Attention to news in 2025. What we noticed and what we ignored. open.substack.com/pub/charlesa...

Tariff support at new low, after months of continuous decline Nov 2024: 52% Dec 2024: 47% Jan 2025: 46% Mar 2025: 44% Apr 2025: 42% Jun 2025: 41% Jul 2025: 40% Sep 2025: 38% Nov 2025: 38% Dec 2025: 37% More from latest CBS News/YouGov polling at link below... 5/5

“If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient,” Alfonsi wrote.

Muppet’s Christmas Carol is such a stunning piece of work. Just a masterpiece from start to finish.

Donald Trump is on a renaming spree. It’s now up to media, internet platforms, and other institutions to decide what to call the Kennedy Center. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

We at @today.yougov.com showed Americans Donald Trump's post about Rob Reiner, as well as posts about Reiner from Ted Cruz, Barack Obama, and Gavin Newsom, and asked what people thought:

I have this fantasy where I am in conversation with one of these people and they say something insane and I say, "How do you know that?" and they name a podcaster and I say, "How does he know that?" and etc etc until they collape in tears and beg my forgiveness for their errors.

NEWS: The Department of Justice has sued D.C., claiming that the city's elections board did not turn over extensive amounts of voter information, including driver's license and partial Social Security numbers. DOJ has sued 22 states for not turning over all that information.

NEWS: They're adding Trump's name to the Kennedy Center building right now. www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...

Mitt Romney: Tax the Rich, Like Me www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...

Trump’s pardons wipe out payments to defrauded victims www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Respect to my computer for refusing to work before 9 a.m. Keep up the good fight

Veteran Dem pollster Stanley Greenberg explains his disagreements with the "Deciding to Win" report arguing the party needs to moderate to win. Argues that while Justice Democrats underperform, the Progressive Caucus doesn't. Interesting read prospect.org/2025/12/17/n...

D.C. United sets ticket prices for “home” match vs Inter Miami, which will be played 37 miles north in Baltimore: $73-178 for fifth level, $200-400 for low sideline. No guarantee Messi plays as this reg season match falls few days before Champions Cup vs probably Nashville.

Gift link, probably the funniest thing the Wall Street Journal has done this year.

Very proud of @naemas.bsky.social and my story yesterday on how thousands of the estimated 16,000 known plastic chemicals get into our food. “The problem is, none of the plastics that we have right now are safe... That’s what the data tell us.” www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Another exclusive from my intrepid Post colleagues: Stephen Miller’s hard-line Mexico strategy morphed into deadly boat strikes www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Vanity Fair published a look at President Trump’s inner circle, all photographed by Christopher Anderson, whose lens captured every blemish and blood vessel. We chatted with Anderson about the reaction to the photographs and the process behind them:

Anyway, follow our live coverage here, with most of the @washingtonpost.com econ team and colleagues from the White House beat and around the newsroom: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

One reason I think public opinion is fundamentally important as a beat is that if people only talk to other people like them, it can be hard to get a sense of which hardships are unique to them or groups they're in, and where those struggles are broadly felt or even more acute elsewhere.

Moderate House Republicans join Democrats to force vote on ACA subsidies www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

DHS fast-tracked $1 billion contract to pro-Trump donor’s company, reports The Post's @iarnsdorf.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

An elf-administered survey is called a North Poll.

‘You see this news?’: What Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer told friends after the attack wapo.st/4q7QLx8

Wow, some U.S. hospitals are selling organs to transplant tourists for up to $2m a pop, jumping the line of Americans waiting for one. Great investigation -> www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/u...

The poll actually "dropped" last week

Did you know that from tomorrow, Qualtrics is offering synthetic panels (AI-generated participants)? Follow me down a rabbit hole I'm calling "doing science is tough and I'm so busy, can't we just make up participants?"

Ready or not, here we go

So cool -> Quebec researchers tracked eye dilation + sweat when showing respondents political issues to see if they aligned with results from standard poll questions on issue importance. They did! And suggest asking people to choose their top issue is most reliable academic.oup.com/poq/article/...

Nicki Minaj, who was once a staunch critic of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and celebrated the LGBTQ+ community through her music, has dramatically changed tune.

Ahmed El Ahmed A good guy without a gun www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...

Do Democrats need their own billionaire? JB Pritzker is betting on it. Great story from @maevereston.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

MAGA leaders warn Trump the base is checking out. Will he listen? Via Natalie Allison, @kadiagoba.bsky.social & Hannah Knowles www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

New Post-UMD poll: 36% of Americans say the increasing number of states allowing people to bet on sports is “a bad thing,” up from 23% in 2022. Negative trend cuts across almost all groups — including, notably, the most ardent sports fans & bettors themselves. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

Breaking news: The Justice Department once again failed to persuade a grand jury to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, another setback for the Trump administration, which pursued mortgage fraud charges that experts have long viewed as weak.

After a $62 million Senate loss, David Trone wants old House seat back www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

This is so cool! @emmakumer.bsky.social @geoffreyfowler.bsky.social & Leslie Shapiro

Wow, Washington Post data wizards used TikTok user feeds to create a similar algorithm and map the neighborhoods of videos people see 🤯 Big props to @jeremybmerrill.com and team www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...

At the first stop on his affordability tour, Trump mocks affordability www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

"there's a new serif in town"

the next frontier of a/b testing?

Ahh, good data on AI chatbot usage among teens. About 3 in 10 use it daily, another 18% weekly, 18% less often and 36% don't ever use them www.pewresearch.org/internet/202...

Same product. Same store. Same time. But on Instacart, different customers may see different prices. My story on a fascinating new experiment from @groundwork.bsky.social & @consumerreports.org and how the idea of a single price is breaking down in the digital age: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/b...

This is a smart, thoughtful piece that's worth a read but: I really wish writers would be a little bit careful about treating unweighted convenience samples as though they're representative of larger groups. (via www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/m..., societyofauthors.org/2024/04/11/s...)

Breaking news: Ukraine will not surrender territory, President Zelensky declared, rejecting a central Russian demand that President Trump had incorporated into his latest proposal to end the Kremlin’s war.

Pew Research Center just released a big report on religiosity in America, finding little shift since 2020 across four big indicators of religious commitment in its high response-rate NPORS surveys. Worth a read -> www.pewresearch.org/religion/202...

UPDATED: Mom of Karoline Leavitt's nephew to be freed from ICE detention. DHS, after characterizing Brazilian mom with ties to Karoline Leavitt as a "criminal," did not oppose her release at a hearing today. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

Amid the U.S. military buildup, the boat strikes and Trump's threats, Maduro has added security and limited public appearances. But he's upbeat, his inner circle remains tight and he's refusing to go into exile, people close to his government say wapo.st/4pSNaCS