memeorandum: Republicans are short on policy wins so they are trying to fire up Trump's base with extreme attack ads (John Harwood/CNBC)

8:30 AM ET, October 19, 2018

Top Items:

Conservatives mount a whisper campaign smearing Khashoggi in defense of Trump — Hard-line Republicans and conservative commentators are mounting a dark whisper campaign against Jamal Khashoggi that is designed to protect President Trump from criticism of his handling of the dissident …

Discussion: The Federalist, Mother Jones, Axios, VICE News, The Week, Front Page Magazine, Breitbart, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Spectator USA, Political Wire, Power Line, The Mahablog, Media Matters for America and Japan Times

Ian Pannell / ABC News:

Pompeo listened to an alleged recording of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi: Turkish Source — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has heard an alleged audio recording of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi's murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to a senior Turkish official.

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

A President Who Believes He Is Entitled to His Own Facts — WASHINGTON — He accepts less-than-credible denials from autocratic heads of state about nefarious acts. He disputes the existence of man-made climate change and insists that photographic evidence of the crowd at his inauguration is fake, part of a media plot to harm him.

New York Times:

Saudi Arabia Weighs Blaming Intelligence Official for Khashoggi Killing — ISTANBUL — The rulers of Saudi Arabia are considering blaming a top intelligence official close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, three people with knowledge of the Saudi plans said Thursday.

NBC News:

Exclusive: Twitter pulls down bot network that pushed pro-Saudi talking points about disappeared journalist — Twitter became aware of some of the bots on Thursday when NBC News presented the company with evidence of coordinated activity. — Twitter suspended a network of suspected Twitter bots …

Discussion: The Verge, The New Arab, Engadget, Boing Boing and Axios, more at Mediagazer »

Fareed Zakaria / Washington Post:

Khashoggi's alleged murder says as much about America as Saudi Arabia — The apparent barbaric killing of Jamal Khashoggi tells us something important about Saudi Arabia. But it also tells us something important about the United States. — First, Saudi Arabia.

Discussion: Breitbart, LifeZette and The Nation

Ed Pilkington / The Guardian:
Trump praises Gianforte for assault on Guardian reporter: 'He's my guy'

Discussion: New York Times, ABC News, VICE News, The Week, HuffPost, New Republic, Joe.My.God. and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Schanzer / The Atlantic:
The Experts Were Wrong About the Middle East

Discussion: New York Times and Politico

Washington Post:
How the current crown prince changed Saudi Arabia — for the worse

Discussion: Middle East Eye

New York Post:
Why the Saudis despised Jamal Khashoggi

Discussion: Hürriyet Daily News

New York Times:
In Shift on Khashoggi Killing, Trump Edges Closer to Acknowledging a Saudi Role

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, NPR, The Week, Bloomberg, Hot Air, Washington Post, Joe.My.God., CNBC and The Atlantic

NBC News:
U.S. intel officials: Inconceivable Saudi prince had no link to Khashoggi death

Discussion: TIME

Henry Foy / Financial Times:
Vladimir Putin uses speech to herald end of US hegemony

Discussion: HuffPost and Raw Story

Amanda Macias / CNBC:
Putin says Russia will deploy hypersonic missiles in ‘coming months,’ surpassing US and China

Discussion: Yahoo and Shakesville

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
What did U.S. spy agencies know about threats on Khashoggi — and when?

Discussion: NPR, Mother Jones, Politico, New York Times and Washington Monthly

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Corker rails against Trump administration's intel ‘clampdown’ on Khashoggi

Discussion: Axios, One America News Network, ABC News, Talking Points Memo and Fox News Insider

Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg:

Kelly, Bolton Get in Profane Shouting Match Outside the Oval Office — President Donald Trump's chief of staff and his national security adviser engaged in a profanity-laced argument outside the Oval Office on Thursday, according to three people familiar with the episode.

Discussion: The Week, WayneDupree.com, Raw Story, Mediaite, Breitbart, The Root and Axios

New York Times: John Kelly and John Bolton Have Shouting Match Over Immigration

CNN:
Bolton and Kelly get into heated shouting match sparking resignation fears

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Mediaite, WayneDupree.com, New Republic, Joe.My.God., WOLA, Hit & Run, RedState, Splinter, Breitbart and IJR

Paul LeBlanc / CNN:
Ambassador of Mexico says he doesn't know of deal with Trump to stop migrant caravan

Discussion: New York Times and Politico

Annie Karni / Politico:

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Hillary? — She's not going away—and Democrats aren't sure what to do about it. — In recent months, some reporters who cover the Trump White House have received phone calls from the last person they would expect: Hillary Clinton.

Discussion: Townhall and Mother Jones

Theodore R. Johnson / Politico:
How 2018 Became the ‘Year of the Black Progressive’

Discussion: BuzzFeed News

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:
Why Hillary Clinton's comments were even more painful than Trump's

Discussion: ThinkProgress and New York Times

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

Mueller report PSA: Prepare for disappointment — And be forewarned that the special counsel's findings may never be made public. — President Donald Trump's critics have spent the past 17 months anticipating what some expect will be among the most thrilling events of their lives …

Chris Cillizza / CNN: Paul Manafort is spending A LOT of time with Robert Mueller these days

Richard Thornburgh / USA Today: Let Mueller finish Russia investigation, it's most consequential in 30 years

Washington Post:

Trump administration does about-face on announcement that top HUD aide would lead Interior watchdog — Interior Department officials said Thursday that they did not approve the hiring of a political appointee as the agency's acting watchdog, calling the announcement of her move by Housing …

Discussion: ABC News, New Republic, The Week, Politico, Daily Kos, Axios, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

Ben Lefebvre / Politico:
Interior Dept. probe faults Zinke for travels with wife

Discussion: Political Wire, HuffPost, ThinkProgress and Talking Points Memo

Bryan Lowry / Kansas City Star:

Fake intern who recorded McCaskill campaign had access to voter info, campaign says — A conservative activist with Project Veritas posed as an intern with U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill's campaign and had access to voter information, according to a stack of documents McCaskill's lawyer delivered …

Discussion: twitchy.com

CNN:

How Trump frames the 2018 election choice: “Democrats create mobs. Republicans create jobs” — From CNN's Betsy Klein and Kevin Liptak — President Trump, at his rally in Missoula, Montana, framed the midterms as “an election of Kavanaugh, the caravan, law and order, and common sense.

Discussion: Politico, ABC News, Political Wire and One America News Network

Washington Post:
At Montana rally, Trump praises congressman for assaulting reporter

Discussion: HuffPost

Burlington Free Press:

Burlington police chief reacts to Madelyn Ellen Linsenmeir obituary: ‘I have a problem’ — Burlington police Chief Brandon del Pozo posted this to his Facebook account on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018. — I have a problem with this obituary. — Born here in Burlington, Madelyn was the 30-year old mother of a toddler.

Rebecca Morin / Politico:

Haley breaks with Trump: ‘In America, our political opponents are not evil’ — Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley insisted Thursday night that “in America, our political opponents are not evil,” a shark rhetorical break from her boss, President Donald Trump …

Discussion: Washington Post and ABC News

Indianapolis Star:

HBO's ‘Veep’ gag and new Joe Donnelly political ad are basically the same — Dwight Adams, dwight.adams@indystar.com — Many Hoosiers who saw the latest Joe Donnelly ad entitled “Axe” may have viewed it and thought, “well, there's a fella who likes to chop his own wood!”

Discussion: IndieWire, The Federalist and Mediaite

New York Post:

Twitter has a huge Louis Farrakhan problem — Apparently, saying Jews are termites isn't offensive. At least, not offensive enough for Twitter to ban Louis Farrakhan for it. — The Nation of Islam leader's history of blatant anti-Semitism goes back decades.

Discussion: Algemeiner.com and BuzzFeed News

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

Texas Dems ask noncitizens to register to vote, send applications with citizenship box pre-checked — The Texas Democratic Party asked non-citizens to register to vote, sending out applications to immigrants with the box citizenship already checked “Yes,” according to new complaints filed …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, American Greatness and Daily Wire

John Harwood / CNBC:

Republicans are short on policy wins so they are trying to fire up Trump's base with extreme attack ads — With Election Day just two weeks away, GOP candidates seek to alarm a conservative base disproportionately composed of older, less-educated whites in small towns and rural areas.

Becket Adams / Washington Examiner:

PolitiFact is forced to retract a story claiming Claire McCaskill didn't say what she definitely said — At some point, we may have to consider the possibility that certain media fact-checkers are not so dispassionate and free from partisan biases as they'd like us to believe.

Discussion: twitchy.com

Financial Times:

Facebook hires Nick Clegg as head of global affairs — Facebook has hired Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister, to head its global affairs and communications team as it faces escalating problems over data protection and the threat of greater government regulation.

more at Techmeme »

Nicholas Hautman / Us Weekly:

Rihanna Declined Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show Offer in Support of Colin Kaepernick … Rihanna stands with Kap. The “Work” singer declined an offer to headline the Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show because she “supports Colin Kaepernick,” a source tells Us Weekly exclusively.

Discussion: Stereogum, The Root, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, The FADER, The Week and ProFootballTalk

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

A Defector From Conservatism With a Clear Vision of Trump's Rise — When Max Boot was a young conservative apparatchik on the make, the key moment in his career occurred when he got a meeting with Robert Bartley, editor of The Wall Street Journal editorial page, one of the movement's most prestigious and influential organs.

Tom Scocca / Hmm Daily:

Your Real Biological Clock Is You're Going to Die — In April, in a small town on a small island in a small string of islands trailing down from the main part of Japan, the world's then-oldest person died. Nabi Tajima was 117 years old—the last surviving human being born in the 19th century.