Axios: “One key question is on President Trump’s mind these days, his advisers say: If the U.S. joins Israel’s war and drops its massive bunker busters, will they actually destroy Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear facility?”
“Trump’s doubts Wednesday about the certainty of success are one reason he was still questioning whether to move forward with a strike.”
Max Boot: The risks and benefits of bombing Fordow. Spoiler alert: It’s a close call.
“Some Senate Republicans wish President Trump would quit standing in the way of the TikTok ban,” Axios reports.
Said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS): “I’m not overly delighted. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO): “That’s not my favorite thing. I’m fine with him trying to sell it, that’s fine, but I think at a certain point we’ve got to enforce this law.”
For members: Trump Pretends Laws Don’t Exist
“A brain drain hitting American universities is expected to gather pace before the start of the new academic year as funding cuts and attacks on academic freedom have led increasing numbers of academics to question whether they wish to stay in the United States,” the South China Morning Post reports.
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Bloomberg: “There is no better barometer of global investors’ repudiation of President Donald Trump’s policies than the dollar. Since he took office, it’s lost more than 10% of its value against the euro, pound and Swiss franc and is down against every single major currency in the world.”
“The last time the dollar plunged this much, this fast was in 2010, when the Federal Reserve was frantically printing money to prop up the economy in the wake of the financial crisis.”
“This time, it’s several of the key pillars of the Trump agenda that are driving investors away: the across-the-board tariff hikes that shocked allies and upended trade; the push to ram through tax cuts that would add to bloated deficits and debt; the pressure campaign to get the Fed to slash interest rates; and the bare-knuckled legal tactics employed against those who oppose his policies.”
The Economist: “When Israel launched its war on Iran on June 13th it did so on the basis of intelligence that it claimed showed Iran had reached a ‘point of no return’ in its quest for a nuclear weapon. That evidence galvanised Israel’s own security establishment to support an attack now. It has been shown to America and other Western partners, presumably playing an important role in their ongoing decision-making over whether to support or even join the war. The Economist has not seen the material directly, but has gained exclusive insights from an authoritative source, giving a view of Israel’s dossiers, as shared with its allies, and the claims they make over enriched uranium and the speeding-up of Iran’s programme. Some of the details are already known; some are new.”
“Israeli intelligence dossiers contain information that, if correct, is genuinely new. They suggest that roughly six years ago the scientists formed a secret ‘Special Progress Group’, under the auspices of the former AMAD director, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. This group’s aim was to prepare the way for a much quicker weaponisation process, if and when a decision was made by Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, to rush for a bomb.”
Thomas Edsall: “In the five months Trump has held office in his second term, the number of impeachable offenses legal scholars estimate that he has already committed ranges from three to eight or more.”
Vice President J.D. Vance created a Bluesky account, using his first posts to troll Democrats over the Supreme Court decision on transgender care.
Daily Beast: A wild number of people have already blocked Vance on Bluesky.
“Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership team believes that Senate Republicans’ proposed deeper cuts to Medicaid can’t pass the House,“ Punchbowl News reports.
“Johnson wasn’t consulted on the Senate’s dramatic changes to the House crackdown on Medicaid provider taxes.”
“President Trump told senior aides late Tuesday that he approved of attack plans for Iran, but was holding off to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear program,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Iran’s well-defended Fordow enrichment facility is a possible U.S. target; it is buried under a mountain and generally considered by military experts to be out of reach of all but the most powerful bombs.”
Earlier Wednesday, Trump told reporters: “I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
A new Washington Post poll finds Americans opposing U.S. airstrikes against Iran by a 20 percentage-point margin — 45 percent to 25 percent — with a sizable 30 percent saying they are unsure.
“Just months into the tenure of a new party leader, Ken Martin, the Democratic National Committee’s financial situation has grown so bleak that top officials have discussed whether they might need to borrow money this year to keep paying the bills,” the New York Times reports.
“Fund-raising from major donors — some of whom Mr. Martin has still not spoken with — has slowed sharply. At the same time, he has expanded the party’s financial commitments to every state, and even to far-flung territories like Guam.”
“Fellow Democrats are grumbling that Mr. Martin, who quietly accepted a raise after taking the post, has been badly distracted by internal battles. So far, they say, he has been unable to help unite his party against Republicans, who control the federal government.”
“The Food and Drug Administration has approved a highly effective new HIV-prevention medication,” the New York Times reports.
“In clinical trials, the drug nearly eliminated HIV’s spread among people given an injection every six months.”
“Nippon Steel has finalized its deal to buy 100% of US Steel, the iconic steelmaker that was once the world’s most valuable company and a cornerstone of American industrial might,” CNN reports.
“But while Nippon is buying the entirety of US Steel, under the final deal the US government will gain a say in many key decisions on how the company is run. That includes giving President Donald Trump veto power over any decision to idle plants, reduce production or staffing levels.”
“President Donald Trump, who criticized his predecessor for allowing new wars to break out on his watch, is increasingly listening to a small group of Iran hawks who have been pushing to go tougher on Tehran,” Politico reports.
“Trump has become more receptive to arguments by those advocating more military engagement, including Gen. Michael ‘Erik’ Kurilla, who leads Central Command, as well as Republican senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Tom Cotton of Arkansas.”
“The trust funds for Social Security and Medicare will run out of money in less than a decade, as the programs’ trustees warned that the funds’ depletion date is significantly closer than predicted a year ago,” the Washington Post reports.
“If Congress does not overhaul the programs’ financing, automatic cuts will slash Social Security benefits by 23 percent and Medicare hospital benefits by 11 percent in 2033.”
“Federal Reserve officials left the door open to cutting interest rates in the second half of the year when they agreed to hold rates steady Wednesday,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“President Trump pre-emptively blasted the widely anticipated rate decision earlier in the day and called for much more dramatic cuts of between 1 and 2.5 percentage points. The Fed left its policy rate in a range between 4.25% and 4.5%.”
President Trump said that Iran “still wants to negotiate with the U.S. and even proposed sending a delegation to the White House, Axios reports.
But Iran denied it in a statement: “No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House. The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to ‘take out’ Iran’s Supreme Leader. Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance.”
“President Trump is sending conflicting messages about his immigration crackdown, promising a reprieve for certain industries that rely on immigrant labor while doubling down on his promise to arrest and deport anyone who is living in the United States illegally,” the New York Times reports.
“The situation has left business owners unclear on exactly what the Trump policy is, just days after the president said “changes are coming” to help those in the farming and hospitality industries whose employees are too scared to show up for work.”
For members: Trump Gets Rolled Again
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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