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12:15 PM ET, May 19, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Paul Krugman:
Attack of the Sadistic Zombies  —  The GOP budget is incredibly cruel — and that's the point  —  Republicans in Congress, taking their marching orders from Donald Trump, are on track to enact a hugely regressive budget — big tax giveaways to the wealthy combined with cruel cuts in programs that serve lower-income Americans.
RELATED:
Richard Rubin / Wall Street Journal:
The Stark Math on the GOP Tax Plan: It Doesn't Cut the Deficit  —  As House Republicans wrangle over tax-and-spending bill, budget analysts across the political spectrum warn that the proposal worsens the U.S. fiscal picture  —  WASHINGTON—House Republicans' last-minute grappling …
Discussion: USA Today and Issues & Insights
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
Tonight, late on a Sunday night, the House Budget Committee passed what Republicans are calling their “Big, Beautiful Bill” to enact Trump's agenda although it had failed on Friday when far-right Republicans voted against it, complaining it did not make deep enough cuts to social programs.
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
The ugly truth about Trump's “big, beautiful bill”  —  On the campaign trail in 2024, Trump pledged to improve the economic conditions of the working class.  “My plan will massively cut taxes for workers,” Trump declared at a campaign stop in Raleigh, North Carolina, on November 5, 2024, the day before the election.
Steve Benen / MSNBC:
In overnight vote, Republicans move closer to pushing Trump agenda bill through House  —  GOP officials are scrambling to advance massive tax breaks and dramatic Medicaid cuts, and it's worth appreciating why they're in such a rush.  —  Republican leaders on Capitol Hill imposed an exceedingly difficult timeline on themselves.
The Hill:
Republicans advance Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill’ in unusual late-night vote
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate Republicans want to break up House's Trump bill into bite-sized pieces
Discussion: Townhall
Elizabeth Elkind / Fox News:
Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill’ passes key House hurdle after GOP rebel mutiny
Andrew Prokop / Vox:
The ugly truth about Trump's big, beautiful bill
NBC News:
Key House committee advances Trump agenda bill after appeasing conservatives
Discussion: New York Times and The Daily Wire
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Head of CBS News to Depart Amid Tensions With Trump  —  Wendy McMahon, the president of CBS News and Stations, had allied herself with Bill Owens, the “60 Minutes” executive producer who recently resigned.  —  CBS News faced another shock wave on Monday after its president, Wendy McMahon …
Politico:
Why has Elon Musk disappeared from the spotlight?  —  The tech CEO isn't exactly gone yet, but Republicans have stopped bringing him up.  —  Elon Musk and Donald Trump were the main characters on the internet and across Washington day after day.  Then the world's richest man started to fade away.
Discussion: The Independent, The.Ink and Raw Story
RELATED:
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
A Word About Joe Biden  —  Somber one today.  Let's get right into it.  Happy Monday.  —  Joe Biden's Uncertain Legacy  —  by Andrew Egger  —  The news of Joe Biden's cancer—prostate, stage 4, metastatic to the bone—is a sledgehammer.  It's also a Rorschach.
Politico:   Playbook: Ukraine endgame?
Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:
Voters want Dems to stand up to Trump, not self-flagellate  —  A note from Aaron: Today's newsletter was all edited and ready for publication yesterday afternoon when the sad news broke that Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
RELATED:
Charlotte Alter / Time:
Inside the Democrats' Reboot
Discussion: Fox News
New York Times:
Markets Rattled on Concerns About U.S. Debt  —  Stocks fell, the dollar slipped and bond yields jumped after a rating downgrade highlighted worries about the cost of President Trump's policies and the health of the economy.  —  Turbulent trading hit financial markets on Monday …
RELATED:
Elizabeth Crisp / The Hill:
Trump says he'll call for ‘major investigation’ into performers at Harris events  —  “HOW MUCH DID KAMALA HARRIS PAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FOR HIS POOR PERFORMANCE DURING HER CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT?  WHY DID HE ACCEPT THAT MONEY IF HE IS SUCH A FAN OF HERS?  ISN'T THAT A MAJOR AND ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION?
RELATED:
J.D. Wolf / MeidasTouch News:
Trump Wants to Investigate “Unpatriotic Entertainers” Beyoncé, Others
Discussion: Raw Story
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
‘Sesame Street’ Saved, Inks New Streaming Deal With Netflix  —  Episodes will also continue to air on PBS, debuting the same day as they launch on Netflix. … The streaming giant has inked a deal with Sesame Workshop for new episodes of the long-running children's show …
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
What you — yes, you — should know about interacting with ICE  —  A legal expert explains the rights immigrants — and U.S. citizens — have when facing immigration officials.  —  The Trump administration is aware that Americans broadly support the deportation of undocumented immigrants who have committed violent crimes.
Amrith Ramkumar / Wall Street Journal:
Breaking Down Trump's Entanglements With Crypto  —  Sector has been one of the biggest winners in the president's second term  —  President Trump and his family's embrace of cryptocurrencies have made the sector one of the biggest winners in his second term.
RELATED:
New York Post:
How Trump's family-linked crypto deals are threatening a ‘Hunter Biden-style’ scandal at the White House
Discussion: CNBC and Raw Story
Kyle Chan / New York Times:
In the Future, China Will Be Dominant.  The U.S. Will Be Irrelevant.  —  阅读.体中文.閱讀.體中文.  —  For years, theorists have posited the onset of a “Chinese century”: a world in which China finally harnesses its vast economic …
Discussion: Semafor
Prem Thakker / Zeteo:
New Video of Mahmoud Khalil's Arrest Shows Trump Admin is Lying in Court  —  The new footage of ICE's warrantless arrest shows the Palestinian student fully cooperated with federal agents and was not a flight risk, as the government continues to falsely claim.
Discussion: Daily Kos
NOTUS:
John Cornyn's Primary Problems Are Starting to Scare Republicans  —  Cornyn is down substantially to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas Senate primary polls.  But Republicans are concerned that Paxton could lose the Senate seat — or, at least, make Republicans spend a lot more money.
USA Today:
Britain agrees trade and defense reset with European Union  —  Britain agreed the most significant reset of ties with the European Union since Brexit on Monday, removing some trade barriers and collaborating on defence to help grow its economy and boost security on the continent.
Jeffrey Toobin / New York Times:
Trump Has His Law Firms Right Where He Wants Them  —  Nine major corporate law firms have groveled before President Trump by agreeing to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in free legal services to the executive branch.  The immediate result of these capitulations is clear …
New York Times:
Bove, Top Justice Dept. Official, Is Considered for Circuit Court Nomination  —  Emil Bove III has emerged as a top contender to fill a vacancy on the appeals court covering Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, people familiar with the matter said.  —  President Trump is considering …
Troy Matthews / MeidasTouch News:
Donald Trump Jr. Mocks Biden Cancer Diagnosis in Heartless Post  —  Is the Trump family physically incapable of showing basic decency?  —  Donald Trump Jr. mocked the cancer diagnosis of former President Joe Biden in a post on X Sunday evening, then pinned the post to the top of his feed.
John Hendel / Politico:
Brendan Carr stages a Trumpian show at the FCC  —  For years, he was a low-key conservative policy player.  Now he's using an entire agency to wage Trump's battles.  —  Four months into his tenure as head of America's top communications regulator, Brendan Carr appears to be running …
Ben Berkowitz / Axios:
The argument's over: Americans pay for tariffs  —  The Trump administration conceded this weekend what economists, CEOs and consumers already knew: Americans pay for tariffs.  —  Why it matters: Nearly a decade of Trump trade arguments held that foreign countries, not Americans, paid the ultimate cost of a trade war.
Discussion: Fortune, The Daily Caller and KDFX-TV
Steven Beschloss / America, America:
Heeding the Warnings  —  Those of us committed to saving our democracy share the same task: To expand the awareness of people we know and meet about the dangers in our midst.  For all of us who've been paying attention to the dismantling of our democracy and the cruel, arrogant and reckless …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Sareen Habeshian / Axios:
Papers please: Trump employs proof of identity tactic to monitor Americans
Charlotte Kramon / Associated Press:
Trump order targets barcodes on ballots. They've long been a source of misinformation
Moira Donegan / The Guardian:
Republicans are raiding childcare funding - to push women out of the workforce
Wall Street Journal:
Will Anyone Take the Factory Jobs Trump Wants to Bring Back to America?
Daniel Waldenström / Foreign Affairs:
The Inequality Myth  —  Western Societies Are Growing More Equal, Not Less  —  Daniel Waldenstrom
Bloomberg:
Iran Nuke Deal Should End Threat, Not Postpone It
 Earlier Items: 
Peter Smith / Associated Press:
Critics say Trump's religion agenda will benefit conservative Christians the most
Chris Geidner / Law Dork:
Matt Kacsmaryk shouldn't be a judge
Discussion: PinkNews
Andrew Higgins / New York Times:
Nicusor Dan Beats George Simion in Romana's Presidential Election
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Netflix agrees to acquire WBD's studios and streaming business in an $82.7B cash-and-stock deal, set to close after WBD splits into two companies in Q3 2026

Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:
The Chicago Tribune sues Perplexity for copyright infringement, alleging Perplexity's platforms lift Tribune content verbatim and divert traffic from the paper

David Pierce / The Verge:
Yahoo launches Game Breakdowns in beta, offering AI-generated game summaries, stats, and play recaps, all updated live, to Yahoo Fantasy Plus subscribers

 
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