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Japan’s New Leader Faces an Early Test with Trump

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“Sanae Takaichi, who last week became the first woman to lead Japan as prime minister, has never met President Trump. She does not play golf, Mr. Trump’s favored sport, nor is she known to share his love of hamburgers,” the New York Times reports.

“But when Ms. Takaichi holds talks with Mr. Trump in Tokyo on Tuesday, she will have another card to play as she tries to win reassurance from him on trade and security. She is expected to emphasize her connection to Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister assassinated in 2022, who was Ms. Takaichi’s political mentor and who forged a closer bond with Mr. Trump than perhaps any other world leader.”

Putin Says Russia Now Has Nuclear-Powered Missile

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“Russia has successfully tested its nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable Burevestnik missile and is preparing to deploy it, President Vladimir V. Putin said Sunday, a pointed message to the West after plans for a summit with President Trump collapsed,” the New York Times reports.

“Because the weapon runs on nuclear power, it can fly for much longer than other missiles can, and, the Kremlin says, is capable of evading missile defense systems.”

Said Putin: “This is a unique product that no one in the world has.”

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Mamdani Fills a Stadium

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Playbook: “The Nov. 4 elections are almost upon us — and while the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey offer more useful barometers of how the parties are faring, it’s the mayoral contest in New York City that is grabbing all the headlines.”

“Frontrunner Zohran Mamdani packed out the iconic Forest Hills Stadium last night at an extraordinary rally alongside fellow socialist stars Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Nearly 13,000 people turned out to see the trio take the stage in Queens, further cementing Mamdani’s reputation as a genuine superstar of the left. Mayoral rallies do not normally look like this.”

Republican Chairs Left in the Dark

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Punchbowl News: “We’ve seen this in several ways over the course of the year. First, there was DOGE, when Republican lawmakers had to beg Elon Musk to communicate with them better, or go around to ask President Donald Trump to fix what DOGE broke. Then there was the rescissions package, followed by the pocket rescissions request GOP members had asked not be executed.”

“And now, Republican committee chairs often aren’t getting the courtesy heads up from the White House before their priorities are slashed, paused or even eliminated during this shutdown.”

“It’s a departure from past administrations, which mostly made sure to keep their congressional overseers, particularly from their own party, in the loop on major decisions. If for no other reason, they wanted lawmakers’ buy-in so Congress didn’t upend the policies the president was trying to implement.”

Rand Paul Pitches Novel Shutdown-Solving Idea

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“Sen. Rand Paul has a new idea to end the government shutdown, calling on President Donald Trump to appoint a bipartisan commission to address the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies at the heart of negotiations,” NOTUS reports.

Said Paul: “I suggest that President Trump come forward and name three Republicans and three Democrats in the Senate to an official commission to figure this out over a one-month period and come back with a solution. But in exchange for that, I think the Democrats need to open the government for a month, and then we need to pay the workers, pay our soldiers.”

The True Danger of Corruption

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Matt Labash: “And if you’re fine with all that, you should ask yourself what’s broken inside of you. Because I can almost guarantee you that wherever you stand on the political spectrum, you wouldn’t have been fine with it ten or fifteen years ago.”

“The true danger of corruption isn’t merely that it’s evil. Because conscientious good people tend to react against evil. The real danger is that evil ceases to be regarded as such by otherwise good people. Rather, it just becomes the new normal. Our corruption Muzak. Something that is processed as background noise, then ignored.”

Trump Calls for Prosecution of Biden-Era Officials

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President Trump pushed for several Biden-era Justice Department officials to be prosecuted over an FBI investigation into the fallout of the 2020 election, CBS News reports.

Trump accused four high-ranking officials — former Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, special counsel Jack Smith and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco — of signing off on an FBI probe in which investigators allegedly looked at nine Republican lawmakers’ phone records.

Trump Expresses His True Feelings About America

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Anne Applebaum: “In truth, the administration’s unannounced destruction of the East Wing of the White House reflects a similar kind of disdain, and belongs to a similar kind of tradition. Ignoring the National Capital Planning Commission, eschewing the deference that presidents have usually shown to public opinion and precedent, Trump sent in the bulldozers before anyone was able to stop them.”

“The message is the same as in the AI video: Trump doesn’t care about public opinion, or that it belongs to the American nation rather than himself, or that it was the product of Thomas Jefferson’s belief in order, proportion, and discipline. He believes that only he can decide what it should look like, and he wants it to reflect his Mar-a-Lago taste: bigger, uglier, with the Rose Garden covered in concrete and fake gold ornaments pasted onto the walls of the Oval Office.”

“He is discarding history, tradition and propriety, destroying a symbol that belongs to all of us, weakening one of the few remaining images that unite us.”

GOP Lawmaker Questions Mamdani’s Citizenship

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“The first immigration case NYC mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani may have to confront if elected could be his own – as two House Republicans push the Justice Department to probe his path to citizenship and possibly boot him from the US,” the New York Post reports.

Said Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL): “I just think we need to take a hard look at how these folks became citizens, and if there is any fraud or any violation of the rules we need to denaturalize and deport.”

He added: “I know that there’s a lot of us that are very, very concerned about the enemy within – people who have come to this country to become citizens, to destroy it.”

Scott Bessent Claims He Feels Soybean Farmers’ Pain

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“Thanks to Trump’s tariff wars, China has essentially stopped buying American soybeans, dealing a significant financial blow to American farmers. China used to purchase 54 percent of the U.S. soy crop, but since the Trump administration imposed punishing tariffs on the nation, China has all but ceased buying American soy, getting their soy from Brazil instead,” Rolling Stone reports.

“Confronted with this fact by host Martha Raddatz on ABC’s This Week, Trump Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — a former hedge fund manager who boasts a net worth of more than $500 million and who rents $25 million in farmland out to soybean farmers — tried to paint himself as the common farmer who understands American farmers’ ‘pain.’”

Said Bessent: “Well, Martha, in case you don’t know it, I’m actually a soybean farmer. So, I have felt this pain, too.”

The Shutdown’s Looming Health Care Cliff

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Playbook: “It is the 26th day of the government shutdown. There are six days until the open enrollment period for health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act opens. There are nine days until this standoff sets a new record. With both sides dug in, the messaging this week is only expected to pitch up with no concrete ending in sight and cliffs looming on the horizon.”

“Across the country, Americans will be faced headfirst with annual premiums spiking by an average of 30 percent next year and that sticker shock is set to hit as soon as tomorrow when window-shopping on Healthcare.gov begins ahead of open enrollment. All told, combined with no extension of the Covid-era ACA tax credits, many will see their premiums double or triple in price.”

The Los Angeles Times notes the “average cost for family coverage is now about the same as a new Toyota Corolla hybrid.”

MAGA Lobbying Firms Are Booming

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Washington Post: “It’s common for firms with ties to the party occupying the White House to experience surges in business when the governing party changes, and established firms with bipartisan practices also reported strong revenue this year. But the six firms that have seen the highest revenue growth mostly have strong ties to Trump.”

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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.

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