Speaker Mike Johnson defended Donald Trump’s declaration that some congressional Democrats engaged in “sedition” after the president suggested those Democrats should be executed Thursday, Politico reports.
Said Johnson: “That is a factual statement.”
“A federal judge Wednesday ordered the release of more than 300 people detained by the federal government as part of the federal immigration enforcement operations being conducted in the Chicago area,” Politico reports.
Jeremy Faust, MD: “The update represents an extraordinary moment in the history of our nation’s public health system—a Rubicon moment. The CDC’s page on vaccines and autism is now filled with anti-vaxxer talking points.”
“It’s both expected—we certainly saw this coming, ever since Bill Cassidy’s vote in favor of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services clinched his confirmation bid. But it’s still shocking to see.”
Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) said he will force a vote on expelling Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) from Congress after she was indicted by a federal grand jury, Axios reports.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) was interviewed by CNN’s John Berman about the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files:
BERMAN: What if there are more names connected to the Democratic Party that come out in the files?
MURPHY: So what?
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll on Thursday that he’s willing to work with the Trump administration on its new plan for peace in Ukraine,” Axios reports.
“The plan calls on Ukraine to make enormous concessions, including handing over territory to Russia that Ukraine currently controls. But rather than reject it outright, Zelensky agreed to negotiate — and his office said he expects to discuss it with President Trump in the coming days.”
President Trump called for six Democratic lawmakers to face arrest and trial after they made a video encouraging U.S. service members and members of the intelligence community to refrain from following orders if they broke the law, Politico reports.
Said Trump, on Truth Social: “It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand – We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET.”
“Senior White House officials have discussed internally their preference for Paramount Skydance to acquire Warner Bros Discovery in recent weeks, and one official has discussed potential programming changes at CNN with Larry Ellison, the largest shareholder of Paramount,” The Guardian reports.
” Ellison often speaks to connections at the White House but, in at least one of the calls, engaged in a dialogue about possibly axing some of the CNN hosts whom Donald Trump is said to loathe, including Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar.”
Lakshya Jain: “This was supposed to be a column about the lingering harm from the Democratic Party’s response to Covid-19.”
“It has become a familiar narrative: The Democratic Party did incalculable damage to its image, breaking the trust of voters at large and boosting the appeal of the Republican Party, which leveraged anti-establishment sentiment to surge back to power. From extended school closures to selective stay-at-home messaging that protected the left’s right to protest but scorned apolitical decisions to vacation, Democrats’ Covid policy was a political failure that alienated voters. Right?”
“It’s a convenient theory, and it’s one I subscribed to for many years… The only problem is that our poll provided absolutely nothing to back this up. If anything, it suggested the opposite: Five years on from Covid, as partisan tensions have cooled, the public’s view of the issue remains extremely nuanced and complicated — just like the pandemic itself. But there’s little to suggest that Democrats are suffering from any long-term, lingering fallout.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told a group of random people to “get off” their “fat ass” after they posted a TikTok video flipping off President Trump, Mediaite reports.
Indicted Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) will step aside from her leadership position on a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee “while the matter is ongoing,” Politico reports.
“Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called late Wednesday for a global winding-down of fossil fuels — and said he hoped to someday get the U.S. behind it,” Politico reports.
Said Lula: “We must reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If fossil fuels emit too much, we must begin thinking about how to live without them.”
He said he hoped “one day to convince the president of the United States that the climate crisis is serious, that green development is necessary.”
The Guardian: “Two months after receiving a 27-year sentence for trying to ‘annihilate’ Brazil’s democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro finally looks jail-bound.”
“The convicted coup-monger – who has been living under house arrest in his mansion while a series of legal procedures and appeals play out – is widely expected to be incarcerated in the coming days, amid growing speculation that he will be sent to a notorious maximum security prison.”
Jonathan Chait: “Why has Trump chosen to inflict this wound upon himself? A Trump ally suggests to Politico that the president, like many young children, is expressing what some might call oppositional defiant disorder: ‘POTUS doesn’t like to be told what to do or give Dems a win, so he’s been fighting it.’ This theory might make more sense if releasing the Epstein files hadn’t been Trump’s own idea before he abruptly reversed course earlier this year.”
“Trump’s own responses to this very question are even less reassuring.”
“Asked on Air Force One last Friday why he won’t just release the files, Trump snapped at a female reporter, ‘Quiet, piggy.’ As a longtime married man, I have seen enough rom-coms to recognize the trope where Mr. Wrong, after having maintained a thin veneer of suitability for 90 percent of the movie while misbehaving just enough to make the audience root against him, suddenly rips off the mask and delivers a crass or entitled speech that makes the heroine snap out of her infatuation. A set piece in which the bad guy, under suspicion of misogynistic conduct and consorting with a trafficker of teenage girls, launches a sexist attack on an inquisitive female journalist would be too ham-handed even for the writers at the Hallmark Channel.”
“President Donald Trump suggested he would fire Scott Bessent if the Treasury secretary doesn’t help secure lower interest rates, expressing ongoing frustration with the Federal Reserve’s reluctance to cut rates more quickly,” Bloomberg reports.
Said Trump: “The only thing Scott’s blowing it on is the Fed. Rates are too high, Scott, and if you don’t get it fixed fast, I’m going to fire your ass. Okay?”
“President Donald Trump’s plan to shore up Republicans’ House majority in the 2026 midterm elections by redrawing congressional maps is backfiring, at least for now,” the Washington Post reports.
“When Trump pressured Republicans in Texas and other states to carve up their districts, his party appeared to have the upper hand. They controlled the redistricting process in more states and therefore could net more seats.”
“But so far, Trump is losing. Democrats, who once thought they would come up short in a gerrymandering war, are on track to net an estimated five seats. And while that could shift, they may still end up with an advantage by the time state legislators, voters and courts finish weighing in.”
“Donald Trump went after Jimmy Kimmel again, calling for ABC to remove him from the air, Deadline reports.
Said Trump, on Truth Social: “Why does ABC Fake News keep Jimmy Kimmel, a man with NO TALENT and VERY POOR TELEVISION RATINGS, on the air? Why do the TV Syndicates put up with it? Also, totally biased coverage. Get the bum off the air!!!”
For members: When You Pay Off a Bully, Expect More Bullying
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.
