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9:55 AM ET, April 17, 2020

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Ryan Lizza / Politico:
My Wild, Totally Surreal Experience Covering a Trump Coronavirus Briefing  —  “Your forehead, please,” said the woman in a mask.  —  She was a medical technician sitting in a tent outside the northwest gate of the White House in the otherwise deserted section of Pennsylvania Avenue that is usually crammed with tourists in April.
RELATED:
Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
For Mark Meadows, the Transition From Trump Confidant to Chief of Staff Is a Hard One  —  Only weeks into the job, the former congressman has confronted the same problems that frustrated his three predecessors.  It hasn't helped him with his new White House colleagues that he's emotional and sometimes cries.
John Santucci / ABC News:
Trump's new chief of staff Mark Meadows responds to frequent controversy with fits of emotion: Sources
Discussion: Politico and Raw Story
Kara Scannell / CNN:
Michael Cohen will be released from prison due to pandemic  —  (CNN)The federal Bureau of Prisons has notified Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, that he will be released early from prison due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to people familiar with the matter and his lawyer.
RELATED:
NBC News:
Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to be released from prison early over virus concerns
Discussion: Just The News and Associated Press
Michael Kruse / Politico:
Donald Trump's Greatest Escape  —  His audacity masked his desperation.  —  It was the spring of 1995.  Donald Trump was this close to finished.  He had spent the previous five years constantly, and barely, avoiding financial ruin and what he worried would be a permanent stain of personal bankruptcy.
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Sen. Joe Manchin will back Biden for president  —  Sen. Joe Manchin will endorse Joe Biden for president, putting to bed any thought that he might not support the Democratic presidential nominee this time around.  —  The conservative West Virginia Democrat said in an interview on Thursday …
Discussion: The Hill and Fox News
RELATED:
Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:
Biden says he's already choosing a presidential transition team
Discussion: The Hill
Michael Gerson / Washington Post:   Trump has made a mess of national security. Biden must show he can do better.
Marianna Sotomayor / NBC News:   Biden putting together post-election transition team, talks Cabinet makeup
Sharon Begley / STAT:
Influential Covid-19 model uses flawed methods and shouldn't guide U.S. policies, critics say  —  A widely followed model for projecting Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. is producing results that have been bouncing up and down like an unpredictable fever, and now epidemiologists are criticizing …
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Trump's coronavirus self-protection plan: Spread responsibility to the states  —  President Trump's reopening plan includes lots of hurdles for states, but the key factor for him was that he got to fire the pistol, Axios' Jonathan Swan reports.  —  Why it matters: Even though he's delegating to governors …
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Jason Johnson / TheGrio:
Joe Biden's VP pick better be a Black woman - and it needs to be Kamala Harris  —  OPINION: At this point, Biden's not trying to break box office records - he just doesn't want to flop.  —  Some casting decisions make sense the moment the movie is announced.
Discussion: MSNBC and NBC News
RELATED:
Charles Duncan / McClatchy Washington Bureau:   Who will Joe Biden pick as his running mate? Here's what Vegas betting odds show
STAT:
Early peek at data on Gilead coronavirus drug suggests patients are responding to treatment  —  A Chicago hospital treating severe Covid-19 patients with Gilead Sciences' antiviral medicine remdesivir in a closely watched clinical trial is seeing rapid recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms …
Bloomberg:
Small-Business Rescue Shows Not All States Are Created Equal  —  During the first 10 days of the federal government's small-business rescue program, the spigot was wide open in Nebraska.  Firms there got enough money to cover about three-fourths of the state's eligible payrolls.
The Daily Beast:
Army Decides a Pandemic Is a Good Time to Give GOP Donors $569 Million to ‘Build the Wall’  —  What coronavirus crisis?  Big Republican donors get a half-billion dollar, no-bid deal that one watchdog calls “a travesty that must be investigated and audited immediately.”  —  BEAST INSIDE
John Haltiwanger / Business Insider:
The Trump administration paid a bankrupt company with zero employees $55 million for N95 masks, which it's never manufactured  — The Trump administration has awarded a $55 million contract for N95 masks to a company with no experience producing medical supplies and whose parent company filed for bankruptcy protection last year.
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Here's a state that's quietly reversing the tea party's damage  —  A decade ago, the tea party movement — remember them? — helped power a smashing Republican victory in the 2010 midterms, leading not just to GOP control of the House of Representatives, but also to a massive Republican takeover in state governments across the country.
Pew Research Center:
Most Americans Say Trump Was Too Slow in Initial Response to Coronavirus Threat  —  Wide concern that states will lift COVID-19 restrictions too quickly  —  How we did this  —  As the death toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to spiral, most Americans do not foresee a quick end to the crisis.
RELATED:
Washington Free Beacon:   The Pelosi Recession  —  Democratic obstruction will cause untold economic damage
Tim Mullaney / The Independent:
Trump is lying — keeping the lockdown won't kill more people than coronavirus, and I have the economic proof  —  At 2,800 deaths a day from Covid-19, that ain't in the cards.  So stop whining and fix this  —  {{^moreThanTen}}  —  {{/moreThanTen}}  —  Never at a loss for words …
Discussion: Raw Story
Politico:
Matt Gaetz rents office space from longtime friend and donor — at taxpayer expense  —  Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz has spent nearly $200,000 in taxpayer funds renting an office from a longtime friend, adviser, campaign donor and legal client.  —  Both men said in separate interviews Gaetz …
Leon Sverdlov / Jerusalem Post:
Yair Netanyahu tweets leftists will die of coronavirus following protest  —  “I hope the elderly people who die following this protest will be from your bloc,” the younger Netanyahu junior wrote on Twitter.  —  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son Yair Netanyahu caused controversy Thursday night …
Associated Press:
Coronavirus could complicate Trump's path to reelection  —  NEW YORK (AP) — The coronavirus is poised to reshape the political map, pummeling battleground states and alarming Republicans who see early signs of an election that could be a referendum on President Donald Trump's management of the crisis.
Keith Bradsher / New York Times:
China's Economy Shrinks, Ending a Nearly Half-Century of Growth  —  The contraction comes at a time when the rest of the world needs an economic boost, underscoring how momentous the task of reviving the global economy will be.  —  The Americans Who Straggled in Good Times, and Now Struggle in a Crisis
Jeremy W. Peters / Chicago Tribune:
Why Michael Savage is blasting Sean Hannity and the right-wing media on the coronavirus  —  There are a lot of people who are ruining the country right now, according to Michael Savage.  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  Liberal mayors in big cities like San Francisco.  Undocumented immigrants.
Ian Shapira / Washington Post:
He risked his life photographing the 1961 Freedom Riders.  Theodore Gaffney just died from the coronavirus at 92.  —  In the spring of 1961, Jet magazine asked Theodore Gaffney, a Washington freelance photographer, to travel with the Freedom Riders, a group of activists from across the country …
Susan J. Demas / Michigan Advance:
Don't whitewash the GOP's extremism on full display during Whitmer protest  —  We were promised it wasn't a Republican protest.  We were promised people were just upset they couldn't golf or buy seeds (in stores) during a pandemic that's already killed 2,000 of their neighbors.
Kendall Karson / ABC News:
Country grows more pessimistic about a return to normalcy post-coronavirus: POLL  —  Ideological allegiance extends to nearly every aspect of the crisis.  —  The country is growing more pessimistic about a timeframe for a return to normalcy, with ideological allegiance extending …
Discussion: Mediaite and Contemptor
Robert Zimmerman / Behind The Black:
Trump bows to bureaucrats, unveils a never-ending 3-phase program to end shutdowns … The house arrests will continue indefinitely: Though the country's fifty governors are in charge of the nationwide house arrest and the only ones who can really end it, President Trump today unveiled …
Discussion: Instapundit and The Gateway Pundit
Matt Donnelly / Variety:
‘Ellen’ Crew Furious Over Poor Communication Regarding Pay, Non-Union Workers During Coronavirus Shutdown (EXCLUSIVE)  —  Endeavor Content, Keller/Noll Launch Game Show Podcast With ‘American Ninja Warrior’ Host Matt Iseman  —  Crew members from Ellen DeGeneres' long-running daytime talk show …
Washington Post:
As testing outcry mounts, Trump cedes to states in announcing guidelines for slow reopening  —  President Trump released federal guidelines Thursday night for a slow and staggered return to normal in places with minimal cases of the novel coronavirus, moving to try to resume economic activity …
NBC News:
Coronavirus testing must double or triple before U.S. can safely reopen, experts say  —  “We are an order of magnitude off right now from where we should be,” said an expert in infectious disease modeling who advised the Obama administration.  —  Testing for the coronavirus …
David Freedlander / Vanity Fair:
Does the King of the COVID-19 Contrarians Have a Case?  —  Alex Berenson, thriller writer, former Timesman and marijuana alarmist, thinks scientists, politicians, and the media are fueling coronavirus hysteria.  Some scientists think he's dead wrong.  “He should go back to school and learn some science,” says one.
Discussion: VICE and Raw Story
Joy Pullmann / The Federalist:
We Are Making American Kids Pay For Coronavirus Shutdowns, And That's Unfair  —  Our nation's leaders are demanding that American children pay for this crisis through debt-financed spending, while depriving them of the education they need to make that even remotely possible.
Slate:
Trump Is Already Trying to Get Around CARES Act Oversight  —  Slate is making its coronavirus coverage free for all readers.  Subscribe to support our journalism.  Start your free trial.  —  As Congress negotiates additional measures to respond to the COVID-19 crisis …
CNN:
Time to fire Jared and Ivanka  —  / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)  —  Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, a vice president at New America and a professor of practice at Arizona State University.
The Times of Israel:
US alerted Israel, NATO to disease outbreak in China in November — report  —  Israeli officials said to have debated threat five months ago, before public was aware of coronavirus, but ‘nothing was done’ by Health Ministry  —  US intelligence agencies alerted Israel to the coronavirus outbreak …
Discussion: Talking Points Memo
Josh Rogin / Washington Post:
The WHO doesn't only have a China problem — it has a dictator problem  —  This week, President Trump announced that he is suspending U.S. funding for the World Health Organization.  He accused the organization of taking “China's assurances at face value” and pushing “China's misinformation” about the coronavirus outbreak there.
Grant Marek / SFGATE:
Berkeley institution Top Dog is on the ropes.  But they still won't take federal aid.  —  You never forget your first trip to Top Dog.  —  The tiny, Berkeley-born grab-and-go grill is a rite of passage for Cal students, slinging superlative sausages late night 'til 3 a.m. — along with a side of libertarian literature.
Michael Grunwald / Politico:
What AOC Gets that Bernie Didn't  —  The 27-year-old progressive activist Sean McElwee made the POLITICO 50 list of influential thinkers in 2017 for “Abolish ICE,” a pithy slogan that more liberal Democrats adapted into a quixotic campaign to dismantle the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Sarah Pulliam Bailey / Washington Post:
Prominent Southern Baptist Albert Mohler opposed Trump in 2016.  Now, he says he will vote for the president.
Patricia Cohen / New York Times:
Coronavirus Crisis Underlines Weak Spots in U.S. Economic System
Politico:
Phone tag and snubs: Bitter leadership feuds undermine pandemic relief
Wall Street Journal:
New York Extends Coronavirus Lockdown as Some Asian Countries See Rise in Cases
Greg Giroux / Bloomberg Government:
Liz Cheney Donates to Massie Opponent After Forced Stimulus Vote
Joseph Wulfsohn / Fox News:
Biden skates through TV interviews as anchors avoid questions about Tara Reade's assault claim
 Earlier Items: 
Jason DeParle / New York Times:
A Gloomy Prediction on How Much Poverty Could Rise
Discussion: Mother Jones and Chalkbeat
Washington Post:
Thousands of OSHA complaints filed against companies for virus workplace safety concerns, records show
The Nation:
An Open Letter to the New New Left From the Old New Left
Discussion: The Mahablog
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Reporters Grounded by Pandemic Lose ‘That Window Into the Campaign’
Heidi Przybyla / NBC News:
Family of New York woman blames hydroxychloroquine combo for fatal heart attack
Discussion: Twitchy, Townhall and Bloomberg
Edward Luce / Financial Times:
The US is failing the test of the century
Justin McCarthy / Gallup:
Trump's Job Rating Slides; U.S. Satisfaction Tumbles