“The Trump administration is stripping tens of millions of dollars in U.S. military assistance from countries in Europe and the Middle East to support conservative-leaning governments in Central and South America,” the Washington Sun reports.
“The State Department on Tuesday notified Congress that it will reprogram $52 million in foreign military financing from Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Iraq to Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.”
“Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Tuesday launched an effort to impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, citing the Pentagon’s military actions against Iran,” NewsNation reports.
“The Trump administration is preparing a multibillion-dollar sale of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel in the largest single sale of the controversial munition in recent years, a U.S. official told The Washington Post,” the Washington Post reports.
“The $2.8 billion package, which would be purchased with U.S. taxpayer dollars, includes 40,000 bombs that weigh 2,000 pounds each, including 20,000 MK-84s and 20,000 BLU-117s… The sale also includes 20,000 I-2000 Penetrator warheads.”
“Among the most destructive munitions in Western military arsenals, an MK-84 explosion sends metal fragments in every direction for thousands of feet, can rip through metal and thick concrete, and often creates large craters in the earth.”
“The U.S. military said Tuesday that it opened fire and destroyed two small Iranian boats this week trying to steal a drone ship in the waters off Iran,” the Washington Sun reports.
“A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts could not honor President Trump with an inscription on the institution’s exterior, blocking an effort by the center’s board to restore the president’s name to the building,” the New York Times reports.
Rolling Stone: Trump is ready to close the Kennedy Center because he can’t put his name on it.
“President Trump alleged Tuesday that the July 13, 2024, attempt on his life in Butler, Pa. was part of a ‘Democratic plot’ against him,” the New York Post reports.
Said Trump: “Everybody knows the Crooked Joe Biden FBI didn’t do what they should have with respect to the Lunatic who shot me in Butler, PA.”
He added: “By the time I got into Office, on January 20th, most of the information was missing, altered, corrupted, or gone. New info was just found! Why wasn’t it seen long ago? This was all a Democrat Plot, to get me out of the Election, that failed.'”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) dodged a question from Eric Michael Garcia of The Independent:
GARCIA: You’re talking a lot about communism. How is communism any different from what President Trump is doing, getting equity stakes and promising $5,000 checks to Americans and having equity in steel?
JOHNSON: So, what the president is articulating—and he comes up with creative ideas all the time, he’s the ideas president, and we have a hard time keeping pace with it sometimes—he debuted at the convention, famously, the idea of basically a dividend check to Americans, right? We’re processing that.
A new Mason-Dixon poll in Texas finds James Talarico (D) leading Ken Paxton (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 46% to 43%, with Ted Brown (L) at 3%.
A new Mason-Dixon poll in Texas finds Greg Abbott (R) leading Gina Hinojosa (D) in the governor’s race, 48% to 41%, with Jenn Mack Raphoon (I) at 2% and Pat Dixon (L) at 1%.
“Missouri’s former election integrity director filed a whistleblower lawsuit Monday against Secretary of State Denny Hoskins (R), alleging he was fired after raising concerns that staff were plotting to file a fake complaint in a legal case about the state’s voter database,” the Associated Press reports.
“The lawsuit by Nicholas La Strada, a Republican, also asserts that Hoskins’ office illegally directed local election officials to change the results of a city council race and used state funds for a politically oriented mailing.”
“Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) on Monday said President Trump will likely not heed calls from technology leaders to implement guardrails on the development of artificial intelligence because of his family’s investments in the industry,” NewsNation reports.
Said Ossoff: “They’ve invested heavily in AI labs. They’ve invested heavily in data centers. So, the first family has a financial stake in this industry, and as a result, the president of the United States is compromised.”
“Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) sharply criticized the Trump administration’s handling of vaccines on Tuesday, warning that the current approach is out of step with the administration’s ‘Make America Healthy Again’ pledge and risks eroding confidence in immunization,” Semafor reports.
Said Cassidy: “When you’re given guarantees by people and by the administration and they break those guarantees, I don’t know if painful is the word, maybe urinated off is the word, but the point being that you certainly have a certain emotion.”
“Senate Republicans on Tuesday signaled opposition to a Democratic counteroffer on a major cryptocurrency bill, raising the possibility that the legislation could fail on a key floor vote later Tuesday,” Politico reports.
“Vice President JD Vance rallied House Republicans in a pre-midterm Capitol Hill visit Tuesday, encouraging members to support each other on the campaign trail and through fundraising,” Politico reports.
“He did not address the topic that has dominated conversations in Congress in recent days: the risk posed by artificial intelligence and what, if anything, lawmakers ought to do about it.”
“Instead, the vice president urged Republicans in safe seats to help their vulnerable colleague and encouraged members to focus on the ‘choice’ voters face with Democrats.”
“Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers will not attend a debate held by a local television station Tuesday over suspicions that the event’s moderator has ‘bias and favoritism’ toward his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, Rogers’ campaign said in a news release,” the Washington Sun reports.
Just published: Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in the Trump Era by Jacob Weisberg.
“It may be scant solace, but history will be particularly harsh to a subset of Trump enablers with a few key things in common: They have money and power. They represent intuitions that are central in determining whether America remains a free, functioning democracy or not. And they absolutely know better. History starts now.”
“Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) stopped short of endorsing Medicare for All as the banner issue Democrats should run on in 2028 on Tuesday, instead arguing that the party should campaign on the broader promise of ‘guaranteed coverage’ and universal care,” Semafor reports.
“He pointed to his MediKids proposal — legislation that would guarantee universal healthcare coverage for every American under the age of 26 — as an example of how the party could pursue universal coverage through a more targeted approach to build towards guaranteed care.”
Said Kim: “I think it’s a stand-in for where we’re trying to head towards. I think we should be running on that guaranteed coverage, on that universal care.”
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.
