Jonathan Last: “Nothing happens in public life without Trump putting his stamp on it. Cooperstown? Cracker Barrel? The Kennedy Center Honors? Trump has a will to dominate them.”
“He is the living embodiment of the leviathan, the totalized state.”
“No sector of American life exists beyond the reach of this president. There is no private sphere or civil society he feels should be outside his influence or control. There is only the dear leader, whose views must be considered in all matters.”
Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) was caught on a hot mic saying he believes President Trump is mentioned in the Epstein files and wants the criminal files of the late sex offender released to the public.
David Frum: “Military patrols in U.S. cities. Police raids on homes of government critics. Mass detentions without due process. Government taking control of private companies. Supply shortages and price increases due to government attacks on free commercial exchange. The government imposing huge fines on media corporations for First Amendment protected speech that displeased the president. Enormous tax increases imposed on Americans without any vote by Congress. Violent convicted criminals released onto the streets because they directed their violence against persons the president targeted as his personal enemies.”
“And all of it done by — and enthusiastically supported by — people who use the language of liberty to justify acts of arbitrary power and economic predation.”
President Trump called for billionaire Democrat donor George Soros to face racketeering and corruption charges for supposedly supporting “violent protests” across the U.S., the Financial Times reports.
Said Trump: “Soros, and his group of psychopaths, have caused great damage to our Country! That includes his Crazy, West Coast friends. Be careful, we’re watching you!”
A new AP-NORC poll finds President Trump with a 45% approval rating nationwide — the best approval rating Trump has received from the AP-NORC poll in either his first or second term.
“A lot of the guys we just heard from there are these sort of self-described masters of the universe. The MAGA ethos of masculinity, of being an alpha male and all that… You just don’t find more beta behavior than what we saw around the table yesterday.”
— Morning Joe co-anchor Willie Geist, quoted by The Wrap, on cabinet secretaries heaping praise on President Trump yesterday.
Roughly 75% of career lawyers in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division have left in recent months, Bloomberg Law reports.
“A leading Democratic-aligned think tank is urging states to suspend their redistricting commissions, in an escalation of the growing war over state maps,” Politico reports.
“The Center for American Progress, one of the most prominent liberal think tanks in Washington, urged states that have adopted independent redistricting commissions — which are predominantly blue-leaning states — to set them aside.”
“Silicon Valley corporations and investors, emboldened by President Trump’s embrace of the technology and crypto industries, have pledged up to $200 million to two new super PACs that are aimed at forcing out politicians whom they see as insufficiently supportive of the push into artificial intelligence,” the New York Times reports.
Garrett Graff: “One of the hardest things to do in the modern moment is keep up with the daily slog of scandals and corruption unfolding in this administration — sometimes in broad daylight in front of cameras in the Oval Office. On the one hand, it’s just too much for the media to cover, but there’s also a bigger problem: The media does a terrible job noticing them as the scandals go by. I think often of Steve Bannon’s infamous quote: ‘The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.'”
“Almost every day there’s a scandal that just skates by that in any other moment of presidential history would launch endless follow-up stories, congressional investigations, and sink an administration.”
Time: “While the challenge of rising costs has become an increasingly prominent topic in energy circles, the issue has largely slid under the national radar up to this point, often seen as one component of a much bigger conversation about the cost of living.”
“But the implications of higher electricity prices—political, economic, and otherwise—should not be underestimated. Electricity prices will shape how companies spend their capital—including if, when, and how they build the data centers necessary for AI. Electricity prices will also help determine the U.S. climate trajectory. And for the first time, electricity bills seem destined to have a political valence.”
“Federal prosecutors on Tuesday were unable to secure a felony assault indictment against a man who threw a sandwich at a federal agent on the streets of Washington this month,” the New York Times reports.
“The remarkable failure by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington was the second time in recent days that it was unable to persuade grand jurors to bring an indictment in a felony assault case against a federal agent.”
“And it amounted to a sharp rebuke by ordinary citizens against the team of prosecutors who are dealing with the fallout from President Trump’s move to send National Guard troops and federal agents into the city on patrol.”
“Overwhelmingly the main frustration point that I am hearing is that we have an affordability crisis, whether that’s housing, child care or health care.”
— Catelin Drey (D), quoted by the Des Moines Register, on winning a deep red state senate seat in Iowa last night.
Cracker Barrel called the White House to alert them that they would retain their logo from 1969 and because “they wanted the President to know that they heard him.”
Dan Pfeiffer: “In terms of education and income, the Democratic Party of 2024 looks a lot like the Republican coalition that supported Mitt Romney in 2012: more college-educated, wealthier, and more suburban. There are advantages to this shift. Because college-educated suburban voters are high-propensity voters, Democrats tend to do very well in special elections and midterms. But it’s a huge challenge in presidential elections. According to the 2024 exit polls, 59% of voters reported making less than $100,000 (Trump won that group by 4), and 57% did not graduate college (Trump won non-college graduates by 13 points).”
“This represents a complete inversion of the long-term coalitions of both parties. Democrats may call ourselves the party of the working class, but fewer and fewer working-class voters seem to agree.”
Wired: “In a private group chat in June, dozens of Democratic political influencers discussed whether to take advantage of an enticing opportunity. They were being offered $8,000 per month to take part in a secretive program aimed at bolstering Democratic messaging on the internet.”
“But the contract sent to them from Chorus, the nonprofit arm of a liberal influencer marketing platform, came with some strings. Among other issues, it mandated extensive secrecy about disclosing their payments and had restrictions on what sort of political content the creators could produce.”
A new AP-NORC poll finds 53% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling crime – higher than his overall job approval or approval on other issues.
Key takeaway: “Fifty-five percent of the public think it’s acceptable for the U.S. military and National Guard to assist local police in large cities. But only a third support the federal government taking control of major city police departments.”
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.
