Steve Bannon celebrated Giorgia Meloni’s victory in Italy, becoming the country’s most far-right prime minister since Benito Mussolini.
Said Bannon: “This is the rise of Christian nationalism. You watch.”
Steve Bannon celebrated Giorgia Meloni’s victory in Italy, becoming the country’s most far-right prime minister since Benito Mussolini.
Said Bannon: “This is the rise of Christian nationalism. You watch.”
“Five members of the extremist group Oath Keepers, including leader Stewart Rhodes, face trial for seditious conspiracy next week, in which U.S. prosecutors will try to convince jurors that Rhodes’s call for an armed ‘civil war’ to keep Donald Trump in power on Jan. 6, 2021, was literal — and criminal,” the Washington Post reports.
“Starting with jury selection Tuesday and opening statements as early as Thursday, Rhodes’s trial could reveal new information about the quest to subvert the 2020 presidential election results, as prosecutors continue to probe Trump’s conduct and that of his inner circle.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) fled his home in a truck driven by his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton (R), to avoid being served a subpoena Monday, the Texas Tribune reports.
You are reading the free version of Political Wire.
“The Justice Department has asked a judge to order former Trump White House trade adviser Peter Navarro to return federal records they say he wrongfully kept after leaving the administration,” CNN reports.
“Between Nov. 3, 2020, and President Biden’s inauguration, Mark Meadows’ cellphone became a key channel for dozens of elected officials as well private citizens to convey outlandish conspiracy theories and last-ditch ideas to overturn the election, according to a new book by an ex-adviser to the Jan. 6 committee,” Axios reports.
“The Breach by former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) claims that former President Trump’s chief of staff received texts from 39 House members and five U.S. senators. It cites texts from GOP lawmakers to paint a picture of how invested many were in Trump’s effort to overturn the election.”
“The University of Idaho’s general counsel issued new guidance on Friday about the state’s near-total abortion ban, alerting faculty and staff that the school should no longer offer birth control for students, a rare move for a state university,” the Washington Post reports.
“University employees were also advised not to speak in support of abortion at work. If an employee appears to promote abortion, counsel in favor of abortion, or refer a student for an abortion procedure, they could face a felony conviction and be permanently barred from all future state employment.”
“Brazil presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva slightly widened his lead over President Jair Bolsonaro less than a week before the South American country’s election, a poll by IPEC released on Monday showed,” Reuters reports.
“The earthquake in Italy has sent tremors that could be felt in the White House,” Politico reports.
“The victory of Italian far-right leader Giorgia Meloni rattled Europe, furthering fears about a new right-wing shift on the continent as it battles economic hardship and nervously watches a raging war on its Eastern flank. It also was met with deep, if private, worry within President Joe Biden’s administration.”
“The White House put a brave public face on it, noting that Meloni’s win was the will of the Italian people while expressing confidence that Italy would remain a steadfast partner with the West.”
New York Times: “It has also underscored divisions within the United States, as members of the Trump wing of the Republican Party embraced the rise of a nationalist whose party has roots in Mussolini-era fascism.”
CNN: How the far-right is surging in Europe.
Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-WY) comment that she will not be a Republican if Donald Trump wins the party’s 2024 presidential nomination is sparking chatter that she might mount an independent White House run, The Hill reports.
“Cubans have approved a sweeping ‘family law’ code that will allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt as well as redefining rights for children and grandparents, though opposition in the national referendum was unusually strong on the Communist Party-governed island,” the AP reports.
Priorities USA announced a $15 million campaign on Monday to combat voter suppression in battleground states, Axios reports.
“The group says the investment is a bid to counter policies that unfairly disenfranchise people of color, especially Black and Latino voters, after GOP-run state legislatures introduced more than 100 bills to restrict voting access following the 2020 election.”
A new Times of London/YouGov poll finds Labour has surged to “its largest poll lead over the Conservatives in more than two decades, with voters turning against Kwasi Kwarteng’s tax-cutting budget.”
The poll puts Labour 17 points clear of the Tories — “a level of support not seen since Tony Blair won his landslide victory in 2001.”
“A high-ranking member of the far-right Oath Keepers organization who has been charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol exchanged messages in November 2020 with former Trump White House aide Andrew Giuliani about election issues,” NBC News reports.
“He doesn’t. The actions on Wednesday are totally indefensible. We need to rebuild our country and our party from scratch. We have to start over.”
— Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), when asked by National Journal last year whether Donald Trump has a future in the Republican party.
“I’m going to support whomever Republicans nominate in ’24.”
— Mace, when asked by NBC News this weekend if she would support Trump as the GOP nominee in 2024.
As he makes a comeback bid, former Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) is pushing “to phase out Maine’s income tax. He argues that the change is needed to keep wealthy residents from moving to Florida for just long enough each year to take advantage of the Sunshine State’s tax breaks,” the New York Times reports.
But LePage, who has owned property in Florida for years, has “benefited from that state’s tax laws while living in the Maine governor’s mansion, and again as he campaigns to return to the job.”
New York Times: “In the final phase of the midterm campaign, Republicans are intensifying their focus on crime and public safety, hoping to shift the debate onto political terrain that many of the party’s strategists and candidates view as favorable. The strategy seeks to capitalize on some voters’ fears about safety — after a pandemic-fueled crime surge that in some cities has yet to fully recede.”
“But it has swiftly drawn criticism as a return to sometimes deceptive or racially divisive messaging.”
“The 2022 midterm elections are on track to be the most expensive ever as more than $6.4 billion is poured into TV, radio and digital ads for U.S. House, Senate, gubernatorial and local races,” CNBC reports.
“The debate between Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan and Republican J.D. Vance over whether and when to debate each other may finally be over,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
“The two U.S. Senate candidates’ respective campaigns both said Monday they had agreed to two debates next month, one on Oct. 10 in Cleveland and another on Oct. 17 in Youngstown.”
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.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.