A New Hampshire Superior Court judge on Monday temporarily blocked the state from applying new voter registration requirements in the midterm elections in two weeks amid concerns from critics who said it deliberately targets college students and others who are more likely to vote Democratic.
Why it matters: Republicans narrowly lost New Hampshire in 2016. President Trump claimed voter fraud, but Judge Kenneth Brown ruled that voter fraud is extremely rare and that the law will "result in potentially significant increases in waiting times at polling places throughout the state, particularly those with large turnout." He added because "the law threatens to disenfranchise an individual’s right to vote, the only viable remedy is to enjoin its enforcement."
President Trump has announced his intent to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which prohibits U.S. and Russian land-based missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.
The big picture: Trump does have grounds to withdraw — Moscow has violated the treaty by deploying the 9M729 intermediate-range cruise missile — but doing so now is a mistake. Washington had unused tools that could have been employed to encourage Russian compliance.
Besides attracting a record number of candidates, the 2020 Democratic presidential race could spark the most interesting Democratic political ideas battle in a generation.
The big picture: With no Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the arena, a dozen or more hopefuls are already searching for ways to break through with a primary electorate that's increasingly looking left.
President Trump, speaking with reporters en route to Texas Monday, said that he is "not satisfied” with Saudi Arabia’s explanation for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, adding that he won’t accept the kingdom's request for a full month to complete their investigation. "That’s a long time," Trump said.
Why it matters: President Trump has been hit with criticism for how he's responded to Khashoggi's death. And while Trump said today that he's "not satisfied" with the Saudi's handling of the situation, he also said that he doesn't "want to lose all of the investment that's being made in our country. I don't want to lose a million jobs." He added that the U.S. "has a great group of people" in both Saudi Arabia and Turkey looking for more concrete answers, and that "we're going to know a lot more over the next two days about the Saudi situation."
In a string of Monday morning tweets about the caravan of Honduran migrants currently in Mexico, President Trump stated the United States will begin cutting off foreign aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
"Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in. I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy. Must change laws! ... Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S. We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them."
The big picture: Trump has amplified his warnings about illegal immigration in recent days as part of a last-minute push to energize his base before next month's midterm elections. In addition to declaring that the caravan was instigated by Democrats, Trump has now claimed — also without evidence — that "Middle Easterners are mixed in" with the Central American migrants.
With Speaker Paul Ryan retiring, House Republicans will return from what could be a brutal election — and have no guarantee about their next leader.
The big picture: Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, a favorite of President Trump who's the current #2, is very likely to be either Speaker or minority leader, depending on the whether the House flips. But there could be drama getting there. Any threat would be from the right — centered in the conservative Freedom Caucus, which would likely bargain for committee chairs and other spoils if Republicans hang on.
The life of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is going from bad to worse. Trump is furious that Powell is raising interest rates quickly and even called the Fed the "biggest threat" to a booming economy.
What's happening: According to a source familiar with Trump's thinking, the president feels the only way to get his message to Powell is by bashing him in the media. And I've heard nothing to suggest Trump will back off these attacks.
Details: Many of the migrants who made it to Mexico illegally crossed the Suchiate River while others in the caravan decided to return to Honduras or legally apply for asylum in Mexico. The caravan is set to camp in the Mexican city of Tapachula to decide if it will try to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. President Trump has been vocal about the caravan on Twitter, blaming the "onslaught of illegal aliens" on Democrats in a series of Sunday afternoon tweets.
The death of Jamal Khashoggi provides an opportunity for Congress to increase its oversight of the Trump administration’s foreign policy, particularly regarding Saudi Arabia. Though it has provided mutual economic and counterterrorism benefits over the decades, the U.S.–Saudi relationship has now become one-sided, leaving the U.S. vulnerable to manipulation when a crisis like the current one emerges.
The big picture: Congressional pressure — especially from GOP leaders like Senators Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul — can help get to the truth and compel Saudi Arabia to account meaningfully for its behavior.
The most recent U.S. government fiscal year just ended. The budget deficit grew by 17% from the previous year, thanks to Trump's tax cuts.
By the numbers: If you look at the breakdown of Treasury receipts in fiscal 2018, almost every category went up, year-on-year. Individual income tax receipts, for instance, rose by 6%, or $96 billion.
The Arizona Republic’s editorial board on Sunday endorsed Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema over Republican Martha McSally, marking the first time the publication has endorsed a Democrat for the Senate since at least 2000.
Details: Instead of pointing to their policy proposals, the editorial board examined how the candidates conducted themselves on the trail, noting that "there is too much 'us and them' in D.C., and it hurts how we are governed."
President Trump and top Republicans, concerned about huge House losses this fall, are tossing out new ideas by the day in hopes of saving their majority.
What they're saying: Trump told reporters in Nevada yesterday that he and House Republican leaders are working "around the clock" on "a very major tax cut for middle-income people. And if we do that, it'll be sometime just prior, I would say, to November." But Republicans on the Hill seemed to know nothing about it, and both chambers are out until after midterms.
