Political Wire

El-Sayed Hits Trump Efforts to Cast Him as Villain

By Leave a Comment

“Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed countered Republican criticism that his progressive-leaning platform is out of step with mainstream Americans by lambasting President Donald Trump’s tariffs on U.S. trading partners, the unpopular war in Iran and the high cost of living Americans confront,” Bloomberg reports.

Said El-Sayed: “What is dangerous to them is that they are watching their entire paycheck get gobbled up by gas they cannot afford and groceries they are getting priced out of, utilities that are way too expensive.”

Trump’s Next Trade Weapon

By Leave a Comment

“Trump is reaching for a more drastic trade war weapon, with new threats to shut foreign goods out of the U.S. altogether,” Axios reports.

“It would mark a significant evolution of the administration’s trade agenda, with potentially bigger economic fallout than the tariffs that have defined it so far.”

“Trump may also have firmer legal footing for some import bans than emergency tariffs. Federal trade laws explicitly give presidents the power to prohibit imports under certain conditions, even where courts have rejected their authority to impose tariffs.”

From our partner:

Take Control of Your News Consumption

You already know the problem with following the news today: the same story can look very different depending on where you read it — and some stories barely reach you at all because algorithms decide what you see.

That’s why I use and recommend Ground News.

It lets you compare coverage of the same story across the political spectrum, making it easy to see how the framing changes, what gets emphasized and what certain audiences may be missing.

I check it almost every day.

As newsrooms shrink and the media becomes more fragmented, the burden falls on us to make sure we’re seeing the whole picture. Ground News is one of the best tools I’ve found for doing that.

Right now, Political Wire readers can get 40% off Ground News Vantage when you sign up through my link.

Get 40% Off Ground News

 

Why Trump Can’t Rename New Mexico

By Leave a Comment

“If President Trump wants to rename New Mexico ‘New America,’ it would require a legal lift that he doesn’t control,” Axios reports.

“New Mexico’s name is written into its constitution, putting an official name change beyond the president’s unilateral power.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

By Leave a Comment

“The only answer that I can come up with that explains the current behavior of Donald Trump is simply this: he wants the Republicans to lose. He hates them. He wants to torture them.”

— James Carville, quoted by Mediaite.

Democrats Lead in Surprising Senate Polls

By Leave a Comment

“A string of unexpected independent poll results in this year’s midterm elections is bringing national attention to a slate of candidates who otherwise would be considered long shots as campaigns turn to the general election sprint — but some recent major misses are raising questions about whether those findings can be trusted,” Politico reports.

“Independent polls — those conducted without coordination with a campaign — this year have put Democratic Senate candidates ahead in deep-red Texas, which hasn’t elected a Democrat to the chamber since 1988, as well as Alaska and Iowa, which haven’t since 2008.”

“They have Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown leading GOP Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio, which President Donald Trump won by more than 11 points in 2024. In ruby-red Arkansas, which Trump won by more than 30 points, one independent poll has Democratic Senate nominee Hallie Shoffner in a statistical dead heat against GOP Sen. Tom Cotton.”

Carney Says Retaliation Against Tariffs Was Unavoidable

By Leave a Comment

“Hours after his government imposed retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion of imports from the United States, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday that Canada’s response had been unavoidable,” the New York Times reports.

Said Carney: “I don’t believe in escalating the conflict; that’s not constructive. But our tariffs are necessary to protect our workers, protect our companies and our communities. We can’t let American goods into Canada tariff free while they charge our companies to export them.”

Smithsonian Secretary Steps Down Amid Strife with Trump

By Leave a Comment

“Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III is stepping down following more than a year of tension with President Trump over the way U.S. history is portrayed at the world’s largest museum and research complex,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Bunch’s departure marks one of the highest-profile shake-ups amid Trump’s broader cultural campaign to restore more ‘truth’ and ‘sanity’ to the retelling of American history.”

Putin Praises U.S. Peace Efforts in Call with Trump

By Leave a Comment

“Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump that Russia did not have ‘aggressive plans’ against Europe and praised U.S. peacemaking efforts to end his war in Ukraine in a phone call on Tuesday, the Kremlin said,” the Financial Times reports.

“The call was the first time the presidents of Russia and the U.S. had spoken since western security officials began warning that Russia was stepping up its ‘hybrid war’ against Europe this summer.”

Pritzker Jumps Into Midterms Money Battle with New PAC

By Leave a Comment

“Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker launched a new political action committee over the weekend that plans to funnel millions of dollars into Democratic House races ahead of the midterms,” NOTUS reports.

“Pritzker’s Ready for the Fight PAC — a phrase often used by the governor and repeated liberally in the committee’s first ad spot — plans to invest at least $20 million in what it considers to be overlooked and competitive races.”

Court Rules IRS’s Data Sharing with ICE Violated Law

By Leave a Comment

“The Trump administration violated federal law when it shared confidential taxpayer information with immigration authorities, an appeals court ruled Tuesday,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The Internal Revenue Service improperly allowed data transfers based on partial addresses and failed to satisfy requirements that tightly tie legal information sharing to criminal investigations.”

Paxton Aide Turned Whistle-Blower Appears in Talarico Ad

By Leave a Comment

“A former top aide to Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas, is appearing in a new online ad endorsing his Democratic rival, James Talarico, in one of the most hotly contested and costly U.S. Senate races in the country,” the New York Times reports.

“The aide, David Maxwell, served as Mr. Paxton’s director of law enforcement for several years until 2020, when he and other high-level staffers accused Mr. Paxton of abusing the power of his office to help a campaign donor under federal investigation.”

Supreme Court Asked to Enter Voter Verification Fight

By Leave a Comment

“The Justice Department has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the Trump administration to resume expansion of an internal government database available to states to verify the citizenship status of voters,” Bloomberg reports.

“The application submitted to the court on Tuesday marks the latest high-stakes, election-related fight to reach the justices in recent weeks.”

About Political Wire

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.

Praise for Political Wire

“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.