Daily Archives
97 posts · Thursday
Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 193
The Magnificent Seven
“A township council meeting Wednesday night erupted into chaos when Pemberton Township, NJ Mayor Matthew Bianchini (R) charged toward a resident during what has been described as long-simmering tensions boiling over,” WPVI reports.
“The mayor was restrained by others in attendance before being removed from the room.”
Said Bianchini: “I just basically snapped. I hate to put it this way, but it’s a long time coming.”
“Iran’s message is stark: If the U.S. and Israel restart their air campaign, Tehran will respond with strikes not only on American bases and warships but on airports, pipelines and other civilian targets in the neighboring countries of the Persian Gulf,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The warnings, issued publicly and in private diplomatic communications, are clearly aimed at deterring any attack with tough talk. But they also signal a real threat. Iran retains significant missile and drone stocks and the ability to use them.”
“Analysts estimate Iran has hundreds to thousands of ballistic missiles, and U.S. and regional officials believe it has resumed production of ballistic missiles in limited numbers using stockpiled components and working in underground facilities.”
“President Donald Trump attacked Philadelphia 76ers forward LeBron James on Thursday over a video appearing to show the NBA star stretching during the national anthem ahead of his Sixers debut against the New York Knicks on Tuesday,” ABC News reports.
Said Trump: “While listening to our National Anthem, LeBron James disrespects our Country!”
He added: “I said right from the beginning that he’s no good, a TOTAL DISGRACE. LeBron James should apologize to all of those Great American Warriors and Heroes who died for the American Flag, and all that our Country stands for!”
“Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) did not raise her objections to President Donald Trump waiving bipartisan Russia sanctions named after her late brother during a campaign visit from Trump to support her election and a subsequent ride with him to Washington on Air Force One,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“Elon Musk gave another $76 million to boost Republicans in the first two weeks of October, bringing his total giving this cycle to more than $442 million,” Politico reports.
New York Times: “The country’s economic crosscurrents are cascading across Iowa. High gas prices, elevated interest rates and Mr. Trump’s unpredictable economic policies, including tariffs, have been battering rural America over the last year. Iowa’s economy contracted in 2025 and notched the weakest annual growth rate in the country, according to the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis.”
“Polls suggest that the state that helped propel Mr. Trump’s political rise could flip in favor of Democrats when voters cast their ballots next month.”
“Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy predicted Republicans will lose the House in two weeks, citing historical midterm trends while also criticizing the sitting GOP leadership for how they’ve managed the chamber,” Politico reports.
Said McCarthy: “In the last 100 years, all off-year elections, whoever is the party in power has the White House, has lost seats, and it’s only a few seats for the majority.”
“Senate Democrats have taken out a $15 million loan as they hope to expand their map in the final days before the midterms,” Politico reports.
A new Fox News poll in Maine finds Troy Jackson (D) and Susan Collins (R) tied in the U.S. Senate race, 49% to 49%.
“Georgia’s early voting surge is fueled by a growing geographic divide, with voters in metro Atlanta’s suburbs and other more populous areas casting ballots well ahead of their 2022 pace while much of rural Georgia lags behind,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
“In a win for Republicans, the Supreme Court said Thursday that student IDs cannot be used in New Hampshire for the midterm elections,” NBC News reports.
“The justices granted an emergency request filed by the state, which had the backing of the Republican National Committee.”
New York Times: Supreme Court allows blanket ban on student IDs at polls in New Hampshire.
“President Donald Trump’s brand of brash, sometimes offensive, politics has consumed the Republican Party for a decade,” the Washington Post reports.
“But bipartisan outrage over Vivek Ramaswamy’s ad featuring his opponent’s estranged mother shows how candidates often fail when they try to embody the president’s bombast.”
“Flávio Bolsonaro and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are tied just days before Brazil’s Sunday runoff election, a new poll showed,” Bloomberg reports.
“Bolsonaro and Lula would each take 50% of valid votes, which exclude null and blank ballots, according to a Datafolha survey published Thursday.”
“Data from this fall’s early balloting and interviews with officials and voters suggests Americans, particularly Democrats, are moving away from mailing ballots and toward in-person voting and drop boxes, following President Donald Trump’s relentless attack on voting by mail,” the Washington Post reports.
“Requests for mail ballots are down compared with the last midterm election in six of eight states analyzed by Michael McDonald, a University of Florida professor who is the leading authority on early voting data. In Georgia, he found, requests for mail ballots are down 40 percent, while in-person early voting is ‘through the roof.'”
Charlie Cook: “One of the most frequent questions I get is about the massive influx of money coming into various political entities. One of the greatest canards in politics is that money determines elections. The reality is that money is important in politics—it is always better to have it than not—but what matters most is who is spending their money smarter.”
“Furthermore, when the tide is running strongly against a party, spending moves the needle less than one might imagine. Republican pollster Neil Newhouse recently said, ‘Money is an amplifier, not a magic wand,’ adding that ad volume ‘can’t change a hostile climate.'”
Coming soon: Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East by Matthew Cole.
Vanity Fair has an excerpt: “The Dutch government had hacked into Jared Kushner’s phone and monitored him as he accessed a Dubai-based bank account. What was odd, the source said, was that the money in the account—hundreds of millions of dollars—had come from a bank in Azerbaijan.”
“Most importantly, Kushner appeared to have transferred significant amounts of money from the Dubai account to other individuals, including a warlord, a mercenary and a one-time hit man.”
“I’ve never lost an election when my name is on the ballot. And I’ve never lost an election when I worked for either President Clinton, President Obama or helped make Nancy Pelosi Speaker. I don’t lose.”
— Rahm Emanuel, quoted by the Financial Times, on speculation he might run for president in 2028.
“Republicans working to keep the Senate are increasingly anxious about holding onto a seat in Mississippi — a GOP stronghold in the deep South — and are investing money in the final weeks to shore up incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith,” CNN reports.
“Senate Leadership Fund, the leading GOP super PAC focused on Senate races, made an initial reservation of about $160,000 in Mississippi on Thursday, according to AdImpact data, with more cash expected.”
“That move comes as Senate Democrats’ announced they’ll spend roughly $1 million on ads for the race — but it’s something that GOP officials had been considering even before the Democratic buy.”
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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