This is the October 16, 2026 edition of Party Animals, a letter from the back rooms, barstools, and bacchanals of Washington, DC—with exclusive reporting, interviews, and analysis.
Their Republican opponents aren’t faring as well in raising their own cash. Paxton pulled in just $18 million in the same time period, but he’s one of many backed by the Musk and Donald Trump money cannons, and Politico reported this week that Republicans have spent an eye-popping $235 million against Talarico already. Texas politics is an expensive game. We are 18 days away from the midterms.
In this edition of Party Animals: Bret Baier first moved to Washington in the wake of 9/11, having been tasked by Fox News with reporting from outside the burning Pentagon. Now he’s the anchor of Special Report, the network’s flagship news program, and a star in Trump’s turbulent Washington. Last week I grabbed dinner with the anchorman at a Georgetown restaurant he calls his “clubhouse.” Over surf-and-turf, we discussed the evolution of Fox News, what he makes of his colleagues on the opinion side of the network, and his hot-and-cold relationship with the president.
Plus: What happens when Trump’s new press secretary falls into a pit filled with carnivorous reporters?
Also mentioned in this issue: Katie Zacharia, Sylvester Stallone, Mark Levin, Alina Habba, Ric Grenell, Elaine Godfrey, Mollie Hemingway, Brit Hume, and more.
In the Loop:
Press Enclosure
It was a big week for Katie Zacharia, Trump’s new press secretary. When she took the podium for her first briefing on Tuesday, the little-known MAGA surrogate was nervous. Her briefing lasted just a few minutes. She answered three questions and then awkwardly darted out of the room.
On Friday afternoon, Trump delivered an ominous verdict: “I said [to] Katie, ‘You know, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,’” he said, adding that she’d been treated “nastily” so far. “I said to her, ‘Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider.’”
Within minutes, The New York Times reported that Zacharia was out. She lasted five days, four if you count Columbus Day as a holiday—less than half a Scaramucci, in Trump West Wing parlance. A White House official confirmed her ouster to Party Animals.
The administration had been in damage control mode ever since her first briefing. In a statement afterward, the White House called her performance “powerful.” Communications director Steven Cheung said that she “commanded the room.” But in an edited video put out by the White House that showed her march to the podium, set to pickup-truck-commercial music, Zacharia appeared visibly fearful.
