Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) accused President Trump of deploying National Guard troops to the Democratic cities of Chicago and Portland based on fixations that stem in part from his being mentally impaired, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Said Pritzker: “This is a man who’s suffering dementia.”
The Independent: New conspiracies over Trump’s health swirl after text interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“One week into the government shutdown, top Republican leaders appear to have lost the plot,” Politico reports.
“President Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune are straining to project a united front against Democrats, just barely concealing tensions over strategy that have snowballed behind the scenes since agencies closed last week.”
“The Trump administration’s strategy to swiftly roll out mass layoffs of federal workers during the government shutdown has shifted in recent days, as an increasing number of Republican lawmakers and Trump administration officials acknowledge the potential political perils of the move,” CNN reports.
“Members of Congress in both parties bristled Tuesday at a White House memo arguing that federal workers who have been furloughed as part of the government shutdown are not necessarily entitled to back pay,” Axios reports.
“The threat has had little apparent impact with its intended target — congressional Democrats — who expressed confidence that President Trump would ultimately lose any legal fight to deny shutdown pay.”
Said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD): “The law is simply not on the side of Trump’s threats to withhold pay from federal employees that he somehow disfavors.”
Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) is preparing as soon as next week to announce her campaign for the U.S. Senate, Axios reports.
“An announcement from Mills, a two-term popular governor, would mark another recruiting victory for Democratic leaders. But it also would set off another complicated Democratic primary pitting the party’s establishment and progressive wings against each other.”
President Trump called Democrats “insurrectionists” Tuesday and slammed the left for what he described as “kamikaze” attacks on America, invoking increasingly warlike rhetoric to describe the opposition party, Axios reports.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi at a Senate hearing:
WHITEHOUSE: There’s been public reporting that Jeffrey Epstein showed people photos of President Trump with half-naked young women. Do you know if the FBI found those photographs?
BONDI: You sit here and make salacious remarks once again trying to slander President Trump left and right. When you’re the one who was taking money from one of Epstein’s closest confidants, I believe…
A new Canvass survey of senior Capitol Hill staffers finds that 69% of them oppose renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War.
“While his father, Joseph R. Biden Jr., was vice president, Hunter Biden began developing relationships that led to an audacious proposal to sell the land around the United States Embassy building in Romania to a group that included a Chinese company,” the New York Times reports.
“Hunter Biden was involved in the proposed deal from multiple perspectives, creating what he privately acknowledged to an associate was an ethical quagmire.”
“Speaker Mike Johnson said the House could come back to pass emergency legislation to pay troops during the government shutdown. Senate Majority Leader John Thune wasn’t willing to go there,” Politico reports.
“The unusual tactical disagreement between the two top congressional leaders played out in front of cameras Tuesday on Capitol Hill as the shutdown heads into its second week.”
“Speaker Mike Johnson said today that he would seek ‘dramatic’ changes to the enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies in any future negotiations, throwing cold water on the idea that Congress could reach a quick resolution over the policy issue at the center of the shutdown,” Punchbowl News reports.
Said Johnson: “There are lots of conversations and deliberations and discussions right now, even bipartisan, amongst members about necessary changes that would have to be made — pretty dramatic changes — to even have that considered on the floor.”
“Republicans want to drastically overhaul the tax credits, while Democrats want a straightforward extension.”
“The White House has found funding to keep afloat a food aid program that had been threatened by the government shutdown,” Axios reports.
“The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (also known as WIC) is relied upon by millions of low-income pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women and young children.”
David French: “The Insurrection Act, which dates back to 1792 but has since been amended, is not, however, well drafted. And its flaws would give Trump enormous latitude to wield the staggering power of the state against his domestic political enemies.”
“Flight delays across the United States stretched into a second day Tuesday as the Federal Aviation Administration braced for more airport staffing shortages amid the government shutdown,” NBC News reports.
“Delays due to staffing issues were reported at airports in Denver; Phoenix; Burbank, California; and Newark, New Jersey, within the first 24 hours that air traffic controllers have been working without pay due to the shutdown.”
“The World Trade Organization on Tuesday forecast slower trade growth for next year because of the Trump administration’s sweeping global tariffs, but it said trade had proved more resilient than expected so far this year,” the New York Times reports.
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared poised to back a free speech challenge to a Colorado law that bans conversion therapy aimed at young people questioning their sexual orientations or gender identities in a case likely to have national implications,” NBC News reports.
“If the court rules against the state, it could affect more than 20 states that have similar bans and raise new questions about other long-standing state health care regulations.”
Taegan 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.
