“The Trump administration is asserting authority to withhold billions of dollars from low-income housing services, education assistance, medical research grants and other programs approved by Congress,” the Washington Post reports.
“The new practices are likely to reignite a clash over the administration’s power to freeze dollars approved by Congress, usurping authority that the legislative branch has under the Constitution.”
“Job growth slowed down substantially this summer. What we don’t know for sure is why,” Axios reports.
“If the jobs slowdown is due to less labor supply, thanks in part to restrictionist immigration policy, then it’s nothing to worry about. If it is because employers are more reluctant to hire, then it’s an early warning that the economy needs monetary stimulus.”
“In other words, we could be in the early stages of a labor market downturn, which could justify the kinds of aggressive interest rate cutting the Trump administration seeks.”
“Or we could just be seeing the inverse of the situation faced in 2023 and the first half of 2024, when high immigration rates unduly flattered the payrolls numbers, masking a deterioration in the health of the labor market. That would imply no rate cutting is needed.”
“Energy Secretary Chris Wright said he knows Republicans could suffer political pain for the electricity prices that are rising before next year’s midterm elections. But he hopes voters will know to blame the Democrats instead,” Politico reports.
Said Wright: “The momentum of the Obama-Biden policies, for sure that destruction is going to continue in the coming years.”
Still, he said: “That momentum is pushing prices up right now. And who’s going to get blamed for it? We’re going to get blamed because we’re in office.”
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“President Trump dialed into Fox & Friends on Tuesday morning and revealed his newest and truest motivation for brokering an end to the war in Ukraine: He’s worried he might not get into heaven after he dies,” the New York Times reports.
Said Trump: “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible. I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
“This would have been a highly unusual admission from any president, but it seemed especially out of character coming from this one.”
“In the annals of trans-Atlantic diplomacy, Monday’s meeting between President Trump and European leaders may go down as one of the stranger summits in memory,” the New York Times reports.
“Historic, yet uncertain in its outcome; momentous, yet ephemeral in its effect on the war in Ukraine; choreographed, yet hostage to the impulses of a single man, Mr. Trump.”
“President Trump is floating providing U.S. pilots and warplanes as part of security guarantees for post-war Ukraine as he pushes for an end to Russia’s war against the country,” The Hill reports.
“Trump has said the U.S. will help Europe craft security guarantees for Ukraine to backstop any peace deal reached with Russia, in lieu of Ukraine joining NATO, a red line for Russia.”
Washington Post: Trump offers “assurance” U.S. won’t send ground troops to Ukraine.
“The White House is planning for a possible trilateral meeting between the U.S., Russian and Ukrainian presidents in the Hungarian capital of Budapest as the next step in negotiating an end to the yearslong war,” Politico reports.
“The PGA Tour will be holding a signature event in South Florida for the first time next season,” the Palm Beach Post reports.
“The Miami Championship at Trump National Doral, owned by President and Palm Beach resident Donald Trump, is one of nine limited-field events that will offer $20 million purses, the Tour confirmed Aug. 19 when the 2026 schedule was released.”
“Visitors to the US arriving on student visas plunged in July, falling year-on-year for a fourth straight month,” Bloomberg reports.
“The declines were most pronounced from Asia, the largest international education market, as the Trump administration’s immigration policies created bottlenecks and a chilling effect on prospective students.”
New York Magazine: “Cuomo told donors at a Saturday fundraiser in the Hamptons that voters will look beyond Guardian Angels founder and perennial Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa in search of a candidate better suited to challenge Mamdani.”
Said Cuomo: “We can minimize the Sliwa vote, because he’ll never be a serious candidate. And Trump himself, as well as top Republicans, will say the goal is to stop Mamdani. And you’ll be wasting your vote on Sliwa. So I feel good about that.”
“President Donald Trump last month tried to goad Sen. Chuck Grassley into ending the practice of giving deference to home-state senators in the judicial nominations process — a pressure campaign that quickly escalated into an all-out social media war on the 91-year-old Judiciary Committee chair,” Politico reports.
“It didn’t work. Despite Trump’s threats to rally his base against Grassley, Senate Republicans rebuffed the attempts to get their colleague to give up on so-called blue slips, which allow members of the minority party power to effectively veto nominees for U.S. attorneys and district court judges who would serve their regions.”
“Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s top aide and China’s chief diplomat hailed their nations’ warming ties, in another signal both sides are recalibrating their foreign policy amid mounting tariff pressure from President Donald Trump,” Bloomberg reports.
“At the moment, the American economy feels a little bit like a hot August afternoon. The air is heavy and still, as lightning flashes on the horizon. The storm could sweep through and leave destruction in its wake. It could set in for a brief drizzle,” the New York Times reports.
“Or it could pass by in the distance, and take its fury elsewhere.”
“In this very humid metaphor, the electricity in the sky is the steep tariffs that President Trump has now imposed on most goods coming into the United States. It’s also his strict immigration curbs, mass firings of government employees and the pullback in government spending.”
“I’ve got all the qualifications to be president. I’m rich, I’ve been arrested a few times, and I always say crazy shit.”
— Comedian Tiffany Haddish, quoted by The Wrap.
David Graham: “What exactly is their mission and training, though? National Guard troops prepare for civil unrest, which is why they’re frequently called up when major protests break out. But D.C. isn’t seeing big demonstrations—certainly not before Trump’s takeover, and not really since, either, despite some smaller protests by residents.”
“As for the mission, that’s even more obscure. Last Monday, Trump said that the plan was to “liberate” D.C. from crime. Depending on who you believe, the takeover was triggered by the president’s desire to change the subject away from Jeffrey Epstein, a reflexive reaction to a Fox News segment about D.C., or anger about an attempted carjacking involving a former DOGE staffer. But Trump cited no acute emergency, and he hasn’t explained what the goal is. With no stated objective, there can be no end point. (It can’t be that crime ceases to exist, an impossible goal.) That raises the scary prospect that it could just go on forever—or slide into martial law around the country.”
“More than half of UK millionaires in a survey signaled they’d be more likely to leave the country if the Labour government introduces a new wealth tax,” Bloomberg reports.
“About 60% of the respondents also said that they thought they could have a better quality of life overseas, according to the survey by financial advisory firm Arton Capital. Nearly half of the questioned millionaire Labour voters indicated they’d be more inclined to exit if a new levy was brought in.”
“The US topped the rankings among wealthy Britons for potential relocation, followed by Canada, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.”
“Its commanders have been assassinated, its air defenses destroyed and its ranks penetrated by Israeli intelligence,” Bloomberg reports.
“Yet somehow, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has emerged from the 12-day war with Israel with more power than before.”
Abigail Spanberger (D) holds a 7-point lead over Winsome Earle-Sears (R) in the race for Virginia governor, 46% to 39%, according to a new Roanoke College Poll that shows the contest tightening since the spring.
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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