“The U.S. on Tuesday struck multiple Iranian tankers in response to more attempted missile attacks on a Navy warship,” the Associated Press reports.
“It marks the latest tit-for-tat strikes as Washington and Tehran lurch back toward fighting during more than six months of war.”
Rolling Stone: “September 11th is the most solemn day on the U.S. calendar. The terrorist attacks that left nearly 3,000 people dead 25 years ago are still fresh in the minds of many, and no occasion calls for a greater show of reverence and respect, especially from the nation’s commander-in-chief.”
“Unfortunately, America’s current commander-in-chief, Donald Trump, has a tough time showing reverence and respect for anything other than himself. It’s been especially true with regard to 9/11, as the president reminded everyone on Tuesday during an event intended to honor first responders and victims of the attacks.”
Mediaite: Trump makes wild new claim in rambling remarks about visiting 9/11 rubble.
“Iran launched an attack against U.S. Navy ships on Monday that the U.S. military has yet to acknowledge, after firing ballistic missiles at an aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer over the weekend,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“No American ships were struck in the attacks, but Iran’s recent attempts to hit American naval assets are raising alarm that its military is using more sophisticated weapons and could be getting assistance from China or Russia.”
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“President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff earned $107 million in 2025 from the holding company that owned his share of a crypto venture he and his boss helped co-found,” Bloomberg reports.
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a New York woman’s bid to send her son to kindergarten without receiving state-required vaccines, in a case that highlights the limits of the court’s push to expand religious rights,” the Washington Post reports.
“In a one-line order, the high court effectively sided with state and local officials, who argued that a religious exemption would undermine their attempts to prevent the spread of disease among children and the general public.”
“The White House on Tuesday pulled a Tetris-style game called Build the Wall from its new online arcade, four days after a warning by the classic game maker that it takes copyright infringement seriously,” AFP reports.
“The U.S. military has struck targets near Kharg Island and the port city of Jask, part of a strategy to pressure Iran economically and bring the war to a close,” Bloomberg reports.
Amy Walter: “How will we know if 2026 is a wave election in the House? To me, the real sign of a wave year won’t be how many seats Republicans lose, but rather the types of seats that change hands.”
“Democrats could have a good Election Night just by winning seats Trump carried by six points or less, which would be enough to take back control of the House. But if Democrats also win in districts that Trump carried by double digits, it would reveal the limits of his ability to pursue unpopular policies that are felt most acutely in rural America — like tariffs, the Iran war and Medicaid cuts. That, in my book, would define a wave election.”
A new League of American Workers/TIPP poll in Minnesota finds Peggy Flanagan (D) leading Michele Tafoya (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 40% to 38%, with Marisa Simonetti at 4%.
“FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said that the agency may issue guidance on broadcasters’ reporting on political polls, after President Donald Trump called for action on data he has deemed as ‘fake,'” Deadline reports.
Sarah Longwell: “In 2016, Republican voters looked at their party’s leadership—the Romneys, McCains, and Bushes—and decided they were done. Those leaders were too weak, too unwilling to fight, too committed to norms and processes that Democrats didn’t respect anyway. Republican voters hired a wrecking ball named Trump to knock it all down. Ten years later, I’m hearing similar sentiments from Democratic voters. They don’t trust Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, or any of the old-guard party leaders who allowed Trump to take over America. They want their own wrecking ball.”
“There’s a distinction here. Democrats don’t want Trump’s politics or even necessarily his all-out norm breaking. But they want his energy. They’re sick of a Democratic Party that does the functional equivalent of sending a strongly worded letter while democracy burns down around us.”
“That tension—absolutely not, but also yes—is the defining mood among Democratic voters right now. They don’t want to become what they hate. But they are tired of losing to it.”
“The U.S. military on Tuesday said an unmanned submersible that Iran reportedly seized in the Strait of Hormuz was ‘defective’ and carried no sensitive data or classified equipment,” CNBC reports.
“Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps had boasted earlier Tuesday that it trapped and captured ‘one of the most modern, intelligent, unmanned submarines of the American terrorist army at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.'”
“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 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.”
Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) stripped references to President Trump and his “America First” movement from prominent parts of her campaign website as she battles for moderate voters in an unusual incumbent-versus-incumbent California House race, Politico reports.
“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.”
Punchbowl News: “Trump’s Monday night threat to ban the sale of aircraft from Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier didn’t land with some Republicans. The company employs more than 1,000 people at its U.S. headquarters in Wichita.”
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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