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2:15 PM ET, August 21, 2026

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Alan Feuer / New York Times:
Trump Threatens Suit Over Report He Doesn't Like, Aiming to Intimidate a Critic  —  It was the latest example of President Trump's bid to use the legal system against those who voice unflattering facts and opinions generally protected by the First Amendment.
Discussion: The Hill and The Independent
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Administration Attacks Bar Association's Power to Accredit Law Schools  —  The move escalates a feud with the nation's premier legal organization  —  The Trump administration is opening a new front in its campaign to remake higher education: threatening the American Bar Association's power to accredit law schools.
RELATED:
Politico:
Trump administration recommends stripping American Bar Association of law school oversight authority
Discussion: Above the Law
Paul Krugman:
Scott Bessent Fails to Gaslight the Market  —  What doth it profit a man if he sell his soul and can't even manipulate the 30-year?  —  Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary, isn't the worst member of Trump's cabinet.  I mean, he has to compete with the likes of Pete Hegseth.
Discussion: Drezner's World, Axios and CNBC
Tom Schaller / Public Notice:
“Travel with Natalie”  —  PN is supported by paid subscribers.  Become one ⬇️  —  👱‍♀️ Subscribe to PN 👱‍♀️  —  Donald Trump is easily triggered.  That's hardly news.  —  He's temperamental and emotional …
Discussion: The Atlantic
Andrew Egger / The Bulwark:
Your New Senator Is a Total Lightweight.  She's Perfect.  —  There's been lots of reporting lately about the breathlessly fawning personal letters Natalie Harp habitually writes to her boss.  Last night, the Daily Beast released two of them in full—and they're so, so much creepier than advertised.
Discussion: CNN
RELATED:
David Gardner / The Daily Beast:
Natalie Harp's Intimate Letters to Trump Revealed in Full
Brady Knox / Washington Examiner:
Buttigieg heads to South Carolina as Trump tries to patch up Graham Nordone's debate gaffe  —  Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is headed to South Carolina to shore up the Democrats' chances in the Senate special election, as the party sees an opening following Darline Graham Nordone's debate gaffe.
RELATED:
Politico:
Trump and Pete face the South Carolina test
Discussion: Daily Kos
Associated Press:
Court slashes $50M judgment against Infowars' Alex Jones over falsely calling school shooting a hoax  —  A Texas court has slashed the $50 million judgment to $1.5 million against Infowars founder Alex Jones over falsely calling 2012 school shooting a hoax.  The ruling does not affect …
Brian Beutler / Off Message:
This Is How Democrats Talk Themselves Out Of Wielding Power  —  Every party wants to win as many elections as possible.  But a supermajority can not be a prerequisite for democratic renewal in America.  —  Let's peer into a future where Democrats come to power in 2029 with a governing trifecta.
John Authers / Bloomberg:
Bessent Must Envy When the Grownups Were in Charge  —  Even if they ultimately couldn't tame the deficit, bipartisanship beats an ‘insanity premium.’  —  There are many reasons why the bond market makes a difficult topic for conversation.  It's extremely complicated and based around counterintuitive mathematics that many find opaque.
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Why Treasury Secretary Bessent's moves to calm the bond market haven't worked so far
Hunter Walker / Talking Points Memo:
Colorado GOP Gov Nominee Claims to Have Battled ‘Demons’ With ‘Reptilian’ Eyes  —  Victor Marx was deep in the jungle and crippled by a fever when he was attacked.  —  The self-described “high-risk missionary” and Republican gubernatorial nominee in Colorado claims he traveled to Myanmar to train …
NBC News:
Navy discusses renaming aircraft carrier after Trump instead of heroic Black sailor  —  The USS Doris Miller would be the first aircraft carrier named after a Black and an enlisted sailor.  The decision to name the carrier after Miller was made during Trump's first term.
RELATED:
CNN:
Exclusive: Navy weighs renaming carrier slated to honor Black war hero, potentially switching it to Trump
Asawin Suebsaeng / Zeteo:
First Draft: ⬇️ Trump Advisers Worry He Could ‘Sink to the High 20s’  —  The president's favorability has somehow stayed above 30% in the polls but economic pain and policy paralysis mean allies fear worse.  Still, Trump would rather focus on setting the DOJ on his enemies.
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
New York Times Loses Defamation Lawsuit in Alabama  —  A 2023 article incorrectly reported that a University of Alabama basketball player was at the scene of a deadly shooting.  A jury awarded $9.25 million in damages.  —  An Alabama jury determined on Thursday that The New York Times defamed …
Paul Kane / NOTUS:
Democrats Need Third-Party Help to Win Senate Majority  —  Call them the 49 percent majority makers, a path blazed 20 years ago that Democrats probably need to replicate this fall.  —  Back in 2006, when they gained six seats and the Senate majority, Democrats relied on a trio of victories …
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Seeking to flip Senate, Democrats are running ads to criticize their own
Discussion: NOTUS
Greg Greene / New Republic:
Natalie Harp Should Concern Everyone—I Should Know, I Once Had Her Job  —  Handling a U.S. president's social media voice is a magisterial job.  The work involved ranges far and wide—from figuring out how to handle the president's receipt of a Nobel Peace Prize to huddling with colleagues to pull just the right clip from a speech.
New York Times:
How Harvard's Epic Fight With Trump Is Costing the University  —  The federal government has slowed Harvard's funding, despite the university's legal victories.  The conflict is forcing hard choices on campus.  —  One of Harvard University's biggest federal funding streams is down sharply …
Discussion: BusinessDay
Rachel Maddow / MS NOW:
Charter plane crash kills 8 near remote radar site in western Alaska, military says  —  A statement from the Pacific Air Forces Regional Support Center did not provide details on the specific work the individuals were doing.  —  A charter aircraft carrying eight people crashed at a remote radar site …
Bret Devereaux / Foreign Policy:
The U.S. Is Learning the Wrong Lessons in Iran  —  Tactical excellence can never salvage strategic incompetence.  —  Although the conflict in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz is far from over, analysts are already rushing to declare what lessons should be learned from it.
Torrie Herrington / NOTUS:
Second Attempt to Put Trump's Name on Kennedy Center Faces Court Challenge  —  “It's déjà vu all over again,” attorneys for Rep. Joyce Beatty, who serves as an ex officio member on the storied arts institution's board, wrote.  — Copy  —  A second attempt to affix President …
Christopher Tremoglie / Washington Examiner:
White, liberal female Lindsay Clancy supporters are proving why men are right to want to remain single  —  Last summer, I went out on a date with a woman, a dame, if you would, to a Philadelphia Phillies baseball game.  We had amazing seats, saw an amazing game, and the Phillies won.
Discussion: National Review
Angie Orellana Hernandez / NOTUS:
Log Cabin Republicans Officially Drop the ‘T’ From LGBT  —  Log Cabin Republicans, the nation's largest group representing gay conservatives and their allies, will no longer advocate for transgender rights, a senior leader for the organization announced in a column Thursday.
Discussion: Townhall and LGBTQ Nation
Morgan Phillips / Fox News:
Trump to transform spaceflight from spectacle to status quo targeting 3 launches per day  —  New White House policy directs agencies to expand launch pads, airspace corridors and reentry infrastructure for satellites  —  The Trump administration's new space policy aims to ramp up U.S. space traffic …
Discussion: Washington Times and SPACE.com
Reuters:
US plans $725 million payment towards its large UN debt  —  The Trump administration has started the process to transfer $725 million to the United Nations, a congressional notification seen by Reuters showed, a move aid experts said was a welcome step towards paying billions in dues owed.
Dustin Gardiner / Politico:
Progressive Aisha Wahab wins Eric Swalwell's former House seat  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Aisha Wahab, a progressive California state lawmaker, has won the special election for an East Bay congressional seat previously held by former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned over allegations of sexual assault.
Ed Kilgore / New York Magazine:
AOC and Ossoff Are Young.  Why Rush to Run in 2028?  —  There's a lot of talk in Democratic circles about the need for “generational change,” which isn't surprising given the proximate end of a political era dominated by the likes of Donald Trump (born in 1946), Joe Biden (1942), Bernie Sanders …
Jennifer Scholtes / Politico:
Republicans bristle at Trump's latest tactics to undermine Congress' funding power  —  Republican lawmakers are still locked in a power struggle with the White House over control of federal cash, long since President Donald Trump swept back into office with unprecedented orders undermining Congress' power of the purse.
Jenna Monnin / NOTUS:
Mike Rogers' Pitch to Jewish Democrats May Be Falling Flat  —  Mike Rogers lost his Senate race in 2024 by fewer than 20,000 votes.  Now, the Republican is ramping up efforts to pick off portions of historically Democratic coalitions in Michigan — including Jewish voters who draw a hard line on support for Israel.
Rena Rowe / Washington Examiner:
Vance says Bessent has ‘discreet’ plan to address $40 trillion national debt  —  Vice President JD Vance said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has a plan to address the nation's roughly $40 trillion debt, arguing the administration can grow the economy faster than the debt accumulates.
New York Times:
The Message Behind Trump's Threats of ‘Economic Warfare’ Against Iran  —  President Trump's threats of an “economic D-Day” carry a clear signal to Iran that he does not want to go back to war.  —  Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tried to reassure investors worried about the pressure campaign …
Teo Armus / Washington Post:
Alex Vindman says he'll give away his multimillion-dollar war chest  —  The Senate candidate had leveraged his national fame to raise more than $16 million before losing Florida's Democratic primary.  —  Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who lost Tuesday's Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Florida …
Stef W. Kight / Axios:
Scoop: Cruz-linked super PAC jumps into Texas Senate race  —  A super PAC linked to Sen. Ted Cruz is launching a more than $1.7 million ad campaign Friday to boost Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton, Axios has learned.  —  Why it matters: Paxton needs the backup.
Discussion: Washington Post and Bloomberg
Jeremy Kohler / ProPublica:
Missouri Republicans Are Trying to Repeal Abortion Rights by Leaning Into Anti-Trans Sentiment  —  Two years after falsely linking reproductive rights to gender transition care for minors, GOP lawmakers have packaged the two issues into one amendment in an effort to strip away the right to abortion.
Discussion: The Capitolist
 
 
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 More Items: 
Filip Timotija / The Hill:
Pentagon says more than 750 US service members wounded in Iran war
Discussion: NewsMax.com and Stars & Stripes
Catherine Rampell / The Bulwark:
Trump's War on Reality Comes for the Census
Washington Post:
Inside the police investigation into how Rep. Max Miller's daughter got hurt
Discussion: Washington Examiner
Rachel Treisman / NPR:
What to know about this weekend's IndyCar race on the National Mall
Andrew Goudsward / Reuters:
DOJ seeks to question FBI officials tied to search of Trump Mar-a-Lago estate, sources say
Michael Nienaber / Bloomberg:
Germany Says Weapons Cache Points to Hybrid Attack Plans
Discussion: UPI and WTOP News
Stu Cvrk / American Greatness:
Trump Administration Accomplishments: October 2025 - Present, Part Two
Whitney Curry Wimbish / American Prospect:
Two Americas: Anti-ICE Fighters vs. Bootlickers
Discussion: Florida Politics
 Earlier Items: 
The Free Press:
Ro Khanna, Race Hustler
Adeel Hassan / New York Times:
U.S. Citizen Who Deleted Phone's Data Says His Prosecution Puts Privacy at Risk
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
ICE gloves reveal how Trump's revenge agenda is failing
New York Times:
First U.S. Deportees Arrive in Liberia, and Liberians Want Explanations
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
Why Do We Keep Imagining a New Civil War?
Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money
Axios:
Oil markets are tuning out Trump's “truths”
NBC News:
Donald Trump and Michael Cohen bury the hatchet
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
A Seattle Times sports columnist quits, citing its repeated refusal to publish columns that went “against the grain”, including one on transgender athletes

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Patreon announces new and overhauled features, including recommendation algorithm changes aimed at making it easier for smaller creators to get discovered

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is scrutinizing ABC's move to switch TV affiliates in St. Louis from a Sinclair-owned station to a Gray Media station

 
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