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Trump’s Bureaucracy-Busting Project Ends in Failure

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The Department of Government Efficiency — the once-hyped pet project Donald Trump launched with Elon Musk at the start of his second term — has quietly ceased to exist.

A new report over the weekend flatly concludes that the government-slashing agency “doesn’t exist” anymore.

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Don’t Be Fooled by Trump’s Warm Embrace of Mamdani

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Donald Trump’s meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani caught nearly everyone off guard for its warmth — a striking bit of stagecraft given their stark political differences.

But it’s also classic Trump.

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A Few Thoughts on the Trump-Mamdani Meeting

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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.

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GOP Faces a Midterm Meltdown If Economic Anger Holds

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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.

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The Divided Side Almost Always Loses

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Republican lawmakers appear to have finally absorbed a basic political reality: Donald Trump will never be on a ballot again.

And once that sunk in, everything else followed.

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When You Pay Off a Bully, Expect More Bullying

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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.”

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The Fine Print Behind Trump’s Epstein Reversal

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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.

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Trump Only Gets Weaker From Here

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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.

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Trump Reopens Epstein Probe to Avoid Releasing the Files

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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.

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Trump Doesn’t Need a Vote to Release the Epstein Files

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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.

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This Was Supposed to Be ‘Affordability Week’

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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.

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Some Thoughts on Trump and Epstein

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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.

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An Issue That Still Rattles Trump

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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.

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Democrats Could Face Their Own Tea Party Moment

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The government shutdown may be the first real warning sign that Democrats are entering the kind of internal party upheaval Republicans endured a decade ago.

The early tremors are easy to miss, but they’re there.

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A Pay Day for Eight GOP Senators

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A little-noticed provision tucked into the deal to end the government shutdown could hand sitting senators an extraordinary pay day.

It gives them the ability to sue the federal government for up to $500,000 if investigators access their phone records without advance notice.

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The Myth of ‘America First’

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) turned on President Trump on Monday, blasting him for hosting Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House instead of focusing on domestic policy.

Said Greene: “I would really like to see nonstop meetings at the White House on domestic policy, not foreign policy and foreign country’s leaders.”

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Trump’s Coalition Collapses

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If Republicans can’t reassemble Donald Trump’s 2024 coalition — and with Trump no longer on the ballot — they’re heading into next year’s midterms with a serious handicap.

The double-digit wins by Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia make that crystal clear.

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Republicans Picked the Worst Possible Hill to Die On

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Senate Democrats may have been promised a vote to extend Obamacare subsidies — but that’s where the good news ends.

There’s little chance the measure passes, even less chance the House takes it up, and absolutely no chance President Trump signs it.

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Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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