memeorandum: Biden campaign expects GOP candidates to ‘out-MAGA each other’ during first debate (Megan Lebowitz/NBC News)

3:20 PM ET, August 19, 2023

Top Items:

The Constitution Prohibits Trump From Ever Being President Again — The only question is whether American citizens today can uphold that commitment. — As students of the United States Constitution for many decades—one of us as a U.S. Court of Appeals judge, the other as a professor …

Discussion: Election Law Blog, Raw Story, UPROXX, PoliticusUSA, New York Times, Unfogged and Washington Monthly

Katelyn Polantz / CNN:

Legal scholars increasingly raise constitutional argument that Trump should be barred from presidency — Prominent conservative legal scholars are increasingly raising a constitutional argument that 2024 Republican candidate Donald Trump should be barred from the presidency because of his actions …

Discussion: The Hill, Election Law Blog and The Moderate Voice

New York Times:

Inside Trump's Decision to Skip the G.O.P. Debate — Fox News leaned on the former president privately and publicly to join the debate. But all the while he was proceeding with a plan for his own counterprogramming. — On a cool August night on the crowded patio of his private club in New Jersey …

Discussion: Vanity Fair, Mediaite, BizPac Review, No More Mister Nice Blog, Raw Story, Slate, CNN, HuffPost, The Spectator World, Reuters and PoliticusUSA, more at Mediagazer »

Steven Shepard / Politico:

Why Trump might regret passing on the first debate — In recent nominating contests, the nationally televised shoutfests have prompted significant shifts in polling afterward. — Donald Trump wants to deprive his competitors of any oxygen. That's why the former president is likely skipping next week's debate in Milwaukee.

Discussion: Mock Paper Scissors and Raw Story

S.V. Date / HuffPost:

Christie: Trump Canceled Election Fraud Press Conference Because 'He's Scared' Of Jail — Trump first promised a news conference to reveal proof that the 2020 election in Georgia had been “stolen” from him, but then canceled. — ATLANTA — While Donald Trump claims he canceled …

Discussion: The Garden Island, Vanity Fair, The Hill, IJR, National Review, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, Axios, KTLA, Associated Press, New York Post, Mediaite, Bloomberg and Washington Examiner

Washington Post:

FBI joins investigation of threats to grand jurors in Trump Georgia case — ATLANTA — The FBI has joined an investigation into a barrage of threats against Fulton County officials in recent days, including members of the Atlanta-area grand jury that voted to indict former president Donald Trump …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Raw Story, Political Wire, HuffPost, BizPac Review, CBS News, Breaking911, CNN and Al Jazeera

Axios:

Scoop: Big GOP donors push for Trump alternative — Several top GOP donors, panicked about their current choices, are holding back 2024 money with the long-shot dream of luring an alternative to former President Trump into the presidential race at the last minute.

Discussion: Blue Virginia, Washington Examiner, PoliticusUSA, The Daily Caller and New York Magazine

Washington Post:
Rupert Murdoch encouraged Virginia's Glenn Youngkin to seek presidency

Discussion: Insider, Outside the Beltway, Breitbart, Raw Story and Political Wire

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
DeSantis meets privately with Kemp in Georgia

Discussion: Fox News, WXIA-TV, PJ Media, CNN, Bloomberg, NBC News, Raw Story and New York Times

New York Times:

Giuliani Repeatedly Sought Financial Lifeline From Trump — As Rudolph Giuliani has neared a financial breaking point with a pile of legal bills, the former president has largely demurred, despite making a vague promise to pay up. — Rudolph W. Giuliani is running out of money and looking …

Discussion: Insider, UPROXX, HotAir and Raw Story

Liz Skalka / HuffPost:

The GOP Is Over Its War On ‘Woke’ — Turns out Republican primary voters aren't that into the anti-woke rallying cry, and presidential candidates are responding accordingly. — DES MOINES, Iowa — Jill Connell is sick of hearing the word “woke.” — The 66-year-old from Kansas …

Paul Steinhauser / Fox News:

What's next for the one-time red state turned southwestern battleground? — Arizona's become more competitive, but a top Democratic strategist warns 'folks who assume that Arizona's gotten more progressive do so at their own peril' — President Biden not only made history in 2020 …

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Rolling Stone:
Arizona Investigators ‘Aggressively’ Looking at Top Trump Ally Kelli Ward

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

Megan Lebowitz / NBC News:

Biden campaign expects GOP candidates to ‘out-MAGA each other’ during first debate — In a memo first shared with NBC News, the Biden campaign plans to highlight abortion rights and threats to democracy when candidates take the stage Wednesday night. — The Biden campaign plans to highlight …

Discussion: Politico, RedState, The Daily Beast, Journal Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel, Washington Examiner, Florida Politics, The Post Millennial, New York Times and CBS News

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

The Chicanery of the Hunter Biden Plea Bargain — ‘Special counsel’ David Weiss has done everything in his power to make the DOJ's investigation of Biden family corruption disappear. — Sham special counsel David Weiss could not have more royally screwed up the Hunter Biden case.

Discussion: HotAir, RedState, The Daily Caller, Power Line, Washington Examiner, New York Post, PJ Media, The Western Journal and UPI

Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Biden says special counsel probe of his son is ‘up to the Justice Department’

Discussion: The Post Millennial and Political Wire

Public Notice:

Kevin Kruse on Florida's whitewashing of Black history — The part about slavery is getting all the attention. But Kruse argues that Florida's treatment of the 20th century is just as egregious. — ∙ Paid … Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been pilloried, and rightfully so …

Karl Mathiesen / Politico:

Von der Leyen condemns Turkish Cypriot attack on UN peacekeepers — The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen joined the U.K., France and the U.S. in expressing shock and disapproval over an assault on U.N. peacekeepers in Cyprus by Turkish Cypriots.