“NASA is planning to decommission premier satellite missions that gather information on planet-warming pollution and other climate vital signs beginning as soon as October,” CNN reports.
“The destruction of the satellites — which will be abandoned and allowed to eventually burn up in a fiery descent into Earth’s atmosphere — marks the latest step by the Trump administration to scale back federal climate science.”
A new Pew Research survey finds 60% of Americans disapprove of President Trump’s job performance, while only 38% approve.
“Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been working behind the scenes to rally his Republican troops against California Democrats’ gerrymandering ballot measure,” Politico reports.
“McCarthy recently told his former home-state congressional delegation that he’s aiming to raise $100 million for the opposition campaign.”
Robert Putnam and Richard Reeves: “Many boys and men are struggling today… in an America… disrupted by technological change, immigration and growing inequality. Since 2010, suicide rates among young men have risen by a third — they are now higher than they are among middle-aged men. The share of college degrees going to men has fallen to 41 percent, lower than the women’s share in 1970. One in 10 men aged 20 to 24 is effectively doing nothing — neither enrolled in school nor working. That’s twice the rate in 1990. This crisis demands a response equivalent to what the Progressive era delivered, not just in public policy but equally important, from our civic institutions…”
“This male malaise is not just about jobs and diplomas. It is also a crisis of connection, as men and boys are increasingly detached from civic, familial and social life. They are lost, in part because they are lonely: 25 percent of boys and men aged 15 to 34 told Gallup they had experienced loneliness “a lot” on the previous day. One in seven young men reports that he has no close friends, up from 3 percent in 1990. Two thirds of men under the age of 30 think that ‘no one cares if men are okay.'”
“Consider the despair implicit in that last statistic.”
“Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is living for free in a military home typically reserved for the U.S. Coast Guard’s top admiral,” the Washington Post reports.
“The highly unusual arrangement has raised concern within the agency and from some Democrats, who describe it as a waste of military resources.”
The Economist: “The puzzle of Mr Trump’s admiration for Mr Putin may have been better addressed by psychologists. Certainly Mr Putin, the seasoned KGB operative, has known how to play to his vulnerabilities, including vanity. Mr Trump was said to be ‘clearly touched’ by a kitschy portrait of himself Mr Putin gave him in March.”
“Yet that patronizing speculation may be unfair to Mr Trump, too. It certainly understates the hazard. He has weighty reasons to identify with Mr Putin. Since the 1930s a cornerstone of American foreign policy has been that no country can gain territory by force, a principle also enshrined in the charter of the United Nations. Yet in his first term, in pursuit of his vision of Middle East peace, Mr Trump twice granted American recognition of conquered territory, for Israel’s claim to the Golan Heights and Morocco’s claim to Western Sahara. He appears to envisage an end to the war in Ukraine that would also award Russia new territory.”
“This is how ‘savvy’ people like Mr Trump and Mr Putin believe the world actually works, or ought to: not according to rules confected by stripy-pants diplomats to preserve an international order, but in deference to power exercised by great men. A world hostage to that theory may be the legacy of their true collusion.”
Brian Stelter: “No matter what happens at President Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin today, Trump will have Sean Hannity there right afterward to help him spin it positively.”
“The two old friends will tape an interview tonight that will spread Trump’s talking points all across MAGA media. Because, as Politico put it, ‘On ‘Hannity,’ Trump’s summits are a smashing success.'”
“…And that story was from 2019. See, having Hannity on the sidelines of a high-stakes summit — for reassurance, for MAGA marketing, for whatever you’d call it — is a time-honored Trump tradition.”
The Economist: “When Donald Trump meets Vladimir Putin in Alaska it will be the seventh time the two have talked in person. This time is different, though. Since their last sit-down, Mr Putin has launched an unprovoked war, lost perhaps a million Russian soldiers (dead and wounded) and inflicted ceaseless misery on Ukrainians in pursuit of an imperial dream.”
“Undaunted, Mr Trump hopes to get in a room with a wily dictator, feel him out and forge a deal. It is the biggest test yet of his uniquely personal style of diplomacy. It is also a reminder of how unpredictable American foreign policy has become.”
“President Donald Trump called Norway’s finance minister last month to discuss tariffs, he also told him he wanted the Nobel Peace Prize,” Reuters reports.
From a local newspaper report: “Out of the blue, while Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg was walking down the street in Oslo, Donald Trump called. He wanted the Nobel Prize — and to discuss tariffs.”
“D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb has sued President Donald Trump over his executive actions asserting control over the D.C. police department and attempting to install an emergency police commissioner, one of the most extraordinary exertions of federal power in the city’s half-century of home rule,” the Washington Post reports.
“Fuck that, that’s not going to happen.”
— Hunter Biden, in an interview with Channel 5, after Melania Trump threatened a lawsuit if he didn’t apologize for saying Jeffrey Epstein introduced her to Donald Trump.
“The West Wing has created a scorecard that rates 553 companies and trade associations on how hard they worked to support and promote President Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill,'” Axios reports.
“Trump works transactionally, and companies have rushed to pay demonstrative homage. Now, senior aides will have data to consult when considering corporate requests.”
“The unusual spreadsheet fits this administration’s proclivity for micromanaging companies and administering loyalty tests.”
Washington Post: “If this meeting is just to set the table for another meeting, that raises the question: Why go through all the heartburn and scare European allies with a bilateral summit with Putin? Couldn’t this meeting have been an email?”
“We’re not walking out of there with a deal.”
— A White House official, quoted by Politico, downplaying expectations for today’s summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Republican Matt DePerno, a lawyer who’s facing criminal charges linked to an alleged plot to examine voting equipment after the 2020 election, formed a fundraising committee Wednesday to run for attorney general,” the Detroit News reports.
Said DePerno, after creating a fundraising committee: “Getting ready to roll…”
From the Wall Street Journal editorial board:
“Inflation is a broad-based, persistent increase in the general price level. Tariffs in that sense aren’t inflationary unless the Fed accommodates them with over-easy monetary policy. But tariffs do raise prices on tariffed goods, which can mean a one-time surge with some potential downstream effects. What matters for voters, and for their confidence in the economy, is what they see in their own paychecks and cost of living.”
“Republicans are in the political danger zone if tariffs cause price increases—one-off or persistent—that aren’t offset by bigger wage gains. Republicans will make the same mistake as the Biden Administration if they keep telling voters everything is fabulous but the evidence at the grocery store or Applebee’s tells them something different.”
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.
