President Trump and New York City Mayor–elect Zohran Mamdani held one of the most astonishing joint press conferences.

It was a meeting that many thought would be combustible but instead turned into a mutual admiration session.

This week’s quiz lands amid a flurry of political drama — from Congress scrambling to release the Epstein files to Republicans openly distancing themselves from a suddenly lame-duck President Trump.

Add in the MAGA infighting sparked by Tucker Carlson and the White House’s quickly derailed “affordability week,” and it’s been a whirlwind.

The latest episode of Trial Balloon is live for members.

A lame duck president meets a new mayor.

Just for members: The latest edition of Inside Elections.

This issue includes a deep dive into another one of the most competitive House districts in the entire country.

The midterms are just under a year away, but if the political climate next fall even vaguely resembles what we’re seeing today, Republicans are headed for a brutal reckoning.

The House is likely gone. The Senate may follow.

President Trump lashed out at ABC News after a reporter asked a routine question about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his role in the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

Trump erupted: “People are wise to your hoax. ABC — your company, your crappy company — is one of the perpetrators.”

The campaign to force the release of the Epstein files has taken yet another whiplash turn.

The House is now poised to pass the measure by a lopsided margin, the Senate looks likely to follow, and Donald Trump himself insists he’ll sign it — despite the awkward fact that he doesn’t need a law to release the documents he already controls.

Donald Trump is already a lame duck. He didn’t even make it a full year into his second term.

After ten months of pushing presidential power to its outer limits, it’s now obvious his power is slipping.

President Trump’s latest position on the Epstein files — insisting House Republicans vote to “force” him to release documents he already controls — only makes sense in the context of his newest gambit: ordering the Justice Department to reopen investigations into Democrats Jeffrey Epstein mentioned in recently released emails.

But that effort to weaponize the case against Democrats requires an almost comical suspension of reality.

The House is set to vote Tuesday on releasing the Epstein files — a vote that will almost certainly pass now that Donald Trump has abruptly reversed himself and ordered Republicans to back it.

It’s a stunning turnabout. For months, Trump and House Republicans slow-walked and stonewalled the measure, even shuttering the chamber for seven full weeks to keep a discharge petition from reaching the floor.

President Trump hoped to kick off an “affordability week” by rolling out lower tariffs on coffee, bananas, and other supermarket staples — a classic attempt to show he’s tuned in to the daily financial strain facing voters.

But just like the endless “infrastructure weeks” of his first term, the message has already gone off the rails.

It was another week packed with political drama — from the stunning off-year election results to the chaotic end of the government shutdown and the escalating fight over releasing the Epstein files.

Test how closely you followed the twists and turns with this quiz.

The latest episode of Trial Balloon is live for members.

Was the government shutdown really worth it?

For years, I’ve assumed Donald Trump’s fixation on Jeffrey Epstein was less about sex and more about power — the kind of leverage Epstein apparently had on rich and famous men.

I’m starting to doubt that.

Speaker Mike Johnson didn’t want a vote on releasing the Epstein files — but a discharge petition left him no choice.

Rather than drag his feet, he’s now facing loud demands from inside his own conference to move quickly, with some Republicans urging a floor vote as early as next week.