memeorandum: Record economic optimism under Trump, better than Reagan, Clinton, Obama (Paul Bedard/Washington Examiner)

10:45 AM ET, February 5, 2020

Top Items:

Parkland father removed from State of the Union speech after shouting at Trump — The father of a high school freshman killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was removed from the audience at President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday night …

Discussion: Vox, The Hill, Mother Jones and Axios

Elizabeth Vaughn / Redstate:

The Remarkable Mr. Trump: Unhinged and Dangerous or One of the Greatest Presidents Ever? — Sitting behind President Trump as he delivered his powerful and dramatic State of the Union address on Tuesday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared small, bitter and defeated.

Discussion: New York Times and Real Clear Politics

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:
With chants, walkouts and a ripped-up speech, bitter partisanship dominates Trump's State of the Union

Discussion: Associated Press, New York Times and Outside the Beltway

Jim Geraghty / National Review:
Pelosi's Petty Move

Discussion: The American Spectator, Washington Post and CNN

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Trump and Pelosi Exchange Snubs at the State of the Union Address

Discussion: Washington Post, POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite and Breitbart

Michael Goodwin / New York Post: Nancy Pelosi shamed herself at Trump's State of the Union address

Andrew O'Reilly / Fox News:
Trump snubs Pelosi at State of the Union, doesn't shake her hand

Discussion: The Hill and Politico

Rebecca Falconer / Axios:
In photos: All the drama from State of the Union address

Discussion: Politico

Associated Press:

Biden's poor showing in Iowa shakes establishment support — DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Joe Biden's third presidential bid enters a critical stretch after a disappointing finish in the Iowa caucuses sent the former vice president on to New Hampshire with a skittish donor base …

Discussion: UnionLeader.com, Politico and ABC News

Jamie Lovegrove / Post and Courier:

Upstate GOP leaders plotting to meddle in SC Democratic primary by boosting Bernie Sanders — COLUMBIA — A group of prominent Upstate Republicans are preparing to launch a wide-scale effort this week to encourage GOP voters across South Carolina to vote for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders …

Discussion: The Hill, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story and No More Mister Nice Blog

Ken Thomas / Wall Street Journal:

How Iowa Slipped Away From Joe Biden — Former vice president now must convince donors and voters in other early states to stick with him in a fiercely competitive field — DES MOINES, Iowa—In the months leading up to the Iowa caucuses, Joe Biden suggested he could stake an early claim to the Democratic nomination with a victory.

Joan Walsh / The Nation:
Elizabeth Warren Has a Movement. You Just Don't See It Yet.

Discussion: The Hill

The Boston Globe:
Bernie Sanders widens lead in latest N.H. poll

Discussion: New York Times, The Federalist and National Journal

Nihar Kabinittal / ABC News:
Iowa Democratic Party releases majority of caucus results

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico, The Daily Beast, One America News Network, Redstate, The Gateway Pundit and FiveThirtyEight

Marc Caputo / Politico:
How a broken app overshadowed Biden's Iowa fail

Discussion: CNBC

Grace Segers / CBS News:

Susan Collins will vote to acquit Trump, saying he's “learned” from impeachment — Watch Norah O'Donnell's exclusive interview with Susan Collins on the “CBS Evening News” on Tuesday, February 4, at 6:30 p.m. ET. — Washington — Republican Senator Susan Collins announced Tuesday she will vote …

Timothy Bella / Washington Post:

Rush Limbaugh joins the likes of Mother Teresa and Rosa Parks as recipient of highest civilian honor — There was Mother Teresa, “a heroine of our times,” and Rosa Parks, “a living icon for freedom in America.” Elie Wiesel kept “watch against the forces of hatred,” while Jackie Robinson …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Guardian and The Daily Beast

Washington Post:
Rush Limbaugh awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom at State of the Union

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Bangor Daily News, Variety, Mediaite, New York Times, Raw Story, Twitchy, New York Times, New York Post, The Hill and Axios

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:
No, Susan Collins, Trump is never going to learn

Discussion: Crooked Media and CNN

Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
Trump says he will award Rush Limbaugh with Medal of Freedom

Discussion: Breitbart, The White House, IJR, Mediaite, Twitchy, PJ Media Home, Big League Politics, The Daily Caller, FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV, HuffPost, Raw Story, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, Townhall and Disrn, more at Mediagazer »

Kurt Schlichter / Townhall: What Rush Means To Us, And To Me

New York Times:

Faulty Iowa App Was Part of Push to Restore Democrats' Digital Edge — The faulty smartphone app behind the chaotic aftermath of Iowa's Democratic caucuses was the work of a little-known company called Shadow Inc. that was founded by veterans of Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful presidential campaign …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Axios, New Republic, Commentary, Bleeding Heartland, The Mahablog, Common Dreams, Wall Street Journal and VICE, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:
Live: Iowa Caucus Results 2020

Discussion: Iowa Starting Line, The Daily Caller, FiveThirtyEight, Vanity Fair, Mediaite, The Resurgent, Common Dreams, Mashable, Breitbart, Vox, ABC News, The Intercept, Northeastern, CNN, Political Wire and Yello, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:
‘We Feel Really Terrible,’ Says CEO Whose App Roiled Iowa Caucus

Discussion: National Review, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, The Hill, Brutal South, The Verge, protocol, New York Post, Fox News, NPR, Common Dreams, Slate and Townhall, more at Techmeme »

Elizabeth Bruenig / New York Times:
The Center Cannot Hold

Discussion: The Boston Globe, VICE, The American Conservative and VTDigger

Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:

Trump Had America's Top TV News Anchors Over for Lunch—and Ate Them Alive — The Daily Beast learned that Trump's off-record Tuesday lunch with prominent news anchors was surprisingly “chill,” with the president mocking his chuckling guests. — Donald Trump served various television news personalities …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Post and Raw Story

Roger Kimball / Spectator USA:
Trump's 2020 State of the Union address was nothing less than magnificent

Discussion: Axios, The Bulwark, New York Times and Instapundit

David Bauder / Associated Press:
White House excludes CNN from Trump session, with no protest

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review

Cristina Marcos / The Hill:
10 Democrats to boycott Trump State of the Union address

Discussion: Vox, ABC News, Raw Story, HuffPost, Mediaite, The Guardian, Redstate, Townhall, ABC7, Axios, Politico, The Root, The Daily Caller and Washington Free Beacon

Matt Fuller / HuffPost:
Republicans Celebrate Trump Getting Away With It At State Of The Union

Discussion: Commentary, NBC New York and New York Times

Washington Post:

Fact-checking President Trump's 2020 State of the Union address — President Trump's State of the Union speech once again was chock-full of stretched facts and dubious figures. Many of these claims have been fact-checked repeatedly, yet the president persists in using them.

Washington Post:
President Trump's 2020 State of the Union address, annotated

Discussion: Breitbart, Mother Jones and The Last Refuge

Wall Street Journal:
Full Text of President Trump's 2020 State of the Union Speech

Discussion: UPI, American Greatness and NB Blog

CNN:
READ: President Trump's State of the Union address

Discussion: The American Spectator

Nicole Narea / Vox:
Read the full text of Trump's State of the Union speech

Discussion: Reason and Mother Jones

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:

Record economic optimism under Trump, better than Reagan, Clinton, Obama — Economic optimism has reached a 44-year high and economic gloom a record low under President Trump in the latest survey that shows people in the United States are cheering their best personal economy in decades.

Discussion: Instapundit

RJ Reinhart / Gallup:
Record-High Optimism on Personal Finances in U.S.

Discussion: The Federalist

Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart:

Van Jones Warns Democrats: Trump Is Helping African-Americans ‘In Real Life’ — CNN contributor Van Jones warned fellow panelists, and Democrats in general, on Tuesday evening that President Donald Trump was helping African-Americans “in real life” and reaching out to them for their vote in 2020.

Discussion: The Hill

The Boston Globe:

Kill the tradition: NH and Iowa should not vote first — A hundred years ago, New Hampshire blazed a trail as the first among 20 states to hold a 1920 presidential primary election. It is a tradition that has endured for the century since, and will repeat on Feb. 11 — a fact owed not just to custom …

Discussion: Axios

Steve Benen / MSNBC:

When it comes to Iowa, Trump throws stones from a glass house — As Donald Trump celebrates the mess in Iowa, perhaps he should remember that Republicans in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. — It seems no one is enjoying the Iowa's presidential caucus fiasco more than Donald Trump.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Daily Kos and The Philadelphia Inquirer

Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
This Is No Way to Beat Trump — Watching the Iowa caucus …

Discussion: Raw Story

Alex Griswold / Washington Free Beacon:

Bloomberg Used Box to Boost Height as NYC Mayor, Documents Show — The Bloomberg campaign was quick to shoot down President Donald Trump's claim that the Democratic presidential candidate plans to use a box to boost his height at Friday's Democratic debate.

Daniel Bice / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Board fires two leaders of the 2020 DNC Host Committee — The two leaders of Milwaukee's host committee for the 2020 Democratic National Convention are out. — Late Tuesday, the board for the Milwaukee 2020 Host Committee terminated President Liz Gilbert and her chief of staff, Adam Alonso.

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, Althouse, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, PJ Media Home and National Review

Jeff Cox / CNBC:

Private payrolls soar in January, the best monthly gain in nearly 5 years — By Jeff Cox@JEFF.COX.7528@JEFFCOXCNBCCOM — Private payrolls rose by 291,000 in January, the best month since May 2015, according to ADP and Moody's Analytics. — The report was nearly twice the expected gains.

Wall Street Journal:

Justice Department Ramps Up Google Probe, With Heavy Focus on Ad Tools — Antitrust enforcers have reached out to more than a dozen publishers, ad tech rivals and ad agencies — The Justice Department has reached out to more than a dozen companies in its antitrust probe of Google …

more at Mediagazer »