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Aileen Cannon Won’t Allow Release of Jack Smith’s Report

February 23, 2026 at 10:50 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified records and obstruction of justice at Mar-a-Lago after his first term will not be released, a Trump-appointed judge in Florida ruled Monday,” CNN reports.

“The decision by US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who threw out the case Smith brought against the president before he was re-elected, is a major win in Trump’s efforts to keep the special counsel’s findings forever hidden from public view.”

Politico: Judge Cannon permanently blocks release of Jack Smith report.

Filed Under: Trump Legacy

Lara Trump Sees ‘Many’ Trumps Running for Office

February 18, 2026 at 11:52 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Lara Trump suggested that “many” members of the Trump family could eventually run for office, with multiple possible successors to her father-in-law President Donald Trump, Mediaite reports

Said Trump: “I would say that at this point, we’ve all kind of dipped our toe in the water of politics enough to know that it’s something that I think possibly interests many of us in our family, and I know the Democrats would love to hear that, that it may not end just with Donald Trump, but I do think the timing has to be right for all of us.”

Filed Under: Trump Legacy

Stamping Out Free Speech

February 13, 2026 at 11:00 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Susan Glasser writes that President Trump’s “systematic campaign to stamp out dissent and punish those who disagree with him that will be remembered as among the most singularly un-American aspects of his disruptive tenure.”

“This is not the free-speech Presidency he promised, but a free-speech crackdown without modern precedent…”

Filed Under: Trump Legacy

How Trump Is Shaping His Legacy

February 5, 2026 at 7:18 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “Building so many new things and placing his name on others creates an enduring reminder of Trump’s presidency.”

“It is easy to remember Kennedy’s place in history, or Jefferson’s, or Lincoln’s, in part because there are memorials to them here in the capital.”

“Trump may not have one of those — at least not yet — but if his alterations are successful, he will have created a dynamic in which his name is spoken thousands of times each day in D.C., each time visitors see one of his additions, long after he is gone.”

Filed Under: Trump Legacy

Jack Smith to Defend Trump Prosecutions

January 22, 2026 at 7:06 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former special counsel Jack Smith will tell the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday that President Trump was charged because evidence showed he “willfully broke the very laws he swore to uphold,” Axios reports.

Smith’s highly anticipated public testimony marks his first open defense of the Trump prosecutions, as Republicans intensify efforts to portray the investigations as politically motivated.

CNN: Jack Smith is “not afraid” of Donald Trump, his legal team says ahead of Thursday testimony.

Filed Under: Trump Legacy

The Enduring Legacy of Trump’s Imperial Presidency

January 20, 2026 at 1:54 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Bloomberg: “Trumpism may or may not outlast Trump, but one aspect that will persist is his expansion of the executive branch. Through a meticulously planned barrage of policies and test cases, combined with a flagrant disregard for guardrails that once bound him and his predecessors, Trump has reset, and expanded, the parameters of Oval Office power, shifting voters’ expectations along the way.”

“This redefinition could loom through the next three years, both for Trumpism’s would-be heirs and for Democrats who might seek to match his performative, constitutionally questionable zeal (if without the Supreme Court majority that’s enabled it). It’s not about whether the next president will keep some of these new powers, but about which.”

For members: Trump Changed the Presidency and There’s No Going Back

Filed Under: Trump Legacy

Trump Remakes America as Leader of the Brand

December 27, 2025 at 10:01 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “President Trump’s long love affair with his own name and likeness is peaking in his second term. There’s now the Donald J. Trump United States Institute of Peace and the Trump Kennedy Center, the performing arts venue. There are Trump Accounts for newborn babies and Trump Gold Cards for wealthy U.S. residency-seekers. Giant Trump portraits have been hung from select federal buildings and smaller ones will appear on national park passes. Coming soon: a so-called Trump class of battleships for the Navy and a Trump commemorative coin to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary.”

“This, of course, is the second chapter of Mr. Trump as eponymous self-promoter. In the first, he put his name on the projects he built as a developer. And in the 2000s, largely based on his fame as host of The Apprentice, he turned his name alone into a lucrative product, attaching it to steaks and wine and get-rich seminars and resorts and on and on…”

“That marketing strategy endures as he now pursues the golden legacy he believes he deserves. But as Mr. Trump normalizes norm-shattering, this self-aggrandizement, unheard-of in the history of the presidency, puts him in the company of conquerors and dictators.”

Filed Under: Trump Legacy, White House

Trump Library Could Have a ‘Fake News Wing’

December 14, 2025 at 7:53 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Eric Trump sounded triumphant after Florida officials recently approved giving away a prized piece of Miami real estate for his father’s presidential library,” the Washington Post reports.

Said Trump: “I got the library approved yesterday… we just got the greatest site in Florida and I’m going to be building that.”

“Then, speaking on another program, Trump said he would take the host’s suggestion to create a ‘fake news wing’ — paid for with money from lawsuit settlements with ABC, CBS and other sources. It would run clips from ‘60 Minutes’ and other programs that he said were evidence of the media organizations’ animus against his father.”

Filed Under: Trump Legacy

Trump’s Presidential Library May Be a Skyscraper

December 7, 2025 at 1:58 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “Forget glamor-free presidential libraries in towns like Little Rock or Grand Rapids. Sometime after 2029, enthusiasts might be able to take in a facility whose possible elements include a 47-story tower, a hotel, a rooftop restaurant, and a prime perch in the Miami skyline. Donald Trump’s presidential library, like Donald Trump’s presidency, is already breaking molds — and it hasn’t even been commissioned yet.”

“The hype around the building gathered force back in September, when Trump’s son Eric — a trustee of The Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation — announced the location, proclaiming the library would be ‘one of the most beautiful buildings ever built’ and ‘an Icon on the Miami skyline.’ No official plans have been released, but in conversations with Florida power players, local activists, real estate pros and Trump insiders familiar with the discussions, it appears that the project is shaping up to be a lot more glamorous, a lot pricier, and a whole lot more lucrative than the libraries of his predecessors.”

Filed Under: Trump Legacy

Michael Flynn in Settlement Talks Over $50 Million Claim

November 14, 2025 at 3:31 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Justice Department has been discussing settlements with two former officials from Donald Trump’s first term who — like the president — claim they’re owed major payouts from the US government as victims of politically motivated actions,” Bloomberg reports.

“The administration has been in talks since at least late summer to resolve lawsuits brought by Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and former senior White House lawyer Stefan Passantino, according to court filings. Flynn is seeking $50 million for what he alleges was a wrongful prosecution, while Passantino says a House committee probing the 2020 election harmed his reputation by leaking private information.”

Filed Under: Trump Legacy, White House

‘If It Was Anyone Else, We’d Arrest Him Tomorrow’

November 3, 2025 at 2:26 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

MSNBC runs an excerpt from Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America’s Justice Department:

“Knowingly taking classified documents outside of a secure government facility was a crime, plain and simple, she explained. Trying to conceal them after receiving a May subpoena to return all classified records, as Trump had, made the crime far worse, she argued. But Olsen’s team knew that with Trump, all bets were off. The Justice Department would invariably treat the former president more gingerly.”

Filed Under: Political Books, Trump Legacy

Trump Escalates Demands for 2020 Election Probes

November 2, 2025 at 6:56 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Donald Trump is dialing up pressure on the Justice Department to freshly scrutinize ballots from the 2020 election, raising tensions with administration officials who think their time is better spent examining voter lists for future elections,” the Washington Post reports.

Filed Under: Trump Legacy

Trump’s Search for Eternity

October 30, 2025 at 7:19 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Mr. Trump is hardly the first 79-year-old to dwell on what may come after he departs this mortal coil — or to wonder whether he has earned entry into the pearly gates. But it is so unlike Mr. Trump to express self-doubt that his public rumination has raised questions. What is on his mind lately that makes him fear his fate in the hereafter? What sins might he be regretting?”

“He has not clarified his thinking, at least not on camera, nor for that matter has he shown any public signs of repentance for scandals that he may believe hold him back from grace. And yet the president’s curious contemplation comes at a time when Mr. Trump seems to be seeking a form of immortality. If absolution is out of reach, perhaps there are more achievable ways of living beyond his natural time on this earth.”

“And so, the man who over a long career in business slapped his name on buildings around the world now seems intent on leaving his mark in even more grandiose fashion.”

Filed Under: Trump Legacy, White House

Quote of the Day

October 22, 2025 at 8:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“If he was a king, he probably would have never left office the first time.”

— Donald Trump Jr., speaking about his father on Fox News.

Filed Under: Trump Legacy

Court Pauses Transfer of Land for Trump Library

October 15, 2025 at 5:23 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The planned transfer of downtown Miami land for President Trump’s future presidential library was temporarily blocked by a Florida judge on Tuesday,” Axios reports.

“Marvin Dunn, a Miami historian and activist, filed a lawsuit saying the public should have been more involved in the process that saw Miami-Dade College transfer ownership of the 2.63-acre property that has an estimated value of $67 million to the state, which donated it for Florida’s first presidential library.”

Filed Under: Trump Legacy

Not the Same Guy

October 3, 2025 at 1:30 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The Atlantic: “Thirty-four days into the previous government shutdown, in 2019, reporters asked President Donald Trump if he had a message for the thousands of federal employees who were about to miss another paycheck.

Said Trump: “I love them. I respect them. I really appreciate the great job they’re doing.”

“The following day, caving after weeks of punishing cable-news coverage, he signed legislation to reopen the government, lauding furloughed employees as ‘incredible patriots,’ pledging to quickly restore their back pay, and calling the moment ‘an opportunity for all parties to work together for the benefit of our whole beautiful, wonderful nation.'”

“Doesn’t really sound like the same guy, does it? This time, it took Trump fewer than 24 hours to turn a shutdown into a weapon wielded against the civil servants he once praised and the opposing party he has long derided.”

Filed Under: Trump Legacy, White House

Donald Trump’s Shutdown Power Play

October 2, 2025 at 9:23 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Susan Glasser: “During Donald Trump’s first term, the President’s demand that Congress fund his proposed wall on the Mexican border led to the longest shutdown in history—thirty-five days, from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019. In the end, Trump caved, agreeing to reopen the government even without the nearly six billion dollars in border-wall funding that he had demanded.”

“This capitulation was initially portrayed as a triumph for the new Democratic majority under House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a stinging defeat for Trump… but it was not. It was, in fact, a moment of revelation in which he realized that he could do just about anything he wanted. In the end, Trump got his border-wall money. He simply went ahead and took it. The history of the Presidency may never be the same.”

Filed Under: Trump Legacy, White House

Florida Transfers Land for Trump Presidential Library

September 30, 2025 at 1:28 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state elected officials Tuesday moved ahead with an ambitious plan to deliver prime downtown Miami real estate that will be the location of President Donald Trump’s presidential library,” Politico reports.

“The quick and unanimous vote caps off a mostly off-the-radar transaction pieced together quickly and not widely known about until last week, when Miami Dade College voted to transfer the land over to the state.”

Filed Under: Trump Legacy

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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