“The U.S. wants to know how loyal each NATO ally is to Donald Trump’s policies before cutting military assets defending the alliance,” Bloomberg reports.
“In a document recently sent to North Atlantic Treaty Organization members… the U.S. asks a series of questions that gauge support for the president’s approach. Has the country ‘been publicly supportive’ of U.S. foreign policy? What ‘restrictions’ has the country placed on the U.S. military using its bases?”
“Transit through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to grind to a near standstill on Friday after two more ships were attacked there and the United States said it could maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely,” Reuters reports.
“A deputy assistant to President Donald Trump was caught on camera drunkenly playing around with a sex toy hours after attending a children’s hospital benefit gala at Mar-a-Lago,” the Daily Beast reports.
“A video obtained by the Daily Mail captured Lynne Patton, a longtime Trump aide who has worked in both of the president’s administrations, chasing around a purple vibrator while partying on a yacht.”
“President Donald Trump is headed to the Nassau County Police Academy in New York Friday to tout new FBI statistics showing a historic decline in crime nationwide,” NewsNation reports.
“The FBI 2025 crime report, expected to be released Friday, is projected to show a significant drop in violent crime. According to reports, the data could show the largest year-to-year decrease in violent crime on record.”
“Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) made a remarkable argument on Thursday, explaining that in his opinion, Congress ‘should do a little more’ for wealthy Americans,” Mediaite reports.
Said Grothman: “Don’t let anybody tell you that people running, uh, Congress right now are looking out for the rich. Actually, I think we should do a little more for them, but, you know, right now, uh, we are doing all we can to help the middle class, right?”
“Trump administration officials and allies suspect U.S. Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro might be trying to get back on President Donald Trump’s good side by convening a rare special grand jury in the district,” Semafor reports.
“The move followed Trump’s repeated, public criticisms of Pirro over her decision to drop charges in a Reflecting Pool vandalism case. Some officials see the special grand jury move as an obvious ploy to ‘save her job at all costs,’ as one administration official put it.”
“And while the subject of the probe is unclear, it also comes just days after Pirro received a contempt recommendation for former health official Anthony Fauci from a GOP-controlled Senate committee.”
“Democrats are hoping a potential blue wave will make a reddish Florida district competitive,” Semafor reports.
“New polling from GQR shared first with Semafor shows retired Army Brigadier Gen. Leela Gray polling at 44% and incumbent Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna at 47% — representing a statistical tie, within the 4.4-percentage-point margin of error.”
Punchbowl News: “Steve Scalise said he won’t challenge Mike Johnson for speaker if House Republicans keep the majority. Johnson has done ‘a great job,’ the majority leader told us, and the speaker has ‘earned’ the right to keep the gavel.”
“But we asked Scalise three times whether he’d run against Johnson for minority leader if Democrats win the House. Scalise wouldn’t say.”
“When Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump met in the Oval Office two weeks ago, the president asked the Israeli prime minister how he was doing in the polls ahead of an Oct. 27 election,” Axios reports.
“Netanyahu paused. Then one of his advisers piped up: ‘Mr. President, he is winning,’ the aide said, according to a U.S. official familiar with the exchange.”
“Netanyahu is not winning. And so far, Trump hasn’t given him the endorsement he hopes for, despite being asked about it repeatedly by reporters.”
“Republicans have a new name on their growing list of progressive midterm targets: Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, fresh off a landslide Senate primary win,” Axios reports.
“With President Trump’s approval ratings in the 30s, Republicans are trying to turn the midterms from a referendum on him into a choice between the GOP and a Democratic Party they argue has moved sharply to the left.”
“That means portraying some progressive Democrats who’ve won statewide primaries as national foils. The strategy came into focus last week, after Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan’s Senate primary.”
ABC News: “The party is expected to give a final vote on Saturday, during its scheduled meeting, to finalize the 2028 calendar order, which would have South Carolina’s primary on Jan. 22, Nevada on Feb. 1, New Hampshire on Feb. 8, New Mexico on Feb. 15, Michigan on Feb. 22 and Virginia on Feb. 29.”
“The proposed order puts South Carolina at the top of the list — similar to how it was the first state in the party’s official calendar in 2024, although New Hampshire still held primaries earlier in violation of the DNC’s calendar.”
Nate Cohn: “Progressives had high hopes of dominant victories in marquee primaries in Michigan and Wisconsin, but in the end their candidates fared much worse than expected. The results would have been a lot less disappointing if the pre-election polls hadn’t been so far off.”
“The polls helped set extraordinarily high expectations for progressives: Dr. Abdul El-Sayed was ahead by double digits in the Senate primary in Michigan, and Francesca Hong led by more than 20 points in the Wisconsin governor’s primary.”
“Dr. El-Sayed ultimately won by one percentage point. Ms. Hong lost.”
“James Talarico’s Senate campaign is celebrating an endorsement from an unlikely political figure — a Texas attorney who once accused Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton of stealing his $1,000 Montblanc pen,” Semafor reports.
“Joe Joplin’s pen, a gift from his wife, became a source of controversy after he left it in a dish near a courthouse metal detector, after which a security camera captured Paxton picking it up and walking away.”
“After years of battling fellow Republicans and helping lead the culture wars in Texas, Ken Paxton is campaigning on tax deductions, appearing with state lawmakers who once voted to impeach him, and openly appealing to the Washington establishment for financial help,” CNN reports.
“It’s all part of Paxton’s efforts to unify his party after a bruising primary and pivot to a general election where he is already polling neck-and-neck with Democrat James Talarico. And it’s an unusual position for Paxton, a veteran of intra-party fights in state races now waging a competitive general election that could determine control of the U.S. Senate.”
“Nigel Farage, leader of Britain’s right-wing Reform UK party, has won re-election to parliament in a vote he triggered himself last month by stepping down amid controversy over his finances,” CNBC reports.
“Farage, who has previously been praised by U.S. President Donald Trump and was a figurehead in the U.K. campaign to leave the European Union, faces a parliamentary investigation over failure to declare a £5 million ($6.7 million) donation from a Thailand-based crypto investor ahead of his 2024 election.”
“The probe was suspended following his resignation on July 7. Farage has said the gift was a personal gift intended to contribute to his security costs.”
Bloomberg: UK’s Farage defeats Count Binface in special election.
“The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan five years ago this week, returning to power after two decades and restoring an Islamic government that had severely restricted women’s rights,” the New York Times reports.
“In those few years, women and girls have been systematically erased from most public life, experts say. And, some add, the limitations imposed on half the population could hobble Afghanistan far into the future.”
“Francesca Hong’s Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign embraced the new era of campaigning for progressive candidates, from a social media-dominated bid to her democratic socialist-influenced policy platform,” NOTUS reports.
“But part of her razor-thin loss to David Crowley on Tuesday could be explained by the traditional, or a lack thereof: broadcast TV ad spending.”
“Despite leading the Democratic field by double-digit margins before the primary, Hong was the only active candidate to seek the governorship without running broadcast TV ads, according to ad-tracking service AdImpact.”
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.