“Billionaire Ken Griffin said Republicans in Congress and President Donald Trump made a mistake by cutting taxes even further last year,” Bloomberg reports.
Said Griffin: “We didn’t have the fiscal space to renew the tax cuts. Republicans have their hands dirty over the tax cuts the last two years.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump has brought up the press-eviction idea before, dating to his first term, and he has never quite dropped it. A growing number of people around him favor the idea.”
“Several close to him believe that moving the news media, most likely to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across the street, may be the latest escalation in a remarkable series of moves against the news media that have already gone further than most of them expected.”
FiftyPlusOne caught a pollster named Wedgewood Polls faking data — which they admitted in a statement.
“Donald Trump has spent the months ahead of the midterm elections reaffirming his opposition to the free press, and he’s only growing more combative as Election Day nears. The president snapped at reporters again on Tuesday, yelling and lashing out multiple times during an Oval Office press gaggle,” Rolling Stone reports.
Said Trump: “Quiet, QUIET! What’s wrong with you? Are you a sick person? I actually think theres something wrong with you.”
He added: “Hey! I don’t know who the hell you are but you better be careful.”
The Wrap: White House reporter fires back after Trump warns him he “better be careful” in Oval Office.
“Senate Republicans’ campaign arm took out $20 million in loans in September, a significant cash infusion as the party looks to fight an increasingly challenging map ahead of November’s midterm elections,” Politico reports.
“President Donald Trump still has two weeks to salvage his Republican congressional majorities and defy expectations of a midterm wipeout. But all around him, aides and allies are bracing for what happens if he fails,” CNN reports.
“Administration officials have grown increasingly convinced that steep GOP losses will trigger major personnel shakeups across the government, as Trump hunts for aides to blame and dozens of others weigh abandoning a lame duck presidency at its lowest point.”
“The angst has turned a White House that once prided itself on single-minded cohesion into the nerve center for a resurgence of Trump world infighting and leaking, said several administration officials, advisers and close allies, who described a toxic mix of jockeying for power and preemptive finger-pointing in the critical final days leading up to November.”
The New Republic: Trump hits brutal new polling low—and GOP leaks grow truly humiliating.
“President Trump’s political operation has rolled out a major get-out-the-vote program online in the final days of this year’s midterm elections, flooding Facebook and Instagram with ads encouraging Republicans in a number of states to cast their ballots,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump’s super PAC has emerged as the single largest spender nationwide on the two giant social media platforms in recent days, spending more than $1.1. million on Saturday alone. That’s four times as much as the next largest political advertiser that day.”
“National Democrats are making a million-dollar bet on David Jolly, the Democratic nominee for governor of Florida, as they hope to put back in play the once crucial swing state,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The Democratic Governors Association is sending $1 million to boost Jolly’s bid for governor, the group said Tuesday. The money is a welcome infusion of cash for Jolly, who has been vocal in urging national Democrats to spend more aggressively in his face-off against Republican Rep. Byron Donalds.”
Cook Political Report: “In Senate races, the quality of individual candidates can be magnified in ways that defy national trends, especially in midterm years. That’s the impetus behind three moves we are making today: two in favor of Democrats in South Carolina and Mississippi, and one towards Republicans in Minnesota.”
“The shifts in Democrats’ direction — South Carolina moves from Likely Republican to Lean Republican, and Mississippi moves from Solid Republican to Likely Republican — are further evidence that Democrats have expanded the map into red territory even in the Deep South. However, both races also feature unique factors that are making each more competitive than it should be.”
“The manosphere stars who helped mobilize young men for Donald Trump in 2024 are losing their shine with that very audience,” Axios reports.
“Trump and Republicans rode a wave of cultural cachet to reach young male voters. Now, the president and some of his most influential online allies are showing signs of losing their grip on that audience ahead of the 2026 midterms.”
“New polling from the Democratic project Speaking With American Men suggests some of the most prominent influencers during Trump’s 2024 campaign have lost their luster with young male voters.”
Bloomberg: “Across 24 states that track the party registration of early voters, Democratic voters have cast 48.7% of all ballots. Republican voters have cast 28.9%, according to the University of Florida Election Lab.”
“President Trump said on Tuesday that he had asked President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to release Stephen James Hubbard, a Michigan teacher who was seized from his home in Ukraine months after Russia invaded that country in February 2022,” the New York Times reports.
“The United States has maintained that the charges against Mr. Hubbard are fabricated. Accused of being a mercenary, he was sentenced to more than six years in a penal colony.”
Helen Lewis: “Yes, after two grinding years of governance, Trump is back in his happy place, out on the campaign trail, voicing whichever disconnected thoughts crackle and fizz through his frontal cortex. His favorite rhetorical theme lately is an unexpected one: the official presidential dreamboat rankings. In multiple rallies, Trump has gone on and on about the relative hotness of male politicians, soldiers, and even protesters.”
“As a result, people on the internet have diagnosed him with a novel medical condition: gay dementia. After putting in a solid shift in the heterosexuality mines, has the former beauty-pageant proprietor now become so disinhibited that he can no longer repress his thirst for man-flesh?”
“President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday that he himself would decide who gets a payout from his administration’s new rewards program for people who submit tips about fraud to the government. That’s not what the Justice Department said,” the Washington Sun reports.
Said Trump: “I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions. In other words, I’ll determine whether or not the person is deserving.”
“The Justice Department, meanwhile, said that awards will be made ‘in the Justice Department’s sole discretion following the filing of criminal charges.'”
“Elon Musk ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink relied on by Ukraine, a decision that sparked panic in Kyiv and confusion inside the Trump administration,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Both Musk and President Trump have expressed anger at Ukraine for attacking Russian diesel refineries in recent weeks, which the president blames for high energy prices. Last week, Musk capped the speeds at which Ukrainian hardware could stay connected to the satellite-based network, rendering some offensive drones and interceptor drones virtually useless.”
“Musk and Trump discussed the Starlink decision in a call soon after the slowdown became public, while the president was campaigning last week.”
Ed Kilgore: “Even in an era of increasing partisan polarization and straight-ticket voting, state elections have their own logic and rhythm, in part because salient issues at the state level can be different from those prevailing nationally and also because some state pols — notably governors — are news-commanding celebrities in their own right.”
“But the national political environment still affects downballot elections if only by affecting turnout patterns. So Democrats anticipate at least modest gains in the 36 gubernatorial elections being held this year and in the 88 state legislative chambers with some or all of their members facing voters in November.”
The Atlantic: “Trump Jr. has repeatedly voiced his opposition to the ongoing Iran war in private conversations… The president’s son opposed the war from its outset and made his opposition known to his father. He has long been skeptical of foreign intervention and believed the U.S. should not enter another Middle East war.”
Said a person close to the president’s son: “Don has kept his views on the subject private, as he would never publicly break with his dad on an issue like this, but I can’t imagine anyone who knows Don would be surprised by his personal views on the subject.”
Punchbowl News: “House Democrats still have 40 lawmakers who have paid 50% or less of their dues to the DCCC, even as party leaders threaten repercussions against those who don’t support the party committee.”
“Excluding Frontliners, who are not required to pay dues, 11 lawmakers who are returning to the House next Congress have paid no dues to the DCCC. We will note that this is a draft dues report and some of these numbers may change slightly.”
“The non-dues-paying lawmakers: Reps. Jim Costa (CA), Jimmy Gomez (CA), Jonathan Jackson (IL), Lois Frankel (FL), Summer Lee (PA), Analilia Mejia (NJ), Ilhan Omar (MN), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Rashida Tlaib (MI), Everton Blair (GA) and Aisha Wahab (CA).”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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