Weekly news review: Saturday, May 20, 2023

May 20, 2023

What does the news landscape look like?

Donal Trump and Ron DeSantis were the top story throughout the week, followed by the debt ceiling and the Durham Report.

This is how the top stories were covered on each side of the media yesterday:

• Trump/DeSantis feud (6% more on the right)

• Debt ceiling (54% more on the left)

• Durham Report / FBI (72% more on the right)

Media bias ratings are from AllSides.

This is how articles from liberal and conservative outlets were distributed over the past five days among the top stories.

Liberal outlets used these words more than conservative outlets:

• nuclear (6.4x)

• anti (2.9x)

• trans (2.5x)

Conservative outlets used these words more than liberal outlets:

• clinton (9.4x)

• durham (4.9x)

• committee (3.4x)

Now for a deep dive into our top three stories, starting with…

Key people: Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Lisa Murkowski, Mike Rounds, E. Jean Carroll

Background:

Republican senators are reevaluating the presidential primary field as recent polls show Trump dominating and DeSantis losing momentum.
Sixty-one percent of potential GOP primary voters back Trump as he runs for the White House again in 2024, putting him more than 40 points above DeSantis.
DeSantis is gaining endorsements from his own and other state legislatures ahead of a likely 2024 campaign launch.
DeSantis went after Trump over his stance on abortion restrictions, saying Trump dodged questions about whether he would sign a bill similar to the six-week abortion ban signed by DeSantis.

Latest developments:

Trump leads Biden by a 7-point margin in a new survey, raising questions on whether DeSantis is the stronger general election candidate to face Biden.
Polls from a Republican polling firm show DeSantis leading Biden in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup in Georgia and Arizona, while Biden maintains slight advantages over other potential 2024 opponents.
Sen. Tim Scott has officially declared himself a candidate for the GOP nomination for president, making him the latest Republican to enter a crowded field that has so far been dominated by Trump.
DeSantis is narrowly leading Biden in both Georgia and Arizona, while Biden leads both Trump and Pence in hypothetical head-to-head matchups.
Recent polling shows that Trump remains the Republican to beat in the primary, with some surveys showing him holding a 40-point lead over DeSantis.

Key people: Joe Biden, Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Mace, Hakeem Jeffries, Janet Yellen

Background:

Debt-limit talks are underway between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to negotiate a deal to avert an unprecedented national default.
The U.S. Treasury Department has warned that it could run short of money to pay all its bills as soon as June 1, which would trigger a default that economists say would be likely to spark a sharp economic downturn.
Republicans, who control the House of Representatives by a 222-213 majority, have for months demanded that any increase in the government’s self-imposed borrowing cap be linked to spending cuts.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has said that “work requirements are a nonstarter” as bipartisan negotiators seek a deal to prevent a government default, according to a spokesperson.

Latest developments:

Debt ceiling negotiations between Republicans and Democrats broke down twice in one day, with Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy having expressed “frustration” with the process.
Talks on raising the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling have been paused, rattling financial markets as the deadline to avoid default ticks closer.
Republicans are pushing for sharp spending cuts in exchange for the increase in the government’s self-imposed borrowing limit, a move needed regularly to cover costs of spending and tax cuts previously approved by lawmakers.

Key people: Donald Trump, John Durham, Kevin Clinesmith, Bill Barr, Jack Smith

Latest developments:

The Durham report found that the FBI rushed into its investigation of ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and relied too much on raw and unconfirmed intelligence.
The report criticized the FBI for opening a full-fledged investigation based on “raw, unanalyzed and uncorroborated intelligence,” saying the speed at which it did so was a departure from the norm.
The report documents the double standard employed by the Obama administration in favor of Hillary Clinton and against Donald Trump.
House Republicans say the report bolsters their arguments that federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been “weaponized” against political enemies.
The FBI repeatedly misused a surveillance tool in searching for foreign intelligence to use in cases pertaining to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and 2020 racial justice protests.