“Senate leaders failed to reach a bipartisan deal to speed through more of President Trump’s nominees — so senators are heading home with a GOP promise of changing the rules when they return in September,” Axios reports.
“Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) refused to back down from his demands, and Trump ultimately gave Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) cover to let his fatigued conference go home and reset.”
“President Trump’s extensive tariffs have already started to generate a significant amount of money for the federal government, a new source of revenue for a heavily indebted nation that American policymakers may start to rely on,” the New York Times reports.
“As part of his quest to reorder the global trading system, Mr. Trump has imposed steep tariffs on America’s trading partners, with the bulk of those set to go into effect on Aug. 7. Even before the latest tariffs kick in, revenue from taxes collected on imported goods has grown dramatically so far this year. Customs duties, along with some excise taxes, generated $152 billion through July, roughly double the $78 billion netted over the same time period last fiscal year, according to Treasury data.”
“The White House does not plan to require health insurers to provide coverage for in vitro fertilization services, even though the idea was one of President Donald Trump’s key campaign pledges,” the Washington Post reports.
“Last year, Trump said that if he returned to office, the government would either pay for IVF services or issue rules requiring insurance companies to cover treatment for it. The pledge came as Trump faced political blowback over abortion rights after his appointees to the Supreme Court helped overturn Roe v. Wade.”
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“Job seekers are out in the cold this summer. Especially the ones who have been hunting for a while,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Beyond the headline-grabbing top-line numbers in the jobs report for July was another striking piece of data: The number of people unemployed for at least 27 weeks topped 1.8 million, the highest level since 2017, not counting the pandemic’s unemployment surge. The median length of unemployment in the U.S. has also ticked up, from a seasonally adjusted 9.5 weeks in July 2024 to 10.2 weeks last month.”
The Smithsonian said on Saturday that it would restore information about President Donald Trump’s two impeachments to an exhibit in the National Museum of American History “in the coming weeks,” the Washington Post reports.
“Momentum is building for a special session of the Missouri Legislature to redraw the state’s eight congressional districts with the aim of gaining a seat for Republicans,” the Missouri Independent reports.
“Democrats will fight it, but a united Republican majority with more than two-thirds of the seats in both chambers can force it through if they wish.”
“Federal officials are investigating former special counsel Jack Smith after President Donald Trump and other prominent Republicans have alleged that his investigations into then-candidate Trump amounted to illegal political activity,” NBC News reports.
“For months, the U.S. economy appeared to be weathering the disruptive effects of President Donald Trump’s trade and immigration policies,” the Washington Post reports.
“But over the course of 72 hours, that sunny outlook darkened, as the latest government data this week showed the president’s revolutionary remaking of the world’s largest economy had hit a snag.”
“Friday’s disappointing jobs report revealed a labor market that is much weaker than either the White House or Federal Reserve understood. Inflation, the voter irritant that helped return Trump to the Oval Office, is proving newly stubborn. And consumers are growing more cautious with their spending.”
“Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are engaged in high-stakes negotiations with the White House over nominations, federal funding and whether the Trump administration will offer another rescissions package this fall,“ Punchbowl News reports.
“If a deal happens — and it’s not clear as of this Saturday afternoon that it will — that may be a signal that a government shutdown can be avoided later this year.”
“If not, Senate Republicans are threatening to change Senate rules before they leave for the August recess. Not only would that demonstrate a further breakdown in the Senate’s once-prized comity, but it would also make clear that a government shutdown is likely once the current funding runs out on Oct. 1.”
“Chinese hackers are targeting more sensitive U.S. targets than ever — not to smash and grab, but to bide their time,” Axios reports.
“Beijing is investing in stealthy, persistent access to U.S. systems — quietly building up its abilities to disrupt everything from federal agencies to water utilities in the event of escalation with Washington.”
“Indian officials said on Saturday that they would keep purchasing cheap oil from Russia despite a threat of penalties from President Trump, the latest twist in an issue that New Delhi thought it had settled,” the New York Times reports.
“The defiance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government reflected increasing frustration with a relationship that was once much praised but has been souring rapidly. There is a growing sense in India that its leaders should not allow increasingly volatile American policymaking to shape its choices on vital energy supplies for its huge population, 1.4 billion people.”
“A five-alarm fire tore through the economic establishment Friday after President Trump ousted the government’s top labor statistician, accusing her — without evidence — of ‘rigging’ a weak jobs report,” Axios reports.
“It’s just one glaring example from a week that bore many authoritarian hallmarks — purging dissenters, rewriting history, criminalizing opposition and demanding total institutional loyalty.”
“The overwhelming, all-consuming nature of Trump-driven news cycles makes it difficult to discern partisan hysteria from true democratic backsliding.”
“But apply any of these five storylines from the past week to a foreign leader — or even a past U.S. president — and it reads like an authoritarian playbook.”
“Products imported to the U.S. from Brazil — including almost a third of the supply relied on every day by America’s coffee drinkers — are subject to a 50% tariff beginning Friday, not because of Brazil’s trade policies, but because of President Donald Trump’s relationship with the country’s former strongman president Jair Bolsonaro, and because of the actions of one of the justices of Brazil’s Supreme Court,” NBC News reports.
Politico: “A half-dozen leaders from financial firms, corporations and trade groups said in interviews that the series of tariff rates Trump unveiled Thursday night were steeper than they had expected, and they worry that the dizzying kaleidoscope of policies he’s applying to different countries will complicate global commerce. The economy is already showing cracks, with the job market slowing and stocks tumbling Friday.”
“Many business leaders fear that this week’s worrying economic numbers are only the beginning of a more sustained downturn.”
“The Trump administration is blocking funding for a swath of public-health programs run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the latest flashpoint in a push by the White House to withhold money already approved by Congress,”the Wall Street Journal reports.
“A range of programs won’t be fully funded under the freeze. These include youth violence prevention programs, research on preventing gun injuries and deaths and efforts targeting diabetes, chronic kidney disease and tobacco use. It couldn’t be determined how much the withheld money would amount to, but it could be as high as $200 million, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. Another person familiar estimated the amount to be more than $300 million.”
“A group of Democratic governors is urging its colleagues to get tough in countering Republican-backed efforts to gerrymander Texas’ congressional districts,” Politico reports.
Said Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D): “I’m not a big believer in unilateral disarmament.”
The Downballot had a good discussion on the redistricting battles.
“A federal appeals court on Friday allowed President Trump to move forward with an order instructing a broad swath of government agencies to end collective bargaining with federal unions,” the New York Times reports.
Playbook: “Whatever else is happening in these races from week to week, the single most important factor determining the outcome of the 2026 Senate election cycle is President Donald Trump. Nothing else is even close.”
“His approval ratings are part of this equation. Trump is famously rangebound in the polls, with a low ceiling and a high floor, but his popularity next year will matter — midterm history shows there is a correlation between a president’s ratings and his party’s fate.”
“But Trump’s unique ability to unleash the forces of electoral chaos is what really makes him the single most influential character…”
Key takeaway: “It wouldn’t take more than a few impulsive, undisciplined moves — such as endorsing slavishly loyal but unelectable candidates in key races, or creating messy primaries by torpedoing shaky GOP incumbents — to create just enough opportunities for Democrats to compete on what is otherwise an unforgiving Senate map.”
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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