“Americans broadly disapprove of how President Donald Trump is handling his job, and a majority say he has gone too far in exercising the powers of his office,” according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll.
“But a year out from the 2026 midterm elections, there is little evidence that negative impressions of Trump’s performance have accrued to the benefit of the Democratic Party, with voters split almost evenly in their support for Democrats and Republicans.”
“President Donald Trump is dialing up pressure on the Justice Department to freshly scrutinize ballots from the 2020 election, raising tensions with administration officials who think their time is better spent examining voter lists for future elections,” the Washington Post reports.
“Four years ago, Republican Jack Ciattarelli shocked New Jerseyans when he came within 3 percentage points of knocking off incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“If Ciattarelli prevails on Tuesday in his third run for governor, few would be surprised. A once-commanding lead for his opponent, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill, has shriveled to single digits, according to a sampling of opinion polls. Some put the two candidates within the margin of error in a hotly contested race to Drumthwacket, the governor’s mansion.”
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“In his path from obscurity to front-runner in the race for mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani has been propelled by raw political talent, an ambitious, progressive agenda and a diverse base of support,” the New York Times reports.
“But as Mr. Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, sprints toward Election Day on Tuesday, many New Yorkers are still struggling with a fundamental question about his candidacy: Is a 34-year-old state assemblyman who, until recently, managed a paid staff of only five, ready to lead the nation’s largest city?”
Politico: Zohran Mamdani winning would test how far New York City has come on inclusion.
“When President Trump said he would enact sweeping tariffs and crack down on immigration, dire warnings rang out in the construction industry,” the New York Times reports.
“The policies threatened to push up building costs and deprive the industry of a crucial pool of labor when high interest rates were already depressing building activity.”
“Those forces are converging on builders, weighing them down in a potential drag on the economy. Higher import taxes on steel, copper, lumber and other materials are lifting construction prices and interrupting some jobs. Immigration enforcement is worsening worker shortages and delaying projects.”
New York Times: “In what may become the longest federal stoppage in history, the president has frequently bent the rules of budget, primarily to reap political benefits or exact retribution. He has found new and untested ways to spare certain Americans, like the military, from the pain of the government closure, while claiming he has no power to help others, including low-income individuals who rely on benefits like SNAP.”
“The result is a shutdown unlike any other, one that has posed disparate and debilitating risks for those unlucky enough to depend on the many functions of government that Mr. Trump has long aspired to cut.”
“Nearly one year since Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Americans’ concerns and anxieties about high bills, inflation and the cost of living that helped propel him back to the White House now loom over the upcoming elections in New Jersey and Virginia,” ABC News reports.
“How acutely voters are grappling with those challenges — and who they hold responsible for them — could shape the outcome of the major gubernatorial races, and with them, the trajectory of both parties heading into the 2026 midterms.”
“The FBI forced out a senior official overseeing aviation shortly after Director Kash Patel grew outraged about revelations of his publicly-available jet logs indicating he’d flown to see his musician girlfriend perform,“ Bloomberg Law reports.
“President Donald Trump’s effort to install loyalist U.S. attorneys without Senate approval could sink the Justice Department’s criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James,” Politico reports.
“In recent weeks, federal courts in New Jersey, Nevada and California have ruled that unusual maneuvers by the Justice Department to appoint Trump’s unvetted prosecutors violated federal law. Their rulings are a prelude to the potential disqualification of a fourth Trump-backed U.S. attorney: his former personal lawyer Lindsey Halligan, who brought the charges against Comey and James.”
“Barack Obama reprised his role as the Democrats’ closer-in-chief on Saturday, filling a void for his still leaderless party in the waning days of the closely watched gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey,” Politico reports.
“A top Justice Department lawyer has told lawmakers that the Trump administration can continue its lethal strikes against alleged drug traffickers in Latin America — and is not bound by a decades-old law requiring Congress to give approval for ongoing hostilities,” the Washington Post reports.
“The president needs lawmakers’ approval for sustained military conflict under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which was passed in the wake of the Vietnam War to prevent another drawn-out, undeclared conflict.”
“A 60-day clock started ticking after the administration informed Congress on Sept. 4 that it had conducted a strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean two days earlier… The 60-day window closes Monday, and up to now it’s been unclear what the administration would do.”
“Millions of low-income Americans are losing access to food aid as the nation’s largest anti-hunger program goes dark for the first time,” Politico reports.
“Congress failed to reopen the government before funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ran out Saturday. A federal judge, in an eleventh-hour decision, directed the Trump administration to use emergency funds to pay for food aid in November — but even that wasn’t enough to prevent the immediate lapse of benefits, which officials say could take weeks to resume.”
“The White House said Friday that reporters could no longer access an area in the West Wing known as ‘Upper Press’ that houses the offices of key communications staff members, triggering pushback from White House correspondents, who said the move would hurt the press’s ability to cover the president,” the Washington Post reports.
“The US government shutdown becomes painfully real for tens of millions Americans this weekend as it hit the one-month mark with food aid disrupted, cuts to child care kicking in, and health insurance premiums spiking,” Bloomberg reports.
“The shutdown is expected to break the 35-day record set in President Donald Trump’s first term next week, after the Senate left town Thursday for a long weekend. The House hasn’t been in session since Sept. 19.”
“Former President Barack Obama called New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Saturday, praising his campaign and offering to be a ‘sounding board’ into the future,” the New York Times reports.
“The private, roughly 30-minute phone call, which has not previously been reported, was described by two people who participated or were briefed immediately on what had been said.”
“Mr. Obama said that he was invested in Mr. Mamdani’s success beyond the election on Tuesday. They talked about the challenges of staffing a new administration and building an apparatus capable of delivering on Mr. Mamdani’s agenda of affordability in the city.”
Tina Brown: “For the king, the latest round of Andrew sleaze could not have been more infuriatingly timed. After months of diplomatic planning, Buckingham Palace was intent on creating a clear media window for the king’s historic visit to the Vatican, during which an English monarch and a pontiff would pray together in the Sistine Chapel for the first time since Henry VIII bailed from Rome in 1534.”
“Now, for fuck’s sake, this ecclesiastical milestone would be overshadowed by the mephitic mist of the Andrew scandal.”
“Some people still think, you know, Trump is like the devil, basically. And, I mean, I think, I think Trump actually is not perfect, but, but he’s not evil. Trump is not evil. I spent a lot of time with, with him, and he’s, I mean, he’s a product of his time, but he is not, he’s not evil.”
— Elon Musk, on Joe Rogan’s podcast.
“Jay Jones, the embattled Democratic nominee for attorney general in Virginia, made a surprise appearance at a major Democratic campaign rally Saturday aimed at revving up the party faithful ahead of the high-stakes statewide elections Tuesday,” Politico reports.
“Jones — whose years-old violent text messages triggered a nationwide GOP backlash and a steady drumbeat of calls for Democrats to push him off the ticket — opened the event, where headliner former President Barack Obama energized voters in support of Abigail Spanberger, the party’s gubernatorial nominee.”
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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