President Trump invited Republican senators to lunch at the White House but noted: “Everybody showed up. We’re just missing one person.”
Sen Rand Paul (R-KY) later posted on X: “I actually wasn’t invited to the White House lunch today, but that’s OK. I had a previously scheduled Liberty Caucus Lunch with Thomas Massie.”
Washington Post: “If the administration succeeds, almost all people admitted to the U.S. as refugees — as many as 7,000 from a maximum potential pool of 7,500 — could be Afrikaners, a group not traditionally eligible for the program but one that President Donald Trump says has been tyrannized by South Africa’s Black majority.”
Jonathan Last: “The stated policy of every Democrat seeking the presidency should be that the first thing they will do is demolish the Trump ballroom and restore the East Wing of the White House and the White House grounds to their pre-Trump state.”
“Period. It’s the easiest layup in the history of politics. Trump’s transformation of the People’s House into a presidential palace is undemocratic. Presidents are not kings. Erasing this monstrosity is fundamental statement about the right-ordering of our project in self-government.”
“Why is this so hard? Why haven’t Democrats already laid out a marker on this?”
An internal Democratic poll finds a very slim plurality of voters blame Republicans for the continuing government shutdown, 45% to 42%.
“Former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) was freed from prison last week thanks to his federal fraud sentence being commuted by President Donald Trump — but he may not be free from criminal prosecution on the local level,” ABC News reports.
“The district attorney’s office in Nassau County, which is home to part of the district Santos represented, declined to say what, if anything, prosecutors might be investigating that could warrant state charges.”
Harry Litman: It’s up to you, New York.
There are no plans for President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet “in the immediate future,” calling off a summit that was expected in Hungary in the coming weeks, ABC News reports.
“Thirteen vulnerable Republicans are urging Speaker Mike Johnson to ‘immediately turn our focus’ to extending Obamacare subsidies after the government reopens,” Politico reports.
“Speaker Mike Johnson said in an interview Tuesday morning he would allow a floor vote on a bipartisan bill compelling the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files — once the House comes back into session following the end of the government shutdown,” Politico reports.`
A recently surfaced video shows Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner (D) with a chest tattoo of the SS Totenkopf, the skull-and-crossbones emblem used by Nazi “Death’s Head” units, Maine State Press reports.
Platner says he got the tattoo while drunk as a young Marine and was unaware of its Nazi affiliation until recently.
Punchbowl News: “House Democratic leaders have shifted their proposed new Illinois congressional map as they angle for a mid-decade redraw in the Land of Lincoln.”
“The latest configuration would target GOP Rep. Darin LaHood in the northwestern region rather than GOP Rep. Mary Miller in the center of the state.”
“The new map would likely elect 15 Democrats and two Republicans.”
Gallup finds Democrats have retaken the lead in party identification, 48% to 41%, the party’s best reading since the first quarter of the Biden administration.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) spoke to reporters:
REPORTER: Getting back to the threat to Hakeem Jeffries, this is one of a number of January 6 pardons that have been rearrested on various charges. Did Trump make a mistake?
JOHNSON: I don’t know any of the details of this at all. I will tell you this — the violence on the left is far more prevalent than the violence on the right. The rhetoric that you saw on Saturday plays into this.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) told reporters that he would support Republicans using the so-called nuclear option to override the Senate filibuster to pass a bill to reopen the government, The Hill reports.
A new Gallup poll finds 62% of Americans say the federal government has too much power, with most of the rest saying the government’s power is about right.
President Trump gave Hamas an ultimatum: Immediately disarm or face a “FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL!” end.
“Fox News host Laura Ingraham is joining a business venture that includes Donald Trump Jr – after she repeatedly criticized the business dealings of another president’s son: Hunter Biden,” The Guardian reports.
“Republican state senators in North Carolina approved redrawing the state’s congressional map Tuesday in hopes of gaining another U.S. House seat, heeding President Donald Trump’s request to help protect their narrow majority in next year’s midterm elections,” the Washington Post reports.
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.
