“The Trump administration has instated all sorts of requirements to monitor Americans, particularly immigrants in its first months,” Axios reports.
“From an undocumented immigrant registry to proof-of-citizenship for voting, President Trump has attempted to create a landscape in which the government can demand to know — and force people to prove — their identity in radical new ways.”
“President Trump is considering nominating Emil Bove III, a top Justice Department official responsible for enacting his immigration agenda and ordering the purge of career prosecutors, to be a federal appeals judge,” the New York Times reports.
“With the GOP’s Texas Senate primary already getting nasty, many Republicans are nervous that Sen. John Cornyn can only beat Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton if President Donald Trump intervenes — and sources said that seems unlikely at the moment,” NOTUS reports.
“Several polls show Cornyn trailing. But the severity of the situation became clear last week when Cornyn touted a poll on X showing him down 16 points, reasoning that Paxton’s lead is ‘shrinking already.'”
Said Cornyn: “He must be getting nervous.”
“CBS News faced another shock wave on Monday after its president, Wendy McMahon, abruptly said that she would exit her post, the latest development in an ongoing showdown between the news division and President Trump,” the New York Times reports.
Said McMahon: “It’s become clear the company and I do not agree on the path forward.”
“I cannot stand by while a country is invaded, a democracy bombarded, and children killed with impunity. I believe that the only way to secure U.S. interests is to stand up for democracies and to stand against autocrats. Peace at any price is not peace at all ― it is appeasement. And history has taught us time and again that appeasement does not lead to safety, security or prosperity. It leads to more war and suffering.”
— Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, writing in the Detroit Free Press.
President Trump is pressing for a “major investigation” into why some Hollywood celebrities lined up to support former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, questioning whether megastars Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey and Bono were illegally paid for their endorsements under the guise of performance fees, The Hill reports.
“For generations, official American documents have been meticulously preserved and protected, from the era of quills and parchment to boxes of paper to the cloud, safeguarding snapshots of the government and the nation for posterity,” the AP reports.
“Now, the Trump administration is scrubbing thousands of government websites of history, legal records and data it finds disagreeable.”
Elon Musk has taken a significant step back from the forefront of political conversation, Politico reports.
President Trump and other top Republicans barely mention him anymore — perhaps a political boon for Republicans, given Musk’s unpopularity.
Paul Krugman: “Republicans in Congress, taking their marching orders from Donald Trump, are on track to enact a hugely regressive budget — big tax giveaways to the wealthy combined with cruel cuts in programs that serve lower-income Americans. True, the legislation suffered a setback last week, initially failing to make it out of committee. But that was largely because some right-wing Republicans didn’t think the benefit cuts were vicious enough.”
“OK, news at 11. Isn’t this what Republicans always do? But this reconciliation bill — that is, legislation structured in such a way that it can’t be filibustered and may well pass with no Democratic votes — is different in both degree and kind from what we’ve seen before: Its cruelty is exceptional even by recent right-wing standards.”
Time: “Like a lot of Democrats these days, Chris Murphy has been doing some soul searching. For years, the Connecticut Senator, who took office shortly after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, was one of the nation’s most outspoken advocates for tighter gun laws. Gun safety was so important, he argued, that supporting an assault-weapons ban should be mandatory for Democratic leaders.”
“Recently, Murphy has come to believe he was wrong. Not about tougher gun laws, but about trying to force all Democrats to adopt his position.”
Said Murphy: “I bear some responsibility for where we are today. I spent a long time trying to make the issue of guns a litmus test for the Democratic Party. I think that all of the interest groups that ended up trying to apply a litmus test for their issue ended up making our coalition a lot smaller.”
George Packer: “The vice president of the United States doesn’t let a challenge to his honor pass. He’s quick to anger, ready with a jibe, picks fights on social media… He divides the world into kinfolk and enemies, with steadfast loyalty for those in the first category and suspicion or hostility for the great majority consigned to the second. He justifies every cruel policy, blatant falsehood, and constitutional breach by aligning himself with the unfairly treated people he grew up with, whether or not his administration is doing them any actual good. His idea of American identity has gone hard and narrow—not the encompassing creed of the founding documents, but the Appalachian dirt of the graveyard where his ancestors lie buried.”
“To succeed in the world of elites, Vance had to let himself be civilized, at a psychological cost. When that world no longer offered what he wanted, he found a new world of different elites. They lifted him to unimagined heights of power, and at the same time they brought him full circle, to a return of the repressed.”
Time: “Democrats know they have a branding problem that transcends policy, messaging, or leadership questions. They largely agree they need to recenter economic issues in their messaging and develop what some are calling a ‘patriotic populism’ to counter Trump. They need to build a bigger tent. Many moderate Democrats want to sideline the activist groups that pressured elected officials to take unpopular positions. Even many progressives are retreating from the purity politics that reigned in the Trump era. They know they need fresh ideas and new leaders, even though they can’t always agree on how to find them…”
“Democrats are coming around to a new mantra: winning the argument is less important than winning elections. If the path to victory means embracing economic populism, they’ll do it. If they have to make room for new faces, then sayonara, old friends. If they need to tack to the center on some social issues, so be it. If winning requires doing more podcasts, or embracing Instagram influencers, or campaigning on permitting reform, they’ll give it a try. Because now that Democrats have seen what a second Trump presidency looks like, they’re relearning the lesson they should have known all along: only winning is winning.”
The House Rules Committee will meet at 1 a.m. ET on Wednesday to prepare the reconciliation bill for the floor, Punchbowl News reports.
Senate Republicans say the House-drafted bill to enact President Trump’s legislative agenda has “problems” and are taking a second look at breaking it up into smaller pieces in hopes of getting the president’s less controversial priorities enacted into law before the fall, The Hill reports.
“Democrats look like they’re headed to another presidential primary dogpile in 2028, whether they want it or not,” Semafor reports.
9And a party that’s plainly addicted to nominating senators and ex-senators — 1940 was the last year Democrats ran a ticket without at least a running mate of senatorial heritage — may end up doing the same in 2028.”
“At least a half-dozen senators are now viewed as potential 2028 candidates by their colleagues and top Democrats on Capitol Hill, a mix of new faces and familiar ones.”
“Britain agreed the most significant reset of ties with the European Union since Brexit on Monday, removing some trade barriers and collaborating on defence to help grow its economy and boost security on the continent,” Reuters reports.
“Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who backed remaining in the EU, has bet that securing smoother access to Europe for UK visitors and trade will drown out the cries of ‘betrayal’ from Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage when he agrees to closer EU alignment at a summit in London.”
“But the deal contains political risk for Starmer as it touches on sensitive issues including fishing rights, and many of the agreements will require further negotiation.”
“Israel will take over the entire Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, as the military announced it would carry out an ‘unprecedented attack’ on Hamas,” Bloomberg reports.
“Netanyahu said that, alongside the increased attacks, Israel would start allowing aid into Gaza again after stopping it in early March in a bid to make Hamas release hostages and surrender.”
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.