Chris Howard

Is this what "winning" looks like? And would Republicans be howling if jobs data were revised down this much under a Democratic president?

Line chart titled “Share of Total Contributions From Top 100 Donors By Party.” It shows the percentage of total campaign contributions coming from the top 100 donors to Democrats and Republicans from 2008 to 2024. The y-axis ranges from 0% to 70%, and the x-axis marks election cycles every two years from 2008 to 2024. A red line represents the GOP and a blue line represents the Democrats. Key data points: • GOP share rises steadily from about 7% in 2008 to over 50% in 2024. • Democrats’ share fluctuates, peaking near 30% in 2020, then declining to around 17% in 2024. • In 2024, Republicans receive over half of their contributions from just 100 donors, while Democrats rely on them far less. The chart source is the DIME database. A note indicates the data includes contributions to candidates and party-affiliated/aligned PACs and Super-PACs.

As Republicans pass a bill full of extremely unpopular provisions aimed at further enriching the obscenely wealthy, remember that over half of their campaign funds in 2024 came from just 100 mega-donors who absolutely love this bill. That's not a coincidence.

The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.

In the Old Testament, this is what the cruelest pharaohs would do.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

A New Declaration of Independence from Tyranny Effective July 4, 2025

A New Declaration of Independence from Tyranny
open.substack.com/pub/borowitz...

Rural clinic in Trump district shuts down as CEO cites Medicaid cuts A rural clinic in a district Trump won by more than 50 points has been forced to shut down, with the CEO citing "cuts to Medicaid."

This story will be repeated multiple times around the country.

www.newsweek.com/nebraska-hos...

Democrats, Independents, and non-MAGA Republicans all agree that the GOP budget isn't beautiful at all.

The Coming Health Care Apocalypse One chart on the Big Ugly Bill

The Coming Health Care Apocalypse
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

A.I. Is Homogenizing Our Thoughts Recent studies suggest that tools such as ChatGPT make our brains less active and our writing less original.

As far as I can tell, generative AI is like an experimental drug whose effects on the mind are unknown and potentially harmful. I can't in good conscience encourage my students to use it.

The Word Games That Enable Medicaid Cuts We don’t call it Medicaid in many states, and we use euphemisms for what are in reality cuts. That endangers the system, a health care regulator writes.

prospect.org/politics/202...

‘An Existential Threat’: Food Banks Brace for Fallout From Trump Cuts

Food banks and food pantries do great work, but they cannot replace SNAP and other food assistance programs; they don't have nearly enough resources.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/n...

And we should keep giving the rich big tax cuts because ...?

Column: Republican budget has a few big winners, many losers Virginians must make their voices heard if they want a smarter, fairer budget from Washington, William & Mary professor Christopher Howard writes in a guest column.

Pitched mostly to folks in Virginia, but the basic story is the same in every state.

www.pilotonline.com/2025/06/19/c...

Reverse Robin Hood: this is how the Republican budget will make people with lower incomes worse off and the rich better off over the next decade (the diamond symbol shows the net effect of tax cuts and spending cuts). The bill is big, yes; beautiful, no way.

Majority Of Voters Oppose GOP Budget Bill, With Just 67% Of Republicans In Support, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Trump Job Approval: 38%, His Handling Of Russia - Ukraine War Lowes... "With Medicaid's future as a healthcare safety net for millions suddenly uncertain, voters make it clear they want the 60-year-old program for those in need to be handled with care," said Quinnipiac U...

Bad numbers for Trump, Musk, the GOP budget, and more.

poll.qu.edu/poll-release...

Trump Musk feud explodes with claim president is in Epstein files President Trump and Elon Musk's rift exploded into public view on Thursday over what started out as differences on the president's megabill.

Guess what happens when you put two vindictive, thin-skinned scorpions in a bottle?

abcnews.go.com/Politics/tru...

Trump and Allies Sell Domestic Policy Bill With Falsehoods

Their numbers aren't in the right ballpark or even the correct time zone.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/02/u...

Commentary: There is fraud and abuse in Medicaid, but it won't cover $700 billion Yes, there is some waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid, just as there is throughout our health care system and in every large organization, public or private. But it is not nearly enough to pay for the...

Likewise, see: richmond.com/opinion/colu...

Commentary: There is fraud and abuse in Medicaid, but it won't cover $700 billion Yes, there is some waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid, just as there is throughout our health care system and in every large organization, public or private. But it is not nearly enough to pay for the...

Here's why Republicans can't possibly pay for Medicaid cuts by rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse. The only way to make the numbers work is to hurt millions of vulnerable Americans. richmond.com/opinion/colu...

Opinion | Medicaid Work Requirements Are Cruel and Pointless

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/o...

The House Republicans' Budget Bill Guts Basic Needs Programs for the Most Vulnerable Americans to Give Tax Breaks to the Rich The House Republican budget plan would eviscerate Medicaid and food assistance and shift resources toward the wealthiest Americans.

The budget story hasn't improved a bit since March.

www.americanprogress.org/article/the-...

How the Republican Budget Would Hurt Virginia This browser does not support inline PDFs.

scholars.org/contribution...

May the fourth be with you.

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After Trump Aid Cuts, Food Banks Scrounge and Scrimp (Gift Article) In one of the country’s poorest areas, the quantity and quality of government deliveries have dropped, forcing one charity to make do with thin soup and dried cranberries.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/u...

Trump Offers a Private Dinner to Top 220 Investors in His Memecoin (Gift Article) The offer, which caused President Trump’s memecoin to surge in price, was his family’s latest effort to profit from cryptocurrencies.

Maybe we're seeing a re-make of "Die Hard": what looks like a political statement by a vicious group of rebels is really just a massive heist.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/t...

How Trump backed away from promising to end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours During his campaign, Donald Trump said repeatedly that he would be able to end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours” upon taking office.

This promise disappeared in the Gulf of Cheaper Eggs.

apnews.com/article/trum...

Under Trump, National Security Guardrails Vanish (Gift Article) America’s adversaries have more room to operate, at least in the disinformation space, cybersecurity experts say.

A Democratic President doing this would be accused of treason.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/u...

Over time, big law firms often change their names. For the firms that have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in legal services to causes favored by the Trump administration, I can imagine:

Skadden Vichy Arps

Kirkland, Ellis, Neville & Chamberlain

Who’s In and Who’s Out at the Naval Academy’s Library? (Gift Article) An order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office resulted in a purge of books critical of racism but preserved volumes defending white power.

Gone is “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou’s transformative best-selling 1970 memoir chronicling her struggles with racism and trauma.

Two copies of “Mein Kampf” by Adolf Hitler are still on the shelves.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/u...

Pressuring Migrants to ‘Self-Deport,’ White House Moves to Cancel Social Security Numbers (Gift Article) By placing migrants in Social Security’s “death master file,” the Trump administration is seeking to cut off their access to credit cards, bank accounts and other financial services.

Once again, there is no bottom.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/u...