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Aaron Blake: “President Donald Trump has dropped another clunker in the laps of his fellow Republicans in the run-up to the 2026 midterm elections.”
“His new trade war with Canada and his related move to change the name of Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ are the latest in a series of unpopular actions.”
“In fact, new polling suggests they’re even more unpopular than Trump’s previous tariffs and efforts to rename things.”
“The powerful Teamsters union is backing Republican candidates in the 2026 election cycle even after members have voted to support their Democrat opponents,” The Guardian reports.
“The 1.3 million-strong union’s president, Sean O’Brien, angered many members and union leaders in 2024 when he became the first union president to speak at the Republican national convention.”
“Chevron plans to significantly expand its operations in Venezuela, the U.S. oil giant said on Wednesday, taking yet another step to broaden the U.S. sphere of influence in the South American country,” the New York Times reports.
“The Houston-based company, already Venezuela’s largest private oil producer, said it would more than double its production in the country over the next five years to 600,000 barrels a day. That represents over half of Venezuela’s current output.”
Bloomberg: How Trump’s Venezuela oil deal gives the U.S. direct control.
“As President Donald Trump’s war with Iran drags on, a growing number of House Republicans are sounding the alarm about top-level turnover at the Pentagon — with some of the GOP’s most prominent national security voices openly criticizing the recent departures,” MS NOW reports.
Mediaite: Trump reportedly “expressed concern” over Hegseth’s Army purge in private meeting.
“Donald Trump returned to the White House promising to get the United States’ financial house in order by slashing the scope of the federal government, ending costly ‘forever wars’ and spurring economic growth to tame spiraling deficits,” Reuters reports.
“Instead, the national debt has surged past $40 trillion in the first 19 months of his second term. Federal spending has grown, not shrunk. The six-month-old Iran war has become an expensive stalemate. And the cost of servicing the U.S. debt, meanwhile, has grown as yields on some U.S. bonds hit their highest levels in nearly two decades.”
“On August 8, former Representative Eric Swalwell boarded a United Airlines flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Washington, D.C. He didn’t know it, but federal agents were watching him throughout the nine-hour trip,” The Atlantic reports.
“The FBI had asked the Federal Air Marshal Service to covertly monitor Swalwell on board and to watch him use his electronic devices, to see whether its officers could visually ascertain his passcodes… Air marshals are trained to blend in with other passengers and quietly keep tabs on their subjects, who are usually suspected terrorists or potential hijackers, not politicians.”
“Iran retaliated against new U.S. strikes overnight, launching missiles and drones toward U.S. positions in the region in defiance of President Donald Trump’s warning Tuesday that such actions would see Iran ‘hit again at a much harder and higher level,’” the Washington Post reports.
”The overnight attacks came after U.S. forces launched a new round of strikes inside Iran, military officials said Tuesday, an expansion of attacks that recently resumed after weeks of a tenuous ceasefire.”
“The count of Americans who believe that corruption is widespread in government is at its highest point in the last 20 years,” Semafor reports.
“Almost nine in 10 Americans say that government corruption is widespread, according to new Gallup polling, an increase of 10 percentage points in the last year.”
“President Donald Trump has said he was puzzled when aides told him he could build a massive new White House ballroom without seeking approval,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “Sir, this is the White House, you’re the president of the United States. You can do anything you want.”
”The president has spent his second term in office testing — and often proving — that claim. Within a week of his remarks, Trump had torn down the White House’s East Wing to build his planned ballroom, the most significant change to the White House grounds in generations. He has since directed workers to cut down beloved trees in public parks, ordered up statues at the White House and across the city, and announced plans for new monuments, shaped by his own views for the nation’s capital.”
“The Pentagon has entered a period of profound institutional turmoil, as a crisis of leadership at home converges with a crisis of capacity abroad,” Axios reports.
“Why it matters: Six months into the Iran war, Pete Hegseth presides over a Pentagon with fewer senior leaders, fewer critical weapons and less public accountability than at any point in President Trump’s two terms.”
CNN: Army leadership void fuels fears about Hegseth’s culture war fixation.
“Trump administration efforts to force change in the handling of election ballots may be facing a bigger hurdle than the cross-country court challenges and resistance: Election officials insist it is simply too late for them to even try to comply with the proposed rules,” CNN reports.
“In court filings and interviews with CNN, election officials and other mail voting experts said that there is no practical way to comply with the Postal Service’s plans – even if states can find the millions of dollars they expect compliance to cost.”
The Guardian: New system for screening mail-in ballots risks denying entire batches, says whistleblower.
“Republicans have a simple strategy for how to campaign against a slate of independent candidates running for Senate seats in red states: Take every opportunity to tie them to Democrats,” NOTUS reports.
“In Nebraska, South Dakota, Idaho and Montana, Republican Senate candidates are running against independents who have held the Democratic Party at arm’s length in order to make competitive runs. These are states where Democratic candidates have flopped in recent years.”
“House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his leadership team announced they are eyeing punishment for two House Democrats who bucked their party Tuesday,” Politico reports.
“Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington and Jared Golden of Maine broke with leadership to advance a key procedural vote that revived Republicans’ legislative agenda. The incredibly rare crossing of party lines incensed many House Democrats and top leaders who were then forced to vote on a slate of GOP priorities.”
Axios: Rogue House Democrats face growing push for “consequences.”
“President Donald Trump has a vision for next week’s GOP convention in Dallas: a televised spectacle putting Republican candidates in front of midterm voters and top party donors just two months before the Election Day — with Trump himself headlining the show,” Politico reports.
”But a Politico survey of more than 70 GOP candidates and members revealed that most either do not plan to attend or are still weighing whether to go. Dozens more declined to share their plans.”
“President Donald Trump expressed frustration at the Iranian people on Tuesday night, asking why they are not rebelling against their government,” Mediaite reports.
Said Trump: “I’m not trying to force Iran to the bargaining table, as ABC Fake News reported. I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement. I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing. They are just playing out the inevitable. When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?”
“Rep. Stephen Lynch has defeated a younger, more progressive primary challenger, in the highest-profile test remaining for House incumbents after a turbulent primary season,” NBC News reports.
“The 71-year-old incumbent won renomination over Patrick Roath, a 39-year-old former aide to former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. With his win, Lynch staved off an attempt to add him to the list of Democratic officeholders dethroned by rivals pushing for generational change.”
“U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent arrived here to host global economic officials in the Blue Ridge Mountains, fresh off the breakdown of trade talks with Canada, currency and bond-market interventions, and President Trump’s renewed economic threats against Iran,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Two days later, the G-20 finance ministers’ gathering comes to a close amid a global bond-market selloff, spats over tariffs, public insults and fighting over a group photo.”
The Economist: “A year and a half ago, few would have wagered that Pete Hegseth would consolidate power at the Pentagon. Narrowly confirmed by the Senate amid allegations of financial mismanagement in prior jobs and heavy drinking, which Mr Hegseth denied, the former Fox News weekend host and voluble culture warrior appeared badly underqualified and no match for the generals and admirals he would direct.”
“In office, the secretary of war has skirted scandal, be it mishandling classified information or forcing polygraph tests on his underlings. But far from seeing his power wane, Mr Hegseth has firmly taken control of his department and the military’s leadership. A rolling purge of America’s armed forces has cleared out his rivals and those deemed insufficiently loyal.”
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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