Hey everyone. Welcome back and happy Friday. Good to have you here.
Our top story today: breaking news out of DC. A federal appeals court just ordered Donald Trump to stop building his $400 million White House ballroom, which he tore down the East Wing to build. The court’s reasoning? It’s not Donald Trump’s to tear apart, and he needs congressional approval.
Also, James Talarico is surging ahead in the Texas Senate race. A state no Democrat has won in more than 30 years, but the momentum is clearly in his corner.
We’ll also get into the wave of scandals and lost primaries that has the GOP worried about their midterm chances, a serious new warning that Russia could attack NATO, and Republican Senators caving and allowing Todd Blanche to be confirmed.
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Let’s get to it.
1. A Federal Appeals Court Just Ordered Trump to Stop Building His Ballroom
This morning, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Trump administration to stop construction on the $400 million ballroom on the site of the East Wing he demolished. The vote was 2 to 1. The court upheld an injunction won by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued after the administration tore down the East Wing last fall and started putting up a 90,000 square foot ballroom without ever asking Congress for permission.
And I want you to hear the language in this ruling, because it’s remarkable. The majority wrote, quote:
“We are aware of no instance in American history in which a President unilaterally and using privately collected funds demolished substantial portions of the White House that Congress authorized to be built and American taxpayers paid for. Until now.”
The judges also said that whether a massive ballroom gets built at the White House is, quote, “for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help.”
And it’s worth pointing out that the district judge who blocked this project in the first place, twice, is Richard Leon. A George W. Bush appointee. Not someone Trump can claim is some liberal activist judge.
The administration’s argument in court was basically that judges have no business here, because the ballroom is privately funded, and the old East Wing was a security risk. The preservation group’s lawyer answered that in one sentence: “They just don’t want to go to Congress.”
He got that right.
I served in Congress for twelve years, and one of the first things you learn as a member is that nothing Congress does is more important than the power of the purse. And we used to guard that authority every day, because the Executive Branch was always looking for ways to skirt Congress. The current majority doesn’t seem to care about that, though.
Now, it’s worth noting that the court put its ruling on hold for two weeks so the administration can run to the Supreme Court, and Trump said today they will. Of course they will. But this is a good escalation in the war to combat this president’s executive overreach. By the time this show has been posted, he might’ve already taken to Truth Social and thrown a little tantrum.
2. In Texas, Democrat James Talarico is surging and Republicans are starting to freak out
Democrat James Talarico, a state representative from Austin, is now leading Republican Ken Paxton in the race for Texas’s open U.S. Senate seat. And it’s not just one poll indicating this. Three surveys in a row now show Talarico ahead, including one from Fox News. Talarico is winning independents big, he’s competitive with Latino voters, and he outraised Paxton last quarter by something like three to one.
Polls don’t mean everything. These leads are narrow and Paxton could absolutely still win this.
But the reality here is, to have several polls showing a Democrat leading in Texas is an event itself. Even Ted Cruz went on TV and admitted that:
Many more people than just the left are mad about how things are going, Ted. Or else the polls wouldn’t show your guy down. Anyway, Jesse Watters had a beautiful little meltdown over the fact that Paxton is barely campaigning:
Looks like they’re missing the point that a lot of this is self-inflicted. They had a safe Senate seat and decided on a man buried in scandal, corruption charges, an FBI investigation, and adultery accusations. Wait, that sounds familiar.
Anyway, that combined with what election forecasters are calling an incoming Democratic wave this fall spells trouble for Republicans. And that’s only the start of the GOP’s week.
3. The GOP Fears Misconduct Allegations Will Cost Them the Midterms
The Hill reports that GOP leaders are genuinely afraid that a wave of abuse and misconduct allegations is about to cost them the House. Rep. Max Miller is still refusing to drop out despite domestic abuse allegations from two women. Rep. Chuck Edwards was forced out of his race after the Ethics Committee found he harassed his young female staffers. Rep. Cory Mills in Florida is facing his own investigations. And Mike Johnson can’t even bring himself to force any of them out, because they can’t afford it.
And then, on Thursday, Trump-endorsed Congressman Andy Ogles lost his primary in Tennessee. Ogles is the second candidate Trump endorsed to lose a House primary this week, after Amir Hassan in Michigan on Tuesday. Those are the first two congressional endorsement losses of Trump’s entire second term, and they came in the same week. The magic touch of the Trump endorsement is disappearing and disappearing fast.
So how does the President process a terrible week for his party? He does what he does best and blames everyone but himself. Take a look:
His voters are angry at Republicans in Congress, but, “they’re not angry at me.” Are we serious? Who are Republicans blindly rallying around at every turn?
This is just textbook Trump. When he’s winning, he’s just basking in glory. When he’s losing, it needs to be somebody else’s fault. But he’s the one who endorsed Ogles. He’s the one who endorsed Hassan. He’s the one propping up Paxton. This is his Republican Party. This is one of the things that as hard as he may try, he cannot separate himself from. Too late, buddy.
4. U.S. Intelligence Warns Russia Could Attack NATO This Fall
US intelligence is now warning that Russia could attack a NATO country to test the alliance, possibly as soon as this fall. The goal would be to test Article 5, the promise at the heart of NATO that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
This is a real shift in our understanding of the Russian threat. We used to believe Putin wouldn’t provoke NATO while he was bogged down in Ukraine. But that war has become a grind, and Putin is facing pressure to deliver a win. A cornered Putin may be more dangerous, especially while we are low on the munitions needed to respond because of Trump’s war in Iran.
But yesterday, it seemed like the President himself didn’t get that memo:
The same day Trump’s own intelligence agencies said Russia may provoke Article 5, he still thinks we aren’t involved. Except we already are. We’ve been involved since the day Russia invaded Ukraine, because Putin was never going to stop there. And his next move may be a country we are treaty-bound to defend.
Our intelligence sees it. Our allies see it. So why can’t this President?
5. Trump's Personal Lawyer Will Run the DOJ Because Bill Cassidy Folded Again
As Todd Blanche’s confirmation vote for Attorney General neared, Senators began picking sides. Susan Collins was a no. Lisa Murkowski was a no. Mitch McConnell is still absent. That math made Bill Cassidy the deciding vote, and this morning he announced his choice on the Senate floor:
Before that speech, survivors of Jeffrey Epstein asked repeatedly to meet with Cassidy. He refused. So did his staff. Then he stood on the Senate floor and argued that leaving the job unfilled could risk the department’s progress on, of all things, human trafficking. He wouldn’t give trafficking survivors a meeting, but he’ll invoke them to justify his vote.
That shouldn’t surprise us. This is the same Bill Cassidy that spent years sucking up to Trump after voting to convict him for January 6th. Trump turned on him anyway and endorsed his primary challenger, who defeated Cassidy in May.
But Cassidy still cannot find the strength to oppose him.
So what’s left to explain it? Not a primary, he already lost his. I’ll tell you: it’s the tribe, the access, and the lobbying money waiting on the other side. He did this for himself, not for the country. And soon, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer will run the Justice Department because of it.
Look, I’ve had harsh words for Cassidy in the past. And he deserves more now. But the man has shown he has no courage time and again. And it wouldn’t be news except that every time he caves, Trump gets something Cassidy knows is bad for the country. And that’s why we have to cover it.
Some other stories that caught my eye:
President Trump signed two new executive orders Thursday aimed at limiting birthright citizenship, about five weeks after the Supreme Court struck down his first attempt at the same thing. This one takes a narrower shot. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said the first order uses the Court’s own ruling as legal cover to expand who’s ineligible for citizenship at birth, reaching people tied to hostile foreign governments, terrorist organizations, and foreign lobbying operations. A second order goes after so-called birth tourism, banning entry for anyone whose real purpose is having a baby on American soil. Back in June, the Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 in Trump v. Barbara that his original 2025 order violated the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of citizenship by birth, and the ACLU says this new version runs into that same wall.
The U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, according to Friday’s Bureau of Labor Statistics report, far short of the roughly 80,000 job gain economists expected. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1 percent, but only because more Americans stopped looking for work, pushing labor force participation to its lowest level in years. Trump’s answer to bad economic news lately has been to wave it off. He’s called negative polls on his economy “fake” and insisted “we are literally in the golden age of America.” However, May and June’s job gains were revised down by a combined 103,000, and Fox Business called Friday’s report “disappointing.”
