Washington, DC

1. Trump faces GOP resistance
2. Mamdani meets Trump
3. Trump’s new Dem threat
4. Ukraine plan pushback
5. Muddled economic picture
6. Stock ban vote urged
7. US-S. Africa tensions

PDB: Judge halts Trump’s National Guard deployment in DC

House in; Senate out … WSJ: US banks scrap $20B Argentina bailout … Bitcoin set for worst month since 2022

Trump’s hold on Republicans slips

President Donald Trump isn’t getting everything he wants from Republicans anymore, Semafor’s Burgess Everett and Eleanor Mueller report. From Indiana redistricting to the filibuster to his push for $2,000 tariff rebate checks, the president’s total control has slipped. Some Republicans say it’s a volume issue: Trump “has 100 ideas a minute,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the No. 4 GOP leader. “It’s pretty clear that, at some point, you’re going to be opposed or at odds with an idea, because there’s just so much.” Trump’s unity with the GOP during the first year of his second term is still notable, but there could be more drift ahead. “The closer you get to the election cycle,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., lawmakers may become “more cognizant … about how certain policy decisions are at odds with your constituents.”

Mamdani, Trump to talk affordability

Trump is set to welcome New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to the White House today in what will undoubtedly be a closely watched sitdown between new political foes. Trump vehemently opposed Mamdani during his mayoral run, at one point dubbing him “my little communist mayor” and eventually endorsing his opponent, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The president has also hinted at withholding federal funds for NYC following the democratic socialist’s win. Despite the drama between Trump and Mamdani, his administration has acknowledged the incoming mayor’s victory was in part thanks to his focus on affordability — and the two are expected to discuss just that, as well as topics like public safety, in the Oval Office today.

— Shelby Talcott

Trump threatens Dems with death penalty

Trump’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric is far overshadowing his affordability message. The president accused six congressional Democrats of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH” for appearing in a dramatic video that urged military service members not to obey “illegal orders” from him. Those Democrats responded with a coordinated response, defending the video. “I am here because I’m an American, and [this country] gave me everything, and I’m not going to shut up because Donald Trump is threatened,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said at the NewDEAL conference in DC. Slotkin, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, and four House members with military or intelligence backgrounds released a video together for last month’s No Kings rallies. They decided to intensify their message, and Slotkin’s office released it to more than 12 million views on X, hoping to get the president’s attention and be ready with a response when he attacked.

— David Weigel

White House meets resistance on Ukraine

The Trump administration is pressing forward on its controversial peace proposal for Ukraine. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll presented the plan to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday in Kyiv, and Zelenskyy said later that he would work on the proposal — drafted with Russian input — and speak with Trump in the coming days. “We are talking about the shortest possible time frame,” acting US ambassador to Ukraine Julie Davis told reporters. The peace plan requires painful concessions from Ukraine, Axios reported, but also includes a NATO-style security guarantee under which the US and its European allies would regard an armed attack on Ukraine as an attack on the “transatlantic community” at large. European and some US policymakers have criticized the proposal as too favorable to Russia. “Peace cannot be capitulation,” France’s foreign minister said, while Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., called the plan as reported “completely unacceptable.”

— Morgan Chalfant and Tim McDonnell

Wall St hungry for economic data

Wall Street is hungry for more economic data after two numbers came in — and they’re better than expected, though they won’t be enough to erase fears of an AI bubble or simmering inflation. The US added a surprising 119,000 jobs in September, but unemployment inched up to its highest point in four years. Stocks climbed on Nvidia’s Wednesday earnings report, but ended Thursday down. “Other questions are still there; what is happening with inflation? Employment? What is the Fed going to do? There’s still confusion about tariffs,” one analyst told Reuters. Still, the White House took a victory lap, while Vice President JD Vance blamed Democrats for lingering weaknesses. “The thing I’d ask for the American people is a little bit of patience. This economy was not harmed in 10 months,” he said. Next up: Today’s University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment report.

Lawmakers urge vote on stock-trading ban

Supporters of a bill that would ban members of Congress from trading stocks are angling for a committee vote by the end of the year. “Certainly I would prefer to see one before Christmas, so that we’ll be able to get through that process and then set up for activity either before Christmas or early part of the year,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Semafor. Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., hopes for the same: “We haven’t given leaders a firm deadline yet” but “we don’t want this to drag into the election season when we’re not going to be in session as much.” The measure’s backers have floated forcing a vote if leaders drag their feet. “I’m afraid they’re going to run the clock out — and I suspect we’ll be back after Thanksgiving and we’ll put it on the floor,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said.

— Eleanor Mueller

Tensions flare with S. Africa over G20

Tensions intensified between the Trump administration and South Africa after they exchanged conflicting remarks about whether the US would attend this weekend’s G20 summit in Johannesburg. South Africam President Cyril Ramaphosa said Thursday that the US — which had pulled out of the G20 over unfounded claims of a genocide against white South Africans — had shifted its stance and would participate. Later, however, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said acting ambassador to South Africa Marc Dillard’s attendance at the summit was purely ceremonial and accused Ramaphosa of “running his mouth.” The dispute threatened to sap attention from the talks, which Pretoria wants to focus on global inequality and debt restructuring. Yet the lack of high-level buy-in means any progress may be limited: Along with Trump, the leaders of Argentina, China, Indonesia, and Mexico are skipping what will be the first G20 on African soil.

Debatable: Congressional term limits

US presidents can only serve two terms, but those limits don’t exist for members of Congress. And the legislative branch is aging: The 119th Congress is the third-oldest in history, according to NBC News. Some lawmakers have pitched imposing congressional term limits, which would require an amendment to the Constitution, in order to help newer members rise and discourage “career politicians” who spend most of their working years in elected office. But these proposals haven’t gained traction. “I don’t know that any of that is necessary,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the party’s top member on the House Judiciary Committee, told Semafor. Still, Daniella Ballou-Aares, who heads the Leadership Now Project, said that at minimum there should be a culture shift that encourages older members to retire earlier to make way for the next generation.

Can the Supreme Court keep its secrets? New York Times investigative reporter Jodi Kantor joins Mixed Signals to explain how she’s revealed the secrets of internal deliberations behind the ceremony and black robes of the US Supreme Court. Max and Ben ask whether the court is actually leaking more, how newer justices are reshaping its public face, and what Kantor has learned about the culture of secrecy and power inside a long impenetrable institution. She also reflects on the post–#MeToo media landscape and the fracturing of “factual consensus.”

Listen to the latest episode on Mixed Signals now.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: GOP senators including Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., are urging President Trump to back a short-term extension of Obamacare subsidies for one year or more, arguing it will save Republicans from a midterm thrashing and buy the party time to agree on a longer-term health care plan.

Playbook: Indiana’s Senate GOP leader Rodric Bray defended his pushback to Trump’s pressure to redistrict the state, saying: “It’s absolutely imperative that we’re able to do hard things here, and in order to do that, to do hard things that maybe not everybody agrees with and maybe even some people get really angry about.”

Axios: A federal court case has raised new questions about Saudi Arabia’s alleged role in 9/11, after fresh evidence came to light.

WaPo: “It’s one of the worst months that any president has had in his first year,” the director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics said of Trump’s tricky November. “He really has accumulated