“There’s rich, there’s very rich, there’s incomprehensibly rich, and then there’s the day Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison is poised to have,” Axios reports.
“After Oracle offered a growth forecast that stunned investors, Ellison is poised to make more Wednesday than any human being likely has ever made in one day.”
An important excerpt from Kamala Harris’ new book, 107 Days:
“Many people want to spin up a narrative of some big conspiracy at the White House to hide Joe Biden’s infirmity. Here is the truth as I lived it. Joe Biden was a smart guy with long experience and deep conviction, able to discharge the duties of president. On his worst day, he was more deeply knowledgeable, more capable of exercising judgment, and far more compassionate than Donald Trump on his best.”
“But at 81, Joe got tired. That’s when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles. I don’t think it’s any surprise that the debate debacle happened right after two back-to-back trips to Europe and a flight to the West Coast for a Hollywood fundraiser. I don’t believe it was incapacity. If I believed that, I would have said so. As loyal as I am to President Biden, I am more loyal to my country.”
“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on the Federal Reserve to change its policy stance after a government agency revised U.S. jobs data to show weaker hiring in the year through March,” Bloomberg reports.
Said Bessent: “It turns out that we didn’t have good facts. President Trump inherited a far worse economy than reported, and he’s right to say the Fed is choking off growth with high rates.”
Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) is in the process of interviewing campaign managers for a potential Senate run, a sign that she’s moving closer to challenging Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Punchbowl News reports.
Maine News Center: Mills says she’s still seriously considering a run for U.S. Senate.
The Atlantic excerpts Kamala Harris’ book on the 2024 presidential election, 107 Days, and its editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, offers this observation:
“The biggest surprise in Kamala Harris’s forthcoming account of her rough-and-ready, intense, and absurdly condensed campaign for president, 107 Days, may be that it is filled with surprises.”
“I read it last week, expecting lawyerly calibration and discretion. This careful Harris is present, but so too is another Harris: blunt, knowing, fervent, occasionally profane, slyly funny. As you will see in the following excerpt—and throughout this newsworthy book—she no longer seems particularly interested in holding back.”
“Poland said a number of Russian drones entered its airspace during an attack on Ukraine early Wednesday and were shot down with the help of NATO allies, a first since Moscow’s full -scale invasion of its neighbor,” NBC News reports.
“Leaders across Europe condemned the incident as the latest sign of escalation from the Kremlin, which has rebuffed President Donald Trump’s bid to broker peace talks.”
“JB Pritzker is exploring ways to stockpile Covid shots in Illinois. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order protecting vaccine access in New York. Maura Healey is requiring insurers in Massachusetts cover the costs of injections recommended by her health department, regardless of federal guidelines,” Politico reports.
“As Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health department curtails access to the Covid-19 vaccine and mulls restricting the availability of others, Democratic governors are forming a bulwark against him as they take on an issue that has strong public support ahead of the pivotal 2026 midterms.”
After taking a stake in Intel and a cut of Nvidia’s chip sales in China, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Axios that the U.S. government may next target a share of the money generated by patents developed at major universities using federal funding.
Kamala Harris writes in her new memoir that letting Joe and Jill Biden decide on their own whether the then-president should have tried to run for re-election “was recklessness,” CNN reports.
Said Harris: “The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.”
A new Emerson College poll of New York City voters finds Zohran Mamdani with 43% support in the November election for Mayor, while 28% support Andrew Cuomo, 10% support Curtis Sliwa, and 8% support Eric Adams for re-election.
Nine percent are undecided.
Barron Trump is residing at the White House while he attends classes at New York University’s campus in the nation’s capital, the New York Post reports.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte campaign to wield mortgage-fraud allegations against Democrats is increasingly turning off Hill Republicans, Politico reports.
Said one: “I think he’s a nut.”
The DNC is launching Epstein-related digital ads targeting five House Republicans — Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, Eli Crane, Mike Lawler, David Valadao, and Mariannette Miller-Meeks — while sending a mobile billboard around D.C. today, Politico reports.
The main image features a picture of Trump and Epstein behind the purported quote from Trump in the letter: “We have certain things in common, Jeffrey.”
Semafor: “Trump’s party is staring down economic challenges that haven’t let up for months: rising unemployment, the ripple effects of Trump’s tariffs, the unpopularity of their tax plan, and now the potential for spiking health insurance costs. New data expected on Thursday is unlikely to provide relief: Consumer sentiment is trending down, and inflation is slated to remain stubborn.”
“With campaign season descending, Republicans are now racing to convince the public that their tax cuts, tariffs, and spending cuts are worth returning them to power on the Hill.”
“The Missouri House on Tuesday approved a gerrymandered congressional map that would dilute the voting power of Kansas City under pressure from President Donald Trump,” the Kansas City Star reports.
Axios: “The news stunned the White House and infuriated some of Trump’s top advisers because it came as the U.S. was waiting for Hamas to respond to President Trump’s new proposal for peace in Gaza.”
“In fact, the Hamas officials were meeting to discuss that proposal. The White House expected to receive Hamas’ response by the end of the week.”
“Qatar became the seventh country Israel has bombed since Oct. 7, 2023.”
ABC News: “Israel told the U.S. military it planned to strike Hamas in advance, but didn’t provide a location or other specifics before launching its attack against a Hamas target in Qatar on Tuesday.”
Playbook: “And like that — snaps fingers — it is done. Trump’s federal takeover of Washington ends today, after a 30-day period that will not be quickly forgotten. The sight of armed troops patrolling parks and stations — and, yes, picking up litter — has become commonplace in certain parts of the city; as have the roadblocks, the masked law enforcement officials, the immigration raids; the protests.”
“For Trump, the job is done. The capital city is now safe, so he says, his experiment a runaway success. He proved it by driving a single block in his motorcade last night for a dinner at Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab, the ultra-traditional dining room on 15th and H.”
Said Trump: “I wouldn’t have done this three months ago, four months ago. This was one of the most unsafe cities in the country. Now it’s as safe as there is.”
“Republicans on Capitol Hill are sounding alarms over Florida’s move to end vaccine mandates for school children, voicing fears about the spread of preventable infectious diseases and what it means for their home states,” The Hill reports.
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.