New York Times: “For Iowans, losing China’s soybean market in the president’s trade war was only one of many economic shocks that have hit the state since the start of Mr. Trump’s second term. The cost of tractors and fertilizers have shot up with his tariffs.”
“Labor has grown scarcer in agribusinesses. Major manufacturers have laid off workers. Even the ubiquitous wind turbines that provide income for some Iowa farmers are in the president’s sights.”
“Chinese and American trade negotiators said on Sunday that they had agreed to a framework of a deal ahead of an expected meeting of the countries’ top leaders this week,” the New York Times reports.
“The negotiators were in Kuala Lumpur for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, where President Trump began a nearly weeklong trip to Asia. He is expected to meet on Thursday with Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, at a separate economic meeting in South Korea.”
Wall Street Journal: U.S. and China sound confident note after trade talks.
“The future of Argentina’s free-market experiment hinges on its midterm congressional elections Sunday,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Rarely are Washington and Wall Street watching a local foreign election this closely, but rarely has so much been riding on the outcome, including a $40 billion U.S. rescue plan.”
“If President Javier Milei’s Freedom Advances party effectively loses the election, the brash libertarian leader’s radical overhaul of Argentina’s economy will come crashing to a halt. If Milei’s party scratches out a narrow win, he will have a fighting chance to carry out phase two of his remake of Argentina.”
Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) has taken the lead over Democratic primary challenger Graham Platner in the 2026 Senate race, 41% to 36%, according to a SoCal Strategies Maine Poll.
“Anybody who has remodeled a home knows that building regulations can slow down even the most minor projects, especially when a property has historic significance,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Yet President Trump managed to tear down the East Wing of the White House with little notice in just a few days to make way for a new ballroom he has long coveted. How did he do it?”
The U.S. will impose an additional 10% tariff on Canada, President Trump said, a punitive measure in response to an ad campaign that he said misrepresented comments by former President Ronald Reagan, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“I’m the speaker and the president.”
— President Trump, quoted by the New York Times, noting how he’s marginalized Speaker Mike Johnson.
Kamala Harris told the BBC she may run again for the White House.
Said Harris: “I am not done. I have lived my entire career as a life of service and it’s in my bones.”
She added: “If I listened to polls, I would have not run for my first office, or my second office — and I certainly wouldn’t be sitting here.”
“Timothy Mellon, a reclusive billionaire and a major financial backer of President Trump, is the anonymous private donor who gave $130 million to the U.S. government to help pay troops during the shutdown,” the New York Times reports.
“President Trump is heading to Asia on Friday evening at a moment of turmoil at home: He has deployed an aircraft carrier to Latin America, cut off trade talks with Canada, razed the East Wing of the White House, cheered on the closure of the federal government and sent the National Guard to several American cities,” the New York Times reports.
“But for the next six days, Mr. Trump is putting down his sledgehammer and embarking on a diplomatic tour, testing his role as a statesman and negotiator as he pursues a trade deal with China to end a dispute that has harmed both economies.”
New York Times: “Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to put the House on an indefinite hiatus that is now stretching into its second month while the government is shut down is the latest in a series of moves he has made that have diminished the role of Congress and shrunken the speakership at a critical moment.”
“It’s an approach born of political expedience that could have far-reaching consequences for an institution that has already ceded much of its power to President Trump. And Mr. Johnson, who without the president’s backing wields little influence over his own members, has chosen to make himself subservient to Mr. Trump, a break with many speakers of the past who sought in their own ways to act more as a governing partner with the president than as his underling.”
Axios: House lawmakers flirt with COVID-era work levels.
“Departing for his first Asia trip of his second term, President Trump publicly called for a meeting with a regional leader not on his diplomatic itinerary: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One en route to Malaysia, reiterated his openness to meeting Kim, asking the media to ‘put out the word.’ Trump concludes his multi-stop trip to Asia in South Korea, where the president would be within roughly 250 miles from the Korean Demilitarized Zone—site of the two leaders’ last face-to-face encounter in 2019.”
“The Trump administration said on Friday that the Justice Department will monitor polling sites in California and New Jersey ahead of the Nov. 4 election, amid requests by Republican Party officials in those states,” the New York Times reports.
“Although election monitoring by the Justice Department is not uncommon, it will likely heighten tensions as voters weigh in on some of the nation’s most closely watched races. President Trump has pushed the Justice Department to pursue parts of his agenda, including going after his political enemies, which has eroded its traditional independence.”
A Kentucky Republican official said the committee that recently selected Calvin Leach (R) as the GOP’s state Senate District 37 nominee was not aware of a blog post he authored that described women in vulgar and sexist terms, the Louisville Courier Journal reports.
Leach lamented his “encounter with the dating scene” and referred to women as “promiscuous skanks” who have been “put on a pedestal by society” and only date for personal gain.
He added: “These girls are soulless parasites. Don’t walk away. Run.”
So far, just 8.9% of today’s news quiz takers have gotten every question right. Can you compete?
“The Ontario government plans to stop running the anti-tariff advertisement that irked President Donald Trump after airing it during broadcasts of baseball’s World Series,” Bloomberg reports.
“The government-funded ad, which featured excerpts of late US President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs, will stop appearing after Friday and Saturday’s games, following Trump’s criticism of it.”
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.
