Kevin Robillard

The COVID political backlash disappeared Turns out the pandemic didn't break the Democratic Party

Rs and Ds who worked on PPP loans were able to tout them in ads in 2020, and some govs like Kemp who got schools open earlier touted that in ads in 2022. But swing voters in particular never blamed COVID on one party or the other.

Link to the above grafs: www.theargumentmag.com/p/the-covid-...

The COVID backlash theory was popular among a certain group of very online writers and thinkers, but a simple look at its total absence from paid political media would have told you it wasn't actually a big vote mover for either party, especially after 2020.

Trump Violates A 32-Year-Old Policy: ‘This Has Never Happened Before’ The move raises questions about how far the administration will go to reshape the armed forces.

Airman Logan Ireland thought with 15 yrs of service he would at least get retirement benefits even as he was being pushed out after SCOTUS green lit Trump's trans military ban.

The Air Force approved and then revoked his benefits. Now Ireland is now fighting back.

www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

Moderates Have Something To Prove After Shutdown Fold And four other takeaways from the apparent end of the longest government shutdown in American history.

Shutdown takeaways w/ @paulblumenthal.bsky.social:

• Mods folding hurts the case for "combative centrism"
• This wasn't about protecting the filibuster
• Dems controlled the news cycle
• This only matters for Nov if Trump approval stays down
• This thing was probably doomed from the start

‘Sold POTUS a bill of goods’: WH furious with Pulte over 50-year mortgage The White House was blindsided by the idea and is now dealing with a furious backlash from conservative allies, business leaders and lawmakers.

This article will be a fascinating artifact: A number of Trump allies complaining about someone who is simply more effective at manipulating Trump than they are.

It's other boyars complaining a boyar is corrupting the good tsar.
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

New Mexico Lawmakers Consider Investigating Jeffrey Epstein's Secluded Desert Ranch Two state legislators are proposing an investigative “truth commission” to guard against sex trafficking in the future.

www.huffpost.com/entry/nm-law...

On stage at Crooked Con, Jon Lovett presses Sen. Ruben Gallego on Schumer’s non-endorsement in the NYC mayor’s race.

“I don’t know” why Schumer didn’t endorse either way. But said it would’ve been better to pick a side: “You made it a bigger story by trying to avoid the story.”

DNC Chair: Trump 'Soulless' And 'Depraved' For Partying Before SNAP Cuts

DNC Chair Ken Martin slammed Trump as “soulless” and “depraved” for throwing a Gatsby-themed party right before a planned cutoff of federal food benefits.

www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

Republicans May Fall Into A Trump-Shaped Trap Of Their Own Making It holds an ominous warning for 2026.

The political environment might be so bad for Rs that Mike Lawler would be doomed too — but winning in a midterm requires some independence from the national party brand.

www.huffpost.com/entry/2025-e...

Trump Loyalist Elise Stefanik Launches Run For New York Governor The onetime moderate Republican turned staunch MAGA ally is entering one of the most closely watched races of the 2026 campaign season.

Putting forth a staunch Trump ally like Stefanik to run in a blue state like NY is a vivid example of the problem of handing the GOP’s decision-making and candidate selection entirely over to Trump.

www.huffpost.com/entry/elise-...

So which DC sandwich shop is going to sell the Sean Dunn sandwich and make a mint this weekend?

JPMorgan Boss Explains Why Bank Isn’t Donating To Trump Ballroom: ‘We Have An Issue, OK?’ The bank did support Donald Trump’s inauguration to the tune of $1 million.

This quote from Jamie Dimon about the WH ballroom donations exemplifies how at least some Democrats want business leaders to be thinking: "We have to be very careful how anything is perceived — and also how the next DOJ is going to deal with it."

www.huffpost.com/entry/jamie-...

‘Desperate, Frustrated, Angry’: Latinos Are The Swing Voters At The Center Of American Politics Their big shift to Democrats in 2025 may be more about a Trump backlash than renewed affection for the party.

-Democrats are looking for candidates in newly-drawn heavily Latino districts in TX

-Spanberger and Sherill both spent $$$ on Spanish-language ads, but none of those spots mentioned immigration/ICE

www.huffpost.com/entry/desper...

‘Desperate, Frustrated, Angry’: Latinos Are The Swing Voters At The Center Of American Politics Their big shift to Democrats in 2025 may be more about a Trump backlash than renewed affection for the party.

New: The most significant part of Tuesday's results may be the Latino vote shift

-Cements Latinos as the key swing voters of the '20s

-4 highest % Latino counties in VA saw biggest shifts to Spanberger

www.huffpost.com/entry/desper...

Nancy Pelosi Announces Retirement From Congress The historic former House speaker and Democratic Party power broker is hanging it up after nearly four decades of representing San Francisco.

New from @jbendery.bsky.social: Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi is officially retiring from Congress. www.huffpost.com/entry/nancy-...

Border Patrol agent Lairmore testifies that he was not injured by the sandwich, but he felt the impact through his ballistic vest.

The sandwich came apart and "kind of exploded" on his chest upon impact, he says.

"I could smell the onions and mustard."

Incredible world cloud results from this poll: The old vs. the unknown.

UMass-Amherst/WCVB out with the first poll I've seen of the Massachusetts Senate primary since Moulton entered the race.

Markey 44%
Moulton 25%

Markey 31%
Moulton 24%
Pressley 20%

Surveyed 416 likely primary voters, 6% MOE.

htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/senate...

Republicans May Fall Into A Trump-Shaped Trap Of Their Own Making It holds an ominous warning for 2026.

Republicans say there's simply no path to victory for many of their candidates without Trump voters who have not historically turned out for downballot GOP candidates, but that's leading to a sharp break from a standard political playbook.

www.huffpost.com/entry/2025-e...

New: The most surprising part of the 2025 elections, and one with major implications for 2026, is how the GOP candidates have barely even tried to distance themselves from an increasingly unpopular Trump.
www.huffpost.com/entry/2025-e...

Establishment Senate Candidates Go Shaky On Filibuster Reform A number of top Democratic recruits are ducking questions on the issue.

New: A number of moderate Democratic Senate candidates are going shaky on reforming or eliminating the filibuster.

Mills wants to keep it, Pappas seems torn, Cooper + Turek didn't respond to questions.

www.huffpost.com/entry/establ...

Dems reading the Trump section of polls then the section about what voters think of Democrats

Establishment Senate Candidates Go Shaky On Filibuster Reform A number of top Democratic recruits are ducking questions on the issue.

Most other Dem Senate candidates say they want to reform or eliminate the 60-vote requirement, including all of the candidates in the primaries in Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts and Texas.

www.huffpost.com/entry/establ...

Establishment Senate Candidates Go Shaky On Filibuster Reform A number of top Democratic recruits are ducking questions on the issue.

New: A number of moderate Democratic Senate candidates are going shaky on reforming or eliminating the filibuster.

Mills wants to keep it, Pappas seems torn, Cooper + Turek didn't respond to questions.

www.huffpost.com/entry/establ...

Trump Plans To Keep Paying Immigration Agents While Other Federal Workers Go Without Paychecks The move amounts to special treatment for Trump’s favorite constituency within the federal bureaucracy.

Internal DHS memo shows Trump plans to keep paying ICE agents and Border Patrol officers throughout the shutdown, while other feds go without pay.

Even the DHS administrative staff processing the paychecks won't get theirs, employee tells me.
www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

The strategy is also inherently causing conflicts with the party's insurgents, who want a clean break from unpopular party leadership + young, media-savvy candidates.

Platner is probably the candidate who best embodies the insurgency at the moment.
www.huffpost.com/entry/the-de...

Why are Senate Democrats recruiting 77-year-old Janet Mills? Because they're focused proven vote-winners: Everyone likes that they recruited Cooper + Brown.

But the same philosophy is leading them to back Mills, Stevens and Turek, which is causing grumbling.
www.huffpost.com/entry/the-de...

This is a noteworthy escalation from Sanders, who actually very rarely gets crosswise with the DSCC -- the only time he has endorsed against the DSCC's pick in his career was in Kentucky in 2020.

This cycle, he's backing both Platner + El-Sayed.

New Pew Research Center data:

66% say Trump has improperly used his office to punish people
62% say he's improperly encouraged fed'l investigation of his opponents
61% say he's improperly used his office to enrich himself.

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

A Race In Arizona Poses A Stiffer Test For Democrats’ Youth Movement Not every front-runner is going to be Andrew Cuomo.

New: "Am I the Cuomo in this situation?"

Democrats' youth movement is heading to Arizona, where 25-year-old influencer Deja Foxx is making noise, but frontrunner Adelita Grijalva should make a tougher out than a certain former NY guv.

www.huffpost.com/entry/arizon...