Political Wire

Become a member to get many great benefits -- exclusive analysis, trending news, a private podcast, no ads and more!


Trump to Headline Charlie Kirk’s Funeral

By Leave a Comment

“President Donald Trump and several members of his Cabinet will speak at a memorial in Arizona this weekend to honor Charlie Kirk, the conservative political organizer killed in a shooting on Sept. 10,” Politico reports.

Playbook: “No fewer than seven of the most senior figures in the U.S. government will speak at the event on Sunday — the president himself; plus Vance; White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and policy guru Stephen Miller; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and DNI Tulsi Gabbard. There may never have been a funeral service quite like it.”

“Indeed, the memorial will serve as a launching point for what now looks likely to be one of the most significant aspects of Kirk’s death — its galvanizing effect on the conservative movement.”

Fears Over RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Panel’s Looming Decisions

By Leave a Comment

“Vaccine advisers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expected this week to consider softening or eliminating recommendations for some routine childhood immunizations — which doctors say could significantly depress vaccination rates and trigger more infectious disease outbreaks,” Politico reports.

Axios: Crunch time arrives for RFK Jr.’s vaccine advisers.

Trump Moves to Make Citizenship Test Harder

By Leave a Comment

“The Trump administration moved again Wednesday to make it harder to gain U.S. citizenship, announcing a slate of changes to the core civics test that immigrants must pass to be naturalized,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

“The changes would expand the number of questions immigrants need to be prepared to answer, and increase the number of questions they must answer correctly in order to pass.”


You're reading the free version of Political Wire

Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.




Trump’s Health Care Cuts May Hit Voters Sooner

By Leave a Comment

Politico: “A full year before anyone casts their vote in November 2026 — meaning now, in the fall of 2025 — the American health care system will begin transitioning from an era of unprecedented expansion of coverage to an era of unprecedented cutbacks. And President Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress will be easy to blame.”

“Unless Congress reaches a deal fast on some expiring Obamacare provisions, insurance premiums are set to rise, often by double-digit percentages, in and out of Affordable Care Act exchanges. Hospitals are retrenching ahead of the massive cuts imposed by Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’ Altogether, around 14 million people will lose coverage in the coming decade, the Congressional Budget Office projected in August, with the first wave of losses beginning in months.”

Where CEOs Say What They Really Think of Trump’s Policies

By Leave a Comment

“Corporate leaders regularly praise the Trump administration and its policies in public. Behind closed doors, their mood is darker,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“At a meeting of CEOs and other executives on Wednesday convened by the Yale School of Management, dozens of America’s business leaders sounded off on their concerns about tariffs, immigration, foreign policy matters and what many described as an increasingly chaotic, hard-to-navigate business environment.”

Trump Privately Fumes About Netanyahu

By Leave a Comment

“President Trump is frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The question is whether he will ever be angry enough to do anything about it,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Trump has told several aides in recent weeks that Netanyahu prefers using military force to compel Hamas’s surrender, instead of the president’s preferred method of a negotiated cease-fire. His frustration boiled over last week hours after Israel attacked Hamas negotiators in Qatar, an operation that threatened to derail fragile peace talks.”

Said Trump: “He’s fucking me.”

Reuters: Israel opens new route out of Gaza City, death toll passes 65,000.

Media’s MAGA Makeover

By Leave a Comment

“Trump-friendly billionaires are consolidating control over American media, steering legacy brands and social platforms in a new conservative direction,” Axios reports.

“The media landscape of 2016 is unrecognizable. Once dominated by critics of President Trump, today’s fragmented ecosystem is increasingly controlled — or threatened — by forces aligned with the White House.”

Trump and Starmer to Talk Business 

By Leave a Comment

“President Trump departed Windsor Castle Thursday morning, calling King Charles III a ‘great gentleman and a great king,’ as the president was set to conclude a two-day state visit to Britain with a meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a joint news conference and announcements of business deals involving American and British companies,” the New York Times reports.

“The heavily stage-managed trip has helped Mr. Trump escape political tensions at home, at least briefly, and emphasized longtime American-British ties. The visit to Windsor Castle mostly avoided overt politics and differences between the allies over difficult issues, including trade and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.”

“But Mr. Starmer is expected to raise those topics during his meeting with Mr. Trump, and both men could be quizzed on them at a news conference before the president flies back to Washington on Thursday afternoon.”

Wall Street Journal: How Britain’s Keir Starmer became Europe’s soft-spoken Trump whisperer.

The Running Mate Kamala Harris Didn’t Dare Choose

By Leave a Comment

Jonathan Lemire reports on a passage from Kamala Harris’s soon-to-be-released book, 107 Days, that as Harris rushed to pick a running mate last year, her “first choice” was her close friend Pete Buttigieg, but she decided that it would be “too big of a risk” for a Black woman to run with a gay man.

She writes that Buttigieg “would have been an ideal partner—if I were a straight white man.”

“But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man. Part of me wanted to say, Screw it, let’s just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk.”

107 Days
107 Days
  • Amazon Kindle Edition
  • Harris, Kamala (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
  • 394 Pages - 09/23/2025 (Publication Date) - Simon & Schuster (Publisher)
Check Price on Amazon

Nancy Mace Loses It

By Leave a Comment

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) had a meltdown on X after failing to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on the House floor.

Omar responded: “Literally none of this is true and this woman needs to get help. We have to stop allowing members who are experiencing mental breakdown to continue to work without getting them the help they need. This is an emergency, let’s help her before she hurts herself or one of us.”

Pentagon Lawyers Raise Concerns Over Strikes on Drug Boats

By Leave a Comment

“Some military lawyers and other Defense Department officials are raising concerns about the legal implications of President Trump’s expanding military campaign against Latin American-based drug cartels,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The concerns are around the justification for the strikes themselves, as well as the legal implications for the U.S. military personnel involved in the operations.”

Trump Celebrates Getting Jimmy Kimmel Kicked Off Air

By Leave a Comment

President Trump celebrated Jimmy Kimmel’s show being suspended by ABC by suggesting NBC should do the same to Jimmy Fallon and Seth Myers.

Said Trump: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!”

ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel Over Charlie Kirk Remarks

By Leave a Comment

ABC announced that it was pulling Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show “indefinitely” after criticism of comments he made on Monday about the motives of the man who is accused of fatally shooting the conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week, the New York Times reports.

Wall Street Journal: “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Kimmel during an interview with conservative political podcaster Benny Johnson on Wednesday and suggested the regulatory agency could take action against the broadcast licenses of ABC-owned stations.”

“Owners of some ABC TV stations, including large broadcaster Nexstar Media Group told the network they were dropping the show.”

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.

Praise for Political Wire

“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”

— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”

“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”

— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report

“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”

— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report

“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”

— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia

“Political Wire is a great, great site.”

— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”

“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”

— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post

“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”

— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit

“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”

— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.