Washington, DC

1. Intraparty trade fights
2. South Carolina runoff day
3. Trump’s Oklahoma test
4. Dems split on Kushner meet
5. Michigan Democratic turmoil
6. Mail-in voting ruling
7. Housing temp check

PDB: Burnham plans US visit

Canada plans to announce retaliatory tariffs targeting US … Meta trial continues … NYT: One in four NFL players gets brain disease

Trump firm on Canada despite GOP pushback

President Donald Trump isn’t budging in the face of GOP pushback over his Canada tariffs and beef import plan, even as the two key issues threaten to impact races for his party in the midterms. The president is instead threatening more tariffs on Canada, and those close to him see no off-ramp yet. Instead, Trump and Canadian officials are publicly sparring, with Ontario Premier Doug Ford warning that “everything is on the table” for retaliation. And the Trump administration is also defending the president’s decision to lower tariffs on imported beef and sell it below market prices, with White House spokesman Kush Desai describing the temporary plan as a way “to address a short-term supply crunch.” Desai said administration officials are still focused on American farmers and “working closely with ranchers to grow America’s cattle-herd size, which is currently at a multi-decade low.”

— Shelby Talcott

Trump tries to pull Graham to victory

Can Trump’s endorsement override a debate gaffe? Darline Graham is about to find out. A week after conceding that she’s “not that informed on national security,” the South Carolina senator is leaning into her Trump endorsement heading into today’s runoff against Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C. Last night, Graham held a tele-rally with Trump, who said that because he “got her into this whole thing, I have to make sure she gets in.” In other words, it’s personal for the president, who was close to Graham’s late brother, Lindsey Graham. MAGA Inc. also disclosed its first spending of the cycle: $800,000 on Graham’s behalf for text messages and calls. “We want all the people who believe in what President Trump is trying to do — all those who believe in the conservative cause — to get out and vote tomorrow for Darline,” said Gov. Henry McMaster.

— Burgess Everett

Oklahoma weighs Trump pick vs. tariff critic

Oklahoma Republicans will nominate their candidate for governor today, choosing between Trump-endorsed former state legislator Mike Mazzei and state Attorney General Gentner Drummond in the primary runoff. Mazzei and Drummond nearly tied in the June primary, but Drummond won more local endorsements and portrayed Mazzei’s plan to quickly eliminate the state income tax as unrealistic. The president’s preferred candidates for governor have lost a string of primaries across the country, meaning Oklahoma is a key test for the commander-in-chief’s endorsement power. Notably, Drummond has criticized Trump on an issue that exploded in the race’s final days: tariffs. “Importing cheap beef only injures Oklahoma’s cattlemen, ranchers, and farmers,” Drummond told NewsNation this week, joining a chorus of Republicans who have rebuked Trump’s decision to suspend tariffs on ground beef imports.

— David Weigel

Jeffries-Kushner meeting divides Dems

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ meeting with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is drawing some measured praise — and skepticism — from Democrats. Some saw the meeting as a reasonable move for Jeffries, who has a preexisting relationship with Kushner, and as a tacit admission from the White House that the administration will soon have to work with a Speaker Jeffries. “Opening a backchannel, I think, is just a governing reality,” said one aide, who nevertheless acknowledged that the optics of “planning cooperation” with an administration reviled by the Democratic base aren’t the best. Another aide was more critical, calling the meeting with Kushner, who many Democrats loathe, “f*cking dumb.” Jeffries said in a social media video Monday evening that Kushner had asked for the meeting to discuss the affordability crisis but added: “no one is going to get a pass.”

— Nicholas Wu

Piker flap derailed El-Sayed endorsement in MI

The Democratic nominee for a House seat in Michigan was in talks to endorse his party’s Senate nominee in the state, Abdul El-Sayed, before a flap yesterday over left-wing streamer Hasan Piker derailed those plans, a source familiar with the talks told Semafor. State Sen. Jeremy Moss instead issued a statement on Monday that declined to back El-Sayed and criticized his association with Piker. The streamer showed Moss on screen last week while saying: “If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there, that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone’s going to come around and take action … against American Jews.” Piker’s comments have thrown Democrats off-course in Michigan, weeks after El-Sayed’s narrow victory in a bitter primary. Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., joined Moss in airing frustration with El-Sayed’s denunciation of the “scourge” of antisemitism, which contained no criticism of Piker.

— David Weigel and Nicholas Wu

SCOTUS sides with Trump on mail voting

The Supreme Court overturned a block on Trump’s order restricting mail-in voting — but it’s not certain he’ll get his way before the midterms. The high court’s conservative majority concluded that states who challenged the order lacked the legal right to do so because it hadn’t taken effect yet. But importantly, Monday’s ruling was not on whether the order, which would spur the Postal Service to deliver ballots only to eligible voters on government-maintained lists, is legal. “The Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful. On that score, time will tell,” the majority wrote. Adding to the complexity: An additional injunction in a case brought by civil rights groups is live, and the high court did not address the Postal Service’s move last week to preemptively draft Trump’s ballot requirements.

Will home sales disappoint?

Washington will get another window into the anemic housing market when the US posts new home sales for July later today. Sales of new houses ticked up in June, which may be one reason for optimism, but last week saw two back-to-back negative signs about the economy: US housing starts fell 12.4% last month, according to government data, while a popular housing affordability gauge sank for the first time in years. Trump’s tariffs — including existing tariffs on Canadian lumber that predate his latest levies — are driving building costs up. The breakdown in US-Canada talks means those won’t come down anytime soon. Today’s housing data kicks off a busy week for economic news. The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure and consumer spending data are due Wednesday, and all eyes will be on Fed Chair Kevin Warsh as he speaks in Jackson Hole on Friday.

On Tuesday, September 15, Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J.; Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.; Dr. Emily Aaronson, Chief Medical Officer, Walmart; The Honorable Alex M. Azar II, 24th Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services; Chris Butler, Vice President & Head of Drug Discovery, Isomorphic Labs; and Amber Guild, CEO Elect, Susan G. Komen will join Semafor’s The Future of Health to unpack innovation and access of US healthcare.

From breakthrough therapies and AI-enabled care to the investments and policy decisions shaping the next generation of medicine, on-the-record conversations will explore how innovation can expand access, improve patient outcomes, and build a more affordable, effective healthcare system.

Sept. 15 | Washington, DC | Request Invite

Blindspot: Fauci and the economy

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: Lawyers for Anthony Fauci launched a legal defense fund on his behalf as state and federal investigations expand, Reuters reported.

What the Right isn’t reading: President Trump is relying on a “meaningless” figure to boost voters’ opinions of his economic record, CNN wrote.

White House

• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s last-minute intervention in US-Canada trade talks has earned him praise from some US business leaders and blame from the Canadian side. — Bloomberg