“Energy groups are touting President Trump’s moves to embrace nuclear energy, pointing to New York as a prime example, as an annual Climate Week kicks off in New York City,” The Hill reports.
“Trump campaigned on a pledge to unleash American energy, and he has already signed multiple executive actions aimed at bolstering the nation’s nuclear power in particular.”
New York Times: “For most New York politicians, the High Holy Days each autumn present an easy opportunity to show support for the city’s vibrant Jewish community. They share holiday greetings on social media, or perhaps show up at a temple or two.”
“But for Mr. Mamdani, the 10-day stretch will be something more complicated, a high-profile election-season test of his relationship with a group of New Yorkers that is split passionately for and against his candidacy.”
“It is no simple balancing act. Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman and democratic socialist, has no intention of backing off his strong criticism of Israel, which has unsettled some Jewish voters, especially older ones. Yet allies say he is trying to reinforce a message delivered on primary night that he would value and protect all New Yorkers as mayor.”
“I only do business with people I like. When I don’t like ’em, I don’t like ’em.”
— President Trump, speaking at the United Nations.
“House and Senate Democrats have opened separate investigations into the Trump administration’s decision to close a criminal F.B.I. inquiry into Tom Homan, Mr. Trump’s border czar, that began after he was recorded last year accepting a bag with $50,000 in cash,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Homan’s encounter with undercover F.B.I. agents in September 2024 was recorded on audiotape and led him to be investigated for potential bribery and other crimes. On the tape, he agreed to help the agents, who were posing as businessmen, get government contracts related to border security, according to people familiar with the case.”
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed the American commitment to NATO after incursions by Russian aircraft into the alliance’s airspace that have shaken governments on its eastern flank,” Bloomberg reports.
Said Rubio: “We will work with our allies to defend every inch of NATO territory.”
“I’m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell.”
— President Trump, speaking the United Nations.
After President Trump canceled his meeting with Democrats over a government shutdown, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had a quick response: “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
President Trump is serious about ousting Rep. Thomas Massie, the Louisville Courier Journal reports.
“He vowed to lead the charge after Massie first voted against Trump’s massive spending and policy bill in May. Two of his key political advisors launched a super PAC dedicated to defeating Massie in June. And he reiterated his call for someone to run against Massie in July.”
“One thing Trump is still missing months later? The ‘wonderful American Patriot’ who will do the job for him.”
President Trump is calling off his meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries just days before the deadline to keep the government open, Punchbowl News reports.
Trump said in a lengthy Truth Social post that he “decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive” and called Democrats’ demands “unserious and ridiculous.”
Vivek Viswanathan: “As dealmaker in chief, Trump has turned U.S. trade negotiations into a series of deals, haggled with Nvidia and AMD on China exports so America could get in on the deal, and called an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement the ‘ultimate deal.’ He covets the Nobel Peace Prize, ostensibly as a tribute to his dealmaking prowess.”
“Yet Trump has little to show for his methods: no end to the war in Ukraine, no new modus vivendi with Russia or China, no progress on Middle East peace, no breakthroughs on trade, and certainly no Nobel Peace Prize. The recent rupture in relations with India follows breaches with Europe and Canada. Mexico may be next.”
“Why is Trump’s dealmaking backfiring so spectacularly? The answer may lie in his dismissal of an important bit of American dealmaking folklore: namely, that a deal is a deal.”
“Republicans in the Kansas legislature are planning to petition to call themselves into a special session on redistricting, circumventing Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly,” Punchbowl News reports.
“This special session would be the beginning of a lengthy process to try and draw Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids out of her Kansas City-based district. This push, which comes amid White House pressure, is the newest front in the nationwide redistricting wars.”
“Republicans can force the governor to call a special session if a supermajority of lawmakers sign a petition. The Kansas legislature has a GOP supermajority in both chambers.”
Jonathan Chait: “Stephen Miller delivered a eulogy for Charlie Kirk that served as a battle cry for the Trump administration’s state-sponsored war on his perceived foes—a war for which Miller is the primary strategist. The speech was a jarring piece of rhetoric. It is a perfect encapsulation of the ethos of Trumpism, boiling away the president’s idiosyncratic habits of mixing insult comedy and weird digressions into his rhetoric and leaving, in Miller’s tongue, the residue of pure ideology and will to power.”
“Miller’s theme was that President Donald Trump’s side embodies pure good, his opponents pure evil, and the former is destined to utterly destroy the latter. Republicans have never stopped complaining that Hillary Clinton once described a portion of Trump’s base as “a basket of deplorables.” Yet over the weekend the president’s most powerful adviser depicted half the country as worthless, irredeemably wicked, and fated for destruction.”
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem told Fox News that a social media post from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) sent her family and friends into a panic.
Said Noem: “It was cryptic and it was really menacing, I would say, Sean. It immediately panicked my family and friends. Within, I would say, a couple of minutes of that being posted I started to get text messages and phone calls. Family, my kids saying, ‘Are you okay, Mom? Are you fine?’”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) claims that former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has been held in solitary confinement with no windows for nearly 30 days.
Said Greene: “I’m told he is in his cell 24 hours per day and he is only allowed to get a shower 3 times a week. He does not get any sunlight. He’s only allowed to buy stamps from the commissary and is drinking water from the sink… There are no windows.”
She added: “This is torture.”
Punchbowl News: “Schumer and Jeffries have been demanding this meeting with Trump, and now they’ve got it. Will it be a repeat of Trump’s disastrous December 2018 sitdown with Schumer and then Speaker Nancy Pelosi? Or will 2025 Trump be different? Will the president invite in cameras like the last time? How will Jeffries respond in his first-ever sitdown with Trump? There’s lots to ponder.”
“Johnson and Thune should want to be in this meeting to make sure that their negotiating position is represented. Trump likes nothing more than chasing a deal. Of course, the two sides are far apart. But with Trump in a room with two Democrats, you can’t be too sure of something unpredictable happening.”
“The U.S. and global economies are set to slow less sharply this year than previously expected, but will continue to lose momentum in 2026 as higher tariffs take an increasingly large toll on activity, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In a quarterly report, the Paris-based research body forecast the U.S. economy will grow 1.8% this year and 1.5% next year, having expanded by 2.8% in 2024.”
A new Strength In Numbers/Verasight poll finds Democrats lead the generic congressional ballot 47% to 42% with 11% undecided. Among people who say they are definitely or very likely to vote, the margin is 50% to 45%.
And this is stunning: Just 28% of U.S. adults say the country is on the right track, while 60% say it’s on the wrong track.
Gallup: “Americans’ satisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S. is at its lowest since President Donald Trump took office in January, with 29% now saying they are satisfied.”
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.
