“President Donald Trump blamed former President Joe Biden for weak economic data that sent stocks tumbling, arguing government data showed increased domestic investment signaled his tariff regime is working,” Bloomberg reports.
Said Trump, at a Cabinet meeting: “I have to start off by saying, that’s Biden. That’s not Trump.”
He added: “Let’s give us a pass on the first month, we were sort of getting a little bit used to things.”
“Two of Europe’s largest airlines have warned that some Europeans are starting to avoid U.S. travel, as President Donald Trump’s policies risk hitting some of the world’s busiest flight paths,” the Financial Times reports.
“The Trump administration recently sent a diplomatic note to officials in El Salvador to inquire about releasing a Salvadoran immigrant whom government officials have been ordered by the Supreme Court to help free,” the New York Times reports.
“But the authoritarian government of Nayib Bukele, the leader of El Salvador, said no… The Bukele administration claimed the man should stay in El Salvador because he is a Salvadoran citizen.”
Kate Shaw: “Federal courts, are limited in both power and reach. They are by design slow and reactive. They are not self-starters: They can rule only in cases properly before them, which means there needs to be a party experiencing a particular injury that is continuing or will imminently occur and that the judicial process can remedy…”
“Courts typically confront cases raising discrete questions, meaning there’s an atomistic nature to constitutional law and constitutional adjudication… They cannot act as roving guarantors of the rule of law.”
White House trade advisor Peter Navarro brushed off concerns Wednesday about the unexpected drop in U.S. gross domestic product last quarter, saying: “We really like where we’re at now,” the CNBC reports.
New York Times: “To detractors, the president’s decision to pull Ms. Stefanik’s nomination was something akin to karmic comeuppance for a Republican lawmaker who was elected as a moderate but tacked unapologetically to the MAGA right, coming to personify the opportunistic shape-shifting that has gripped her party in the age of Mr. Trump.”
“Ms. Stefanik’s plight seemed to crystallize in one succinct cautionary tale the limits of loyalty in the MAGA universe. Even one of the president’s most stalwart defenders, an effective ally since his first impeachment trial, ultimately did not get what she had long been promised.”
“To her supporters, however, the implosion of her cabinet dream was a gift in disguise, one that proved her mettle as someone willing to stomach a personal setback for the good of the team and set her up for something potentially better down the line. The result has been a new level of admiration from the president and among top G.O.P. donors, who are now encouraging her to enter the New York governor’s race for 2026.”
Charles Cooke: “What did Trump get out of this ploy? What did America gain? What did Republican voters achieve? What was improved for conservatism, or nationalism, or MAGA, or whatever other Trump-coded movements are the supposed beneficiaries of his maneuvers? Where, as the old advertisement liked to inquire, is the beef?”
“Because, from where I’m sitting, the whole incident looks monumentally, comprehensively, impressively stupid.”
“President Trump went in full force. He’s got his own negotiating style. I think he’s been quite smart about how to do this. And he’s obviously wants to make sure that the store shelves are not totally empty.”
— Steve Bannon, talking to NPR about President Trump’s tariff policy.
Bloomberg: “A banker turned politician, Carney’s calm demeanor appealed to Canadians unnerved by seeing the US switch from trusted neighbor to adversary overnight. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats to turn Canada into the 51st US state turned the fortunes of Carney’s Liberal Party, which for months appeared poised to lose the election to Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives. He assured anxious voters that the country could not just survive the trade war — but win it.”
“Carney is likely to take that same sober approach — honed by steering two central banks through the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis — into his negotiations with Trump. He has already ditched the acrimonious tone of his predecessor, fellow-Liberal Justin Trudeau, who promised to punch back at every tariff.”
“Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday that Congress could intervene to curtail President Donald Trump’s global tariff regime — but only, he said, if there’s an ‘imbalance’ in the relative powers of the executive and legislative branches,” Politico reports.
Said Johnson: “I think the executive has a broad array of authority that’s been recognized over the years… If it gets close to where the imbalance is there, then we would step in.”
“But he made clear he did not think that, despite the turmoil in the economy, things were anywhere near that point.”
David Graham: “An unpopular president is a less powerful president. Enacting an authoritarian approach is harder (though not impossible) without public support, and other institutions—the Republican Party, universities, law firms—are less likely to bend their knee if they see weakness.”
“One way you can tell these polls have some effect is that Trump is lashing out furiously about them.”
“A controversial measure to charge $20 on cars to help pay for Trump administration priorities is out of the House Transportation Committee’s reconciliation markup plan for today after several Republicans panned the annual registration fee,” Politico reports.
Pakistan said it has “credible intelligence” that India intends to launch military action the “next 24-36 hours,” Reuters reports.
President Trump on Truth Social:
“This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!”
This clip from President Trump’s interview with ABC News last night is really something.
Trump can’t believe Terry Moran’s refusal to accept his un-reality.
The Bulwark: “Seriously, you cannot possibly believe how long he spends dying on this hill without watching it happen yourself.”
Politico: “As lawmakers get into gear on extending President Donald Trump’s tax cuts, cracks are deepening on critical issues, including Medicaid, food aid and even lower-profile issues like transportation funding. Lawmakers are also getting impatient for more details about the plans from leaders, including on lifting caps on deductions for state and local taxes.”
Said Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY): “We’re in the seventh or eighth inning of this game. At some point in time, leadership and/or the committee need to reveal part of their hand.”
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.