memeorandum: This Is How America's Culture War Death Spirals (Derek Thompson/The Atlantic)

2:35 PM ET, May 2, 2022

Top Items:

Mike Allen / Axios:

Scoop: Esper says Trump wanted to shoot protesters — Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper charges in a memoir out May 10 that former President Trump said when demonstrators were filling the streets around the White House following the death of George Floyd: “Can't you just shoot them?

Discussion: Washington Examiner, HuffPost, New York Magazine, Washington Post, Raw Story, Mediaite, USA Today, CNN, The Hill, Uniic Media, Talking Points Memo, Insider, Rolling Stone, The Moderate Voice, Washington Times and Mock Paper Scissors

Jonathan Lemire / Politico:

Bidenworld wants to make the midterms more about Trump and hopes Elon Musk helps — President Joe Biden and fellow Democrats have struggled to overcome historical headwinds and worrisome economic trends in the lead-up to the midterms. — So aides are scheming up something else …

Discussion: ABC News, HotAir, Washington Post, Fox News, The Status Kuo, RedState, Mock Paper Scissors, Raw Story, American Greatness, Political Currents, Wide World of News, Opinion Today, Associated Press and CNN

Scott Dworkin / Newsweek:

There's No Choice in the Midterms. The Democrats Are the Only Side Defending Democracy — , EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE DEMOCRATIC COALITION — As we get closer and closer to November's midterm elections, doomsday predictions about a bloodbath for Democrats have come to dominate the news.

Discussion: BizPac Review, Salon, Axios, Washington Post and New Yorker

Andrew Solender / Axios:
Jan. 6 panel seeks info from three GOP House members

Discussion: Washington Post, Fox News, CBS News, Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNN, NPR and Raw Story

Andrew Stiles / Washington Free Beacon:
Holy Crap, Look at All These Fancy Nerds (PHOTOS)

Discussion: Politico

Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:
Judge rejects RNC bid to block email, fundraising data from Jan. 6 panel

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Rolling Stone, Raw Story and Election Law Blog

Rebecca Beitsch / The Hill:
Jan. 6 panel wants testimony from GOP lawmakers Brooks, Biggs, Jackson

Discussion: Kansas Reflector, Insider, CNBC, USA Today, Roll Call, Rolling Stone, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

Cami Mondeaux / Washington Examiner:
Judge rejects RNC lawsuit seeking to block Jan. 6 committee subpoena

Discussion: Politico, Wall Street Journal, HotAir, Bloomberg, NBC News, Human Events, Los Angeles Times, Talking Points Memo, UPI, CBS News, Reuters, Law & Crime, The Hill and Washington Times

New York Times:

Russian Tycoon Criticized Putin's War. Retribution Was Swift. — Oleg Y. Tinkov was worth more than $9 billion in November, renowned as one of Russia's few self-made business tycoons after building his fortune outside the energy and minerals industries that were the playgrounds of Russian kleptocracy.

Discussion: Washington Post, National Review, The Hill, Today's Edition Newsletter, Forbes, New York Post, Washington Times and Wall Street Journal

BBC:

Israel outrage at Sergei Lavrov's claim that Hitler was part Jewish — Israel has reacted with fury after Russia's foreign minister claimed that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler “had Jewish blood”. — Sergei Lavrov made the comments to try to justify Russia's portrayal of Ukraine as “Nazi” despite the fact that its president is Jewish.

Washington Post:
Big majority of Americans back sanctions on Russia, aid to Ukraine, poll finds

Discussion: Reuters, Yahoo News, New York Times, The Atlantic, The Hill, ABC News, The Guardian, New York Times and Washington Post, more at Techmeme »

CNN:
Russians plunder $5M farm vehicles from Ukraine — to find they've been remotely disabled

Discussion: The Dispatch, Washington Examiner, Boing Boing, Ace of Spades HQ, New York Post and The Times of Israel

Devin Dwyer / ABC News:

Supreme Court rules for group in dispute with Boston over flying Christian Flag — The court ruled the city of Boston violated the group's First Amendment rights. — A unanimous Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the city of Boston violated the First Amendment when it denied a civic group …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Post, HotAir, CBS News, Fox News, CNBC, UPI, NBC News, The Gateway Pundit, SCOTUSblog, CNN, RedState and National Review

John Fritze / USA Today: Supreme Court: Boston can't deny Christian flag if it flies other flags on City Hall flagpole

CNN:

Georgia official texted Mark Meadows as Trump badgered secretary of state to ‘find’ votes — (CNN)As Donald Trump badgered Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on an hour-long call to “find” the votes necessary to flip the battleground state to Trump's column after the 2020 election …

Discussion: CNBC, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Raw Story, Peach State Politics … and New York Times

Domenico Montanaro / NPR:
Campaign season kicks off in earnest with primaries in 13 states in May

Discussion: The Transom, Al Jazeera and CNN

Natalie Allison / Politico:

Arizona GOP Senate frontrunner loses lead amid air assault — Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has fallen out of first place in the state's Republican Senate primary, a slide that corresponds with aggressive advertising spending by his opponents — and Donald Trump's ire.

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Arizona Republic

David Siders / Politico:
Trumpworld braces for ‘a couple of ugly nights’ in May

Discussion: Bloomberg, Punchbowl News, Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight, Mock Paper Scissors, No Tribe, The Entermation Age, Fox News, Raw Story, The Hill, Breitbart and WKBN-TV

Adam Wren / Politico: The GOP senator who faulted Trump for Jan. 6 — and lived to tell about it

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic:

This Is How America's Culture War Death Spirals — Sign up for Derek's newsletter here. — The drama in Florida between Governor Ron DeSantis and the Walt Disney Company has taken so many unusual turns in so little time that providing a truly straightforward account of what's transpired is not easy.

Discussion: Vanity Fair and Based and Reformed

Marc Caputo / NBC News:
DeSantis eyes big Florida win in November as a White House springboard

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Caller, BizPac Review and Raw Story

NBC News:

A note to our readers — To our readers: — A review by NBC News has found 11 articles written by a reporter over the last year that did not meet our standards for original material. The articles contained passages from other news organizations that were used without attribution.

more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Tucker Carlson Is a White Nationalist, and Conservatives Are Okay With It … Ten years ago, National Review fired longtime contributor John Derbyshire over a column urging white and Asian American parents to warn their children that Black people posed a danger to them.

Discussion: HuffPost, more at Mediagazer »

Matt Gertz / Media Matters for America:
If you are in business with Fox News, you are on the hook for its white nationalism

Discussion: The Hill, Morning Shots, RedState and Eschaton, more at Mediagazer »

Caroline Kitchener / Washington Post:

The next frontier for the antiabortion movement: A nationwide ban — Advocates and some GOP lawmakers have started mobilizing around potential federal legislation to outlaw abortion after six weeks of pregnancy — Leading antiabortion groups and their allies in Congress have been meeting behind …

Discussion: Activate

The Daily Beast:

Trump Organization Accused of Hiding Witness Who Knew if Trump Lied — There's a new witness in a civil case against the Trump Organization. And this witness could help show that Trump was lying. — Of all Donald Trump's legal problems, the lawsuit over the way his company's security guards beat …

Discussion: Raw Story

Mike Allen / Axios:

First look: Jared Kushner to publish White House memoir in August — Jared Kushner will be out Aug. 8 with “Breaking History: A White House Memoir,” with the publisher promising never-before-reported tales from the 2016 campaign, the Russia investigation, impeachment and COVID.

Discussion: The Hill and New York Post

Jacob Anbinder / The Atlantic:

What Historic Preservation Is Doing to American Cities — When news broke earlier this year that the modest but attractive house on Long Island known as Geller I was going to be demolished, the outcry was immediate. The home's significance in architectural history was beyond question.

Bolts:

What Primaries to Watch from May 3 to May 10? — The 2022 primary cycle, which began with Texas in March, heats up in May as thirteen states head to the polls this month. This Bolts cheat sheet covers the first stretch: Indiana and Ohio vote on Tuesday, May 3, and Nebraska and West Virginia vote …

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Biden's transgender decree — BIDEN'S TRANSGENDER DECREE. One way to shut down debate on a contentious subject is to declare that there is no debate on the subject. Everyone, absolutely everyone, agrees with one side, so why are you even trying to argue? It's settled.

Discussion: The Daily Wire, National Review, Daily Mail and CNSNews

Alan Feuer / New York Times:

Former N.Y.P.D. Officer Convicted of Assault in Jan. 6 Case — Thomas Webster was found guilty in federal court after assaulting a Washington, D.C., police officer with a metal flagpole during the riot at the Capitol last year. — Give this article- - - Read in app