New York Times: “Most of the Transportation Security Administration’s 60,000 workers began receiving back pay on Monday, easing the financial strain that has troubled them since the partial government shutdown began more than six weeks ago.”
“But with the shutdown persisting, the workers don’t know when they’ll be paid next.”
New York Times: “The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran has fractured the Iranian government, complicating its ability to make decisions and coordinate larger retaliatory attacks, according to officials familiar with U.S. and Western intelligence assessments.”
“Several dozen Iranian leaders and their deputies have been killed since the war began four weeks ago. Those who survive have had difficulty communicating and are unable to meet in person, for fear of having their calls intercepted by the United States or Israel and being targeted in an airstrike.”
“While Iran’s security and military agencies continue to function, the government’s ability to plan new strategies or policies has been weakened.”
Nate Silver: “The last time I did a check-in on President Trump’s popularity in November, I noted that the decline in his approval ratings had been remarkably linear. There have been peaks and valleys, sure, which you can correlate with particular news events. But the recovery after every bounce-back has been incomplete, leaving some permanent damage behind.”
“So what’s happened since then? Well, let’s just go ahead and update that chart.”
Ed Kilgore: Trump’s approval is in free fall.
New York Times: “The Trump administration sued the Minnesota Education Department and the state group in charge of interscholastic athletics on Monday, accusing both of violating civil rights protections for girls by allowing transgender students to participate on girls’ sports teams.”
CNBC: “The U.S. Army is investigating the apparent flyby of that military branch’s Apache helicopters over the weekend at the Nashville home of singer Kid Rock, a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump.”
The Guardian: “The U.S. government is resuming operations at its embassy in Venezuela, the state department announced on Monday, nearly three months since former president Nicolás Maduro was abducted from the country and locked up in the U.S.”
Lakshya Jain: “Simply put, the race for the Democratic nomination in Maine is between ‘weak’ and ‘weaker.’ One candidate, incumbent Gov. Janet Mills, is 78 years old and not especially popular. The other, oyster farmer Graham Platner, brings with him a litany of scandals, including a series of controversial social media posts and a Nazi tattoo on his chest.”
“Ordinarily, it would be unthinkable for either party to bypass a sitting governor in favor of a political novice dogged by controversy. And if Mills and Platner were facing off even two years ago, there’s little doubt that Mills would have cruised to victory. Today, however, her position is perilous.”
New York Times: “Ask the power brokers in Washington, and they will tell you it is a vital national imperative for NASA astronauts to return to the moon before China gets there.”
“But if you ask people on the street what they think NASA should be doing, they might not put sending astronauts to the moon at the top of the list of priorities.”
“Indeed, it might be near the bottom.”
“But when it comes to space policy, the opinions of the power brokers usually win.”
Growing majorities of Americans say they fear AI technology will take away their jobs and hurt education, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.
Fifty-five percent of Americans say AI will do more harm than good in their day-to-day lives, an 11% increase since last April.
“In Nebraska’s Senate race, a Trump-supporting, anti-abortion pastor is running as a Democrat,” CNN reports.
“The state’s Democratic Party — which is backing an independent candidate — says he’s a Republican plant. And another Democratic primary candidate says she’s running just to stop him.”
Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner (D) signed a pledge refusing to accept large donations from corporate health care executives, lobbyists and political groups — five days after he fundraised with lobbyists in the health care sector, the Bangor Daily News reports.
Former Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC) has filed to run for his old U.S. House seat, reentering electoral politics years after his last campaign but still focused on tackling America’s mounting debt, deficit and government spending, the Charleston Post & Courier reports.
He will be running as a Republican in a race already loaded with at least 15 other Republicans and Democrats who have filed.
Wall Street Journal: “President Trump named Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf as one of the Iranian officials speaking to the U.S. about ending the war.”
“Asked if Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, could be trusted to work with Washington, Trump said, ‘we’re gonna find out,’ adding that he would let the reporters know within a week.”
Wall Street Journal: “The U.S. is shooting down cheap Iranian drones with missiles that can cost upward of a million dollars.”
New York Times: “The national fight over immigration landed without warning last month in Texas’ Big Bend region, a remote stretch of inhospitable terrain that runs for hundreds of miles along the U.S.-Mexico border.”
“Despite President Trump’s vow to complete a border wall along the southern frontier, the plan shocked West Texas. It also unnerved Republicans and Democrats across the state who wondered why the federal government would spend billions to build a wall through an area so remote.”
“But for the state’s Republican leaders, the border wall plan presented a political predicament. While none have spoken in favor of a physical wall, public opposition could risk inflaming the Trump administration and alienating voters who prize border security.”
New York Times: “The Justice Department’s internal watchdog has seemingly ignored 20 instances of possible wrongdoing by the Trump administration, lawyers for a whistle-blower said in a letter on Monday urging lawmakers to address the “apparent collapse” of an office meant to root out misconduct.”
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.
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