“Sometimes, it’s good to touch the hot stove.”
— A Trump adviser, quoted by Axios, arguing that Republicans across the board need to wake up to political reality.
“Sometimes, it’s good to touch the hot stove.”
— A Trump adviser, quoted by Axios, arguing that Republicans across the board need to wake up to political reality.
A federal jury on Wednesday began deliberating a verdict in the case against a man dubbed “sandwich guy” after he tossed a Subway footlong at a federal officer who was patrolling city streets on President Trump’s order, NBC News reports.
“A half-dozen scattered elections did overnight what President Trump himself couldn’t do in 10 months: revitalized the Democratic resistance, instantly and profoundly,” Axios reports.
“Democrats are more likely to fight harder in Congress, donate more generously, protest more loudly, resist Trump’s policies more vigorously. They believe, for the first time since Trump won, they can stand up to the president and beat him.”
“This is an astonishing mood swing for a party seen as historically unpopular and ineffective heading into a small set of various elections scattered across the country.”
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“Layoffs accelerated in October, pushing 2025 job cuts to levels typically seen in recessions, according to newly released data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a private firm that tracks workplace reductions,” the Washington Post reports.

With Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) not seeking re-election, Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball moved the district from Toss Up to Leans Republican.
“Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has become increasingly vocal in her criticism of the Republican Party and its leadership, particularly in the House, is telling people she wants to run for president in 2028,” NOTUS reports.
One source says her conversations have centered around her belief she is “real MAGA and that the others have strayed,” adding that she believes she has “the national donor network to win the primary.”
Journalist Michael Wolff has crowdfunded nearly half a million dollars to pursue a lawsuit against Melania Trump, Semafor reports.
Playbook: “For all the initial noise about poor candidates, Republicans clearly understand the fundamental problem they face: that the oldest cliche in modern U.S. politics — it’s the economy, stupid — still holds true. Cost-of-living issues were the central reason Trump won in 2024, and the central reason Republicans lost badly this week.”
“Unsurprisingly, then, Republicans are now urging Trump to focus more on household issues over the coming months, and less on the global dealmaking (and war-making, and peacemaking) which have been a surprisingly central feature of his second term.”
Derek Thompson: “Last night showed what affordability can be for the Democratic Party. Not a policy, but a prompt, an opportunity for Democrats to fit different messages under the same tentpole while contributing to a shared national party identity: The president’s a crook, and we care about cost-of-living…”
“Sherrill focused on utility costs, while Mamdani focused on rent. Mamdani ran a socialist campaign to energize a young left-wing electorate, while Spanberger’s task was to win a purple state following an outgoing Republican governor. Each candidate answered the affordability prompt with a tailored message fit to electorate. Affordability is a big tent.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told the Daily Caller that the “practical reality” is he simply doesn’t have the votes for the nuclear option to end the government shutdown by abolishing the filibuster.
Said Thune: “Not even close.”
“The Trump administration is wielding the possibility that parts of the economy are in a recession as it raises pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, hoping to ensure that the central bank will bear the blame for any economic weakness,” the New York Times reports.
“If I didn’t have tariffs, the entire world would be in a depression.”
— President Trump, on Fox News.
Politico: “The leader of a Democratic donor network fielded excited calls Tuesday night from donors looking to help expand the party’s chances of winning seats in Texas and Florida. Progressive candidate recruitment group Run For Something saw spikes in sign-ups in the last 24 hours. And Senate Democrats are eying Ohio, Iowa and Alaska — states Trump won by double digits — as battlegrounds.”
“In the wake of Democrats’ resounding electoral wins this week, party candidates and strategists are strategizing how to expand their electoral opportunities in even the reddest of states in 2026, when President Donald Trump won’t be on the ballot and Republicans will face the traditional headwinds of a midterm cycle.”
Pope Leo called for “deep reflection” on how migrants are treated in the United States, where he said many people were deeply affected by the controversial policy of mass deportation, the BBC reports.
Speaking in English, and reaching a U.S. audience directly, he reiterated the Catholic belief that every Christian will ultimately be judged on how they welcomed “the foreigner.”
“A day after a man groped Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, in an episode captured on video, she announced on Wednesday that she had reported the incident to the police as a crime,” the New York Times reports.
Said Sheinbaum: “My reflection was: If I don’t file a complaint, then what message does that send to all Mexican women?”
“Republicans were left reeling on Wednesday after voters swung decisively against them, setting off fears that President Trump and his low approval ratings would again drag down the party’s midterm candidates,” the New York Times reports.
“As the scale of their electoral defeats set in, Republicans sought to find culprits, blaming their candidates, the government shutdown, a misguided focus on demonizing transgender issues, and a weak economic message…”
“The one person no Republican dared to blame: Mr. Trump.”
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.
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