How did Dan Crenshaw, the face of the post-Trump GOP, end up known for his influencer beefs? And how much was his online drama responsible for ending his career? The answer: way more than you'd expect. My latest for @theverge.com at the gift link below. www.theverge.com/features/916...

Behind the unraveling of Dan Crenshaw

What? The Verge is evolving! www.theverge.com/bulletin/914...

🚨 VERGE HOMEPAGE REFRESH 🚨https://www.theverge.com/bulletin/914842/the-next-evolution-of-the-verges-homepage-is-here

I have an extra little bit from my Werner Herzog interview in @tinanguyen.bsky.social’s newsletter—Herzog tells us how he feels about the Trump admin posting clips of the penguin from Encounters at the End of the World.

Nexstar argued the merger would help it compete for ad revenue with streaming services, thereby building more robust local journalism. However, the merger’s opponents believe that this is a basic violation of antitrust laws and principles. Read more from @tinanguyen.bsky.social:

Perfect

I have offered a bounty in the latest issue of Regulator: this Ziploc bag of spare change (no quarters) to anyone who can send me verified, authentic, non-AI generated footage of Sam Altman fighting Jeremy Harris at the VF Oscars party.

I did something pretty appropriate for Friday the 13th: www.theverge.com/policy/89631...

NEW w/ @haydenfield.bsky.social : Nearly 40 employees from OpenAI and Google — including Jeff Dean, Google’s chief scientist and Gemini lead — have filed an amicus brief in support of Anthropic’s lawsuit against the Pentagon. www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

I would like to inform the Bluesky community that Undersecretary of Defense Emil Michael is crashing out on X right now

NEW: The New York Times confirms my reporting that the DOJ is withholding several FBI interviews with a woman who accused Trump of sexually assaulting her as a child www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/u...

NEW: Pete Hegseth brought some VERY interesting people with him to the Pentagon's negotiations with Anthropic over their acceptable use policy: Political appointees Emil Michael, formerly of Uber, and Steve Feinberg, the private equity billionaire founder of Cerberus Capital Management.

Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon AI bro squad includes a former Uber executive and a private equity billionaire

Oh my god I didn’t even realize Emil fucking Michael is the CTO of the Defense Department until @tinanguyen.bsky.social pointed it out

(Media) SCOOP: Weeks ago, the owner of the Washington City Paper had offered to purchase The Washington Post's sports and local sections, keeping their desks alive. The Post reporters were laid off and the desks were shut down instead. www.theverge.com/policy/87683...

If you're going to read anything today, go read this

Regulator is opening 2026 with an interview with someone who'd know a thing or two about the Trump-Nvidia chip deal: Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser under President Joe Biden, who had implemented the restrictions on selling high-end chips to China. www.theverge.com/policy/85681...

I went to the opening for PubKey, a Bitcoin bar originally from NY with a new location in downtown DC. It was wacky and wild and had several Santas, Chinese lion dancers, a mariachi band, and more. But the weirdest thing of all were the federal employees in suits. www.theverge.com/policy/84913...

Today: - @elizabethkim.bsky.social on Mamdani's transition; - @elienyc.bsky.social on SCOTUS and executive power, - @tinanguyen.bsky.social on Trump & AI regulation; - @theatlantic.com's Valerie Trapp on self-checkout culture at the grocery story Live at 10 on 93.9 FM, AM820 or @wnyc.org

Big @tinanguyen.bsky.social scoop - the Trump MAGA / tech coalition continues to fracture as the hard right pushes back against David Sacks and his attempt to preempt state AI laws. Caught in the middle: Vance. www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

We had to ensure several times that Nilay did, indeed, want this to be the official headline of this story

In Regulator's latest issue, I speak to Charlie Bullock at the Institute for Law & AI about the draft executive order that would have punished states for writing and enforcing their own AI laws, and its "chilling effect on state legislation." www.theverge.com/column/82993...

I did a deep dive into the White House's draft executive order that would have counteracted states' abilities to write and enforce their own AI laws. Boy, does it give David Sacks a lot of influence over setting federal AI regulatory policy! www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

Seeking to kneecap states and hand even more power over to his big tech cronies, the ever power thirsty and David Sacks gets ratioed. For now at least — this group is like mold and always returns www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

Great moments in Verge background policy here btw - @tinanguyen.bsky.social nailed this one

the verge's reviews program has always been the heart of the site and one reason we jealously protect it and refuse to do brand deals is so we can just say the products are bad www.theverge.com/report/82215...

I obtained a draft of the WH's executive order that would ban state AI laws via at least FOUR agencies www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

"New media" used to broadly describe traditional outlets that published traditional news, but online. But these days in DC, powerful Republicans now use “new media” as a polite catch-all for “right-wing media.” My latest reporting in this week's Regulator: www.theverge.com/column/79990...

Here’s @tinanguyen.bsky.social detailing the results of the incredible settlement YouTube paid to Trump for no reason except cowardice www.theverge.com/policy/79135...

Donald Trump and Silicon Valley have formed an alliance — but that doesn’t mean the MAGA base thinks it’s a good idea. This week @tinanguyen.bsky.social joins @parismarx.com to discuss the many ways the MAGA movement isn’t on side with Big Tech. Full ep: techwontsave.us/episode/296_...

When I read @tinanguyen.bsky.social’s recent piece on visiting NatCon and seeing MAGA leaders openly criticize tech executives and their companies, I knew I had to have Tina on the show. It was a really insightful conversation!

There's this thing at Trump rallies where people leave partway through because they've seen what he's said before It's happening right now, and I think the stadium is now half empty But it's so wild to see this happen after all the intense Christian Revival energy pulling the room together

Trump: "He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best of them. But I disagree with Charlie. 
I hate my opponent, and I don't want the best of them...I am sorry. Erika can talk to me and they hope that maybe they can convince me that that's not right, but I can't stand my opponent."

NEW: Trump tells the audience at Charlie Kirk's memorial that tomorrow, he, RFK and Dr. Oz "found an answer to autism [and] how it happens, so won't let it happen anymore." Will announce at a press conference tomorrow. Yeah, I'm serious.

At Charlie Kirk's massive memorial service, it appears his widow, Erika Kirk, is not, in fact, the final speaker on the program. President Trump is.

While people are suddenly and uncharacteristically paying attention to media regulation, please take a moment to notice all the massive harm Brendan Carr has done to consumer protection and public safety as well me, back in April:

Hello from Charlie Kirk's memorial service in Glendale, Arizona. I'm live from the floor of State Farm Stadium. The service won't start for another two hours, but lines to get in are backed up for miles. The only word I can give for inside the stadium is "megachurch."

BREAKING: - Jimmy Kimmel jokes about Charlie Kirk's killer - FCC's Brendan Carr threatens to pull licenses of TV stations airing Kimmel unless ABC fires him - Nexstar owns a lot of TV stations - Nexstar says their stations will stop airing Kimmel - ABC does this www.theverge.com/news/780471/...

First byline with @haydenfield.bsky.social: Meta made a super PAC for AI issues, meaning they can run ads against their political targets in California -- and maybe their AI competitors, too. www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

I decided to subscribe to The Verge because they accurately reported the news

You can subscribe to The Verge for just $4 a month right now. www.theverge.com/subscribe

If you value the work we do at The Verge, please consider subscribing so we can keep doing it. It's $4/month right now, which is a really great deal!

Too bad the GOP effectively criminalized studying how information moves online and news orgs laid off and demonized all the reporters who covered the burgeoning online accelerationist performative death cults. All of that work was somehow "censorship" that needed to be stopped. Now we're here.

Just to be blunt, if you want Wired and 404 and The Verge to employ reporters who understand the memes on bullet casings and can connect them to gaming culture while having the legal and support resources to deal with waves of harassment when we do it… you have to subscribe and pay for the work

New from me an @miasato.bsky.social: the most cursed thing I've ever reported, and I've reported a LOT of cursed things. www.theverge.com/politics/777...

At NatCon, there were two topics dominating everyone’s discussions: the imminent end of the right’s support of Israel — and the existential threat that technology posed to Western civilization. I wrote about the second discussion. www.theverge.com/politics/773...

Everyone's watching Alien: Earth, apparently