Former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) “has decided to run in 2026 for U.S. Senate, attempting a return to the office that he lost last year after a savagely fought reelection campaign,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
“Brown’s decision, which comes after months of speculation about his political future, gives Ohio Democrats perhaps their best hope of unseating incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, a Columbus-area Republican appointed to the job earlier this year.”
Jonathan Lemire: “Vladimir Putin has had a tough few months. His military’s much-feared summer offensive has made incremental gains in Ukraine but not nearly the advances he had hoped. His economy has sputtered. Donald Trump has grown fed up with Putin’s repeated defiance of his calls for a cease-fire and, for the first time, has targeted the Russian president with consistently harsh rhetoric. Last week, Trump slapped one of Russia’s major trading partners, India, with sanctions.”
“Putin needs to buy time to change the trajectory of the conflict. So the former KGB spymaster has given Trump something that the U.S. president has wanted for months: a one-on-one summit to discuss the end of the conflict. Trump leaped at the chance. But as the two men prepare to meet in Alaska on Friday, foreign-policy experts—and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—are warning that Trump could be walking into a trap that the Russian leader is setting on American soil.”
President Trump assailed David Solomon, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, saying the bank had made a “bad prediction” about the impact of his sweeping tariff agenda on markets and consumer costs, Bloomberg reports.
Said Trump: “They made a bad prediction a long time ago on both the Market repercussion and the Tariffs themselves, and they were wrong, just like they are wrong about so much else.”
He added: “I think that David should go out and get himself a new Economist or, maybe, he ought to just focus on being a DJ, and not bother running a major Financial Institution.”
CNN pulled together a visual timeline of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein’s relationship starting in 1985, using photos, newspaper articles, and rare video.
Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) told Fox News that he plans to run for Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) seat in the upper chamber.
Moore was the first elected official in the country to endorse Trump during his first run for office in 2015.
Ashley Biden, the daughter of former president Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden, filed for divorce from her husband, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Daily Beast: “Biden celebrated the move by posting a series of uplifting quotations and songs to her Instagram Stories. This included one featuring a photo of her walking through a park giving a thumbs up with Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom’ played over the top.”
South Carolina state Rep. RJ May (R), who is in jail awaiting trial on charges he distributed sexual abuse material involving children, has resigned his seat, the Washington Post reports.
The three-term lawmaker is accused of using the screen name “joebidennnn69” to exchange 220 different files of toddlers and young children involved in sex acts.
President Trump on Tuesday threatened to allow a “major lawsuit” against Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to go forward, dramatically escalating his efforts to pressure the central bank leader to immediately lower interest rates, CNBC reports.
Said Trump: “The damage he has done by always being Too Late is incalculable. Fortunately, the economy is sooo good that we’ve blown through Powell and the complacent Board. I am, though, considering allowing a major lawsuit against Powell to proceed because of the horrible, and grossly incompetent, job he has done in managing the construction of the Fed Buildings.”
“House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) on Monday said former President Clinton’s alleged ties to the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein should be uncovered during his testimony before members of Congress,” The Hill reports.
Said Comer: “Everybody in America wants to know what went on in Epstein Island and we’ve all heard reports that Bill Clinton was a frequent visitor there, so he’s a prime suspect to be deposed by the House Oversight Committee.”
He added: “So hopefully we’ll win that court battle with that subpoena and see President Clinton in October.”
Elaina Plott Calabro: “The country gave its citizens the right to die. Doctors are struggling to keep up with demand.”
President Trump vowed this week to rid Washington, D.C., of homeless encampments, issuing a warning that the “homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” ABC News reports.
“Though what those plans will look like, including where people will go, is unclear, sparking concerns among advocacy groups.”
A new Siena poll in New York City finds Zohran Mamdani (D) leading Andrew Cuomo (I) in the mayoral race by 19 percentage points, 44% to 25%, with Curtis Sliwa (R) trailing at 12% and Eric Adams (I) at just 7%.
Interesting takeaway: City voters under 35 are overwhelmingly supporting Mamdani, 54% to 35%, however, voters 55 and older back Cuomo over Mamdani, 38% to 32%.
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“A widely followed measure of inflation accelerated slightly less than expected in July on an annual basis as President Donald Trump’s tariffs showed mostly modest impacts,” CNBC reports.
“The consumer price index increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month and 2.7% on a 12-month basis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. That compared to the respective Dow Jones estimates for 0.2% and 2.8%.”
“Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) got an earful at an in-person town hall in Chico, California, Monday morning — hearing it from attendees upset about his vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Epstein files and President Donald Trump’s tariffs harming Californian farmers,” ABC News reports.
CNN: “LaMalfa, whose district spans much of the state’s northern interior, is the latest Republican to face harsh in-person criticism, as members of the party attempt to sell Trump’s sweeping agenda back home during Congress’ August break from Washington.”
David Graham: “For years, prominent voices on the right argued that Democrats were enacting a police state. They labeled everything—a report on homegrown extremism, IRS investigations into nonprofits—a sign of impending authoritarianism. Measures taken by state governments to combat the spread of COVID? Tyranny. An FBI search of Mar-a-Lago? The weaponization of law enforcement.”
“Now that a president is actually sending federal troops and officers out into the streets of the nation’s cities, however, the right is in lockstep behind him. This morning, Donald Trump announced that he was declaring a crime emergency, temporarily seizing control of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department and deploying the D.C. National Guard to the nation’s capital.”
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.