“Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time rather than his current ability to kill by the thousands.”
– Former CDC Director William Foege, quoted by Stat, on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The White House says President Trump canceled his August vacation to his Bedminster resort to work on talks to end the Ukraine-Russia war, The Hill reports.
A new Echelon Insights survey finds JD Vance leading the 2028 presidential field with 43%, followed by Ron DeSantis and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tied at 9%, Marco Rubio at 6% and Nikki Haley at 4%.
On the Democratic side, it’s a wide-open field: Kamala Harris leads with 26%, followed by Gavin Newsom at 13%, Pete Buttigieg at 11%, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at 6%, Cory Booker at 5% and JB Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, and Jasmine Crockett at the back of the pack with 3%.
You're reading the free version of Political Wire
Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.
“A group of Texas Democrats are returning to the state House in Austin where they will spend the night — the latest step in broader protest over Republican plans to redraw congressional districts in the state,” NBC News reports.
“The Democrats will join state Rep. Nicole Collier, their colleague who has remained locked in the state House chamber since Monday afternoon after refusing the condition of a security escort to leave the chamber.”
“You can’t run a country, or any organization, without reliable data, and firing the head of a statistics agency because you don’t like the numbers it produces starts a path the United States does not want to go down. At the other end lies a ruined economy and a damaged democracy.”
– Andreas Georgiou, former head of the Greek national statistical office, quoted by the New York Times.
Greg Sargent: “President Donald Trump raged at Democrats Monday for supposedly cheating in elections in a long and unhinged Truth Social rant—and buried in his tirade is a clear indication of how he hopes to corrupt the 2026 midterm elections at a time when his agenda is nose-diving in polls.”
Politico: “The federal officer who arrested the mayor of New Jersey’s largest city outside an immigration detention center in May suggested that he was making the arrest at the direction of the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, Todd Blanche, according to law enforcement body camera footage described in a new court filing.”
New York Times: “Applicants to the community are screened with an in-person interview, a criminal-background check, a questionnaire about ancestral heritage and sometimes even photographs of their relatives.”
“The community’s two architects — a classically trained French horn player who has livestreamed his own sex videos, and a former jazz pianist arrested but not charged for attempted murder in Ecuador — say they must personally confirm that applicants are white before they can be welcomed in.”
Thomas Edsall: “The Trump administration ranks among the most intrusive in American history, driving the tentacles of the federal government deep into the nation’s economy, culture and legal system.”
“Economically, the administration is dictating corporate behavior through tariffs, subsidies and the punishment of disfavored industries and companies, while rewarding allies with tax breaks and deregulation. And that’s all before the government takes its cut.”
“Culturally, Trump is seeking to redefine the boundaries of public discourse: pressuring universities, elevating grievance politics and reshaping federal agencies to reflect ideological loyalty rather than expertise or experience.”
“Within the legal system, the administration is aggressively reshaping the federal judiciary, asserting executive power over independent institutions and using the Justice Department for political ends.”
“Taken together, these interventions reveal a presidency determined to expand executive reach into virtually every sphere of national life.”
“The Trump administration moved Tuesday to revoke the security clearances of 37 current and former national security officials in the latest act of retribution targeting public servants in the federal government’s intelligence community,” the AP reports.
New York Times: “Rescinding security clearances appears to be part of a campaign by Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, to draw attention to what she sees as flaws in intelligence assessments about Russian malign influence operations during the 2016 election. Ms. Gabbard’s attention to that issue has won praise from Mr. Trump.”
“The White House is working over the August recess to build momentum for a key Federal Reserve nominee the administration wants in place next month,” Politico reports.
“Stephen Miran, whom President Donald Trump tapped to temporarily serve on the Federal Reserve’s board, has been meeting with members of the Senate Banking Committee, which will need to green-light his nomination before the full Senate can vote on confirmation.”
A new Economist/YouGov poll finds 40% of adult citizens strongly or somewhat approve of Donald Trump’s job performance and 56% disapprove
The 56% who disapprove of Trump’s job performance is the highest share to do so in Trump’s second term.
“The Justice Department is investigating whether Washington, D.C., police manipulated data to make crime rates appear lower,“ the Washington Post reports.
“The launch of the criminal probe — run out of the federal prosecutor’s office in D.C. — escalates the tense relationship between the Trump administration and local D.C. officials, who have repeatedly cited steep drops in violent crime to question the federal push to take over law enforcement in the nation’s capitol.”
“The Trump administration is asserting authority to withhold billions of dollars from low-income housing services, education assistance, medical research grants and other programs approved by Congress,” the Washington Post reports.
“The new practices are likely to reignite a clash over the administration’s power to freeze dollars approved by Congress, usurping authority that the legislative branch has under the Constitution.”
“Job growth slowed down substantially this summer. What we don’t know for sure is why,” Axios reports.
“If the jobs slowdown is due to less labor supply, thanks in part to restrictionist immigration policy, then it’s nothing to worry about. If it is because employers are more reluctant to hire, then it’s an early warning that the economy needs monetary stimulus.”
“In other words, we could be in the early stages of a labor market downturn, which could justify the kinds of aggressive interest rate cutting the Trump administration seeks.”
“Or we could just be seeing the inverse of the situation faced in 2023 and the first half of 2024, when high immigration rates unduly flattered the payrolls numbers, masking a deterioration in the health of the labor market. That would imply no rate cutting is needed.”
“Energy Secretary Chris Wright said he knows Republicans could suffer political pain for the electricity prices that are rising before next year’s midterm elections. But he hopes voters will know to blame the Democrats instead,” Politico reports.
Said Wright: “The momentum of the Obama-Biden policies, for sure that destruction is going to continue in the coming years.”
Still, he said: “That momentum is pushing prices up right now. And who’s going to get blamed for it? We’re going to get blamed because we’re in office.”
“President Trump dialed into Fox & Friends on Tuesday morning and revealed his newest and truest motivation for brokering an end to the war in Ukraine: He’s worried he might not get into heaven after he dies,” the New York Times reports.
Said Trump: “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible. I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
“This would have been a highly unusual admission from any president, but it seemed especially out of character coming from this one.”
“In the annals of trans-Atlantic diplomacy, Monday’s meeting between President Trump and European leaders may go down as one of the stranger summits in memory,” the New York Times reports.
“Historic, yet uncertain in its outcome; momentous, yet ephemeral in its effect on the war in Ukraine; choreographed, yet hostage to the impulses of a single man, Mr. Trump.”
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.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.