A recent event in Plattsburgh found Congresswoman Stefanik confronted by a significant number of constituents who were seeking to compel her to hold a Town Hall, which she has not held in many years. She was booed when she approached the podium during the event honoring a long-time local serving County Clerk with the renaming of the County Government Center in his honor. Her response was to run from the podium which is the same response she had early on in her career when she ran from confrontation. This, I think should give the Hochul campaign strategy to employ in terms of finding her at locations that are not 100% filled with friendly Republicans as she really cannot stand the heat and only wants to speak in controlled environments. That, unfortunately, is not how a state-wide campaign will be run.
After the recent meeting in DC between Mr. Trump, Mr. Zelenskyy, and leaders of European nations, the question was raised can Mr. Zelenskyy trust Trump to keep his promises in terms of security for the Ukraine? The answer is simply “no.” Trump is now stumped by Mr. Putin and that fact that Mr. Putin refuses to tow the line, and Trump, of course, realizes as he does with China, that he is not in control of the game. This is something he cannot stomach because basically he is a bully and a coward, and that character trait always runs from a confrontation with a strong opponent. Seems like a lot of Republicans have that problem.
Canada is dropping its 25% tariffs in an effort to reset negotiations. The USMCA comes up in 2026 for renegotiation. This is surely on Mr. Carney’s mind.
Mr. Trump announced that the Federal Government will take a 10% interest in Intel. We are seeing a replay of the Chrysler bailouts of years ago. Will Mr. Trump try to force a merger or sale to recoup the government investment? Good luck to Intel, with 6x bankrupt Trump as a partner.
Powell says “maybe” to an interest rate cut.
Russia says no meeting is set with Mr. Putin, Mr. Zelenskyy, and Mr. Trump, directly contradicting Mr. Trump. Russia is also putting new constraints on security guarantees from the United States and Europeans, making them worthless. No surprise.
Restaurants in D.C. are saying dining is dead, contradicting Mr. Trump who clearly misunderstands what is going on in D.C., both in terms of crime and the effect of his invasion.
Mr. Trump threatens other cities with troop invasions as well. One of the more interesting stories here is that some of the states that are sending national guardsmen to D.C. and maybe to other cities have higher crime rates than at least D.C. and possibly the other cities they proposed to send troops to. I think that’s ironic. The utilization of troops as we’ve noted above is clearly a dictator’s game at play and will likely be a tactic used to impact the outcome of the 2026 elections and potentially the 2028 elections. Newsom and Prisco need to get busy counteracting Texas.
Bill Owens is a former member of Congress representing the New York 21st, a partner in Stafford, Owens, Piller, Murnane, Kelleher and Trombley in Plattsburgh, NY and a Strategic Advisor at Dentons to Washington, DC.
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