Ian Vandewalker

Nine Solutions for Political Corruption A new era of anticorruption reform is long overdue.

Americans are hungry for fixes to our broken campaign finance system and meaningful anti-corruption reforms. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

Biggest $ from the tech & energy industries, which Trump has worked to deregulate.
$30M - Crypto.com
$25M - Brockmans of OpenAI
$25M - Energy Transfer and CEO
$16M - Yass, TikTok investor
Several 7-figure donors got administration appointments or pardons for family members.

MAGA Inc is funded by megadonors. 96% from $1 million+ and 62% from $5 million+.
(The median household income for a year in the USA is $84,000.)

Million-Dollar Donors Flooded Trump’s Second Inauguration The inauguration raised more money from donors contributing at least $1 million than any prior inauguration fundraised altogether.

It's just one of the massive hauls for efforts with ties to Trump. The second inauguration fund raised a record-breaking $245M. The White House ballroom is supposed to cost $400M. An affiliated dark money group has an unknown amount. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

Pro-Trump Super PAC Raises Record-Breaking $305 Million MAGA Inc. has relied on multimillion-dollar donors to raise an unprecedented amount in support of a lame duck president.

In a new high (low?) for the super PAC era, the pro-Trump MAGA Inc. raised $305 million AFTER the last election Trump can run in. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

Few see unlimited campaign spending as a form of free speech New poll finds overwhelming cross-partisan concern about money in politics ahead of 50th anniversary of Buckley v. Valeo Supreme Court decision on campaign finance

www.ipsos.com/en-us/few-se...

Some thoughts on the FBI’s raid of the Fulton County, GA election offices, seizing reams of sensitive voting records from 2020. We don’t yet know the justification, but there’s ample reason to be skeptical. There’s also ample reason to be alarmed; this escalation is dangerous. /1

ICE Begins Buying ‘Mega’ Warehouse Detention Centers Across US Plans for such centers and jails in nearly two dozen communities have sparked protests over suitability, proximity to homes and schools.

This is grim. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Election officials push back after FBI search of Georgia elections office Secretaries of state say years of audits and recounts have already validated the 2020 election.

Secretaries of state say years of audits and recounts have already validated the 2020 election.

FBI’s Search of Georgia Election Center Is “Dangerous,” Experts Warn The search warrant, which sought 2020 election ballots, tabulator tapes, digital data and voter rolls from Fulton County, marked what experts described as a significant escalation in President Donald ...

Completely insane. www.propublica.org/article/fbi-...

ICE agents shatter window, leave 1-month-old baby, mother in car after Portland arrest Video shows federal immigration agents leaving behind an infant and broken glass after detaining a Guinean immigrant with no known criminal history.

Video shows ICE leaving behind an infant and broken glass after arresting a man with no criminal history.
“There was a car seat in the back... There were broken glass shards all over it... There was just this tiny peanut of a baby. He was crying.”
My latest: www.pressherald.com/2026/01/28/i...

Make America Dumb Again!

Drawing by 5 year old held in concentration camp in Texas by Trump Administration. It’s a pencil drawing of 4 stick figures with frowns behind a chain link fence depicted by a dozens of vertical and horizontal lines. Written in child-like letters, it says “Let us go” and “I am 5 years old.”

Here is the child’s drawing.

Wise words from WEB DuBois to gird us today: "It would be shame and cowardice to surrender this glorious land and its opportunities for civilization and humanity to the thugs and lynchers, the mobs and profiteers, the monopolists & gamblers who today choke its soul and steal its resources."

This law group led by @rickpildes.bsky.social had me write for their 100 Ideas series on US democracy

My idea: the rule of law cannot coexist with this level of wealth concentration. Once Musk, Bezos, Zuck, & a few others bend the knee, the authoritarian consolidates too much power

Prebunking misinformation techniques in social media feeds: Results from an Instagram field study | HKS Misinformation Review Boosting psychological defences against misleading content online is an active area of research, but transition from the lab to real-world uptake remains a challenge. We developed a 19-second prebunki...

Prebunking misinformation techniques in social media feeds: Instagram field study misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/preb...

"Instagram users in treatment group were significantly & substantially better than the control group in correctly identifying emotional manipulation in a news headline."

two images of an arrest, one digitally altered by the White House to make it look like the arrestee is crying

This is the first example I’ve seen of an American government using AI to meaningfully misrepresent actual events with the intent to deceive the public. We are at Stalinesque levels of propaganda.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/past-the-b...

Thanks, iOS26 liquid glass, for both making it easier to see things I'm not trying to look at and making my phone work several times slower!

DOGE staffer signed deal to share Social Security data with election deniers After months of denials, the Trump administration has admitted that staffers affiliated with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) misused Social Security Administration (SSA) data.

6. The group the unnamed DOGE staffer conspired with is also unnamed but the evidence points to True The Vote, the voter conspiracy group behind the debunked documentary 2000 Mules.

Nine Solutions for Political Corruption A new era of anticorruption reform is long overdue.

On the 16th anniversary of the Supreme Court in Citizens United opening the floodgates of political money, here are nine solutions for political corruption in the USA. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

Citizens United, Explained The 2010 Supreme Court decision further tilted political influence toward wealthy donors and corporations.

16 years later, Citizens United is still harming our democracy as big money from megadonors keeps getting bigger. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

Yes.

US citizen says ICE removed him from his Minnesota home in his underwear after warrantless search Federal immigration agents have detained a U.S. citizen in Minnesota at gunpoint without a warrant. That's according to ChongLy “Scott” Thao, who says agents forced open his door, entered with guns drawn and led him outside in his underwear in freezing conditions.

Federal immigration agents forced open a door and detained a U.S. citizen in his Minnesota home at gunpoint without a warrant, then led him out onto the streets in his underwear in subfreezing conditions, according to his family and videos reviewed by The Associated Press.

Nine Solutions for Political Corruption A new era of anticorruption reform is long overdue.

Americans face a fusion of public power and private wealth to a degree not seen in the past century, if ever. Our latest report outlines nine solutions to combat corruption. Far-reaching reforms are long-overdue.
bit.ly/4r62EnZ

Opinion | How Trump Has Used the Presidency to Make at Least $1.4 Billion The president took an oath to serve the American people. Instead, he’s focused his second term on enriching himself and his family.

💰💰💰 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

H.H.S. Reverses Decision to Cut $2 Billion for Mental Health and Addiction Services

Mental health cuts that would have killed people were stopped in 24 hours after "furious lobbying" by members of Congress. What other deadly WH actions could Congress stop if they tried??? www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/h...

Trump ballroom donors poised to benefit from AI plan they helped shape - OpenSecrets News Eight days before the White House announced plans to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom for state dinners and special events, President…

Several donors to President Trump’s privately funded White House ballroom are positioned to benefit from the administration’s AI Action Plan.

Our reporting examines the connections between donations, lobbying, federal contracts and AI policy.

🔗Read more
www.opensecrets.org/news/2026/01...

3 Prosecutors Quit After Push to Investigate ICE Shooting Victim’s Widow

"Three Minnesota federal prosecutors resigned over the Justice Department’s push to investigate the widow of a woman killed by an ICE agent and its reluctance to investigate the shooter, according to people with knowledge of their decision."

Trump is trying to change how the midterm elections are conducted Many of these endeavors go far beyond typical political persuasion, challenging long-established democratic norms.

Surprisingly (not surprising) calm and neutral headline... www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...