Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) belittled Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) calls for “bipartisan negotiations” ahead of an approaching government shutdown deadline, Politico reports.
Said Thune: “He knows where my office is. Why do you guys keep asking me this?”
He later added during a floor speech that Schumer “knows my number. I haven’t heard from him.”
A new Economist/YouGov poll finds President Trump’s approval rating is now 17 percentage points underwater, 39% to 56%, a new low.
House Republicans have released their stopgap funding bill to keep government open until November 21.
Politico reports the bill includes $88 million for extra security, split between the executive branch, Congress and the Supreme Court.
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“Former officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plan to tell the powerful Senate health committee on Wednesday that political forces have overtaken scientific evidence at the agency, threatening Americans’ health,” Stat reports.
President Trump called the new NFL kickoff rules “sissy football” and called it “bad for America.”
Virginia’s Superintendent of Public Instruction says teachers who posted controversial comments on social media following the assassination of Charlie Kirk could lose their teaching licenses, WRIC reports.
President Trump openly threatened Jonathan Karl of ABC News:
KARL: And what do you make Pam Bondi saying she’s going to go after hate speech? Is that, I mean, a lot of people, a lot of your allies say hate speech is free speech.
TRUMP: She’d probably go after people like you! Because you treat me so unfairly! It’s hate! You have a lot of hate in your heart!
KARL: Would that be appropriate?
TRUMP: Maybe they’ll come after ABC. Well, ABC paid me 16 million dollars recently for a form of hate speech, right? Your company paid me $16 million for a form of hate speech, so maybe they’ll have to go after you.
President Trump took questions from reporters at the White House:
REPORTER: How much wealthier are you now than when you returned to the White House?
TRUMP: The deals I made for the most part, other than what my kids are doing — they’re running my business — most of the deals that I made were made before. Where are you from?
REPORTER: Australia.
TRUMP: In my opinion you are hurting Australia right now. Quiet.
Two House Republicans introduced separate resolutions to punish Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for her comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Axios reports.
Said Omar, in a Zeteo interview last week: “There is nothing more fucked up to completely pretend his words and actions have not been recorded and in existence for the last decade or so.”
President Trump said the U.S. military had “knocked off” a third drug boat from Venezuela, despite the Pentagon so far only detailing two such strikes, Bloomberg reports.
“FBI Director Kash Patel testified Tuesday that President Trump’s former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, who served under his first administration, committed the ‘original sin’ in the Jeffrey Epstein case,” Mediaite reports.
“As U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida in 2008, Acosta oversaw a secret non-prosecution deal with Epstein that allowed the financier to plead guilty to state charges involving a single underage victim, shielding him from federal prosecution.”
President Trump signaled he was open to some concessions to the U.K. on trade to help ease implementation of their tariff deal ahead of a trip to the country, Bloomberg reports.
Financial Times: U.K. shelves hopes for 0% tariff on steel exports to U.S.
“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declined to comment on a report about his disagreements with another member of the Trump administration, instead jokingly pointing to a famous duel involving a predecessor and what he cast as a long history of fights at his agency,” Bloomberg reports.
“Bessent was asked whether he is butting heads with Bill Pulte, the top housing finance official for President Donald Trump.”
Said Bessent: “Treasury secretaries dating back to Alexander Hamilton have a history of dueling.”
New York Times: “The most conspicuous retreat, of course, has been the United States under President Trump, who first announced his intention to withdraw from Paris way back in 2017 with a ceremony in the Rose Garden. Trump has celebrated his return to office by utterly dismantling his predecessor’s signature climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, and vowing to stop all approvals for new renewable projects (not to mention paving over that same garden). But this is not just a story about Trump. When Paris was forged, the United States was a trivial exporter of natural gas, and it was still illegal to ship American oil abroad. Even before Trump’s second inauguration, the country had become the world’s largest producer and exporter of refined oil and liquid natural gas.”
“And neither is it a story particular to America. The retreat from climate politics has been widespread, even in the midst of a global green-energy boom. From 2019 to 2021, governments around the world added more than 300 climate-adaptation and mitigation policies each year, according to the energy analyst Nat Bullard. In 2023, the number dropped under 200. In 2024, it was only 50 or so. In many places — like in South America and in Europe — existing laws have already been weakened or are under pressure from shifting political coalitions now pushing to undermine them.”
“The Air Force has started upgrading a 747 jetliner that the government of Qatar donated to the United States this summer,” the New York Times reports.
“President Trump has said he wants to modify the aircraft quickly so it can be put into use as a new Air Force One. But the plane, which industry executives estimated is worth about $200 million, will require extensive work before it can be considered secure enough to carry Mr. Trump.”
“The body of a Black student was found hanging from a tree at Delta State University early Monday, prompting horror on the Cleveland, Mississippi, campus,” The Grio reports.
A New York judge dismissed two terror-related charges against Luigi Mangione, including murder in the first degree in furtherance of an act of terrorism and murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism, finding they are “legally insufficient,” CNN reports.
Mangione still faces a count of murder in the second degree.
“Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday he will seek a third term in the 2026 elections, hoping to beat the odds to become the longest-serving governor in a state where voters have usually said two terms were plenty,” the AP reports.
Said Walz: “I’ve seen how we help each other through the hard times. And boy, we’ve seen terrible times this year. I’m heartbroken and angry about the beautiful people we lost to gun violence. But it’s in these moments we have to come together. We can’t lose hope because I’ve seen what we can do when we work together.”
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.
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