memeorandum: John Bolton Is a National Security Threat (Foreign Policy)

3:05 PM ET, March 23, 2018

Top Items:

Matthew Waxman / Lawfare:

The John Bolton I Knew — Most of the commentary about John Bolton's appointment as national security advisor has focused on his extreme policy views, especially with regard to military strikes against North Korea and Iran. I want instead to offer here a few firsthand thoughts about his formidable skills …

Discussion: Vox, Hit & Run, Politico, Washington Post, The American Conservative, Niskanen Center and The Guardian

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Bolton bombshell: the clashes to come — Sources close to President Trump say he feels John Bolton, hurriedly named last night to replace H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, will finally deliver the foreign policy the president wants — particularly on Iran and North Korea.

Discussion: New York Times, RedState, Politico, National Review, ABC News, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Reuters, The Daily Beast, Breitbart, Weekly Standard, The Daily Caller, Common Dreams, The Week and CANNONFIRE

Foreign Policy:

John Bolton Is a National Security Threat — John Bolton wants regime changes in North Korea and Iran, and he'll do whatever it takes to get them. — Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster is out as Trump's national security adviser and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (and current Fox News contributor) John Bolton is in.

Discussion: New York Times, USA Today, Vox, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Hit & Run, Haaretz, The Atlantic, LobeLog, IJR, VICE News, HuffPost, Salon and ThinkProgress

Max Boot / Washington Post:

Add another zealot to the White House — Most presidents initially stock their administrations with cronies and ideological purists. Then, after suffering inevitable setbacks, they usher them out in favor of less ideological and more competent professionals. President Trump is doing it in reverse.

Discussion: Slate, Vox, CNN, New York Magazine, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, New York Times and CNBC

Washington Post:
The return of John Bolton, a hawk on North Korea and Iran, sparks concerns around the world

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Vox, CNN, Outside the Beltway, Politico, Bloomberg and The Guardian

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Nobody Is Left to Save the World From Trump Now

Discussion: Washington Post, Vox, LobeLog, IJR, The Daily Caller, VICE News and Daily Kos

Joe Scarborough / Washington Post:
John Bolton's appointment is a fitting coda to conservatism's failures

Discussion: Axios

Matthew Rosenberg / New York Times:

Bolton Was Early Beneficiary of Cambridge Analytica's Facebook Data — WASHINGTON — The political action committee founded by John R. Bolton, President Trump's incoming national security adviser, was one of the earliest customers of Cambridge Analytica, which it hired specifically …

Discussion: ABC News, Vox, The Guardian, Washington Post, New Republic, Axios, The Daily Caller, Shakesville, VICE News, Daily Kos, Global Voices, Raw Story, Bangor Daily News, AOL, Althouse, Gizmodo and CNBC

The Guardian:

Leaked: Cambridge Analytica's blueprint for Trump victory — Exclusive: Former employee explains how presentation showed techniques used to target voters … The blueprint for how Cambridge Analytica claimed to have won the White House for Donald Trump by using Google, Snapchat, Twitter …

Discussion: Splinter, Hullabaloo, Raw Story and Mashable

The Guardian:
Cambridge Analytica misled MPs over work for Leave.EU, says ex-director

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Axios and Politico

Jacob Pramuk / CNBC:

Trump threatens to veto omnibus spending bill over DACA and the border wall — President Donald Trump threatened to veto the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill already passed by Congress on Friday. — The about-face comes a day after White House officials issued public assurances …

Discussion: Vox, National Review, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Roll Call, Jamie Dupree - AJC, Conservative Review, Washington Free Beacon, ThinkProgress, Raw Story, New York Times, RedState and The Daily Caller

Adam Shaw / Fox News:

Trump threatens veto of $1.3 trillion spending bill, risking government shutdown — President Trump sparked fears of an impending government shutdown Friday by threatening to veto a $1.3 trillion spending bill passed by Congress, citing the lack of a deal that would include protection …

Rachael Bade / Politico:

Trump signs spending bill after earlier veto threat — President Donald Trump signed the $1.3 trillion spending bill Friday, averting a government shutdown and ending a panic that briefly gripped official Washington. — A few hours after stunning even his closest advisers by tweeting that he was …

Discussion: ABC News and Axios

Washington Post:
Trump signs $1.3 trillion spending bill despite veto threat on Twitter

Discussion: New York Times, Talking Points Memo, Vox, Politics K-12, CNBC, Daily Kos and Joe.My.God.

Kathryn Watson / CBS News:
Trump signs spending bill he threatened to veto, citing “national security” — live updates

Discussion: Daily Wire, CBS Dallas and Joe.My.God.

Stephanie Ebbs / ABC News:
Trump says he will sign $1.3 trillion spending bill

Discussion: Fox News Insider, The Hill, The Daily Signal, NPR, Washington Times, NBC News, Roll Call, The Week and Mediaite

Frances Langum / Latest from Crooks and Liars: Trump Blames Democrats For ‘Forcing’ Him To Sign Spending Bill

Tara Golshan / Vox:
Trump is threatening to shut down the government — and blame Democrats for DACA

Discussion: Washington Post, Breitbart and New York Magazine

New York Post:
Trump signs $1.3 trillion spending bill with a warning

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, RedState and Mediaite

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

White House lawyer McGahn eager to exit — President Donald Trump's top White House lawyer, Don McGahn, is expected to step down later this year, though his resignation is contingent on the president finding a replacement and several other factors, according to four sources familiar with McGahn's thinking.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Political Wire

Eliana Johnson / Politico:

McMaster firing upends plan to oust other top Trump officials — President Donald Trump's decision to abruptly fire national security adviser H.R. McMaster surprised senior White House aides who had been preparing a single statement announcing the departure of multiple top Trump officials …

Discussion: NBC News, New York Magazine, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, Media Matters for America, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Just Security, The Week, Axios, IJR, Political Wire and The Hill

Bloomberg:
Inside Trump's Snap Decision to Oust McMaster

Discussion: Politico

Eliana Johnson / Politico: Why Trump Hasn't Fired Mattis

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
How Trump finally pulled the trigger to oust McMaster

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Magazine, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway and Vox

U.S. Department of Justice:

Nine Iranians Charged With Conducting Massive Cyber Theft Campaign on Behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — Mabna Institute Hackers Penetrated Systems Belonging to Hundreds of Universities, Companies, and Other Victims to Steal Research, Academic and Proprietary Data, and Intellectual Property

Discussion: U.S. Department …, Breitbart, IJR, The Week, Cyberscoop, The Verge and NBC News

U.S. Department of Justice:
Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein Delivers Remarks Announcing Nine Iranians Charged …

Discussion: CNN, CBS News, Al Jazeera English, Daily Caller News Foundation, Engadget and Political Wire, more at Techmeme »

Eric Geller / Politico:
U.S. busts ‘massive’ Iranian hacking scheme

Discussion: Axios and One America News Network

Andrew Sullivan / New York Magazine:

America Takes the Next Step Toward Tyranny — Every now and again, when I find myself buried in the latest blizzard of invariably disturbing news emanating from the Trump White House, I go back and remind myself of the core narrative. I read Plato's Republic again, the prism through …

Discussion: The Week

Bloomberg:

Trump Fundraiser Offered to Help Lift Sanctions on Russian Firms — Elliott Broidy proposed work for clients of Moscow lawyer — Pre-inauguration discussions didn't lead to Broidy's hiring — Elliott Broidy, a top fundraiser for President Donald Trump, offered last year to help …

Amy L. Wax / Wall Street Journal:

The University of Denial — Aggressive suppression of the truth is a central feature of American higher education. — 'Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away," observed Philip K. Dick in “I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon. Somewhere deep in a file drawer …

Discussion: Instapundit

Paul Campos / Lawyers, Guns & Money: How to win friends and influence people

Marc Caputo / Politico:

'Oh my God...It's fake': Far right falls for hoax about Broward County sheriff — In the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, the far-right fever swamps buzzed with false information and conspiracy theories about student “crisis actors” who were paid to lie about the mass shooting.

Discussion: Orlando Weekly, ThinkProgress and ABC News

Former U.S. Senator Al Franken:

“Lack of candor.” — That's one of the reasons that Attorney General Jeff Sessions used to justify his decision to fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe last week, just two days before Mr. McCabe was set to retire from a distinguished 21-year career with the Bureau.

Discussion: Politico and Raw Story

Cardinal Timothy Dolan / Wall Street Journal:

The Democrats Abandon Catholics — If you value religious education or life's sanctity, you're not welcome in the party. — A couple of events over the past few weeks brought to mind two towering people who had a tremendous effect on the Archdiocese of New York and the U.S. more broadly.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and The Daily Caller

The Daily Beast:

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Lone DNC Hacker’ Guccifer 2.0 Slipped Up and Revealed He Was a Russian Intelligence Officer … Guccifer 2.0, the “lone hacker” who took credit for providing WikiLeaks with stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee, was in fact an officer of Russia's military intelligence directorate …

U.S. Department of Justice:

Virginia Beach Man Arrested for Threatening a Member of Congress — NORFOLK, Va. - A Virginia Beach man was arrested today on charges of threatening to murder and assault a member of Congress. — According to court documents, Wallace Grove Godwin, 69, visited the Virginia Beach Office of Congressman Scott Taylor yesterday.

Discussion: Politico, WTKR-TV and The Gateway Pundit

CNN:

DiGenova role on President's legal team in flux — Washington (CNN)Veteran Washington attorney Joseph diGenova's role as part of President Donald Trump's legal team is still in question, according to two sources familiar with the matter. — DiGenova's hiring was announced on Monday by Jay Sekulow, counsel to the President.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Eschaton

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Apple Tries to Win Back Students and Teachers With Low-Cost iPad — Company holding rare education-focused event next week — Lower-cost and Pro models have recently reignited iPad sales — Apple Inc. is preparing to introduce new low-cost iPads and education software next week in a bid …

Discussion: Gizmodo, Daily Mail, Investor's Business Daily, The Verge, Engadget, New York Magazine and Mashable, more at Techmeme »

George Clooney / The Guardian:

George Clooney to Parkland students: ‘You make me proud of my country again’ — When student journalists from the Parkland high school newspaper requested an interview with George and Amal Clooney, this is what he wrote back … embed — Dear Emma, Lauren and Rebecca,

Discussion: Fox News, The Daily Caller, CBS Miami, AOL and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Ruth Reader / Fast Company:

Exclusive: As Grocery Wars Rage, Target And Kroger Mull A Merger — Retailers are considering new alliances as they combat an Amazon/Whole Foods behemoth. — Target and Kroger are discussing a possible merger, several people with knowledge of the matter tell Fast Company.