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I was covering President Obama when he arrived in DC in 2009, the economy in free fall and Washington spending extraordinary sums to keep it upright. One of the era’s great outrages: Obama’s stimulus package. It was, brace yourself: $787 billion.
When Obama entered office the debt was almost $11 trillion. Eight years later, when he left office, it was just under $20 trillion.
Republicans called it reckless and unpatriotic, a threat to American prosperity and the middle class.
I bring this up because today the national debt crossed $40 trillion for the first time in history. We now spend over $3 billion a day in interest, more than anything else bar social security.
The debt matters beyond Washington’s balance sheet. It means higher borrowing costs, inflation, and politicians citing the tab when they try to cut your benefits.
Over Obama’s eight years, the debt grew by more than $9 trillion. In Trump’s five years it’s grown by almost $12 trillion. Trump, in other words, has added more debt in five years than Obama did in eight.
The outrage, this time, seems to have gone through some fiscal tightening of its own.
In this newsletter: Indiana without power. Texas gets more interesting. Florida’s ugliest election. Too hot for Miami. AI meets the midterms. Trump’s FDA pick. An ICE extradition fight. Harry and Meghan head home. And in News That Doesn’t Suck, the return of hanging out.
Powerless: Brutal storms broughtrecord-setting floodsto Indiana, killing at least seven people andcutting power to hundreds of thousandsof homes and businesses. Many residents have beenwithout power for a week, and the utility, NIPSCO, says itmay be another week until it can restore power to everyone. The extended power cuts havewiped out people’s food supplies and left food banksand local townships overwhelmed. Many of those still in the darkare in Gary, a predominantly Black city. Gary’smayor saidthat restoration work “is based off the severity of the damage.”Caluroso: Miamitied its all-time heat recordat 100ºF. Its heat index, or feels-like temperature, climbed higher, to 112ºF. The city’s summer haswarmed by an average of 2.6 degrees, and the number of dangerously humid days has more than doubled since the 1970s. You can explore the rise of dangerously humid heat, also called wet-bulb temperatures, due to climate change withthis mapfrom Climate Central.Need More Data: Republican campaign operatives are sounding the alarm, warning that backlash against AI data centers is becoming a problem for GOP candidates who support them. The National Republican Senatorial Committeesent a memoto top AI companies warning that data centers have “become a sleeper issue for the entire election cycle.” “Campaigns or party committees can not fix the toxic brand of an entire segment of the economy,” the memo says, urging AI companies to “fix” public perceptions before the midterms. The memo,first reported by Axios, points out that former Sen. Sherrod Brown is hammering his Republican opponent over his support for data centers in Ohio. “If voters’ perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly,” the memo warns,” the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio.” Might be a little late for that. More than 70% of Americansoppose constructing AI data centers in their area, according to Gallup. Erin Brockovich’s data center tracking project hasrecorded more than 9,000 submissionsfrom residents across the country raising concerns about them.Republican vs Former Republican: Rep. Byron Donaldswon Florida’s Republican gubernatorial primary. Donalds is afierce ally of Trumpwho earned the president’s endorsementbefore even announcing his candidacy. He would be the state’s first Black governor. Donalds will face former Rep. David Jolly, who was a registered Republican until 2018 and only joined the Democratic Party last year. Jollycalls himselfan old-school, “Bush 41” Republican. He isrunning as a moderatefocused on affordability and says he wants tobuild a coalition“bound together by patriotism,” not party. Thathasn’t stopped Donalds from painting himas a “radical liberal.” Donalds hasoutraised Jolly 10 to 1and is widely expected to win in November general. Democrats haven’t won the governor’s seat since 1994. Republicans have a1.5 million voter advantagein the state. In 2022, DeSantisbeat his challenger by 19 points. That said, multiple pollsshow Donalds and Jolly within single digits, fueling Democratic hopes that Florida isn’t entirely out of reach. “To abandon Florida was deeply, deeply unwise,”argued state Rep. Emily Gregory, who recentlyflipped a district containing Mar-a-Lago. “I hope that investment is coming back.”
On Your Left: State Rep. Angie Nixon, ademocratic socialistandunion organizer, pulled off a massive upset in Florida’s Democratic Senate primary. Shedefeated retired Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, who had the backing of much of theparty establishment, by 12 percentage points, despite beingoutspent more than 16 to 1. Nixon built her win on astrong grassroots campaign. Vindman quicklyendorsed Nixon, who will faceTrump-endorsed incumbent Sen. Ashley Moody.
Power Limit: Two candidates who received Trump’s endorsement, Catalina Lauf and Rep. Cory Mills,lost their primaries. Mills faced allegations of domestic violence and campaign finance violations. After Mill’s loss, Trumpsaid he had privately urged Mills to drop out, though Trump never publicly withdrew his support.Hate All Round: Incumbent Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) defeated challenger Dan Bilzerianby more than 38 percentage pointsin one of the ugliest contests this year. Bilzerian, an influencer who isopenly and virulently antisemitic, drewcondemnation from both partiesfor his vicious attacks on Jewish people, including Fine. Fine has become infamous for hisanti-Muslim comments, and has openly called for “more Islamophobia, not less.”Moderates Hold: Democratic Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, both moderates,fended off challengerstowin their primaries. They were running in new districts created by a recent Republican gerrymander.Sea Change: Looking to Texas, Fox Newsswitched its ratingof the Texas Senate contest between James Talarico and Ken Paxton from “lean Republican” to “toss-up.”Shifting the Overton Window: Trumpnominated top White House aideDr. Heidi Overton to lead the Food and Drug Administration. As deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Overton has been involved in several of Trump’s health initiatives. Thatincludes his controversial rollback of childhood vaccine recommendations, whichshe endorsedas a “gold standard” despiteopposition from medical groups. Before joining the Trump administration, Overton was the chief policy officer at the America First Policy Institute, a far-right think tank. She is astaunch opponent of abortionand hascalled for stricter restrictionson the abortion medications she would be in charge of regulating, if confirmed by the Senate. “Overton is a far-right, anti-abortion extremist who has no business leading the FDA,”said Sen. Patty Murray(D-WA), a member of the Republican-led Senate committee that will decide whether to advance Overton’s nomination. That committee is chaired by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).Shatter the Debt Ceiling: The national debt just hit a record-breaking $40 trillion. It hasmore than doubledsince Trump began his first term. Trump promised to pay off the debt, but many of his policies, including the war with Iran and sweeping tax cuts, have onlyadded more to the federal deficit. “Our current fiscal trajectory is plainly unsustainable,”warned the president of the Bipartisan Policy Center. “Even in the rosiest scenarios, we’re speeding toward a cliff and refusing to turn the wheel.”
Turn Him Over: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellisonsued Texas Gov. Greg Abbottto force him to sign the extradition warrant for Christian Castro, the ICE agent accused of shooting a man and then lying about the incident. Castro has been jailed in Texas since May, soon after Minnesota charged him. But Texas officials haverefused to comply with Minnesota’s extradition request, which Ellison said is deeply unusual and illegal. Ellison warned Castro may be released under Texas law within days, and thelawsuit impliesCastro is making plans to flee to Mexico. We will be interviewing Ellison about the case later this week.Another One: TheHouse Ethics Committee is investigatingRep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) for allegedly engaging in “sexual misconduct” with a House staffer. Gomez admitted to extramarital affairs but insisted they were “consensual.” Lawyers for one womansaid their clienttold the Committeethat Gomez sexually assaulted her.Mouse Fights Back: ABC, which is owned by Disney,sued the Federal Communications Commission. It says FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordered an early review of its eight largest broadcast licenses to punish the network over anti-Trump programming, including jokes made by Jimmy Kimmel and its decision not to air Trump’s recent White House speech. Trump has repeatedly complained about what he calls ABC’s negative coverage of him and called for its license to be terminated,including after it refused to air his speech. The FCC claims the review wasprompted by an investigation intoDisney’s supposed “illegal DEI discrimination.” “Disney has found its courage, and it is pushing back,”said Anna Gomez, the FCC’s only Democrat commissioner. “This is good. It’s good for the First…
