DC DAILY LETTER: October 29, 2025
Capital Paralyzed by Political Folly, While the World Reckons with Real Storms
🏛️ FIVE POINTS TO CONSIDER TODAY
* The Shutdown’s Folly: A Capital Self-Sabotage.
* The federal government shutdown, now in its fourth week, has evolved from a negotiation tactic into a symbol of legislative dysfunction. Beyond the immediate inconvenience to federal workers and agencies, the true cost lies in the erosion of institutional competence, as vital economic data, regulatory processes, and long-term planning are sacrificed to an intractable partisan impasse. Washington is demonstrating a failure to execute basic governance, which has implications for global trust in U.S. stability.
* Judicialization of Policy: Tariffs Head to SCOTUS.
* The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on the legality of the current administration’s tariffs, marking another instance where a fundamental policy decision—typically the domain of the Executive Branch—is being effectively litigated by the Judiciary. This trend reinforces the Court’s outsized role in American public life, turning every major political fight into a constitutional cliffhanger and further politicizing the nine Justices.
* Global Catastrophe: Hurricane Melissa and Climate Reality.
* Hurricane Melissa’s devastating path, particularly its Category 5 strength over Jamaica and subsequent landfall in Cuba, offers a stark reminder that existential crises do not wait for political ceasefires. The storm’s rapid intensification aligns with projections of worsening climate dynamics, demanding a shift in focus from long-term climate pledges to immediate, scaled-up resilience and disaster response in vulnerable regions.
* Middle East Morass: Truce Remains Tenuous.
* Reports of renewed strikes and escalating death tolls in Gaza, despite ongoing talk of a truce, underline the severe fragility of the conflict. The consistent inability of international mediators to secure a durable cessation of hostilities that addresses humanitarian needs and hostage issues suggests that current diplomatic frameworks are insufficient. The violence continues to place immense pressure on the international system and U.S. foreign policy credibility.
* The Spectacle of Oversight: A Focus on the Past.
* In a move that highlights the capital’s obsession with political retribution, House Republicans delivered a high-profile report to the Justice Department focusing on former President Biden’s use of the autopen, suggesting a “cover-up” of cognitive decline. While ostensibly oversight, this action is widely seen as a distraction that prioritizes partisan theater over legislating on the budget or addressing other pressing national issues.