memeorandum: Beto O'Rourke's Non-Media Strategy (Igor Bobic/HuffPost)

5:15 PM ET, April 23, 2019

Top Items:

CNN:

White House ordered Trump administration officials to boycott WHCA Dinner — (CNN)The White House has ordered Trump administration officials to boycott the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, according to a senior administration official. — The order was issued Tuesday morning …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Vanity Fair, Axios, Variety, Joe.My.God., Contemptor, Political Wire and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Eliana Johnson / Politico:

Furious Trump orders officials to boycott Correspondents' Dinner — President Donald Trump escalated his feud with the media by another degree on Tuesday, ordering officials in his administration to boycott Saturday's annual White House Correspondents Association dinner.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Splinter, Raw Story and The Week

Tom Hamburger / Washington Post:

White House instructs official to ignore Democratic subpoena over security clearances — A former White House personnel security director has been instructed by the White House not to show up Tuesday for questioning by the House Oversight Committee. — The move appears to be the latest effort …

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Monthly, What The Fuck …, Politico, PJ Media Home, Fox News, Shareblue Media, Daily Kos, Just Security and Balloon Juice

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Why is Trump raging again? Because Don McGahn will further expose his corruption.

Discussion: New York Times, Slate, Shareblue Media and Mother Jones

NBC News:
White House tells official who gave Kushner security clearance: Don't comply with subpoena

Discussion: Above the Law and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

House Committee on Oversight and Reform:
White House Orders Former Security Director to Defy Oversight Committee Subpoena

Discussion: Daily Kos

J. W. Verret / The Atlantic:

The Mueller Report Was My Tipping Point — Let's start at the end of this story. This weekend, I read Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report twice, and realized that enough was enough—I needed to do something. I've worked on every Republican presidential transition team for the past 10 years …

Discussion: Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Big League Politics and FiveThirtyEight

Natasha Bertrand / Politico:

What you missed in the Mueller report — Robert Mueller keeps on giving. — Dozens of overlooked nuggets are buried deep inside the special counsel's 448-page report that raise yet more intriguing questions about Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and shed new light on charges Mueller considered …

Discussion: Hullabaloo and The Week

Gowdy / Checks and Balances: New Statement from Checks and Balances on the Mueller Report

Steven Nelson / Washington Examiner:
Mueller report contains claim Russia taped Bill Clinton having phone sex with Monica Lewinsky

Discussion: Power Line, The Rush Limbaugh Show and Mediaite

Igor Bobic / HuffPost:

Beto O'Rourke's Non-Media Strategy — The Texas Democrat is betting that interacting with voters face-to-face rather than via television can propel him to the Democratic presidential nomination. — More than seven weeks after announcing his campaign for president in 2020 …

Discussion: Quartz

Josh Lederman / NBC News:

Rivals are scrambling to dig up dirt on Pete Buttigieg — Buttigieg was on nobody's radar as a serious presidential contender until a few weeks ago. Now his competitors are scrambling to find vulnerabilities. — SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Caught off guard by his sudden surge …

Discussion: Vanity Fair, The Wrap, NB Blog, VICE News, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Politico, CNN, Fox News and HuffPost

Ryan Grim / The Intercept:

Beto O'Rourke Was Threatening to Run a New Kind of Campaign. Not Anymore. — Beto O'Rourke started his presidential run with a nearly unprecedented asset: a trained and functioning ground operation, staffed and ready to deploy at the flick of a switch. When he lit it up on March 30 …

Discussion: RedState

Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:
Fox News announces town hall with Pete Buttigieg

Discussion: Fox News, Political Wire and The Daily Beast

Peter Daou / The Nation:

I Was Bernie's Biggest Critic in 2016—I've Changed My Mind — Bernie Sanders can beat Donald Trump—and it would be an epic act of self-destruction for Democrats to try and hobble his campaign. — If you had told me in the spring of 2016 that three years later I'd be touting the merits …

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Bernie Sanders Can Win, But He Isn't Polling Like A Favorite — If there's one thing the Democratic establishment is good at, it's panicking. And the latest reason for panic among Democratic insiders is Bernie Sanders. According to a New York Times article from earlier this month …

Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed News: Bernie Sanders Isn't Fighting The Wars Of 2016, His Campaign Says — The Democratic Establishment Is

New York Times:
The President in Plain Sight Is Bad Enough

Discussion: National Review and Raw Story

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

On Census Citizenship Question, Supreme Court's Conservatives Appear United — WASHINGTON — In arguments by turn technical and passionate, the Supreme Court on Tuesday considered whether the Trump administration may add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census form that will be sent to every household in the nation.

Discussion: Shareblue Media, SCOTUSblog, USA Today, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Splinter and UPI

Greg Stohr / Bloomberg:
Supreme Court Signals Support for Trump's Census Citizenship Question

Discussion: Townhall, New York Times and Raw Story

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:
Gorsuch Comments Preview Endgame If Citizenship Question Is Added To Census

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Associated Press:
The Latest: Court's conservatives seem fine with census

Discussion: Chicago Sun-Times and Politico

Motherboard:

Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey to Hold Closed-Door Meeting With President Trump — The meeting will last 30 minutes, and touch on “the health of the public conversation on Twitter,” according to an internal Twitter email obtained by Motherboard. — Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey …

Discussion: Boing Boing, more at Mediagazer »

Mark Landler / New York Times:

Jared Kushner Dismisses Russian Election Interference as ‘Couple of Facebook Ads’ — WASHINGTON — Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, on Tuesday dismissed Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential campaign as a “couple of Facebook ads” and said the investigation …

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Raw Story

Marisa Fernandez / Axios:
Jared Kushner says Russian collusion accusations are “nonsense”

Discussion: Washington Post

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Kushner says Russia investigations are ‘way more harmful’ than Russian election interference

Discussion: Politico and YouTube

Washington Post:

Six Trump Interior appointees are being investigated for possible ethical misconduct — Inspector General's Office inquiry comes a week after it launched a probe of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. — The Interior Department's Office of Inspector General has opened an investigation …

Discussion: The Guardian and Raw Story

Ellie Kaufman / CNN:
Interior inspector general opens investigation into multiple department senior executives

Discussion: Daily Caller News Foundation

Matthew Weaver / The Guardian:

Trump baby blimp back and could be even bigger for UK state visit — Balloon depicting nappy-wearing US president could be five times size of predecessor — The Donald Trump baby blimp, which became the focal point of protests against the US president's visit to the UK in July …

Discussion: Politico

Shane Croucher / Newsweek:
Donald Trump's U.K. State Visit Faces ‘Maximum Disruption,’ Protesters Vow to Make Trip ‘as Unpleasant as Possible’

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Dan Hendrickson / WHOTV:

State Rep. Andy McKean Leaving Republican Party, Says He Can't Support President Trump's Party — DES MOINES, Iowa —A longtime Iowa lawmaker says he's leaving the Republican Party and will vote with Democrats, and he says President Trump is to blame. — State Representative Andy McKean …

Pat Rynard / Iowa Starting Line:
Party Switch: State Rep. Andy McKean Flips From R To D

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Des Moines Register, Shareblue Media, Raw Story and POLITICUSUSA

YouTube:

(Re)Introduction | MJ For Texas — Air Force veteran, working mom, taking on entrenched incumbent John Cornyn. MJ Hegar is running for Senate. Join the team: https://www.mjfortexas.com

Discussion: CNN, Mother Jones, Politico, Rolling Stone, Splinter, Raw Story, Roll Call, Daily Kos, twitchy.com, Axios and Washington Post

Washington Post:

Young people actually rocked the vote in 2018, new Census Bureau data finds — Voter turnout spiked to a 100-year high in last year's midterm congressional elections. Census Bureau data released Tuesday finds turnout rates jumped across nearly all groups, but the shift …

Discussion: Political Wire

U.S. Census / The United States Census Bureau: Voter Turnout Rates Among All Voting Age and Major Racial and Ethnic Groups Were Higher Than in 2014

Ben Collins / NBC News:

After Mueller report, Twitter bots pushed ‘Russiagate hoax’ narrative — As social media platforms continue to prepare for the 2020 election, efforts to spread disinformation and sow discord remain an ongoing issue. — A network of more than 5,000 pro-Trump Twitter bots railed against the …

Discussion: Politico and Engadget

New York Times:

Sri Lanka Bombings Live Updates: ISIS Claims Responsibility, and President Pledges Security Shake-Up — • The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Tuesday for the Easter Sunday bombings at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, as the government there raised the number of people killed to 321.

Rachelle Hampton / Slate:

Years Ago, Black Feminists Worked Together to Unmask Twitter Trolls Posing as Women of Color. If Only More People Paid Attention. — Before Gamergate, before the 2016 election, they launched a campaign against Twitter trolls masquerading as women of color. If only more people had paid attention.

Discussion: National Review

Taffy Brodesser-Akner / New York Times:

The Company That Sells Love to America Had a Dark Secret — For thousands of women, working at the nation's largest jewelry retailer meant unequal pay, harassment or worse. — The pay-and-promotions lawsuit against Sterling Jewelers Inc. began the way a lot of these things begin: In 2005 …

Discussion: Jezebel

Herb Keinon / Jerusalem Post:

Netanyahu: ‘I will name a Golan town after Trump’ — Netanyahu said there “is a need to express our appreciation by calling a community or neighborhood on the Golan Heights after Donald Trump.” — If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has his way, alongside Katzrin, Ramot and Ramat Magshimim …

Discussion: Big League Politics, Joe.My.God., Daily Wire, Washington Free Beacon, New York Post and Mediaite

Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:

The Good Ol' Boys: 2 Years In, Trump Is Making Our Courts A Lot Less Diverse — His lifetime federal judges are almost entirely white, male ideologues. Did someone clone Mike Pence or what? — WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump has done something remarkable to the nation's federal courts …

Natasha Bertrand / Politico:

Barr gets waiver on case linked to inquiry into Trump's re-election effort — Attorney General William Barr has received a waiver to participate in the investigation of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a Malaysian development company that has come under investigation by the FBI and DOJ for alleged money laundering.

Discussion: Financial Times and Raw Story

Ezra Klein / Vox:

Kate Manne on why female candidates get ruled “unelectable” so quickly — “Electability isn't a static social fact; it's a social fact we're constructing.” — In her book Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny, philosopher Kate Manne defines misogyny not as an emotion men feel …

Whitney Davis / Variety:

‘CBS Has a White Problem’: Executive Blasts Toxic Culture at Network in Explosive Letter — Last year, CBS hired two white-shoe law firms to conduct an independent investigation into alleged misconduct by then-CEO Leslie Moonves, as well as broader cultural issues at CBS.