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3:25 PM ET, February 1, 2026

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
John Hanna / Associated Press:
Democrat Taylor Rehmet wins a reliably Republican Texas state Senate seat, stunning GOP  —  Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a special election for the Texas state Senate on Saturday, flipping a reliably Republican district that President Donald Trump won by 17 points in 2024.
RELATED:
J. David Goodman / New York Times:
Democratic Upset in Deep Red Texas District Rattles Republicans  —  A Democrat won a state legislative special election in a district that President Trump carried by 17 percentage points, unnerving Republicans in Texas and beyond.  —  In an upset that rattled Republicans in Texas and beyond …
Owen Auston-Babcock / NBC News:
Democrat Christian Menefee wins special election for vacant, deep-blue House seat in Texas  —  Menefee will serve the remainder of the term won in 2024 by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died almost a year ago.  —  Listen to this article with a free account
David French / New York Times:
This Is Not a Drill  —  It's only February, and the November elections are already in peril.  —  When I think back to the days and weeks before Jan. 6, 2021, one thing that's clear is that many of us suffered from a failure of imagination.  We knew President Trump's lies and conspiracy mongering …
Discussion: Raw Story and CNN
RELATED:
Nicholas Riccardi / Associated Press:
What a swing House district in Colorado shows about Republicans' immigration fallout in the midterms  —  Like many Donald Trump voters, Miranda Niedermeier is not opposed to immigration enforcement.  She was heartened by initial moves from the Republican president in his second term that she saw …
Madison Fernandez / Politico:   Immigration takes center stage in New Jersey special election
Ali Bianco / Politico:   The issue Democrats have been scared to run on
Nathan Heller / New Yorker:
Gavin Newsom Is Playing the Long Game
Discussion: Politico
Associated Press:
5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and father return to Minnesota from Texas detention facility  —  A 5-year-old boy and his father detained by immigration officers in Minnesota and held in Texas have been released following a judge's order.  They have returned to Minnesota, according to the office of Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro.
RELATED:
Elora Mukherjee / New York Times:
Liam Ramos Was Just One of Hundreds of Children at This Detention Center.  Release Them All.  —  The arrest and detention of Liam Conejo Ramos, the Minnesota 5-year-old in a blue bunny hat and a Spider-Man backpack, has drawn the attention — and the ire — of the nation.
CNN:
Judge orders 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father be released from immigration detention
Wall Street Journal:
‘Spy Sheikh’ Bought Secret Stake in Trump Company  —  $500 million investment for 49% of World Liberty came months before U.A.E. won access to tightly guarded American AI chips  —  Four days before Donald Trump's inauguration last year, lieutenants to an Abu Dhabi royal secretly signed …
RELATED:
New York Times:
U.A.E. Firm Quietly Took Stake in the Trump Family's Crypto Company  —  The $500 million agreement raises new concerns about the propriety of the president negotiating foreign policy with his own business partners.  —  An investment firm tied to the United Arab Emirates purchased nearly half …
Timothy Snyder / Thinking about:
Ethnic Cleansing in Ohio?  —  In the schools and churches of Springfield, Ohio, people are making hasty preparations for a “large deportation” promised by the president.  To all appearances, and according to local sources, the city is two or three days away from a federal ethnic cleansing …
RELATED:
Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer:   A not-'toned down' Trump regime prepares for ethnic cleansing in Ohio
Rachel Leingang / The Guardian:
'We're fighting for the soul of the country': how Minnesota residents came together to face ICE
Discussion: The Atlantic
New York Times:
Despite ‘Wrong’ Comments, Gun Rights Groups Say Trump Has Their Back  —  Activists criticized the president after he blamed Alex Pretti for carrying a gun in Minneapolis before federal agents killed him.  But there is little sign of a lasting rupture.  —  In 1980, 19 states did not allow residents to carry concealed firearms.
Discussion: NewsMax.com and Politico
RELATED:
Kurt Streeter / New York Times:   How Alex Pretti's Death Became a National Tipping Point
Dan Frosch / Wall Street Journal:
Alex Pretti Was Part of a Growing Gun Culture in Minneapolis
Discussion: NewsMax.com
Madeleine Moore / Salem Reporter:
U.S. citizen injured by federal agents in Salem who demanded to see “papers,” union says  —  A woman who's a U.S. citizen needed medical help Thursday, Jan. 29, after federal agents pulled her from her car after demanding to see her “papers,” one of the state's largest unions said Saturday.
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
Democrats hit historic high in Fox News Poll as GOP loses ground on key issues  —  Plus: Trump's approval among independents falls to a record low, and the issue landscape shifts ahead of 2026.  Your weekly political data roundup for February 1, 2026.  —  This is my weekly roundup …
RELATED:
Julia Manchester / The Hill:   Trump questions if GOP can overcome voters' ‘psychological’ midterms hurdle
Ford McCracken / Reuters:
Jeffries: DHS should be ‘dramatically reformed’ after Democrats delay government funding bill  —  House Democrats to meet on how to proceed as they seek to reform ICE operation.  —  A view of the U.S. Capitol on Day 2 of a partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 1, 2026.
RELATED:
Garrett M. Graff / Doomsday Scenario:
Accountability for ICE and CBP  —  However bad you think the corruption and misconduct at ICE and CBP is — the reality is far far worse. … On Friday, I testified in front of Governor J.B. Pritzker's “Illinois Accountability Commission,” the state government body he set up after the Trump administration's …
Ezra Klein / New York Times:
Trump Has Overwhelmed Himself  —  Last February I wrote an essay about the Trump administration's strategy of “muzzle velocity.”  Muzzle velocity, in its literal sense, describes the ferocious speed of a bullet at the moment it exits the front end of a gun.
Discussion: Althouse
Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
They Said They Weren't Close to Epstein.  New Documents Show Otherwise.  —  Materials released by the Justice Department revealed that leading business and political figures had enduring relationships with the disgraced financier.  —  They said they didn't really know Jeffrey Epstein that well.
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted on social media this morning:  —  “Plenty of countries in history have experimented with importing a foreign labor class.  The West is the first and only civilization to import a foreign labor class that is granted full political rights, including welfare & the right to vote.
Amanda Chu / Politico:
RFK Jr. is now a wellness guru for Republicans in Washington … Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has turned GOP policy orthodoxy on its head with his attacks on food and pharma.  —  He's also turning Republicans into advocates of eating more vegetables, drinking raw milk and eschewing pharmaceuticals.
 
 
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 More Items: 
New York Times:
R.N.C. Enters 2026 With Nearly $100 Million Edge on D.N.C.
Jessica Piper / Politico:
Elon Musk pours millions more into helping Republicans keep Congress
Discussion: NewsMax.com
Sophie Brams / The Hill:
Ernst calls to ‘bring the temperature down’ amid ICE surge in Minnesota
Financial Times:
Xi Jinping calls for China's renminbi to attain global reserve currency status
Salvador Rizzo / Washington Post:
DOJ misconduct complaint against D.C. federal judge dismissed
Discussion: New York Times, MS NOW and Reuters
Axios:
Black philanthropy races to save history as Trump cuts support
Discussion: Associated Press
Colby Itkowitz / Washington Post:
Mayors look at Minneapolis with concern and wonder: Is my city next?
 Earlier Items: 
NBC News:
Amid FBI investigation, Trump's 2020 election obsession is still shaping Georgia politics
Discussion: Washington Examiner and Zeteo
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Prediction markets have a fake news problem
Brittany Gibson / Axios:
Resistance erupts over ICE's warehouse buying spree
Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Why a Minnesota child's family doesn't want ICE to deport her murderer
Vox:
Trump is trying to shape a new world order. Here's what it looks like.
Discussion: RealClearPolitics
Meg Anderson / NPR:
Minnesota citizens detained by ICE are left rattled, even weeks later
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Jokes About Suing Warsh if He Doesn't Lower Interest Rates
Politico:
Shutdown likely to continue at least into Tuesday
Discussion: The Hill
 

 
From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple execs question if it has the ingredients to win in AI-first era, new MacBook Pros are about to launch, Apple considers clamshell foldable iPhone

Zijing Wu / Financial Times:
A look at China's “genius class” system, which picks ~100K gifted teens annually for elite science-focused schooling; its alumni span ByteDance, PDD, and more

Connie Loizos / TechCrunch:
Inside Physical Intelligence, a startup co-founded by Stripe veteran Lachy Groom that is building general-purpose robotics foundation models and has raised $1B+

 
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