Daily Archives
89 posts · Wednesday
Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 191
Blue Wave Update
“All five districts Republicans targeted when they gerrymandered Texas’ congressional map at Donald Trump’s behest last year nonetheless remain in play, including two seats that had once looked all but impossible for Democrats to hold,” The Downballot reports.
CNN: James Talarico has Democrats dreaming big after decades of dashed hopes in Texas.
Washington Monthly: “So far the president has spent almost all of October on the road… 15 rallies in 13 states. Preceding this tour was an unprecedented Republican National Midterm Convention in Dallas, Texas, where he delivered two primetime addresses.”
“Trump’s travel itinerary and rhetoric are squarely aimed at juicing turnout among his loyalists, not at persuading swing voters. This is not totally without logic; in midterm elections the president’s party often suffers a decline in base turnout. But the presidential bully pulpit does not provide a quick fix…”
“What Republicans could use to try to avoid being drowned in a Blue Wave is a few days without Donald Trump making news, but the president is too addicted to the crowds and the cameras to ever let that happen.”
“President Trump posted a wild AI-generated video late Tuesday that showed him chasing, tackling and befriending a Siberian tiger, hours after he had warned his Truth Social followers: ‘Don’t ever mess with nature!'” the New York Post reports.
“The president initially posted gruesome video Tuesday afternoon of the beast fatally savaging 23-year-old William Chapman at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster, England over the weekend.”
A new YouGov poll finds 60% of Americans think President Trump is using his office for personal gain.
“Americans trust the Democratic Party more than Republicans ‘to keep the country prosperous,’ in Democrats’ first clear lead with voters on the economic issue in more than a decade in Gallup’s annual governance poll,” the Washington Post reports.
“A majority of adults, 51 percent, chose Democrats when asked, ‘Which political party do you think will do a better job of keeping the country prosperous?’ A smaller group, 37 percent, selected Republicans.”
“This week I had to explain to my boys, ‘No, mom does not protect pedophiles.'”
— Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), quoted by The Bulwark, in a video after her opponent in the U.S. Senate race accused her of skipping three votes to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.
“More than half of the top holders listed as competing for seats at President Trump’s next meme coin dinner have used cryptocurrency exchanges that prohibit U.S. customers, indicating that many of the buyers are based overseas,” CBS News reports.
“Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Ali Ozmaei said Wednesday that Tehran is ‘counting the moments’ until it can sink American warships,” CNBC reports.
Said Ozmaei: “If the Americans think the Strait of Hormuz is open, let them come closer. We are impatient to sink American warships.”
He added: “We are waiting for U.S. warships to approach the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz so we can sink them. We are counting down every moment until this happens.”
“Immigration and Customs Enforcement is fast-tracking a $100 million domestic surveillance program to put 142 intelligence agents in more than two dozen cities and the District of Columbia, in what contracting and surveillance experts said would be a significant expansion of the agency’s ability to reach into private lives,” the American Prospect reports.
“Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton warned that Governor Greg Abbott is struggling in his bid for reelection, made excuses for his own campaign issues, and conceded that Republicans will likely lose seats in the state legislature,” Rolling Stone reports.
Said Paxton: “Those are my two disadvantages. One was — three, actually: not having time to raise more money, having the negative ads, and my opponent is well-funded and well-known.”
“Inflation rose to a 3.7 percent annual pace in September, extending a relentless climb this year pushed by surging energy prices, as many Americans are already feeling pressure in the economy as they head to the polls,” the Washington Post reports.
“The increase in the consumer price index, which was hotter than what economists predicted, puts even more pressure on the Trump administration and Republican candidates as one of the final economic tests before the midterm elections.”
“Americans aren’t just seeing the price tag increase for imported goods. Thanks to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, they are now paying more for products made in the USA, according to new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,” Fox News reports.
“In fact, the research finds that prices for many everyday goods would have fallen last year and into early 2026 without Trump’s tariffs.”
“Republicans have lost hope for a last-minute surprise that will substantially change midterm math that’s increasingly adding up against them,” Politico reports.
“Instead, they’re doing what they can to save themselves.”
“Many are distancing themselves from some of President Donald Trump’s most unpopular policies — in some cases, ones they agreed with only weeks before — as polls show the president is deeply unpopular and at risk of dragging Republican candidates down with him.”
Politico: “Under normal circumstances, Trump may not have acted so quickly to push out one of his longtime allies, but Kimberly Guilfoyle had the misfortune of bad press at the wrong time.”
Said one insider: “She got whacked, because these stories aren’t getting out of the headlines, and they perpetuate this narrative that the president is corrupt, and his people are corrupt. Meanwhile the president right now is dragging his 80-year-old self all over the country every single day between now and the midterms trying to blunt the damage.”
And the knives may only be sharpening, said another person: “By him doing that as fast as he did, just based on a mainstream media outlet, he’s now created a feeding frenzy.”
“You either got it or don’t. And she don’t got it.”
— A person close to the White House, quoted by Politico, on new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia.
Politico: “Trump repeatedly asked Republican voters to ‘pretend’ he’s on the ballot this fall. The Politico Poll’s latest results indicate Trump’s message may be resonating more with Democrats than with his own base.”
“When deciding how to vote, Democrats are more motivated to oppose Trump’s agenda than Republicans are to support it. Opposing Trump and his agenda is the top reason driving Democrat midterm voters’ decision, with 44% of voters selecting this from a list of 12 possible options.”
“The inverse is not true for Republican midterm voters, with only 33% saying their vote is because they want to support Trump and his agenda.”
“President Trump is indulging his fondness for Vladimir Putin at a moment of acute political peril, forcing Republicans in the midterms to take cover as he showers Moscow with one-sided concessions,” Axios reports.
“With just three weeks until the election, Trump is rekindling a decade-long, scandal-scarred relationship with a dictator reviled by most Americans — including his own supporters.”
“Since speaking with Putin on Friday, Trump has embarked on a remarkable five-day campaign of diplomatic concessions and cover for Russia — sparking bipartisan blowback just as voters prepare to cast their ballots.”
“President Trump has made this election all about himself. Now we have to survive that political storm.”
— A senior House Republican, quoted by Politico.
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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