Melania Trump — who is rarely seen in public — is apparently too busy to sit for a Vanity Fair cover photo shoot, Page Six reports.
Said a source: “She doesn’t have time to be sitting in a photo shoot. Her priorities as First Lady are far more important… These people don’t deserve her anyway.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said that if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t commit by Monday to meet Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, he would have duped President Trump, Reuters reports.
Said Macron: “If that doesn’t happen by Monday — the deadline set by President Trump — it means that once again President Putin played President Trump.”
“The Trump Administration announced Friday that it won’t issue visas to senior Palestinian officials who wish to travel to New York to attend the UN General Assembly in September, and will revoke visas that were previously granted,” Axios reports.
Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that President Trump is “objectively a Soviet or Russian agent,” Euronews reports.
“A conservative justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court said Friday that she will not seek reelection, creating an open race for a seat on the court that’s controlled 4-3 by liberals,” the AP reports.
“Justice Rebecca Bradley’s decision not to run for a second full term comes after conservative candidates for the highest court in the battleground state have lost each of the past two elections by double-digit margins.”
“President Trump’s plan to cancel $4.9 billion in congressional-approved foreign aid is aggravating members of both parties, complicating next month’s scramble to avoid a government shutdown,” Axios reports.
“The White House is looking for another fight over spending. Democratic leaders want to show their voters they aren’t afraid to join it.”
Said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY): “It is clear neither President Trump nor Congressional Republicans have any plan to avoid a painful and entirely unnecessary shutdown… if Republicans are insistent on going it alone, Democrats won’t be party to their destruction.”
“Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday signed off on a new congressional map intended to flip five Democratic seats into Republican hands in next year’s midterm elections,” Axios reports.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) is expected to announce next week that she will not seek reelection in 2026, CBS News reports.
NOTUS: “Had she run, she likely would have faced attacks from Democrats over her support for the Republican spending bill. In May, she delivered Democrats a potent talking point when she told voters, ‘We are all going to die,’ in response to a constituent’s question about people dying due to Medicaid cuts in the bill.”
Don Moynihan: “The consolidation of Trump’s power has happened very quickly, more rapidly than we have seen in other examples of competitive authoritarian systems.”
“His success is driven by two factors. First, Trump learned a lot from his first term and had personnel with detailed plans in place for his second term. Second, people in institutions decided to accept the new arrangements.”
Daniel Dale: “Trump’s lying has always been notable for its audacity – his willingness to make obviously untrue claims that can be very quickly debunked. But it has also been distinguished by its repetitiveness – his unwillingness to stop deploying an exaggerated statistic, baseless accusation or fictional tale after months or even years of debunkings.”
“Trump has for years had persistently poor poll results on the question of whether he is honest and trustworthy; part of the reason may well be his unwavering devotion to assertions that many Americans already know aren’t true. But his relentlessness also works for him in a way. Because news outlets are naturally focused on new material, some may fact-check a falsehood the first time Trump says it but not the 10th or 100th time. By shamelessly persevering, Trump can eventually get his greatest hits out there with little pushback.”
The Cut: “Amy Tripp advertises herself as ‘the internet’s most notorious astrologer.’ Under the professional name Starheal, she offers her followers wisdom such as ‘Moon opposite Chiron at 3:04pm ET exposes where old wounds meet current vulnerabilities. Something may trigger emotional pain.’ She’s perhaps best known for correctly predicting the exact date when Joe Biden would drop out of the presidential race.”
“Now, court documents show she’s been embroiled in a legal battle with an official in Trump’s Defense Department with whom she allegedly had a 15-month-long affair.”
“Hundreds of thousands of Americans are expected to skip the barbecue and spend their Labor Day protesting President Donald Trump and the billionaires who support him,” USA Today reports.
“President Donald Trump asked Congress to claw back nearly $5 billion in already-approved foreign aid spending, a proposal timed to take advantage of the looming end of the fiscal year and allowing him to cut the funding himself if lawmakers fail to act by the close of September,” Bloomberg reports.
Politico: White House declares $4.9B in foreign aid unilaterally canceled in end-run around Congress’ funding power.
President Trump has terminated former Vice President Kamala Harris’s Secret Service protection, the New York Times reports.
“After backing away from a controversial logo rebrand loudly opposed by many right-wing influencers, Cracker Barrel also quietly made changes to its website this week,” CNN reports.
“The Tennessee-based roadside restaurant chain deleted a dedicated ‘Pride page’ and scrubbed references to employee resource groups, including its LGBTQ+ and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging groups, from another part of its website.”
“For the second time in less than a month, the Justice Department on Wednesday abruptly dropped charges against a client represented by Brad Bondi, the brother of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi,” ABC News reports.
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.