“Americans are becoming more pessimistic about the economy, more worried about inflation — and now, more anxious about the job market, as well,” the New York Times reports.
“Fifty-two percent of American adults say they are worse off financially than they were a year ago… That was up from 41 percent in April, and was by far the highest share in the survey’s five years.”
“Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) flew to New York last week to meet privately with GOP megadonors in Manhattan, a move that underscores recent hints that the Republican is considering a run for president in 2024,” the Washington Post reports.
“The day-long visit, which was not listed on Youngkin’s public calendar and included a trio of national TV interviews, comes as the new governor prepares to headline his first out-of-state political event since taking office, with an appearance next week in Nebraska.”
He also has begun speaking more often about the needs of ‘Americans,’ not just ‘Virginians,’ and has subtly changed how he answers questions about whether he will seek the White House.”
Molly Ball has a new profile of Youngkin: “Affable, fun-loving, up for anything: It’s hard not to like Youngkin, a trait that accounts as much as anything for his sudden political celebrity.”
“Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo unveiled a digital advertising campaign in South Carolina this week, roughly 18 months before Republican voters are scheduled to begin choosing their next presidential nominee,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“In the 30-second spot, the first from Pompeo’s political action committee, CAVPAC, he celebrates the Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District that sided with a high school football coach who sued on First Amendment grounds after being fired for praying at midfield.”
“In a setback for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican lawmakers, a Florida judge has ruled that a new state law banning abortions at 15 weeks is unconstitutional and he intends to block it from taking effect on Friday,” CNN reports.
New York Times: “The state will appeal, Mr. DeSantis’s office said in a statement after the ruling. The issue will most likely end up before the Florida Supreme Court, which in the past has cited a broad privacy amendment that voters wrote into the State Constitution in 1980 to block other abortion restrictions from taking effect.”
“But Mr. DeSantis has reshaped the court after several retirements, making it much more conservative and prompting some court observers to predict that the justices could overturn precedent that extended privacy protections to abortions. Mr. DeSantis appointed three of the court’s seven justices; the other four justices were also appointed by Republican governors.”
The Economist: “America’s Supreme Court is on a roll. After a week in which it scrapped women’s constitutional right to an abortion and gave an expansive interpretation of gun rights, it has issued yet another momentous ruling—one that will have far-reaching consequences for the government’s ability to curb the greenhouse-gas emissions that are heating the planet.”
“On June 30th, in West Virginia v Environmental Protection Agency, the court sharply limited the epa’s power to regulate the millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases discharged by coal-burning power plants each year. The Clean Air Act, the majority ruled, does not permit the agency to reshape the power grid by relying more heavily on cleaner sources like solar and wind power.”
Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn (R) was asked about there being no exceptions in his state’s newly-passed abortion ban.
REPORTER: So that 12-year-old child molested by her father and uncle should carry that pregnancy to term?
GUNN: That is my personal belief. I believe life begins at conception.
Washington Post: “With those back-to-back rulings, the Supreme Court’s recently empowered conservative bloc demonstrated that, barring a return to a better functioning Congress, those justices will essentially serve as the legislative branch on some of the most pressing issues of the day.”
“That power shift came through in a statement from Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). A key swing vote on the confirmations of Justices Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh, Collins accused them Friday of giving misleading answers to her about the importance of respecting previous court precedents during one-on-one meetings ahead of their 2017 and 2018 confirmations.”
John Harris: “One way to measure Trump’s predicament is to view it through the eyes of someone who supports his ostensible agenda. If you are a sincere opponent of abortion rights, you might be grateful for what Trump did to change the Supreme Court. But would you regard Trump—who for years boasted of his promiscuity, who once asserted ‘I am very pro-choice’ and who is now uneasy about the ramifications of the court’s ruling—as the right person to carry the fight forward into its next, long-term phase?”
“Let’s say you are genuinely concerned that efforts to make voting easier through vote-by-mail could dilute election integrity. Is Trump, with his reckless allegations and obvious self-absorption, really your ideal spokesman?”
“Two breathtaking developments—one at the Supreme Court, the other across the street at the House select committee—have sent American politics into a whole new realm. By experience and temperament, this is not a realm in which Trump is well-equipped to prosper.”
John Podhoretz: Trump is in deep, deep, deep, deep trouble.
“President Joe Biden is likely to deliver a speech on the Jan. 6 committee’s findings once the House panel wraps up its investigation,“ NBC News reports.
“The goal of the speech would be to emphasize what Biden believes is at stake should former President Donald Trump or his allies return to power in Washington, the sources said. The exact timing of the speech would be influenced by the committee’s progress in concluding its investigation, but could come before November’s midterm elections.”
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker told NBC News on Wednesday “it’s certainly possible” that President Biden could face a primary challenge should he run for re-election in 2024.
“Pritzker, who fueled speculation about White House ambitions this month with a speech in the first presidential primary state, New Hampshire, and has raised eyebrows with generous donations to battleground state governors, added that he’s not pushing for a challenger to step forward.”
Donald Trump’s staff would play the song “Memory” from the Broadway musical Cats to soothe the former President when he was stressed, the Daily Mirror reports.
“Several national antiabortion groups and their allies in Republican-led state legislatures are advancing plans to stop people in states where abortion is banned from seeking the procedure elsewhere,“ the Washington Post reports.
“The idea has gained momentum in some corners of the antiabortion movement in the days since the Supreme Court struck down its 49-year-old precedent protecting abortion rights nationwide, triggering abortion bans across much of the Southeast and Midwest.”
“The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will consider what would be a radical change in the way federal elections are conducted, giving state legislatures sole authority to set the rules for contests even if their actions violated state constitutions and resulted in extreme partisan gerrymandering for congressional seats,” the Washington Post reports.
Vox: “The case is perhaps the gravest threat to American democracy since the January 6 attack. It seeks to reinstate gerrymandered congressional maps that were struck down by North Carolina’s highest court because they ‘subordinated traditional neutral redistricting criteria in favor of extreme partisan advantage’ for the Republican Party.”
Rick Hasen: “Pause on that for a moment: the theory in its extreme is that the state constitution as interpreted by the state supreme court is not a limit on legislative power. This extreme position would essentially neuter the development of any laws protecting voters more broadly than the federal constitution based on voting rights provisions in state constitutions.”
“And this theory might not just restrain state supreme courts: it can also potentially restrain state and local agencies and governors implementing rules for running elections.”
“Support from some of the Republican Party’s biggest donors for a 2024 White House run by former President Donald Trump is dwindling, especially after damaging new details of his actions on Jan. 6, 2021 were revealed at a hearing Tuesday by the House Select Committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol,” CNBC reports.
“Republican financiers and their advisors have been privately meeting since the committee started to release the initial findings of its ongoing probe in a series of public hearings earlier this month, according to interviews with top GOP fundraisers who have helped the party raise millions of dollars.”
Nate Silver: “Republicans are substantial favorites to take over the U.S. House of Representatives following this November’s midterm elections, but the U.S. Senate is much more competitive, according to FiveThirtyEight’s 2022 midterm election forecast, which launched today.”
“Democrats are also favored to hang on to the governorships in a trio of swing states in the Rust Belt — Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan — although they are significant underdogs to win high-profile gubernatorial races in Georgia and Texas against Republican incumbents.”
President Biden said he supports suspending the filibuster, if necessary, to pass legislation codifying Roe v. Wade into law, the Wall Street Journal reports.
But a reminder from the Washington Post: Sinema and Manchin have resisted past calls for filibuster exceptions.
Former President Donald Trump “denied lunging at his Secret Service security on Jan. 6 after they refused to take him to the Capitol when he wanted to march alongside his supporters after a rally,” The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “She said I jumped from a car and started strangling – think of this – started strangling a Secret Service agent who I know very well.”
He added: “Who would do that? I would grab a Secret Service person by the throat?”
“The Supreme Court issued a decision limiting the power of regulatory agencies within the federal government, saying the Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its authority in 2015 when it tried to limit greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The EPA powers at issue are central to Mr. Biden’s climate agenda. With fragile majorities in the Senate and House, Democrats have limited ability to advance their platform through new legislation.”
HuffPost: Supreme Court delivers big blow to climate crisis.
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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