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“Democrats unexpectedly breathed a sigh of relief earlier this year when it became clear that newly redrawn congressional districts would give them a slight competitive edge over the next decade,” the Washington Post reports.
“But their worry sharply returned this month as favorable maps in Florida and New York were struck down and replaced with district lines that are likely to make it even more difficult to keep their already slim majority in the House.”
Wall Street Journal: “Economists routinely say that no one wins a trade war because costs rise on all sides. If that’s the case, the U.S., which started the fight and eventually slapped steep tariffs on three-quarters of everything China sold to the U.S. to force changes in Chinese economic policy, lost by not winning.”
“There is plenty of evidence for a U.S. loss. During a trip to Beijing in May 2018, top Trump administration officials laid out their demands: cut the bilateral trade deficit by $200 billion, end subsidies for advanced technology, halt pressure on U.S. companies to hand over technology and strengthen intellectual property protection.”
“To press Beijing to comply, the administration carried out four rounds of tariff hikes, which raised average U.S. duties on Chinese goods to 21% from 3.1%. China retaliated with similar levies.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) may be eyeing a White House run if President Biden doesn’t seek a second term, confidantes and City Hall insiders told the New York Post.
“Russia has fired more than 2,000 missiles on Ukraine since invading in February. The engines for many of these missiles were manufactured by a massive state-owned enterprise called Rostec, and executives for that company hired the global consulting giant McKinsey & Co. in recent years for advice,” NBC News reports.
“At the same time McKinsey was advising the Russian defense conglomerate, though not on any work directly involving weapons, the firm was carrying out sensitive national security contracts for the Defense Department and the U.S. intelligence community.”
“A state court formally approved New York’s new congressional map late Friday, ratifying a slate of House districts drawn by a neutral expert that could pave the way for Democratic losses this fall and force some of the party’s most prominent incumbents to face off in primary matches,” the New York Times reports.
“The map, approved just before a midnight deadline set by Justice Patrick F. McAllister of State Supreme Court in Steuben County, effectively unwinds an attempted Democratic gerrymander, creates a raft of new swing seats across the state, and scrambles some carefully laid lines that have long determined centers of power in New York City.”
HuffPost: Mondaire Jones to avoid primary against House Democrats’ campaign chief.
“Anthony Albanese and his opposition Labor Party were poised on Saturday to end nine years of conservative government in Australia, according to the country’s national broadcaster, defeating the coalition led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison with a campaign promising ‘renewal not revolution.’” the New York Times reports.
“The likely Labor victory would be only its fourth at the polls since World War II. After a race that became a referendum on Mr. Morrison and his combative style — in the final days he acknowledged that he could be ‘a bit of a bulldozer’ and promised to change — the results pointed to exhaustion with the incumbent more than enthusiasm for the challenger.”
“A little-watched federal court case could upend the neck-and-neck Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania between Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick,” Politico reports.
“On Friday afternoon, a three-judge panel for the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals issued a judgment saying election officials should count several hundred mail ballots that were submitted without a date written on their mailing envelopes in a November 2021 county judgeship election, as long as they were otherwise received on time.”
“The financial leaders of the world’s most powerful countries warned this week of the potential for a global economic slowdown, as the threats caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued to multiply,” the Washington Post reports.
“Globally, the war is sending energy and food prices soaring. In the United States, Great Britain and Europe, central banks determined to curb inflation are moving to hike interest rates, which risks pushing nations back into recession. The developing world faces an emerging debt crisis on top of a growing hunger problem sparked by the war.”
“After approving trillions of dollars in fiscal stimulus to avert the downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, world economic leaders are now grappling with the threat of ‘stagflation’ — slow, or negative, economic growth, coupled with rising inflation. The risks abroad may be even greater than in the United States, economists say.”
New Yorker: “Doug Mastriano, who won the Republican nomination, has pushed Trump’s lies about the election and sent busloads of supporters to the Capitol riot.”
“Ukraine’s military intelligence chief said the country would keep fighting until it evicts Russian forces from all of its territory—including Crimea and other areas effectively seized by Moscow in 2014—and called for deliveries of longer-range heavy weapons and warplanes from the West to help,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Robert Kuttner: “Even so, Republican extremism is at risk of being overshadowed by economic conditions, none more than inflation. Federal Reserve economists project that inflation could begin to subside by fall. As with so much in politics, sheer luck and timing will play a role in the Democrats’ prospects and the future of our Republic.”
“Stranger things have happened than a Democrat midterm resurgence. A wipeout is still likely, but far from inevitable — if Democrats can get organized.”
Nature: “More than 120 confirmed or suspected cases of monkeypox, a rare viral disease seldom detected outside of Africa, have been reported in at least 11 non-African countries in the past week. The emergence of the virus in separate populations across the world where it doesn’t usually appear has alarmed scientists — and sent them racing for answers.”
“The number of cases detected outside of Africa in the past week alone — which is all but certain to increase — has already surpassed the number detected outside the continent since 1970, when the virus was first identified as causing disease in humans. This rapid spread is what has scientists on high alert.”
Ed Yong: “A new viral outbreak is testing whether the world has learned anything from Covid.”
“About a third of our population is African American; African Americans have a higher incidence of maternal mortality. So, if you correct our population for race, we’re not as much of an outlier as it’d otherwise appear.”
— Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), quoted by Politico, saying maternal death rates are only bad if you count Black women.
“Rudy Giuliani, former President Donald Trump’s onetime personal attorney and a lead architect of his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, on Friday met with the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection,“ CNN reports.
“Despite Giuliani backing out of the original deposition, the two sides continued to negotiate an appearance, which led to a virtual appearance Friday that lasted for more than nine hours.”
New York Times: “The interview was transcribed, and he was under oath.”
The Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary is too close to call, the Washington Post reports.
“The contest is now in the hands of Pennsylvania’s secretary of state, who has until May 26 to announce a recount. That is supposed to automatically occur if the top two candidates finish within .5 percentage points of each other.”
“A federal judge has blocked the Biden administration from ending Title 42 — a controversial border policy that has allowed officials to rapidly turn back migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border nearly 2 million times,” Axios reports.
“The administration had planned to end the policy on Monday.”
“Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have decried the end of the policy — implemented as public health initiative under the Trump administration to block migrants from coming during the pandemic — out of concern that ending Title 42 would exacerbate already record numbers at the border.”
“The parents of Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti have enlisted the help of prominent lobbyists to aid their son’s beleaguered nomination to serve as U.S. ambassador to India,” Politico reports.
“The registration is the latest sign that Garcetti’s allies are turning over every possible stone to get his nomination across the finish line.”
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) told the Washington Post “the country is in danger of imploding” while discussing the recent racist mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y.
Said Clyburn: “It’s just a mystery to me that we’ve become so tolerable of these kinds of incidents.”
He added: “It seems as if they were just supposed to happen then you go and wait for the next one to happen… It seems to be it’s coming from all sides. You wonder whether or not people just decided that the pursuit of a more perfect union has come to an end.”
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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