As the midterm election cycle begins to accelerate, members get the full Political Wire experience — including exclusive analysis, the ad-free site, bonus newsletters, the weekly news quiz, Trial Balloon and more.
Get 20% off a new Political Wire membership.
I made a major update to Hindsight, the game where you put political events in the correct order on the timeline.
It sounds easy—until you realize just how quickly the years, elections, scandals and Supreme Court decisions start to blur together. See how many you can get right.
There’s a new game every day at midnight!
Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions.
“Since he started work as NATO secretary-general almost two years ago, Mark Rutte has spent much of his time trying to keep the United States anchored to the world’s biggest military alliance, employing outright flattery to dissuade U.S. President Donald Trump from acting on threats to abandon it,” Associated Press reports.
“But the goalposts keep shifting, raising the stakes ahead of this week’s summit in Turkey.”
“Initially, it was about money. Trump has long railed against NATO allies for spending too small a fraction of their national budgets on defense. But those problems were addressed at their summit last year, when U.S. allies committed to invest as much as America, in gross domestic product terms.”
“NATO’s real problem now is turning that money into military capabilities, particularly as European countries worry about a possible attack from Russia.”
President Trump shared photos showing the Reflecting Pool and the reflection of the Washington Monument appearing clear and blue.
He also shared a “Wanted” poster for an individual he claimed vandalized the site.
“Speaker Mike Johnson said he plans to move quickly to advance President Donald Trump’s signature voter ID legislation through the arduous budget reconciliation process once the House returns to Washington,” CNN reports.
Ken Burns said the drafters of the U.S. Constitution “would be abjectly disappointed” by the state of the United States in 2026, especially since the legislative branch has effectively “abdicated so much of the power,” The Wrap reports.
The Atlantic republished a 10-year old JD Vance essay that dismissed Donald Trump as nothing more than “cultural heroin.”
Wrote Vance: “He never offers details for how these plans will work, because he can’t. Trump’s promises are the needle in America’s collective vein.”
“Trump is cultural heroin. He makes some feel better for a bit. But he cannot fix what ails them, and one day they’ll realize it.”
Mallory McMorrow (D) ended her Michigan Senate campaign Sunday, creating a head-to-head race between progressive Abdul El-Sayed (D) and establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in the primary, Detroit News reports.
McMorrow had been consistently polling third in the Democratic primary.
Detroit Free Press: “She said she had hoped that voters would support a candidate who combined El-Sayed’ progressivism and Steven’s policy background but that path has been largely closed off by considerable outside spending in the race.”
“I don’t care. It’s America 250. If they can storm the beaches of D-Day on D-Day, I can deliver a speech and keep this program going.”
— President Trump, quoted by Rolling Stone, when told a storm may delay his July 4th speech.
Wall Street Journal: “Avila Chevalier is at the forefront of a shocking blitz by Democratic socialists that has upended Democratic politics. She was one of three New York congressional candidates who won their Democratic primaries after receiving Mamdani’s endorsement. Her victory startled party leaders more than the others. She usurped a five-term incumbent and chairman of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus who had built a well-oiled political machine in a district covering upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.”
“Democratic strategists said her win signaled voters’ openness to supporting controversial candidates as long as they are viewed as bucking the system.”
Said former Obama aide Patrick Gaspard: “This is no longer a left-versus-right moment. It’s an outsider-versus-insider moment in our politics. Too many people are feeling as if systems are rigged against them and the people they have elected to these seats are way too comfortable and cozy.”
Wall Street Journal: “Voters here could help determine the balance of the U.S. House and will vote in some of the most competitive statewide races in the country. With weeks to go until the state’s primaries and early voting already under way, the feud threatens to sow further distrust in election accuracy ahead of the midterms.”
“On one side is a majority Republican board who have doubled down on their opposition to claims of fraud. On the other is a Trump ally who has been boosted by election deniers and has raised concerns about election integrity but stopped short of saying Trump won the 2020 election.”
“The two sides disagree on everything ranging from who owns the election equipment to the breakdown of responsibilities.”
The Guardian: “Politicians have always enriched themselves but the chutzpah with which Trump is doing so raises the possibility that an ethical code is breaking down. And not just in the US. Across the West, from Clacton to Queensland, a new type of leader is emerging: the political grifter.”
“Making public office a ticket to the high life while living standards fall might seem a hard sell to the electorate. Yet many voters seem prepared to put up with grifting, even happy to reward it.”
Politico: “Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Sunday aired his frustrations with the continued attention that the botched renovation of the reflecting pool has received and doubled down on the Trump administration’s claim that vandals are to blame for its condition.”
“President Donald Trump has recast a generations-old transatlantic alliance built on shared democratic values into a framework he’s more comfortable dealing with — a business,” Politico reports.
”He’s persuaded NATO members to turbocharge their own defense spending and to invest heavily in American arms for Ukraine. This week, at the annual meeting of alliance leaders, the U.S. president will again turn the focus into how much Europeans can spend on American military equipment.”
Financial Times: Saving NATO in the era of Trump.
“Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro tore into New York socialist congressional nominee Darializa Avila Chevalier and warned that a battle is brewing for the soul of the Democratic Party,” the New York Post reports.
Said Shapiro: “I think what our party has to go through that will be very healthy, and something we’ve not really done since the 1992 election cycle, is to have a battle over what we believe in.”
“Cuba is on the brink of economic collapse under a U.S. blockade and sanctions. Civil unrest is growing as living standards plummet. And the Communist government has no allies to save the day,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“A big reason for its continued survival: the effective surveillance of all residents—including eavesdropping on calls—and its iron-fisted control of every aspect of society, from sports centers to concert halls.”
“Chinese leader Xi Jinping is employing the sort of autocratic tactics once wielded by Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong to stamp out opposition and stack the leadership with acolytes as he prepares to extend his reign,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In a throwback to the most powerful Communist leaders of the 20th century, Xi has purged dozens of senior officials—even his own protégés—overseen the growth of a cult of personality and demanded absolute loyalty.”
“His goal: dictate China’s destiny for years to come in order to expand the country’s power and match the U.S. in military might and economic clout. Now in his 14th year as party leader, the 73-year-old Xi has eliminated conventions put in place after Mao to prevent a return to one-man rule.”
“For years, many other NATO allies treated Turkey with suspicion for buying a Russian air defense system, attacking Western-backed Kurdish forces in Syria and stalling Sweden’s bid to join the alliance,” the Washington Post reports.
“That was then. Now, ahead of a NATO leaders summit in Ankara next week, the stars (and stripes) seem to have aligned for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”
“President Donald Trump, touting his friendship with his Turkish counterpart, says he’s only attending this year’s summit for Erdogan. It is the latest sign of rocky relations between Trump and his European peers.”
CBS News: Trump says U.S. keeping current support levels for NATO would be “ridiculous.”
“The loudest person in UK politics has suddenly gone quiet,” Bloomberg reports.
“Rather than exploiting the interregnum between Keir Starmer and his likely successor as prime minister, Andy Burnham, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage appears to have taken an unusual break from public appearances.”
“It follows a string of election bruises for Farage, and some unprecedented scrutiny of his personal finances. A year ago, the Brexit architect was hosting weekly press conferences in an effort to boost the profile of his upstart party and steal momentum from the Conservatives, who’ve traditionally dominated the right wing of UK politics. Now, he hasn’t held one of those since April.”
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.
“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.