I’m getting tired of typing with just one hand after my wrist surgery, so how about a conversation tonight with my Trial Balloon co-host, Chris Riback?
Update: Thanks to everyone who tuned in! Let us know if we should do it again.


I’m getting tired of typing with just one hand after my wrist surgery, so how about a conversation tonight with my Trial Balloon co-host, Chris Riback?
Update: Thanks to everyone who tuned in! Let us know if we should do it again.
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Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) is “weeks away” from deciding whether to jump into the U.S. Senate race, and she’s planning a town hall tour of Republican districts in the meantime…
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared that “by September we will know what has caused the autism epidemic,” Roll Call reports. Save to Favorites
A new Third Way poll conducted before the latest round of tariff news found 62% of respondents said the word “chaotic” described President Trump. Wall Street Journal: “Democrats see tariff…
New York Times: “Four or five firms could soon agree to deals that would be unveiled as a package, in an escalation of the president’s crackdown on an industry that…
Playbook: “In pausing the tariffs for 90 days, Trump effectively acknowledged that there was some degree of economic and political pain that was simply intolerable for him to bear.” “That…
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is now indisputably at the helm of the administration’s trade team, Politico reports. Peter Navarro has been “relegated to the sidelines” and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick…
The latest episode of Trial Balloon is live for members. Due to poor internet connections on our recent travels, we answer some listener questions on proxy voting, Chuck Schumer, Teslas……
Playbook: “It’s clear now that the bond market freakout that inspired Trump’s 90-day pause in the tariffs isn’t over.” “Also clear: All of this presents an enormous political opening for…
“Federal spending is higher since President Trump took office even as the Department of Government Efficiency slashes contracts, cuts jobs and ends diversity programs,” the Wall Street Journal reports. Save…
“Beijing punched back with its own tariffs of 125 percent on all U.S. goods on Friday in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff increases, sharply escalating the spiraling trade tensions…
“President Donald Trump suggested at a Cabinet meeting Thursday that undocumented people working on farms and in hotels would be allowed to leave the country and return as legal workers…
“The Social Security Administration this week began to classify thousands of immigrants with temporary legal status and Social Security numbers as dead,“ CBS News reports. “The move essentially cancels an…
“The U.S. dollar fell against its major peers on Thursday, hitting a 10-year low against the safe-haven Swiss franc, as markets digested President Donald Trump’s dramatic reversal on tariffs,” Reuters…
“All of the full-time employees in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vessel Sanitation Program are now off the job, gutting the agency’s ability to investigate outbreaks and conduct…
“Facing a deadline from an immigration judge to turn over evidence for its attempted deportation of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, the federal government has instead submitted a brief memo,…
Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-MI) has ruled out a run for U.S. Senate and will instead run for reelection to the House in her mid-Michigan district, the Detroit News reports….
Wall Street Journal: “To an unusual degree in American politics, the MAGA movement is based on a personal bond between Trump and his followers. Critics call it a personality cult….
“While stumping for Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign, Elon Musk said he could cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. After Mr. Trump took office and placed Mr….
“The Trump administration has embarked on a high-speed effort to negotiate ad hoc deals with more than 70 countries hoping to escape higher tariffs, with any agreements likely to fall…
“Just days after Vice President J.D. Vance’s March visit to Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, the installation commander sent out an email to the base distancing it from Vance’s criticism…
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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