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Fateful Hours

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Out next week: Fateful Hours: The Collapse of the Weimar Republic by Volker Ullrich.

“Democracies are fragile. Freedoms that seem secure can be lost. Few historical events illustrate this as vividly as the failure of the Weimar Republic.”

Fateful Hours: The Collapse of the Weimar Republic
Fateful Hours: The Collapse of the Weimar Republic
  • Amazon Kindle Edition
  • Ullrich, Volker (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
  • 384 Pages - 11/11/2025 (Publication Date) - W. W. Norton & Company (Publisher)
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Weekly News Quiz

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There were more twists than usual this week, with big wins for Democrats in key off-year races and Republicans scrambling to regroup.

Let’s see how sharp your news radar is with this quiz.

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Republicans Optimistic About Obamacare Subsidies

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“A growing number of Senate Republicans are indicating they’re open to a deal on extending the Affordable Care Act premium subsidies,” Axios reports.

“A clear path forward on the ACA issue would solve one corner of the Senate’s puzzle to end the government shutdown. But reforms will be needed. There’s very little appetite for a straight extension.”

How Gavin Newsom Built an Online Influencer Machine

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“When Gavin Newsom needed to hype his redistricting ballot measure, he did it not through MSNBC hits, but livestreamed sit-downs with Substack sensation Heather Cox Richardson, YouTube star Brian Tyler Cohen and TikTok celebrity Mrs. Frazzled,” Politico reports.

“The Prop 50 campaign was the purest distillation of Newsom’s self-proclaimed obsession with the changing media landscape, an unabashed embrace of the burgeoning liberal influencer ecosystem that is burgeoning at the same time Newsom’s political prospects are on the rise.”

America Begins Clapping Back at Donald Trump

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Susan Glasser: “Was this the week that America finally started clapping back at Donald Trump? Actions trigger reactions; we all know that. Yet, remarkably, Trump has spent the first nine months back in the White House plowing forward as if, channeling Lenin, there was all mush and no steel to meet his advance.”

“Only a man who truly feared no political consequences could have chosen to hold a Great Gatsby-themed Halloween party at his Mar-a-Lago estate on the weekend before important off-year elections and amid a federal-government shutdown that is causing millions of poor Americans to wait indefinitely for monthly food assistance.”

“In the face of such evident political malpractice, many wondered whether a video of the event, which showed a scantily clad woman gyrating in an oversized Martini glass, was an A.I.-generated stunt to make Trump look bad. But, no, it was real. He is actually that brazen.”

No Jobs Report This Month

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New York Times: “With the federal government still shut down, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will not release its scheduled monthly jobs report on Friday, the second missed report in a row. Economists and policymakers haven’t had an official read on the state of the labor market since August — the longest such data blackout on record.”

New York Prepares for a Potential Immigration Crackdown

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“As President Trump’s federal agents conduct large immigration raids in Democratic cities, New York City has watched with apprehension, wondering when the president might set his sights on his hometown,” the New York Times reports.

“This week, Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor appeared to solidify the worry that the city is careening along an uncertain collision course, between a White House spoiling for a fight and a young democratic socialist eager to serve as a progressive bulwark.”

The Trump ‘Realignment’ Is Over Already

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G. Elliot Morris: “It is clear now that claims of a fundamental realignment of American politics have been highly exaggerated. The 2024 election is best seen as an anti-incumbent election stemming from economic anxiety, most but not entirely driven by rising inflation during Joe Biden’s presidency.”

“The elections held this week were a continuation of the anti-incumbent sentiment from last year — this time directed toward the new party in charge. The biggest difference between 2024 and 2025 is that Republicans are running the country now, instead of the Democrats.”

“But for the realignment theorists, it’s actually worse than it looks. From 2024 to 2025 Republicans lost the most support — 25 points, on average — among the very voters they theorized would remake the GOP into a vast, multi-racial, working-class coalition.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene Knows Exactly What She’s Doing

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Jonathan Chait: “Having initially judged Greene to be a wildly uninformed conspiracy theorist, I was similarly predisposed to dismiss her evolution as a kind of revenge for being slighted. But having listened closely to her commentary of late, I’ve concluded that she is up to something more interesting and strategic.”

“Greene seems to have recognized that the president has broken faith with his own followers. That realization may also now be dawning on other Republicans after Tuesday’s electoral mini-rout, but Greene not only saw it happening sooner; she began planning her future around it.”

“She may be planning for a day when the MAGA movement is not led by Trump, or even by a member of his administration, but by a leader who can speak on behalf of its disgruntled base. Somebody like her.”

Quote of the Day

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“We’re getting calls about polls being closed. They are closed because we do not have elections today. Kentucky votes next year. You cannot vote today in Kentucky for the mayor of New York City or the Governor of Virginia. Sorry.”

— Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams (R), quoted by Newsweek, in a note to voters.

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.

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