memeorandum: DeSantis seeks rebound as he and Trump hold dueling events in Iowa (Hannah Knowles/Washington Post)

9:35 AM ET, May 13, 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: Fox News, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, Raw Story, Adweek, Washington Post and One America News Network, more at Mediagazer »

Alex Griffing / Mediaite:

CNN's Oliver Darcy Reportedly Scolded By Boss Chris Licht Over ‘Emotional’ Trump Town Hall Coverage: ‘They Put the Fear of God Into Him’ — CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy was reportedly scolded by his boss Chris Licht, the chairman and CEO of the network, over his critical coverage of the network's Trump town hall on Wednesday night.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Adweek, Newsbusters, Just The News and The Hill, more at Mediagazer »

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

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

No Playing Ostrich With Trump — As Sun Tzu says, ‘Know your enemy.’ — WASHINGTON — My brothers Michael and Martin attended baseball's opening day at the old Griffith Stadium in April 1951, with the Senators (as our team was then called) playing the Yankees.

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

Trump's Lesson for the Media and Ron DeSantis — Just before the South Carolina Republican primary in 2012, CNN's John King opened a presidential debate by asking Newt Gingrich what he probably considered a tough question, about Gingrich's ex-wife's claim that the former speaker of the House had once sought an open marriage.

Steven Shepard / Politico:
Pollsters worry Trump problem is ‘back with a vengeance’

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Examiner and New York Times

Adam Nichols / Raw Story:
CNN told ‘disgusted’ audience members to stay silent during Trump's town hall: report

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Puck

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Trump supporters are neither underrecognized nor half the country

Discussion: Raw Story, PoliticusUSA, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Digby's Hullabaloo, The Daily Beast, New York Post, The Moderate Voice, TMZ.com, The Mahablog, Public Notice and HotAir

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
GOP senators disavow Trump on debt ceiling, signaling growing rift

Discussion: Axios, New York Magazine, Raw Story, Insider and Wall Street Journal

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Trump's awful threat to separate families should wake up Democrats

Discussion: New York Times, NPR, America's Voice, The Hill, Politico, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, The Dispatch, Washington Examiner and New Republic

New York Times:

Why Ron DeSantis Is Limping to the Starting Line — Mr. DeSantis and his allies are retooling his expected run for the White House after a series of missteps and miscalculations allowed Donald J. Trump to define the 2024 Republican race. — In November, Representative Byron Donalds scored …

Discussion: Journal Star, Mediaite, The Post Millennial, NBC News, Big League Politics, Semafor, Washington Examiner and Politico

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

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

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, The Hill, NBC News, Alternet.org, Mediaite, Politico, Florida Politics, CBS News, Washington Times, American Greatness and The Floridian

CNBC:
DeSantis allies could shift $86 million to help him run for president as watchdogs cry foul

Discussion: Raw Story, New Republic and Politico

Ben Hubbard / New York Times:

Turkey's President Amassed Power. He Could Still Lose This Election. — Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has tilted the political playing field in his favor over the past two decades, concentrating power in his own hands. Still, he faces a stiff challenge in Sunday's election.

Discussion: NPR, Associated Press, Reuters, Cyprus Mail, TASS, Al Jazeera, Washington Post, Al-Monitor, Responsible Statecraft, Sputnik News, CNBC, The Daily Beast and Bloomberg

New York Times:
An Erdogan Loss in Turkey Would Stir Relief in the West and Anxiety in Moscow

Discussion: TASS and Al Jazeera

Paul Kirby / BBC: Turkey election: Opposition dares to dream of Erdogan defeat

Kylie Cheung / Jezebel:

A 22-Year-Old Texas Man Fatally Shot His Partner for Traveling to Get an Abortion — Harold Thompson choked and then murdered his partner, Gabriella Gonzalez, in a parking lot in Dallas the day she returned from having an abortion in Colorado. — A Texas man, 22, was arrested on Wednesday evening …

Discussion: Dallas Morning News, Associated Press, New York Post, CBS News, New York Daily News, Fox News and Political Wire

Prem Thakker / New Republic:

Ron DeSantis Bans Credit Card Companies From Helping Track Gun Criminals — Just weeks ago, Ron DeSantis made it legal in Florida to conceal carry a gun without a permit, training, or even a background check. — And on Friday, he signed a bill to prevent credit card companies from tracking the sale of firearms and ammunition.

Discussion: WKMG, WINK News, Breitbart, Sun-Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel and Florida's Voice

Washington Post:

Alleged leaker fixated on guns and envisioned ‘race war’ — Videos and chat logs reveal Jack Teixeira's preparations for a violent social conflict and a deep suspicion of the government he served — Editor's note: Videos in this presentation include racist language and gunshots, which may be disturbing to some readers.

Discussion: The Atlantic

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:

Flush With Federal Money, Strings Attached, a Deep South Factory Votes to Unionize — Friday's victory by the United Steelworkers at a factory building electric school buses was a test for Democratic hopes that clean-energy funding from Washington could bolster organized labor.

Washington Post:

Trust linked to porn-friendly bank could gain a stake in Trump's Truth Social — ES Family Trust offered $8 million in loans to Trump Media in an unusual deal criticized for conflicts of interest — An obscure financial entity with connections to a Caribbean-island bank that bills itself …

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: Bloomberg, Balloon Juice, New York Times, HotAir, Associated Press, CBS News and BBC

Zach Montellaro / Politico:

The Supreme Court has an electoral ‘bomb’ on its hands. Will it defuse it before 2024? — A once-fringe idea known as the independent state legislature theory may not be resolved by the Supreme Court. — A controversial legal theory that could completely upend American elections may not be resolved by the Supreme Court this year.

Discussion: Raw Story and SCOTUSblog

The Daily Beast:

Tucker Carlson Wanted to ‘Start Threatening’ Fox News Staffers After 2020 Election — We've got more previously unreported texts from Tucker. This time, he and his producer scheme ways to threaten Fox staffers into submission and extract a “big, fat contract.”

Discussion: Mediaite and Raw Story

David Moye / HuffPost:

Ben Shapiro Slammed For Denying Bernie Sanders' Jewishness — The right-wing podcaster claimed the Vermont senator, whose uncle was killed by Nazis, was “as Jewish as a ham sandwich topped with shrimp on lard bread.” — Ben Shapiro may be feeling “the Bern” from Twitter users after he quipped …

Discussion: Mediaite and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Dana Rubinstein / New York Times:

CUNY Law School Graduates Turn Their Backs to Mayor Adams — As Mayor Eric Adams began speaking at the law school's commencement service, many of the graduates, in their caps and gowns, turned away from him in a show of protest. — If Mayor Eric Adams needed a sign that his commencement speech …

Discussion: New York Post, HotAir, Reason, Fox News, New York Daily News, The Hill, National Review and Raw Story

Gideon Rubin / Raw Story:

Fake Nevada Trump electors won't face state charges — A group of Nevada Republican electors who submitted paperwork that falsely claimed that Donald Trump won the Silver State's 2020 election will not face state charges, KLAS-TV Las Vegas reports. — Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford …

Discussion: Power Line and The Nevada Independent

Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:

‘Tool’ of the Proud Boys convicted of Jan. 6 police assault, rioting — Christopher Worrell's treatment at the D.C. jail led a judge to order his pretrial release and jail authorities to be found in contempt — A Florida Proud Boys member whose medical mistreatment at the D.C. jail led …

Discussion: Raw Story

Justin Rohrlich / The Daily Beast:

George Santos Staffer Faces Discipline for Menacing Sexual Comments to Reporter — UM, SIR... MAGA provocateur and Santos ops director Vish Burra is in hot water for his behavior toward a Long Island reporter who has given tough coverage to his boss.

Discussion: Alternet.org, Mediaite and Raw Story

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:

A pointed message from one judge to nine others about race and guns — In our judicial system, lower-court judges take instruction from the Supreme Court, not the other way around. In the case of U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, that's too bad. Walton, appointed to the local court …

New York Post:

Homeless vets are being booted from NY hotels to make room for migrants: advocates — Nearly two dozen struggling homeless veterans have been booted from upstate hotels to make room for migrants, says a nonprofit group that works with the vets. — The ex-military — including a 24-year-old man …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Power Line

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.

Robert Legare / CBS News:

Judge agrees to postpone Trump deposition in FBI lawsuit — Washington — In the same Washington, D.C., courthouse where the Justice Department has been convening grand juries to investigate former President Donald Trump's actions around the 2020 presidential election and his handling …