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ICE Plans To Double Immigrant Detention Space

August 16, 2025 at 3:32 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“When President Donald Trump took office this year, the United States already commanded the largest immigrant detention system in the world, with the capacity to hold close to 50,000 migrants. Right away, his administration set a goal of doubling it,” the Washington Post reports.

“An internal planning road map obtained by The Washington Post shows for the first time exactly how immigration authorities plan to reach that goal, including by opening or expanding 125 facilities this year. By January, ICE will have the capacity to hold more than 107,000 people, internal agency documents show.”

Trump Told Europeans He’s Open to U.S. Security Guarantees

August 16, 2025 at 3:25 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump told European leaders that he was open to offering U.S. security guarantees to Ukraine, a significant shift in his stance toward America’s role in any end to the war,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Axios: “Putin did say he was willing to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine… But he mentioned China as one of the possible guarantors, possibly suggesting he would oppose a security force consisting of NATO troops…”

“Trump has said this wouldn’t be a NATO mission, but Ukraine hopes the U.S. will participate in some fashion.”

A Reversal of Historic Proportions

August 16, 2025 at 3:23 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Peter Baker: “On the flight to Alaska, President Trump declared that if he did not secure a cease-fire in Ukraine during talks with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, ‘I’m not going to be happy,’ and there would be ‘severe consequences.’”

“Just hours later, he got back on Air Force One and departed Alaska without the cease-fire he deemed so critical. Yet he had imposed no consequences, and had pronounced himself so happy with how things went with Mr. Putin that he said ‘the meeting was a 10.’”

“Even in the annals of Mr. Trump’s erratic presidency, the Anchorage meeting with Mr. Putin now stands out as a reversal of historic proportions. Mr. Trump abandoned the main goal he brought to his subarctic summit and, as he revealed on Saturday, would no longer even pursue an immediate cease-fire. Instead, he bowed to Mr. Putin’s preferred approach of negotiating a broader peace agreement requiring Ukraine to give up territory.”


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The Long, Strange Trip of Rick Perry

August 16, 2025 at 3:19 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “The former Texas governor and Trump energy secretary has now dedicated his life to promoting the powerful psychedelic ibogaine.”

Trump Says Putin Wants More Ukraine Territory

August 16, 2025 at 12:31 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump said on Saturday Ukraine should make a deal to end the war with Russia because “Russia is a very big power, and they’re not”, after hosting a summit where Vladimir Putin was reported to have demanded more Ukrainian land, Reuters reports.

In a subsequent briefing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a source familiar with the discussion cited Trump as saying the Russian leader had offered to freeze most front lines if Kyiv’s forces ceded all of Donetsk, the industrial region that is one of Moscow’s main targets.

Fox News Spins Trump’s Failed Summit

August 16, 2025 at 11:29 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Status: “On Friday, Trump held his own high-stakes meeting with Putin, literally rolling out the red carpet and applauding the Russian dictator on U.S. soil. The talks ended with no deal, no concessions from Russia, and no plan to end the bloody war in Ukraine that Putin appears hellbent on waging.”

Following the meeting, Fox News’ senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich offered a blunt assessment: “It did not seem like things went well, and it seemed like Putin came in and steamrolled, got right into what he wanted to say. And got his photo next to the president and then left.”

“And yet, for Fox News viewers who continued to watch the network afterward, you would have thought Trump had just signed the Camp David Accords, with Hannity and other pro-Trump mouthpieces spinning the president’s flop into a foreign policy triumph.”

Trump Has No Cards

August 16, 2025 at 11:22 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Anne Applebaum: “President Donald Trump berated President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. He allowed the Pentagon twice to halt prearranged military shipments to Ukraine. He promised that when the current tranche of armaments runs out, there will be no more. He has cut or threatened to cut the U.S. funds that previously supported independent Russian-language media and opposition. His administration is slowly, quietly easing sanctions on Russia…”

“Many of these changes have gone almost unremarked on in the United States. But they are widely known in Russia. The administration’s attacks on Zelensky, Europeans, and Voice of America have been celebrated on Russian television. Of course Vladimir Putin knows about the slow lifting of sanctions. As a result, the Russian president has clearly made a calculation: Trump, to use the language he once hurled at Zelensky, has no cards.”

Trump Says He Believes Xi Won’t Act on Taiwan

August 16, 2025 at 11:15 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Donald Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping told him he would not “move on” Taiwan as long as the U.S. president remained in office, Bloomberg reports.

Trump argued that world leaders — including Xi — would never attempt such an undertaking while he was president.

Quote of the Day

August 16, 2025 at 11:13 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“And next time in Moscow.”

— Russian president Vladimir Putin, quoted by CNN, delivering the final words of his summit with President Trump.

Redistricting Wars Spark Mad Dash of Unlikely Candidates

August 16, 2025 at 11:10 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“California Democrats and Texas Republicans who might otherwise have had no chance of getting elected to Congress are suddenly spotting opportunity in the states’ mid-decade redistricting,” Axios reports.

“It’s not every day as many as 10 safe, open seats suddenly become available. The redistricting arms race has the potential to transform both states’ congressional delegations for years to come.”

Job Market Gloom Sets In

August 16, 2025 at 11:09 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Americans haven’t been this gloomy about the job market since the Great Recession,” Axios reports.

“Fears about joblessness have surged since President Trump unveiled plans to impose steep tariffs on foreign goods.”

“The economy might have hit a soft patch, but it has so far dodged the bleak predictions from a few months ago. Consumers are still bracing for the worst to come.”

Environmental Groups Face ‘Generational’ Setbacks 

August 16, 2025 at 11:07 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“In the Biden administration, the American environmental movement reached what many of its supporters considered an apex. Congress passed the largest ever federal law to combat climate change. Coal-burning power plants were shutting down. Hundreds of billions of dollars of federal investment in renewable energy, batteries and electric vehicles was beginning to flow,” the New York Times reports.

“But in just months, President Trump has attacked much of that work.”

“The Biden-era climate law, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, is in tatters. The White House is trying to revive coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, while boosting oil and gas and hindering solar and wind power. And it is weakening or trying to scrap environmental policies and regulations, some dating to 1970.”

“The abrupt reversal in fortunes has led to a moment of crisis for the environmental community.”

Trump Has No Plans to Punish China Over Russian Oil

August 16, 2025 at 11:07 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump said he did not immediately need to consider retaliatory tariffs on countries such as China for buying Russian oil but might have to “in two or three weeks,” CNBC reports.

Trump Backs Plan to Cede Land for Peace

August 16, 2025 at 11:05 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump on Saturday split from Ukraine and key European allies after his summit with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, backing Mr. Putin’s plan for a sweeping peace agreement based on Ukraine ceding unoccupied territory to Russia, instead of the urgent cease-fire Mr. Trump had said he wanted before the meeting,” the New York Times reports.

“Skipping cease-fire discussions would give Russia an advantage in the talks, which are expected to continue on Monday when President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine visits Mr. Trump at the White House. It breaks from a strategy Mr. Trump and European allies, as well as Mr. Zelensky, had agreed to before the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska.”

USA Today: From no-deal to Putin’s deal? A flummoxing summit, a Trump flip.

New California Map Puts Five GOP Seats in Danger

August 16, 2025 at 11:03 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Cook Political Report: “As Texas Republicans appear poised to thwart Democrats’ brief quorum break and pass a brutal new gerrymander, California Democrats’ plans to retaliate with their own aggressive map are coming into view.”

“Democrats’ California proposal is a mirror image of Republicans’ Texas plan in the sense that it flips three of the other party’s seats into solid Democratic pickups and makes two other GOP seats much more winnable, though still competitive. The plan would also shore up support for Democrats in the state’s competitive blue-held districts, including two rated as Toss Up and two rated as Lean Democrat by the Cook Political Report.”

“But unlike in Texas, where the GOP legislature can draw the state’s map however and whenever it wants, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats in Sacramento must first convince voters to permit them to enact a gerrymander — something that’s far from guaranteed.”

For Your Weekend Listening

August 16, 2025 at 8:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The latest episode of Trial Balloon is live for members.

What is Donald Trump’s actual job title these days? Can “the resistance” regroup? And what’s the deal with Laura Loomer?

Join now to continue reading.

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What Did Trump and Putin Say in Private?

August 16, 2025 at 7:27 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

CNN: “There was one moment that only Trump and Putin will be able to recount: their brief ride in the presidential limousine from the tarmac to the room where the meeting took place. No one else was in the car with them except Secret Service agents — no advisers or even translators.”

“That leaves the contents of their brief chat known only to them.”

Kremlin Leaks Video of Trump Fawning Over Putin

August 16, 2025 at 7:20 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The state-run Russian international news network Russia Today has released behind-the-scenes video from Alaska that appears to show President Donald Trump fawning over Vladimir Putin,” the Daily Beast reports.

The New York Times notes Trump showed deference to Putin: “Despite the fact that the meeting took place on U.S. soil, Mr. Trump allowed Mr. Putin to speak first at their joint appearance.“

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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