Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren walk to the Senate floor after a weekly Democratic caucus lunch this spring. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

THE BIG IDEA:

— Robert Litan has joined a growing fraternity of powerful Democrats who lost jobs because of Elizabeth Warren.

Just a few hours after The Daily 202 broke the news that the Massachusetts senator was taking on the Brookings Institution over industry-financed research produced by Litan, the think tank sought and received his resignation. The veteran of the Clinton administration, who directed Brookings’ Economic Studies Program before becoming a non-resident senior fellow, is listed on the think tank’s web site this morning as a “Former Expert.”

Earlier this year, Warren blocked investment banker Antonio Weiss from becoming the third-ranking official at the Treasury Department. In 2013, Warren’s opposition helped torpedo Larry Summers’ lifelong dream of becoming Federal Reserve chairman—despite the fact he was reportedly promised the job by the White House.

Wall Street types call Warren a lot of nasty things, but demagogue is the most printable.

This episode will only embolden the liberal firebrand, who continues to demand answers about the way that financial services companies peddle their influence by paying think tanks and scholars for research papers that support lobbying goals.

And it could have a chilling effect on scholars who have been perfectly fine letting companies that finance their research review it before publication.

Brookings is as much a pillar of the Democratic establishment as any institution in Washington. That President Strobe Talbott moved so quickly to oust Litan underscores just how terrified D.C. elites from both parties are right now about the rise of pitchfork populism.

And for good reason. This week’s NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that 56 percent of likely Democratic primary voters said they “feel angry because our political system seems to only be working for the insiders with money and power, like those on Wall Street or in Washington, rather than it working to help everyday people get ahead.” That’s 19 percent higher than among Republicans.

Big picture, Warren has more power in the Senate than as a presidential candidate. While beloved by progressives, she’s actually not very talented at retail politicking. She had a tough time beating Scott Brown in Massachusetts in a presidential year. If she had run for president, maybe she’d be Bernie Sanders right now. But maybe Warren would have fizzled, and she certainly would have faced a blizzard of rough opposition research dumps from Clinton World. The senator is much more effective as a crusader for the liberal conscience in Washington. It’s not clear what her long game is. She’s 66. But, right now, Warren’s got as much juice as ever.

Trey Gowdy (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

— What to make of the Trey Gowdy moment: The former prosecutor who heads the House Benghazi committee was pressed yesterday by conservatives to run for House majority leader. Last night, the South Carolina congressman issued about as Shermanesque a statement as it gets declining to run: “One hundred percent, I am staying on the Benghazi committee … Period. Exclamation point.”

The Post’s Robert Costa explains that the Gowdy boomlet is a result of a younger generation of conservatives demanding to have a seat at the leadership table. Those conservatives want to “inject some swagger into a party that for months has been meekly navigating through infighting and chaos,” Costa writes. But it’s unclear whether they have a candidate who is able to break into the top leadership ranks. Assuming they don’t, it means the same dynamic playing out between current Speaker John Boehner and his right flank — repeated brinksmanship over spending, Obamacare and abortion rights, among other things — is likely to continue in the new order. (Bob talked about the divisions within the House GOP in this video.)

House Republicans are facing a leadership reshuffle within their ranks — but as some lawmakers pull the party more toward the right, can any leader really restore unity? The Post's Robert Costa takes us inside the infighting in the Capitol. (Julie Percha/The Washington Post)

More broadly, Gowdy’s decision to stay in his job as chief Benghazi investigator also speaks volumes about the appeal — or lack thereof — of being in House leadership right now. As chair of a panel dear to the conservative base, Gowdy in some ways has more power (and certainly more cable-news cred). Hillary Clinton will testify before his committee on Oct. 22, and Gowdy has taken point on demanding Clinton release more and more of her e-mails. By seeking a promotion, Gowdy would have given Democrats more fodder to paint this whole investigation as a politically-inspired witch hunt.

Still, the races to replace Boehner and his lieutenants are in flux, and anything could happen — including the emergence of another conservative favorite in the majority leader race. Here are the latest developments:

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) continues to tighten his grip on the speaker’s gavel.

(R-Calif.) continues to tighten his grip on the speaker’s gavel. Reps. Steve Scalise (La.) and Tom Price (Ga.) are the two main candidates to replace McCarthy as majority leader.

(La.) and (Ga.) are the two main candidates to replace McCarthy as majority leader. Scalise is “close to securing support” from the Texas and Pennsylvania delegations, which tend to vote as a bloc, Politico’s Jake Sherman reports. Yesterday, he nabbed the backing of Reps. Joe Pitts (Pa.) and Chris Smith (N.J.), prominent anti-abortion rights members.

(Pa.) and (N.J.), prominent anti-abortion rights members. The race to replace Scalise as majority whip, should he win the majority leader post, is also on. There are three declared candidates: chief deputy whip Patrick McHenry (N.C.); Rules Committee Chair Pete Sessions (Texas) and conservative Dennis Ross (Fla.).

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

— Donald Trump appeared on Fox News again, ending his boycott. “I’m back,” he told Bill O’Reilly. “It feels good.” Watch the five-minute interview here.

— Donna Shalala suffered a stroke after Clinton Global Initiative events last night. The former HHS secretary became president and CEO of the Clinton Foundation earlier this year. Bill and Chelsea said in a statement sent at 11:52 p.m.: “Fortunately, she was with colleagues at the time and taken to the hospital for treatment. Initial reports are very encouraging. We will continue to share updates as we know more. Please join Hillary, Chelsea and me in keeping Donna in your thoughts and prayers.”

— The only woman on death row in Georgia was executed just after midnight. Via the Atlanta Journal Constitution: “Before the drugs that were to kill her were administered, Kelly Gissendaner asked her lawyer to be sure her children knew that she left this world singing Amazing Grace. She cried and sang with joy until the powerful sedative took over and she closed her eyes. Then she drifted off and minutes later died, punishment for her part in the murder of her husband, Douglas Gissendaner, in 1997. For the next few minutes, the only sounds were sobs from one of her attorneys.”

— Pew released a report showing that Americans have “mixed views” about the U.S. response to the European migrant crisis. By a six-point margin, 51 to 45 percent, more people approve than disapprove of the U.S. decision to accept more migrants from war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq. But Democrats and Republicans are sharply divided: 69 percent of Democrats approve of increasing the flow of those migrants to this country, while an almost exact opposite 67 percent of Republicans disapprove. The crisis is widely known, with 55 percent of Americans saying they’ve heard a lot about it. Overall, 44 percent of respondents said the U.S. should be doing more while 19 percent said we should be doing less — 31 percent said the U.S. response was about right.

— Joe Biden had a rough flight back from NYC after a day of looking very presidential at the United Nations. The New York Times’ Julie Hirschfeld Davis emails the White House press corps: “Air Force Two banged down at Joint Base Andrews at 10:06 p.m. in torrential rain, after the bumpiest landing your pool has ever experienced. We have been on roller coasters that were less nausea-inducing. VPOTUS disembarked under a large umbrella and descended the steps, stopping to salute as he folded the umbrella and then walking to a waiting Suburban.” Is this a metaphor? Or just turbulence?

— A Senate deal on criminal justice reform is very close. “A bipartisan group of senators on the Judiciary Committee is preparing to unveil a criminal justice overhaul proposal as early as Thursday,” two sources familiar with the deal told NPR’s Carrie Johnson (we think at least one of those sources then emailed the story for inclusion in the 202). “The proposal will not go as far as some reform advocates may like. … For instance, the plan would create some tough new mandatory minimum sentences, after pressing from Grassley. It stitches together proposals that would allow inmates to earn credits to leave prison early if they complete educational and treatment programs and pose a relatively low risk to public safety along with language that would give judges some more discretion when sentencing nonviolent offenders.”

GET SMART FAST:

Lawyers for Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis claim that she met privately with Pope Francis in Washington last week. There’s no confirmation from the Vatican. Mitch McConnell says that, after the Senate passes a bill today to avert a government shutdown until December, he wants to reach a long-term spending deal with Democrats locking in spending levels through 2017. He has already been in preliminary talks with the White House. (Kelsey Snell) Afghan forces are trying to strike back at the Taliban after the revels overran the northern city of Kunduz, but they’re facing stiff resistance. (Tim Craig and Brian Murphy) The CIA pulled a number of officers from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing as a precautionary measure after the Chinese allegedly hacked into the OPM database. (Ellen Nakashima and Adam Goldman) The National Defense Re-authorization Act has come out of conference committee, and the Senate is likely to vote on it Thursday, but Democrats don’t like the compromises that were made. (Karoun Demirjian) Making a play for union support, Hillary will come out against the so-called “Cadillac tax” on premium health-care plans. It is a key means of paying for Obamacare. (Anne Gearan) The Tax Foundation estimated that Trump’s plan would increase the federal deficit by $10 trillion over the next decade but also create 5 million new jobs. (Their report) The RGA went dark in the Kentucky governor’s race, a bad sign for Republican nominee Matt Bevin. (Lexington Herald-Leader)

POWER PLAYERS IN THE NEWS:

Rand Paul attacked Ted Cruz as ineffective: “Ted has chosen to make this really personal and called people in leadership dishonest,” he said on Fox News Radio, “which really goes against the decorum and also against the rules of the Senate, and as a consequence he can’t get anything done legislatively.” (Transcript and audio are here.) Cruz will roll out the endorsements of more than three dozen Texas state lawmakers today. (Texas Tribune) A pro-Paul super PAC has not been spending money, and its leader encouraged the senator to embrace his inner libertarian to jumpstart his struggling campaign. (David Weigel) Chris Christie picked up six endorsements in Iowa yesterday, including from agribusiness millionaire Bruce Rastetter, and he said he’ll campaign aggressively in the state ahead of the caucuses. (I interviewed him about his theory of the case.) Kentucky Republican Rep. Ed Whitfield announced his retirement after two decades in Congress. (Courier Journal) Charles Koch declined to say whether he would endorse or support Trump if he’s the Republican nominee in an interview with Forbes magazine. Ben Carson said he’s fine with people flying the Confederate flag, as long as they do it on private property. (NBC’s Alexandra Jaffe from Winston-Salem, N.C.) Former Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo.) is launching a new group today to push for the renewable fuel standard. He was a top adviser to Scott Walker, and this is his first move since that campaign imploded.

WAPO HIGHLIGHTS:

—“U.S. troops have turned to some unsavory partners to help find warlord Joseph Kony,” by Craig Whitlock and Thomas Gibbons-Neff: “U.S. Special Operations forces have opened a new front in their hunt for the African warlord ­Joseph Kony, moving closer to his suspected hideout in a lawless enclave straddling Sudan and South Sudan…Working from a new bush camp in the Central African Republic, U.S. forces have begun working closely with Muslim rebels — known as Seleka — who toppled the central government two years ago and triggered a still-raging sectarian war with a campaign of mass rapes and executions. The Pentagon had not previously disclosed that it is cooperating with Seleka and obtaining intelligence from the rebels. The arrangement has made some U.S. troops uncomfortable.”

–“Some refugees get Zumba classes, but others sleep on the streets,” by Anthony Faiola, Souad Mekhennet and Stephanie Kirchner: As Germany “scrambles to shelter the refugees in tent cities, at sports centers and even on the grounds of a former Nazi labor camp, a nation known for its efficiency is struggling to absorb them. Outside the main refugee processing center in Berlin, for instance, asylum seekers are caught in a bureaucratic hell. Dozens are camping out on cold sidewalks — some for weeks…But like the U.S. government after Hurricane Katrina a decade ago, Germany also is finding that the scope of the crisis is sometimes overwhelming its capacity to respond…A 10-minute bus ride away from the processing center here, a pop-up shelter on the grounds of a city sports center is providing asylum seekers with beds and warm food — even Zumba classes and soothing piano concerts. But there is no bus available to take the refugees back to the processing center each morning.”

SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ:

— ZIGNAL VISUAL: When it comes to Bernie Sanders, television is not nearly as interested as Twitter. So far this month (Sept. 1 through Sept. 29), the Vermont senator has actually been mentioned more frequently than Hillary Clinton on Twitter. He’s got more than 1.9 million mentions, compared to nearly 1.8 million for Clinton, according to our analytics partners at Zignal Labs.

But look what happens when you view the Democratic race through only the broadcast media lens. Sanders has about one-quarter of the mentions that she does, and he’s mentioned on television far less frequently than Joe Biden. (The VP, incidentally, has been mentioned just 222,000 times on Twitter, far behind both of them.)

–Pictures of the day:

Elizabeth Warren met with Black Lives Matter activist Deray McKesson to follow up on her speech about racial inequality:

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) had breakfast with Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) while wearing a two-decade-old King campaign shirt:

Lots of love for Hillary’s pantsuits on Snapchat:

–Tweets of the day:

Edward Snowden joined Twitter with the verified account @Snowden:

His first conversation was with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson:

And then he joked about the NSA:

Republican presidential candidate George Pataki reacted strongly:

— Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards delivered an aggressive defense of her embattled organization on Capitol Hill yesterday, rejecting allegations that it illegally sells fetal tissue for profit as “offensive and categorically untrue.” She called the string of videos “deceptively edited.” Story from Sandhya Somashekhar here. She mixed it up with GOP lawmakers and seemed to relish the back-and-forth.

Many conservatives complained about how House Republicans ran the Planned Parenthood hearing. From Sean Davis, cofounder of the Federalist:

And Townhall political editor Guy Benson:

White House political director (and Red Sox fan) David Simas celebrated National Coffee Day:

While Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) sipped on Cheerwine:

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) met with Denzel Washington:

And Martin O’Malley’s Iowa campaign announced a Game of Thrones-themed competition:

–Instagrams of the day:

Staffers at the DNC (and across Capitol Hill) wore pink in support of Planned Parenthood:

Bobby Jindal made a pit stop as he traversed Iowa, which has become his second home:

GOOD READS FROM ELSEWHERE:

— Forbes, “Inside the epic fantasy that’s driven Donald Trump for 33 years,” by Randall Lane: “The most in-demand person on the planet has gone into hold-all-my-calls mode for nearly two hours to sit down with Forbes and tackle, piece by piece, a subject that he cares about to the depths of his soul: how much Forbes says he’s worth. Since The Forbes 400 list of richest Americans debuted in 1982…exactly 1,538 people making the cut…not one has been more fixated with his or her net worth estimate on a year-in, year-out basis than Donald J. Trump.

Trump has filed statements claiming he’s worth at least $10 billion or, as he put in a press release, TEN BILLION DOLLARS (capitalization his). After interviewing more than 80 sources and devoting unprecedented resources…we’re going with a figure less than half that–$4.5 billion…’I’m running for President,’ says Trump. ‘I’m worth much more than you have me down [for]. I don’t look good, to be honest. I mean, I look better if I’m worth $10 billion than if I’m worth $4 billion’…

Ultimately, Trump’s beef with our numbers is driven by Trump: how his peers view him and, more acutely, how he views himself…As ‘The Donald’ he honed the art of net worth lobbying. Financial summaries would arrive at the Forbes offices, often on gilded Trump-embossed letterheads for extra pop… ‘We soon learned to take the number he threw out to us for his net worth, immediately divide it by three and refine it from there,’ remembers Harold Seneker, who ran The Forbes 400 for the first 15 years of its existence…Trump’s motivations for inflating his net worth were partially driven by dollars and cents. ‘It was good for financing,’ Trump now acknowledges…slapping a high Forbes 400 estimate on a banker’s desk can sometimes help secure bigger loans and better rates.”

— People Magazine also sat down with Trump for a cover story in next week’s edition. The magazine calls him charming and very confident in a spread. He told the magazine he’s prepared to self-fund in a meaningful way, despite the doubters: “I’m very liquid. I can spend whatever I want. … It’s all Trump, all the time on television. So far, I’m way under budget.”

— Yahoo News, “Ann Romney opens up about MS struggle,” with video by Katie Couric: Romney “has a debilitating neurological disease, which has, at times, left her ‘crushed to dust’…In [her new] book, Romney writes about being ‘in the midst of a deep depression, wishing I would be struck down by a disease that would kill me quickly rather than slowly losing control of my body.’ Romney details a regimen of medication, therapy and horseback riding that helped her through the illness. Her husband, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, was by her side every step of the way.”

— Politico, “How McConnell outfoxed Ted Cruz,” by Burgess Everett: “Ted Cruz called out Mitch McConnell seven times by name on Monday night,..Asked about Cruz’s diatribe on the Senate floor, during which the Texas Republican suggested McConnell is a puppet for Democratic leaders and a foe of conservatives, McConnell couldn’t conceal his smile on Tuesday. ‘I have tried very hard to stay out of the presidential race, and I think that’s probably a good rule for me,’ he said with a chuckle…[McConnell] and his leadership lieutenants have quietly and methodically worked to isolate the conservative senator and minimize his effect on the critical fall spending debate. The end result, in spite of Cruz’s invective toward Republican leaders, is music to McConnell’s ears: no government shutdown…The message is clear: McConnell isn’t going anywhere, and everyone in the Senate knows it. Even Cruz won’t say he should resign.”

HOT ON THE LEFT

Lemony Snicket donates $1 million to Planned Parenthood. From BuzzFeed: “American author Daniel Handler, popularly known by his pen name Lemony Snicket, tweeted recently that he and his wife, the illustrator Lisa Brown, have decided to donate $1 million to Planned Parenthood … ‘My husband and I have supported Planned Parenthood for years … This year, Planned Parenthood has gone through a series of unfortunate events, and it felt right to make our support more public and more dramatic,” Lisa Brown said.

HOT ON THE RIGHT

Tom Brady walks back Donald Trump endorsement. From the Hollywood Reporter: “Tom Brady has called a Trump audible. The New England Patriots quarterback said Monday that he didn’t actually endorse Trump’s White House bid. Previously, the four-time Super Bowl champion made headlines when it was reported he had a ‘Make America Great’ hat in his locker. In addition, Brady said a Trump presidency ‘would be great.'”

DAYBOOK:

–What’s happening today on the campaign trail: On the final day of the third quarter, Hillary Clinton attends a fundraiser at Jay Z’s 40/40 club in New York City. In N.H., Donald Trump holds a town hall in Keene, Jeb Bush attends a roundtable on substance abuse in Manchester and a town hall in Bedford, and Ben Carson campaigns in Exeter, Durham, Portsmouth and New Castle. In Iowa, John Kasich hits Davenport and Cedar Rapids while Bobby Jindal makes stops in Sigourney and Iowa City. Chris Christie appears on “The Daily Show.”



–On the Hill: The Senate meets at 9:30 a.m. and is expected to approve a temporary government funding bill. The House meets at 12 p.m. for legislative business.

–At the White House: President Obama delivers remarks to Democratic state legislators at the White House.



QUOTE OF THE DAY: “He pretends to be Catholic, it came on him all of a sudden. It doesn’t happen like that.” – Pope Francis rips the left-leaning mayor of Rome, amid fears that the city is not prepared for the start of the Holy Year of Mercy in December. (AFP)

NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:

— “A few scattered showers remain possible through the course of the day. We’re rather warm and muggy through much of the day, but should start to see the air dry out as a gusty breeze from the north develops by mid-afternoon,” reports the Capital Weather Gang.

–With six games left and no post-season possibilities, the Nationals lost 2-1 to the Atlanta Braves. But they’re auditioning some up-and-comers like Trea Turner, who scored his first major league home run.

–A former aide to ex-D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray was indicted for failing to file tax returns. Reuben O. Charles II is the eighth person linked to Gray to be charged in federal court.

VIDEOS OF THE DAY:

Rapper T-Pain called Jeb Bush “radically underrated” in an interview (though he still won’t vote for him):

Bei Bei sneezed for the panda cam. Watch here:

Did Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) wink at Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards? Decide for yourself:

First lady Michelle Obama told Stephen Colbert about her post-White House plans (like opening windows freely):

Lena Dunham put out a slew of videos with Hillary Clinton as part of the launch of her newsletter, Lenny. Here are a few highlights:

–HRC on the political process

–HRC on campus assault

–HRC on life after college

–HRC on law school and marrying Bill

–HRC on women having it all

–HRC on her favorite Donna Karan dress