As states move forward with mid-decade redraws, The Downballot will be continually updating their tracker.
Trump Suggested He Could Bypass Congress on D.C. Police
“President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that he could avoid congressional approval to extend his 30-day federal takeover of Washington’s police, amid his efforts to wrest control of the capital’s law enforcement,” Politico reports.
Said Trump: “If it’s a national emergency we can do it without Congress, but we expect to be before Congress very quickly.”
Trump’s Support Is Falling Among Republicans
A new Economist/YouGov poll finds 83% of Republican-leaning Americans approve of President Trump, down from 92% in January.
Interestingly, a majority of Americans think Trump knew some (27%) or a lot (44%) about the sex crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein against underage girls before investigations into Epstein began; only 8% say he knew nothing about them.
Trump Says He May Name the Next Fed Chair Early
President Trump said he may name the next Federal Reserve chair “a little bit early” and added that he was down to three or four potential candidates, Bloomberg reports.
Said Trump: “I’ll be naming a new chairman sometime within the next — I think I’ll name it a little bit early, the new chairman. I’m down to three or four names.”
Ambassadorships Let Trump Keep His Loyalists Close
Associated Press: “The new appointments can be viewed as consolation prizes for leaving a high-profile post in the Trump administration following rocky tenures. But they also reflect the degree to which Trump is trying to keep his loyalists close, even if their earlier placements in the administration were ill-fitting.”
“During his first White House tenure, Trump was new to politics, made many staffing picks based on others’ recommendations and saw heavy staff turnover. Trump has stocked his second administration with proven boosters, which has meant fewer high-profile departures.”
What Putin Wants from Trump in Alaska
The Economist: “One potential area is a deeper normalization of diplomatic and business relations between America and Russia, including a lifting of sanctions. Mr Putin yearns for this kind of rehabilitation. Another is co-operation in the Arctic, for example over energy, resurrecting discussions that reportedly took place in February, with Russian officials keen to woo American business. What offers Russia might make for peace in Ukraine are less obvious.”
Trump Issues Warning to Russia Before Summit
President Trump said that there will be “very severe consequences” if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t agree to stop his war in Ukraine after their Friday summit in Alaska, though he did not say what those consequences might be, the AP reports.
Trump Says Congress Needs to Pass a Crime Bill
“President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on his fellow Republicans in Congress to pass a crime bill extending the 30-day limit on federal police control in Washington, adding that he could declare a national emergency if lawmakers don’t act,” Reuters reports.
“The crime-related legislation would initially pertain to the nation’s capital, but could used as a model for other U.S. cities.”
Israel In Talks to Resettle Palestinians
“Israel is in discussions with South Sudan about the possibility of resettling Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to the war-torn East African country, part of a wider effort by Israel to facilitate mass emigration from the territory left in ruins by its 22-month offensive against Hamas,” the AP reports.
Trump Will Host Kennedy Center Honors
“President Trump said he would host the Kennedy Center Honors himself in December, as he announced this year’s honorees: the actor Sylvester Stallone, the rock band Kiss, the recording artists George Strait and Gloria Gaynor, and the British actor Michael Crawford,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump has been intensely interested in the center, naming himself its chairman and purging its traditionally bipartisan board, and said he had rejected prospective honorees he called ‘wokesters.’”
Was Trump Behind Laura Loomer’s Salacious Hit Job?
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Andrew Cuomo Tries Out New Persona
“Andrew Cuomo is overhauling his buttoned-up public persona and pugilistic campaign for New York City mayor in a desperate bid to stop democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani,” Politico reports.
“His social media presence, characterized by its conventionality during the Democratic primary, has taken on a slang-inflected, sassy voice during the general election — and it’s almost entirely directed at his 33-year-old foe, who has excelled online.”
China Is Winning the Cyberwar
Anne Neuberger: “American companies are world leaders in technology—be it innovative software, cloud services, artificial intelligence, or cybersecurity products.”
“Yet beginning as many as three years ago, hackers believed to be backed by the Chinese government did something the United States, the tech powerhouse, could not adequately defend against: they gained and maintained access to major U.S. telecommunications networks, copying conversations and building the ability to track the movements of U.S. intelligence officers and law enforcement agents across the country.”
“The attack, dubbed ‘Salt Typhoon,’ constituted a large part of a global campaign against telecoms, and it penetrated systems at many U.S. carriers so thoroughly that officials will almost certainly never know the full scope of the capabilities China achieved to spy on Americans’ communications.”
“Salt Typhoon was more than a one-off intelligence success for China. It reflected a deeper, troubling reality. Mere decades after the widespread adoption of the Internet opened a new realm of geopolitical contestation, China is positioning itself to dominate the digital battle space.”
Trump Wins Court Fight to Withhold Foreign Aid
“The Trump administration can cut potentially billions of dollars in foreign assistance funds approved by Congress for this year, a US appeals court ruled,” Bloomberg reports.
“In a 2-1 decision on Wednesday, the appellate panel reversed a Washington federal judge who found that US officials were violating the Constitution’s separation of powers principles by failing to authorize the money to be paid in line with what the legislative branch directed.”
Who’s In Control of D.C.’s Police?
Washington Post: “A day after President Donald Trump said he would deploy the National Guard in the nation’s capital, federalized the local police department and issued officers a far-reaching mandate to ‘do whatever the hell they want’ to curb crime, it remained unclear what new directives, if any, D.C. police would receive from their new federal managers.”
“District officials said they were still in command of the department, operating as usual having received no new orders from the Trump administration.”
The Bulwark: “We’re already seeing at least one immediate effect: A surge of federal officers loitering around with too much time on their hands.”
Trump Has Made Himself Head of the Chip Industry
New York Times: “In just eight months, Mr. Trump has made himself the biggest decision maker for one of the world’s most economically and strategically important industries, which makes key components for everything from giant A.I. systems to military weapons. And he has turned the careful planning of companies historically led by engineers into a game of insider politics.”
“The intrusion into private business underscores how far this administration has veered from the hands-off economic philosophy of President Ronald Reagan, which guided the Republican Party for decades.”
“Economic historians have said it is the most aggressive federal incursion into the U.S. economy since the Obama administration’s actions in 2009 to rescue banks and the auto industry and avoid a worsening financial crisis. This time, they say, the intrusion is unprovoked.”
Quote of the Day
“Crime stats in big blue cities are fake. The real rates of crime, chaos and dysfunction are orders of magnitude higher.”
— White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, on X.
There’s No Good Replacement for Government Data
“There’s a new fear among investors and CEOs: flying blind on investments without sufficient data on the economy’s health,” Axios reports.
“The U.S. government produces some of the world’s premiere economic data. The future of those indicators looks murkier than ever, with no private sector source readily available to replace them.”
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