Political Wire

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Inside Billy Long’s Quick Fall at the IRS

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New York Times: “But within days, Mr. Long began to lose his grip on a job that he had held for barely a month. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had already ousted one White House-installed IRS commissioner this year. He would soon orchestrate the removal of another, culminating in the agency having its seventh leader since January.”

“At the center of Mr. Bessent’s concerns was the fact that Mr. Long had been trying to put together an independent plan for the IRS without informing the Treasury Department, according to five people familiar with the matter. But Mr. Long’s vision for the IRS had at least in part been shaped by Mr. Trump.”

GOP Senator Won’t Wear a Seat Belt in D.C.

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Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) told Fox News that he doesn’t wear a seat belt when he’s driving in Washington, D.C. so he can act more swiftly if he gets carjacked.

Said Mullin: “I’m not joking when I say this. I drive around in Washington, D.C. in my Jeep and, yes, I do drive myself. And I don’t buckle up. And the reason why I don’t buckle up, and people can say whatever they want to, they can raise their eyebrows at me, again, is because of carjacking.”


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Trump’s Golden Dome Still Shrouded in Mystery

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“The companies expected to create President Donald Trump’s ‘Golden Dome for America’ know the objective: to protect the US from missiles and airborne threats. They know it means billions of dollars’ worth of contracts,” Bloomberg reports.

“But they don’t know much about what, exactly, they are expected to do — and at an event last week, the government officials who might tell them weren’t even allowed to mention the project by name.”

Trump Told Melania to Sue Hunter Biden

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President Trump confirmed Thursday morning that Melania Trump’s attorneys are threatening legal action against Hunter Biden, saying he told her to “go forward,” CNN reports.

Said Trump: “You know, I’ve done pretty well on these lawsuits lately. And I said, go forward. Jeffrey Epstein has nothing to do with Melania and I introducing. But they do that. They make up stories.”

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

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“I think the most important thing is that people see themselves and their struggles in your campaign… And I think the larger struggle for us as Democrats is to ensure that we are practicing a politics that is direct, a politics of no translation, a politics that when you read the policy commitment, you understand it, as how it applies to your life.”

— Zohran Mamdani, in an interview with Time.

Common Cause Won’t Oppose Redistricting

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“A good government group that had previously been opposed to mid-cycle redistricting said in a new policy statement on Tuesday it will not condemn California’s redistricting effort, which it called a ‘counterbalancing measure’ to President Donald Trump’s push to draw several new Republican-leaning seats in Texas and around the country,” Politico reports.

“Common Cause — a group historically opposed to gerrymandering and partisan redistricting — said on Tuesday it will not actively oppose any actions taken by Democratic states against Trump’s ‘calculated, asymmetric strategy’ to boost House Republicans’ chances of maintaining control of the House, so long as the proposed maps matched ‘fairness criteria.'”

More Medicaid Cuts Coming?

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Politico: “An influential group of House Republicans has invited a chief architect of the hard-right push for deep Medicaid spending cuts to brief congressional aides Thursday as GOP leaders quietly map out a possible second party-line reconciliation package.”

Law Firms That Settled Asked to Help on Trade Deals

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New York Times: “Two of the law firms that reached deals with President Trump this year to avoid punitive executive orders were connected in recent months with the Commerce Department about working on trade deals.”

“The firms, Kirkland & Ellis and Skadden Arps, were connected to the department by Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Boris Epshteyn.”

Wall Street Is Coming for K Street

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NOTUS: “Private equity has permeated the far reaches of the global economy, from energy to real estate to journalism to bowling alleys. President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order that would greatly expand opportunities for Americans to invest their retirement savings in ‘alternative assets’ including private equity.”

“It’s not possible to capture the scope of interest in this kind of investment on K Street based on publicly available information, but it’s clear interest is growing.”

Democratic Candidate Won’t Drop Out After Arrest Video

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“Mullins McLeod, a Democratic candidate for governor and prominent Charleston attorney, is declining to drop from the race after the state party urged him to end his bid,” the Charleston Post & Courier reports.

“The party’s suggestion came after The Post and Courier published a news account and police dash cam video Aug. 12 showing McLeod acting erratically in a profanity-laden rant following his May arrest for alleged disorderly conduct.”

Gavin Newsom’s Redistricting Gambit Could Fail

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is threatening to match Texas’s partisan redistricting move with one of his own.

If Texas Republicans push ahead with a mid-cycle redraw that could net them up to five additional House seats, Newsom is promising Democrats will respond in kind — by redrawing California’s lines to claw back five seats for the left.

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Florida to Open Second Immigrant Detention Center

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) administration is preparing to open a second immigration detention facility at a state prison in north Florida, as a federal judge decides the fate of the state’s holding center for immigrants at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” the AP reports.

Bonus Quote of the Day

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“Democracy is not just under attack from authoritarianism from the outside… It’s also under attack from a withering faith on the inside of its ability to deliver on these material challenges in working-class people’s lives.”

— Zohran Mamdani, in an interview with Time.

How Trump Has Relentlessly Attacked ‘the Resistance’

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In his first term, Donald Trump faced real resistance — from Democrats, the news media, the courts, a handful of Republicans, and even from inside his own administration.

This time, he’s pushed hard to eliminate it.

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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