memeorandum: Could Biden and Trump win their parties' nominations this week? What to watch in the next contests (Steve Peoples/Associated Press)

4:10 PM ET, March 11, 2024

Top Items:

Trump's $91.6 million question — New York juries have found, by a preponderance of the evidence, that former President Donald Trump sexually assaulted writer E. Jean Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-90s and then repeatedly defamed her, falsely accusing Carroll of lying about the incident.

Discussion: Civil Discourse …, New Republic, The Hill, New Jersey Online, Raw Story, Newsweek, The Moderate Voice and New York Magazine

Chris Lehmann / The Nation:

The MAGA Aesthetic Is Beginning to Rot — The stable of imagery associated with the far-right insurgency no longer seems as fresh as it did when Trump first donned his red cap. — Pocket — For headline writers and Beltway pundits, the takeaway from last week's State of the Union address was clear …

NBC News:

Trump floats ‘cutting’ retirement spending, drawing quick pushback from Biden — The Republican nominee-in-waiting said that “there's a lot you can do in terms of cutting” when pressed on CNBC about the solvency of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. — Presumptive Republican nominee …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, HuffPost, Wall Street Journal, Raw Story, The Hill, Mediaite, The White House, Semafor, Fox Business, Rolling Stone and Democrats

Stephen Robinson / Public Notice:

The media is still selling a fantasy version of Trump — This free edition of PN is made possible by paid subscribers. If you aren't one already, hit the button and sign up to support our independent journalism. — ⌨️ Subscribe to Public Notice ⌨️

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Sean O'Driscoll / Newsweek:

Donald Trump May Be Closer To Bankruptcy Than It Seems — Donald Trump may be in a worse financial situation than most people think, a financial analyst has said. — Jon Gabrielsen, an Atlanta-based market economist, told Newsweek that Trump's liquidity problems may be more acute than they first appear …

Discussion: Raw Story

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:

E. Jean Carroll lawyer suggests third Trump defamation lawsuit possible after new comments — Donald Trump again denied rape and defamation claims against him by E. Jean Carroll. — The presumptive Republican presidential nominee claimed on CNBC's “Squawk Box” that the numerous judgments …

Discussion: New York Times, Newsweek, Slate, HuffPost, The Independent, NBC News, The Post Millennial, Raw Story, Law & Crime, The Daily Beast and MeidasTouch

New York Times:

House to Move Ahead With Bill Targeting TikTok as Trump Flips to Oppose It — Bipartisan legislation to force the Chinese owners of the platform to divest or face a ban was moving forward in Congress even after former President Donald J. Trump came out strongly against banning it.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, ABC News, Wall Street Journal, Axios, Business Insider, NBC News, New Republic, CNBC, Raw Story, Political Wire, BizPac Review, Forbes, Bloomberg, New York Daily News, USA Today and HuffPost

Steve Benen / MSNBC:

Adding to an ugly record, Trump mocks Biden's stutter (again) — Donald Trump's fractured relationship with human decency is especially evident when it comes to those with disabilities. — A couple of months ago, while on the campaign trail in Iowa, Donald Trump had plenty …

Discussion: The Hill, HuffPost, Mediaite and Raw Story

Washington Post:

Trump's freewheeling speeches offer a dark vision of a second term — A close examination of one appearance in Rock Hill, S.C., offers an anatomy of a signature rally by the former president — A Donald Trump rally is a freewheeling extravaganza. A festival of grievance and retribution.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Atlanta Journal-Constitution

J.D. Wolf / MeidasTouch:
Trump Posted Manipulated Video of Democrats Applauding Him At Biden's State of the Union Speech

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, PoliticusUSA, Digby's Hullabaloo, The Hill and New York Times

Chauncey DeVega / Salon:
The GOP can't leave MAGA — “Americans must electorally mercy-kill the Republican Party”

Discussion: Raw Story

Dan Primack / Axios:
Shotgun divorce: How ByteDance could save TikTok from a U.S. ban

Discussion: Business Insider and Mediaite

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
The twin challenges of warnings about Trump's support of authoritarianism

Discussion: Reuters, Digby's Hullabaloo, Raw Story, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Business Insider, PoliticusUSA and Big League Politics

CNBC:
CNBC Transcript: Former President of the United States Donald Trump Speaks with CNBC's “Squawk Box” Today

Discussion: New York Post, ABC News, Gizmodo, Whittier Daily News and Fox Business

Dan Mangan / CNBC:
‘Not on my watch’ — Biden blasts Trump over suggested cuts to Social Security, Medicare

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Examiner and USA Today

Paul Steinhauser / Fox News:
Biden returns to the key battleground state he snubbed in the presidential primaries

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Wonkette, The Guardian and The Hill

Claudia Chiappa / Politico:
Donald Trump won't give ‘a penny’ to Ukraine if elected, Orbán says

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast, The Hill, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Political Wire and Washington Times

Steve Peoples / Associated Press:
Could Biden and Trump win their parties' nominations this week? What to watch in the next contests

Discussion: USA Today, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Daily Kos, The Dispatch, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Florida Politics and The Guardian

Will Weissert / Associated Press: Youth activist groups jointly endorse Biden. They say his achievements matter more than his age

Steve Benen / MSNBC:
Biden takes aim at Trump following his embrace of Hungary's Orbán

Discussion: Wonkette, Washington Post and Raw Story

Rasmussen Reports:
Most Democrats Don't Want Congress to Certify Election if Trump Wins

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Breitbart

John Hendrickson / The Atlantic:
Trump Finds Another Line to Cross

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, New Jersey Online, DNyuz and New York Times

NBC News:

House Republicans release report seeking to undermine Jan. 6 Committee and star witness — The report takes aim at key Jan. 6 witness Cassidy Hutchinson, citing unnamed Trump White House staffers who did not corroborate her testimony. — WASHINGTON — A House committee investigating …

Discussion: Washington Times, Raw Story, The Guardian and PJ Media

Luke Broadwater / New York Times: Testimony Fleshes Out Account of Trump's Demand to Go to Capitol on Jan. 6

Jim Sciutto / CNN:

Former advisers sound the alarm that Trump praises despots in private and on the campaign trail — To Donald Trump, Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán is “fantastic,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping is “brilliant,” North Korea's Kim Jong Un is “an OK guy,” and, most alarmingly …

Discussion: The Hill, Salon, The Guardian, New Jersey Online, Raw Story, Mediaite and The Bulwark

Josephine Harvey / HuffPost:
John Kelly Shares His ‘Theory’ On Why Trump Likes Dictators So Much: New Book

Discussion: The Guardian

Tom Jones / Poynter:

How a tenacious reporter revealed Sen. Katie Britt's SOTU response to be ‘beyond misleading’ — Britt tied an anecdote about a woman who survived sex trafficking to Biden's border policies. But it happened during the George W. Bush admin. — Last Thursday was President Joe Biden's big State of the Union address.

Discussion: American Greatness, Associated Press, Off Message, Raw Story, Rolling Stone, HuffPost and The Daily Beast, more at Mediagazer »

The Hill:

Trump seeks to derail New York hush money trial over immunity claims — Former President Trump is seeking to derail the start of his first criminal trial just two weeks out from when it is scheduled to begin, asserting a presidential immunity defense in the case for the first time.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Business Insider, USA Today, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Fox News, UPI, Raw Story, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Caller, New York Daily News, ABC News and Political Wire

Erin Doherty / Axios:
Trump seeks New York criminal trial delay until SCOTUS weighs in on immunity

Discussion: Reuters, NBC News and PoliticusUSA

Nick Robertson / The Hill:

Biden effigy beaten at GOP event in Kansas; ex-official calls for resignations — Attendees at a Kansas county Republican Party event punched, kicked and took a baseball bat to an effigy of President Biden on Friday, sparking backlash from former party officials.

Discussion: Mike Kuckelman, KAKE-TV, The Guardian, Raw Story, KSNT-TV and Kansas Reflector

CNN:

Sex trafficking victim says Sen. Katie Britt telling her story during SOTU rebuttal is ‘not fair’ — The woman whose story Alabama Sen. Katie Britt appeared to have shared in the Republican response to the State of the Union as an example of President Joe Biden's failed immigration policies told CNN …

Deborah Barfield Berry / USA Today:

HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge to resign, says affordable housing is ‘an American issue’ — WASHINGTON ‒ Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge will step down from her top post in the Biden administration this month, she announced Monday, saying that after decades of public service, she's retiring and returning to Ohio.

Jason Wilson / The Guardian:

Revealed: US conservative thinktank's links to extremist fraternal order — Claremont Institute officials closely involved with Society for American Civic Renewal, which experts say is rooted in Christian nationalism — The president of the rightwing Claremont Institute …

Discussion: Raw Story