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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) fiercely defended his use of the phrase “maximum warfare” to describe Democrats’ redistricting efforts, Axios reports.
Said Jeffries: “You can continue to criticize me for it. I don’t give a damn about the criticism … get lost.”
“President Donald Trump’s allies in Congress want to quickly authorize completion of the White House ballroom after the Saturday shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. But it’s not going to be simple,” Politico reports.
CNN: “The shooting at this weekend’s dinner has yet again led Trump and his White House to focus on Democrats’ rhetoric, despite Trump’s own demonstrated history of extremely ugly rhetoric. Republicans are largely repeating a blame game they waged after Charlie Kirk’s assassination last year.”
“Thus far, the strategy hasn’t appeared to work. Polls show Americans generally view the right’s rhetoric as more violent and dangerous.”
“The Trump administration will pay energy companies hundreds of millions of dollars to abandon their plans to build two wind farms off the U.S. coast, the Interior Department said Monday, in a repeat of a tactic the government used to cancel other offshore wind leases last month,” the New York Times reports.
The share of Americans who say their financial situation is getting worse is higher now than at any point in the past 25 years, per a new Gallup poll.
This is the fifth consecutive year that more Americans say their finances are worsening rather than improving.
“The incompetence is stunning. We’re in the same place as we were last week.”
— House Rules ranking member Jim McGovern (D-MA), quoted by Politico, on the GOP’s inability to move any legislation in the House.
“Speaker Mike Johnson’s week just started and it’s already falling apart,” Politico reports.
“Internal GOP strife forced Republican leaders late Monday to scrap a House Rules meeting that was supposed to set up critical floor votes on an extension of the Section 702 spy law, immigration enforcement funding and a farm bill. They’re now looking to reconvene some time after 7:30 a.m. if possible.”
“At least 10 Republicans are threatening to oppose the rule vote teeing up the legislation — currently scheduled for 4:30 p.m. — over problems with Johnson’s three-year Section 702 reauthorization. And there are other issues with Republicans’ budget reconciliation plan and the farm bill.”
Punchbowl News: “All together, this paints a multifront picture of chaos for Johnson and other top House Republicans. It puts new pressure on the Senate. And time is running short before next week’s recess.”
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) “has stopped counting on help from Elon Musk, despite a vow of support last year from the world’s richest man,” Axios reports.
Said Massie: “I think he found out it’s easier to land rockets backwards and to get cars to drive themselves than it is to fix this place.”
“President Trump has told advisers he is not satisfied with Iran’s latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war,” the New York Times reports.
CNN: Trump unlikely to accept Iran’s latest proposal to end war.
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “We probably would rate at least one of the new proposed Republican pickups as a Toss-up, and an additional two as just Leans Republican, meaning that the GOP +4 scenario in Florida is far from certain.”
“And that assumes the map actually goes into effect. If the state legislature greenlights it this week, it will face legal scrutiny, much the way the new Virginia Democratic gerrymander is also facing legal scrutiny (albeit for different, state-specific reasons).”
Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) issued a statement saying he expects to return to the House “very soon.”
Said Kean: “My doctors continue to assure me that my recovery will be complete and that I will be back to the job I love very soon. I expect to return to a full schedule and be at 100 percent.”
“Speaker Mike Johnson said he expects to change the Senate-passed Department of Homeland Security funding bill, a new wrinkle in the months-long fight to reopen the gigantic agency,” Punchbowl News reports.
Johnson said that the bill, which funded all of DHS except ICE and CBP, had “some problematic language because it was haphazardly drafted.”
King Charles III of Britain will acknowledge on Tuesday that his country has had its differences with the United States, but he plans to tell a joint session of Congress that the “two countries have always found ways to come together,” the New York Times reports.
The king also plans to say that the story of the two countries over the past 250 years has been marked by “reconciliation and renewal,” and has produced what he will call “one of the greatest alliances in human history.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reportedly took musician Kid Rock on an Apache helicopter for a “joy ride” on Monday morning.
It’s always fun to talk to the great Julie Mason on her Sirius XM show.
Politico: “House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries signaled Monday that shielding consumers from rising electricity costs associated with the data center boom would be a priority on Democrats’ artificial intelligence agenda should they win back a majority.”
The Economist: “Donald Trump has waged various literal and metaphorical wars in his second term, but two have been especially bad for Americans: his trade war with the world and his actual war with Iran.”
“Every American industry that makes things—from chemicals to cars to crops—suffered at least a little when Mr Trump slapped tariffs on other countries and some of them retaliated. Now, with the conflict in Iran unresolved and the Strait of Hormuz still blocked, those same businesses face higher costs. Few have suffered more than American farmers.”
Washington Post: “Law enforcement is still investigating the attack, but no evidence has surfaced that the Trump administration staged the shooting. Yet the conspiracy theory is spreading fast online, building into a widespread narrative that President Donald Trump and his associates planned the event to drum up support for the president, his party — and the planned White House ballroom, an event space he has argued could prevent future attacks.”
“A popular theory claims that Trump staged the event to generate public support amid falling approval ratings and predicted Republican losses in the midterm elections. Some say it’s intended to build support for his ballroom project, which has come under criticism for bypassing congressional approval.”
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.