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Fighting with Trump Is the New Democratic Litmus Test

December 9, 2025 at 12:34 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Chuck Todd: “It’s a way for moderates to earn the left’s emotional allegiance without having to contort themselves ideologically. Progressives may not love every policy choice Newsom or Kelly has made, but they love seeing Democrats who punch back. They are motivated by the fight as much as by the platform.”

“Newsom understands this better than most. He genuinely believes he’s a moderate — that California Democrats have been caricatured nationally as uniformly far-left, and that he himself is less progressive than the brand assigned to him. He may be right. But he also knows this perception is a problem he can solve after he is taken seriously as a front-runner. And right now, thanks to his high-profile confrontations, he pretty much is.”

“Kelly benefits from the same dynamic. He didn’t move left. He didn’t change his priorities. He simply showed a willingness to throw a punch — and suddenly the progressive world was praising him for his toughness rather than scrutinizing him for ideological purity.”

Greene Slams GOP for Not Taking Women ‘Seriously’

December 9, 2025 at 12:25 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) torched the Republican Party for not taking women “seriously” and branded House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) claim to be “the biggest champion of women” as “hypocrisy,” Mediaite reports.

Trump Takes Aim at New Owners of CBS

December 9, 2025 at 12:21 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump tore into the Ellison family over a “60 Minutes” interview Lesley Stahl conducted with his new critic Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Said Trump: “My real problem with the show, however, wasn’t the low IQ traitor, it was that the new ownership of 60 Minutes, Paramount, would allow a show like this to air.”

He added: “THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP, who just paid me millions of Dollars for FAKE REPORTING about your favorite President, ME! Since they bought it, 60 Minutes has actually gotten WORSE!”

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Cheryl Hines Says RFK Jr. Won’t Run for President

December 9, 2025 at 12:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Cheryl Hines has said she does not believe her husband, Robert F Kennedy Jr, will run for the White House after Donald Trump’s presidency, The Guardian reports.

Said Hines: “Gosh, he’s not going to run for president.”

However, she subsequently conceded that Kennedy at one point “didn’t think he was going to go into politics – and the next thing you know he’s telling me he wants to run.”

Kamala Harris Isn’t Ready to Be Written Off

December 9, 2025 at 11:48 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Old advisers, both allied and estranged, have squinted from afar at her book tour, wondering what exactly her strategy is, or if there is any at all. She has done little to distance herself from former President Joe Biden besides admitting aloud that it was ‘recklessness’ on her part not to have discouraged him from running again. There has been virtually none of the strategic repackaging that a future candidate typically does, the buffing out of flaws and shining up of strengths.”

“Defeat hit Ms. Harris deeply. She had not felt such grief since the death of her mother, she has said, a line that sears even as she repeats it so often as to become a talking point. She spent the early months of 2025 cooking and cocooning away from the cameras.”

“But it has been a year since her loss to President Trump, the traditional period of mourning.”

Brad Lander to Challenge Dan Goldman

December 9, 2025 at 11:46 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Brooklyn progressive Brad Lander is planning to launch his bid for Congress as soon as Wednesday, challenging Rep. Dan Goldman from the political left in a district that went big for Zohran Mamdani,” Politico reports.

David Ellison Promised Big Changes at CNN

December 9, 2025 at 11:41 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Paramount CEO David Ellison offered assurances to Trump administration officials that if he bought Warner Bros Discovery, he’d make sweeping changes to CNN, a common target of President Trump’s ire, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Ellison launched a hostile takeover effort for Warner on Monday, taking its case directly to shareholders.

The Mutiny That Started With the Epstein Vote

December 9, 2025 at 11:33 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Tara Palmeri: “There’s a particular kind of irony that hits you when you hear Republican women complaining about Speaker Mike Johnson — a man who has literally said he believes men and women have different brains. According to the Johnsons, men’s minds are neat little waffle compartments, while women’s brains are… a messy bowl of spaghetti.”

Said Mike Johnson: “Men can compartmentalize things.”

Added Kelly Johnson: “But women, we cannot do that. We are always thinking. In fact, our brains are like spaghetti…”

“In other words: When even the GOP women, the ones expected to quietly ‘compartmentalize’ like waffle-mimicking men, start sounding like mutineers, you know the spaghetti has officially hit the fan.”

Republicans Concerned Trump May Bomb Venezuela

December 9, 2025 at 11:24 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Congressional Republicans have largely expressed public support for the Trump administration’s strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea that the Defense Department claims are carrying narcotics to the United States, even as the tactic has come under withering criticism from Democrats,” the Washington Post reports.

“But President Donald Trump’s declaration last week that the U.S. could soon bomb Venezuelan territory has put lawmakers from the president’s party on edge and amplified concerns that Trump is preparing to use military force to oust Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.”

‘Club America’

December 9, 2025 at 10:39 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced a plan to open Turning Point USA chapters in every high school in Texas, the Texas Tribune reports.

Said Abbott: “Let me be clear: Any school that stands in the way of a Club America program in their school should be reported immediately to the Texas Education Agency.”

Jasmine Crockett Smiles

December 9, 2025 at 10:26 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) launched her U.S. Senate bid in Texas with a bizarre video showing her staring as you hear audio of President Trump insulting her.

Cheryl Hines ‘Surprised’ to Lose Friends Over RFK Jr.

December 9, 2025 at 10:23 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Cheryl Hines has admitted she was “surprised” to see friends peel away over her marriage to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Daily Beast reports.

Said Hines: “I have some friends that I’ve known for 30 years… people just started dividing.”

She added: “Politics is so emotional to some people, and some people cannot separate… politics from… friendships.”

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

December 9, 2025 at 10:19 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“NATO calls me Daddy.”

— President Trump, quoted by Axios.

Judge Orders Release of Ghislaine Maxwell Records

December 9, 2025 at 10:17 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A federal judge in New York on Tuesday granted a Justice Department request to release grand jury material related to Ghislaine Maxwell’s case, NBC News reports.

Trump Says Russia Has Upper Hand

December 9, 2025 at 10:14 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump said there’s “no question” that Russia is in a stronger negotiating position than Ukraine and has the “upper hand” amid high-stakes discussions to end the years-long war, Axios reports.

Said Trump: “I give the people of Ukraine and the military of Ukraine tremendous credit for the, you know, bravery and for the fighting and all of that. But, you know, at some point, size will win generally.”

America Has Become a Digital Narco-State

December 9, 2025 at 9:30 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Paul Krugman: “Imagine what would happen if the United States were to legalize the distribution and sale of heroin — and do so without any restrictions or regulations on how the drug is marketed and who can buy it.”

“Heroin distribution and sales would quickly become a huge, multibillion-dollar industry. They would become a significant part of GDP, even though heroin harms and often kills those who consume it. Given the increasingly naked corruption of U.S. politics, the heroin industry would be able to purchase massive political influence, enough to block any attempts to limit the harm it does — the harm it knows it does, because heroin industry executives would surely be aware of the damage their products inflict.”

“Through massive political donations — enabled by the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling – and de facto bribery enabled via cryptocurrency deals, the industry would be able to enlist the U.S. government as an ally in its efforts to block regulation in other countries…”

“If this story strikes you as extreme and implausible, here’s what you should know: replace ‘heroin’ with ‘social media,’ and this is a description of actual events.”

20% Off Any New Membership

December 9, 2025 at 9:28 am EST By Taegan Goddard

Join Political Wire today and enjoy all the perks of membership — exclusive analysis, a trending news page, bonus newsletters, the Trial Balloon podcast and no ads  — with 20% off an Annual Plan.

Or share Political Wire with someone on your holiday list and save 20% on gift memberships.

Bonus Quote of the Day

December 9, 2025 at 8:55 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“I won’t feel like we’re out of the wilderness until we win in ’28. Our motto at the DNC is all gas, no brakes. We’re not gonna rest until November of 2028 and we’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then.”

— DNC chairman Ken Martin, quoted by CBS News.

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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