Political Wire

Members should sign in for the full experience.

Matt Gaetz to Host Show on Conservative Network

By Leave a Comment

Oliver Darcy: “Matt Gaetz appears to have found a landing spot after flaming out as Donald Trump’s first pick for attorney general. The former Florida congressman is set to join the far-right OAN in early 2025, I’m told.”

“At the network Gaetz will be slotted as a nightly prime time host, in addition to hosting a video podcast with Dan Ball…”

“While the revolving door between Fox News and Trumpworld often gets the most attention, it certainly exists with other corners of MAGA Media. Gaetz heading to OAN highlights that.”

Susan Wild Absent from House Ethics Meeting

By Leave a Comment

“Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA), the top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee, was absent from the panel’s meeting last week after being traced as the source of leaks to the press regarding the investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL),” The Hill reports.

“It remains unclear if Wild voluntarily skipped the Thursday gathering or was asked not to attend, what information she leaked and to whom, and how the panel tracked her back as being the leaker.”


You're reading the free version of Political Wire

Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.

Upgrade Now




Democratic Governors Could Be Party’s Future

By Leave a Comment

“Democrats are still reeling and reflecting on what went so wrong for their party this year,” NBC News reports.

“But at the Democratic governors’ annual gathering in California, they were in full agreement that something has to change in order for their party — and, in their eyes, hopefully one of them — to have a real shot at the White House in 2028.”

Nobel Laureates Urge Senate to Turn Down RFK Jr.

By Leave a Comment

“More than 75 Nobel Prize winners have signed a letter urging senators not to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services,” the New York Times reports.

“The letter marks the first time in recent memory that Nobel laureates have banded together against a Cabinet choice.”

Trudeau Says Canada ‘Will Respond’ to Tariffs

By Leave a Comment

“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada ‘will respond’ if US President-elect Donald Trump imposes new tariffs on Canadian imports, and argued that retaliatory tariffs were successful when Trump put tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum in 2018,” Bloomberg reports.

“The comments are Trudeau’s strongest language yet in signaling his government is preparing retaliation if Trump follows through on his threat.”

Suspect in CEO Killing Had a Handwritten Manifesto

By Leave a Comment

The man New York City police have described as a “strong person of interest” in the killing of the health care executive Brian Thompson was taken into custody on Monday while in possession of a handwritten document that spoke to his “motivation and mind-set,” the New York Times reports.

The Washington Post reports the document did not appear to contain specific threats to other people, “but it does seem that he has some ill will towards corporate America.”

Mangione left a 4-star review of the Unabomber’s manifesto: “When all other forms of communication fail, violence is necessary to survive. You may not like his methods, but to see things from his perspective, it’s not terrorism, it’s war and revolution.”

Adviser Walks Back Trump’s Statement

By Leave a Comment

“Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Donald Trump, on Monday sought to walk back the president-elect’s recent statement that he believes the members of the House’s Jan. 6 committee who investigated him should be jailed,” Politico reports.

Said Miller: “What President Trump said, if you listen to the entire ‘Meet the Press’ interview, is he wants everyone who he puts into key positions of leadership … to apply the law equally to everybody… As far as the politics aspect, if you listen to the entire interview with President Trump, he said he’s going to leave that up to the law enforcement agents in charge, including Pam Bondi and Kash Patel.”

Hochul Floats Sending $300 Checks to Residents

By Leave a Comment

“New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) wants to send about $3 billion back to 8.6 million New Yorkers in a bid to alleviate inflation costs for working families,” Bloomberg reports.

“The one-time, direct payment is the first proposal in Hochul’s 2025 state of the state, which she is set to deliver on Jan. 14. New Yorkers would begin receiving the checks in the fall of 2025, if the legislature approves the initiative. The state will tap excess sales-tax revenue to send $500 to families making as much as $300,000 and $300 to individuals earning $150,000 or less, Hochul announced Monday.”

How Old Is Too Old to Be President?

By Leave a Comment

New York Times: “As the nation’s Democratic governors gathered for a winter meeting in Beverly Hills, Calif., this weekend, they lamented their party’s messaging challenges and grappled with the widespread defeats. But in interviews with roughly 10 Democratic governors and candidates for governor, no one offered an explicit age limit for the next nominee.”

“And some said that age was irrelevant altogether if a candidate appeared to be in strong shape and was connecting with voters.”

The Bizarre Normalcy of Trump 2.0

By Leave a Comment

Jonathan Chait: “A very strange disjuncture has opened up in Washington between the serene mood and the alarming developments that are under way. The surface is calm because the Republican presidential candidate won the election, and Democrats, the only one of the two major parties committed on principle to upholding the legitimacy of election results, conceded defeat and are cooperating in the peaceful transition of power. Whatever energy the chastened Democrats can muster at the moment is aimed inward, at factional struggles over their future direction.”

“Meanwhile, what is actually happening in the capital is, by any rational standard, disturbing. Donald Trump is filling his administration with ‘loyalists,’ a prerogative his opponents have grudgingly accepted as his due. Yet he is defining loyalist in maximal terms, including the belief that Trump legitimately won the 2020 election and was justified in his attempt to seize power. The winners are rewriting the history of the insurrection, and their version of history is about to acquire the force of law.”

Syrians Dig to Free Prisoners From Torture Chambers

By Leave a Comment

“In the gut-wrenching footage in the aftermath of Bashar al-Assad’s fall in Syria, children, the elderly, women and men sprint toward the exit of the notorious Sednaya Prison on the outskirts of Damascus — some stand frozen in confusion at the news of their freedom,” Bloomberg reports.

“The Assads notoriously used the prison system to lock up political dissidents, from leftists to suspected Islamists — but the rebels who overthrew the government over the weekend have opened the gates. Now, after the regime’s swift collapse, Syrians are trying to find loved ones who disappeared during the 13-year civil war or the Assads’ half-century rule — and grappling with the fallout.”

Exchange of the Day

By Leave a Comment

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) was interviewed on CNN by Jake Tapper about Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be Defense Secretary:

TAPPER: When you’re talking about drinking at ten in the morning, that’s a drinking problem. 

MULLIN: Well, then there’s a lot of politicians that have a drinking problem… and there’s probably a lot of media that has a drinking problem too.

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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.