Today’s notice: Cutting FEMA is a hard sell. The White House’s Bongino problem. Trump is waiting to weigh in on Cornyn’s reelection bid. Running as an independent in the Elon era.
The Latest
Is Trump feeling pressure on FEMA? Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is on the defensive after reports that FEMA’s disaster assistance call centers were understaffed during the deadly flash floods in Texas and that her policies slowed response times.
“Every one of them was answering calls, so false reporting, fake news, and it’s discouraging. It’s discouraging that during this time when we have such a loss of life, and so many people’s lives have turned upside down, that people are playing politics with this,” Noem told NBC’s Kristen Welker Sunday. President Donald Trump took a similar tone during his Friday visit to Kerr County, Texas.
Noem said she’s not resigning. But it does seem like the administration is feeling some heat. Noem said Sunday Trump “wants it to be remade,” which is different from her “eliminating FEMA” comments from earlier this year.
On the ground: Trump and his administration have systematically cut access to a lot of resources and funds designed to help communities mitigate natural disasters, calling them “wasteful,” NOTUS’ Anna Kramer reports.
The cuts are hitting Trump country: “I’ve had no luck trying to talk to FEMA,” Central, Louisiana, Mayor Wade Evans told Anna. “You take our tax dollars up there in Washington, and you give us a set of guidelines, and we follow everything to a T. We spend the money putting the application together, and you award us the project, and then, with all the whims of an administration, you take it from us. And I’m talking about an area that has overwhelmingly supported the president’s agenda.”
Will the pushback work? Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, alongside others, has challenged the White House on pulling the hazard mitigation funding. He is introducing legislation this week that would require FEMA to study the effectiveness of its hazard mitigation efforts.
“I don’t feel this is a partisan issue. This is about keeping our community safe and our infrastructure reliable,” Bresnahan told Anna. “We have to do something. These small communities just don’t have the available capital to be able to make these investments independently.”
Open Tabs: Republicans and Democrats visited ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ (Politico); White House Seizes on Fed Renovations as Opening to Oust Powell (WSJ); Missouri governor repeals paid sick leave law (AP)
From the White House
Calling all “‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’”: The president of the United States would like everyone to stop talking about Jeffrey Epstein, per his extremely lengthy weekend Truth Social post.
Trump’s apparent efforts to calm tensions, well, didn’t. “Unmoved,” one MAGA source with close ties to the White House told Jasmine, when asked to describe the base’s reaction to the president’s Saturday post. Trump defended Attorney General Pam Bondi and instructed FBI Director Kash Patel to focus on other priorities.
Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino holds a lot of the cards, the source told Jasmine. Bongino was furious at Bondi, a source told NOTUS, raging in the White House and considering leaving his job. (Patel made it clear he is not leaving the administration.)
“The president knows the sway that Bongino has with the base. You can’t just explain away a departure like that in the aftermath of the Epstein stuff,” the source says. “Bondi goes, no one cares. Bongino goes, it’s MAGA civil war headlines.”
Trump’s take on Bongino: “Dan Bongino, very good guy. I’ve known him a long time. I’ve done his show many, many times. He sounded terrific, actually. No, I think he’s in good shape.” That was Sunday night, when the press pool asked if Bongino was still at his job (to which Trump said, “Oh, I think so.”). The two spoke Sunday, the president said.
From the Trail
Texas’ big ugly: State Attorney General Ken Paxton continues to lead the polls against Sen. John Cornyn — at least all the polls taken before Paxton’s messy divorce became public last week — and he’s raised a ton of money.
The Trump factor: D.C. Republican operatives want Cornyn to win. Senate Majority Leader John Thune met with the president about the race, but Trump is waiting to see some more polling before he engages, a person familiar with the meeting told NOTUS’ Daniella Diaz and Ursula Perano.
Until recently, Democrats were smugly watching all this unfold, but now they might have a potentially messy primary of their own. Rep. Joaquin Castro, state Rep. James Talarico and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke are thinking of jumping in against former Rep. Colin Allred. The four men hopped on a Zoom call last month described by sources as “friendly,” but that clearly did not result in everyone lining up behind Allred.
The Big One
Does anyone want in on the Elon party? In the pre-Grok “MechaHitler” days, there was some serious talk among prominent third-party heads (Andrew Yang et al.) that independents should take Elon Musk up on his offer. Do 2026’s biggest independents actually want that?
Nebraska independent Dan Osborn: Would he accept help from Musk, or link up with whatever this America Party turns out to be? NOTUS’ Alex Roarty asked, and his Senate campaign didn’t say absolutely not. “If someone wants to start a party that is anti-monopoly, pro-worker, and committed to campaign finance reform, they should give Dan a call,” an aide told Alex.
Mississippi independent Ty Pinkins: Pinkins, who is also running for Senate, pulled over to the side of the highway on the way to a campaign stop to tell me No, Thank You.
“I left the party because both parties have become infiltrated with money from big businesses, from billionaires, that has drowned out the voices of everyday Americans, everyday Mississippians,” he said. “So either getting on board with or co-opting support from someone like Elon Musk, I don’t think that helps our democracy moving forward.”
One race to watch: Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is running for governor as an independent, and played some online footsie with Musk in June when he left the White House and first floated the new party idea.
Yang recently singled Duggan out as a candidate he likes in a June interview where Yang talked about joining with Musk on the third-party effort. Duggan’s campaign and a Duggan campaign adviser did not respond to requests for comment.
New on NOTUS
Riding the MAHA wave: Activists pushing restorative reproductive medicine thought Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement could boost their alternative approach. But NOTUS’ Margaret Manto reports that mainstream backers of restorative reproductive medicine are now worried their efforts will be co-opted by conservatives who want to reject IVF.
Injunction chunkin: NOTUS’ Oriana González and Jose Pagliery reviewed nearly 300 active cases involving the Trump administration and found over and over, government lawyers are telling judges it is an “error” to issue an injunction that impacts anyone not involved in a given case.
More: With SNAP Cuts Done, Republicans Say They’re Ready for a Bipartisan Farm Bill; Lawmakers Worry that AI Will Hurt Entry-Level Tech Jobs; Jim Clyburn Is Testing the Limits of Being a Kingmaker
NOT US
- How Netanyahu Prolonged the War in Gaza to Stay in Power By Patrick Kingsley, Ronen Bergman and Natan Odenheimer for The New York Times
- In London, theatergoers reenact storming of the U.S. Capitol by Karla Adam for The Washington Post
- Mike Lee Can’t Stop Throwing Social Media Grenades. His Church Isn’t Happy. by Samuel Benson for Politico
- Trump Is Taking Credit for New U.S. Factories. Does He Deserve It? by John Keilman and Harriet Torry for The Wall Street Journal
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