Axios

A bombshell New York Times op-ed on Wednesday, written by an anonymous senior administration official, immediately triggered suspense across the political spectrum, leaving journalists and observers guessing the author's identity.

Our thought bubble: The NYT op-ed, in which the author said he's part of a "resistance" working to thwart the president's agenda, reinforces and feeds into Trump's preconceived idea about a vast "Deep State" inside his administration.

President Trump responded to the anonymous op-ed written by a senior Trump administration official and published in the New York Times on Wednesday during his meeting with sheriffs from across the country.

“Anonymous. Can you believe it? Anonymous. Meaning gutless. A gutless editorial.”

Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also called on the "gutless anonymous source" to resign, and said the administration isn't surprised that the Time chose "to publish this pathetic, reckless, and selfish op-ed," calling it "a new low."

Following a meeting with the emir of Kuwait, President Trump told reporters on Wednesday that Bob Woodward's upcoming book, "Fear," is "a work of fiction," saying "if you look back at Woodward's past, he had the same problem with other presidents. He likes to get publicity, sell some books."

Trump also said Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has been "totally brilliant" in his Senate hearings thus far and that he's "making Social Security stronger." He added that they are in "very intense negotiations" with Canada to work out a "fair deal" regarding NAFTA and said the new trade deal with South Korea is "done," explaining he may sign it at the UN General Assembly in a couple weeks, per pool reports.

At a meeting with Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and others at the White House Wednesday, Kim Kardashian West talked about her recent visit to a women's prison, where she met a woman who had been given a life sentence at the age of 14 for killing someone as part of a gang initiation, Koch Industries general counsel and Freedom Partners chair Mark Holden, who attended the meeting, tells Axios.

The big picture: Kushner arranged the meeting as a follow-up to President Trump's invitation for people to suggest prisoners worthy of pardons. Kardashian West reached out to Kushner afterward to see if Trump was serious, a source familiar with the conversation tells Axios' Jonathan Swan.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez congratulated her "sister in service" Ayanna Pressley, who is set to become the first black, female member of Congress from Massachusetts, after her victory over 10-term incumbent Rep. Michael Capuano on Tuesday.

Why it matters: Per Axios' Alexi McCammond, Pressley's victory is "further evidence of the power of insurgent, progressive campaigns led by women of color." Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Tuesday a photo of her and Pressley, saying they "bonded over running while constantly told it's 'not our turn,' that we 'weren't ready,' 'good enough,' or 'experienced' enough. We kept going anyway."

Go deeper:

• Incumbent Massachusetts Rep. Michael Capuano concedes to Ayanna Pressley
• Black Democratic women seek change in the party after midterms
• By the numbers: Democratic socialist victories in the 2018 midterms

The White House was caught flat-footed by the explosive content in "Fear," Bob Woodward's new book on the Trump administration, as nobody on senior staff had seen a copy when the Washington Post published the excerpts yesterday, according to sources with direct knowledge.

The big picture: White House officials have finally obtained a copy and are now poring over it, but as the day rolled on yesterday, staff met to discuss strategies to push back — all while President Trump’s mood worsened and TV coverage shifted from Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings to the book.

On the day after Robert Mueller was named special counsel, Bob Woodward writes in "Fear," President Trump "erupted into uncontrollable anger, visibly agitated to a degree that no one in his inner circle had witnessed before."

What happened: "He watched a two-hour block of Fox News, and then most of the two-hour long blocks of MSNBC and CNN that he had TiVo'd. ... He raged at the coverage. ... 'Everybody's trying to get me ... It's unfair. Now everybody's saying I'm going to be impeached ... They're going to spend years digging through my whole life and finances.'"

President Trump is livid at the betrayal and stunning allegations in Bob Woodward’s forthcoming "Fear," but limited in his ability to fight back because most of the interviews were caught on hundreds of hours of tape, officials tell Axios.

The big picture: The book, out Tuesday from Simon & Schuster, re-creates — verbatim — page after page of private conversations with him. The 420-page portrait is all the more damaging because many of the scenes concern foreign policy and national security — truly heavy stuff.

The red-state Democrats who are up for re-election in November are in a no-win situation over Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination — and Tuesday's protests at his confirmation hearing didn't help.

Why it matters: The progressive base is demanding that Democratic senators vote no on Kavanaugh. But Republicans say support for his nomination is highest in four Trump states with Democratic senators: Montana, West Virginia, North Dakota and Missouri.

Defense Secretary James Mattis has responded to claims in Bob Woodward's upcoming book saying the allegations "were never uttered by me or in my presence... the idea that I would show contempt... or tolerate disrespect to the office of the President from within our Department of Defense, is a product of someone's rich imagination."

Woodward recounts that after Trump left a meeting with Secretary Mattis on North Korea, "Mattis was particularly exasperated and alarmed, telling close associates that the president acted like — and had the understanding of — 'a fifth- or sixth-grader.'"

President Trump told the Daily Caller in an interview Tuesday that he "had a lawsuit prepared" against NBC regarding the legality of the leaked "Access Hollywood" tape during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The details: Trump didn’t say when he had planned to file suit but explained, "I had a lawyer hired to bring a suit right after the election ended, but one problem arose. I won the election." Trump claimed that NBC leaked the tape to the Washington Post, which obtained the recording. "[T]hey couldn’t put it up themselves, because they would have had tremendous liability," he told the Daily Caller.

In a letter to President Trump's lawyers, special counsel Robert Mueller's office said they will accept written responses from Trump regarding whether his campaign team colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, the New York Times' Maggie Haberman and Michael Schmidt report, citing two people briefed on the letter. The letter was sent on Friday.

Why it matters: Mueller's team did not ask for written answers regarding whether the president tried to obstruct justice, stating that they recognize the subject could prevent the president from agreeing to an interview. Haberman and Schmidt write that this aspect, along with the tone of the letter, "prompted some Trump allies to conclude that if an interview takes place, its scope will be more limited than Mr. Trump’s legal team initially believed."

President Trump took to Twitter to defend Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday, saying the senators and protestors criticizing him are "looking to inflict pain and embarrassment" on him by trying to disrupt his nomination.

"The Brett Kavanaugh hearings for the future Justice of the Supreme Court are truly a display of how mean, angry, and despicable the other side is. They will say anything, and are only...looking to inflict pain and embarrassment to one of the most highly renowned jurists to ever appear before Congress. So sad to see!"

Why it matters: Kavanaugh's confirmation process has been shrouded in chaos after 22 protestors were arrested at the start of his first hearing and several Democratic senators sought to delay the process, citing transparency concerns.

The latest book on the White House will be harder to shake off, even as President Trump claims parts of it "could be just made up by the author."

Why it matters: It's not normal for a president's team to fear he's a national security risk, as Bob Woodward's book claims — or to keep information from his desk and ignore his orders.

The White House responded to explosive claims in Bob Woodward's new book saying the allegations are "nothing more than fabricated stories." Chief of Staff John Kelly also refuted the notion that he called President Trump an "idiot" and "this is the worst job" he's ever had.

Key quotes: Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said, "This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad." Gen. John Kelly explained, "The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true... This is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administration’s many successes."

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said those who are cited in Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book, "Fear," as disparaging President Trump "should be questioning why they are there" and "get another job," per CNBC.

“That's the kind of disloyalty that leads to you leaving, not staying and undermining the president.”

Catch up quick: Woodward writes that Chief of Staff John Kelly called Trump an "idiot," and that "he's gone off the rails," per the Washington Post.

A new poll shows Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right, nationalist party, overtaking the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) to pull into second place ahead of a crucial regional election next month in Bavaria, reports Reuters.

The big picture: The surge follows anti-immigrant demonstrations last week in the city of Chemnitz, where about 6,000 people marched after a German national was killed, allegedly by two refugees. SPD is currently in coalition with Angela Merkel's center-right Central Democratic Union (CDU), making AfD the largest opposition party. The rise of the AfD contributed to an immigration standoff that threatened to bring down Merkel's government in June. She's just one of the many European leaders attempting to fend off anti-migration, populist forces.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is set to announce Tuesday that former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl will fill the late Sen. John McCain’s Senate seat through at least the end of the year, The Arizona Republic reports.

The big picture: Kyl served for 18 years in the Senate and retired in 2013 when he was the second-highest-ranking Republican senator.

Top Trump White House staffers like Jim Mattis and John Kelly privately trashed their boss as incompetent, even viewing him as a threat to national security, Bob Woodward reveals in his forthcoming book, "Fear."

The big picture: Backbiting and blind quotes are a norm for a White House, and many claims from Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury" didn't survive close inspection. But Woodward has reported on presidents for decades — with even Trump reportedly wanting to be interviewed.

Twenty-two protestors have been arrested for causing disruptions during Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing Tuesday, while Democrats attempted to delay the process over concerns about a lack of transparency and questions about President Trump's legal troubles.

The bottom line: Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who was forced to give his opening statement an hour later than scheduled, refused to allow a vote on the Democrats' motion to adjourn and has pledged to continue the confirmation hearing despite interruptions.

A majority of registered female voters disapprove of President Trump, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Why it matters: Women are a key group for Trump to have on his side going into the midterms, and ultimately 2020. Cook Political Report's Dave Wasserman told Axios' Jonathan Swan that college-educated women have never "been this fervently anti-Republican," thanks to issues like family separation at the border and Trump's behavior. The 66% of women who disapprove of Trump — and 59% who "strongly" disapprove of him — could be a problem for Republicans come November.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee moved to postpone Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing Tuesday — in the minutes before it was set to begin — arguing that they had not had the chance to review 42,000 pages of documents released by a Bush White House lawyer late Monday night.

The big picture: Democrats have called Kavanaugh's confirmation process one of the least transparent in Supreme Court history, with the Trump White House invoking executive privilege to withhold more than 100,000 pages of records from Kavanaugh's time as a White House lawyer in the administration of George W. Bush. Meanwhile, Republicans argue that they have released more records for Kavanaugh than they have for any other nominee, and maintain that Democrats are trying to obstruct the process.

Democrats are launching a new super PAC called Change Now, supported by a coalition of Democratic groups, including the Service Employees International Union and the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Victory Fund. It will spend more than $5 million, including six-figure TV ad buys, starting today through Nov. 6.

Why it matters: The group is targeting some of the most vulnerable Republicans, like Reps. Rod Blum, Steve Chabot and Mike Coffman, and it plans to expand into other districts.

A key historic pattern that has traditionally shaped dynamics around U.S. energy policy and elections has all but disappeared heading into this year’s midterms. Robust U.S. shale gas and shale-oil production have greatly diminished voter concerns about energy availability and affordability — although a gasoline price spike could quickly rekindle them.

Why it matters: At the same time as voter focus on energy has declined, the two major parties have also developed a deeply polarized gap on climate policy, with only 18% of Republicans concerned a “great deal” about global warming compared to 66% of Democrats. These two factors together mean that the energy policy dynamic has now shifted firmly from Congressional production of complex and broad energy legislation — such as the comprehensive, “something for everyone” bills in 2005 and 2007 — to an increasingly complex, unpredictable and partisan dance between the executive branch, regulators, states and courts. This means that while the midterms won’t have a huge impact on the U.S. energy policy outlook, it will be at stake in 2020.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has given himself a January deadline to decide on a 2020 presidential run, the Associated Press reports.

Why it matters: Running against Biden is what President Trump fears most, his advisers told Axios' Mike Allen earlier this year. Biden is one of the most popular figures among Democrats, but he could face resistance from the party's increasingly vocal progressive wing, which would likely prefer potential candidates like Sens. Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.

President Trump's approval ratings have declined in all but one state with a competitive 2018 Senate race, but he's only below 50% in four of the 10 Trump-voting states with vulnerable Democratic senators, according to Morning Consult's monthly tracking poll.

Why it matters: To win the Senate — a goal that's less likely than winning the House — Democrats would need to win 14 of these 17 races. And with a packed fall campaign schedule, Trump plans to make the midterms more, not less, of a referendum on him.