununu on Trump: 'He's like a shell of himself'

Discussion: Mediaite, Politico, Daily Mail, Balloon Juice and Wall Street Journal

CNN:

Russia tried to destroy US-made Patriot system in Ukraine, officials say — Russia tried to destroy a US-made Patriot air defense system in Ukraine last week with a hypersonic missile, two US officials told CNN. — The attack failed, and the Ukrainian military instead intercepted …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Sputnik News and TASS

Washington Post:

How Ukrainian forces denied Russia victory in Bakhmut by Victory Day — KYIV, Ukraine — They started shelling at sunrise. — In the dawn haze, under the cover of their own artillery, small groups of Ukrainian soldiers advanced toward a Russian position on the outskirts of the embattled city of Bakhmut.

Discussion: HotAir, New York Times, Associated Press, Bloomberg, BBC, CBS News, CNBC and Al Jazeera

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Ally Rebuffs Requests to Block Russian Military Flights — Egypt is giving Moscow crucial access to its airspace, allowing a path to transport weapons to Ukraine from Syria — Egypt has ignored U.S. requests to close its airspace to Russian military flights, American and Egyptian officials said …

Discussion: The Western Journal, BizPac Review and Political Wire

Joshua Glanzer / Florida Atlantic University:

Poll: Florida Republicans Strongly Support Donald Trump for 2024 Run — 2024 election cycle will be here very soon. — Amidst massive legal battles involving former U.S. President Donald Trump and jockeying for control of the GOP that puts Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the public light …

Discussion: American Greatness, Digby's Hullabaloo, Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit, Florida Politics, Political Wire and Breitbart

Peter Sterne / City & State New York:

Emma Stone-backed child harassment bill sparks First Amendment, youth incarceration concerns — Legislation backed by the Oscar winner would make recording children in public without parents' consent a misdemeanor in New York punishable by up to a year in prison.

Abené Clayton / The Guardian:

'It isn't helpful': how media and mass shootings may reinforce each other — Mass shootings can be contagious, one inspiring another - but do news coverage and social media contribute to the death toll? — Supported by About this content — ews coverage of high-profile mass shootings …

Eric Russell / Press Herald:

Group trying to gain official party status warned against misleading voters — Maine's secretary of state has sent a cease-and-desist letter to national organization No Labels, expressing concerns that it has confused voters who think they are signing a petition but instead are enrolling in a new party.

Discussion: Election Law Blog, Fox News and Political Wire

NBC News:

FDA approves drug to treat hot flashes and night sweats — The new drug, frezolinetant, could be a “game-changer” for women who don't want to take hormone replacement therapy or who have been treated for hormone-sensitive cancers. — The Food and Drug Administration approved on Friday …

Discussion: US Food and Drug …, Plain Dealer and CBS News

David Rothkopf / The Daily Beast:

The GOP Is the Party of ‘Fuck You’ — It was once a political party, now it's a nihilistic, corrupt, fake populist scam. … There is an apocryphal belief that among the Indigenous people of the north there are more than 30 words for snow. Well, I'm from New Jersey and I can tell …

Discussion: Raw Story

Irina Ivanova / CBS News:

GM recalls nearly 1 million vehicles over potentially dangerous air bag inflators — General Motors said Friday is is recalling nearly 1 million sport utility vehicles amid a push by federal regulators to recall 67 million defective air bag inflators that could explode during deployment.

Discussion: Fortune

Bloomberg:

Yellen Says ‘We Have to Default’ on Something If Congress Fails — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the federal government will have to renege on some payments if Congress doesn't raise the debt limit, though no plan on how the department would proceed has yet been presented to President Joe Biden.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill and Wall Street Journal

Christina Wilkie / CNBC:

U.S. can avoid default in July if Treasury can make it through June cash crunch, Congressional Budget Office says — WASHINGTON — The Congressional Budget Office on Friday said that tax revenues and emergency measures after June 15 “will probably allow the government to continue financing operations through at least the end of July.”