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2:45 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.
Discussion: CBS News
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 …
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
The ugly truth about Trump's “big, beautiful bill”
Discussion: Forbes
Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
Supreme Court allows Trump to revoke protected status for thousands of Venezuelans  —  As part of the Trump administration's hardline immigration policy, it seeks to reverse a Biden-era policy that extended protections for more than 300,000 Venezuelans.  —  WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court …
RELATED:
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 …
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:
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
Joe Biden Isn't Your Scapegoat  —  Biden failed.  So did the rest of us.  —  ∙ Paid  —  Hey fam: I'm doing an AMA on our subreddit this Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. in the East.  If you want to hang come over to r/thebulwark.  —  I'll remind you on Wednesday.  —  1. Prayers
Charlotte Alter / Time:
Inside the Democrats' Reboot
Discussion: Fox News
Kate Knibbs / Wired:
Bluesky Is Plotting a Total Takeover of the Social Internet  —  All the lefties fled to Bluesky following Elon Musk's Twitter takeover.  But CEO Jay Graber says the app is for everyone—and could revolutionize how people communicate online.  —  as i waited to meet with Jay Graber …
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 …
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.
RELATED:
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
A Word About Joe Biden
Washington Post:
Judge deals blow to Arizona case over 2020 Republican electors  —  The ruling potentially jeopardizes the high-profile indictments in a case brought by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat.  —  An Arizona judge has ordered state prosecutors to send back to a grand jury a case …
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:
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:
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.
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.
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 …
Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite
Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:
Trump threatens ABC News over Qatar jet coverage  —  President Trump is threatening ABC News over its coverage of a luxury jet he is set to receive from Qatar, a decision that is drawing criticism from both congressional leaders and national security experts.
Washington Post:
Police secretly monitored New Orleans with facial recognition cameras  —  Following records requests from The Post, officials paused the first known, widespread live facial recognition program used by police in the United States.  —  NEW ORLEANS — For two years, New Orleans police secretly relied …
Discussion: Common Dreams and Ars Technica
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: Stimson Center and 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
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 …
Lindsay Whitehurst / Associated Press:
Appeals court allows Trump's anti-union order to take effect  —  An appeals court has cleared the way for President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at ending collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees while a lawsuit plays out.
Discussion: Newsweek
Sareen Habeshian / Axios:
Papers please: Trump employs proof of identity tactic to monitor Americans  —  The Trump administration has instated all sorts of requirements to monitor Americans, particularly immigrants in its first months.  —  The big picture: From an undocumented immigrant registry to proof-of-citizenship for voting …
ProPublica:
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Sold Stocks Two Days Before Trump Announced a Plan for Reciprocal Tariffs  —  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.  Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.  —  Two days before President Donald …
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
Brock Hrehor / American Prospect:
The Democrats' One and Only Union-Busting Governor  —  Colorado's Democratic legislature voted to repeal the state's de facto right-to-work law.  On Friday, Gov. Jared Polis vetoed it.  —  Colorado Gov. Jared Polis delivers his state of the state address in the House chamber of the Colorado State Capitol, January 9, 2025, in Denver.
Discussion: Jacobin
Daniel Waldenström / Foreign Affairs:
The Inequality Myth  —  Western Societies Are Growing More Equal, Not Less  —  Daniel Waldenstrom  —  Spend a few minutes browsing political commentary or scrolling social media and you will discover a seemingly settled truth: inequality in the West is soaring, the middle class is being hollowed out …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Anne Applebaum / The Atlantic:
Nobody in Ukraine Thinks the War Will End Soon
Discussion: New York Times
New Republic:
Transcript: Trump's Threats to Defy Courts Suddenly Get More Dangerous
Discussion: The Contrarian and Raw Story
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
NOTUS:
John Cornyn's Primary Problems Are Starting to Scare Republicans
 Earlier Items: 
Wall Street Journal:
Will Anyone Take the Factory Jobs Trump Wants to Bring Back to America?
John Hendel / Politico:
A federal agency goes full Trumpist
David Gilmour / Mediaite:
'He's Had This For Many Years': Doctor Shocks Joe Scarborough With Biden Cancer Analysis
Barak Ravid / Axios:
Scoop: Vance decided against Israel visit due to new Israeli operation in Gaza
Ryan Lucas / NPR:
70% of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division lawyers are leaving because of Trump's reshaping
Discussion: Raw Story
George Packer / The Atlantic:
The Talented Mr. Vance  —  J. D. Vance could have brought the country's conflicting strands together.