Today’s notice: After-address reviews. Campaign trail reporting on Medicaid, Michigan and where the abortion issue went. Members and SpaceX stock. And: Staying elected in Maine.
THE LATEST
What comes after that speech? The message from Donald Trump was not subtle last night: “These disclosures reveal an election system so broken and vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it.”
The president’s address veered from campaign speech to list of grievances to complaints about the media to repackaging of long-standing MAGA conspiracy theories.
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There’s no doubt people will be digging through the documents he released, though initial reads show them to be heavily redacted and missing context.
Trump reinvigorated those ready to blow up the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act. “Tonight’s revelations in @POTUS’ speech were truly shocking,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) posted. “We need the SAVE America Act NOW.” But there’s no sign this speech changed the legislative math, which shows passage of the bill is simply impossible.
The speech was not the subject of real-time chatter like the White House — which billed it as a major address and “breaking news” — may have expected. Two broadcast networks — ABC and NBC — didn’t carry it live, and CBS picked it up late. Fox News carried it live but quickly moved on to the Iran war after. NOTUS’ Kadia Goba told us she sent dozens of texts about the speech to lawmakers and similarly plugged-in types and received mostly radio silence back.
The message Trump delivered was old, and that may have been the problem. Two GOP strategists close with the White House, supportive of Trump and the SAVE America Act both told Jasmine they were unsure why the president chose five months before the 2026 midterm elections to rehash 2020.
“Sounds like this is a speech of someone who thinks they’re going to lose in November,” one of the strategists said.
When the second strategist got a look at one of the heavily redacted documents on China accessing voter files, they simply replied, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Democrats had a similar response. Rep. Joe Morelle (D-New York) told C-SPAN right after the speech, “It’s the ranting of a pathetic and unserious person.”
But also, a person with a lot of power. The documents are there, and some pointed out that what comes next could be not more words, but actions.
Before the speech was over, one lawmaker texted Kadia their summation: “Setting the stage to meddle with the midterms.”
The NOTUS team has more details on what was in the speech and what it means.
Open tabs: ICE officer in Maine shooting has history of violent behavior, family and records say (AP); Smoke Floating Far From Canada’s Wildfires Will Darken Skies Again on Thursday (NYT); Fetterman Lays Out ‘Red Line’ That Would Lead Him to Ditch Democrats (NOTUS); Trump’s Teleprompter Operator Is Accused of Betting on the President’s Speeches (NOTUS)
From the campaign trail
Medicaid cuts on the trail: Democrats say the steep cuts to the program in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill are an albatross around the neck of any Republican incumbent. NOTUS’ Zara Norman traveled to Virginia’s 1st Congressional District, a Trump +5, where Democrats say the cuts give them what they need to oust Republican Rep. Rob Wittman, who criticized the cuts before voting for them. Wittman allies say he knows the district and its politics better than any Democrat.
But one Republican seems very concerned about this issue. In Maine, Sen. Susan Collins is currently running a TV ad that touts her vote against the OBBB, specifically because it made cuts to Medicaid. The ad really could not be stronger evidence that this particular Republican is very worried about being associated with these cuts: “Shady, out-of-state groups are falsely attacking Susan,” the narrator says, “but independent fact-checkers have proven those attacks are false.”
The two Democratic Senate primaries in Michigan: The establishment candidate, Rep. Haley Stevens, is outspending the progressive, Abdul El-Sayed, 10-1 in paid advertising. But as anyone who has a social media account knows, El-Sayed supporters are out-dunking on Stevens conservatively 1 million-1. Which matters more? NOTUS’ Elena Schneider and Daniella Diaz detail a particularly split-screen week in this race.
Abortion moves to the backburner: Four summers ago, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, inciting Democratic voters to overcome conventional midterm turnout and effectively thwart a Republican wave that November. That same fury about abortion rights appears to have vanished, reports NOTUS’ Oriana González, who tracked how the lightning-rod issue for Dems in 2022 and 2024 has receded ahead of these midterms.
Lawmakers are making adjustments. Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nevada) told Oriana that abortion would definitely play a part in her race because Nevada is one of multiple states with a constitutional measure to protect abortion rights on the ballot. But, she said, “I think the economy is a far bigger issue for people on a day-to-day basis.”
From the Hill
“Buy” rating: A bipartisan moment in the House: Four members who sit on committees that directly regulate SpaceX have shares of the company’s stock in their family holdings, NOTUS’ Samuel Larreal reports. Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-California) and family members of Reps. John McGuire (R-Virginia), Dan Meuser (R-Pennsylvania) and John James (R-Michigan) have together purchased up to $130,000 of the hot stock, which only IPO’d in June. Cisneros, McGuire and Meuser did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for James said: “The James children are excited about space exploration and Liz purchased stock for them through a brokerage firm, like other members of the public were welcome to do.” Liz is James’ wife.
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Local news: New House Bill Would Block D.C. From Raising Taxes, by Jenny Gathright
In an Age of ‘Takeovers,’ D.C. Gives Teens Another Place to Party, by Shamira Muhammad
NEW ON NOTUS
A good path to job security is to get yourself elected to statewide office in Maine, NOTUS’ Paul Kane writes. The last incumbent Maine senator to lose reelection was in 1978, when Republican Bill Cohen won his first of three terms. And it’s been 60 years since a Maine governor sought reelection and lost.
More: The Trump Administration Is Under Scrutiny for Its Cyclosporiasis Outbreak Response, by Margaret Manto
Todd Blanche Meets With Epstein Victims Amid Confirmation Push, by Derek Hawkins
Trump Administration Cuts Off Health Care Research Grants Without Warning, by Paige Winfield Cunningham
Trump Media Plans to Sell Quicker Access to the President’s Truth Social Posts, by Torrie Herrington
NOT US
- Reflecting Pool peeling probably caused by application flaws, experts say, by Jarrett Ley, Meg Kelly, Klara Auerbach and Maura Judkis for The Washington Post
- Nike Was the Poster Child for Diversity Efforts. That Made It a Trump Target. By Rebecca Davis O’Brien and Kim Bhasin for The New York Times
- Trump made $1.4bn from crypto in one year. Is Justin Sun the man who helped him do it? By Matt Shea for The Guardian
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The newsletter was produced by Thomas Burr, Brett Bachman and Andrew Burton. Photo by Saul Loeb/Pool via AP.
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