“Ukraine launched what Moscow’s mayor called the biggest drone attack yet on the Russian capital on Sunday, as Russians voted on the final day of a parliamentary election that President Vladimir Putin has cast as a test of support for the war in Ukraine,” Reuters reports.
Trump Is Welcoming Xi to the White House This Week
“When President Donald Trump first ran for office, he called out China as a menace to the U.S. economy, saying it had gutted America’s factories and eroded the middle class,” the Associated Press reports.
“That tough talk helped Trump get to the White House a decade ago, but since then, he increasingly speaks in glowing terms about Chinese President Xi Jinping, the geopolitical rival Trump will fete on Thursday with a state dinner.”
Said Trump: “He’s a great gentleman; we get along great. We have a very good trading relationship and, you know, they’re a competitor and all of that, but we have a very good relationship with President Xi.”
“On issue after issue, the Republican president has given Xi a pass.”
Trump’s Tariffs Flop with Working-Class Voters
Ron Brownstein: “It’s become an article of faith for trade hardliners in both parties that a protectionist agenda is a guaranteed pathway to building support among working-class voters. But now that President Donald Trump is testing that theory in practice, it is largely flopping on the campaign trail.”
“Trump has pursued the most confrontational trade agenda of any president since at least William McKinley at the end of the 19th century, and by the estimation of some historians, even Thomas Jefferson around its beginning.”
“But even in heavily blue-collar states and House districts that were long believed to be the most receptive to a protectionist agenda, Democrats almost uniformly have been comfortable this year running against the Trump tariffs, while Republicans have struggled to defend them. Even Democrats who are deeply skeptical of free trade agreements — like Ohio Senate candidate Sherrod Brown and Brian Poindexter, the ironworker running against Rep. Max Miller for an Ohio House seat — have been unreserved in condemning the Trump tariffs. Polls by CNN and other media organizations consistently show that far more Americans believe the tariffs have hurt rather than helped their financial bottom line — and that consensus extends even to working-class white voters without a four-year college degree.”
It’s Donald Trump Versus MAGA On Data Centers
Wired: “The president has doubled down on data centers and AI. His base is running in the opposite direction.”
Trump’s AI-related Investments Pose Conflicts
“President Donald Trump’s sprawling family business empire has become increasingly intertwined with the boom in artificial intelligence, at the same time that he has resisted calls to slow the development of the technology,” the Washington Post reports.
”Unlike his recent predecessors, Trump has not placed his assets in a blind trust, and he has continued to buy and sell stocks while in office.”
Mediaite: Obama bashes Trump for not pushing “serious regulatory framework” on AI.
Trump Is Amping Up His Antics Ahead of the Midterms
Aaron Blake: “While President Donald Trump’s personal behavior is often strange, his conduct over the last 12 days has been pretty remarkable — especially with the midterm election around the corner.”
“He’s offered voters what even some Republicans say amounts to a bribe. He’s threatened (jokingly?) to withhold disaster aid from a state if it doesn’t elect a GOP senator. Ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, he told a dubious story about his proximity to Ground Zero. He’s baselessly suggested Democrats conspired to kill him. He’s threatened to halt all foreign trade. He’s holding the future of the Kennedy Center hostage if judges don’t allow him to put his name on it. And now he’s denying certain media outlets, including CNN, access to the White House.”
”One of the most underestimated reasons for the decline in Trump’s political fortunes is Americans’ loss of faith in his leadership capabilities.”
What Exactly Is a Wave Election?
Nate Cohn: “There is no formal definition of a wave. The term mostly evokes the feeling of a sweeping victory, one in which a party wins all the usual battlegrounds while toppling some of the opposing party’s typically safe districts and longtime incumbents.”
“To get that ‘wave’ feeling on election night, two things need to happen.”
“Most obviously, a party needs to win big. If a party wins by, say, at least five percentage points in the national vote, that party will have an advantage in most of the usual battleground states and districts.”
“Less obviously, it matters how much better a party does than in the last election. A five-point victory may not feel like a wave if the same party won by four points in the prior election.”
Texas Democrats Have Their Highest Hopes in 20 Years
CNN: “The GOP has controlled all statewide offices in Texas for almost two decades. But a mix of economic factors, the national backlash to immigration raids and the growth of artificial intelligence, and the GOP nominating baggage-laden candidates who could offend moderate voters make this fall perhaps the likeliest chance for Democrats to break one-party control of the nation’s second-largest state.”
Trump’s PAC Funnels Another $5 Million Into Texas Race
Quote of the Day
“Well, I’m not a lesbian or bisexual, and I have never, ever been in any inappropriate relationship, nor have I ever been sexually involved with any staff.”
— Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), quoted by Sources Say News.
Republican Enthusiasm Is Fading
Wall Street Journal: “With Election Day approaching, Republican worries about voter enthusiasm are spilling beyond swing states into red bastions such as Kansas, Texas, Alaska, Ohio, Iowa and Nebraska. Trump’s approval rating sits near record lows, and frustrations are growing over the state of the economy, tariffs and the war in Iran. At stake is control of Congress: Democrats need to pick up just three seats to retake the House and four to win back the Senate.”
Trump Turns On Media After Recent Losses
New York Times: “Despite his attempts to talk his way out of it, the war against Iran continues to be immensely unpopular with Americans concerned with Mr. Trump’s handling of the economy and high gasoline prices. The Supreme Court, including justices he appointed, blocked Mr. Trump’s attempts to restrict mail-in voting.”
“And with the midterm elections looming, the president’s political authority appears to be ebbing after years in which he dominated not just his party but also the national discourse.”
“So after these losses, an increasingly frustrated Mr. Trump, seeking to change the subject, has turned to a new assault on his preferred foe: the news media.”
CNN: First Amendment lawyer says Trump’s media outlet ban “not allowed.”
India Is Squeezed Between Trump Tariffs and Russian Oil
“A new sanctions law giving President Trump broad authority to impose steep tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil adds a new layer of uncertainty to India’s already fraught trade relationship with the United States,” the New York Times reports.
“The bill, signed by President Trump on Friday, gives him the power to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on goods from countries that continue to buy Russian energy. The aim of Congress was to choke off the revenue that finances Moscow’s war in Ukraine.”
“The law, however, gives Mr. Trump considerable discretion over when and how to wield those tariffs, and it’s not clear when — or even whether — he would impose tariffs that would raise the cost of American imports of Indian goods.”
Bloomberg: Trump signs Russia sanctions bill granting new tariff powers.
Newsom Signs Influencer Disclosure Law
“Gov. Gavin Newsom of California signed legislation on Saturday that will penalize social media influencers who do not properly disclose paid political content posted on the internet,” the New York Times reports.
“The state has required the disclosures for paid posts about state- and local-level campaigns since 2023, but until now, content creators couldn’t be fined or prosecuted if they failed to comply. Now, California campaign finance regulators are empowered to impose fines on influencers of up to $5,000 for each violation or to refer those violations to law enforcement as potential misdemeanors.”
Yemen’s Houthis Claim Attack On Saudi Capital
“Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed an attack Saturday on Saudi Arabia’s capital that apparently targeted jet-fuel storage at its airport, marking the first direct assault on Riyadh in months as the group squeezes the kingdom’s Red Sea route for its oil exports,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Black smoke could be seen at King Khalid International Airport, in the latest escalation in the attacks targeting the kingdom.”
“The strike hit jet-fuel facilities at the airfield, three officials with knowledge of the incident said.”
Trump to Form ‘AI Force’
“President Donald Trump said he will name an official responsible for artificial intelligence and form an unspecified ‘AI Force,’ rejecting calls from lawmakers and industry leaders for new guardrails on the rapidly advancing technology,” the Washington Post reports.
”Trump compared the new ‘AI Force’ to the ‘Space Force’ he added to the Armed Services in his first term. The White House did not immediately respond to a request to clarify whether the agency would be military or civilian.”
Democrats’ Influencer Era Has Arrived
Politico: “After Trump’s 2024 victory, Democrats are playing catch up by taking a page from the GOP playbook: Influencers are being deeply embedded into campaigns, from Florida to Alaska, and candidates are popping up on screen with them, on their turf. Developing an influencer program is now a common component of a campaign, mapped alongside traditional voter outreach methods like door-knocking and phone-banking.”
“This approach isn’t without controversy. Within the Democratic Party there’s a raging discussion about the ethics of engaging boisterous online personalities — and sharp disagreement about whether influencers should be brought on board at all. No one can agree if they should be paid or remain volunteers or if they should be considered independent journalists or campaign surrogates or something else entirely.”
Democrats Try to Ride Data Center Backlash to Victory
Reuters: “The groundswell building against data centers during election season has given Democratic candidates a new opening in the rural U.S. Midwest, where they have struggled to compete during Donald Trump’s presidency.”
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