“The biggest event on China’s diplomatic calendar of the year kicked off Sunday, as world leaders gathered to map out the future of a Beijing-led bloc that wants to offer an alternative to a US world order,” Bloomberg reports.
New York Times: “With the leaders of Russia and India visiting, China’s president will show how he can use statecraft, military might and history to push for global influence.”
“President Trump said late Saturday that he would issue an executive order to require voter identification for all U.S. elections, a continuation of his efforts to overhaul the nation’s election laws, which he has long attacked and falsely blamed for his 2020 election loss,” the New York Times reports.
Karen Tumulty: “It used to be pretty easy to name a handful of principles that defined and united American conservatives: lower taxes, unfettered trade, smaller government and keeping that government’s hand out of private businesses.”
“In ways big and small, President Donald Trump has scrambled those fundamental propositions.”
“Trump’s domination of the Republican Party has allowed him leeway for a host of apostasies. He’s setting the stage, however, for what could be an epic battle over conservatism’s direction once he is off the scene. Will this turn out to be a temporary phase and a reflection of one man’s predilections, or a permanent redirection of the movement?”
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.
New York Times: “In rapid bursts, Mr. Trump has also laid off large teams of scientists, pulled the plug on thousands of research projects and proposed deep spending cuts for new studies. If his proposed $44 billion cut to next year’s budget is enacted, it will prompt the largest drop in federal support for science since World War II, when scientists and Washington began their partnership.”
“Few if any analysts see Mr. Trump as a Stalin, who crushed science, or even as a direct analog to this era’s strongmen leaders. But his assault on researchers and their institutions is so deep that historians and other experts see similarities to the playbook employed by autocratic regimes to curb science.”
Washington Post: “In his first six months, Kennedy has used that power to remake agencies responsible for overseeing food, drugs and other medical products that touch millions of Americans’ daily lives. He has worked to limit access to vaccines and promoted debunked health theories despite near-daily condemnation from public health leaders. And he is advancing some of his most controversial ideas, including by pushing an investigation that resurrects the discredited claim of a link between vaccines and autism — moves that will likely thrill his base, but could pose political risks for the White House.”
“Trump, however, has stood by Kennedy, brushing aside criticism from dozens of Democratic lawmakers and a smattering of GOP officials, some of whom have privately questioned whether Kennedy’s hard-line views on vaccines and other public health moves could hurt Republicans in the midterms. Trump advisers counter that Kennedy’s appeal to independent voters could bolster the party, as it did last year, and argue that his changes to health agencies are overdue.”
Nate Cohn: “Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and perhaps Florida — all Republican-controlled states — seem likely to join Texas and California in attempting to redraw their congressional maps, according to my New York Times colleagues. By their tally, Republicans could carve out up to seven more House seats where they would be favored to win.”
“It’s too soon to be sure if these states will follow through, let alone whether it would mark the end of this cycle’s redistricting battles. Other states could join; a legal challenge to Utah’s map and a challenge to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act also loom. But suppose that this is where the redistricting war goes next, and where it ends. If so, how much would the new maps tilt the playing field toward Republicans?”
New York Times: “On paper, the changes that have been approved or are under discussion could potentially give Republicans a leg up of six to seven seats in what is expected to be an uphill fight to keep control of the House. But redistricting can deliver unpredictable results, and it is uncertain whether this one will ultimately pan out the way either party hopes.”
“What is clear is that it has created confusion in the already volatile battle for congressional power, with no clear outcome guaranteed for Republicans or Democrats.”
Wall Street Journal: “It was a sign of how far Trump has gone to create an ad hoc, centralized approach to national security decisions. He has downgraded the role of the National Security Council staff, which other presidents have relied on to oversee developing policy options, ensure presidential decisions are carried out and coordinate with foreign governments.”
“The NSC’s staff is now fewer than 150 compared with around 400 in previous administrations. Trump ousted national security adviser Mike Waltz after three months, assigning Secretary of State Marco Rubio to handle the job along with his role as top diplomat. The moves have left Trump reliant on a handful of senior advisers.”
New York Times: “While tens of thousands of employees have lost their jobs in Mr. Trump’s slash-and-burn approach to shrinking the federal work force, experts say the cuts disproportionately affect Black employees — and Black women in particular. Black women make up 12 percent of the federal work force, nearly double their share of the labor force overall.”
“Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held their first meeting since Donald Trump returned to power, with the longstanding Asian rivals pledging deeper cooperation as they deal with the economic fallout from the US trade war,” Bloomberg reports.
“Modi announced the resumption of direct flights between the two countries, and said ties in the past year have stabilized after soldiers pulled back from the friction points on the border.”
President Trump cast doubt on the prospects of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as part of an effort to end the war in Eastern Europe, suggesting that “maybe they have to fight a little longer,” The Hill reports.
Associated Press: “Signs of a decline in international students have unsettled colleges around the U.S. Colleges with large numbers of foreign students and small endowments have little financial cushion to protect them from steep losses in tuition money.”
“International students represent at least 20% of enrollment at more than 100 colleges with endowments of less than $250,000 per student, according to an Associated Press analysis. Many are small Christian colleges, but the group also includes large universities such as Northeastern and Carnegie Mellon.”
“The extent of the change in enrollment will not be clear until the fall, Some groups have forecast a decline of as much as 40%, with a huge impact on college budgets and the wider U.S. economy.”
“These are challenging times for Tim Walz, the unsuccessful 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The two-term Minnesota governor campaigned on the national ticket for just 91 days, but that was enough to turn off some home-state voters. A poll this summer by the Minnesota Star Tribune found Walz’s approval rating dropped to 49%—only the second time it had fallen below 50% in the survey—and about half of the state’s registered voters said he shouldn’t seek a third term in 2026.”
“Men—whom Walz was supposed to help draw to the Democratic ticket because of his experience as a high-school football coach and hunter—were especially disapproving and skeptical of him running for governor again after appearing alongside former Vice President Kamala Harris in her failed White House bid.”
“If we continue to fight fire with fire and keep starting fires and creating new fires, the only thing we’re going to have left are ashes and a little piece of a nation.”
— Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), talking to Missourinet about the redistricting arms race.
Status: “On Monday, press photographers gathered in the Oval Office to capture President Donald Trump meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung when one unusual detail stood out. A large bruise on the back of Trump’s right hand.”
“It wasn’t the first time the 79-year-old president was seen with a noticeable bruise. Just days earlier, Trump was photographed with a large smear of makeup covering the same hand as he spoke to reporters at the White House about the FIFA World Cup. The images circulated widely online…”
“Yet from the country’s most powerful newsrooms, there was little more than silence. No front-page write-ups. No broadcast packages. The visible health problems of the oldest president in American history barely registered in mainstream coverage.”
“Welcome to Donald Trump’s summer of revenge,” Bloomberg reports.
“The president is following through with his promise to rain retribution on political opponents. But his wrath has also extended throughout nearly every corner of his government, targeting those who might dare to complicate his agenda.”
CNN: Tracking Trump’s retaliation.
“There’s a new divide on Capitol Hill over education,” the Washington Post reports.
“In a dramatic shift from 50 years ago, Republicans in Congress overwhelmingly attended nonelite universities for undergraduate and postgraduate studies. At the same time, almost half of all Democrats graduated from an Ivy League institution or some other elite university for undergraduate or postgraduate work, a slight increase from the early 1970s.”
New York Times: “It used to be that you could switch off the so-called culture wars, or at least find a place to mute them for a little while. Cracker Barrel was actually one of those places. But now, not even something as low stakes as a company’s logo can escape the gaze of a president bent on changing — or forcing — American life to reflect his own views and tastes, which often mirror the far-right ideological movement that fueled his rise…”
“The logo debacle seems like a small thing, but really, it shows how Mr. Trump is now using his power to reshape all aspects of American culture, not just American policy. He has not hesitated to retaliate against those who disagree.”
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.