President Trump was asked by a reporter about Charlie Kirk:
REPORTER: My condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie Kirk. How are you holding up?
TRUMP: I think very good. And by the way, right there you see all the trucks. They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they’ve been trying to get for about 150 years. And it’s gonna be a beauty. It’ll be an absolutely magnificent structure.
“Workers across the country who’ve mocked Charlie Kirk’s death online have quickly learned their words can get them fired,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“From American Airlines to Nasdaq—and in workplaces that include restaurants, schools and law firms—employers have ousted or suspended staff in recent days for gloating, deriding or making otherwise contentious posts about the conservative activist’s killing. Many are getting flagged to the posts by online activists who’ve collected the names of commenters. Some prominent conservatives have joined the call, too.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is scheduled to speak about political violence later today, less than a week after a gunman assassinated conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.
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Punchbowl News: “Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is at the center of this entire funding clash. If you listen to Schumer, you come away believing he’s prepared to dive into a government shutdown. Schumer said Monday that Republicans refuse to negotiate and are ‘causing a shutdown.’”
“The New York Democrat clearly wants Republicans to agree to insert an extension of enhanced premium tax credits for Obamacare into the bill, something the GOP has refused to entertain. This would be his minimum goal.”
“It’s not hard to understand Schumer’s politics here. Schumer got walloped in March when he helped Republicans avoid a shutdown. So he has to take a hard line now, especially since the Trump administration’s hostility toward Congress — through rescissions and impoundment — has only increased since then.”
“Yet there are several potential weaknesses in Schumer’s position. Schumer seems to believe Democrats could win a shutdown based on the fact that Republicans aren’t negotiating. But who got blamed for the 2013 and 2019 shutdowns? The instigating party — Republicans. At that time, Republicans tried to play the ‘Democrats-won’t-negotiate’ card. It didn’t work.”
Earlier for members: A Shutdown Would Backfire on Democrats
“Having secured big payouts from Disney/ABC and Paramount/CBS in recent months, Donald Trump is now once again taking the New York Times to court — for at least $15 billion dollars,” Deadline reports.
In a Truth Social post, Trump described the 174-year-old newspaper as “one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country.”
Playbook: “The court filing is quite a read, detailing Trump’s anguish at what he perceives to be negative coverage that he receives.”
Washington Post: Trump files defamation and libel lawsuit against New York Times.
“Congress is inching toward a bipartisan agreement to reverse the Trump administration’s recent renaming of several Army bases across the southern United States that had long been politically controversial for honoring Confederate leaders,” the Washington Post reports.
“Tucked within the National Defense Authorization Act passed by the Republican-led House last week is a measure that, if adopted by the Senate, would block Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s reversal of a separate base-renaming effort that was directed by Congress five years ago.”
“A special election in Minnesota on Tuesday will determine who will fill the seat of the late Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman, just over three months after she and her husband were fatally shot in what Gov. Tim Walz at the time called ‘a politically motivated assassination’ and less than a week after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk,” CNN reports.
Washington Post: It’s Election Day in a Minnesota suburb — because of political violence.
“President Donald Trump is set to spend nearly all of his two-day state visit to Britain this week behind closed doors — or, at least, manicured hedges — far from massive planned protests and without delivering a traditional address to potential critics in Parliament, which is scheduled to recess as his plane speeds over the Atlantic,” the Washington Post reports.
“Although the invitation from King Charles III appears designed to please a president whose “America First” policies are upending trade and security relationships, that doesn’t mean Trump’s royal moment can’t be derailed. The president and the king have differences on a laundry list of geopolitical issues they will have to navigate as they project friendship before a global audience.”
Wall Street Journal: King Charles rolls out the red carpet to woo Trump.
New York Times: “High-profile elections this fall — including a contentious ballot measure in California over redistricting and governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia — have captured significant attention as barometers of the national mood and President Trump’s performance in the White House ahead of pivotal midterms next year. But the outcome of three quirky, under-the-radar contests for State Supreme Court judges in Pennsylvania will have implications well beyond the Keystone State.”
“The elections, called retention elections, will decide whether three justices who were elected as Democrats keep their seats, which will determine the tilt of the seven-member Pennsylvania State Supreme Court through the next presidential election. What’s at stake is nothing less than control of the highest court in the most important swing state in the country.”
“The Democratic National Committee will spend another $1.5 million on New Jersey’s off-year gubernatorial race, upping its commitment in a state that Republicans believe is trending their way,” Semafor reports.
“Democratic nominees have led in public polling in both states, but surveys missed a GOP surge in New Jersey’s 2021 elections. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mikie Sherrill will face GOP nominee Jack Ciattarelli in their first televised debate later this week.”
“Talk of replacing Prime Minister Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour Party has spilled into the open, but the lack of a plausible replacement may keep the rebels at bay for now,” Bloomberg reports.
Politico: “In interviews with nearly a dozen Republicans on Capitol Hill, all up for reelection, some dithered over whether Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist who’s using his position to revisit the childhood schedule, is a political asset.”
Said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA): “We’ve got to sort that out. Polling shows Americans believe in vaccines.”
New York Times: “Tariffs triggered a plunge in China’s exports to the United States, but its global trade surplus is larger because sales to other regions are surging.”
New York Times: “The ground operation and intensifying Israeli bombardment risk deepening the humanitarian crisis in a war that has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.”
Wall Street Journal: “Biden is charting a postpresidency that is less lucrative than what he’d expected when he left office. Options for big jobs are limited by his advanced age, his unpopularity in Democratic circles and companies—concerned about retribution from President Trump—that aren’t offering speaking gigs.”
“His own allies have grown critical of his presidency, most recently former Vice President Kamala Harris, who in a new book says the Democratic Party was reckless to allow Biden to run a second time.”
“The result for Biden is a leaner next chapter that lacks the well-funded foundations, plans for exquisite libraries and full calendar of paid speeches his peers enjoyed.”
“The Senate on Monday confirmed White House economic adviser Stephen Miran to a key role at the Federal Reserve, allowing him to join the independent central bank while remaining in the Trump administration,” the Washington Post reports.
“The Senate narrowly voted 48-to-47 to confirm Miran, placing a sitting administration official inside an institution designed to operate independently from the White House. The move gives President Donald Trump a loyalist on the seven-member Fed board as he moves to reshape the central bank. It’s the first time in 90 years that a sitting White House official will have a role in setting monetary policy.”
“An appeals court ruled Monday that Lisa Cook can remain a Federal Reserve governor for now, rebuffing President Donald Trump’s efforts to remove her just ahead of a key vote on interest rates,” the AP reports.
“The Trump administration is expected to quickly turn to the Supreme Court in a last-ditch bid to unseat Cook before the Fed meets. And Cook’s lawsuit seeking to permanently block her firing must still make its way through the courts.”
“President Trump said on Monday that he would have ordered American flags to half-staff to honor Melissa Hortman, the Minnesota state representative who was gunned down along with her husband in their home this summer, if he had been ‘asked’ to by the Democratic governor of her state,” the New York Times reports.
Said Trump: “Well, if the governor had asked me to do that, I would have done that, but the governor of Minnesota didn’t ask me.”
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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