New York Times: “In the first two months of this year, the term was mentioned a total of 49 times on television, radio and podcasts in the United States, according to data from the media tracker Critical Mention.”
“It was uttered 6,188 times on March 17 alone. Right-wing talk radio, podcasts and cable news shows have now devoted hundreds of segments to the arcana of wet signatures and autopen technology.”
As President Trump aims to follow through on his pledge to carry out historic mass deportations across the country, “thousands of federal law enforcement officials from multiple agencies are being enlisted to take on new work as immigration enforcers, pulling crime-fighting resources away on other areas — from drug trafficking and terrorism to sexual abuse and fraud,” Reuters reports.
Washington Monthly: “What the Democratic Party’s most buzzed-about policy movement gets right — and wrong.”
President Trump pressed Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) to issue a personal apology after the two didn’t see eye-to-eye earlier this month on transgender athletes, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “We need a full throated apology from the Governor herself, and a statement that she will never make such an unlawful challenge to the Federal Government again, before this case can be settled.”
New York Times: “A quarter-century ago, the university was looking to expand. It considered, and rejected, property owned by Donald Trump. He did not forget it.”
Nate Silver: “From the first full day of his presidency, Jan. 21, through yesterday — March 21: conveniently exactly two months later — Trump’s net approval rating has declined by 13.8 points, so around 7 points per month. A president can’t afford that rate of decline for long.”
G. Elliot Morris: “Although public opinion on Trump has been slow to move before, today, the fact he is underwater is a product both a loss of support in his approve category as well as a consolidation of undecided adults into the disapprove category. The fence-sitters have mostly jumped off and sided against the president, while his support has softened.”
“Republican candidates across the country are wooing the group for support for the 2026 midterm elections and other political efforts,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In Georgia, gubernatorial candidates have asked the group to play a role in that race, according to people familiar with the outreach. In other 2026 battleground states, including Arizona, Senate candidates have also reached out to the group.” The first test for Musk’s might comes in Wisconsin, where a state Supreme Court race has already drawn big spending from the billionaire’s group.
The Dispatch: “Donald Trump’s most lasting legacy may be the foreign policy apparatus forming in the shadows.”
“In what he described as his largest rally ever, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke to a crowd that filled Denver’s Civic Center on Friday evening, railing against billionaires and President Donald Trump while listeners chanted and nodded along, the Denver Post reports.
Said Sanders: “In the hundreds of rallies that I have done, we have never, ever had a rally as large as this.”
A White House official told the New York Times that “despite the deal reached with Paul Weiss, Mr. Trump would continue to target law firms with executive orders, including some the president could sign as early as next week.”
Politico: “The multi-front effort to memorialize a president who is still alive, let alone still living in the White House, has no precedent in congressional history. While none of the bills are expected to become law, it underscores the lengths that some House Republicans are willing to go to curry favor with Trump.”
Playbook: “A look at the bills: In total, there are five such bills introduced in the House over the past two months, which would: put Trump’s face on the $100 bill, create a new $250 bill with Trump’s face adorning it, make Trump’s birthday (June 14) a federal holiday, rename Dulles Airport in Trump’s honor and carve Trump’s face on Mount Rushmore.”
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) — who ran against Joe Biden in 2020 — became concerned about his former rival’s mental acuity in 2023 at the annual White House picnic for members of Congress, according to Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House, Politico reports.
“When they came face-to-face, Biden did not immediately recognize his onetime rival for the party’s nomination. Swalwell had to cue Biden with personal details to remind him.”
“President Trump has embarked on a systematic effort to unravel Lyndon B. Johnson’s civil rights legacy, rolling back protections that have shaped American life for nearly six decades,” Axios reports.
“Backlash to the racial justice movement of 2020 has overshadowed a more fundamental, long-standing conservative goal: Turning back the clock on the sweeping societal changes of 1965.”
“The Trump administration’s aggressive push to reverse LBJ’s signature achievements could radically alter how communities of color confront discrimination in a diversifying America.”
“Senior tax officials are bracing for a sharp drop in revenue collected this spring, as an increasing number of individuals and businesses spurn filing their taxes or attempt to skip paying balances owed to the Internal Revenue Service,” the Washington Post reports.
“Treasury Department and IRS officials are predicting a decrease of more than 10 percent in tax receipts by the April 15 deadline compared with 2024.”
Wall Street Journal: “The moves this week accelerated the pace of Trump’s efforts to settle scores, which began when he took office. The president is continuing to target his perceived enemies and punish institutions that he believes haven’t adequately aligned themselves with his administration’s values.”
Axios: “Here are 10 theories, based on conversations with dozens of top Democrats, on what went wrong and what needs to change.”
“U.S. military officials are scrambling to develop a ‘Golden Dome’defense system that can protect the country from long-range missile strikes and have been told by the White House that no expense will be spared in order to fulfill one of President Donald Trump’s top Pentagon priorities,“ CNN reports.
“‘Golden Dome’ is the Trump administration’s attempt to rebrand vague plans for developing a missile defense system akin to Israel’s Iron Dome.”
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.