“Even before talks begin, President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with President Donald Trump at a U.S. military base in Alaska on Friday is advancing the Russian’s goal of redrawing the global security order, as the two men revive a great-power system in which a few big countries call the shots,” the Washington Post reports.
New York Times: Why Putin thinks Russia has the upper hand.
Wall Street Journal: “About 80% of donations from the communications and electronics sector in the last election cycle went to Democrats, with a similar ratio at big tech companies like Google and Microsoft.”
“But the alliance soured for some who opposed the Biden administration’s focus on regulating areas like cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence and are encouraged by President Trump’s policies.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is “calling for a ban on single-stock trading by members of Congress, a push that could supercharge legislative efforts to ban the practice that have gained momentum in recent months,” Politico reports.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is “quietly pressing former Rep. Mary Peltola (D) to plunge into the Alaska Senate race,” Axios reports.
“Residents in one Washington, D.C., neighborhood lined up Wednesday to protest the increased police presence after the White House said the number of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital would ramp up and federal officers would be on the streets around the clock,” the AP reports.
“After law enforcement set up a vehicle checkpoint along the busy 14th Street Northwest corridor, hecklers shouted, ‘Go home, fascists’ and ‘Get off our streets.’ Some protesters stood at the intersection before the checkpoint and urged drivers to turn away from it.”
Washington Post: D.C. to see more federal troops as Trump pushes to extend emergency.
On Truth Social, President Trump framed his efforts as part of a crusade to “liberate this City, scrape away the filth, and make it safe, clean, habitable and beautiful once more!”
“People in this bucolic corner of England were already a bit testy about hordes of visiting Americans in recent years,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Then the most high-profile one so far arrived for a family holiday: Vice President JD Vance.”
“For the past few days, residents of the Cotswolds have been subjected to the traveling circus that accompanies a senior visitor from the White House. Long convoys of giant SUVs with tinted windows guarded by a police escort wend past tiny roads and quaint limestone houses. Helicopters hover overhead. Men with earpieces stand near entrances to small walking paths where locals normally wander next to fields.”
“California Gov. Gavin Newsom faces a major hurdle in his quest to revamp his state’s congressional lines, according to a new poll: Californians’ deep support for its current independent redistricting commission,” Politico reports.
“By nearly a two-to-one margin, voters prefer keeping an independent line-drawing panel to determine the state’s House seats, the latest Politico-Citrin Center-Possibility Lab survey found. Just 36 percent of respondents back returning congressional redistricting authority to state lawmakers.”
“President Donald Trump’s aggressive redistricting push is sparking public concern from an unusual mix of Republicans,” Politico reports.
“Resistance to mid-decade redraws is running the ideological gamut and cutting across levels of government. While many are backing Trump’s gambit to protect the GOP’s House majority in the midterms, a growing number of Republican lawmakers are airing concerns — a list that spans lawmakers from swing districts in blue states to safe territory in ruby-red Florida.”
“President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics was among the crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with the White House saying he was a ‘bystander’ who wandered over after seeing coverage on the news,” NBC News reports.
“E.J. Antoni, an economist from the Heritage Foundation nominated by Trump this week, after the president fired the previous BLS head, appears in numerous videos posted on social media of the crowd on the Capitol grounds.”
“President Trump doesn’t have a limitation on his authority to make this country safe again. There is no limitation on that.”
— Immigration czar Tom Homan, speaking to reporters.
“House Democrats are looking on in agony as Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Greg Casar (D-TX) and Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) appear destined to duke it out for a single congressional district,” Axios reports.
“It would be a fight for the ages, pitting progressives’ 36-year-old rising star leader against a well-liked, 78-year-old stalwart of the left at a time when age is already one of Democrats’ biggest headaches.”
Said one senior House Democrat: “They are going to be vicious.”
“President Trump agreed with European leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to red lines for the coming talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and said he hoped to follow up quickly with a trilateral summit with the two warring leaders,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“President Trump is raking up global support in his push for a Nobel Peace Prize — garnering nominations from Pakistan, Cambodia, Israel and GOP lawmakers as he touts his role in talks to end various global conflicts,” The Hill reports.
“Friday may be Trump’s biggest diplomatic test yet when he sits down with Russian President Vladimir Putin to talk about ending the war in Ukraine, something the president has struggled to settle between the two adversaries.”
Said a former aide: “There’s no question the pressure’s on. Trump sees this prize as the ultimate capstone to how history will remember him.”
Former President George W. Bush and his brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, held a fundraiser in Kennebunkport for Jonathan Bush, their cousin who is exploring a run for Maine governor in 2026, the Bangor Daily News reports.
“South Park hit yet another home run with Season 27’s continued jokes about the Trump administration,” Deadline reports.
“The second episode of Season 27 drew 6.2M global multi-platform viewers across Comedy Central and Paramount+ in its first three days… That’s a slight uptick from the premiere episode, which reached nearly 6M viewers in the same time frame.”
“Paramount says that global streaming consumption of the long-running series from Trey Parker and Matt Stone has grown double digits in the first three days of Episode 2702’s release, up 49% from the same period of streaming for the series post-premiere.”
As states move forward with mid-decade redraws, The Downballot will be continually updating their tracker.
“President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that he could avoid congressional approval to extend his 30-day federal takeover of Washington’s police, amid his efforts to wrest control of the capital’s law enforcement,” Politico reports.
Said Trump: “If it’s a national emergency we can do it without Congress, but we expect to be before Congress very quickly.”
A new Economist/YouGov poll finds 83% of Republican-leaning Americans approve of President Trump, down from 92% in January.
Interestingly, a majority of Americans think Trump knew some (27%) or a lot (44%) about the sex crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein against underage girls before investigations into Epstein began; only 8% say he knew nothing about them.
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.
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