Political Wire

Members should sign in for the full experience.

Hunter Biden Goes Off on George Clooney

By Leave a Comment

Hunter Biden went off on actor George Clooney and other high-profile Democrats in an expletive-filled response to their calls for his father, former President Biden, to drop out of the 2024 election, The Hill reports.

Said Biden: “Fuck him, fuck him, fuck him and everybody around him. I don’t have to be fucking nice. No.1, I agree with Quentin Tarantino… George Clooney is not a fucking actor. He is a fuck, like… I don’t know what he is. He is a brand.”

The full interview is extraordinary and worth watching.

10 Million Will Lose Health Insurance

By Leave a Comment

“Congress’ nonpartisan scorekeeper released its final prediction Monday for how President Donald Trump’s signature legislative achievement will grow the national debt and affect U.S. households,” Politico reports.

“Over the next decade, the megabill Trump signed on July 4 would increase the federal deficit by $3.4 trillion and cause 10 million people to lose health insurance, the Congressional Budget Office forecasts. While the newly enacted legislation would save more than $1 trillion by cutting federal spending on health care — with the majority coming from Medicaid — CBO predicts that the package’s costs will far outweigh its savings.”

Two New GOP Senators Avoid Primary Drama

By Leave a Comment

As they gear up for special elections next fall, appointed Sens. Jon Husted (R-OH) and Ashley Moody (R-FL) are facing easier paths than some had initially expected, NBC News reports.

Crowded primaries haven’t materialized, both have proven strong fundraisers and their states are trending redder.


You're reading the free version of Political Wire

Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.




An Attack on the Medical Establishment

By Leave a Comment

New York Times: “For decades, the prices Medicare pays doctors for different medical services have been largely decided not by Medicare itself, but by a powerful industry group, the American Medical Association…”

“And for decades, critics have complained that this process unfairly rewards surgeons and other specialists, at the expense of primary care physicians and other generalists…”

“But a change buried inside a 1,803-page proposed regulation published last Monday suggests the Trump administration would like to move away from this longstanding system.”

Pillow Talk with Trump

By Leave a Comment

The New Yorker profiles Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick who speaks with President Trump “on the phone most nights, at around one in the morning, just after Lutnick gets in bed.”

They talk about “real stuff,” like Canadian steel tariffs, and also about “nothing,” which he summarized as “sporting events, people, who’d you have dinner with, what was this guy like, can you believe what this guy did, what’s the TV like, I saw this on TV, what’d you think of what this guy said on TV, what did you think about my press conference, how about this Truth?”

Democrats In No Mood to Confirm Trump’s Nominees

By Leave a Comment

Punchbowl News: “Trump’s frustration seems to stem from the Senate’s rules, which allow the minority party to drag out debate time on individual nominees and force two roll-call votes on each — one on cloture and another on confirmation.”

“Democrats haven’t allowed a single Trump nominee to be confirmed via unanimous consent this year, a process that doesn’t require a formal roll-call vote. Republicans occasionally did the same to former President Joe Biden, yet not on the scale that Trump faces.”

Adultery Allegations Jolt Senate Race in Texas

By Leave a Comment

“Firebrand Texas Republican Ken Paxton’s long record of political resilience in the face of scandal faces a new test after his wife filed for divorce and accused him of adultery, jolting a contentious primary for U.S. Senate,” the Washington Post reports.

“The race, seen as one of the biggest GOP primaries of the midterms, was already dramatic, with a longtime incumbent, John Cornyn, fighting for his political life against Paxton, the state attorney general styling himself as more loyal to President Donald Trump. Now, Cornyn and his allies are bringing up the filing as they run against Paxton, and some Paxton backers are rethinking their support.”

Judge In Trump’s New Lawsuit Has Seen This Movie Before

By Leave a Comment

“President Donald Trump’s bid to take down the Wall Street Journal over its coverage of his connection to Jeffrey Epstein has landed in the courtroom of Darrin Gayles, who is likely experiencing deja vu,” Politico reports.

“That’s because Gayles, a 2014 appointee of Barack Obama, had another brush with a litigious Trump in 2023, when the then-former president sought to punish his onetime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen.”

“Trump sued Cohen in April 2023 seeking a $500 million payout for claims that Cohen violated his attorney-client relationship with Trump and enriched himself off their relationship. Six months later, Trump abandoned the lawsuit, just before Cohen’s lawyers were set to question him under oath.”

Democrats Sidestep Autopsy But New Data Offers Clues

By Leave a Comment

The Democratic National Committee is mostly avoiding a formal autopsy of the 2024 election, steering clear of examining the pivotal decisions that shaped the Biden-turned-Harris campaign.

But a new presentation from Lake Research offers an early glimpse into what went wrong.

Join now to continue reading.

Members get exclusive analysis, bonus features and no advertising. Learn more.

If you’re already a member, sign in to your account.

House Won’t Vote on Epstein Files This Week

By Leave a Comment

“Speaker Mike Johnson doesn’t have any plans to put a non-binding resolution on the floor this week before the August recess — or possibly ever — that would call for the administration to release Jeffrey Epstein-related documents,” Politico reports.

“The current plan for dealing with the politically explosive matter on Capitol Hill, detailed Monday by people granted anonymity to share private party strategy, comes as the controversy continues to encircle the House GOP in chaos.”

The Game Changer

By Leave a Comment

This will be a must-read: The Game Changer: How Harry Reid Remade the Rules and Showed Democrats How to Fight by Jon Ralston.

“He was, in his own words, willing to do what no one else would do in his Machiavellian pursuit of what he thought was best for his country and his party.”

The Game Changer: How Harry Reid Remade the Rules and Showed Democrats How to Fight
The Game Changer: How Harry Reid Remade the Rules and Showed Democrats How to Fight
  • Hardcover Book
  • Ralston, Jon (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
  • 400 Pages - 01/20/2026 (Publication Date) - Simon & Schuster (Publisher)
Amazon Prime
Check Price on Amazon

California Could Lose Four Seats in Next Redistricting

By Leave a Comment

“California could lose as many as four congressional seats in the 2030 apportionment,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

“A recent report from the National Democratic Redistricting Committee choes earlier forecasts of the state’s declining political clout, including from the non-partisan American Redistricting Project and from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. All three reports found the state could lose at least three seats; the Brennan Center projected four.”

“California isn’t alone. Other Democratic-leaning states like New York, Illinois and Minnesota are also expected to lose one or two seats due to population declines. Meanwhile, Republican-leaning Florida and Texas could each gain as many as four new seats.”

Chip Roy Wants an Exception for Immigrant He Knows

By Leave a Comment

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who enthusiastically backs President Trump’s mass deportation agenda, told NOTUS he’s “going to bat for” one immigrant that he knows who was arrested because he deemed him “a good guy.”

Said Roy: “He’s here legally at the moment, actually. He’s got a green card. I think he’s deserving of potentially being on track for citizenship, but he’s got some things. These are human beings. You can kind of address these.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene Sends Warning to Trump

By Leave a Comment

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) “appeared to send a pointed message to President Donald Trump: If the Department of Justice does not release more information on disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, his supporters will no longer stand behind him,” Politico reports.

Said Greene: “If you tell the base of people, who support you, of deep state treasonous crimes, election interference, blackmail, and rich powerful elite evil cabals, then you must take down every enemy of The People.”

She added: “If not, the base will turn and there’s no going back. Dangling bits of red meat no longer satisfies. They want the whole steak dinner and will accept nothing else.”

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.

Praise for Political Wire

“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”

— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”

“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”

— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report

“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”

— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report

“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”

— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia

“Political Wire is a great, great site.”

— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”

“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”

— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post

“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”

— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit

“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”

— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.