“A widely followed measure of inflation accelerated slightly less than expected in July on an annual basis as President Donald Trump’s tariffs showed mostly modest impacts,” CNBC reports.
“The consumer price index increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month and 2.7% on a 12-month basis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. That compared to the respective Dow Jones estimates for 0.2% and 2.8%.”
“Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) got an earful at an in-person town hall in Chico, California, Monday morning — hearing it from attendees upset about his vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Epstein files and President Donald Trump’s tariffs harming Californian farmers,” ABC News reports.
CNN: “LaMalfa, whose district spans much of the state’s northern interior, is the latest Republican to face harsh in-person criticism, as members of the party attempt to sell Trump’s sweeping agenda back home during Congress’ August break from Washington.”
David Graham: “For years, prominent voices on the right argued that Democrats were enacting a police state. They labeled everything—a report on homegrown extremism, IRS investigations into nonprofits—a sign of impending authoritarianism. Measures taken by state governments to combat the spread of COVID? Tyranny. An FBI search of Mar-a-Lago? The weaponization of law enforcement.”
“Now that a president is actually sending federal troops and officers out into the streets of the nation’s cities, however, the right is in lockstep behind him. This morning, Donald Trump announced that he was declaring a crime emergency, temporarily seizing control of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department and deploying the D.C. National Guard to the nation’s capital.”
“Russian forces are striving to shape the battlefield to their advantage before a high-stakes summit between President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin, making a swift advance in eastern Ukraine after months of grinding battle,” the New York Times reports.
“In recent days, Russia’s troops broke through a segment of Ukraine’s defensive line near the city of Pokrovsk, a longtime stronghold. They have advanced several miles into Ukrainian-held territory, threatening to outflank Ukraine’s positions.”
Bloomberg: “Some borrowers say they are prioritizing essentials such as housing or groceries, while others refuse to pay as a form of protest.”
“Senate Republicans are planning to spend tens of millions of dollars over the next few months to rescue Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn, hoping to reintroduce him to Lone Star State conservatives and save his flagging primary prospects,” Punchbowl News reports.
“The Senate Leadership Fund, the top GOP super PAC focused on Senate races, urged donors last week to open their wallets to help Cornyn beat back a challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, arguing the race could become a costly disaster without immediate intervention.”
One-third of American adults say their family’s finances have worsened over the last year, according to a new Yahoo Finance/Marist poll.
Key takeaway: 45% of adults describe the cost of living in their area as not very affordable (36%) or not affordable at all (9%).
Associated Press: “The CBO estimates that the 10% of poorest Americans will lose roughly $1,200 a year as they experience restrictions on government programs like Medicaid and food assistance, while the richest 10% of Americans will see their income increase by $13,600 from tax cuts.”
Punchbowl News: “Democrats requested the new data from the non-partisan CBO, and they’ve been quick to seize on it. Democrats have been hammering the GOP over Medicaid cuts and tax cuts for the wealthy, making that contrast the core of their political message on the law.”
“It wasn’t just 2024: the Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien is signaling a more permanent realignment by donating to battleground Republicans in the upcoming midterms,” Politico reports.
“For the second year in a row, the labor union’s political arm donated to the Republicans’ House campaign arm after nearly two decades of mostly backing Democrats.”
Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) will hold a press conference next month with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, the Washington Times reports.
The press conference is planned for Sept. 3, the day after lawmakers return to Washington from their summer recess.
Paul Krugman: “Ever since that latest weak jobs report, Trump has been frantically trying to convince the American public that the economy is doing great. He is failing, and predictably so. Experience shows that trying to talk up the economy when people don’t perceive it as good never works, even if the data are favorable. It’s even less likely to work when the data actually aren’t good, and calling people who point out economic weakness BUMs isn’t likely to help.”
“On the other hand, telling people things are bad even when they’re actually good can work. This is sometimes true when it comes to the economy. It’s definitely true when we’re talking about crime.”
President Trump’s takeover of the Washington, D.C. police is part of a fight that highlights the growing urban-rural political divide, and plays well to his base, the Washington Post reports.
However, Axios reports there aren’t “concrete plans” for Trump to replicate his D.C. plan in other cities.
“It is Trump’s go-to parlor trick to torque up the base, change subjects and bait Democrats to argue that crime and homelessness are not problems when many living in those communities and beyond, believe they are. So the challenge is to call it out for what it is without dismissing the legitimate concerns people have.”
— David Axelrod, quoted by Politico, on President Trump’s takeover of D.C. police.
“President Donald Trump’s personal involvement in a deal on U.S. chip sales in China highlights his ongoing determination to directly manage the American economy — an approach that is especially striking for a Republican president and could carry political and substantive risk,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Obama adviser Jason Furman: “President Trump is playing a very unusual role in the economy for a president, and especially for someone who purports to believe in deregulation. Effectively this is very much akin to regulation, except done in a very ad hoc, unpredictable and improvisatory manner.”
“White House officials are tempering expectations ahead of Friday’s summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, casting it as a step toward a peaceful solution to the Ukraine war and avoiding promises of a ceasefire or any other type of grand bargain,” Politico reports.
“The goal, a White House official said, is for Trump to simply take the measure of Putin, find out if the Russian leader is serious and work toward a trilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.”
CNBC: Sidelined from Trump-Putin talks, Ukraine warns the world not to trust Russia.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) job approval and favorability ratings are up a little from June, but her lead in a potential gubernatorial race against Rep. Elise Stefanik (R) fell to 14 points, 45% to 31%, down from a 23-point lead in June, 47% to 24%, according to a new Siena Poll.
“Even before he took office, President Donald Trump had an informal playbook for how he would use the powers of the presidency to take control of the District of Columbia, with options prepared for him such as deploying more federal law enforcement officers or taking over the entire municipal government,” the Washington Post reports.
“The only questions were which option he would choose and when he would opt to implement it.”
Axios: Inside Trump’s power play for more control in D.C.
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.