Hi all,
It’s been a few weeks since we’ve done a mailbag column — I’ve been trying to vary the offerings for paid subscribers. But there’s a lot going on right now, so it felt like a good time to take some questions.
Click here to add a question to the comments section, and I’ll try to answer it in Friday’s newsletter:
Questions can be about anything, but if it helps, here are a few things I’m tracking right now:
⇒ Shutdown politics. Thirteen days from now, the government is set to shut down unless seven Senate Democrats vote for a continuing resolution to extend government funding. Yesterday, Republicans released their proposed CR, which would keep the government open through November 20, while also adding $98 million to fund security for government officials ($30 million for members of Congress, $30 million for the executive branch, $28 million for the Supreme Court).
Democratic congressional leaders quickly announced their opposition to the proposal. They are expected to release an alternative later today, which will likely combine government funding with an extension of the enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies. The GOP-written CR is likely to receive a vote in the House on Friday.
⇒ The Fed. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will speak today at 2:30 p.m. ET to announce the Fed’s latest action on interest rates. The central bank is widely expected to cut rates for the first time since December.
President Trump has been pushing for a rate cut since he entered office — and has been trying to reshape the Fed to achieve that goal. On Monday, White House economic adviser Stephen Miran was confirmed by the Senate as a Fed governor; he was sworn in yesterday, just in the nick of time to take part in the decisionmaking over interest rates. Trump was also hoping that Fed governor Lisa Cook would be off the board by this week’s Fed meeting, but an appeals court ruled Monday that she can remain in office as litigation of her attempted firing continues.
⇒ The aftermath of Orem. Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old Utah native accused of killing Charlie Kirk, made his first (virtual) court appearance yesterday, as state prosecutors charged him with aggravated murder and obstruction of justice, among other charges. The prosecutors announced plans to seek the death penalty against him.
The charging documents said that Robinson “intentionally selected Charlie Kirk” because of his “belief or perception regarding Charlie Kirk’s political expression.” The documents also gave some hints as to Robinson’s motive, revealing texts with his roommate (and romantic partner) where Robinson was asked why he killed Kirk. “I had enough of his hatred,” Robinson said. “Some hate can’t be negotiated out.” Prosecutors also wrote:
Robinson’s mother explained that over the last year or so, Robinson had become more political and had started to learn more to the left — becoming more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented. She stated that Robinson began to date his roommate, a biological male who was transitioning genders. This resulted in several discussions with family members, but especially between Robinson and his father, who have very different political views. In one conversation before the shooting, Robinson mentioned that Charlie Kirk would be holding an event at [Utah Valley University], which Robinson said was a “stupid venue” for the event. Robinson accused Kirk of spreading hate.
Oh, and:
President Trump is in the UK today meeting with King Charles III.
Susan Monarez is on the Hill testifying about being fired as CDC Director by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
House Republicans once again voted to surrender tariff powers to the president.
And Brad Raffensperger and Geoff Duncan, the Republican secretary of state and lieutenant governor, respectively, who famously opposed Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 results in Georgia are both running for governor — though Duncan is running as a Democrat.
I’ve written about many of these issues in the last few weeks: see here on a shutdown; here and here on the Fed; and here and here on Kirk’s assassination. Many of these pieces generated a lot of reader feedback, so if you have lingering questions about them — or anything else in our frenzied political environment — now is the time to ask them.
See you in your inboxes tomorrow!
— Gabe
Where is all the tariff money, university money, and money coming from canceled research grants going?
How do you wake up every morning and not immediately crawl back into bed because of the ways in which our democracy is being dismantled before our very eyes? I'm a 22-year-old college student, so similar to you, I have grown up in this hellscape of a political climate. I'm sure you are looking for substantive questions about American politics in which you can give us your nuanced insight, but I really need some advice, Gen-Z to Gen-Z. What keeps you going? What gives you hope? What helps you feel like we will get out of this?