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90 posts · Monday
Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 191
Blue Wave Update
“Standing beside an empty lectern, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms opened Monday’s debate by accusing Republican Rick Jackson of ducking scrutiny by skipping the showdown,” the Atlanta Journal-Consitution reports.
Said Bottoms: “He’d rather hide behind his billions than explain to you his record of making billions off the taxpayers of Georgia.”
“As President Trump weighed endorsing Ken Paxton over incumbent Texas Sen. John Cornyn this spring, he was told that damaging revelations were likely to surface about Paxton… Trump was dismissive and said there would be more negative material about Democratic nominee James Talarico,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Trump plowed ahead and endorsed the scandal-plagued Texas attorney general, helping him win the Republican-primary runoff in May. Months later, that decision is looking like Trump’s biggest gamble of the midterms.”
“Meanwhile, damaging revelations about Paxton continue to emerge. A new scene that could join the list: a previously unreported New Year’s Eve 2024 celebration where Paxton partied in Dubai with two fugitives from U.S. justice and a woman who wasn’t his wife.”
“Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego are on a presidential campaign collision course,” the Arizona Republic reports.
“Both of Arizona’s Democratic senators are weighing presidential bids in 2028, hoping their ability to win in a right-leaning border state will open up a path to the White House. The dynamic already is setting them up to compete for endorsements, donors and, most importantly, votes.”
Said Gallego: “We’ve had some very awkward conversations on five-hour flights about this. No, no, just kidding. No, no. We haven’t, actually.”
“A top Trump political operative has been tapped to help boost Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall’s campaign in the weeks before the Nov. 3 election, the latest sign of how Republicans are scrambling to defend the red-state seat,” Axios reports.
“The hiring of veteran strategist Chris Grant reflects the GOP’s growing anxiety over Kansas’ Senate race. Marshall is running neck and neck with Democrat Adam Hamilton in a state President Trump won by 16 points in 2024.”
President Trump took questions from reporters at the White House:
REPORTER: You said Russia and Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire but both sides say they have not.
TRUMP: They agree. You know why? Because I said you agree. That’s why. They agreed because I said they agreed.
“President Donald Trump told reporters Monday afternoon he had nothing to do with the raid on the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar conducted by the Department of Homeland Security,” the Washington Sun reports.
Said Trump: “I understand that they’re looking at her very carefully. I’ve always found her to be totally crooked, personally, but that has nothing to do with me.”
He added: “I think she’s a terrible person, but that’s really up to the DOJ, I have nothing to do with it.”
“President Donald Trump said he might meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an upcoming trip to Asia, stoking speculation about renewed U.S. outreach to the reclusive regime,” Bloomberg reports.
Said Trump: “I may. That would be exciting.”
“Ten megadonors accounted for more than half of the $300 million that President Trump raised for the new White House ballroom and legacy projects around Washington,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The identities of the donors, who contributed between $10 million and $25 million apiece, weren’t included in the public filing by the Trust for the National Mall, a long established nonprofit which the White House has also used to manage funds it raised for the triumphal arch and the Rose Garden.”
“After James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas, spent more than a week with no campaign appearances because of what he and his aides described as a bad case of the flu, a false rumor circulated by conservatives exploded online,” the New York Times reports.
“By Sunday, a post on X claiming that Mr. Talarico had been at a mental health facility in Ohio — a story promoted by Republican allies of Mr. Talarico’s opponent, Ken Paxton — had been viewed millions of times. Then the Ohio facility took the remarkable step of publicly announcing on Sunday night that Mr. Talarico had in fact never been treated there.”
“The chair of the Montana Democratic Party resigned the position Monday and became the latest Democrat to endorse an independent candidate over the party’s Senate nominee, Alani Bankhead,” the Washington Post reports.
“The cryptocurrency industry’s leading super PAC is set to spend to boost GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts in his Nebraska reelection campaign,” Politico reports.
“It is unclear how much the PAC network, known as Fairshake, will spend in the contest.”
“Even Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson disapproves of the Trump administration’s planned live execution of Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan,” the New Republic reports.
Said Johnson: “The concern would be that it would create a video that would be a recruiting tool for future terrorists. I wouldn’t be watching it if it was aired … [but] that’s outside of my lane of course. But I need to tell the White House what some of my colleagues think about that, and not everybody’s in favor of the idea.”
“President Donald Trump on Monday defended U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall’s history of suing patients over unpaid medical bills as Marshall tries to withstand a stormy reelection bid,” the Kansas City Star reports.
“Trump, in a wide-ranging social media post, made the bold assertion that the former longtime rural OB-GYN could have been arrested if he had not taken more than 700 patients to court over unpaid medical bills ranging from several thousand dollars to as low as $101.”
“U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown says he would not support impeaching President Donald Trump if Brown is elected in November,” the Columbus Dispatch reports.
Said Brown: “I can’t speak for everybody else, but I would not support an impeachment of Trump. There’s just simply no reason for that, no matter what happens in the midterms.”
“The Trump administration appears to have continued running campaign-style ads funded by taxpayer dollars after a federal judge ordered them to stop over the weekend,” the Washington Sun reports.
“The spots aired on ’60 Minutes,’ ‘ABC World News Tonight’ and ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ on Sunday night into Monday morning.”
“A U.S. Air Force member jailed since August for publicly calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment is being held in solitary confinement 24 hours a day,” Military.com reports.
“President Trump said he and his administration are ‘looking at’ firing Kimberly Guilfoyle from her position as U.S. ambassador to Greece, after an associate of Guilfoyle’s alleged she asked him to wire $100,000 to pay her American Express bill in exchange for her help with the Trump administration ahead of her Senate confirmation hearing,” CBS News reports.
Said Trump: “Well, we’re looking at it. We’re not happy.”
“Republican nominee for governor John James told reporters on Oct. 12 that Michigan voters were tuning out negative ads and he planned to use social media, press coverage and ‘word of mouth’ to get his message out in the campaign’s final weeks,” the Detroit News reports.
“James made the comments at a press conference in Grosse Pointe Woods about education policy, just over three weeks before the Nov. 3 election and six days after a group backed by the Republican Governors Association stopped funding broadcast TV ads in support of his bid to lead Michigan.”
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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