“Friday’s Supreme Court ruling clearing the way for states to use a sweeping online system to identify ineligible voters is a victory for the Trump administration, which has routinely promoted unfounded claims of widespread illegal voting by noncitizens,” the New York Times reports.
“But the impact of the decision on the November midterm elections is likely to be limited, according to election law experts.”
David Graham: “The number of prominent Republicans distancing themselves from Trump has accelerated, or at least reached a critical mass, in the past 10 days.”
“The shift is interesting—first, as an indication of what information GOP candidates are receiving privately about the president’s unpopularity and its drag on them, and second, because public critiques of Trump from Republicans have been vanishingly rare, no matter how unwise, outrageous, or unpopular his actions have been.”
“But the defections are perhaps better understood as a sign of normalcy, even in a deeply abnormal context. A president’s party almost always loses seats in a midterm, a result of the pendulum effect in elections. And the dynamics of this race are especially challenging for Republicans because Trump is historically unpopular, outpacing even his own poor ratings in 2018, when Democrats dominated the midterms.”
Quinta Jurecic: “Trump’s standoff with the press reflects the fury of a man who has grasped, however dimly, that he cannot control everything…”
“It is also the fury of someone insistent on exerting as much power as he can over the steadily shrinking universe of what does remain directly under his control. If Republicans lose unified control of Congress in the midterms, then Trump’s old allies will be less likely to swear fealty, and that universe will diminish even further.”
“There is a danger to democracy here, but it is less the danger of a strategic shift toward authoritarianism and more the danger of petulance and stupidity. Every president struggles with irrelevance in the waning years of their power, and Trump has never been one to decline gracefully.”
“The seashells-based prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey has been delayed until early 2027, as a judge makes her way through a number of pending motions, including a request by Comey to dismiss the case on grounds it was driven by Donald Trump’s animus,” NBC News reports.
“The White House released a second government-sponsored broadcast advertisement on Friday claiming the U.S. is the most successful nation in history amid growing bipartisan backlash over the apparent use of taxpayer dollars to fund the spots,” the Washington Sun reports.
“A bipartisan group of senators is pressing President Donald Trump to withdraw Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to the G20 summit later this year in Miami,” the Washington Sun reports.
“The 13 senators, including six Republicans, warned that welcoming Putin to the United States would give him ‘stature and legitimacy’ while Russia continues its war in Ukraine.”
“Democrats are demanding a U.S. government-funded, campaign-style ad promoting President Trump be pulled as it airs weeks before the midterms, while the White House argues it’s a public service announcement,” Axios reports.
“Federal agencies routinely spend taxpayer dollars on public service campaigns. Democrats argue using federal funds for a video that looks like political advertising crosses a legal red line.”
CNN: White House airs government-funded ad praising Trump.
The Atlantic: “When Israel’s leaders gathered in Jerusalem on September 26, 2023, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the surprise assault by Syria and Egypt as a cautionary tale, one of missed intelligence warnings and self-delusion.
Said Netanyahu: “We do not underestimate any threat.”
“Roughly two hours before Netanyahu took the stage, a chartered Cessna jet linked to Egypt’s intelligence service had touched down at Ben Gurion Airport, about 30 miles away. The jet rolled to a stop in an isolated section of the airport used for sensitive diplomatic and security missions. Abbas Kamel, Egypt’s intelligence chief and one of the region’s most influential security officials, had come to Israel on a most sensitive mission.”
“Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood–aligned terrorist group that controlled Gaza, appeared to be mobilizing for a major attack, Kamel said, according to Israeli, Egyptian, Arab, U.S. and European officials who were briefed about his visit after October 7. The window to prevent a disaster was closing.”
A new Common Cause North Carolina/Opinion Diagnostics poll in North Carolina finds Roy Cooper (D) leading Michael Whatley (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 51% to 41%.
“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will not be the next AI czar, President Donald Trump announced Friday, leaving the coveted White House role open as the AI industry’s rapid development becomes a leading policy issue in Washington,” the Washington Sun reports.
Axios: Inside Trump’s “super intelligence” naming problem.
Doug Sosnik: “The best indicator of the current state of the midterms is where the parties spend their time and money in the closing days of the campaign. In a Politico analysis of data from AdImpact, nearly two-thirds of advertising spending in the House is in districts held by Republican incumbents, with more than $110 million dollars spent in seats that Trump won by double digits in 2024.”
“Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up his state visit to Washington on Friday by announcing that he expects to meet President Donald Trump two more times before the end of the year, doubling the number of face-to-face discussions between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies in 2026,” the Associated Press reports.
“The promise of more meetings to come capped off a three-day state visit that has been criticized by some in the U.S. for being heavy on pomp and light on substance, though Trump said they discussed the war in Iran.”
Bloomberg: Trump claims productive meeting with Xi but offers no details.
Washington Sun: “Duly elected members of Congress are constitutionally required to be human, and all humans are biologically required to pee. On voting days, a member who chooses to do so in the nearest suitable facility puts themselves in the path of the horde of people who desperately want information from them.”
“Aside from the Republican cloakroom — which provides lawmakers with cheap hot dogs and grilled cheeses — the members-only bathrooms off the House floor, adjacent to the lavish Speaker’s Lobby, are some of the only places near the floor where lawmakers are out of view from the Hill’s many nosy reporters.”
“The Pentagon’s public tally of troops wounded during the Iran war was quietly increased by 37 this week without explanation from the Defense Department,” the Washington Post reports.
Aaron Blake: “The Republican Party’s two worst midterm elections in the 21st Century were in 2006 and 2018. In the former, an unpopular Middle Eastern war cost George W. Bush dearly. In 2018, voters balked at the upending of historic norms and chaotic style of a new president named Donald Trump.”
“The 2026 midterm election is now looking like it could be even worse for the GOP – by several metrics.”
NBC News: The economy helped Trump win in 2024. It could cost Republicans in 2026.
“A few tentative displays of independence among Republicans have expanded in recent days into a stampede, as candidates furiously distance themselves from President Trump ahead of the midterm elections,” The Atlantic reports.
Said one Texas-based political consultant: “This is shaping up to be a nightmare political environment for every Republican, everywhere—period, full stop.”
“Noting that gas prices across the country are on average $4.50 a gallon, the consultant described the atmosphere as ‘a fucking disaster for anyone in a competitive race.'”
“The Trump administration can blacklist AI firm Anthropic from Pentagon contracts, a federal appeals court ruled Friday in a decision that expands executive branch power to designate U.S. businesses as national security risks,” Politico reports.
Reuters: U.S. appeals court declines to block Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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