NEW in @prospect.org from @hannahstoryb.bsky.social: as Exxon once again seeks the help of the Supreme Court to avoid being held accountable for decades of climate deception, Alito isn't the only justice whose oily ties and inconsistent recusals raise serious ethics questions.

Trump 2.0 has eliminated over 160 federal advisory committees in 2025, gutting federal agencies of expert knowledge. These panels offer invaluable insights into the science and operations of specific industries, guiding agencies in crafting policy 1/5

NEW: Over the past two weeks alone, the administration has: pardoned a crypto CEO who laundered money for terrorist groups, created pay-to-play opportunities with the White House ballroom, given government contracts to Don Jr., and more. Read more in our latest Corruption Calendar ⬇️

NEWSLETTER: Our Julian Scoffield argues that Democrats should look to their recent history for a blueprint on how to politicize Republican health policy

Last week, Trump partially approved 4 requests for major disaster declarations. Trump praised AK, ND, & NE—states he's won multiple times—when announcing his decisions. Meanwhile, Trump rejected requests from IL, MD, & VT—places he's lost. Many more red flags in the 🧵⬇️

NEW: Private insurers like Neptune are cashing in on the shutdown and pushing to privatize the National Flood Insurance Program. Our @kennystancil.bsky.social explains how for-profit insurers could leave communities in the lurch amid the mounting climate crisis.

@andreabeaty.bsky.social: “In other words, there’s no longer any practical room for Democratic administrative policy to be friendlier to Big Business than Trump. By definition, enforcing some rules is more hostile than enforcing no rules.“ Lots of good stuff 👇🏿

NEW In @prospect.org: @coldchrisfiles.bsky.social details the implications of the Republican's plan to dismantle education research. prospect.org/education/20...

Important piece by my colleague @coldchrisfiles.bsky.social

Donald Trump has placed dozens of people with ties to the fossil fuel sector in his administration, according to a new analysis.

the "popularist, let's do Clintonism again" people seem to have forgotten that Harris ran that kind of campaign and it didn't work prospect.org/politics/cen...

Corporate America’s mouthpieces claim the few limits on corporate influence we helped win during the Biden admin drove Big Business to board Trump’s tyrannical train. If so, how can Big Business ever be trustworthy participants in a democracy? Our @jeffhauser.bsky.social in the @wsj.com:

Brilliant!

Great WSJ reporting on the life-threatening effects of the Trump regime's evisceration of FEMA. Noteworthy: As tornado-ravaged St. Louis awaits federal recovery funds, Kristi Noem fast-tracked aid to a Florida tourist spot at the behest of a major donor. www.propublica.org/article/kris...

NEW: Russell Vought aims to use the official government shutdown as pretext to continue his unlawful withholding of federal funds. But the budget chief's actions in the past few months amount to a stealthy shutdown of the federal government. It's time to put an end to that.

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, two of the nation's largest rail companies, are trying to merge. Unions and impacted industry groups oppose the deal. That hasn't stopped the rail behemoths from trying to astroturf the appearance of public support. A guest post from Brett Heinz:

BREAKING: The Trump admin has installed 100+ fossil fuel insiders and corporate lobbyists to roles across federal agencies. These staffers are enacting a dirty energy agenda and destroying our public lands. Our new report with Revolving Door Project breaks it all down ⬇️

In a new report out today our @toni-v-aguilar.bsky.social and @publiccitizen.bsky.social's @alanzibel.bsky.social uncovered 100+ people with ties to polluting industries who are occupying high level offices throughout the Trump administration.

While the FAA is, by its own admission, overworked, understaffed, and working with outdated technology, its also opening the door for drones and uncertified eVTOLs to flood our airspaces. Who asked for this? From our @kjboyle.bsky.social

Public-interest lawsuits are a critical mechanism to defend communities from exploitation. This summer, Memphis showed us why attacks on them from the abundance movement, Trump, and SCOTUS are so dangerous. Our @dylangyauchl.bsky.social for @commondreams.org www.commondreams.org/opinion/musk...

RFK Jr.'s "MAHA Strategy" exposes his penchant for coupling populist rhetoric with pro-corporate governance

NEW: For @prospect.org our @dylangyauchl.bsky.social writes about Ted Cruz's SANDBOX Act and how it could waive nearly all federal regulation for tech companies. 1/4 prospect.org/power/2025-0...

On September 20, the Department of Agriculture confirmed the cancelation of the annual Household Food Security Report, which for the past three decades has monitored low-income households' nutrition access. www.wsj.com/economy/trum...

Ending the survey will not end hunger, but it will obscure the reality of the 18 million food-insecure American households. For more detail on the Trump administration's efforts to to manipulate, erase, and undermine the quality of public data, visit: therevolvingdoorproject.org/trumps-war-o...

right on the money! our chronicle of the trump admin's corruption--https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/trump-corruption-calendar/--is a good starting point for any enterprising pols eager to make a clear contrast and lead a much needed transformation.

Democrats should become the anti-corruption party. 72% of voters think a member of Congress would likely accept a bribe if offered one. 80% say donors run DC. The solution isn’t left vs right, it’s clean vs corrupt. But first, Democrats must reform themselves and reject big money.

Read the latest edition of our Corruption Calendar by my colleague @andreabeaty.bsky.social therevolvingdoorproject.org/weeks-34-35-...

NEW: As Trump and his friends make deals, ordinary Americans are on the menu – to be divvied up proportionately to how well different oligarchs serve Trump. Catch up on the biggest corruption stories of this week with our latest Corruption Calendar newsletter:

Read the full piece here:

Even more concerning, the administration seems to have greenlit hiring at DHS and ICE while freezing hiring elsewhere. Apparently you actually need people to carry out Trump’s draconian deportation agenda.

But hiring didn’t slow everywhere. For one thing, Trump beat out Biden with the pace of his Senior Executive Service appointments.

In March, the SEC saw a surge in retirements, which are usually clustered around December. It’s not all that surprising, given that the agency offered some of its employees $50k to retire, but it will impede the agency’s ability to enforce the law against corporate fraudsters.

In Feb and March 2025, the IRS and the Census Bureau both hired *zero* people. That’s a lot different than Trump’s 2017 hiring freeze, when both agencies hired at relatively normal levels in Feb and March. For the IRS, those months are usually critical—April is tax season.

Still, FedScope data is useful. DOGE seems to appear in the data, as we can see how early retirements among federal employees spiked and how GSA—an early target for DOGE—had a big uptick in separations in March.

To analyze this issue, we use FedScope data, which has important limitations. It… -ends in March 2025 -excludes some types of federal employees -counts people on administrative leave as employed And the Trump admin itself has made the data less detailed (see charts below)

NEW: March 2025 was, by far, the worst month for federal hiring in at least 20 years. Breaking down attrition at federal agencies in the early months of the Trump admin, a thread 🧵: (Full piece here: therevolvingdoorproject.org/attrition-in...)

"[T]he federal government has turned its back on its own people," said Bob Griffin, an emergency preparedness expert from SUNY Albany. Great analysis from AP. See our tracker/map for more on Trump's delayed and incomplete allocation of disaster aid.

As a result of Trump terminations, numerous federal agencies are non-functional without a quorum, revealing another way to effectively shut down the federal government. From our friends at @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social: prospect.org/politics/202...

NEW: Trump and his allies in Congress are continuing their war on the administrative state: 8 independent agencies now lack a quorum to fulfill key functions. Our @kjboyle.bsky.social writes in @prospect.org on how this puts the public’s safety, financial well-being, and civil rights at dire risk.

NEW Corruption Calendar - Weeks 32-33: An Administration Full of Grifters and Grim Reapers The Trump White House is increasing our risk of premature death while helping its wealthy allies get richer quicker.

Trump promised to drain the swamp. Instead he’s delivered the most corrupt administration in American history, and officials are already jumping ship to peddle their influence at lobbying firms. From @jeffhauser.bsky.social and @timi-iwayemi.bsky.social @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social: trib.al/tmtQhfI

Read the full report here: therevolvingdoorproject.org/trump-homici...

Read a condensed version of the report here: revolvingdoorproject.substack.com/p/will-democ...

Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans 20 years ago. Earlier this week, ~180 FEMA workers warned that Trump's cuts are setting the stage for a similar calamity. The next day, dozens of them were punished. This is a perfect summation of Trump's homicidal hurricane policy. Our new report ⬇️has more. 🧵

“The revolving door between the federal government and the corporations that encircle it has been Trump-sized.” The path from administration insider to K Street lobbyist is even easier in 2025. From @jeffhauser.bsky.social and @timi-iwayemi.bsky.social @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social: trib.al/CvstiFe

New in @prospect.org: Trump administration veterans are heading to K Street to cash in on this boom period for lobbying firms with Trump ties. We think this Trump-sized revolving door between the federal government and corporations that encircle it will leave us all worse off.

Read the full article by our @jeffhauser.bsky.social and @timi-iwayemi.bsky.social here: prospect.org/power/2025-0...

"In 2025, the revolving door between the federal government & the corporations that encircle it has been 'Trump-sized.'" As @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social writes, offices on K St are filling up with Trump administration veterans just 7 months in, while lobby firms with Trump ties are rolling in cash.

Latest on tap ⬇️

From me in @prospect.org this morning: a look at the ongoing efforts to keep methane pollution visible, as the Trump administration tries to help the industry go dark. The tools to observe methane from space, the sky, and the ground keep improving—as the gap between policy and reality widens.