Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 188
Nothing to See Here
The Political Dictionary has been completely overhauled, with hundreds of political terms, phrases and bits of jargon newly updated and easier to explore.
Take a look — you may be surprised how many expressions you use without knowing where they came from.
“A growing number of Republican candidates in the country’s most competitive midterm contests are pushing the Trump administration to bring the war with Iran to a close,” CBS News reports.
“The rare burst of pressure from within President Trump’s own party comes as the war nears the seven-month mark, and as public opposition to the war and frustration with rising energy prices pose electoral risks for Republicans nationwide. The pushback has extended beyond the president’s usual critics, with some Trump-aligned candidates calling for an end to the conflict. Mr. Trump has stood by his Iran strategy and has also suggested escalation is possible.”
“Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke before the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, even as his country remains at war with the United States and a day after President Donald Trump threatened in a speech before the same body to ‘annihilate’ Iran,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Pezeshkian: “Iran must be powerful so as to avoid being threatened, to avoid its future being threatened.”
“He’s doing the best that he can.”
— Melania Trump, on Fox & Friends, when asked how she thinks her husband is doing as president.
“A U.S. ban on diesel exports would rapidly fill domestic storage, depress the fuel’s prices and ultimately shrink gasoline supply while pushing up costs at the pump, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s co-head of global commodities research,” Bloomberg reports.
Said Goldman’s Daan Struyven: “All the things equal, lower diesel prices would incentivize refiners to reduce their production. And because gasoline and diesel are usually produced together as a bundle with some flexibility, it would likely reduce the availability of gasoline.”
Ed Kilgore: “The perpetually turbulent U.S. Senate contest in Maine took another turn on Tuesday when ProPublica reported that in 2019, Susan Collins was investigated by the FBI for a rather gross act of corruption but the probe later fell apart after the agency was purged by Trump.”
“It’s a long, complex story, but basically ProPublica found that an FBI investigation had linked an especially shady Hawaii-based defense contractor to Collins’s 2020 reelection bid. There was definitely a quid (contributions to a super-PAC backing the Maine senator) and a quo (designated defense contracts that only the company in question could perform), but Collins’s office has categorically denied there was a pro, a corrupt connection between the two. The allegations, as a Collins staffer has pointed out, were based largely on evidence supplied by the alleged briber in question, who is now in federal prison.”
“My purpose here is not to litigate the claims against Collins and her operatives, beyond observing that ProPublica has a very strong record for getting its facts right before pointing fingers. But the larger question is whether Maine voters, who in six weeks must determine whether Collins or Democrat Troy Jackson will represent them in the Senate, actually care if the incumbent is corrupt.”
A new YouGov poll in North Carolina finds Roy Cooper (D) leading Michael Whatley (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 52% to 41%.
“Based on the time we’ve been here tonight, I think we make a pretty good team.”
— Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D), quoted by the Washington Post.
“Data centers and artificial intelligence may not rank among voters’ top concerns heading into the midterms, but growing anxiety over their effect on electricity bills and local communities is giving Democrats and allied groups an opening to connect the industry’s rapid expansion to the issue that has consistently dominated the campaign: the cost of living,” MS NOW reports.
“At a sprawling waterfront mansion facing Biscayne Bay, a group of wealthy Cuban-Americans has spent months hatching detailed plans for a country that doesn’t yet exist,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The group has been drawing up blueprints for a Cuban stock exchange and an investment summit in Havana. Elsewhere in Miami, prominent Cuban-Americans are mapping out a provisional government, recruiting engineers to study floating power stations, and strategizing on repairs to the island’s crumbling infrastructure. They have plans to reach out to blue-chip companies, banks and investment funds to invest in a new postcommunist Cuba.”
“Federal authorities have opened a probe into Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime lawyer and accountant who are now his estate executors,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The two men have previously said they didn’t know Epstein was engaged in sex trafficking and denied being complicit in or knowingly facilitating any crimes.”
“The legal drama over Missouri’s congressional districts reached the Supreme Court for a third time on Tuesday night, setting up the justices to deliver the final word on which map the state will use in the midterms,” the Washington Sun reports.
A new YouGov poll in Georgia finds Jon Ossoff (D) leading Mike Collins (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 51% to 41%.
A new Quantus Insights poll in North Carolina finds Roy Cooper (D) leading Michael Whatley (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 48% to 43%.
The Cook Political Report shifted its Senate race ratings in Georgia, Kansas, and South Carolina — all in the Democrats’ favor.
“As of now, the current range of possible outcomes… is Democrats netting between one and five seats; they must net four to win back the Senate.”
“First lady Melania Trump revealed Wednesday that a two-part docuseries offering an intimate look at her life and responsibilities inside the White House will be released later this year,” the New York Post reports.
Said Trump: “It’s more conversation one on one with me. There’s some private questions that I will answer that people never heard before, so it’s kind of exciting.”
“The Trump administration is holding back Covid vaccines for all children in at least 11 states and one U.S. territory, and officials have not indicated when or whether the shots will become available,” The Guardian reports.
“It’s the latest step by top officials to restrict vaccines in America – and it sets a precedent for holding back other immunizations.”
A new CNN/SSRS poll finds President Donald Trump’s approval at 33%, while 67% disapprove.
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.