“The conservative Christian Democrats appear poised to win Germany’s parliamentary elections on Sunday, with the hard-right Alternative for Germany in second place,” the New York Times reports.
“The first wave of exit polls, which are historically highly accurate predictors of Germany’s final vote, showed German voters delivering a rebuke to the nation’s left-leaning government over its handling of the economy and immigration.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that he was “ready” to resign as leader if it meant peace in his country, suggesting he could swap stepping down for NATO membership, CNN reports.
Daily Beast: Trump envoy can’t name one concession Russia will make.
“Border Patrol agents sit in empty parks. Active-duty soldiers drive through fields along the base of a towering black border wall. Military helicopters roam the skies,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“This is the scene lately along the U.S.-Mexico border, where President Trump quickly declared a national emergency upon taking office, rushing thousands of active-duty soldiers here. They arrived to join thousands of Texas National Guard members and state troopers deployed under a state disaster order, plus the thousands of agents permanently working for Border Patrol and other agencies.”
“What are they all doing? ‘A whole lot of nothing,’ one South Texas National Guard soldier said.”
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President Trump’s political operation is profiting from his flurry of executive orders by hawking gear such as “Make Greenland Great Again,” “Gulf of America” and “DOGE” T-shirts, along with the black “dark MAGA” caps worn by Elon Musk, Axios reports.
Washington Post: “After Elon Musk led a move to email all 2.3 million government workers over the weekend asking them to share five bullet points detailing what they accomplished last week, chaos and confusion reigned.”
“Agencies issued conflicting guidance, as did different divisions within the same agency, in some cases.”
CNN: What we know about the mass email to federal employees — and Musk’s vow to dismiss anyone who doesn’t answer.
“President Trump, furious about delays in delivering two new Air Force One jets, has empowered Elon Musk to explore drastic options to prod Boeing to move faster, including relaxing security clearance standards for some who work on the presidential planes,” the New York Times reports.
“His administration has even discussed whether a luxury jet could be acquired and refitted during the wait.”
“After a monthlong honeymoon for the GOP at the start of President Trump’s term, lawmakers are confronting a groundswell of fear and disaffection in districts around the country,” the New York Times reports.
“Employee buyouts, terminations and uncertainty at multiple federal agencies are sparking warnings about an erosion of scientific and technical expertise at a crucial moment,” Axios reports.
“President Trump has America’s wind-energy industry at a standstill,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Developers are delaying some projects and writing down the value of investments. Plans are hanging in limbo.”
“During his campaign, Trump directed fierce criticism to offshore wind projects, which he promised to ‘end on day one.’ His first wave of executive orders included a pause for federal permits and leasing for wind projects on land and at sea.”
Peter Baker: “Mr. Trump has long been unfettered by truth when it comes to boasting about his record and tearing down his enemies. But what were dubbed ‘alternative facts’ in his first term have quickly become a whole alternative reality in his second to lay the groundwork for radical change as he moves to aggressively reshape America and the world.”
New York Times: “After decades of gerrymandering and political polarization, a vast majority of members of Congress and state legislatures did not face competitive general elections last year.”
“Instead, they were effectively elected through low-turnout or otherwise meaningless primary contests. Vanishingly few voters cast a ballot in those races, according to a New York Times analysis of more than 9,000 congressional and state legislative primary elections held last year. On average, just 57,000 people voted for politicians in U.S. House primaries who went on to win the general election — a small fraction of the more than 700,000 Americans each of those winners now represents.”
“Increasingly, members of Congress are not even facing primary challenges.”
New York Times: “Mr. Murphy, a career politician who rose to national prominence as a gun safety advocate after the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., has emerged in the opening weeks of Mr. Trump’s second term as one of the most effective Democratic communicators pushing back against a president unbound.”
“In two-minute videos on social media, which he records from his office on Capitol Hill; an almost constant stream of posts on X; passionate floor speeches; and essays he writes on his Substack, Mr. Murphy is attempting to explain in digestible sound bites that what is happening in Washington is very simple: It’s a billionaire takeover of American democracy.”
“He is also seizing a political opportunity to position himself as a future national leader for Democrats who find themselves deep in the wilderness as they seek a strategy for simultaneously rebuilding their party and resisting Mr. Trump.”
“After a four-week absence from Washington, first lady Melania Trump returned to the White House on Saturday for an annual dinner and reception with the nation’s governors,” CNN reports.
“Germans headed to the polls on Sunday to vote in the 2025 federal election, which is all but guaranteed to result in a new chancellor taking over from Olaf Scholz to lead Europe’s largest economy,” CNBC reports.
“The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its affiliate the Christian Social Union (CSU) have been polling in first place in the lead-up to the election, putting their lead candidate Friedrich Merz in line for chancellorship.”
“The far-right Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) is expected to come second in line, ahead of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens, which have also been part of the most recent ruling coalition that collapsed late last year.”
“President Donald Trump’s Friday night purge of the Pentagon’s top officer and five other senior officials has thrust the institution into uncharted territory, with a retired general plucked from obscurity to serve as the commander in chief’s next senior military adviser and growing alarm among Trump’s critics about the encroachment of political warfare on an organization bound by the Constitution to remain nonpartisan,” the Washington Post reports.
Washington Post: “In the week following Trump’s announcement, ticket sales dropped by roughly 50 percent compared to the previous week, a stunning aberration.”
“Kash Patel, the newly sworn-in director of the FBI, is expected to also be named acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,” CBS News reports.
“President Donald Trump expressed optimism about negotiations in Congress to push forward his agenda on taxes and immigration, declaring that his party’s political movement will have lasting staying power in Washington,” Bloomberg reports.
“Trump reprised many measures of his first month back in the White House in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, telling the friendly audience he’s confident the Republican Party will beat the historical odds and avoid a voter backlash in next year’s midterm elections.”
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.
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