memeorandum: Beyond shock and awe: Inside Trump's potential second-term agenda (Politico)

1:10 PM ET, February 25, 2024

Top Items:

3 takeaways from the South Carolina GOP primary — Donald Trump has swept the traditional early states in the Republican presidential nominating contest after defeating Nikki Haley on Saturday in South Carolina. — News organizations called the race shortly after polls closed …

Adam Wren / Politico:

Republicans Are Done With Mike Pence — Except Trump's VP Contenders — Intermediaries for Elise Stefanik, Kristi Noem and Tim Scott have been asking questions about how Pence handled the vetting gauntlet in 2016. — With the GOP presidential primary over in all but name …

Discussion: Raw Story and The Guardian

David Edwards / Raw Story:

Trump's request to suspend E. Jean Carroll's $83M verdict swiftly denied by judge — U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan declined a request to grant a stay after a jury ordered Donald Trump to pay writer E. Jean Carroll over $83 million for defamation. — “Twenty-five days …

Discussion: MeidasTouch, The Hill, The Guardian, National Review and ABC News

Politico:

Beyond shock and awe: Inside Trump's potential second-term agenda — From nationwide abortion bans to classroom culture wars, assaults on climate science and political weaponization of the military, his return to the White House could make Trump 1.0 seem tame.

Jennifer M. Wood / The Daily Beast:

‘SNL’ Shames Terrified Republicans for Surrendering to Trump — The latest “SNL” cold open featured Jim Risch, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, and Tim Scott saying out loud what everyone is already thinking. — Saturday Night Live put up its best cold open in quite a while this week …

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Examiner, Whiskey Riff, Mediaite, WLT Report, PoliticusUSA, The Hill, Variety and Deadline

Washington Post:
Trump and his allies scramble to close fundraising gap with Biden

Discussion: Raw Story and The American Conservative

Gram Slattery / Reuters:
Nikki Haley makes her case to a Republican Party that no longer exists

Discussion: ABC News, Blue Virginia and CNN

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Prominent Republican Seeks to Shield the Party From Paying Trump's Legal Bills

Discussion: Rolling Stone, Associated Press, Raw Story, New York Post, PoliticusUSA, The Dispatch and Daily Kos

Olivia Rinaldi / CBS News:
Draft RNC resolution would block payment of candidate's legal bills

Discussion: HotAir

NBC News:
Fewer grievances, more policy: Trump aides and allies push for a post-South Carolina ‘pivot’

Discussion: Reuters, The Hill, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, Associated Press, Political Wire and NPR

Cheyanne M. Daniels / The Hill:
Black leaders, DNC blast Trump for ‘racist’ comments

Associated Press:
Trump enters South Carolina's Republican primary looking to embarrass Haley in her home state

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Politico, Outside the Beltway, Florida Politics, The Guardian, ABC News, Axios, Daily Caller News Foundation, NBC News, Talking Points Memo, CNN, Al Jazeera, The Federalist, WPRI-TV, The Atlantic, Washington Times, New York Times, Breitbart, The Daily Beast, The Spectator World, Associated Press, The American Conservative, National Review, WLT Report, Mediaite, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post, Louisiana Illuminator, Election Central, Kansas Reflector, The Sun, The Hill, Deseret News, The Hollywood Reporter, The Daily Caller, FOX8 WGHP, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, KTAR.com, Bloomberg, HuffPost, Reuters, NewsNation, USA Today, MeidasTouch, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, PBS NewsHour, CBS News, UPI, The National Pulse+, DCReport.org, Fox News, Vox, BizPac Review, Today's Edition Newsletter, Slate, Michigan Advance and NPR

Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Trump says South Carolina is a ‘bigger win than we anticipated,’ looks forward to saying 'Joe, you're fired'

Discussion: Washington Examiner, BizPac Review, Townhall, The Guardian, Twitchy, RedState, Reason, New York Post, NBC News and Florida Politics

NBC News:
Draft RNC resolution would slow the party's embrace of Trump as the nominee

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Hill, The Kyiv Independent, Semafor, Washington Times, Associated Press, The Daily Caller and Washington Examiner

Michael C. Bender / New York Times:
Kristi Noem and Vivek Ramaswamy Are CPAC's Choices for Trump's Running Mate

Discussion: Fox News, ABC News, BizPac Review, New York Post, The Hill, WLT Report, The Gateway Pundit, Bloomberg, Political Wire and Althouse

NBC News:

Climate change is throwing the water cycle into chaos across the U.S. — As the planet continues to warm, this cycle is expected to be increasingly stretched, warped and broken. — The water cycle that shuttles Earth's most vital resource around in an unending, life-giving loop is in trouble.

CNN:

One of the world's biggest cities may be just months away from running out of water — Mexico City CNN — Alejandro Gomez has been without proper running water for more than three months. Sometimes it comes on for an hour or two, but only a small trickle, barely enough to fill a couple of buckets.

The Hill:

Biden's frustration with the media boils over — Months out from November's high-stakes election, the White House and the Biden campaign are going public with growing frustration over how the president is being portrayed in the media. — Biden's camp is taking swings over press coverage …

Discussion: Washington Post and RedState

Brian Karem / Salon:
Joe Biden gives the media a desperately needed lesson about Donald Trump

Discussion: Twitchy, Breitbart, Washington Times, New York Times, Washington Examiner, NPR, WLT Report, Raw Story, Mediaite, JONATHAN TURLEY and Axios

Abbie VanSickle / New York Times:

Justice Thomas Hires Law Clerk Accused of Sending Racist Text Messages — Crystal Clanton, who is close with the Thomas family, has said she does not remember sending the messages, which emerged in 2017. — Justice Clarence Thomas recently hired a law clerk who was previously accused …

Discussion: Washington Post and Vanity Fair

Kathryn Armstrong / BBC:

Ukraine war: Zelensky says 31,000 troops killed since Russia's full-scale invasion — Volodymyr Zelensky says 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed during Russia's full-scale invasion. — The Ukrainian president said he would not give the number of wounded as that would help Russian military planning.

Discussion: The Kyiv Independent, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, The Sun, RTÉ, Florida Politics and TASS

CNN:

How Johnson wooed Trump to back a GOP congressman targeted by Gaetz — Watch CNN's coverage of Donald Trump's involvement in key House Republican primaries on ‘Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju’ at 11 a.m. ET. — Speaker Mike Johnson and his top lieutenants had a mission …

Discussion: Raw Story

Business Insider:

Congressman presses Elon Musk to provide SpaceX satellite services for US defense forces in Taiwan, report says — A Congressman is urging Elon Musk to give SpaceX Starshield access to US forces in Taiwan. — Refusal could breach SpaceX's contractual obligations with the US government, Forbes reported.

Discussion: Fox Business and Wall Street Journal

David Jeans / Forbes:
Exclusive: Lawmakers Demand Elon Musk Provide SpaceX Internet To US Military In Taiwan

more at Techmeme »

Rebecca Rommen / Business Insider:

Warren Buffett's son Howard has given $500M to Ukraine — he warns the US is making a historic mistake by pulling its support — Business Insider interviewed Warren Buffett's son about his support for Ukraine. — Howard Buffett's foundation has given $520 million to Ukraine in humanitarian aid.

Discussion: The Kyiv Independent

NBC News:

Gov. Gavin Newsom's super PAC launches TV ad targeting GOP on abortion — Campaign for Democracy will run TV ads in Tennessee targeting two state bills that would restrict minors traveling out of state for abortion care. — California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's super PAC is launching …

Discussion: The Guardian, Politico, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, Sacramento Bee and The Hill