“When Vanity Fair published close-up photos of President Donald Trump’s core advisers at the end of 2025, the group included five staffers alongside the vice president and secretary of state. Now two of those five aides are gone from the West Wing, turnover that’s reshaping the management of a deeply personal presidency,” Semafor reports. “Two […]

Washington Post: “It is a risky strategy two months before Election Day. Vulnerable Republicans cannot afford to antagonize Trump because they need his help to turn out his base and tap into the $400 million war chest he controls. And he is not extending the leeway past presidents have for candidates to run their own […]

New York Times: “All across America, the midterm elections are drowning in dark money.” “A New York Times review of advertising data, campaign-finance filings and tax records revealed that about $1 billion in anonymous money is sloshing through the political landscape in 2026, a staggering sum and yet almost certainly a low-end estimate, given how […]

“Russia’s Defense Ministry said it is planning ‘massive strikes’ on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, days after launching a devastating attack on a warehouse near Kyiv, amplifying fears of another winter assault,” CNBC reports.

Nate Cohn: “The New York Times/Siena Poll has traditionally been a telephone survey, but over the last few years we’ve experimented with most of the major methods for contacting voters. These include sending them text messages (and sometimes offering financial incentives to participate), sending them mail with financial incentives, and getting data from panels of […]

“Lawmakers can spend years trying to land seats on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. Several could finally get their chance in the next Congress,” Politico reports. ”The panel with vast jurisdiction over health care, artificial intelligence, energy and telecommunications will have at least eight empty slots in the next Congress — four on […]

“A plan in one of Texas’ largest counties to use dozens fewer polling locations than in previous years is drawing protests from Democrats who say the reductions could create confusion in the November midterm elections,” the Associated Press reports. “The proposal, set for a vote Tuesday, would reduce the number of polling locations across booming […]

Punchbowl News: “It’s striking that Republicans have settled on a message that Trump is on the ballot in 2026. The election will be all about him anyway, so this is an attempt to turn necessity into a political virtue.” ”Yet Trump’s approval ratings are well under 40%, especially on his handling of the economy. He’s […]

“The House is back in session, but it might be a short one,” Politico reports. “Speaker Mike Johnson is looking to tick off the lone essential item on the chamber’s to-do list in lawmakers’ first days back: a Senate-passed, shutdown-averting spending bill.” “A handful of other priorities are caught up in partisan battles and Senate […]

“The rate at which mail votes have been rejected for arriving late has ticked up in primaries this year and general elections last year in roughly a dozen states, prompting election officials to worry that the U.S. Postal Service is ill-equipped to deliver ballots in the fall midterms,” the New York Times reports.

“President Donald Trump’s plan to seize direct control of Venezuela’s oil reserves is prompting warnings that the Latin American nation will become a modern-day resource colony akin to the so-called banana republics of a century ago — something that could create long-term risks for oil companies operating there,” Bloomberg reports.

“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s potential run for president has exposed long-simmering divisions within the Democratic Socialists of America,” Axios reports. “The socialism movement’s leaders are increasingly at odds over who should speak for them, what policies they stand for — and whether to support AOC, whom some dismiss as more establishment than insurgent.”

Just two months from Election Day, Republicans are trailing in eight of the major battleground Senate races. 

“The Pentagon has secretly installed several conservative military veterans with large online followings in government roles, declining to disclose their assignments as they amplify Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s viewpoints and attack those who scrutinize the Trump administration,” the Washington Post reports. “At least some of the influencers have been assigned to civilian roles that could […]

“Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Sunday renewed his call for free and fair elections in Venezuela, just two days after the Trump administration announced that the U.S. would take over 65 billion barrels of oil from the South American nation,” NBC News reports. Said Cruz: “There need to be democratic, free elections in Venezuela.”

“President Donald Trump escalated his trade war with Canada on Sunday by declaring he wants the USA to reject all products coming from North of the border — unless those companies are willing to relocate from Canada to the States,” Mediaite reports. Said Trump: “I don’t want Canadian cars, I don’t want Canadian parts, I […]

“The U.S. military struck Iranian military targets to prevent the deployment of sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz,” Axios reports. “This is the first known U.S. strike in Iran since late July when President Trump paused a two-week U.S. military campaign in the Strait of Hormuz in late July.” CNN: U.S. strikes Iranian island […]

The final Emerson College Polling poll in Massachusetts finds Ed Markey (D) leading Seth Moulton (D) in the Democratic Senate primary, 60% to 33%. Massachusetts Democratic Senate primary Ed Markey (D) 60%   Seth Moulton (D) 33%   Emerson College Polling poll

“Venezuelan interim President Delcy ​Rodriguez said on Saturday that an energy agreement with the U.S. would remain in force for 25 ‌years, target an increase in crude output to 1.5 million barrels per day and preserve the country’s sovereignty over its natural resources,” Reuters reports. “Rodriguez hailed the accord in a late-night address as a […]

A new EPIC-MRA poll in Michigan finds Abdul El-Sayed (D) leading Mike Rogers (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 47% to 43%. Michigan Senate Race Abdul El-Sayed (D) 47%   Mike Rogers (R) 43%   EPIC-MRA poll

A new Albuquerque Journal Poll/Research & Polling Inc. poll in New Mexico finds Deb Haaland (D) leading Gregg Hull (R) in the governor’s race, 49% to 43%. New Mexico Governor’s Race Deb Haaland (D) 49%   Gregg Hull (R) 43%   Journal Poll/Research & Polling Inc. poll

“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent began the week vowing an ‘economic onslaught’ against Iran and its trading partners in a fresh bid to end the war. By the week’s end, countries with ties to Tehran had so far shrugged off the threat and analysts were left underwhelmed by the U.S. actions,” Bloomberg reports. “China, which buys […]

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has denied reports as “100% false” that he intends to run for president in 2028, the Telegraph reports.

“Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that Germany’s eastern Saxony-Anhalt region will suffer economic damage if the far-right AfD party wins control of the state’s government next Sunday,” Bloomberg reports. Said Merz: “If things turn out the way the polls suggest, this federal state will face significant problems. I cannot imagine international investors showing up for a […]

Jonathan Martin: “The Senate map is less complicated than it appears. As with every modern presidential campaign, it runs through the Midwest.” “If Democrats flip Republican-held seats in Ohio and Iowa while retaining Michigan, they will almost certainly net the four seats total needed to take control of the Senate for President Donald Trump’s final […]

“President Donald Trump stepped up his attacks against the media on Sunday with an admonition to the Federal Communications Commission to investigate polling used by news outlets,” Bloomberg reports. “Trump has long had an adversarial relationship with journalists and news organizations who publish stories he doesn’t like, particularly those about his standing in the polls. […]

“The Trump administration is shuttering research projects key to the federal government’s fight against cyclospora, the foodborne parasite sickening thousands of Americans this summer,” Politico reports.

“The country’s first mail ballots for November are due to be sent out this week — but the method used by one-third of voters has a cloud of uncertainty hanging over it,” Politico reports. “The prospect of new U.S. Postal Service rules to tighten up mail voting and demand voter lists from states, given new […]

“Ontario Premier Doug Ford ridiculed President Donald Trump’s order changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, while expressing optimism that Canada and the U.S. would eventually overcome their differences on trade and tariffs,” Bloomberg reports. Said Ford: “It was like something out of Saturday Night Live, when he signed a document saying ‘Change […]

Rana Foroohar: “People increasingly blame large corporations for the sense that they have ever less control over their own lives.”