“This is misery. We see where this is all going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous. And you can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.”
— David Letterman, quoted by Variety.
President Trump said networks giving him negative coverage may deserve to have their licenses revoked, Axios reports.
Said Trump: “I have read someplace that the networks were 97% against me… They give me wholly bad publicity, press. They’re getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr continued to threaten regulatory scrutiny of broadcast networks over their content on Thursday, this time taking on ABC’s The View, Deadline reports.
“Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s handpicked slate of vaccine advisers voted to no longer recommend a combined shot for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella for children under age 4,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The move came as some states, insurers, public health leaders and a U.S. senator called into question whether Americans should rely on the committee’s decisions.”
Politico: RFK Jr.’s vaccine panel makes a controversial change to the childhood vaccine schedule.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris hits Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) in her new book saying he seemed more interested in defining the role for himself as her possible running mate than helping her win, the New York Times reports.
She also recounts Shapiro questioning an aide about the pieces of art he could use to decorate the vice president’s residence.
The Senate confirmed 48 of President Donald Trump’s nominees in a single vote on Thursday after the Republican majority triggered the “nuclear option” to make a far-reaching rule change, NBC News reports.
They included former Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle as ambassador to Greece and Callista Gingrich, wife of the former House speaker, as ambassador to both Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
“The chairman of the New York State Democratic Party said on Thursday that he would not support Zohran Mamdani, his party’s nominee for mayor of New York City, citing fundamental disagreements over Israel and democratic socialism,” the New York Times reports.
“The position puts the chairman, Jay Jacobs, directly at odds with both Democratic primary voters and Gov. Kathy Hochul, his de facto boss, who endorsed Mr. Mamdani on Sunday despite her own differences with the nominee.”
“Former U.S. transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg sees an opening for Hoosiers who oppose redistricting mid-decade, as President Donald Trump has asked of Indiana’s Republican leaders,” the Indianapolis Star reports.
“There’s a moment of hesitation right now. There’s clearly a critical mass of lawmakers that have yet to commit to the idea of redrawing the maps mid-decade, which is why Gov. Mike Braun hasn’t yet called a special session to do so.”
Said Buttigieg: “And that’s where we come in… It is time for all of us to encourage our Republican friends in this Statehouse to show some backbone before it’s too late. We can still do the right thing. And if they do, we should give them some credit for it. I mean, it’s a low bar. Refraining from cheating is a low bar. But you got to start somewhere.”
“Jon Stewart is tagging back in to host Thursday’s episode of ‘The Daily Show,’ Comedy Central has announced. Stewart normally just hosts Monday episodes of the talk show, with a rotating list of the show’s correspondents on Tuesday through Thursday,” Variety reports.
“But Stewart clearly has something to say in light of Disney and ABC’s decision to bench ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ host Jimmy Kimmel.“
“Longtime Washington congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton garnered her most serious political challenge in 35 years Thursday when Robert White, a third-term D.C. Council member and former aide to Norton, announced he would challenge her in next year’s Democratic primary,” Politico reports.
“Pentagon leaders are considering a new recruiting campaign that would encourage young people to honor the legacy of assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk by joining the military,” NBC News reports.
“The idea would be to frame the recruiting campaign as a national call to service… Possible slogans that Pentagon leaders have discussed include ‘Charlie has awakened a generation of warriors.”
“House Republican leaders are discussing a plan to pass a seven-week stopgap funding measure Friday then not bring the House back into session until after the Oct. 1 shutdown deadline,” Politico reports.
“No final decision has been made on House scheduling, the people said, but the move would allow the House to ‘jam’ the Senate, giving it no alternative to avoid a shutdown than to pass the GOP-written measure.”
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will attend conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s funeral on Sunday, Axios reports.
“President Trump received thunderous applause during his second inaugural address in January when he vowed to ‘immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America,'” the New York Times reports.
“It was in keeping with the popular free-speech refrain of his long march out of the political wilderness and his first-term broadsides against ‘cancel culture,’ which he had called ‘the very definition of totalitarianism.’ His message had particular resonance with his supporters. After all, major social media companies banished him and others from their services in the days and weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, riots.”
“Yet he is now conducting the most punishing government crackdown against major American media institutions in modern times, using what seems like every tool at his disposal to eradicate reporting and commentary with which he disagrees.”
Helen Lewis: “The right-wing podcast-industrial complex is establishing new norms and taboos—and expanding the White House’s power.”
“Staffers who opted into the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program, voluntarily taking paid administrative leave with the expectation of leaving their jobs, are returning to the U.S. Labor Department,” Bloomberg Law reports.
These employees “have returned as full-time workers, after collecting their full pay and benefits for months without performing their job duties.”
A new Annenberg poll finds public confidence in the trustworthiness of U.S. health and science agencies has dropped across the board since the inauguration of President Trump, driven by sharp declines among Democrats.
Most Americans lack confidence that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is providing the public with trustworthy information on matters concerning public health. Just 39% have confidence RFK Jr. is providing trustworthy public health information.
Here’s a must-read: The Game Changer: How Harry Reid Remade the Rules and Showed Democrats How to Fight by Jon Ralston.
“How did the son of a laundress for local brothels end up one of America’s most powerful politicians and the Senate’s most bare-knuckled Democrat?”
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.
