Thrilled to have had my work discussed in Bloomberg's The Forecast newsletter. I had a great time chatting with Gregory Korte about my article on gerrymandering (which predated the current redistricting war by a few years, and made the case for fighting fire with fire).

Gerrymandering’s "dirty hands" are getting dirtier. My latest for The Forecast newsletter @bloomberg.com. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

A shrinking number of seats will determine control of the US House this fall after Republicans and Democrats spent much of the past year erasing swing districts from the map. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Last year, President Donald Trump dispatched a chainsaw-wielding billionaire to loudly eliminate more than 300,000 federal jobs in an unsparing attempt to shrink the government. Now, the Trump administration is quietly hiring again. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

CHART OF THE DAY: It’s not just that voters feel frustrated by rising prices. They’re skeptical that policymakers have a plan to turn them around. From Bloomberg's Washington Edition newsletter tonight.

It might have seemed unlucky. Sportswriters would later attribute it to evil spirits. In truth, it was more likely laziness that almost ended Johnny Hodapp's career just as it was beginning. www.johnnyhodapp.com/the-ball-he-...

President Donald Trump will ask Congress to enact a massive increase in defense spending in a discretionary budget proposal Friday, while also renewing his push for steep cuts to domestic programs. Latest with @elwasson.bsky.social. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday intended to make it harder to cast mail-in ballots, escalating his long-running campaign against a practice used by millions of Americans. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: The US government is using less than a third of its office space, potentially costing the federal government billions in annual real estate expenses, according to a new congressionally mandated accounting released Tuesday. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

President Trump's FY 2027 budget will be released on Good Friday. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"Rally 'round the flag" events were always the exceptions that prove the rule. My latest for @bloomberg.com. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Last year, the Trump administration canceled a legally required annual survey of federal employees to gauge their job satisfaction. So a nonprofit did its own survey -- and found federal workers are demoralized, disengaged and distrustful of political appointees. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

How long will the Iran War last? President Trump’s timeline has been shifting, but it’s generally been in the range of days or weeks. “Any time I want it to end, it will end,” he told Axios last week. Americans aren’t so sure. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Daughter: (Tells story of something she read that was written in the first person plural.) Me: "I prefer to write in the third person, thank you very much." Daughter: "You just used two pronouns in that sentence, and neither one of them was in the third person."

The Trump administration is moving to gut the seniority protections that have provided job security to federal workers for decades. "Another step in the administration’s effort to dismantle the nonpartisan civil service.” via @gregorykorte.com www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: The Trump administration is proposing the biggest change to its employee retention rules in decades, attempting to substitute job performance for seniority in deciding who’s fired when an agency institutes layoffs. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

For 88 Years, One Number Graded US Presidents. Now It’s Going Away: Gallup’s decision to drop its approval poll underscores how polarization transformed one of the most important metrics in politics. (@gregorykorte.com) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Gallup's late, lamented question on presidential approval was once "the most important time series in US polling history." But in the age of Trump, the truth is presidential approval had become simply a proxy for partisan identity. My weekend essay for Bloomberg: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Gallup's late, lamented question on presidential approval was once "the most important time series in US polling history." But in the age of Trump, the truth is presidential approval had become simply a proxy for partisan identity. My weekend essay for Bloomberg: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

A new disclosure reveals that one of Joe Biden’s most meaningful White House keepsakes was a piece of a crashed WWII plane -- part of a family story that once sparked a diplomatic controversy over his suggestion that his uncle was eaten by cannibals. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to US cities cost taxpayers at least $496 million in 2025 — with the price tag rising to a rate of $93 million a month. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

As a massive winter storm bears down on the US, FEMA is pausing plans to "offboard" disaster relief workers. From @zhirji.bsky.social + @gregorykorte.com (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

One of the most important economic indicators to watch going into midterms is showing a warning for Republicans. From the Washington Edition newsletter from @bloomberg.com. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

“musicology duck gets briefly kidnapped”

NEW: President Donald Trump’s move to revive the name “Department of War” could cost as much as $125 million, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

More Americans are declaring their independence.

Jerome Powell has public opinion on his side so far. From tonight's Washington Edition newsletter from @bloomberg.com. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

The demographic cliff is coming sooner than we thought. Chart of the day in the Washington Edition newsletter via @bloomberg.com: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

New federal workforce data just dropped, giving the most detailed account yet of the impact of the efforts by President Trump and Elon Musk to shrink the size of the federal government. My latest for Bloomberg: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: President Donald Trump intends to designate Peru as a major non-NATO ally, another sign of his outreach to Latin American partners as the administration escalates its campaign against Venezuela and alleged narco-terrorists. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Twelve Hungry Men. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Here's the most detailed accounting to date of federal workforce departures in 2025: 144,000 took the DOGE "fork in the road" 129,000 left through attrition 21,000 early retirement/buyout 17,000 RIF 7,000 probationary ~ 317,000 total www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: Elon Musk returned to the White House Tuesday in a sign that tensions between President Donald Trump and the world’s richest man have thawed since a fierce split over deficit spending earlier this year fractured their once-cozy relationship. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: The White House is ordering furloughed federal employees back to work Thursday, as the government reopens following a historic shutdown that furloughed about 600,000 federal employees, shuttered offices and froze billions in salaries and payments. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The last time that 2.3 million US government employees all got paychecks for their work the White House still had an East Wing, the US Mint was still making pennies and Taylor Swift was in a completely different era. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

It could take a while for for government operations to return to normal even after the shutdown ends. w/ @allyversprille.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

INGRAHAM: "Is this a voter perception issue of the economy or is there more that needs to be done by Republicans on Capitol Hill or done in terms of policy?" TRUMP: "More than anything else, it's a con job by the Democrats." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"Trump's Pardon of Giuliani: How Presidential Clemency Powers Work," via @gregorykorte.com www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The economy helped get Donald Trump elected to a second term. Now it's his Achilles’ heel. www.bloomberg.com/news/article... by @mniquette.bsky.social and @laurendezenski.bsky.social

In this year’s elections, Democrats across the political spectrum built their campaigns around a single word: affordability. It paid off. w/ @mniquette.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The lowest confidence in government economic policy in the history of the University of Michigan survey, in today's Washington Edition newsletter: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

NEW: A top CIA official warned that an extended government shutdown could pose serious national security risks to the US, and that the foreign intelligence agency was already struggling to fund some critical operations. w/ @natdroz.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Call it "perpetual redistricting." California’s vote on Tuesday to redraw its congressional maps marks an escalation of a protracted redistricting arms race, in which voters can expect an explosion of partisan gerrymandering before every election. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The US government has reached a major milestone of dysfunction as Congress has allowed a federal shutdown to drag into its 36th day — the longest in history — amid a stalemate over health-care and spending priorities. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Voters in Virginia, New Jersey, New York and California will soon offer the strongest and earliest clues about America’s political landscape heading into next year’s consequential midterm elections. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Nearly 42 million Americans are hours away from missing food aid as SNAP runs out of money. USDA data show most recipients spend nearly all their benefits early in the month — meaning the shutdown could leave grocery budgets empty fast. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Chart of the day: More consumers than ever say the US government is doing a poor job managing economic policy. From today's Washington Edition newsletter by @bloomberg.com: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

NEW: The Pentagon said it received an anonymous $130 million donation to pay the military during the US government shutdown, a move the administration might not legally be able to carry out. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The US Army Corps of Engineers will pause $11 billion in infrastructure projects in 12 states that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024 as the White House continues to exert leverage in talks to end a government shutdown now in its 17th day. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Senate votes -- like the nine consecutive failed votes to end the shutdown -- are getting more predictable. From today's Washington Edition newsletter: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...