Phillips O’Brien: “If your entire policy is to lie, all the time and with malice, it makes a mockery of international relations.” “Yet, that is precisely where the USA is now. It has reached the state where there is no national interest or even national policy. There is the will of a fundamentally dishonest president, […]

“America’s path to lower inflation depends in part on trade wars and actual wars becoming less economically disruptive. In recent days, both have taken turns that threaten the opposite,” Axios reports. “A period of relative calm on those fronts is now giving way to renewed tensions, with Canada, China and Iran all posing fresh economic […]

We’re about to enter the season when polls seem to arrive by the hour. So I’ve partnered with FiftyPlusOne to use their data to create a new, quick read Polling Dashboard. It tracks three things that will matter enormously heading into the midterm elections: President Trump’s approval rating, the generic congressional ballot and eight of […]

USA Today: “According to The Economist and YouGov, more people disapprove than approve of Trump’s job performance in 47 out of 50 states and in the District of Columbia. The three states where the majority of respondents still approve of the president are Wyoming (+14), Idaho (+9), and West Virginia (+6).”

Dan Drezner: “As the war in Iran continues to not be won, however, the cracks in the foundations of American power are showing. Whether it’s guns or butter, the America is coming up short.” “The U.S. has badly depleted its stockpile of missile interceptors, eliminating the ability to deter Russia and China. Members of the […]

“Over three-quarters of Canadians believe that their country ending trade negotiations with the U.S. was the right call, according to a new poll,” NewsNation reports. “In the Angus Reid Institute poll, 76 percent of respondents said their country was in the right ‘by refusing the terms being offered and ending negotiations without a trade agreement,’ […]

“Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican seeking re-election in a blue-leaning state, is not joining Vice President JD Vance on Monday as he stops in her home state of Maine,” Fox News reports.

New York Times: “Republicans in the state will vote on Tuesday in a special runoff election to replace former Senator Lindsey Graham, Ms. Graham’s brother who died last month, on the ballot in November. And Mr. Norman, a hard-line conservative who has staunchly backed Mr. Trump’s agenda over his nine years in Congress but sometimes […]

“Increasingly intertwined conflicts are raising the specter of a single, global war,” Semafor reports. “Recent reports have pointed to Russia ferrying materiel to Iran and North Korea deploying drone operators in support of Moscow, while China and Taiwan are both learning lessons from the conflict in Ukraine.”

“The Trump administration plans to charge employers seeking skilled foreign workers through the H-1B visa program a $103,265 fee, a proposed regulation posted on Monday said,” the Washington Post reports. “Revenue from the fee would be used to run the legal immigration system, the document said, including funding for federal immigration courts and U.S. Immigration […]

“Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday that Ronald Reagan would be ‘throwing up’ over President Donald Trump’s trade policies and threatened to cut off electricity and critical minerals to the United States as Trump escalated the trade fight,” the Associated Press reports.

President Trump’s attempt to strong-arm Canada into a new trade agreement has instead pushed the two countries toward a full-blown trade war. That’s a dangerous development for both sides. The Canadian and American economies are deeply intertwined, with enormous amounts of goods, energy and investment crossing the border every day. Join now to continue reading. […]

“Sen. Ted Cruz said on Monday that the race for Texas’ other Senate seat will be a ‘$200 million’ fight, outlining the road ahead for Republicans as state Attorney General Ken Paxton faces off against state Rep. James Talarico in the closely watched contest,” CBS News reports. Said Cruz: “I think we’re going to win […]

“President Trump said Monday the U.S. will impose 50% tariffs on automobiles and parts from Canada starting in January, the latest escalation in a tit-for-tat trade conflict that erupted over the weekend,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Political Wire‘s timeline game Hindsight has been completely revamped and is now called The Way It Was. There’s a new game every day — and it’s available to all readers. Give it a try!

“The U.S.-Canada trade war could stoke inflation, piling pressure on the Trump administration ahead of November’s key midterm elections,” Semafor reports. “Canada vowed to match 50% U.S. tariffs after talks broke down over the weekend. Though the U.S. levies only apply to a subset of Canadian goods, the move could add to price rises sparked […]

“Russian President Vladimir Putin is allowing the state to take over temporary control of critical facilities that are regarded as insufficiently protected from Ukrainian drone attacks,” Bloomberg reports. “If certain facilities deemed critical don’t enact security measures in a timely manner or violate security requirements for preventing drone attacks, the state may place them under […]

“The Treasury could use its near $1 trillion General Account to help fund its recently announced plans to increase purchases of government bonds, according to two senior Treasury officials,” CNBC reports. “Using the TGA would provide the Treasury with considerable firepower to influence long-term bond yields. The Treasury surprised markets last week with an announcement […]

“President Donald Trump’s Republican Party is increasingly viewing its first-of-a-kind midterm convention in Dallas next month as crucial to regaining momentum at a time when opinion polls show voter frustration over the economy and the Iran war,” Reuters reports. “When Republicans announced the convention earlier this year, some strategists dismissed it as a distraction as […]

“Election deniers are back on the ballot,” The Guardian reports. “In most swing states, at least one major Republican candidate has questioned or outright denied the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden.”

“Trump Media interim CEO Kevin McGurn on Monday defended his company offering faster access to President Donald Trump’s Truth Social posts, and said more customers have signed up for the pricey and controversial service,” CNBC reports. Said McGurn: “We’re getting into the mid-teens now, and we’re climbing.”

“President Trump will head to Ireland next month to visit the U.S. embassy and celebrate the Irish Open at his Doonbeg golf course,” the New York Post reports.

“The Justice Department was preparing to wage a legal battle more than a decade in the making against the world’s largest concert promoter. Then President Trump called,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Settle it, the president told a senior DOJ official, the official later told associates.” “The intervention was bizarre. The antitrust trial against Live […]

“President Donald Trump touted his political endorsement record as ‘stronger than ever’ while explaining away a string of Republican primary defeats as acts of ‘loyalty’ to candidates who had little chance of winning anyway,” Mediaite reports. Said Trump: “My Endorsements are stronger than ever — Not to mention the fact that good people are getting […]

Paul Krugman: “On the face of it, the opponents — I still have to rub my eyes at the idea of Canada as an enemy — appear extremely unevenly matched. The U.S. economy is a dozen times larger than Canada’s. We buy three-quarters of their exports, while they buy only about a sixth of ours. […]

“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to announce a fresh set of economic measures against Iran, as Washington pivots from strike threats to tougher sanctions as a way to end the near six-month war,” Bloomberg reports. “Bessent will unveil details of a plan to more effectively isolate the Islamic Republic later Monday, building on already […]

“Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government sees little chance of resuming talks with President Donald Trump before the midterm elections after trade negotiations collapsed,” Bloomberg reports. “The Canadian leader, who said he will prepare a domestic aid package to help businesses hurt by U.S. tariffs, is designing those measures to ride out the balance of Trump’s […]

Politico: “DeSantis, who helped remold Florida from the nation’s largest swing state to one dominated by Republicans, stayed on the sidelines for the primary. He declined to endorse a successor, including his own hand-picked lieutenant governor who ran in the race, and even early on criticized Rep. Byron Donalds, who won the GOP primary for […]

“The new head of Iran’s top security body warned Sunday that Tehran will see any country’s support for new U.S. economic measures against the Islamic Republic as an ‘act of war,’ while Iran’s president defended a memorandum of understanding with the United States as the best way out of the stalled conflict,” the Associated Press […]

“Rep. Anna Paulina Luna wants to crack down on the murky world of foreign money flowing through America’s booming political influencer economy — an issue increasingly consuming the political brand it helped birth,” Politico reports. Said Luna: “Being an influencer right now is kind of like the wild west. There’s a lot of things laws […]