“Vice President JD Vance said he believes the US government is on track to shut down, seeking to pin the blame on Democrats one day before federal funding is set to lapse,” Bloomberg reports.
Said Vance: “I think we’re headed into a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing. I hope they change their mind, but we’re going to see.”
“Democrats inside and outside of Congress erupted in fury over a proposal circulated among Senate Democrats to reopen the government for seven to 10 days if a shutdown happens,” Axios reports.
“It is an early glimpse at the kind of intense public backlash the Senate Democrats risk from the rest of their party, especially their base, if they do anything short of allowing a government shutdown.”
“For months, President Trump warned Hamas that it had to release all remaining hostages or face Israel’s wrath. On Monday, he issued an ominous message: Agree to a 20-point peace plan for Gaza within 72 hours, or suffer complete annihilation,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In effect, Trump threatened the prospect of more war in order to end nearly two years of fighting.”
“Military leaders have raised serious concerns about the Trump administration’s forthcoming defense strategy, exposing a divide between the Pentagon’s political and uniformed leadership as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summons top brass to a highly unusual summit in Virginia on Tuesday,” the Washington Post reports.
“If a government shutdown wasn’t already exceedingly likely, President Donald Trump might have made it a near certainty Monday night,” Politico reports.
“The president posted a vulgar AI-generated deepfake video to his Truth Social slamming the top Democratic leaders — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — just hours after he hosted the two for an Oval Office meeting…”
“Jeffries appeared to reply on X: ‘Bigotry will get you nowhere. Cancel the Cuts. Lower the Cost. Save Healthcare. We are NOT backing down.’ Later, he posted a photo of Trump with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.”
Jonathan Chait: “As the president knows too well, efforts to censor or convict foes can often make them more popular.”
“This can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way.”
— Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, quoted by the New York Times, warning Hamas if it rejects the proposed U.S. peace plan.
“The QAnon shaman has sued Donald Trump for $40 trillion in a rambling lawsuit that targets Elon Musk, T-Mobile, and Warner Bros,” The Independent reports.
“Jacob Chansley, infamous for wearing a horned warrior outfit while storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, has claimed that he is the rightful commander-in-chief.”
“In his 26-page complaint, he has claimed that an elite group has launched a conspiracy to violate the Constitution. The entire complaint, which is more akin to a manifesto than a formal legal document, is presented in a single paragraph.”
“The selection of Bad Bunny to headline the Super Bowl halftime show is about more than music,” the AP reports.
“The move signals a cultural spotlight for Latin identity at America’s most-watched television event. It also raises fresh questions about how much space there will be for his trademark symbolism and social commentary — including his past criticism of President Donald Trump — given the NFL’s history of keeping performances tightly managed.”
Colombia’s foreign minister has “renounced” her U.S. visa to protest a decision by the U.S. State department to revoke the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, the AP reports.
New York Times: “In order for Newsom and California Democrats to be able to draw new maps, however, voters in the state must decide whether to temporarily remove the state’s independent commission that regularly draws maps and instead hand over that power to Democrats in the State Legislature, via a measure known as Proposition 50.”
“And, in a particularly 2025 twist, the Republicans and others seeking to thwart Newsom’s efforts have been borrowing language most commonly used by Democrats ever since Trump rose to power in 2016 — language that warns that representative democracy is at stake.”
I spoke to Julie Mason on her fantastic radio show about this week’s likely government shutdown.
“The Trump administration is escalating its fight with Harvard University by starting a process that could make the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university ineligible for federal grants over allegations of antisemitism on campus,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit that President Trump brought against the company and its chief executive over its suspension of Trump’s account after that year’s riot at the U.S. Capitol,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The settlement makes YouTube, which is owned by Alphabet’s Google, the final Big Tech company to settle a trio of lawsuits Trump brought against social-media platforms in the months after he left the White House.”
“Congressional leaders left a high-stakes Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump without a breakthrough Monday, greatly raising the likelihood of a government shutdown starting early Wednesday morning,” Politico reports.
Disney saw more than 1.7 million total paid streaming cancellations in the week after suspending Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show, The Handbasket reports.
“Nearly two years into the war in Gaza, American support for Israel has undergone a seismic reversal, with large shares of voters expressing starkly negative views about the Israeli government’s management of the conflict,” a new New York Times/Siena poll finds.
“In the aftermath of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, American voters broadly sympathized with Israelis over Palestinians, with 47% siding with Israel and 20% with Palestinians. In the new poll, 34% said they sided with Israel and 35% with Palestinians. Thirty-one percent said they were unsure or backed both equally.”
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.
