Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 188
Nothing to See Here
“The New Hampshire Libertarian Party has again issued a call for political violence,” New Hampshire Public Radio reports.
In a post on X, the party’s account wrote: “We openly support the assassination of basically every elected Democrat in New Hampshire.”
“CNN said it was pulled from a planned trip with President Trump for Saturday, the second time in less than a week that the news network was barred from a scheduled rotation in the TV press pool,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Deadline: White House again blocks CNN from covering Trump on Air Force One as TV pool network.
Wall Street Journal: “Five weeks before the midterm elections, Republicans are panicking—and Trump is doing little to ease their minds.”
“Over a whirlwind seven days, the president has made a series of moves that have confounded Republican candidates, strategists and lawmakers.”
“He abruptly banned three media outlets from the White House, triggering a dayslong standoff that led major TV networks to limit their video coverage of his events. He praised New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who has long been a boogeyman for the right. At the United Nations, the president threatened to annihilate Iran and escalate the war.”
A new Wall Street Journal poll finds President Trump’s approval at 37%, while 61% disapprove.
“President Trump has rejected Iran’s proposal for a seven-day ceasefire and has told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran after the November midterms, U.S. officials said,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Tehran’s proposal would have reopened the Strait of Hormuz and resumed nuclear talks in return for the U.S. lifting its blockade of Iranian ports, which is causing deep damage to the country’s economy. Trump says openly that Tehran is begging for a deal after the midterms that dismantles its nuclear program.”
“But privately Trump is skeptical Iran would meet his demands and has told his staff that he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely, the officials said.”
“For the third time this month, the Supreme Court rejected Missouri’s bid for one more Republican-leaning congressional district,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“With no dissents, the justices upheld a state court order requiring the use of a 2022 election map, which favors Republicans in six of the eight districts.”
NBC News: Supreme Court for the third time rejects Republican redistricting push in Missouri.
“Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) accused President Donald Trump’s administration of taking ‘illegal actions’ Friday after it moved to cancel $810 million in congressionally approved funding without lawmakers’ consent,” Mediaite reports.
“The White House announced the sweeping cuts also on Friday as a ‘pocket rescission,’ targeting funding across several federal agencies that it characterized as wasteful or harmful spending.”
Politico: Trump declares $1B canceled in “pocket rescission” in another affront to Congress’ funding power.
“President Donald Trump spent months plotting ways to impress Xi Jinping,” CNN reports.
“But even after enlisting two military bands, ordering up a flyover, speeding construction of his new helipad and rolling out a literal red carpet, Trump ended up directly undercutting what the Chinese leader craved most: Network television cameras.”
“Trump’s abrupt ban on three news outlets — including CNN — disrupted months of careful planning for Xi’s state visit, frustrating both U.S. and Chinese officials over the limited coverage of a summit meant to showcase the two men together in front of a global audience.”
“Friday’s Supreme Court ruling clearing the way for states to use a sweeping online system to identify ineligible voters is a victory for the Trump administration, which has routinely promoted unfounded claims of widespread illegal voting by noncitizens,” the New York Times reports.
“But the impact of the decision on the November midterm elections is likely to be limited, according to election law experts.”
David Graham: “The number of prominent Republicans distancing themselves from Trump has accelerated, or at least reached a critical mass, in the past 10 days.”
“The shift is interesting—first, as an indication of what information GOP candidates are receiving privately about the president’s unpopularity and its drag on them, and second, because public critiques of Trump from Republicans have been vanishingly rare, no matter how unwise, outrageous, or unpopular his actions have been.”
“But the defections are perhaps better understood as a sign of normalcy, even in a deeply abnormal context. A president’s party almost always loses seats in a midterm, a result of the pendulum effect in elections. And the dynamics of this race are especially challenging for Republicans because Trump is historically unpopular, outpacing even his own poor ratings in 2018, when Democrats dominated the midterms.”
Quinta Jurecic: “Trump’s standoff with the press reflects the fury of a man who has grasped, however dimly, that he cannot control everything…”
“It is also the fury of someone insistent on exerting as much power as he can over the steadily shrinking universe of what does remain directly under his control. If Republicans lose unified control of Congress in the midterms, then Trump’s old allies will be less likely to swear fealty, and that universe will diminish even further.”
“There is a danger to democracy here, but it is less the danger of a strategic shift toward authoritarianism and more the danger of petulance and stupidity. Every president struggles with irrelevance in the waning years of their power, and Trump has never been one to decline gracefully.”
“The seashells-based prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey has been delayed until early 2027, as a judge makes her way through a number of pending motions, including a request by Comey to dismiss the case on grounds it was driven by Donald Trump’s animus,” NBC News reports.
“The White House released a second government-sponsored broadcast advertisement on Friday claiming the U.S. is the most successful nation in history amid growing bipartisan backlash over the apparent use of taxpayer dollars to fund the spots,” the Washington Sun reports.
“A bipartisan group of senators is pressing President Donald Trump to withdraw Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to the G20 summit later this year in Miami,” the Washington Sun reports.
“The 13 senators, including six Republicans, warned that welcoming Putin to the United States would give him ‘stature and legitimacy’ while Russia continues its war in Ukraine.”
“Democrats are demanding a U.S. government-funded, campaign-style ad promoting President Trump be pulled as it airs weeks before the midterms, while the White House argues it’s a public service announcement,” Axios reports.
“Federal agencies routinely spend taxpayer dollars on public service campaigns. Democrats argue using federal funds for a video that looks like political advertising crosses a legal red line.”
CNN: White House airs government-funded ad praising Trump.
The Atlantic: “When Israel’s leaders gathered in Jerusalem on September 26, 2023, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the surprise assault by Syria and Egypt as a cautionary tale, one of missed intelligence warnings and self-delusion.
Said Netanyahu: “We do not underestimate any threat.”
“Roughly two hours before Netanyahu took the stage, a chartered Cessna jet linked to Egypt’s intelligence service had touched down at Ben Gurion Airport, about 30 miles away. The jet rolled to a stop in an isolated section of the airport used for sensitive diplomatic and security missions. Abbas Kamel, Egypt’s intelligence chief and one of the region’s most influential security officials, had come to Israel on a most sensitive mission.”
“Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood–aligned terrorist group that controlled Gaza, appeared to be mobilizing for a major attack, Kamel said, according to Israeli, Egyptian, Arab, U.S. and European officials who were briefed about his visit after October 7. The window to prevent a disaster was closing.”
A new Common Cause North Carolina/Opinion Diagnostics poll in North Carolina finds Roy Cooper (D) leading Michael Whatley (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 51% to 41%.
“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will not be the next AI czar, President Donald Trump announced Friday, leaving the coveted White House role open as the AI industry’s rapid development becomes a leading policy issue in Washington,” the Washington Sun reports.
Axios: Inside Trump’s “super intelligence” naming problem.
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.