“Elon Musk said a new political party he has been threatening to start up ‘is formed,’ a day after President Donald Trump signed a tax-cut and spending bill that the Tesla Inc. billionaire chief executive officer has denounced,” Bloomberg reports.
CNBC: “Musk is the world’s richest man, so his involvement in any close political races could prove to be decisive.”
President Trump late Friday said that the U.S. “pretty much has a deal” for an American company to acquire the U.S. branch of TikTok, adding that he intended to restart talks next week with China to approve the deal, the New York Times reports.
Said Trump: “We’re going to start Monday or Tuesday talking to China. We think we probably have to get it approved by China. Not definitely, but probably.”
He added: “I think the deal is good for China, and it’s good for us. It’s money, it’s a lot of money.”
“Thursday’s historic vote passing President Donald Trump’s megabill ended a monthslong process of negotiation, infighting and compromise. It also started a countdown until Congress has to do it all over again,” Politico reports.
“That’s because the super-sized domestic policy legislation includes a sharp cliff for tax cuts and deep safety-net restrictions — teeing them up to be the subject of fierce political battles in the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election.”
“Russia’s sanctions-defying economy, propelled higher by the Ukraine war, is suddenly coming back down to earth,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Fueled by massive military spending and steady oil exports, Russia recorded some of the highest growth rates among major economies over the past two years. But in recent weeks economic indicators have been flashing red: Manufacturing activity is declining, consumers are tightening their belts, inflation remains high and the budget is strained.”
“Russian officials are now openly warning of the risks of a recession, and companies from tractor producers to furniture makers are reducing output. The central bank said Thursday that it would debate cutting its benchmark interest rate later this month after lowering it in June.”
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“A Tennessee man pardoned by President Trump for taking part in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been sentenced to life in prison for hatching a separate plot to assassinate the law enforcement officers who investigated his role in the riot,” the New York Times reports.
“In the U.S.-China conflict, President Trump is waging an economic assault. But Chinese leader Xi Jinping is fighting a Cold War,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Xi is entering trade negotiations with a grand strategy he has prepared for years—one that, according to policy advisers in Beijing, is inspired by his understanding of what the Soviet Union got wrong during the first Cold War.”
“Well aware of the U.S.’s continued economic and military superiority, the advisers say, Xi is seeking to avoid direct confrontation, while holding China’s ground in a protracted, all-encompassing competition.”
“Republicans had a hard time persuading some of their own lawmakers to support the party’s big tax-cutting and domestic-policy bill. They might have an even harder time selling it to the public,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Polls show that the bill is unpopular. Opposition outweighed support by more than 20 percentage points in recent Fox News and Quinnipiac University polls. Some Republican lawmakers facing tough races next year represent the most Medicaid-reliant districts. They will have to defend the big cuts in the bill to Medicaid, the health-insurance program for low-income and disabled people, as well as to rural hospitals and to nutrition assistance, once known as food stamps. Those cuts help fund tax cuts in the bill that President Trump called for during the 2024 campaign.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he finds himself “politically homeless” as the Democratic party is no longer aligned with encouraging a “culture of innovation and entrepreneurship,” CNBC reports.
Said Altman: “I’d rather hear from candidates about how they are going to make everyone have the stuff billionaires have instead of how they are going to eliminate billionaires.”
He added: “We should encourage people to make tons of money and then also find ways to widely distribute wealth and share the compounding magic of capitalism. One doesn’t work without the other; you cannot raise the floor and not also raise the ceiling for very long.”
President Trump will sign the Republicans’ sweeping domestic policy bill into law in a ceremony on Friday afternoon at 5 p.m. ET, the New York Times reports.
Axios: “The MAGA mega bill is more than just an indisputable victory for the president and the party he has remade in his image.”
“It’s also a stinging defeat for Democrats — but has given them fodder for the 2026 midterms.”
President Trump’s pardons and commutations have cost more than $100 million in fines owed to the federal government and another $1.5 billion in restitution to victims, Forbes reports.
Elon Musk floated a strategy for his hypothetical third political party:
“One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts. Given the razor-thin legislative margins, that would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring that they serve the true will of the people.”
A new Morning Consult poll finds 53% of Americans don’t know why the American colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence to separate from Britain on July 4, 1776.
G. Elliot Morris: “On average across pollsters and methods, 31% of Americans support the One Big Beautiful Bill, while 54% oppose it. That net rating of -23 is, to put it mildly, absolutely abysmal. That’s true in both absolute terms (having a majority against you with just a third in support is terrible!) and comparative terms.”
“According to data compiled by Georgetown’s Warshaw, the OBBBA is the second most unpopular piece of key legislation since 1990, and likely the most unpopular budget (I have to say ‘likely’ because we don’t have polls of every budget proposal) ever.”
“According to the polls, the only bill more unpopular than this year’s GOP budget bill is the 2017 Republican health care bill, which would have killed the funding mechanism for the Affordable Care Act, cut $800 billion from (basically eliminating) Medicaid, and slashed taxes on high earners.”
Associated Press: “It’s part of a major shift that has thrust the military into border enforcement with Mexico like never before. The move places long stretches of the border under the supervision of nearby military bases, empowering U.S. troops to detain people who enter the country illegally and sidestep a law prohibiting military involvement in civilian law enforcement.”
“The militarization is being challenged in court, and has been criticized by civil rights advocates, humanitarian aid groups and outdoor enthusiasts who object to being blocked from public lands while troops have free rein.”
Politico: “Ad-makers have quickly prepped attack ads to air as soon as the holiday weekend is over, including in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. House Democrats are plotting to turn the August recess into the opening salvo of the midterms, including through town halls and organizing programs.”
“And Democrats see an opportunity to expand the battleground, going on offense into red areas across the country.”
Politico: “The Republican base now includes more working-class and low-income people, many of whom receive their health insurance through Medicaid.”
“But the traditional sentiment of many Republican lawmakers toward the social safety-net program — that it provides handouts on taxpayers’ dime — has largely remained the same.”
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.