“Initial claims for unemployment insurance were well below expectations last week, helping to douse caution at the Federal Reserve and elsewhere that the labor market is in danger,” CNBC reports.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports the U.S. economy “grew more strongly in the second quarter than previously estimated, after figures on consumer spending were revised sharply higher.”
Variety: “Kyle and his mother go to war with prediction market apps while Donald Trump inadvertently terrorizes FCC chair Brendan Carr while trying to kill his butt baby with Satan.”
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Several defeated senators are currently running or considering runs for Senate in 2026.”
“In the postwar era, about 220 sitting senators have lost their seats in general elections or primaries, and most do not try to reenter electoral politics.”
“Still, almost 30 defeated senators have tried to return to the chamber, although only six have been successful since 1946.”
“Early this week, at an ABC affiliate owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the phones were ringing off the hook,” according to the Columbia Journalism Review.
“Every two minutes, someone was calling to complain about Jimmy Kimmel’s show being suspended from their local station.”
“Only Donald Trump would try to prove he wasn’t threatening ABC by threatening ABC.”
— Jimmy Kimmel, quoted by CNN.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had the explicit backing of Trump to strike key Russian targets such as energy infrastructure and arms factories, and that if Ukraine gets sought-after long-range weaponry from the US, “we will use it,” Axios reports.
And he warned: “They have to know where the bomb shelters are. They need it. If they will not stop the war, they will need it in any case.”
“A common ritual during the increasingly regular government shutdown fights is for the individual military branches to write to lawmakers warning how a funding lapse would threaten national defense,” Punchbowl News reports.
“That practice may not hold this time around.”
“With less than a week before the Sept. 30 funding deadline, the individual heads of the military branches have yet to send correspondence to lawmakers about the impact of a shutdown.”
“Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will soon be imprisoned after he was sentenced to five years in jail on Thursday by a court that found him guilty of criminal conspiracy over dealings with Libya, an unprecedented punishment for a leading French political figure,” Reuters reports.
“The sentence was harsher than many expected, and a first in modern French political history. Sarkozy, who was president between 2007-2012, will spend time in jail even if he appeals the ruling.”
“I think it’s frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit.”
— White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaking to reporters.
“European officials fear Donald Trump’s latest rhetoric on Ukraine aims to set them an impossible mission that will allow the US president to shift blame away from Washington if Kyiv falters in the war or runs short of cash,” the Financial Times reports.
A new Emerson College Poll of New Jersey voters finds 43% of voters support Mikie Sherrill (D) and Jack Ciatarelli (R), with 11% of voters undecided.
Decision Desk HQ: New Jersey’s 2025 race for governor could be close.
“Jeremy Carl, a top Trump State Department nominee, deleted thousands of social media posts, many demonstrating a history of inflammatory commentary— including incendiary posts about race, claims that ‘peaceful coexistence’ with Democrats is impossible, and even a call for a political opponent to face the death penalty,” CNN reports.
Wall Street Journal: “Trump told aides he couldn’t understand why people were so obsessed with the deceased financier and sex offender, according to people familiar with his comments. People don’t understand that Palm Beach in the 90s was a different time, he groused.”
Washington Post: Park Service removes statue of Trump and Epstein from National Mall.
Wall Street Journal: “Prosecutors are preparing to seek an indictment of Comey from a federal grand jury in Virginia as soon as Thursday, the people said, in a case involving allegations that he lied during 2020 congressional testimony concerning the bureau’s earlier investigation of Trump’s connections to Russian interference in the 2016 election.”
“The statute of limitations on such a case runs out next week.”
New York Times: “Lindsey Halligan, a former defense lawyer for Mr. Trump who was hastily appointed after the president forced out her predecessor last week, is rushing to draft an indictment under withering pressure from the White House.”
Playbook: “Even by Trump’s standards, it’s a stunning breach of presidential protocol and legal norms.”
“President Donald Trump’s furious rhetoric toward Russia is ‘a negotiating tactic’ intended to pressure the Kremlin, a senior White House official said Wednesday, a day after the president stunned global policymakers and delighted Ukrainian leaders by embracing Kyiv’s ambitions for a decisive defeat of Russia,” the Washington Post reports.
“Russ Vought just turned the shutdown standoff into a ticking time bomb for numerous federal workers and lawmakers in both parties,” Politico reports.
“In the Trump administration’s most aggressive pre-shutdown salvo yet, the OMB director is threatening to pursue mass firings at agencies if Congress fails to enact a funding bill to keep the government open past next Tuesday at midnight…”
“The move doesn’t just up the ante for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. It also threatens broader political fallout that could hurt Republicans, too — as Jeffries was quick to point out late Wednesday night, when he immediately raised the prospect of a GOP backlash and said Democrats ‘will not be intimidated.’”
Punchbowl News: “The unprecedented move by OMB Director Russ Vought dramatically raises the stakes of the shutdown fight just five days before the deadline.”
NOTUS: “Across federal agencies, the Trump administration’s aggressive slash-and-burn approach to federal programs, grants and contracts has repeatedly challenged Congress’ power of the purse. The administration has claimed it has the discretion to redirect funds to programs aligned with Trump’s agenda — and Republican congressional leaders have largely let them do it.”
“The outcome: Billions in taxpayer dollars have become virtually untraceable — a level of opaqueness in government funds that’s raising questions around the legality of the administration’s actions. Some of these taxpayer funds expire on Sept. 30. If they’re not spent by then, like all funds Congress appropriated specifically for 2025, they disappear.”
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.
