Wall Street Journal: “This U.S.-centric idea ran counter to the market realities… Maritime war risks policies are sold mostly out of Lloyd’s of London, with foreign insurers covering foreign ships and cargo.”
“U.S. officials called London insurers and brokers, trying to figure out how the market operates, industry insiders said. Some have received calls asking for confidential data on the Lloyd’s market that participants have been reluctant to share.”
“President Donald Trump and Iran’s new supreme leader both struck defiant tones on the 13th day of the war, offering little relief to energy markets as Brent crude briefly topped $100 barrel despite fresh US efforts to curb oil prices,” Bloomberg reports.
Bloomberg Economics estimates that oil will hit $140 a barrel if the Straights of Hormuz remains closed until April.
Aaron Blake: “The war with Iran is now about two weeks old. And we’re getting a lot of polling data on how Americans feel about the most significant new US military conflict in two decades.”
“It’s still a confusing picture, though — and one that could break either for or against the Trump administration.”
“But at least for now, pessimism and uncertainty about the benefits of this war still seem to be the prevailing takeaway. Perhaps most strikingly, Americans seem to think this war makes us less safe.”
Garrett Graff: “The hardest thing for the media to wrap its hands around over the last year is that Donald Trump has no plan — for anything, ever. Time and again, national pundits and the White House press corps invent a logical Donald Trump who sets, announces, and later ‘changes’ real ‘policies’ or ‘plans,’ failing to convey what is clear to anyone who is actually following events closely: In each public appearance and social media post, the Mad King Donald Trump spouts a string of words, devoid of meaning or purpose, that may or may not represent anything at all.”
“Every single thing he says may, at any given time, be taken as an official hard-line policy of the US government, the opening gambit to a long flexible negotiation, or a random pronouncement that will be never be mentioned again. It’s impossible to know in real-time which is which — especially so if you’re actually in the US government and in charge of translating his words into actions and plans.”
John Ganz: “In the past, propaganda served the purposes of war; now war serves the purposes of propaganda.”
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Democrats outvoted Republicans in Texas by 3 points, making 2026 the first midterm cycle since 2002 where Democrats cast more ballots in Texas.”
Richard Haass: “It has been over forty years since the historian Barbara Tuchman wrote The March of Folly. The book examines wars that ought not to have been fought as they went against the self-interest of the empire or country that undertook them even when preferable alternatives were available. Tuchman’s thinking aligns with my own, with what I termed ‘wars of choice’ in an op-ed published in 2003, months into the Iraq War, and in my subsequent book, Wars of Necessity, Wars of Choice.”
“The subtitle of Tuchman’s book is From Troy to Vietnam. An updated edition might well read, From Troy to Iran or, better yet, From Troy to Iraq to Iran.”
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) represents one of the largest Muslim populations in the American South, Time reports.
This week, he said Muslims “don’t belong in American society.”
“His comment, posted on social media along with the assertion that ‘pluralism is a lie,’ reverberated quickly across the country, but was especially jarring for the tens of thousands of Muslim constituents in his Middle Tennessee district. In neighborhoods south of Nashville, from Antioch to Murfreesboro, Muslim residents responded with a mix of anger and exhaustion, as well as concern that such ideas coming from their very own Congressman could fuel harassment and violence at a moment when tensions are already running high.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) said she hasn’t made a decision about whether to run for president, but she has joked about it with her dad, Semafor reports.
Said Whitmer: “My father once said to me, ‘You know, you’d have to be a sociopath to run for president.’ And then about two years ago, he said, ‘You might need to think about running for president.’ And I said, ‘Are you calling me a sociopath, Dad’?”
“White House officials are outraged over CBS’ hiring of Jeremy Adler, a communications executive who previously worked for former Rep. Liz Cheney,” Axios reports.
“Silicon Valley billionaires have been seething over the threat of more taxes and regulations at home. Now, a proposed nine-figure fund aims to give wealthy Californians an unprecedented tool to reshape the state’s politics in their favor,” Bloomberg reports.
“The fund is being pitched to some of the state’s richest residents as an endowment that would operate in California for decades to come… Organizers are seeking $100 million this year, with hopes of reaching at least $500 million and up to $1 billion in the coming years.”
Washington Post: “Trump’s decision to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while Iran was in active negotiations with the president’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner has reinforced a growing sense among hard-liners in Moscow that diplomacy is fragile — perhaps even pointless — in a world in which the United States is willing to use military force to achieve its goals.”
“They gave me a list of names. ‘Sir, you can pick the name you’d like, sir.’ I said, the name of what? ‘The name of the attack! On Iran, sir.’ And they gave me like 20 names. And I’m like falling asleep. I didn’t like any of them. Then I see Epic Fury.”
— President Trump, at a campaign rally.
“As soon as the Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s steep global tariffs last month, a flood of U.S. businesses began to file lawsuits in the hopes of getting their money back,” the New York Times reports.
“But there was a problem, or so the administration later said: It could take the government as many as 4,431,161 hours to manually process all of the refund requests.”
“By its own count, there were more than 53 million entries for goods — cars, toys, clothes and more — that were subject to illegal duties during the most punishing phase of Mr. Trump’s trade war.”
“A cyberattack on a U.S.-based manufacturer of medical equipment, Stryker, has heightened concerns that Iran or hacking groups linked to it might target civilian companies and infrastructure as the war continues,” the New York Times reports.
“President Trump is still holding out his endorsement in the closely watched Republican Senate primary in Texas. But in Kentucky on Wednesday, he gave one to the boxer and social media influencer Jake Paul, who is not currently running for office,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump said Mr. Paul had his ‘complete and total endorsement’ and predicted that the influencer would run for office ‘in the not-too-distant future.'”
Time: “The three most vulnerable freshmen are testing how much room there is for pushback in a party still defined by Trump and a House majority hanging on by a single seat. They’re carefully carving out minimal distance on flashpoints like ICE raids and healthcare, through pointed letters, quiet pressure on the Administration, and the occasional vote.”
“Nuance is tricky in a loud and relentlessly partisan political climate, but it’s the gamble on which they’re betting their return tickets to Washington.”
Charleston Post & Courier: “Alvin Greene, who went from political obscurity to becoming a S.C. Democratic Party folk hero by walking off the street and winning the party’s 2010 U.S. Senate nomination before disappearing back into obscurity, has died. He was 48.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
