“The Trump Organization scrapped a reference that its recently revealed smartphone will be made in the U.S., amid doubts that such a device can be manufactured on American shores at its price tag,” CNBC reports.
The Verge: “Instead, the Trump Mobile website now includes what can only be described as vague, pro-American gestures in the direction of smartphone manufacturing.”
Iran admitted its nuclear installations were “badly damaged” by U.S. airstrikes, the first such comments by Tehran as debate grows over how much the bombardment managed to dent the Islamic Republic’s atomic program, Bloomberg reports.
“Two weeks after China promised the U.S. it would ease the exports of rare-earth magnets, Chinese authorities are dragging out approval of Western companies’ requests for the critical components, a situation that could reignite trade tensions between Washington and Beijing,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Western companies say they are receiving barely enough magnets for their factories and have little visibility of future supplies.”
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Washington Post: “Amid a political battle over what the intelligence shows, the White House is expected to send four of its top national security officials to brief lawmakers: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, administration officials said.”
“Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who testified in March that U.S. intelligence agencies assessed that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon, will be notably absent.”
“From the start of his second term, President Trump has bet that he can appeal to low-income voters while slashing safety net programs on which many of those voters depend,” the New York Times reports.
“The enormous tax-and-spending bill he is trying to push through Congress is a high-stakes test of that proposition, a gamble that Mr. Trump can retain the loyalty of his blue-collar supporters despite moves that could harm their immediate economic self-interest.”
New York Times: “Zohran Mamdani’s success in the city with the largest Jewish population in the world offered the starkest evidence yet that outspoken opposition to Israel and its government — and even questioning its existence as a Jewish state — is increasingly acceptable to broader swaths of the party, even in areas where pro-Israel Jews have long been a bedrock part of the Democratic coalition.”
In his comments since the Iran-Israel conflict ended in a ceasefire, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei congratulated “the great nation of Iran” for its “victory over the fake Zionist regime,”CNN reports.
Said Khamenei: “Despite all that noise, and with all those claims, the Zionist regime almost collapsed and was crushed under the blows of the Islamic Republic.”
He said the United States entered the conflict with Israel “because they felt that if they did not enter, the Zionist regime would be destroyed.”
Washington, D.C. delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) told reporters that she is running for reelection yesterday — only for her office to again walk back her comment, Politico reports.
Said a spokesperson: “No decision has been made. She wants to run but is still discussing it with people close to her.”
Senate Republicans are working to hammer out a version of the tax bill that can pass the House without returning to the negotiating table, NBC News reports.
“That means hashing out SALT, Medicaid and clean energy. Easier said than done.”
Politico: “In one important way, Cuomo’s defeat in Tuesday’s mayoral primary was not an only-in-New York story. For all the local flavors and personal peculiarities of the former governor’s downfall, it also fits into a larger national story — the extinction of some of the country’s mightiest political dynasties.”
“This is an age of angry populism and political disruption; breakneck social and technological change; and broad, deep frustration with the economic status quo. Family names that voters once found comforting now seem to have other connotations — complacency, insularity, privilege, obsolescence.”
“Now that he’s all but won the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani enters a general election against incumbent Eric Adams, who is eager to keep his seat and has nothing to lose,” Politico reports.
“On Thursday, Adams will launch his attempt at resurrection in a rally from the steps of City Hall — a longshot bid as a political independent — one day after calling Mamdani a ‘snake oil salesman.’”
Playbook: “It’s rare to see the president this rattled by a negative story about his administration. Obviously Trump goes after the media all the time, but it mostly feels performative these days — and maybe it always did. This is different. The president posted 21 times on Truth Social yesterday about the supposed success of his military strikes. And at yesterday’s NATO summit — a moment specifically designed by the Western world for Trump to bask in the glory of a huge defense spending boost — he spent most of his public appearances repeating his assertions on Iran.”
“What’s going on? Critics see a president spooked by a bombshell leak that has undermined his authority. Supporters say Trump is genuinely outraged by what he claims is false reporting and wants the record corrected. Either way — he’s using every tool in his arsenal to push back hard: Witness the hammer-like repetition that sites were ‘obliterated’; the plentiful use of surrogates like Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio; the vindictive targeting of the journalists and media organizations involved; the barrage of statements from both U.S. and Israeli intelligence chiefs yesterday that the initial report was wrong.”
“Senate Republicans are considering delaying a politically explosive Medicaid cut as they look for ways to win over GOP moderate holdouts threatening the massive reconciliation bill,” Punchbowl News reports.
“The discussions come as Senate Republican leaders are trying to ratchet up the pressure on wavering GOP senators to fall in line and meet their self-imposed July 4 deadline for sending a bill to President Donald Trump’s desk.”
“Several Republican senators are quietly pitching their leadership on delaying the implementation timeline of the Senate’s stricter crackdown on Medicaid provider taxes. Paired with a stabilization fund for rural hospitals, this could help win over enough of the half-dozen or so wavering senators.”
“To be sure, Senate GOP leaders have a ton working against them right now beyond Medicaid problems. For one, the ‘Byrd Bath’ for key portions of the reconciliation bill isn’t finished yet. And Republican senators demanding additional changes have said they won’t vote to begin the floor process until they see final legislative text.”
New York Times: “If you scratch below the surface… there are signs that some Republicans are a little spooked, too. They have, after all, just watched a charismatic New Yorker turn one of Trump’s signature issues — the cost of living — into an insurgent and spirited campaign, one in which Mamdani’s supporters seemed to enjoy themselves as much as the Trump fans who crowd into the president’s rallies do.”
Said GOP operative Bill Stephen: “Most Republicans this morning were probably high-fiving and backslapping each other over last night’s result. I’d urge Republicans to be a little more nervous about this guy.”
“Andrew Cuomo will drop out of the mayor’s race after his humiliating defeat against socialist Zohran Mamdani — as the ex-governor’s donors and backers desert him and weigh whether to boost Eric Adams,”the New York Post reports.
“Several insiders close to the Cuomo camp said Wednesday that the thrice-elected Democrat will almost certainly not run in the general election as an independent candidate, seeing no obvious path to victory.”
“President Trump called on Wednesday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial to be ‘cancelled immediately’ or for giving him a pardon,” Axios reports.
“Trump’s comments in a post on his Truth Social account were an unprecedented intervention by a U.S. president in a legal proceeding in another democratic ally.”
“President Trump is going to extraordinary lengths to defend his claim that U.S. airstrikes ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear program, determined to cement the operation as a defining victory of his presidency,” Axios reports.
“He has treated the leak of an initial Pentagon battle damage assessment as an act of sabotage, launching an aggressive campaign to discredit the report as preliminary, inaccurate and already outdated.”
“President Trump’s exasperation over the Federal Reserve’s take-it-slow approach to cutting interest rates is prompting him to consider accelerating when he will announce his pick to succeed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term runs for another 11 months,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In recent weeks, the president has toyed with the idea of selecting and announcing Powell’s replacement by September or October, according to people familiar with the matter. One of these people said the president’s ire toward Powell could prompt an even-earlier announcement sometime this summer.”
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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