“President Donald Trump’s advisers have had conversations about him traveling the country to give economy-focused speeches as they privately weigh a number of strategies to improve his standing on the issue,“ CNN reports.
“Trump’s advisers acknowledge that they have an affordability problem that the president has bristled at in public: Americans’ outlook on the economy is dour, and the administration’s efforts to ease their financial anxieties aren’t resonating.”
“Voter frustration over affordability fueled Democratic wins in last week’s state and local elections, and on top of that, Americans are becoming uneasy about the job market too,” Bloomberg reports.
“Some 55% of employed Americans say they’re concerned about losing their jobs, according to a recent Harris Poll conducted for Bloomberg News.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California cast himself as the “stable and reliable” American partner to the world, called a reported White House proposal to open offshore drilling in the waters off California “disgraceful” and urged his fellow Democrats to recast climate change as a “cost of living issue,” the New York Times reports.
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From the New York Times:
“Mr. Trump risks being in a similar position as his predecessor, defending his record by pointing to statistics that don’t capture a troubling reality that many Americans are feeling.”
Paul Krugman: “Sorry, but that’s a false comparison. You might even call it fake news — because Trump is not, in fact, pointing to any statistics. He’s just lying.”
“It is true that Biden officials liked to cite statistics that presented a favorable picture of the economy, but they were genuine statistics and did indeed seem to show an economy in pretty good shape.”
“Trump, by contrast, is engaged in what CNN calls a ‘lying spree’ about inflation.”
President Trump will hold a private dinner at the White House at 7:30 p.m. with top financial executives including Steve Schwarzman, Jamie Dimon, Marc Rowan and Larry Fink, Politico reports.
“Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s social media history is a major general election liability, a new Democratic polling memo warns,” Politico reports.
“The survey, conducted on behalf of the Democratic group EMILY’s List, finds that most voters wouldn’t support Platner over Republican Sen. Susan Collins after learning of his past social media posts in which he called himself a communist, denigrated the police and characterized white people in rural Maine as ‘stupid’ and ‘racist.’”
“When voters are read direct quotes from Platner’s since-deleted Reddit posts, he loses to Collins by double digits.”
“Katie Wilson, a staple of Seattle’s progressive politics, who for years toiled behind the scenes of City Hall in pursuit of higher taxes on Amazon and stronger regulations for renters, is likely to be the city’s 58th mayor,” the Seattle Times reports.
Politico: “Wilson, who like New York’s Zohran Mamdani is a self-described socialist, focused her campaign on affordability — highlighting her own struggles to afford life in Seattle.”
“Don’t forget, MAGA was my idea. MAGA was nobody else’s idea. I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else.”
— President Trump, in an interview with Fox News.
“Mikie Sherrill has advice for her fellow Democrats heading into the 2026 elections: follow the lead I set in New Jersey to win again,” Politico reports.
“A new campaign memo written by Sherrill’s campaign manager Alex Ball makes the case to Democrats that Sherrill’s success in the gubernatorial race last week in the Garden State can be replicated nationally by keeping their affordability messaging solutions-focused, reengaging with the traditional Democratic base and competing with ‘the right-wing online ecosystem.’”
Playbook: “With the off-year elections out of the way and a seismic government shutdown due to end tonight, we’re about to enter a new phase of the political cycle. And this one is being characterized by a rare phenomenon — the sight of both parties in states of division.”
“This is highly unusual. Typically, if one side is out on the fringes and beset by political infighting, the other looks strong and united — at least at surface level. But not today. Both parties are experiencing major ructions across their activist bases that have serious implications for their future directions, and ultimately for the direction of America.”
Punchbowl News: “House Republican leadership needs to make sure that all of their 219 members are in town. With a two-vote margin, Johnson and Republicans will have no votes to spare. The aviation map was looking pretty good Tuesday — just 10% of commercial flights were disrupted compared to 45% Monday, according to Flighty.”
“The Republican side. For such a gigantic vote, the House Republican leadership and the Trump administration seem relatively calm about the support for this package among their rank-and-file. There are no immediate plans for President Donald Trump to engage in whipping House Republicans, although we’ll see where today ends up.”
President Trump said in an interview that H-1B skilled worker visas are necessary because “you don’t have certain talents” in the U.S., Axios reports.
“Ukraine is facing a worsening shortage of soldiers as record numbers of men flee to Europe, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned in an interview,” Politico reports.
“The path for interest-rate cuts has been clouded by an emerging split within the central bank with little precedent during Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s nearly eight-year tenure,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Officials are fractured over which poses the greater threat—persistent inflation or a sluggish labor market—and even a resumption of official economic data may not bridge the differences.”
“Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F. Kennedy, said he would run for the congressional seat being vacated by Representative Jerrold Nadler, joining the crowded Democratic primary in an influential New York City district and continuing his family’s legacy in electoral politics,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Schlossberg, 32, is perhaps best known as a social-media political commentator and provocateur who has frequently weighed in on national issues. He shared the news of his campaign in an email to supporters on Tuesday night.”
“The votes by a handful of Democratic senators this week to end a government shutdown without key concessions from Republicans have left the party bruised and divided, struggling to explain to a furious base why they folded without securing the health care subsidies they called essential. For many this was a head-scratching defeat, just days after election triumphs showed voters were on their side,” the Washington Post reports.
“But the closing chapter to the more than 40-day standoff, and the underlying fight over extending tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, could prove perilous for Republicans in the long term.”
New York Times: “Despite considerable hand-wringing in the party about caving to Republicans in the government closure, some Democrats see potential upsides in the outcome.”
For members: Republicans Picked the Worst Possible Hill to Die On
“The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier has entered waters near Latin America, prompting Venezuela to put the entire country’s military arsenal at the ready as the U.S. naval buildup fuels speculation that the Trump administration intends to dramatically escalate its deadly counternarcotics campaign there,” the Washington Post reports.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) welcomed back his Republican colleagues on the House Rules Committee by mocking their long absence, Mediaite reports.
Said McGovern: “Well hello, Madam Chair. Welcome back. Long time no see. I hardly recognize you guys. Where the hell have you been? It’s good to see you back in the Capitol building We’ve been looking everywhere for you guys. Seriously, we were worried. We actually started handing out missing person posters. Nobody has seen you for eight weeks.”
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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