Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 188
Nothing to See Here
“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will not be the next AI czar, President Donald Trump announced Friday, leaving the coveted White House role open as the AI industry’s rapid development becomes a leading policy issue in Washington,” the Washington Sun reports.
Axios: Inside Trump’s “super intelligence” naming problem.
Doug Sosnik: “The best indicator of the current state of the midterms is where the parties spend their time and money in the closing days of the campaign. In a Politico analysis of data from AdImpact, nearly two-thirds of advertising spending in the House is in districts held by Republican incumbents, with more than $110 million dollars spent in seats that Trump won by double digits in 2024.”
“Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up his state visit to Washington on Friday by announcing that he expects to meet President Donald Trump two more times before the end of the year, doubling the number of face-to-face discussions between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies in 2026,” the Associated Press reports.
“The promise of more meetings to come capped off a three-day state visit that has been criticized by some in the U.S. for being heavy on pomp and light on substance, though Trump said they discussed the war in Iran.”
Bloomberg: Trump claims productive meeting with Xi but offers no details.
Washington Sun: “Duly elected members of Congress are constitutionally required to be human, and all humans are biologically required to pee. On voting days, a member who chooses to do so in the nearest suitable facility puts themselves in the path of the horde of people who desperately want information from them.”
“Aside from the Republican cloakroom — which provides lawmakers with cheap hot dogs and grilled cheeses — the members-only bathrooms off the House floor, adjacent to the lavish Speaker’s Lobby, are some of the only places near the floor where lawmakers are out of view from the Hill’s many nosy reporters.”
“The Pentagon’s public tally of troops wounded during the Iran war was quietly increased by 37 this week without explanation from the Defense Department,” the Washington Post reports.
Aaron Blake: “The Republican Party’s two worst midterm elections in the 21st Century were in 2006 and 2018. In the former, an unpopular Middle Eastern war cost George W. Bush dearly. In 2018, voters balked at the upending of historic norms and chaotic style of a new president named Donald Trump.”
“The 2026 midterm election is now looking like it could be even worse for the GOP – by several metrics.”
NBC News: The economy helped Trump win in 2024. It could cost Republicans in 2026.
“A few tentative displays of independence among Republicans have expanded in recent days into a stampede, as candidates furiously distance themselves from President Trump ahead of the midterm elections,” The Atlantic reports.
Said one Texas-based political consultant: “This is shaping up to be a nightmare political environment for every Republican, everywhere—period, full stop.”
“Noting that gas prices across the country are on average $4.50 a gallon, the consultant described the atmosphere as ‘a fucking disaster for anyone in a competitive race.'”
“The Trump administration can blacklist AI firm Anthropic from Pentagon contracts, a federal appeals court ruled Friday in a decision that expands executive branch power to designate U.S. businesses as national security risks,” Politico reports.
Reuters: U.S. appeals court declines to block Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic.
A new InsiderAdvantage poll finds Jon Ossoff (D) leading Mike Collins (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 50% to 42%.
New Jersey Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell (D) “will resign after a damning internal investigation substantiated allegations that he sexually harassed a female staffer and repeatedly violated state ethics rules, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed,” New Jersey Globe reports.
“Caldwell’s decision comes one day after Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) called for his resignation and gave him until Friday to step down. His departure averts an unprecedented constitutional confrontation over how to remove a sitting lieutenant governor, an independently elected official whom the governor cannot simply fire.”
“Classified documents provided to Congress include an assessment by the U.S. intelligence community that Saudi Arabia has not ruled out the option of developing a nuclear weapons program,” the Washington Post reports.
“The sobering intelligence outlook has compounded concerns from some U.S. lawmakers about President Donald Trump‘s agreement to assist Saudi Arabia with establishing a civilian nuclear program, which they fear could enable the development of a nuclear weapon and spark an arms race in the volatile Middle East.”
“Since the epicenter of ‘power’ is not Washington, D.C. but Heaven, every morning I listen to a few chapters of the Bible on audiobook, and pray for God’s wisdom and strength in whatever situations may arise.”
— White House aide Natalie Harp, in an interview with the Washingtonian, on what she does on her own time.
A new Unite America/RealClear Opinion Research poll finds U.S. Congress’ approval at 17%, while 59% disapprove.
The same poll finds Donald Trump’s approval at 34%, while 54% disapprove.
“With midterms 39 days away and the outlook for President Trump’s party looking increasingly bleak, top Republicans say they’re focused on three big questions for the final stretch,” Axios reports.
“In the two battleground states with the most bitter and complicated Senate primaries, Maine and Michigan, Democrats emerged feeling stronger and more unified,” according to new polls from The New York Times and Siena University.
“More than 60 percent of Democrats or independents who said they lean toward the Democratic Party in each state said they thought the primary process strengthened the party through vigorous debate. Only about one-quarter said they thought the process exposed divisions and made Democrats weaker.”
“Beyond the primary battles, the polls hinted at signs of unity emerging around the party’s direction and ideology among Democratic voters nationally and in the battleground states.”
“With less than 40 days until the midterm elections, Republicans in Congress are distancing themselves from President Trump and scrambling to show they are working to address the high cost of living, concerned that their failure to do either so far may cost them their majorities in November,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump’s approval ratings are sagging as Americans face higher energy costs and general economic uncertainty because of the war in Iran, giving Democrats a clear advantage in national polls. But the Senate has spent some of its final days in session ahead of the election defeating a bid to halt the war and working on a sweeping new regulatory framework for collegiate sports.”
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.
