“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accepted $4 million in book advances and more than $270,000 in gifts over the past year from close allies who are working to advance his Make America Healthy Again agenda,” the New York Times reports.
“Ethics experts said the financial relationships may violate federal rules barring officials from profiting from their government position, and call into question the secretary’s ability to remain independent and impartial.”
Time: “President Trump has repeatedly called for eliminating the debt ceiling, putting him at odds with most of his party, but in line with a significant number of Democrats in Congress. The top Democrat on the House Budget Committee sees an opportunity to finally ditch the mechanism for good.”
Said Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA): “I will not vote to simply kick the can down the road again and just raise the debt ceiling for another 18 months. My next vote on the debt ceiling will only be to permanently reform it to end the dysfunction around it once and for all.”
According to Forbes, President Trump’s net worth hit $7 billion in 2026.
That’s more than triple where it was in early 2024.
“The Trump administration is preparing a plan to ban exports of diesel for 90 days, despite splits inside the administration and with the oil industry, in a bid to bring down energy prices weighing on Republicans leading into the midterms,” Politico reports.
Just published: All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump by Anthony Scaramucci.
“Each decision deepened inequality, corroded trust, and fueled the anger that empowered Donald Trump’s rise and his ongoing assault on democracy and the rule of law.”
“A Republican House candidate in Maine who has made the border central to his campaign said this week that his family had become entangled in a deportation case,” the Washington Post reports.
“Paul LePage, a former Maine governor and staunch conservative, said Monday that his son’s father-in-law, who he said was in the United States legally, was being deported ‘because he came from a country that’s not the liking to certain people in Washington.'”
Said LePage: “That’s not right. He has a work permit. He should be allowed to stay.”
President Trump’s approval rate during his first term was negative, but essentially flat.
He’s been falling continuously during his second term.
“A few weeks ago, Europeans were so incensed that a Russian official was invited to the G-20 finance minister’s meeting in North Carolina that they refused to participate in a group photo with him,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Well, that standoff was nothing compared with what might be coming.”
“The Trump administration has invited Russian Putin Vladimir Putin to the Group of 20 meeting in December at the Trump National Doral Miami resort.”
Washington Post: Trump invites Putin to this year’s G-20 summit in Florida.
A new Quinnipiac University poll in New York finds Kathy Hochul (D) leading Bruce Blakeman (R) in the governor’s race, 58% to 39%.
Nate Silver notes that President Trump’s net approval now at -22.4 percentage points, lower than at any point in his two terms — even after the January 6 riots at the Capitol.
By comparison, he was at -11.6 percentage points at this point in the 2018 midterm elections.
Harry Enten: “A brand new CNN poll shows President Trump at an all time low in his approval rating… look at his net approval rating now with pure independents — it’s negative 71 points! I mean, these are the deep depths of the ocean. You never see numbers like these. An 86 point shift away from the president!”
“GOP lawmakers are waging an internal war over the Trump administration’s prosecution of the months-long Iran conflict,” Punchbowl News reports.
“The divisions were on full display Wednesday as Senate defense hawks exited their last closed-door briefing on the Middle East operations ahead of the midterms — an election cycle that’s become increasingly shaped by fallout over the Iran war.”
“President Donald Trump has spent the last 20-plus months thumbing his nose at conflicts of interest,” CNN reports.
“And yet, corruption isn’t generally considered to be among Trump’s biggest political problems.”
“But Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding could be changing that dynamic somewhat — to the point where even some Republican senators are finding the stench difficult to ignore.”
“Fox News’s bond with President Trump is undeniable. Prime time stars like Sean Hannity and Jesse Watters cheerlead his policies, the president’s daughter-in-law hosts a weekly show on the network, and Fox’s founder, Rupert Murdoch, attended Mr. Trump’s nominating convention in 2024,” the New York Times reports.
“Nonetheless, this week Fox News has joined other networks in standing up for the rival media outlets that Mr. Trump decried as ‘fake’ and banned from the White House — and two senior Fox journalists emerged as lead actors in the White House press corps’s standoff with the administration.”
“GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman’s ex-wife – who’s now hitched to Sir Paul McCartney – donated $18,000 to Gov. Kathy Hochul before her former husband launched his campaign,” the New York Post reports.
“Paramount, looking to firm up its financial picture as it digests Warner Bros. Discovery, is looking for fresh sources of cash,” Semafor reports.
“Executives at the company have discussed asking Elon Musk to become part of a syndicate of equity investors into Paramount.”
“An internal fight between Oklahoma’s appointed senator and likely successor is boiling over as both Republicans vie to fill the last two months of former Sen. Marwayne Mullin’s term,” the Washington Sun reports.
“The dispute is over when Sen. Alan Armstrong’s temporary term ends and the next Oklahoma senator — likely Rep. Kevin Hern — would be sworn in.”
“Hern wants to be sworn into the Senate in November following the election, while Armstrong wants to stay on through January.”
“The Senate seat held by South Carolina Republicans for decades is vulnerable to flipping to Democrats,” the Washington Post reports.
“The political climate dogging Republicans nationwide is acute in South Carolina, where newly sworn-in Sen. Darline Graham (R) is in a sprint to defend the seat held by her late brother, Lindsey Graham.”
“Sen. Graham remains ‘the heavy favorite’ in the race reclassified by the Cook Political Report on Wednesday from ‘solid Republican’ to ‘likely Republican,’ a shift notable since that seat has been in GOP hands since 1964.”
“President Donald Trump’s AI-fueled vision for a drone port he intends to install atop the new White House ballroom includes missile-bearing unmanned aerial vehicles and gun-toting troops, ostensibly to protect the 18-acre complex and the nation’s capital,” the Associated Press reports.
“A few hundred feet away, a drone port, run by the U.S. Secret Service and not the military, is already quietly operational.”
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.
