memeorandum: Dutch prosecutors seize land owned by Vladimir Putin's former son-in-law (The Guardian)

2:25 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: Fox News, Forbes, Mediaite, Washington Press, New York Times, Washington Examiner, Tallahassee Democrat, Associated Press, The Moderate Voice, Wired, 100PercentFedUp.com and al.com

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, Althouse and Twitchy

Margaret Sullivan / The Guardian:
Now's the time to think about just how bad a DeSantis presidency would be

Discussion: Mother Jones and The Nation

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

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, The Wrap, YouGov, Washington Post, The Nation, The Daily Dot, Salon, MIT Technology Review, USA Today, Florida Politics, The Guardian, Daily Kos, Insider, Raw Story, The Spectator World, CNBC and WCTX-TV, more at Mediagazer »

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

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

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

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

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Examiner, Tampa Bay Times, CNN, Axios, Associated Press, IJR, Wall Street Journal and ABC News

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

Discussion: Reason, Vox, PolitiFact and TheBlaze, more at Mediagazer »

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

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

Discussion: Vanity Fair

Politico:
Playbook: Why DeSantis' disastrous launch matters

Discussion: NBC News, The Hill and Associated Press

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

Discussion: USA Today, BizPac Review, TheBlaze, The Hill, The Floridian, Washington Examiner, CNN and Insider

Matt Flegenheimer / New York Times:
Awkward Silence: Ron DeSantis's Bold Twitter Gambit That Flopped

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, Bloomberg, Joe.My.God., CBS News and Agence France-Presse

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

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The Gateway Pundit

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

Discussion: Vox

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, 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 …

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.

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, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo and CNN

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, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, National Review, Associated Press, Washington Examiner, Joe.My.God. and The Mahablog

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

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

Discussion: Reuters and Just The News

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

Washington Post:
What polls tell us about the debt limit fight

Discussion: Fox News, Trending Politics Conservative, IJR and The Daily Caller

Jackie Calmes / Los Angeles Times:
When Kevin McCarthy's spending cuts get spelled out, even Republicans balk

Discussion: The Atlantic, ABC News, PoliticusUSA, NPR and Wall Street Journal

Christina Wilkie / CNBC:
What Republicans want in exchange for raising the debt limit

Discussion: New York Times, Vox, Alternet.org and IJR

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 and New Republic

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 and NPR

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

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

Eric Lutz / Vanity Fair:

The Head of the Republican Party Literally Said a Default Could Bode “Very Well” for the GOP — It's easy to see why debt ceiling negotiations haven't gone anywhere. — With just over a week to go before an unprecedented default, the White House and Republicans still don't have an agreement to raise the debt limit.

Discussion: Politico, CNN and Washington Post

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

Discussion: Democrats

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.

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 …

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

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

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 …

Discussion: The Hill, Alternet.org, CNN, New York Post, The Daily Caller, FactCheck.org and The Messenger

Marlene Lenthang / NBC News:

Brian Laundrie's mother offered him a shovel and garbage bags in ‘burn after reading’ letter — The letter was released to Gabby Petito's parents Wednesday after a Florida judge denied a request from Laundrie's parents to withhold it from them as part of a civil lawsuit.

Discussion: CNN, Fox News, FOX8 WGHP, al.com, New York Post, IJR, Metro.co.uk, The Daily Caller, BizPac Review, The Daily Beast and Insider

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 …

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 …