David Graham: “One of the secrets to Trump’s success has been his control over other Republican figures, because of either their political and personal affinity or, failing that, the ability to bully them into submission with rhetorical attacks or threats of primary challenges.”
“But as the end of Trump’s political career approaches, his grip over the GOP is showing some cracks.”
For members: Trump Already Looks Like a Lame Duck
Jonathan Chait: “Fifteen years after its passage, the ACA is a gigantic political pain point for the GOP. You would think Republicans would have made their peace with the law by now and turned their attention to other issues.”
“But unlike pretty much every other conservative party in the industrialized world, where the legitimacy of universal health coverage is largely a given, the GOP seems resigned to bleed out on health care.”
“Tucker Carlson knows a thing or two about stirring up controversy,” the New York Times reports.
“But even so, his ongoing feud with fellow members of the Republican Party — and critics who have suggested he’s antisemitic — has been striking. This week it boiled over on one of the nation’s most popular podcasts, as a schism over the Charlie Kirk assassination continued to aggravate an already rattled Trumpworld coalition.”
“Indeed, Mr. Carlson’s broadsides were just the latest evidence of a deepening divide in Republican politics. And he has been at the center of many of those fights, with trolling, ad hominem attacks, and accusations of betrayal — including by President Trump — riddling airwaves and social media feeds, with no signs of stopping.”
Russell Berman: “Over the past few days, I’ve asked both Republicans and Democrats here to explain why Indiana has become the new hotbed of GOP resistance to Trump…”
“I received several answers. Most, however, said that the push for mid-decade redistricting simply ran afoul of the small-c conservatism on which many Indiana Republican legislators still pride themselves… Republicans told me that state Senate opponents of redrawing the maps tended to be more institutionalist than MAGA, echoing a divide that still crops up among the party’s lawmakers in Washington.”
Jonathan Chait: “In rejecting yesterday a redistricting plan backed by President Donald Trump, Indiana’s Republican-controlled senate did not merely deny Republicans two new U.S. House seats in next year’s midterm elections. They also engaged in a mass revolt against the president. The stakes of their defiance reach far beyond the midterms. This vote was possibly the most significant blow yet against the authoritarian ambitions that have defined Trump’s second term.”
“The significance of Indiana’s noncompliance lies not in the specifics of what was refused—attempts to gerrymander electoral maps are hardly unprecedented, even though a mid-decade battle violates norms—but in the act of refusal itself. Trump’s authoritarian project relies on the cultlike hold he has over his party.”
“House GOP leadership will permit a floor vote to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies — an olive branch to moderate members who have been clamoring for a chance to go on record in support of an extension,” Politico reports.
“A U.S. special operations team boarded a ship in the Indian Ocean last month and seized military-related articles headed to Iran from China, a rare interdiction operation at sea aimed at blocking Tehran from rebuilding its military arsenal,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The ship was several hundred miles off the coast of Sri Lanka when the operatives boarded it and confiscated the cargo before letting the vessel proceed.”
“The Trump administration has ordered the National Park Service to pull any merchandise related to diversity, equity and inclusion from its gift shops, intensifying the federal government’s crackdown on D.E.I. and efforts to reshape how American history is told at national parks,” the New York Times reports.
“The Trump administration is providing the names of all travelers passing through U.S. airports to immigration officials in search of people with deportation orders, a substantial expansion of government efforts to draw on data to hunt down immigrants it wants to expel,” the New York Times reports.
Out next month: Hated by All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind by Jason Zengerle.
An eye-opening examination of Tucker Carlson’s rise through conservative media and politics.
“President Trump said he was leaning toward choosing either former Fed governor Kevin Warsh or National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett to lead the Federal Reserve next year,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Hassett has been increasingly viewed as the front-runner after Trump repeatedly teased in recent weeks that he had settled on his choice to lead the Fed, but Trump’s comments suggest Warsh remains solidly in contention.”
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A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 70% of Americans said they believe the Trump administration is hiding information about people tied to Jeffrey Epstein’s victimization of young women.
A new Texas Southern University poll in Texas finds that 51% of likely Democratic primary voters favor Jasmine Crockett (D) for U.S. Senate while 43% prefer James Talarico (D) and 6% are undecided.
“The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Fulton County, Georgia, over records related to the 2020 election, escalating the Trump administration’s efforts to boost the president’s false claims that his loss to Joe Biden was rigged,” the Washington Post reports.
Charlie Sykes: “The House rejected one of his executive orders; another grand jury refused to indict Letitia James; a judge freed Kilmar Abrego Garcia and called out the Administration’s bullshit; Kristi Noem faceplanted in congressional testimony; his concept of a health care plan crashed in the Senate; and his poll numbers continued to crater.”
“But all of this was merely prologue to Trump’s humiliation by the sort of Republicans we are thought were utterly extinct.”
“Despite a vicious pressure campaign, the Republican-dominated Indiana Senate overwhelmingly rejected Trump’s demand that they gerrymander the state’s congressional map to benefit the GOP.”
“What happened yesterday — an outburst of Republican courage — was as rare as a sighting of Bigfoot, Lindsey Graham’s spine, or natural breasts at Mar-a-Lago.”
Catherine Rampell: “There are many items on President Trump’s agenda that are hurting the U.S. economy: the pointless trade wars, the socialization of the private sector, the mass deportations, and much more.”
“But in the long run, the most damaging policy of all might be one that’s gotten scant attention, at least from non-finance-nerds: Trump’s quest to crush the Federal Reserve. If Trump succeeds, he may doom the United States to high inflation for years, if not decades, to come.”
Jonathan Last: “If Trump succeeds, then he will have created a problem without a solution—because no future administration can force bond markets to reappraise the American central bank.”
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.
