memeorandum: McConnell's blockade of House legislation is about to face its toughest test (Ronald Brownstein/CNN)

11:10 AM ET, June 18, 2019

Top Items:

Our endorsement for president in 2020: Not Donald Trump | Editorial … Donald Trump is in Orlando to announce the kickoff of his re-election campaign. — We're here to announce our endorsement for president in 2020, or, at least, who we're not endorsing: Donald Trump.

Discussion: ABC News, Shareblue Media, Roll Call, UPI and Slate

Marc Caputo / Politico:

Inside Donald Trump's Florida obsession — To win a second term in the White House, Donald Trump is running for president of Florida. — Trump will officially kick off his reelection campaign Tuesday in Orlando, an event that comes 17 months after his first campaign-style rally as president — in nearby Melbourne.

Discussion: steveschale.com, 10NEWS and Factbase

Orlando Sentinel:
Trump supporters line up 42 hours early for Orlando campaign rally at Amway Center

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, twitchy.com, Politico, The American Spectator, The Daily Beast, CNN, Washington Times, WOFL, The Last Refuge, Daily Kos, American Greatness, IJR, WFTV, WKMG and New York Daily News

Washington Post:

Trump vows mass immigration arrests, removals of ‘millions of illegal aliens’ starting next week — President Trump said in a tweet Monday night that U.S. immigration agents are planning to make mass arrests starting “next week,” an apparent reference to a plan in preparation for months …

Frank Sharry / USA Today:

Democrats can turn immigration into a total loser for Donald Trump in 2020 — if they dare — Trump obsesses about immigration so voters will blame ‘the other’ while he enriches his friends. This is racism in the service of plutocracy. — CONNECT — When President Donald Trump kicks off …

Devan Cole / CNN:
Trump issues vague threat to begin deporting ‘millions’ of undocumented immigrants next week

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, American Military News and ImmigrationProf Blog

Tessa Berenson / TIME:

Exclusive: President Trump Calls Alleged Iranian Attack on Oil Tankers ‘Very Minor’ — Facing twin challenges in the Persian Gulf, President Donald Trump said in an interview with TIME Monday that he might take military action to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon …

Discussion: CNN, Axios, Splinter, VICE, twitchy.com, Political Wire, CNBC, middleeastmonitor.com, RealClearPolitics, ABC News, One America News Network, Vanity Fair, Foreign Policy, NBC News, Townhall, The Sun, Reuters, Home Page Rotator, The Atlantic, Newser and CBS News

Eli Lake / Bloomberg:

Don't Blame Trump for Iran's Aggression — The regime's leaders are the only ones who should be made to answer for Iran's campaign of terror. — As President Donald Trump mulls a comprehensive response to what he says was an Iranian attack on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf last week …

Eliana Johnson / Politico:
Trump prepares to bypass Congress to take on Iran

Discussion: Common Dreams, No More Mister Nice Blog, CBS News, Outside the Beltway, Jerusalem Post and Washington Free Beacon

Bryan Bender / Politico:
Pentagon sending 1,000 more troops as tensions with Iran grow

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo and Task & Purpose

Walter Russell Mead / Wall Street Journal:
The Case for Restraint in the Gulf

Discussion: Just Security

New York Times:

Paul Manafort Seemed Headed to Rikers. Then the Justice Department Intervened. — The decision came after Attorney General William Barr's top deputy sent a letter to state prosecutors. Mr. Manafort will now be held in a federal lockup while he faces state charges.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Wonkette, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Reuters, CNN, Splinter, Axios, POLITICUSUSA, The Last Refuge and The Gateway Pundit

Associated Press: Manafort dodges Rikers Island, will stay in federal custody in New York

Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:

“Crickets. They're Gone”: Why the Mercers, Trump's Biggest 2016 Backers, Have Bailed on Him — Robert Mercer is disillusioned. “Bob views all his political spending as a bad investment,” says a source close to Mercer. “This whole thing did not end up well for them,” says Sam Nunberg.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Stop with the puff pieces about Steve Bannon

Discussion: Vox, Splinter and Yahoo News

Wall Street Journal:

Trump Plans to Live-Tweet Democratic Debate — President Trump's political advisers wanted to keep the president off of Twitter during the Democratic debates next week, arguing that there was an advantage in letting potential challengers attack one another without distraction. — Now, there's a new strategy.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, POLITICUSUSA and Mediaite

Sharon Grigsby / Dallas Morning News:

Photographer Tom Fox on encounter with Dallas gunman: 'He's going to look at me around that corner' and shoot — Veteran Dallas Morning News photojournalist Tom Fox said he thought he “was gone” when he hid in an alcove from a heavily armed masked man at the downtown federal courts building Monday morning.

Discussion: NPR and New York Post

Jessica McBride / Heavy.com:
Brian Clyde: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Discussion: Boing Boing, CBS Dallas and KFOR-TV

Sara Coello / Dallas Morning News:
Gunman shot dead after opening fire on federal courthouse in downtown Dallas

Discussion: Bearing Arms, The Daily Beast, CBS Dallas, San Antonio Current, Fox News, Daily Wire, ABC News, New York Post, American Military News, Mediaite, Newser, KTLA, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, The Daily Caller and Washington Monthly

The Daily Beast:
Dallas Federal Building Shooter Posted Far-Right Memes About Nazis and Confederacy

Discussion: Fox News and Talking Points Memo

Wall Street Journal:

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders Jockey for Position With Liberal Voters — Some on left are torn over which candidate is best equipped to beat Trump—and Biden — WINDHAM, N.H.—Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are largely competing for the same pool …

Alex Conant / FIREHOUSE Strategies:
NEW SURVEY: Battleground States Up for Grabs

Discussion: Washington Times and Axios

Henry Olsen / Washington Post:
Trump's chances in 2020 aren't nearly as bad as people think

Discussion: Spectator USA

Olivia Messer / The Daily Beast:

'This Isn't a Game': Four Women Sue Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill for Sexual Harassment — The statehouse staffers say they want their alleged harasser to be held accountable after investigations found their claims to be ‘credible’ but went no further.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, South Bend Tribune and Political Wire

New York Times:

Cities Start to Question an American Ideal: A House With a Yard on Every Lot — Townhomes, duplexes and apartments are effectively banned in many neighborhoods. Now some communities regret it. — Single-family zoning is practically gospel in America, embraced by homeowners and local governments …

Laura Donnelly / Telegraph:

Boaty McBoatface makes major climate change discovery on maiden outing — Boaty McBoatface's maiden outing has made a major discovery about how climate change is causing rising sea levels. Scientists say that data collected from the yellow submarines's first expedition will help them build …

NBC News:

Mueller's report may be completed, but his work isn't done. And that's what we told Congress. — It seems like every day brings new allegations about the Trump administration's conduct. The volume of them can be overwhelming, but we can't allow ourselves to lose focus.

Ronald Brownstein / CNN:

McConnell's blockade of House legislation is about to face its toughest test — McConnell has been the immovable object: He's frustrated House Democrats by systematically blocking Senate votes so far on the lengthening list of bills they have passed, from gun control to additional protections …

Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:

US-Iran coverage is still not skeptical enough — With every day that passes, the drumbeat of war echoes a little more loudly through our media. Yesterday, officials in Iran said that the country will soon have produced and stockpiled more low-enriched uranium—of the type used in power plants …

Daniel Tepfer / Connecticut Post:

Lawyers: Alex Jones sent child porn to Sandy Hook families — BRIDGEPORT - Conspiracy theorist and InfoWars host Alex Jones sent child pornography to the lawyers for the families of the Sandy Hook tragedy, their lawyers said. — The law firm representing the families of the 2012 mass shooting …

Discussion: CNBC, New York Times, USA Today, Daily Wire, Newser, Balloon Juice and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Amy for America:

Senator Amy Klobuchar Releases Plan of More Than 100 Actions for Her First 100 Days as President — Today, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar released a plan outlining the more than 100 concrete steps she will take in her first 100 days as President of the United States to take on the biggest challenges we face at home and abroad.

Discussion: Bloomberg and New York Times

CNN: Klobuchar lists actions she would take in first 100 days as president

Hunter Walker / Yahoo News:

Shanahan's confirmation hearing for defense secretary delayed amid FBI investigation — WASHINGTON—As the United States faces the longest period in its history without a confirmed secretary of defense, and tensions build over American allegations that Iran is responsible for recent attacks …

Ashley Kirzinger / The Henry J. Kaiser Family …:

KFF Health Tracking Poll - June 2019: Health Care in the Democratic Primary and Medicare-for-all — , Cailey Muñana, Lunna Lopes, Liz Hamel — Key Findings: — Health care is leading the list of possible topics Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents want to hear …

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Power Line and Navigator

David Brooks / New York Times:

Harvard's False Path to Wisdom — Sometimes sin is an opportunity for redemption. — Over the past year and a half, the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., have handled themselves with a fervor and commitment that has, most of the time, inspired the nation.

Discussion: The Atlantic, The New Civil Rights Movement, National Review, The College Fix, Vox, RedState and Boston Magazine

Graham Smith / NPR:

NPR Identifies 4th Attacker In Civil Rights-Era Cold Case — An NPR investigation has uncovered new evidence in a prominent unsolved murder case from the civil rights era, including the identity of an attacker who admitted his involvement but was never charged.

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Four Years Ago Trump Was Seen as a Sideshow. Now He Is the Show. — WASHINGTON — As he rode down that escalator in June 2015, it felt like a lark, a curiosity, just another staged television spectacle. At most, many assumed that Donald J. Trump's candidacy would be a sideshow, sure to be entertaining but hardly decisive.

Washington Post:

Biden suggests he has raised nearly $20 million for his White House bid — Joe Biden told supporters at a Manhattan fundraiser Monday night that his presidential campaign has raised money from 360,000 donors, with an average contribution of $55 — figures that suggest he has amassed nearly $20 million so far.

Discussion: Political Wire

Tom Perriello / The Hill:

Don't worry about China when breaking up Facebook — Washington took a big step forward last week in the battle to break up Big Tech. The House Judiciary Committee launched a sweeping antitrust probe of the major players, and key regulatory agencies have sort out jurisdictional questions, preparing to follow suit.

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

This is Trump's worst poll number — and what it means — There is one poll question I keep coming back to when I think about President Trump's 2020 reelection campaign. It's the one in which pollsters ask whether people would “definitely not” vote for him. — This is an especially bad number for Trump.

Discussion: Off the Kuff, Breitbart and New York Times