Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) “is on an active mission to tone the party’s weak media muscles, an atrophy that many now believe cost Democrats in 2024,” Semafor reports.
“It’s part of Booker’s new role in the caucus: modernizing a party that he believes relies too much on traditional print and TV outlets to get its message out.”
“The White House is seeking fines from several universities it says failed to stop antisemitism on campus, including hundreds of millions of dollars from Harvard University, in exchange for allowing the schools to access federal funding,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The deal that the Trump administration struck with Columbia University on Wednesday is now a blueprint for negotiations with other universities… Columbia agreed to pay $200 million to the federal government over three years to settle allegations it violated antidiscrimination law and to restore its federal grants.”
“The administration is in talks with several universities, including Cornell, Duke, Northwestern and Brown… though it sees striking a deal with Harvard, America’s oldest university, as a key target.”
“President Donald Trump is not done re-litigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. And neither are his allies on Capitol Hill,” CNN reports.
“Rep. Barry Loudermilk announced this week he will be leading a select subcommittee to once again investigate the incident, re-scrutinizing the work of the previous, Democrat-led Jan. 6 committee that made the case that Trump’s actions fueled violence that day.”
“A majority of Nevada swing voters in our latest Engagious/Sago focus groups who backed President Trump in November said they now disapprove of his administration’s actions,” Axios reports.
“Concerns about inflation, the ‘big, beautiful bill’ and the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s associates drove the change of heart for the Nevada voters.”
“The Nevadans’ comments amplify downward trends for Trump that are emerging in several national polls.”
A new Emerson College Polling survey of U.S. voters finds President Trump with a 46% job approval rating, and 47% disapproval.
Since last month’s national poll, Trump’s approval and disapproval rating increased one percentage point.
In the 2026 midterm election generic ballot test, 44% support the Democratic candidate for Congress, while 42% support the Republican and 14% are undecided.
“Do I think this is going to win us the election? No. But… this is a great opportunity for Republicans to kill each other.”
A House Democrat, quoted by Axios, on the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
Playbook: “Trump has fully invested himself in the coming midterm elections. Advisers and allies tell Playbook that with passage of his domestic policy megalaw behind him, Trump is itching to return to the stump and hold rallies — something he has brought up in multiple meetings in the past couple weeks.”
“But it would be a mistake to think that this is simply about Trump enjoying performing for adoring crowds of supporters: He sees near-existential stakes on the line for his political project and for himself.”
Donald Trump sent Jeffrey Epstein a personalized copy of his 1997 book, Trump: The Art of the Comeback, the New York Times reports.
Wrote Trump on the inside pages: “To Jeff — You are the greatest!”
“The Jeffrey Epstein controversy could be hitting town halls across the country as House lawmakers head home over August recess,” Politico reports.
“Democratic leaders have brushed aside misgivings about dabbling in conspiracy theories to broadly paint the GOP as a party intent on protecting the powerful rather than standing up for the vulnerable.”
Said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries: “It’s all connected.”
“Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said he met with Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell on Thursday,” Axios reports.
Said Blanche: “Today, I met with Ghislaine Maxwell, and I will continue my interview of her tomorrow. The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time.”
Wall Street Journal: “President Trump’s new levies, which have pushed the country’s tariffs to their highest levels in decades, are typically paid by importers when goods reach U.S. ports. So there is little mystery about who makes that first payment. It is often a manufacturer, a logistics or customs broker, or in some cases a retailer itself that ordered the shipment.”
“But economists and others have been watching for signs of who will ultimately bear the cost. Would it be foreign suppliers, by cutting prices on the front end, or consumers, by paying higher prices at the checkout stand? Or would the U.S. businesses that sit in between shoulder the burden?”
“It is becoming increasingly clear that U.S. businesses, from General Motors and Nike to the local florist, are absorbing much of the costs for now.”
“Buoyed by voters’ improving views of the economy, President Trump’s political standing is showing notable resilience, a new Wall Street Journal poll finds, despite the unpopularity of the GOP’s big tax-and-spending law, dissatisfaction with Trump’s tariff plan and high suspicion that the government is hiding important information about its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.”
“The set of turbulent recent events, which also has included the administration’s aggressive deportation program and the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites, has failed either to dent or improve the public’s overall view of the president. Some 46% approve of his job performance—unchanged from April—with 52% disapproving.”
“The Democratic National Committee will target MAGA voters with ads about Jeffrey Epstein in a dozen GOP-held House districts at the start of the August recess,” Axios reports.
Punchbowl News: “Democrats are desperate to push back against President Donald Trump’s brazen attempt to shift the House map in the GOP’s favor. Republicans are trying to muscle through new maps in Texas, Ohio and Missouri, with more red states potentially on deck.”
“But the two parties aren’t on a level playing field. Over the years, blue states have repeatedly ceded their redistricting authority to commissions. Red states haven’t.”
“That doesn’t mean that Democrats can’t fight back in the states they control, but it makes the process vastly more complicated. For the most part, Republican governors just have to call their legislatures into special sessions and pass new maps. By comparison, Democrats have to change their state constitutions.”
“This spring, the FBI and the Justice Department made an all-out push involving hundreds of employees to scour the Jeffrey Epstein files with a single goal in mind — find something, anything, that could be released to the public to satisfy the mounting clamor from the angry legions of President Trump’s supporters,” the New York Times reports.
“But after devoting countless hours to the project, working at times around the clock searching databases, hard drives, network drives, cabinets, desks and closets, the bureau and the department finally acknowledged this month that they had little to show for their efforts. They came to realize, for instance, that there was no specific ‘client list,’ which previous investigators had known years ago.”
“The biggest name in Jeffrey Epstein’s birthday book back in 2003 was a past president rather than a future one,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell was keen for Bill Clinton and other boldface names to submit letters for the special gift, according to people involved in putting it together.”
“In the end, she was successful.“
“President Trump’s name appeared on a contributor list for a book celebrating the 50th birthday of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, evidence that he participated in the collection even as he denied that he signed a sexually suggestive note and drawing,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump’s name is listed among dozens of Mr. Epstein’s acquaintances who were asked to contribute birthday messages for the leather-bound book in 2003.”
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.