Here are the stories our D. C. insiders are talking about in this week’s «Inside Politics» forecast, where you get a glimpse of tomorrow’s headlines today.
North Korean officials have canceled follow-up meetings and haven’t dismantled a missile testing facility that Trump said would be destroyed.
The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey reports that Trump has been asking for daily updates on the status of negotiations and has privately fumed at aides even as he publicly tweets about how well talks are going.
«He said everyone can sleep well at night and he basically declared peace on the peninsula, but that’s obviously not been the case,» Dawsey said on CNN Sunday.
Trump «has made all these grandiose claims about what’s happened in North Korea, but on the ground it seems little has happened so far.»
2. Trump-Putin criticism energizes Democrats
Meanwhile, Republicans say they’re fine with how President Trump handled his summit with Vladimir Putin, despite bipartisan criticism from members of Congress.
A new Washington Post poll shows that two-thirds of GOP voters approve of how the meeting in Helsinki went. But Associated Press reporter Lisa Lerer says that negative headlines about the summit are energizing Democrats.
«Obviously they’re opposed to what the president’s done, but these constant walkbacks and controversies are providing these weekly shots of adrenaline for the Democratic base,» said Lerer, who traveled recently to a battleground district in Virginia to talk to voters.
«They have a Tea Party congressman up against a Democrat who was an undercover CIA officer,» Lerer said. Republicans «are a little bit nervous about that race, and if they’re nervous about that race, it looks far worse for districts that are much tighter.»
3. Kavanaugh’s views on executive power
We learned more this week about some of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s legal views — particularly when it comes to executive power.
