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97 posts · Tuesday
Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 191
Blue Wave Update
“Elon Musk has become the biggest political donor of the 2026 U.S. midterm elections cycle, funneling about $366m into political groups and campaigns as he backs conservative candidates and rightwing causes,” The Guardian reports.
“The world’s richest person has poured more than $276m into politics since July alone, some of the most rapid political spending in U.S. history.”
“Former President Barack Obama is heading to Ohio to shore up support for Democratic candidates in the Senate and governor’s races, both of which have been highly competitive and brought a flood of campaign cash into the state,” the Chicago Tribube reports.
Punchbowl News: “For months, House Republican leaders have asserted that the polls have it all wrong and the GOP is poised to expand their razor-thin majority in 2026.”
“But this morning, the Congressional Leadership Fund and political groups associated with President Donald Trump began to abandon a pair of endangered Republican incumbents — all but conceding their races are lost. They are also paring back on offensive opportunities. It’s a sign that the Republican leadership’s predictions were off base, and they’re scrambling to limit their Election Day losses.”
“The Senate Republicans’ allied super political action committee plans to spend an additional $8 million to aid embattled Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts who faces a strong challenge from independent Dan Osborn,” Bloomberg reports.
“Republican John Sununu criticized President Donald Trump’s handling of the Iran war and the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the first debate in an unexpectedly close New Hampshire U.S. Senate race,” Bloomberg reports.
“During the Tuesday morning debate, Sununu accused Trump of not doing enough to help Ukraine while acting overly friendly toward Russia.”
Bolts: “The midterms will usher in a new cast of characters to oversee the next presidential race. They’ll decide how to answer Trump’s orders and how to shape mail voting and registration.”
“The wins for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia came in rapid succession from Washington,” the New York Times reports.
“President Trump proffered sanctions relief for Russian diesel fuel. He publicly called for Ukraine to get a new leader. And he pressured Kyiv to stop a strike campaign against Russian oil facilities that has damaged the Russian economy.”
“Mr. Putin, in return, offered more war.”
Bloomberg: Putin can afford to wait for gifts from Trump.
“Data centers have fast become the political bogeyman of 2026, with nearly every candidate seeking to outfox their opponent in attacks on ‘Big Tech’ and ‘dirty data centers.’ In a September poll, nearly 6 in 10 registered voters in Nevada said they oppose the construction of new data centers,” Nevada Independent reports.
“Not everybody in the state hates them, though: Electrical and construction unions that benefit from data center projects say the facilities can be a force for good in Nevada — and they’re figuring out how they can prove it to everybody else.”
“The plan to livestream the firing squad execution of the convicted Fort Hood shooter is garnering mounting discomfort from the Catholic Church, the Hill and survivors of the shooting,” Axios reports.
“President Trump even has apparent qualms over holding the first public execution in the U.S. in some nine decades after receiving a deluge of bipartisan concern.”
New York Post: Mike Johnson urges Trump to rethink livestreaming Nidal Hasan execution: “I wouldn’t be watching.”
“White House press secretary Katie Zacharia’s debut was so poor it made Karoline Leavitt look like Cicero,” the New Republic reports.
“The newly appointed press secretary spoke slowly and awkwardly during her debut press conference Tuesday, as if she had never seen or uttered the words in front of her prior to taking the podium. Her cadence was clunky, closer to that of a fourth grader reading school announcements over an intercom than a polished political communications professional. It’s clear he was never meant to be more than another blonde conservative placeholder on Fox News. The SNL spoof feels imminent.”
The Wrap: Trump’s new press secretary roasted over debut briefing: “SNL cold open come to life.”
Mother Jones: Katie Zacharia bombs first day as White House press secretary.
“Hillary Clinton is launching a new podcast with tech journalist and podcast host Kara Swisher ahead of the midterms, part of an effort to promote Democratic candidates and push her priorities as the election nears its final stretch,” the Washington Sun reports.
“Kimberly Guilfoyle was not a member of my family. I guess she dated my son a long time ago. I didn’t like what I read.”
— President Trump, talking to reporters, on asking Guilfoyle to resign as Ambassador to Greece.
“President Donald Trump mocked a protester as they were being physically attacked by his rallygoers,” the New Republic reports.
“A video of the incident showed a bald man in a T-shirt punching a woman in the face, pulling her hair, and hitting her repeatedly.”
Said Trump: “He’s a paid protester, they’re all paid. They get paid by the lefties in order to destroy our country. They’re scum. But he’s going back home to mom. He’s going back home to mom.”
“It’s not clear whether he was referring to the protester as ‘he’ to be derisive or because he genuinely could not see.”
The Bulwark: Trump jokes as woman is beaten at his rally.
“Republicans are fucked. Everyone sees Trump’s corruption. We’re going to lose Texas to a horrible candidate simply because it’s a referendum on Trump corruption and Paxton is just as corrupt as Trump.”
— A conservative strategist and activist, quoted by Rolling Stone.
“Elon Musk elevated a false conspiracy theory about Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico over the weekend, lifting a fringe claim concerning the Texan’s mental health to the forefront of users’ X feeds, where it garnered hundreds of thousands of impressions,” the Washington Post reports.
Wrote Musk: “The Talarico campaign is hiding something big that voters ought to know about.”
“Musk’s reply amassed over 870,000 views, more than double the impression count of the post to which he was responding.”
Mother Jones: Elon Musk is the midterms’ biggest disinformation risk.
“Millions of dollars in spending have poured into north and central Colorado, flooding television commercial breaks with near-ceaseless political advertisements as the razor-tight race for a swing congressional seat enters its final three weeks,” the Denver Post reports.
“Coloradans who tuned into a ‘Dateline’ rerun Monday afternoon, for instance, would have been treated to a firehose of ads about U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans, the Republican fighting to keep his 8th Congressional District seat, or his Democratic opponent, former state Rep. Manny Rutinel.”
“Supporters of ‘Medicare for All’ now outnumber opponents by nearly 2-to-1,” according to a new survey of U.S. adults from the Axios-Ipsos American Health Index.
“Two-thirds of all survey respondents — and half of Republicans — said the federal government should be willing to spend more tax dollars to lower health care costs for Americans.”
“New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia stumbled out of the gate during her first press briefing, calling a halt to proceedings after just 14 minutes and taking questions from three reporters,” the New York Post reports.
“Eight minutes of Zacharia’s introduction to a national audience was taken up by a monologue touting President Trump’s accomplishments before she closed the show by announcing that Trump had asked for the resignation of Ambasasdor to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle.”
Deadline: New White House press secretary debuts with a very short briefing.
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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