“Had dinner at my home with Jake and Jennifer Tapper. Relaxed, good time. Jake clearly believes that Trump is totally nuts.” — Dr. Anthony Fauci, quoted in his personal diary by City Cast.

“Americans are largely tolerant of scandals among politicians. But nobody is more willing to stick by an embattled candidate than a MAGA voter,” Politico reports. “The Politico Poll finds President Donald Trump’s MAGA supporters are the most loyal of any group of voters — with majorities saying they would stick by GOP candidates confronted with […]

“Economic growth was weaker than expected in the second quarter while inflation in June held well above the Federal Reserve’s goal,” CNBC reports. “Gross domestic product, a broad measure of goods and services, increased just 1.5% for the April-through June period.”

Time: “A socialist stalwart who rose through Chávez’s inner circle before serving for years as Nicolás Maduro’s second-in-command, Rodríguez, 57, was among the most recognizable faces of a movement largely defined for decades by its hostility toward the U.S.” “Today, she is the steward of a remarkable rapprochement with Washington. In exchange for U.S. support, […]

“It turns out there are consequences for going scorched-earth. Especially if the person you scorched still has a vote in the U.S. Senate,” Bloomberg reports. “That lesson is unfolding in dramatic fashion this morning as Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Todd Blanche, faces an embarrassing delay thanks to Senator John Cornyn.” “A scheduled vote […]

“Three in 4 Democrats say they would be open to supporting a democratic socialist for president, but less than half of all Americans say they would vote for such a candidate,” according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll. “The findings from the recent survey show the ascendant strength of socialist-backed candidates among left-leaning voters — and […]

“Treasury yields are hovering at multiyear highs, reflecting worries about rising inflation and the Fed’s willingness to combat it after officials held interest rates unchanged for a seventh month,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The Middle East teetered on the brink of an expanded war on Thursday, after Iran and the United States reignited their hostilities and inflamed conflicts on other fronts that threatened to draw in more countries,” the New York Times reports. “For the first time since the conflict began in February, the authorities in Egypt said […]

“President Donald Trump won’t stop needling Senate Majority Leader John Thune, no matter how much it splinters Republicans,” Semafor reports. “The president is heaping demands on Thune as the Senate GOP looks to head home for August and try to shore up its increasingly fragile majority. Thune says much of what Trump wants is not […]

“Democrats aren’t doing enough to win over voters with their approach to tackling government accountability and corruption, as those issues take on greater salience,” Semafor reports. “New polling from the center-left group Third Way and Impact Research, shared first with Semafor, found that voters trust Republicans slightly more than Democrats to reduce government waste, fraud, […]

“A Russian missile was likely the object that crashed in eastern Poland early on Thursday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said,” Bloomberg reports. “The announcement comes after Polish armed forces said it detected an unidentified object entering the country’s airspace while observing ‘at least a dozen missiles’ over western Ukraine. Poland borders Ukraine and is a […]

“He sees me as the person that’s the impediment to some of the things he wants to get done. But as I continually point out… I don’t make this stuff up. Math is math, arithmetic is arithmetic.” — Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), quoted by Politico, on the pressure he feels from President Trump […]

“Longtime Democratic operative Guy Cecil has launched a new research initiative aimed at boosting the party’s numbers and appeal — an effort that comes amid debate over how to best win in the midterms and 2028,” Bloomberg reports. “The American Horizon Project is circulating their first round of analysis among party officials. It includes polling […]

Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “We’re revamping our House ratings this week, which has the effect of bringing the number of seats at least leaning to each party to rough parity after redistricting helped Republicans build an edge in our ratings a few months ago.” “Our overall topline assessment is basically unchanged, though: Democrats remain favored […]

“Majorities of Americans are worried about election officials being coerced, lax ballot security, and voter intimidation leading up to the 2026 midterm elections, according to new polling from Gallup,” Semafor reports. “Nearly seven in 10 U.S. adults worry about politicians pressuring election officials to change results. The number is higher among Democrats, following Trump’s attempt […]

Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball moves Georgia’s U.S. Senate race from Leans Democratic to Likely Democratic.

“The Iran war has revealed China’s enormous power over global oil prices, thanks to its position as the world’s largest buyer,” Axios reports. “China’s reaction to the oil shock — by substantially withdrawing from buying on world markets — helped prevent the worst of the price spikes that experts thought would follow from the effective […]

A new Emerson College poll in Michigan finds Abdul El-Sayed (D) leading Haley Stevens (D) for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination, 54% to 39%. Including whom undecided voters lean toward, El-Sayed’s lead grows to 57% to 41%.

“A super PAC that has invested millions to unseat Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) is putting another $700,000 behind his GOP primary challenger in the final week of the campaign,” Axios reports. “Ogles was already facing one his most perilous reelection battle to date, with Democrats making him one of their top targets in November. But […]

“Vice President Vance and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a ‘direct’ conversation about their differences in a one-on-one meeting in Washington on Tuesday evening,” Axios reports. “Vance has been the most Netanyahu-skeptical voice in Trump’s inner circle since the beginning of the war. As the war dragged on, he became increasingly critical of the […]

“Ballistic missiles are at the start of an unprecedented run of proliferation as nations draw lessons from the wars in Ukraine and Iran,” Bloomberg reports. “The demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty has also spurred development of new weapons. From 1988 to 2019, it prohibited the U.S. and Soviet Union/Russia from building missiles with […]

“The Trump administration on Thursday reiterated its view that China’s alleged efforts to collect millions of American voter registration files constituted election interference — an allegation leveled by President Trump in a primetime address two weeks ago,” CBS News reports. Washington Post: States cast doubt on Trump’s claim that China hacked their voter rolls.

Punchbowl News: “We’ve seen this movie for a decade. President Donald Trump gets tired of an ally he no longer finds useful and kicks them to the curb.” ”Is Senate Majority Leader John Thune heading in that direction?” ”Trump on Wednesday declined to say whether Thune is the right person to lead Senate Republicans amid […]

“Democrats only have one major leverage point left against the Trump administration — and they’re not about to use it,” NOTUS reports. “With Congress approaching a government funding cliff at the end of September, key Senate Democrats signaled they want to take the threat of a government shutdown off the table. Several told NOTUS this […]

“Long-anticipated Russia sanctions legislation proposed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham is heading toward passage in the Senate. That doesn’t mean the road ahead will be easy, and it certainly won’t be quick,” Politico reports. ”The House won’t even be able to consider the legislation until representatives return to Washington in September, when concerns over […]

Washington Post: “Fauci was initially seen as a unifying figure, particularly in the early days of the pandemic as Americans looked for answers — and the highly visible doctor provided them in TV interviews, podcast appearances and other forums.” ”About 8 in 10 Americans in April 2020 said they trusted Fauci to provide reliable information […]

“President Donald Trump has put his weight behind Sen. Darline Graham in her bid to succeed her late brother, Lindsey Graham, for a full term. But rather than embracing the president’s endorsed candidate in a whirlwind election less than two weeks away, influential conservative activists in South Carolina say they’re not swayed,” the Washington Post […]

Washington Post: “In many ways, this is the moment Silicon Valley’s defense entrepreneurs have said they were made for — to be cheaper, quicker and more nimble to the needs of the U.S. fighting force than legacy multibillion-dollar defense contractors.” “They represent a sharp departure from established firms, which have far more experience managing clunky […]

New York Times: “The Iranian and U.S. moves come as the war has widened quickly, with Saudi Arabia joining U.S. forces in striking Iranian proxies in Iraq, an American tanker in Egypt set ablaze from an apparent drone strike and tensions rising between Ukraine and Iran.” ”The war, which Mr. Trump has been trying to […]

“The Trump administration is testing a secretive, never-before-used deportation court for alleged alien terrorists with a case concerning the Afghan mother of a convicted terrorist, with the Justice Department accusing the Texas-based woman of having ISIS sympathies,” CNN reports. “The Alien Terrorist Removal Court will have its first ever hearing Thursday at 11 a.m.ET, court […]