memeorandum: ‘It turned out to be a mistake’: Botched rollout puts DeSantis on his heels (Politico)

3:05 PM ET, May 25, 2023

Top Items:

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

It Was More Than a #DeSaster — Ron DeSantis's botched campaign launch suggests that he's no Trump killer. — I've long been of the view that Donald Trump is something akin to a horror-movie monster—a Godzilla or a T. Rex, say—for the American political system.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Fox News, Wired, Forbes, New York Times, Mediaite, Washington Press, Gizmodo, Tallahassee Democrat, Associated Press, The Moderate Voice, Florida Phoenix, El País, 100PercentFedUp.com, al.com and Just The News, more at Mediagazer »

Alex Thompson / Axios:

DeSantis PAC adds fake fighter jets to launch video — The super PAC supporting Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign altered footage to include the sound and sight of fighter jets flying over the Florida governor in its video promoting his campaign launch. — The video by Never Back Down …

Discussion: Insider, Forbes, Joe.My.God., Raw Story and UPROXX

Greg Minchak / The Lincoln Project:

An Open Letter To Ron DeSantis From The Lincoln Project — May 24, 2023 - The following is an open letter to Ron DeSantis from the Lincoln Project regarding his announcement that he's running for President: — Dear Ron, — Congratulations on entering the 2024 Presidential primary process.

Discussion: Florida Politics, Balloon Juice, Twitchy, Althouse, Trending Politics Conservative and RedState

Margaret Sullivan / The Guardian:

Now's the time to think about just how bad a DeSantis presidency would be — Consider what the two-term governor has wrought in his home state and in his early forays into world affairs — olitical journalists and pundits spent much of Wednesday obsessing over the gimmicky way that the Florida governor …

Discussion: BizPac Review and The Nation

Marc Caputo / The Messenger:
Inside the Secret DeSantis Donor Briefing (Exclusive)

Discussion: Politico, Florida's Voice, The Hill, The Daily Caller, FiveThirtyEight and CNN

Lauren Sforza / The Hill:
DeSantis says he'll consider pardoning Jan. 6 defendants, including Trump

Discussion: Washington Post, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Mediaite and Fox News

Ryan Mac / New York Times:
Elon Musk's Event With Ron DeSantis Exposes Twitter's Weaknesses

Sarah Smith / BBC:
The campaign launch Ron DeSantis will want to forget

Politico:
‘It turned out to be a mistake’: Botched rollout puts DeSantis on his heels

Discussion: USA Today, BizPac Review, The Hill, Daily Kos, TheBlaze, The Floridian, Insider and CNN

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
DeSantis is adrift in the boundless sea of right-wing jargon

Discussion: RedState, Vox, Alternet.org, PinkNews, Fox News, The Hill, The Wrap, Breitbart and TechCrunch

George Prayias / Clay & Buck's Exclusive Interview …:
Clay & Buck's Exclusive Interview with Presidential Candidate Governor Ron DeSantis

Discussion: Deadline, Florida Politics, The Gateway Pundit and TMZ.com

New York Times:
The Policy Fights Where DeSantis Sees His Chance to Hit Trump

Discussion: Reason, Vox, PolitiFact and TheBlaze

Shelby Talcott / Semafor:
Ron DeSantis gambled on Elon Musk and went bust

Discussion: Washington Post, HotAir, Washington Examiner, Tampa Bay Times, CNN, Mediaite, Associated Press, New Republic, Axios, The Verge, Big League Politics, IJR, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, ABC News and TheBlaze

Jim Geraghty / National Review:
Everybody Calm Down about DeSantis's Campaign Début

Discussion: Vanity Fair

Philip Klein / National Review:
Ron DeSantis Twitter Launch Was a Disaster

Washington Post:

Trump workers moved Mar-a-Lago boxes a day before Justice Dept. came for documents — New details, including alleged ‘dress rehearsal’ for moving sensitive papers, show a focus on Donald Trump's instructions and intent — Two of Donald Trump's employees moved boxes of papers …

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Political Wire

Rolling Stone:

Trump's Lawyers Warn Him: Get Ready to Be Indicted by the Feds — The former president has angrily complained in response to predictions that if the Justice Department is going to charge him, then “what about Joe Biden?” … The feds have also been probing whether or not Trump tried …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and CNN

NBC News:

Oath Keepers founder sentenced to 18 years in Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy case — Stewart Rhodes, who said after the Capitol attack that the rioters “should have brought rifles,” received the longest sentence of any Jan. 6 defendant to date. — WASHINGTON — The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers …

Alan Feuer / New York Times:

Oath Keepers Leader Is Sentenced to 18 Years in Jan. 6 Sedition Case — The sentence for Stewart Rhodes was the longest so far in the federal investigation of the Capitol attack and the first issued to a defendant convicted of sedition. — Reporting from Washington

Discussion: Associated Press

CNN:

Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years in prison for plot to keep Trump in power — Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Thursday for leading a far-reaching plot to keep then-President Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election.

Discussion: The Messenger, Insider, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Courthouse News Service, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., CBS News, emptywheel and Agence France-Presse

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes gets 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy

Discussion: CBS News, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit and CNN

Washington Post:
Oath Keepers leader Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy

Discussion: Vox, New Republic and Raw Story

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Limits E.P.A.'s Power to Address Water Pollution — The justices ruled that discharges into some wetlands are not covered by the Clean Water Act. — Reporting from Washington — The Supreme Court on Thursday curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency's authority …

Discussion: CBS News, National Review, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, Washington Examiner, Joe.My.God. and The Mahablog

Washington Post:
Supreme Court weakens EPA power to enforce Clean Water Act

Ian Millhiser / Vox:
A new Supreme Court opinion is terrible news if you care about clean water

Discussion: Associated Press, Los Angeles Times and Trending Politics Conservative

Ariane de Vogue / CNN:
Supreme Court rolls back federal safeguards for wetlands under Clean Water Act

Discussion: Reuters and Just The News

Ben Jacobs / New York Magazine:

CPAC Is Rocked by a Resignation — A top leader in the organization that puts on CPAC, the highly influential conference of conservative leaders, resigned on Tuesday night citing financial mysteries surrounding the organization's leader. — Bob Beauprez, the longtime treasurer …

Discussion: Mediaite, Alternet.org, The Daily Beast, Washington Press, Raw Story, Joe.My.God. and The National Pulse+

Washington Post:

CPAC treasurer accuses chief Matt Schlapp of financial, personnel mismanagement — The resignation letter adds pressure on Schlapp, who is fighting a defamation lawsuit from a campaign staffer who alleges he groped him — Matt Schlapp, the prominent Trump ally who leads …

Politico:

House conservatives blanch at leaked details of McCarthy-Biden debt talks — The group was already unlikely to support a final bipartisan deal, but lingering anger with Kevin McCarthy could have lasting implications on his speakership. — As details leak about an emerging bipartisan debt deal …

Discussion: HuffPost and CNBC

Eric Lutz / Vanity Fair:
The Head of the Republican Party Literally Said a Default Could Bode “Very Well” for the GOP

Discussion: Alternet.org, Politico, CNN and Washington Post

Ryan Cooper / American Prospect: Democrats Need to Get Over Their Pathetic Fear of the Supreme Court

Michael Luciano / Mediaite:
Ronna McDaniel Says Possible U.S. Default ‘Bodes Very Well for the Republican Field’ in 2024

Discussion: Democrats and Joe.My.God.

Andrew Lapin / Jewish Telegraphic Agency:

The Florida mom who sought to ban Amanda Gorman's poem says she's sorry for promoting the Protocols of the Elders of Zion — (JTA) - Months before a Miami-area mother persuaded a local school to restrict access to an Amanda Gorman poem, she was posting antisemitic memes on her Facebook page.

Discussion: Raw Story, Rolling Stone and NPR

The Daily Beast:
Florida Mom Behind Amanda Gorman Book Ban Has Proud Boy Links

Discussion: Associated Press, Raw Story, Reuters, Crooks and Liars, The Status Kuo and TheBlaze

Reuters:

Exclusive: Slimmed-down US debt ceiling deal takes shape — U.S. President Joe Biden and top Republican lawmaker Kevin McCarthy are edging close to a deal on the U.S. debt ceiling, with the parties just $70 billion apart on discretionary spending, according to a person familiar with the talks.

Discussion: New York Times, New Republic and NBC 7 San Diego

Haven Orecchio-Egresitz / Insider:

Lauren Boebert's son called 911 in tears to report his father was ‘throwing’ him around the house. Then she took the phone. — In December, Lauren Boebert's teen son called 911 to report his dad was “throwing me” in the house. — The teen sobbed throughout the two-minute call, saying he didn't understand why his dad was mad.

David Latona / Reuters:

Killer whales wreck boat in latest attack off Spain — Killer whales severely damaged a sailing boat off the coast of southern Spain, the local maritime rescue service said on Thursday, adding to dozens of orca attacks on vessels recorded so far this year on Spanish and Portuguese coasts.

Discussion: CBS News, HotAir, The Sun, Telegraph and Slate

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Target's surrender to MAGA rage shows how anti-wokeness really works — It is sometimes said that corporate America is a battleground in the culture wars. This has taken on ugly new meaning in the case of Target, which just announced that it will pull some LBGTQ-friendly merchandise …

Discussion: BizPac Review, Digby's Hullabaloo and NBC News

Rebecca Crosby / Popular Information:

Tennessee Speaker appoints conspiracy theorist to develop state social studies standards — Last week, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) announced that he had appointed Laurie Cardoza-Moore to serve on the Tennessee Standards Recommendation Committee to oversee …

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and No More Mister Nice Blog

Michael Peregrine / Forbes:

Gym Shoes In The Oval Office Is A Sartorial Wake-Up Call For Leaders — It was, to borrow a Sports Illustrated phrase, a sign that the apocalypse is near. — Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries …

Chris Stokel-Walker / The i Paper:

Twitter is making researchers delete data it gave them unless they pay $42,000 — EXCLUSIVEMove to hike price of academic access compared to ‘book burning’ amid fears it will harm fight against misinformation online — Academic researchers have been set a deadline of the end of the month …

Discussion: TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

The Guardian:

Dutch prosecutors seize land owned by Vladimir Putin's former son-in-law — Exclusive: Jorrit Faassen, previously married to Putin's elder daughter, is said to have been questioned over sanctions evasion — Dutch prosecutors have seized a plot of land near Amsterdam that belongs …

Alex Shephard / New Republic:

CNN Is Tanking After Its Unforgivable Trump Town Hall — CNN's brass defended its disastrous early-May town hall with Donald Trump on journalistic grounds, arguing that while he may present unique challenges as an interview subject—serial lying, general incoherence, a literal attempted coup …