“The Maine Democratic Party formally selected Troy Jackson as its new Senate nominee on Saturday, ending three tumultuous weeks that nearly derailed the party’s quest to unseat veteran Republican Sen. Susan Collins,” the Washington Post reports. “With just 101 days remaining until the November election, Democrats must now unify a party riven by the spectacular […]

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On our way home from Mongolia, we spent a couple of nights in Seoul. The highlight was a visit to the Korean Demilitarized Zone—a place where history feels unfinished. The DMZ separates North and South Korea along one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world. More than seven decades after the fighting stopped, […]

Political Wire members can test their political knowledge with the Weekly News Quiz or see if they can put major historical political events in the right order with Hindsight. They’re a fun way to challenge yourself — and maybe learn something new along the way!

Wall Street Journal: “Trump poked fun at his Health Secretary, who was in the audience and is known for a habit of picking up roadkill.” Said Trump: “I hope that everyone finally got to enjoy their very delicious beef tenderloin. I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy… personally ran over the cow in […]

“The wars in Iran and Ukraine show how the drone tech revolution makes it easier — and cheaper — to interrupt energy supplies by striking refineries and oil tankers,” Axios reports. “It’s an important reason why oil traded at $100 per barrel this week and gasoline and diesel fuel are so expensive these days.” ”Looking […]

“President Donald Trump launched into tirades against journalists and critics during an awkward dinner with some of the country’s top media figures on Friday evening,” the Financial Times reports. “Trump told journalists in a stripped-down event at the Waldorf Astoria on Friday that they had ‘no idea how lucky’ they were to have him, adding […]

“Republicans are wary that a visible President Donald Trump in Georgia could do more harm than good as they try to win back Sen. Jon Ossoff’s seat,” NOTUS reports. “Ossoff was widely seen as one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for reelection this year — particularly after Trump won the state in 2024. But […]

“The U.S. and U.K. are planning to convene a high-level meeting in London next week that will focus on a potential international coalition to protect maritime shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” Axios reports.

“President Trump will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said in a statement,” Axios reports. “Netanyahu has met with Trump in the Oval Office six times since Trump returned to office a year-and-a-half ago — more than any other world leader. But Netanyahu is […]

“President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs are drawing anger from trading partners and voters but the leverage and revenue they offer could make it hard for future presidents to fully give them up,” Bloomberg reports.

“An Oahu grand jury indicted Sylvia Luke among four others on Friday in connection to an ongoing political bribery case,” KITV reports. ”The indictments made by a grand jury on Friday, July 24, are part of an investigation launched by federal and state authorities months ago into an alleged bribe taken by an ‘influential’ lawmaker […]

“The White House has found new legal ways to keep tariffs flowing. But it’s not enough to fully replace the revenue from the import taxes the Supreme Court struck down,” Axios reports. “The intrigue: The administration’s replacement tariffs would raise about $105 billion a year — replacing about 60% of the revenue lost when the […]

“Speaking at the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Friday, Donald Trump delivered an hour-long speech blending shopworn rally material with a string of leaden one-liners,” Deadline reports. “He was making his first appearance as president at the dinner, which had to be rescheduled last Aprtil after a shooter attempted to rush the ballroom […]

“President Trump on Friday ordered warning signs and exhibits installed outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to alert the public that the museum does not, in his view, accurately reflect American history,” the New York Times reports. The Guardian: Trump escalates Smithsonian attack with order for signs outside history museum.

New York Times: “On Wednesday, 205 House Democrats voted against that chamber’s version of the legislation, a striking break from the past when only the most liberal Democrats dared to oppose the annual defense bill.” “The shift underscored the hardening partisan divide over the war with Iran and its elevation as an issue in the […]

Wall Street Journal: “Widely expected to take Platner’s place on the ballot, Jackson faces a delicate high-wire act.” “On the one hand, he aims to capture the groundswell of populist energy that generated more than 150,000 votes for Platner in the June primary—a record turnout for Maine Democrats. On the other hand, Jackson must distance […]

“The conflict between the U.S. and Iran is escalating just as the two warring parties are running up against the limits of what they can achieve through military force,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The conflict widened this week after Iranian-allied militants in Yemen began striking ships transiting a key Red Sea chokepoint, helping drive […]

Politico: ”Nearly 40 years ago, the DNC unwittingly elevated Jesse Jackson by frontloading its schedule with Southern states. At the time, committee members hoped the shift would help a moderate white candidate, who they thought could more easily win a general election. Instead, Southern Black voters rallied to Jackson’s history-making candidacy. On Friday, the party’s […]

“President Trump returned to office promising lower costs across the economy, but an important interest rate that his administration cites as a barometer of its success recently hit its highest level of Mr. Trump’s second term,” the New York Times reports. “The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond, considered one of the most important interest […]

“President Donald Trump is ramping up pressure on Senate Republicans to quickly advance a $95 billion budget blueprint — even as the mood on Capitol Hill signals GOP senators are inclined to wait until later this year, if ever,” Politico reports.

New York Times: “In little-noticed court documents, federal officials acknowledged this month that they had terminated the funding ‘based solely’ on political criteria, targeting projects in states that were represented by Democrats and had voted for Kamala Harris, the party’s presidential nominee, in the 2024 election.” “The admission showed how President Trump has weaponized the […]

“The United States has now recorded more cases of measles in 2026 than in any other year since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000, a grim sign that the country may be headed toward a new era in which the disease regularly sickens thousands every year,” the New York Times reports.

Elon Musk reflected on his brief venture into politics in a new interview, suggesting he “got carried away,” The Hill reports. Said Musk: “I think I got a little too involved in politics. I got carried away frankly.”

“Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer endorsed Rep. Haley Stevens in her state’s contentious Democratic Senate primary on Friday, wading into one of the highest-profile ideological battles within the Democratic Party,” Politico reports.

“President Trump abruptly switched aircraft when leaving Turkey this month after what officials judged to be a credible threat that Iranian proxy forces were targeting him and Air Force One,” the New York Times reports. “The threat emerged while Mr. Trump was attending the NATO summit. He had flown into Ankara on the new Qatari-donated […]

“South Carolina would be the first state to hold a Democratic primary for president in 2028 under a preliminary recommendation passed with 26 out of 49 votes Friday by a Democratic National Committee panel, capping an internal debate riven with racial overtones,” the Washington Post reports. ”Party officials also recommended New Hampshire, Nevada and Michigan […]

“Bahrain and Kuwait secretly sent jets to attack sites inside Iran, their first such direct retaliation against Tehran and an indication of the difficult position Arab states find themselves in as the war grinds on, people familiar with the matter said,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The airstrikes early this month targeted drone- and missile-storage […]

Wall Street Journal: “When the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s main tariff weapon in February, the president’s trade war seemed destined to enter a less capricious and more constrained phase.” “To Trump, though, court rulings are road maps, not roadblocks. February’s court ruling simply rerouted him to tools the court hadn’t explicitly prohibited. And fortunately […]

“President Trump met on Friday with top advisers and senior members of his cabinet to decide whether to intensify the military assault against Iran, according to four people briefed on the planned discussion,” the New York Times reports. “The meeting comes as Mr. Trump faces a potential inflection point in his approach to Iran, after […]