“Manhattan rent prices ticked higher in the month before Zohran Mamdani won New York City’s mayoral election on promises to improve affordability,” Bloomberg reports.
Disillusioned Trump Voters Don’t Regret Their Vote
NBC News spoke to 18 Trump voters who said President Trump had not met their expectations on the economy.
Key finding: “None regretted their vote for Trump last year, in many cases because of a deep frustration with Democrats. A handful said they’d be open to voting for Democrats in the future, though most planned to keep voting Republican.”
Mamdani Seeks Advice from Democratic Governors
“New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has spoken privately with several Democratic governors about how to take on President Trump and tackle other priorities,” Axios reports.
“The meetings — with three potential 2028 presidential candidates — are a sign that Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is seeking advice on governing from Democrats across the party’s ideological spectrum.”
The One Issue That Splits Trump From His Base
Karen Tumulty: “The MAGA base has had little trouble looking the other way when it comes to Donald Trump’s trampling of norms and ethical standards: the coarseness; the indictments; the retribution against his enemies; the self-enrichment while in office; the unprecedented claims of executive power.”
“His administration’s handling of information regarding the horrific crimes of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is different. Bringing to light what lies within the Justice Department’s so-called Epstein files is the most persistent issue to have driven a deep wedge into the president’s base — to the point where some who embrace the MAGA label have even been willing to make common cause with Democrats.”
Does the Epstein Story Matter?
Playbook: “There are real-world ramifications of this story exploding back onto the agenda. The White House did not want to spend yesterday talking about Epstein, does not want to spend today talking about Epstein — does not want to spend any more days talking about Epstein. It’s awkward, uncomfortable, distracting subject matter that Trump’s team would like to put to bed.”
“And that’s not going to happen, at least not yet.”
U.S. Faith Levels Plummet to Lowest on Record
Gallup: “The 17-point drop in the percentage of U.S. adults who say religion is an important part of their daily life — from 66% in 2015 to 49% today — ranks among the largest Gallup has recorded in any country over any 10-year period since 2007.”
“About half of Americans now say religion is not an important part of their daily life.”
Epstein Said Trump Was ‘Borderline Insane’
Jeffrey Epstein described President Trump as “borderline insane,” and his lawyer Alan Dershowitz as only “a few feet further from the border but not by much,” in newly-released emails from 2018, Mediaite reports.
House Will Vote on Epstein Files Next Week
“Speaker Mike Johnson announced Wednesday that he would put a contentious bill compelling the release of all of the Justice Department’s Jeffrey Epstein case files to a vote on the House floor next week – earlier than expected,” CNN reports.
“Johnson was required to soon put the bill from Reps. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, on the floor after the pair successfully deployed an arcane tool in the chamber known as a discharge petition. But he had some leeway to do so.”
“The Republican leaders’ suggestion that he would move more quickly than expected to put the bill before the full House is a reflection of the growing sense of agitation among members of his party on Capitol Hill.”
Playbook: “And this one could get ugly for Republicans. Remarkably, both Democrats and Republicans expect scores of Republicans on the Hill to back the files’ release. They know full well that while the MAGA base may not be sold on Trump’s involvement with Epstein, supporters still want the files released.”
Axios: Epstein files become a fiasco of Trump’s own making.
Quote of the Day
“I know how dirty Donald is.”
— Jeffrey Epstein, quoted in an email released by House Democrats.
Britain Is Preparing Tens of Billions in New Taxes
“The U.K. has long been torn between two mutually exclusive desires: Voters want European levels of welfare with American levels of taxation,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“By accident or design, that debate is slowly being resolved in the direction of higher taxes, as Britain’s Labour government prepares its second major tax increase in as many years.”
The Secret Meeting That Ended the Shutdown
“The turning point in the government’s longest shutdown didn’t involve President Trump or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Instead, after the Senate adjourned for the day and most reporters had emptied out of the halls, a small group of breakaway Democrats and an independent slipped unnoticed into the office of Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD).”
Japan’s Leader Started a Meeting at 3 A.M.
“Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, is known as an inveterate workhorse. She often skips social gatherings and has openly rejected the idea of work-life balance,” the New York Times reports.
“But even by Ms. Takaichi’s standards, it was surprising when she emerged from her Tokyo residence shortly after 3 a.m. on a recent day to convene a meeting with aides ahead of an appearance before Parliament.”
“Ms. Takaichi has drawn criticism for holding the meeting, which took place on Friday and has become known in the Japanese news media as the ‘3 a.m. study session.’ The issue is especially sensitive in Japan, where there have been high-profile cases in recent years of karoshi, or ‘death from overwork.’”
Catholic Bishops Rebuke U.S. ‘Mass Deportations’
“America’s Roman Catholic bishops on Wednesday rebuked the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign in a rare and near-unanimous statement that framed the immigration crisis in starkly moral terms,” the New York Times reports.
Who Won the Shutdown?
Punchbowl News: “So who won? No one. This record-breaking shutdown was bad for the country, bad for the economy and especially bad for Congress as an institution — particularly the House. It was bad for hundreds of thousands of federal workers, it was bad for law enforcement, bad for military service members.”
“And closest to home, it was bad for the legions of Capitol Hill aides and employees who had to work without getting paid.”
“There were two competing visions about how this impasse would end. Democrats swore that President Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune would cave and negotiate on health care. Republicans said they wouldn’t — and they didn’t. After more than 40 days of stalemate, Democrats folded a hand that was getting worse by the moment.”
The Next Shutdown Threat Is Around the Corner
Politico: “The bipartisan deal to end the funding lapse includes a long-term agreement on just three of the dozen bills lawmakers need to finish each year to keep cash flowing to federal programs. And those three measures are some of the easiest to rally around — including money for veterans programs, food aid, assistance for farmers and the operations of Congress itself.”
“Together, they represent only about 10 percent of the roughly $1.8 trillion Congress doles out each year to federal agencies. Under the deal, everything else is funded on a temporary basis through Jan. 30 at levels first set by Congress in March 2024, when Joe Biden was president.”
“That leaves behind major open decisions about the vast majority of discretionary dollars — including for the military and public health programs — along with the stickiest policy issues. It doesn’t help that House and Senate leaders still haven’t agreed on an overall total for fiscal 2026 spending, amid GOP divisions over how deeply to cut.”
Rubio Shrugs Off Allies’ Concerns Over Drug Strikes
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio left a meeting of major foreign allies on Wednesday saying that he had heard no objections to ongoing U.S. military strikes targeting what the Trump administration has described as drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific,” the New York Times reports.
“But speaking to reporters on the sidelines of their official meetings at the Group of 7 foreign ministers meeting in Canada, two senior European diplomats called the Trump administration’s lethal attacks illegitimate.”
“But Mr. Rubio showed little concern about charges that the strikes, which Pentagon officials say have killed dozens of drug smugglers tied to Venezuela’s government, lack legal justification.”
Prosecutor Faces Hearing on Legitimacy
“From New Jersey to California, the Trump administration has installed handpicked federal prosecutors by sidestepping the customary confirmation process, drawing legal challenges that have clouded the cases they brought,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The most consequential test of the president’s maneuvering comes Thursday, when a judge will weigh the legitimacy of the U.S. attorney who is prosecuting a pair of President Trump’s perceived adversaries, former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.”
Epstein Claimed He Could Take Trump Down
“President Trump’s long friendship with Jeffrey Epstein came to an apparent end in the mid-2000s. But Mr. Epstein remained intently focused on Mr. Trump for years afterward, seeking to exploit the remnants of their relationship up until his arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges in 2019,” the New York Times reports.
“In more than 20,000 pages of Mr. Epstein’s typo-strewn emails and other messages released by a congressional committee on Wednesday, Mr. Epstein insulted Mr. Trump and hinted that he had damaging information on him.”
Washington Post: Epstein wrote that Trump knew of sexual abuse but didn’t participate.
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