“There’s a shutdown in D.C., clashes in Chicago, and economic worries bubbling up all over the country — but at the moment, President Trump seems more focused on Gaza, Ukraine and Venezuela,” Axios reports.
“Trump’s foreign policy focus — and the peace deals he has secured — is the stuff of presidential legacy building. But the globe-trotting risks blurring his America First’ brand.”
Los Angeles Times: How Rubio is winning over Trumpworld on striking Venezuela.
“Most people think I’ve got the shittiest job in America, but I feel like I’ve got the best job in America.”
— DNC chair Ken Martin, quoted by Politico.
ProPublica: “The government doesn’t track how many citizens are held by immigration agents. We found more than 170 cases this year where citizens were detained at raids and protests.”
“More than 20 citizens have reported being held for over a day without being able to call their loved ones or a lawyer. In some cases their families couldn’t find them.”
Punchbowl News: “It’s true that there are House Republicans eager to extend the enhanced Obamacare premium tax credits. A significant number of them.”
“It’s also true that when Republicans are being honest, they’ll admit privately that if Congress fails to extend the credits and premiums skyrocket for millions of Americans, the GOP will be to blame.”
“But here’s another truth: House Republican leadership really doesn’t want to extend these tax credits. And their view is only hardening as the shutdown drags on.”
“What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity. And what Andrew Cuomo lacks in integrity, he could never make up for with experience.”
— Zohran Mamdani, in his debate with Andrew Cuomo.
“Secretly recorded conversations indicate Frank Carone — a former top aide to Mayor Eric Adams who’s now boosting ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral bid — intervened on behalf of an alleged mob associate who was trying to get his suspended tow truck firm’s license reinstated,” The City reports.
A new Fox News poll in New York City finds Zohran Mamdani leading the mayoral race with 49%, followed by Andrew Cuomo at 28% and Curtis Sliwa at 13%.
Support for Mamdani has increased since the September Fox News survey, up 5 percentage points among likely voters.
A new Fox News survey finds Mikie Sherrill (D) ahead of Jack Ciattarelli (R) by 5 points among New Jersey likely voters, 50% to 45%, down from an 8-point lead in late September.
“Zohran Mamdani did not make any major or minor mistakes. He was calm, smiled and made his points over attacks from rivals Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa,” Politico reports.
“Mamdani dominated most of the two-hour debate against his more experienced opponents. His performance was miles better than what he turned in earlier this year during the primary campaign, where he often appeared less confident or flustered.”
Wall Street Journal: Five takeaways from the debate.
“Graham Platner, who is running as an insurgent Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine, once suggested in online posts that violence is a necessary means to achieving social change – comments now drawing scrutiny in an era of increased political violence,” Politico reports.
“Tom Steyer swooped in with millions of dollars to tout Gavin Newsom’s congressional redistricting measure. Top Democrats involved with the campaign wish he would stay away,” Politico reports.
“The billionaire investor’s eleventh-hour intervention ahead of the Nov. 4 special election, without coordinating with the California governor’s campaign team, has landed with a thud among proponents of Proposition 50.”
“President Donald Trump said his administration had struck an agreement to bring down the price of beef for consumers during an event in the Oval Office on Thursday,” Bloomberg reports.
Said Trump: “We are working on beef, and I think we have a deal on beef that’s going to bring the price down. That would be the one product that we would say is a little bit higher than we want it, maybe higher than we want it, and that’s going to be coming down pretty soon too. We did something, we worked our magic.”
“Voting-technology provider Smartmatic was charged Thursday with conspiring to bribe foreign officials and money laundering over a decade-old effort to win business in the Philippines,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Jonathan Bernstein: “It may seem to partisan Democrats who follow politics closely that ‘everybody’ knows what they know about the Republican Party, but that’s not how it works. Most people don’t follow politics very closely. And most people, especially those who are not dedicated partisans, tend to heavily discount accusations hurled by one party at the other…”
“Discounting accusations is normally functional; it just doesn’t work when it comes to Trump, since plain cold facts about him and his presidency sound as if they were wildly overstated accusations. He really is a convicted felon. He really was found to have committed sexual assault. He really does lie far more often than other politicians. He really did attempt to overturn an election. He really has broken his oath of office countless times — and during his current term, both Democratic and Republican judges have found that he has broken the law time after time after time.”
“And it’s not just that people discount what they know. Those who pay less attention to politics miss all sorts of stories that seem major to those who follow the news closely.”
“Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is deploying the state’s National Guard to Austin ahead of this weekend’s planned No Kings rally in the Texas capital, as top Republicans around the country vilify the protests as Antifa-linked and led by the radical flank of the Democratic Party,” Politico reports.
“Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton was charged Thursday in a federal investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information,” the AP reports.
“The 18-count indictment sets the stage for a closely watched court case centering on a longtime fixture in Republican foreign policy circles who became known for his hawkish views on American power and who after leaving Trump’s first government emerged as a prominent and vocal critic of the president.”
President Trump commented to reporters: “I did not know that… He’s a bad person. He’s a bad guy. Too bad. That’s the way it goes.”
“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued the Trump administration Thursday to block steep new fees in the H-1B visa program, in its first legal action against the administration this term,” the Washington Post reports.
“The chamber’s lawsuit alleges that Trump’s new $100,000 visa fees for the H-1B program, widely used by Silicon Valley, violates the Immigration and Nationality Act.”
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.