memeorandum: At border, grim realities of crisis collide with 2020 campaign politics (Washington Post)

7:35 AM ET, July 3, 2019

Top Items:

Park Service diverts $2.5 million in fees for Trump's July Fourth extravaganza — The National Park Service is diverting nearly $2.5 million in entrance and recreation fees primarily intended to improve parks across the country to cover costs associated with President Trump's Independence …

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Slate, ABC News, POLITICUSUSA, Press Herald, New York Post, The Guardian, New York Times, Balloon Juice, NPR, Observer, Hullabaloo, Axios, USA Today, The Daily Caller, Vanity Fair, Roll Call, Shareblue Media, VICE, 1A, Curbed DC and Splinter

Michael Calderone / Politico:

MSNBC not planning to air Trump's July Fourth celebration live — President Donald Trump's takeover of the Fourth of July celebration at the National Mall won't completely take over the cable airwaves. — MSNBC, for one, doesn't plan to carry his “Salute to America” live …

Discussion: The Hill, POLITICUSUSA and Political Flare

George Washington Memorial Parkway / NPS.gov:
Stationary Map of July 4th Events Areas

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Axios

Lauren Egan / NBC News:
Tanks arrive in D.C. for Trump's Fourth of July celebration

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Dan Lamothe / Washington Post:
Pentagon grapples with how to move tanks from a Washington rail yard to the National Mall

Discussion: Slate and Associated Press

Jeffrey Cimmino / Washington Free Beacon:
Joy Reid: Trump's July Fourth Celebration Is a Threat to Americans

Discussion: DCist, NB Blog, WPRI-TV, Daily Wire and CNN

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

All of the various ways this new national poll is particularly bad for Joe Biden — We begin, as one should, with two important caveats. — 1. This is one poll. — 2. The primaries are still six months away. — But if you are former vice president Joe Biden, Quinnipiac's new poll …

Discussion: TheBlaze, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and Breitbart

Harry Enten / CNN:

Bernie Sanders 2020 is in big trouble — (CNN)Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign is in trouble. — While much of the attention in post-debate polling has focused on the drop of former Vice President Joe Biden, Sanders' polling looks far worse.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Politico, National Review, Vox, Washington Post, The Last Refuge, USA Today and WHOTV

Gary Langer / ABC News:

Harris scores in debate performance while electability keeps Biden in front — A wide advantage in perceived electability boosts Joe Biden in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, but he lags in having new ideas, is challenged by Bernie Sanders and faces a debate-energized Kamala Harris …

Discussion: Political Wire

Washington Post:

Biden holds lead in Democratic presidential contest as Harris is praised for debate performance, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows — Former vice president Joe Biden leads his Democratic rivals in the campaign to win the party's presidential nomination, continuing …

Discussion: New York Times, Shareblue Media, CNN and Outside the Beltway

Matt Stevens / New York Times:
Kamala Harris Surges in 3 Polls After Strong Debate Performance

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo and Bloomberg

Hamed Aleaziz / BuzzFeed News:

These Pictures Reveal How Immigrants Are Crammed Into Small Spaces At Border Patrol Facilities — The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General on Tuesday released its final report on overcrowding at several border facilities in the Rio Grande Valley …

Discussion: Mother Jones

Zolan Kanno-Youngs / New York Times: Government Watchdog Finds Squalid Conditions in Border Centers

Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:
Kellyanne Conway Calls AOC a Liar for Claim That Migrants Are ‘Drinking Out of Toilets’

Discussion: RedState, Washington Press, twitchy.com, Rolling Stone, The Daily Caller, The Root, Slate, New York Post and Fox News

Geneva Sands / CNN: Watchdog finds extreme overcrowding in Border Patrol facilities in unannounced inspections

Matt Shuham / Talking Points Memo:
PHOTOS: Horrendous Conditions Found In Detention Centers By DHS Watchdog

Discussion: wgbh.org, Hullabaloo, Glamour and Vox

Michael Wines / New York Times:

Trump Administration Drops Effort to Add Citizenship Question to 2020 Census — The Trump administration said Tuesday that it would be printing forms for the 2020 census without a question asking about citizenship, abandoning its quest to add the query after being blocked last week by the Supreme Court.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Townhall

Sam Levine / HuffPost:

Trump Administration Drops Bid To Put Citizenship Question On 2020 Census — The decision comes days after the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the administration from adding the question. — There will not be a question asking about citizenship on the 2020 census, the Trump administration said Tuesday.

Discussion: RedState, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hullabaloo, The Intercept and ThinkProgress

Jeremy Stahl / Slate:
Trump's Apparent Decision to Drop the Citizenship Question Is the Biggest Legal Defeat of His Presidency

Discussion: Off the Kuff, Law & Crime and Mother Jones

Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:
Trump administration drops citizenship question from 2020 census

Discussion: Politico, Vox, The Daily Caller, KTLA, Talking Points Memo and Curbed

Michael Wines / New York Times:
2020 Census Won't Have Citizenship Question as Trump Administration Drops Effort

Discussion: Associated Press, Daily Kos, The Root and Althouse

Washington Post: 2020 Census will not include citizenship question, Justice Department confirms

Ted Hesson / Politico:
Census to leave citizenship question off 2020 questionnaire

Discussion: BuzzFeed News and ThinkProgress

New York Times:

Teenager Accused of Rape Deserves Leniency Because He's From a ‘Good Family,’ Judge Says — The family court judge also said the victim should have been told that pressing charges would destroy the accused's life. — The 16-year-old girl was visibly intoxicated, her speech slurred …

Discussion: Fox News

Donald Woutat / Los Angeles Times:

Lee Iacocca, father of the Ford Mustang who later rescued Chrysler, dies at 94 — Lee A. Iacocca, an ambitious immigrant's son and salesman extraordinaire whose blunt and swaggering persona dominated the automobile industry like nobody since Henry Ford, died Tuesday. He was 94.

Discussion: Washington Post and The Daily Caller

Charlotte W. Craig / Detroit Free Press:
Lee Iacocca dies: Father of Mustang, rescuer of Chrysler was 94

Discussion: Detroit News

Bernard Condon / Associated Press:

Trump Facebook ads use models to portray actual supporters — NEW YORK (AP) — A series of Facebook video ads for President Donald Trump's re-election campaign shows what appears to be a young woman strolling on a beach in Florida, a Hispanic man on a city street in Texas and a bearded hipster …

Andy Ngo / Wall Street Journal:

A Leftist Mob Attacked Me in Portland — I have been targeted by Antifa and its allies for my critical reporting of their violent extremism. — Portland, Ore. — 'No hate! No fear!" chanted the left-wing crowd as they marched downtown Saturday. I walked to the front of the line …

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Mike Pence Cancels a Trip to New Hampshire, and a Mystery Ensues — Within the Trump administration, Vice President Mike Pence is known as a port of calm and stability amid the churn of chaos. So on Tuesday, when he abruptly abandoned a planned trip to New Hampshire after he had already boarded Air Force …

Discussion: Hot Air, CNN and Washington Press

Washington Post:

At border, grim realities of crisis collide with 2020 campaign politics — Homeland Security officials thought they finally were getting a handle on the crisis at the Mexican border, after warning for months that agents and holding cells were beyond “the breaking point.”

Discussion: New York Post and IJR

John Solomon / The Hill:

Russian oligarch's story could spell trouble for Team Mueller — Sometimes it is the quiet, elusive ones who come back to haunt you. And for ex-special prosecutor Robert Mueller, one of those might be a Russian billionaire named Oleg Deripaska. — The oligarch who once controlled Russia's …

Discussion: The Last Refuge

Joseph Wulfsohn / Fox News:

Mitch McConnell tells Nike he'll buy first order of ‘Betsy Ross’ sneakers if they released after Kaepernick controversy — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, expressed his support for the Betsy Ross flag shoes that Nike pulled from the shelves, saying he'd “make the first order” if they were on sale again.

Discussion: One America News Network, Breitbart and Wall Street Journal

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Whatever happened to Breitbart? The insurgent star of the right is in a long, slow fade — In January 2017, Breitbart.com was flying high. Donald Trump, the candidate it had backed during the 2016 campaign, was sworn in as president. Its former executive chairman, Stephen K. Bannon …

more at Mediagazer »

Yvonne Wingett Sanchez / Arizona Republic:

Mark Kelly raised $4.2 million during his second quarter, exceeding first quarter haul — Democrat Mark Kelly, the retired astronaut who is hoping to unseat Republican Sen. Martha McSally in Arizona's 2020 Senate race, raised $4.2 million during April, May and June, exceeding his first-quarter fundraising.

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Trump Is Packing the July 4 Fireworks Because He's Afraid of Getting Booed — President Trump has yearned to combine his political rallies with militaristic displays that visually conflate support for American troops with his political identity. After some false starts …

Discussion: CODEPINK and New York Times