memeorandum: Church Militant: A Right-Wing Media Empire in the Making (Daniel Lombroso/The Atlantic)

11:20 AM ET, May 9, 2017

Top Items:

Comey's Testimony on Huma Abedin Forwarding Emails Was Inaccurate — FBI director James Comey generated national headlines last week with his dramatic testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, explaining his “incredibly painful” decision to go public about the Hillary Clinton emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, Hot Air, AOL, IJR, Axios, The Week, Mediaite, Gizmodo, Daily Mail and Joe.My.God.

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

A French Lesson for the American Media — The hacked emails from Emmanuel Macron's French campaign appear to be spectacularly mundane, according to people who have read them. They include briefings on issues, personal exchanges and discussions of the weather.

Discussion: AOL

KCRG-TV:

Blum walks out of interview with TV9 — DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG-TV9) - Congressman Rob Blum, who represents Iowa's First District, sat down one on one with TV9 Investigative Reporter Josh Scheinblum for an interview. — But the interview ended abruptly, with Rep. Blum walking out during our second question.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier, Radio Iowa, Roll Call, HuffPost, Common Dreams, IJR, Daily Kos, Mediaite and Shareblue

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:

Iowa congressman walks out of a TV interview and into an angry town hall meeting — DUBUQUE, Iowa — An Iowa congressman walked out of a television interview on Monday, declining to explain why his staff is pre-screening constituents who plan to attend his town hall meetings this week.

Discussion: Joe.My.God., New York Magazine, NPR, The Week and Politico

Paige Winfield Cunningham / Washington Post:
The Health 202: Republicans are just starting the hard part on health care

Discussion: HuffPost, New York Times, Hot Air, Daily Kos, Business Insider, Washington Monthly and Politicus USA

Louis Nelson / Politico:
GOP Rep. Rod Blum storms out of interview

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Emma Green / The Atlantic:

It Was Cultural Anxiety That Drove White, Working-Class Voters to Trump — White Americans carried Donald Trump to the White House. He won college-educated white voters by a four-point margin over Hillary Clinton, according to exit polls. But his real victory was among members of the white working class …

PRRI:

Beyond Economics: Fears of Cultural Displacement Pushed the White Working Class to Trump | PRRI/The Atlantic Report — Perhaps the most contested question from the 2016 presidential election is what factors motivated white working-class voters to support Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton by a margin of roughly two to one.

Discussion: Axios

David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:

Republicans: Obamacare repeal won't sink us in 2018 — Republicans on Monday disputed forecasts that they would lose seats in 2018 because of their vote to partially repeal Obamacare. — Pointing to previously undisclosed voter data, Republican strategists and congressional aides …

Discussion: Political Wire

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Left adopts shock tactics in Obamacare repeal fight — One newly formed progressive super PAC is planning to cart caskets to Republican lawmakers' districts and hold mock funerals for their constituents. Another activist is encouraging protesters to ship their own ashes — should they die without health care —to GOP lawmakers.

Discussion: Need To Know Network and Snopes.com

Jonathan D. Salant / New Jersey Online:
Republican Obamacare repeal would hit N.J harder than any other state

Discussion: Political Wire and Daily Kos

Bloomberg:

Yates Fuels Questions About Trump's 18-Day Delay in Firing Flynn — Flynn's dismissal came only after media reports of his calls — Former acting attorney general says Flynn was compromised — Eighteen days. — That's how much time passed from acting Attorney General Sally Yates's warning …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Tim Hains / RealClearPolitics:
Yates & Clapper Admit Viewing “Unmasked” Trump Campaign Communications; Deny Leaking To Press

Discussion: Scared Monkeys

New York Times:
Sally Yates Tells Senators She Warned Trump About Michael Flynn

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Refinery29, The Hill, Just Security, The Week, CBS Miami, RedState and Hot Air

Sean Cockerham / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

President Kamala Harris? She's making the first moves. — LOS ANGELES — Now's the time prospective presidential candidates start taking the subtle but crucial behind-the-scenes steps that get them noticed by the political intelligentsia, and Sen. Kamala Harris is quietly following the script.

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Dem senator rips GOP insurance claim: ‘What the f—k is that?’

Discussion: twitchy.com, Raw Story and HuffPost

Associated Press:

Senate GOP struggles to find challengers for some Democrats — Senate Republicans landed a top-tier candidate in West Virginia but have struggled to recruit well-known GOP challengers in several states where President Donald Trump romped and Democratic incumbents warily face re-election.

David Byler / Real Clear Politics:
How Bad Is the Democratic Senate Map for 2018?

Discussion: Need To Know Network

Missy Ryan / Washington Post:

U.S. poised to expand military effort against Taliban in Afghanistan — President Trump's most senior military and foreign policy advisers have proposed a major shift in strategy in Afghanistan that would effectively put the United States back on a war footing with the Taliban.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, CNBC, Common Dreams, The Week, Shakesville, Washington Monthly, Political Wire and Bloomberg

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
Trump Advisers Call for More Troops to Break Afghan Deadlock

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

HuffPost:

Trump Administration Cites Segregation-Era Ruling To Defend Its Travel Ban — In 1971, the Supreme Court decided that courts shouldn't investigate the motivations of officials who closed public pools rather than integrate them. — WASHINGTON In a brief defending its ban on citizens …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Take Care Blog and ThinkProgress

Derek Hawkins / Washington Post:

'Y'all see why I voted for him?': Jimmy Carter says he was a Bernie Sanders supporter — Jimmy Carter and the Clintons have long had a frosty relationship. In 1992, he declined to endorse Bill Clinton, saying “people are looking for somebody who is honest and tells the truth.”

Discussion: Liberal Values and Washington Free Beacon

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

ACLU Makes It Official: The Only Thing Wrong With Trump's Travel Order Is Trump — The Democrats who attacked President Trump's travel order in front of carefully-selected Democratic judges made the extraordinary claim that the President's statements on the stump, as a candidate …

John Cicchitti / Need To Know Network:
ACLU Lawyer Says Travel Ban ‘Could Be Constitutional’ if Enacted by Hillary Clinton

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News and RedState

Julie Pace / Associated Press:

OBAMA STARTS DEFINING HIS NEW ROLE IN THE AGE OF TRUMP — WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama is starting to define his new role in the age of Donald Trump. — After dropping out of sight for a pair of glamorous island getaways, Obama is emerging for a series of paid and unpaid speeches …

Discussion: Need To Know Network

Betsy Rothstein / The Daily Caller:

JERK ALERT: Secret Service Holds Kellyanne Conway Back From Airport Heckler — Enough is enough. — Obama's DOJ Reprimanded The SPLC For Accusing An Immigration Reductionist Group Of Being Racist — US | ALEX PFEIFFER — ‘McCarthyite ad hominem attacks’

Discussion: BizPac Review, TheBlaze and twitchy.com

Rod Dreher / The American Conservative:

Duke Divinity Crisis: The Documents Are Out — A source at DDS sends me the original e-mail exchanges that have caused the current crisis. Here they are, chronologically presented: — 1. On Mon, Feb 6, 2017 at 9:21 AM, Anathea Portier-Young wrote: — Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Discussion: The College Fix, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Patterico's Pontifications, Vox Popoli and Power Line

JGoldsmith / Lawfare:

Yates Changes Her Tune — Then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates at the Department of Labor, April 2016 / Department of Labor — “Sally Yates made the fake media extremely unhappy today—she said nothing but old news!” So tweeted our President a few hours ago about today's testimony …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Josh Blackman's Blog, Washington Post, Hullabaloo, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic, Mediaite, Politicus USA and Mother Jones

John Ivison / National Post:

White House advisors called Ottawa to urge Trudeau to help talk Trump down from scrapping NAFTA — White House staff called the Prime Minister's Office last month to urge Justin Trudeau to persuade President Donald Trump not to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement, according to multiple Canadian government sources.

Discussion: Washington Post, Townhall.com, Associated Press, Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, The Week, Axios and Political Wire

Jonathan Cheng / Wall Street Journal:

Moon Jae-in Poised to Win South Korean Presidency, Exit Polls Show — Exit polls show huge victory for Mr. Moon, who has said that South Korea needs to learn to say ‘no’ to the U.S.

Discussion: Washington Post and The Daily Caller

Olivia Beavers / The Hill:

FBI investigating Jane Sanders for alleged bank fraud: report — Federal investigators are looking into allegations that Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) wife, Jane Sanders, falsified loan documents while she served as the president of Burlington College, according to multiple reports.

Discussion: Political Wire, Hot Air and AOL

Chris Cillizza / CNN:

Donald Trump is turning liberals into conspiracy theorists — (CNN)Much has been written about how President Trump's election has had a profound impact on the Republican party. What's drawn less attention — but deserves more! — is how Trump is affecting Democrats.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, No More Mister Nice Blog, Politicaldog101.Com and twitchy.com

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Trump White House eyes Warren as potential 2020 foe — The White House is keeping tabs on Sen. Elizabeth Warren — (D-Mass.), viewing her as a potential challenger to President Trump in the 2020 election. — The Republican National Committee (RNC), in coordination with the White House …

Discussion: Political Wire

Reuters:

Jakarta's Christian governor jailed for blasphemy against Islam — Jakarta's Christian governor was sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy, a harsher-than-expected ruling that critics fear will embolden hardline Islamist forces to challenge secularism in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.

Discussion: Political Wire and The Daily Caller

David McCabe / Axios:

Inside Zuck's real political strategy — Mark Zuckerberg is on a nationwide tour that has people thinking about his political ambitions. But events on the trip are mostly private, which Facebook says encourages the people Zuckerberg is meeting with to be candid without the press watching.

Discussion: The Week