Principals

1. Trump’s most divisive ally
2. A congressional extension
3. Inflation eases
4. Nvidia chips
5. Blinken’s Kyiv gift
6. Young women grow more liberal
7. Trump’s health policy mystery

PDB: Undecided voters react to debate 

Harris campaigning in North Carolina … Bloomberg: China detains top investment bankers … WaPo: Video, witnesses challenge IDF’s account of Turkish-American activist’s death

Donald Trump’s most divisive ally

Republicans are worried Donald Trump has a Laura Loomer problem, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott and David Weigel report. The self-proclaimed “pro-white nationalism” agitator traveled with Trump on his plane before and after the debate, drawing attention in both parties. Allies of the former president worry she’s egging on the more Truth Social version of Trump — the one that showed up at Tuesday’s debate yelling about false rumors of pet-eating migrants. “Regardless of any guardrails the Trump campaign has put on her, I don’t think it’s working,” one person close to the Trump campaign said. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also condemned Loomer Wednesday for an “extremely racist” post mocking Harris’ Indian heritage, saying it “does not represent President Trump” (she responded with some NSFW shots at Greene’s personal life). Still, one Trumpworld source downplayed Loomer’s influence, saying she was not involved in debate prep.

Senate to give House GOP time on government funding

The House GOP has stalled out on its six-month government funding plan, and Senate Republicans really don’t want a shutdown. Yet with less than three weeks remaining before money runs out, GOP senators told Semafor they’re going to give their House colleagues a little more time before potentially moving to their own plan. “That’s what we should do: Wait to see what the speaker can do,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, adding pointedly: “I don’t want a government shutdown. I can’t imagine going into an election with that.” The top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, Susan Collins of Maine, wants a spending bill through December to give the next administration time to complete a budget next year. “At this point,” she said, “it seems to me that we should wait and see what the House decides to do.” Still, she also underscored that “we must avoid a government shutdown at all costs.”

— Burgess Everett

Inflation eases, but shelter costs pick up

Inflation fell to 2.5% in August, setting up the Fed to cut rates next week. The Consumer Price Index fell to its lowest level since early 2021, driven in part by declining gas prices. The White House cheered the report as evidence the US is “turning the page on inflation.” However, so-called core inflation — which excludes food and energy prices — increased 0.3% from July, an unexpected rise fueled by high shelter costs. That result means the Fed is unlikely to decide on a larger 50 basis point rate cut and will lean towards a 25 basis point cut. The US awaits one more inflation figure before the Fed meeting next week: the Labor Department today will release its producer price index report for August. The European Central Bank is expected to cut rates today.

US closer to green lighting Nvidia chips for Saudi Arabia

The US government is considering allowing Nvidia to export advanced chips to Saudi Arabia, which would help the country train and run the most powerful AI models, Semafor’s Reed Albergotti, Morgan Chalfant, and Kelsey Warner reported. The issue was a major, unofficial topic at Saudi Arabia’s global AI summit, known as GAIN, this week, where some attendees said the country is working to satisfy US security demands in an effort to get the chips as quickly as possible. In particular, sources said the Saudi government has moved to limit its involvement with Chinese firms. A Commerce Department spokesperson told Semafor that the agency “cannot speak to specific licenses or transactions” but stressed that policy actions “are the subject of a rigorous interagency process including the Departments of Commerce, State, Defense, and Energy.”

Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nevada), Mark Ein, Venture Capitalist and Entrepreneur; Limited Partner, Washington Commanders and Lori Kalani, Chief Responsible Gaming Officer, DraftKings will join Semafor’s editors in Washington, DC on September 19 for a discussion on the growth and trajectory of the US gaming industry.

RSVP for in-person or livestream.

US pledges much-needed economic aid to Ukraine

Anthony Blinken disappointed Ukraine during a trip to Kyiv by not loosening rules on its use of US weapons against Russian targets, but did offer them some much-needed economic aid: the secretary of state announced $717 million in new economic and humanitarian support. Ukraine’s economic challenge is increasingly dire, with energy costs for businesses in the country having increased by as much as 30% thanks to persistent Russian attacks on power infrastructure. Geopolitics expert Ian Bremmer said in a recent note to clients that he projects a 60% likelihood of “strong continued (albeit diminished) economic support” from Kyiv’s allies. “Winter is going to be tough: Maybe not as tough as 2022, but tougher than the previous one,” Tymofiy Mylovanov, the president of the Kyiv School of Economics, said in an interview. “It will be difficult to sell economic support for Ukraine,” he acknowledged, adding: “Some support will be forthcoming, but maybe not as much [as is needed]. I hope I am wrong.”

— Prashant Rao

The number of liberal young women is rising

Young women are becoming more liberal, according to Gallup. Just over a quarter of women aged 18-29 identified as liberal from 2001 to 2007 when George W. Bush was president, rising to 32% during Barack Obama’s presidency and 40% from 2017-2024, a period that covers Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s terms. In its analysis, Gallup found substantially more young women expressing liberal views on global warming, abortion, and gun control over time. For instance, young women polled more recently are 18 points more likely to say abortion should be legal under any or most circumstances than those polled during Obama’s presidency. At the same time, young men are becoming more moderate.

Does Trump’s plan for Obamacare include big spending cuts?

Donald Trump expressed his desire to “replace” the Affordable Care Act in this week’s debate, but said he had only “concepts of a plan” that he’d flesh out later. The exchange highlighted one of the most consequential missing pieces of his agenda this cycle: How Trump would handle trillions of dollars in health care spending, Semafor’s Benjy Sarlin and Joseph Zeballos-Roig write. Trump has said he won’t make significant changes to Medicare, but hasn’t expanded on whether he would pursue cuts and changes to the ACA’s private insurance marketplace and Medicaid like he did in his first term. Should he be elected, Trump also faces a decision on increased ACA subsidies under President Biden that are set to expire at the end of 2025. “President Trump is not running to terminate the Affordable Care Act,” a Trump campaign spokeswoman said. “He is running to make healthcare actually affordable.”

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Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Republicans who support Ukraine downplayed Donald Trump’s refusal to say whether he wants Kyiv to win the war. “The last thing you do in negotiations is show your cards. So if you’re going to negotiate a peace deal, you’ve got to negotiate from a neutral position. Otherwise, they’re never going to come to the table,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said.

Playbook: Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who served under George W. Bush, endorsed Kamala Harris and called Trump “perhaps the most serious threat to the rule of law in a generation.”

WaPo: House and Senate Democrats are introducing legislation today to ensure women have access to emergency abortion care, but the measure will be dead-on-arrival in the GOP House.

Axios: Conservative activist Leonard Leo said he would withhold money from organizations he supports unless they use their funding to “weaponize the conservative vision.”

White House

• President Biden will deliver a speech marking the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act.
• Biden, Vice President Harris, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Donald Trump, Sen. JD Vance, and Michael Bloomberg all attended the 9/11 ceremony in New York City.

Congress

• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected a push in a closed-door meeting by conservatives to delay the timeline for choosing his replacement. — Axios
• The federal government will increase security for the joint session of Congress in which lawmakers count the electoral votes from the states scheduled for Jan. 6, 2025 in an effort to avoid a repeat of the attack on the Capitol in January 2021. — WaPo

Outside the Beltway

• Hurricane Francine made landfall in Louisiana.
• The proportion of Black first-year students who will attend Harvard University this fall fell 4 percentage points from the previous year, a smaller-than-expected decline following the Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action.

Economy

• The Fed’s inspector general found that Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic repeatedly broke trading rules but did not trade on confidential information.

Business

• JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America will limit and track more closely the hours young bankers work following an investigation of the firms’ work culture. — WSJ
• Norfolk Southern said it fired Alan Shaw as CEO and Nabanita Nag as chief legal officer over a “consensual relationship.” Shaw has been replaced by finance chief Mark George.

On the Trail

• Donald Trump suggested he is unlikely to agree to another debate against Kamala Harris.
• Harris is kicking up her activity on the campaign trail, with rallies and events planned in North Carolina and Pennsylvania this week. She’s also expected to sit for some local television interviews and participate in a discussion with the National Association of Black Journalists.

National Security

• White House national security spokesman John Kirby had a reply-all moment. Asked by Fox News about four veterans’ views of the Afghanistan withdrawal, he wrote “obviously no use in responding. A ‘handful’ of vets indeed and all of one stripe,” in an email that also went to Fox. He followed with a note that said: “Clearly, I didn’t realize you were on the chain.”
• The NSA has a podcast. — WaPo

Foreign Policy

• The White House is putting the finishing touches on a plan to relax restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US-provided weapons to protect against Russian missiles. — Politico
• A top Chinese military commander, Gen. Wu Yanan, plans to visit US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii next week. — FT

Technology

• Facebook has been mistakenly blocking emergency warnings related to at least 20 wildfires in the Western US since June. — WaPo
• OpenAI is in talks to raise $6.5 billion from investors that would raise the startup’s valuation to $150 billion. — Bloomberg

Media

• Shares of Truth Social parent Trump Media & Technology Group closed at a record low Wednesday after Donald Trump’s performance in his debate with Kamala Harris the evening before.
• The owner of digital outlet The New York Sun, Dovid Efune, is one of the bidders for the UK’s Daily Telegraph. — FT

Big Read

• The pundits crowned Kamala Harris the debate winner, but her performance didn’t do much to convince undecided voters who spoke to The New York Times. While many acknowledged she appeared more presidential than Donald Trump, they also didn’t see much daylight between her and President Biden and are hungry for more details about her plans. “She tried a couple times to say, ‘I want to do this and I want to do that,’ and that’s nice promises,” one voter said. “I hope she can get them through Congress.”

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: The widow of a New York City fire chief who died on Sept. 11, 2001 criticized President Biden for a “flippant” comment he made about the 9/11 anniversary earlier this week.

What the Right isn’t reading: The father of an 11-year-old Springfield, Ohio boy who died in a bus crash last year told Donald Trump and JD Vance to stop using his son’s death for “political gain.” The boy, Aiden Clark, was killed when the school bus he was riding in was struck by a minivan driven by a Haitian immigrant who was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to prison.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Elana Schor, Morgan Chalfant

Reporters: Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Becca Balint is a Democratic congresswoman from Vermont.

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