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Disengaged Voters Are the Key to Winning Future Elections

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“A consensus opinion has emerged about President Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election: Disengaged voters were critical,” CNN reports.

“With partisans deeply dug in, and views of the parties and politics notably and persistently negative, persuasion in political campaigns has begun to focus more on getting irregular voters to participate than on convincing people to change their minds. In 2024, those irregular voters were a central part of Trump’s winning coalition.”

“But neither party has any long-term guarantee of disengaged voter support, participation or attention as the 2026 midterms approach.”

Why It Will Be Tough to Convict James Comey

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New York Times: “Getting an indictment is relatively easy for prosecutors, who have a lot of sway over grand juries. Winning at trial is much harder, and in the Comey case, many factors could make it challenging for the government to secure a conviction.”

“Line prosecutors in Virginia who had initially reviewed the evidence in the Comey case put in a memo why they thought the effort to convict him was too weak to take to court. The grand jury on Thursday rejected one of the three counts presented to it. And Mr. Trump’s string of invective about Mr. Comey and his repeated references to his own criminal cases provide a lot of evidence for possible defense motions about a vindictive prosecution.”

“Still, Mr. Trump has always understood that even absent a conviction, defendants face a reputational cost in a criminal case, not to mention the financial penalty in the form of legal bills.”

Trump Orders Broad Effort to Root Out Liberal Groups

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“President Trump on Thursday ordered his administration to investigate what he claimed were rich people and organizations funding left-wing political violence around the country, citing the recent assassination of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk,” the New York Times reports.

“The accusation — that liberal activists and organizations have secretly funded and organized a kind of professional brigade of anarchists around the country to attack law enforcement officers, destroy property and create public havoc — was one that Mr. Trump has made many times before.”


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Epstein Estate Turns Over New Documents

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“The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has received new materials from the estate of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein,” Politico reports.

“The delivery of documents comes in response to a recent letter from congressional investigators to the estate, requesting cash ledgers, message logs, calendars and flight logs in the estate’s possession.”

Nigel Farage on Track to Become UK Prime Minister

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“Nigel Farage would be in pole position to become the UK’s next prime minister if an election were held tomorrow, according to new polling which shows his upstart Reform party would wipe out Labour’s overwhelming majority from 2024,” Bloomberg reports.

“Reform UK would win 311 seats in the House of Commons in a national vote — up from five last year — with Labour dropping to 144 from 411, according to the projection on Friday from YouGov… While the tally for Farage is 15 shy of an outright majority in the 650-seat chamber, he’d be the best placed party leader to form a new government.”

Lawmakers Are Scared

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“Congress is on track to spend more than $1 billion on the budget for the U.S. Capitol Police for the first time in history, with even fiscal conservatives pushing for more member security investments in the wake of the Charlie Kirk killing,” Politico reports.

“Kirk’s assassination and a broader rise in high-profile political violence has activated lawmakers around a renewed push for additional protections for themselves and their families. It’s scrambling Capitol Hill’s typical ideological factions, with some GOP budget hawks accusing Republican leadership of penny-pinching.”

Comey’s Son-in-Law Resigns

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“James Comey’s son-in-law, Troy A. Edwards, Jr., resigned Thursday night from his position as a senior national security prosecutor shortly after the former FBI director was indicted,” CNN reports.

Trump Would Accelerate Priorities in Shutdown

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“A memo from the White House budget office telling federal agencies to prepare plans for mass firings should the government shut down signaled a dramatic escalation in a funding staredown with fewer potential off-ramps as next week’s deadline nears,” CNN reports.

“But it also provided the first glimpse of the Trump administration’s internal operational planning that, up to Wednesday night, had been shrouded in a level of secrecy that broke from the approach of past administrations of both parties.”

“Those efforts center on the agency contingency plans that make up the bespoke guidance documents for the federal workforce in the event of a funding lapse, which have long been posted publicly and updated every few years. The most recent agency plans, submitted during the Biden administration, were pulled offline earlier this year with no explanation.”

Comey Responds to Indictment

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Former FBI Director James Comey put out a video after his indictment saying he and his family “have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way.”

He added: “We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn’t either.”

The Guardian: How James Comey moved to the top of Trump’s list of enemies.

Trump Pledges 100% Tariff on Imported Drugs

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“President Donald Trump announced Thursday that brand-name or patented pharmaceutical products will be subject to a 100% tariff starting October 1 – unless the drugmaker is building a manufacturing plant in the US,” CNN reports.

“Trump has been promising for months to levy tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, which avoided tariffs during his first term. The president sees tariffs as a way to pressure drug manufacturers to ramp up production in the US and to strengthen the supply chain for essential medicines.”

Trump Threatens to Move World Cup Games

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President Trump suggested to reporters on Thursday that he would move matches for next summer’s 2026 men’s World Cup away from U.S. host cities that are “even a little bit dangerous,” The Athletic reports.

Said Trump: “We’re going to make sure they’re safe. They’re run by radical left lunatics who don’t know what they’re doing.”

James Comey Indicted

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“Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted on two of three counts sought by prosecutors — one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice — just days after President Donald Trump issued a public demand for his Justice Department to act ‘now’ to bring prosecutions against Comey and other political foes,” ABC News reports.

Trump Signs Order Advancing TikTok Deal

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“President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to help advance a spin-off of TikTok in the United States to a group of mostly American investors, further pushing the influential app with 170 million U.S. users into the hands of some of Trump’s wealthiest allies,” the Washington Post reports.

Justice Department Sues Six States Over Voter Data

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“The Department of Justice sued six states, including Pennsylvania, the nation’s biggest presidential battleground, as the Trump administration escalates its efforts to obtain the personal and private information of voters,” the New York Times reports.

“The lawsuits, filed against California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, follows similar suits that the department brought against Maine and Oregon, two Democratic-controlled states.”

“All of those states have rebuffed previous demands from the Justice Department to gain access to statewide voter rolls that include sensitive information, such as drivers license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.”

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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