“Once a MAGA poster child, former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn is attempting a political comeback — this time in an open House seat in Florida — but he shouldn’t expect any help from those in President Donald Trump’s orbit,” NOTUS reports.
Said one Trump insider: “No way.”
“President Donald Trump’s victory last year was fueled in part by improvement among young voters,” NBC News reports.
“But new focus groups reveal why some young voters who backed Trump are beginning to sour on his administration’s approach to immigration and the economy.”
“The White House will restore $187 million in cuts to law enforcement funding that would have devastated New York’s intelligence and counterterrorism operations, following a bipartisan effort to reinstate the funds,” the New York Times reports.
“The health insurance subsidies at the center of the U.S. government shutdown fight disproportionately benefit areas of the country represented by Republican lawmakers, posing a potential vulnerability for Donald Trump’s party in next year’s midterm congressional elections,” Bloomberg reports.
“Twelve million Americans in Republican-held U.S. House districts are covered by health plans purchased through Affordable Care Act exchanges versus nine million living in Democratic-held districts. Of the 75 districts where at least 10% of the people are enrolled in Obamacare policies, 47 are represented by Republicans in the House.”
“Once you start conceding to demands on shutdowns, every time we get up against a deadline, you’re gonna have another shutdown.”
— Sen. John Thune (R-SD), quoted by Punchbowl News.
Zachary Wolf: “Aside from the routinely expiring debt ceiling, the practice of government shutdowns may be the most dramatic, unique and objectively silly quirks of how Washington, DC, works.”
“Shutdowns cost the government billions of dollars, they interrupt the productivity of federal workers, and it’s just plain a bad look for the most powerful democracy on earth to see its government literally sputter.”
“The concept of a shutdown is essentially unheard-of in much of the rest of the world. In most forms of democratic government, a failure to keep the government functioning would lead to the establishment of a new government.”
“President Donald Trump said that Hamas must agree to a proposed peace deal for Gaza by Sunday evening and threatened that the group will face more attacks if it doesn’t,” the AP reports.
Said Trump: “Every Country has signed on! If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas.”
“The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up a major new gun rights case focused on recent measures enacted in Hawaii that restrict where people with a license to carry a concealed handgun can bring their weapons,” NBC News reports.
“At issue are provisions of a law that requires people with concealed carry permits to seek permission to bring their weapons onto private properties that are otherwise open to the public unless the owner already allows it.”
Associated Press: Supreme Court will consider overturning Hawaii’s strict ban on guns on private property.
“President Trump is seizing on the government shutdown as an ‘unprecedented opportunity’ to consolidate control in the Oval Office, accelerating a trend toward unchecked power,” Axios reports.
“Many Democrats see the shutdown as a necessary evil to halt — or at least slow — Trump’s steamrolling of democratic norms and independent institutions. So far, the standoff is only emboldening the White House.”
Former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), a member of the liberal “Squad” in the House who was defeated in an expensive and contentious primary last year, said she will run for her old seat, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
“President Trump and top aides are enlisting powerful business and labor groups to push Senate Democrats to end the government shutdown,” Axios reports.
“Trump, while threatening mass firings of government workers, is also playing an inside game by cultivating support from influential D.C. interests — a tactic he typically dismissed during his first administration.”
“Funding for a program that helps millions of women and children with neonatal care and nutrition could run out within two weeks as the federal government plunges deeper into a shutdown,” the Washington Post reports.
“Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought warned that the federal government likely can only support the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children — commonly known as WIC — for another week. Other experts have predicted funds could last up to two. After that, states will have to reach into their own coffers to cover the costs.”
“Every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics produces the most reliable gauge of U.S. employment. But close watchers of the economy were left rudderless when the bureau withheld the data on Friday because of the federal government shutdown,” the New York Times reports.
“Without the data, the outlook is foggy as hazards abound, so businesses could be even less willing to make decisions about the future.”
“If we don’t pass a short-term CR there is no way of getting anything done to do the things they want to… We’re not going to do anything until we get government open.”
— Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), quoted by Semafor.
Paul Krugman: “Nixon, who was a piker by comparison to Donald Trump, was repudiated by his own party. Not only is Donald Trump a wannabe dictator, surely the worst person on multiple dimensions ever to occupy the White House, but he made his intentions clear in the January 6th insurrection and his promises of retribution if re-elected.”
“But unlike Nixon, Trump is backed by a Republican party that has become so extreme, so unwilling to acknowledge that opposition is even legitimate that none of his actions matter. Today’s Republicans show no hesitation whatsoever in adopting the Führerprinzip, the ‘leader principle’, in which Trump’s diktats override all written law and democratic norms.”
“Is calling the modern GOP an extremist party just my subjective assessment? No, it’s an assertion backed by solid evidence.”
The Trump administration has put on hold $2.1 billion in Chicago infrastructure projects, primarily two efforts to improve the city’s transit system, CNBC reports.
Corey Lewandowski “is considering a run for New Hampshire governor — as the White House weighs primarying GOP Gov. Kelly Ayotte over her resistance to redistricting,” Politico 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.
