President Donald Trump said he has no plans to call Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after a politically motivated shooting of two state politicians in his state, USA Today reports.
Said Trump: “I don’t really call him. I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out, I’m not calling him. Why would I call him?”
He added: “I could call him, say hi how are you doing? The guy doesn’t have a clue, he’s a mess. So I could be nice and call him but why waste time.”
New York Times: “In an era when mainstream media is increasingly politically polarized and siloed, and authors face dwindling opportunities for coverage in print and on television, podcasts have emerged as the rare popular medium where hosts are willing, even eager, to engage with the opposition.”
“Podcasts have also become one of the few forms of mass media that indulge lengthy conversations about serious topics, allowing authors to speak in more than a 30-second sound bite. Writers from across the political spectrum have flocked there to push their books, and some political podcast hosts have even branched into book publishing.”
“President Donald Trump denied early on Tuesday having had contact with leaders in Iran, saying he hadn’t reached out about a potential ceasefire and that he was ‘not too much in the mood’ to negotiate with Iran,” ABC News reports.
Said Trump: “I’ve been negotiating. I told them to do the deal. They should have done the deal. The cities have been blown to pieces, lost a lot of people. They should have done the deal. I told them do the deal, so I don’t know. I’m not too much in the mood to negotiate.”
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer picked up US-UK trade deal papers dropped by President Donald Trump as they spoke to reporters during the Group of Seven Summit, AFP reports.
President Trump’s repeated attacks on Tucker Carlson — he was at it again last night — have upset staunch allies like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA.), who defended Carlson.
China is beefing up its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country, a new report published Monday shows, highlighting the risks of a new nuclear arms race led by big powers, Nikkei Asia reports.
“As Senate Republicans race to pass President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a plurality of Americans oppose the sweeping tax-and-spending legislation, with mixed opinions on specific provisions and concerns about its impact on the national debt and Medicaid,” according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll.
“Overall, 42 percent of Americans oppose the budget bill ‘changing tax, spending and Medicaid policies’ that narrowly passed in May by the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, compared with 23 percent of Americans who support the bill, and 34 percent who say they have no opinion.”
“For decades, Robert Menendez had the ear of presidents and prime ministers. He controlled the flow of military aid as the Democratic leader of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. A son of Cuban refugees, he was a go-to authority on immigration policy,” the New York Times reports.
“But on Tuesday, Mr. Menendez is set to become a ward of the same government that he once helped to lead when he enters a federal prison in Pennsylvania to begin serving an 11-year sentence for political corruption.”
“He will be known as prisoner No. 67277-050 when he enters Federal Correctional Institution Schuylkill in Minersville, Pa., roughly three hours away from the home he has shared in New Jersey with his wife, Nadine Menendez, who is expected to be sentenced in September for her role in the scheme.”
“President Donald Trump says U.S. factories hollowed out by rapacious foreign competition can produce well-paying new jobs only if they are protected by the highest tariffs since the 1930s,” the Washington Post reports.
“But those trade barriers may damage the larger and faster-growing part of the economy: the services industries that employ more than 80 percent of American workers. Since January, manufacturing payrolls have increased by 6,000 jobs, a fraction of the 470,000 new providers of services such as financial advice, health care and education, who generally escape presidential notice.”
Playbook: “President Donald Trump will gather his closest military advisers in the Situation Room this morning as he weighs perhaps the most consequential decision of his presidency: whether to join Israel’s bombardment of Iran. Trump’s sudden dash back to D.C. last night, mid-way through the G7 leaders’ summit in Canada — and shortly after urging all 10 million residents of Tehran to evacuate the city — gave the unshakable impression that an American attack is now imminent. But we’ve seen no U.S. military activity as yet, and there’s some counter-evidence this morning that the president still hopes to cut a deal. Nobody knows for sure how this plays out.”
“But it’s hard to overstate the significance of this moment. American involvement in this war could end Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and even topple its autocratic government — reshaping the Middle East for decades to come. But it would be fraught with political risk. The history books are littered with leaders whose reputations never recovered from overseas folly.”
Trump on Truth Social: “Publicity seeking President Emmanuel Macron, of France, mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit, in Canada, to go back to D.C. to work on a ‘cease fire’ between Israel and Iran. Wrong!”
He added later: “I have not reached out to Iran for ‘Peace Talks’ in any way, shape, or form.”
“A senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who oversaw respiratory virus surveillance has resigned and raised concerns about the future of vaccine policy as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. upends the agency’s long-standing approach to immunization,” the Washington Post reports.
“Senate Republican leaders have their work cut out for them,” Punchbowl News reports.
“The Senate Finance Committee’s mix of tax policies and Medicaid cuts are raising alarms for several GOP senators, threatening the leadership’s path to 51 votes. House Republicans also have major problems with the Senate GOP leadership’s proposed changes, as released Monday by the committee.”
“Senate GOP leaders desperately want to work out problems with the House now to avoid a formal conference. But they also need to sell their own senators.”
“Two decades ago, China shocked the United States with its ability to make and ship things fast and inexpensively on a scale never before seen. The resulting surge of exports reshaped America’s economy and its politics,” the New York Times reports.
“Today, a new China shock is cascading across the globe from Indonesia to Germany to Brazil.”
“As President Trump’s tariffs start to shut China out of the United States, its biggest market, Chinese factories are sending their toys, cars and shoes to other countries at a pace that is reshaping economies and geopolitics.”
“The NAACP will not invite President Donald Trump to its national convention this year — the first time in the civil rights organization’s 116-year history that it has excluded a sitting president — citing what it described as his attacks on American democracy,” the Washington Post reports.
Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) directly confronted Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) over the Utah Republican’s posts about the shooting of Minnesota lawmakers, Axios reports.
Said Smith: “I needed him to hear from me directly, what impact I think his cruel statement had on me, his colleague.”
Washington Post: Minnesota senator confronts colleague for “terrible” post on shooting.
“Business lobbyists are working to kill a tax measure embraced by Republican lawmakers that would punish companies based in countries that try to collect new taxes from American firms,” the New York Times reports.
“On Monday, Senate Republicans unveiled their domestic policy bill, which included a so-called revenge tax on foreign companies. That tax would punish companies based in countries that either adhere to the terms of a 2021 global minimum tax agreement or impose digital services taxes on American technology companies.”
“Last month, House Republicans passed a bill that would quickly impose the new tax. The Senate bill, seemingly in response to business concerns, would delay enforcing the provision until 2027.”
“A federal jury in Colorado on Monday found that one of the nation’s most prominent election conspiracy theorists, MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, defamed a former employee for a leading voting equipment company after the 2020 presidential election,” Politico reports.
“The employee, Eric Coomer, was awarded $2.3 million in damages. He had sued after Lindell called him a traitor and accusations about him stealing the election were streamed on Lindell’s online media platform.”
Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) canceled a town hall event Monday after learning that her name was on the alleged target list of Minnesota shooting suspect Vance Boelter, Axios reports.
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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