Category: Politics

Paul Ingrassia, President Donald Trump’s embattled nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, told a group of fellow Republicans in a text chain the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell” and said he has “a Nazi streak,” according to a text chat viewed by POLITICO.

Ingrassia, who has a Senate confirmation hearing scheduled Thursday, made the remarks in a chain with a half-dozen Republican operatives and influencers, according to the chat.

“MLK Jr. was the 1960s George Floyd and his ‘holiday’ should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs,” Ingrassia wrote in January 2024, according to the chat.

“Jesus Christ,” one participant responded.

Using an Italian slur for Black people, Ingrassia wrote a month earlier in the group chat seen by POLITICO: “No moulignon holidays … From kwanza [sic] to mlk jr day to black history month to Juneteenth,” then added: “Every single one needs to be eviscerated.”

POLITICO interviewed two people in the chat and granted them anonymity after they expressed concerns about personal and professional repercussions. One retained the messages and showed the text chain in its entirety to POLITICO, which independently verified that the number listed on the chain belongs to Ingrassia. The person said he came forward because he wants “the government to be staffed with experienced people who are taken seriously.” The second person has since deleted the chain and didn’t recall specifics about it, but did confirm the discussions took place.

A lawyer for Ingrassia, Edward Andrew Paltzik, initially suggested that some of the texts were intended to be poking fun at liberals, though he didn’t confirm they were authentic.

“Looks like these texts could be manipulated or are being provided with material context omitted. However, arguendo, even if the texts are authentic, they clearly read as self-deprecating and satirical humor making fun of the fact that liberals outlandishly and routinely call MAGA supporters ‘Nazis,’” he wrote in a statement.

“In reality, Mr. Ingrassia has incredible support from the Jewish community because Jews know that Mr. Ingrassia is the furthest thing from a Nazi.”

In a subsequent statement to POLITICO a few days later, Paltzik called out anonymous critics trying to hurt Ingrassia.

“In this age of AI, authentication of allegedly leaked messages, which could be outright falsehoods, doctored, or manipulated, or lacking critical context, is extremely difficult,” he said. “What is certain, though, is that there are individuals who cloak themselves in anonymity while executing their underhanded personal agendas to harm Mr. Ingrassia at all costs. We do not concede the authenticity of any of these purported messages.”

In May 2024, the group was bantering about a Trump campaign staffer who’d been hired in Georgia and was working on outreach to minority voters, when Ingrassia suggested she didn’t show enough deference to the Founding Fathers being white, according to the chat. 

“Paul belongs in the Hitler Youth with Ubergruppenfuhrer Steve Bannon,” the first participant in the chat wrote, referring to the paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany and the Republican strategist. POLITICO is not naming the participants to protect the identity of those interviewed for this article.

“I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it,” Ingrassia responded, according to the chain. One of the people in the text group said in an interview that Ingrassia’s comment was not taken as a joke, and three participants pushed back against Ingrassia during the text exchange that day. 

Referring to white nationalist Nick Fuentes and the “Live From America” show on the video-sharing platform Rumble, a second member of the group replied: “New LFA show coming starring Nick Fuentes & Paul Adolf Ingrassia.” To which Ingrassia wrote, “Lmao,” according to the group chat.

The existence of the messages comes as Ingrassia’s nomination to lead the Office of Special Counsel — an agency that investigates federal employee whistleblower complaints and discrimination claims, among other sensitive work — is already in trouble. Earlier this month, POLITICO reported that Ingrassia, 30, has been the subject of an internal investigation at the Department of Homeland Security, where he works as White House liaison, after a sexual harassment complaint was filed against him. The woman who filed the complaint later withdrew it and said there was no wrongdoing. Ingrassia’s attorney denied the allegations.

Spokespeople for the White House and DHS did not respond to requests for comment about the text messages.

In July, Republican senators delayed Ingrassia’s nomination hearing, with one airing concerns about “some statements about antisemitism.”

Ingrassia made other racist remarks, according to the chain. In January 2024, he wrote of former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy: “Never trust a chinaman or Indian” and then added: “NEVER,” the texts show. Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants, declined to comment.

A month later, discussing why some Republicans feel that Democrats make Black people into victims, the texts show Ingrassia remarked: “Blacks behave that way because that’s their natural state … You can’t change them.” He then added, according to the chat: “Proof: all of Africa is a shithole, and will always be that way.” (In his first term, Trump used the term “shithole countries” to describe some African nations and Haiti.)

The May 2024 discussion surrounding the “Nazi” remark turned serious as Ingrassia dug in.

Ingrassia at first remarked that the Georgia operative should “read a book (if she’s able to) on George Washington and America’s founding,” according to the chain.

“Paul you are coming across as a white nationalist which is beneficial to nobody,” a third participant in the chat replied.

When Ingrassia apparently said that “defending our founding isn’t ‘white nationalist,’” that participant pushed back, saying Ingrassia “reflexively went to saying whites built the country.”

“They did,” Ingrassia said, according to the chat.

That comment prompted the same participant to respond, “You’re gunna be in private practice one day this shit will be around forever brother.”

Ingrassia posted an image of paintings showing several Founding Fathers, including Washington, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, into the chat. “We should celebrate white men and western civilization and I will never back down from that,” he wrote, according to the chain.

The third participant of the group criticized Ingrassia’s “white nationalist” tone then said he was coming across “with a tinge of racism.” The second participant then said he sounded like “a scumbag,” to which Ingrassia allegedly replied, “Nah it’s fine … Don’t be a boomer … I don’t mind being a scumbag from time to time,” the texts show.

In February 2024, Ingrassia wrote: “We need competent white men in positions of leadership. … The founding fathers were wrong that all men are created equal … We need to reject that part of our heritage,” according to the text exchange.

Ingrassia’s apparent comments in the text chain echo some of his public statements and associations.

Ingrassia has had ties to Fuentes and Andrew Tate, a far-right influencer who has been charged in Britain with rape and human trafficking, which he denies. One month after he apparently made the “Nazi” comment in the group chat, Ingrassia attended a rally for Fuentes, though he later claimed that he didn’t know who had organized the event and soon left. Fuentes did not respond to a request for comment.

After Fuentes was kicked out of a Turning Point USA event in June 2024, Ingrassia called it “an awful decision.” He also called the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a “psyop” a week after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

In March 2023, he said that education should focus on helping “elevating the high IQ section of your demographics, so you know, basically young men, straight White men.” And in December 2023, Ingrassia declared on X: “Exceptional white men are not only the builders of Western civilization but are the ones most capable of appreciating the fruits of our heritage.”

The person in the group chat who shared the messages, who has known Ingrassia for several years and met him through Republican political circles, said that Ingrassia’s personality changed in recent years as he went from a young law student interested in conservative politics to an “extreme ego-driven” Trump loyalist. The person said the shift began after Ingrassia, a Cornell Law School graduate, started working as a law clerk for the firm representing Tate and appeared several times on the “War Room” podcast with Bannon, who did not respond to a request for comment.

“He was too young and too inexperienced to deal with the fame,” the person said. “It was like giving an 18-year-old $10 million and saying, ‘Have at it, kid.’”

Periodically during the text chain, the group nudged Ingrassia to tone down his rhetoric, especially if he wanted to work in a future Trump administration, according to the person.

“Very influential people were trying to give him advice on how to be, and he threw that advice right back at them and basically said, ‘Fuck you. Look at me. I can write a Substack and get it posted by the president,’” the person said. “‘Who are you to talk to me?’”

Soon after the May 2024 text exchange, the group chat disbanded. People were tired of Ingrassia’s rhetoric, according to the chat participant who provided the messages to POLITICO.

“I will not be posting on this thread going forward,” the first participant said that day. Referring to Ingrassia, the person added: “There are enemies in this group. Please take my name out of this thread.”

​Politics

What happens now?

That may well be the question being asked by “No Kings” protesters, who marched, rallied and danced all over the nation on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.

Pro-democracy groups had aimed to encourage large numbers of Americans to demonstrate that “together we are choosing democracy.” They were successful, with crowds turning out for demonstrations in thousands of cities and towns from Anchorage to Miami.

And while multiple GOP leaders had attacked the planned demonstrations, describing them as “hate America” rallies, political science scholars and national security experts agree that the current U.S. administration’s actions are indeed placing the world’s oldest continuous constitutional republic in jeopardy.

Once a democracy starts to erode, it can be difficult to reverse the trend. Only 42% of democracies affected by autocratization – a transformation in governance that erodes democratic safeguards – since 1994 have rebounded after a democratic breakdown, according to Swedish research institute V-Dem.

Often termed “democratic backsliding,” such periods involve government-led changes to rules and norms to weaken individual freedoms and undermine or eliminate checks on power exercised by independent institutions, both governmental and non-governmental.

Democracies that have suffered setbacks vary widely, from Hungary to Brazil. As a longterm practitioner of democracy-building overseas, I know that none of these countries rival the United States’ constitutional traditions, federalist system, economic wealth, military discipline, and vibrant independent media, academia and nonprofit organizations.

Even so, practices used globally to fight democratic backsliding or topple autocracies can be instructive.

In a nutshell: Nonviolent resistance is based on noncooperation with autocratic actions. It has proven more effective in toppling autocracies than violent, armed struggle.

But it requires more than street demonstrations.

Tactics used by pro-democracy movements

So, what does it take for democracies to bounce back from periods of autocratic rule?

Broad-scale, coordinated mobilization of a sufficient percentage of the population against autocratic takeover and for a renewed democratic future is necessary for success.

That momentum can be challenging to generate. Would-be autocrats create environments of fear and powerlessness, using intimidation, overwhelming force or political and legal attacks, and other coercive tactics to force acquiescence and chill democratic pushback.

Autocrats can’t succeed alone. They rely on what scholars call “pillars of support” – a range of government institutions, security forces, business and other sectors in society to obey their will and even bolster their power grabs.

However, everyone in society has power to erode autocratic support in various ways. While individual efforts are important, collective action increases impact and mitigates the risks of reprisals for standing up to individuals or organizations.

Here are some of the tactics used by those movements across the world:

1. Refuse unlawful, corrupt demands

When enough individuals in critical roles and institutions – the military, civil servants, corporate leaders, state government and judges – refuse to implement autocratic orders, it can slow or even stop an autocratic takeover. In South Korea, parts of the civil service, legislature and military declined to support President Yoon Suk Yeol’s imposition of martial law in 2024, foiling his autocratic move.

2. Visibly bolster the rule of law

Where would-be autocrats disregard legal restraints and install their supporters in the highest courts, individual challenges to overreach, even if successful, can be insufficient. In Poland, legal challenges in courts combined with public education by the judiciary, lawyers’ associations initiatives and street protests like the “March of a Thousand Robes” in 2020 to signal widespread repudiation of the autocratic government’s attacks on the rule of law.

3. Unite in opposition

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Corina Machado from Venezuela, is an example of how political parties and leaders who cooperate across differences can offer an alternative vision.

Novel candidates can undermine the ability of autocrats to sow division and demonize major opponents. However, coalitions can be difficult to form and sustain to win. Based on experiences overseas, historian Anne Applebaum, author of “Autocracy Inc.,” has called for a pro-democracy coalition in the U.S. that could unite independents, Libertarians, the Green Party, dissident Republicans and the Democratic Party.

4. Harness economic power

Everyday consumers can pressure wealthy elites and corporations that acquiesce to, or prop up, would-be autocrats through boycotts and other methods, like the “Tesla Takedown” in the U.S. that preceded a drop in Tesla share value and owner Elon Musk’s departure from his government role. General strikes, led by labor unions and professional associations, as in Sudan or Myanmar, can be particularly effective.

5. Preempt electoral manipulation

Voting autocrats out of office remains the best way to restore democracy, demonstrated recently by the u-turn in Brazil, where a pro-democracy candidate defeated the hard-right incumbent. But this requires strategic action to keep elections truly free and fair well in advance of election day.

6. Organize your community

As in campaigns in India starting in 2020 and Chile in 2019, participating in community or private conversation forums, local town halls or councils, and nonpartisan student, veterans, farmers, women’s and religious groups provides the space to share concerns, exchange ideas and create avenues to take action. Often starting with trusted networks, local initiatives can tap into broader statewide or national efforts to defend democracy.

7. Shape the story

Driving public opinion and communicating effectively is critical to pro-democracy efforts. Serbian students created one of the largest protest movements in decades starting in 2024 using creative resistance – artistic expression, such as visual mediums, satire and social media – to expose an autocrat’s weaknesses, reduce fear and hopelessness and build collective symbolism and resilience.

8. Build bridges and democratic alternatives

Bringing together people across ideological and other divides can increase understanding and counter political polarization, particularly when religious leaders are involved. Even in autocratic countries like Turkey or during wartime as in Ukraine, deepening democratic practices at state and local levels, like citizen assemblies and the use of technologies that improve the quality of public decision-making, can demonstrate ways to govern differently.

Parallel institutions, such as schools and tax systems operating outside the formal repressive system, like during Slobodan Milosevic’s decade-long crackdown in Kosovo, have sustained non-cooperation and shaped a future vision.

9. Document abuses, protect people, reinforce truth

With today’s technologies, every citizen can record repressive incidents, track corruption and archive historical evidence such as preserving proof of slavery at danger of being removed in public museums in the U.S., or collecting documentation of human rights violations in Syria. This can also entail bearing witness, including by accompanying those most targeted with abusive government tactics. These techniques can bolster the survival of independent and evidence-based media, science and collective memory.

10. Mitigate risk, learn and innovate

The success rate of nonviolent civil resistance is declining while repressive tactics by autocrats are evolving. Democracy defenders are forced to rapidly adjust, consistently train, prepare for diverse scenarios, try new techniques and strategically support each other.

International solidarity from global institutions, like European Union support for democrats in Belarus or Georgia, or online movements, like the Milk Tea Alliance across Southeast Asia, can bolster efforts.

Democracy’s future?

The end of American democracy is not a foregone conclusion, despite the unprecedented rate of its decline. It will depend, in part, on the choices made by every American.

With autocracies outnumbering democracies for the first time in 20 years, and only 12% of the world’s population now living in a liberal democracy, the future of the global democratic experiment may well depend on the people of the United States.

Until July 1, 2025, Shelley Inglis served as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Governance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

​Politics + Society – The Conversation

A trove of bigoted messages between members of the Young Republicans is deepening a sharp rift among state groups across the country, further fracturing an organization that has been beset with internal discord and infighting for years.

Young Republicans chapters across the country were divided on how to respond to the texts — with some groups staying silent and others immediately denouncing the Telegram group chat revealed by POLITICO that contained racist, homophobic and antisemitic epithets.

Much of the conflict on how to respond to the texts stems from an August election over who would lead the Young Republican National Federation, the umbrella group for all the state chapters known commonly as Young Republicans.

The election essentially split Young Republicans into two groups: On one side was Hayden Padgett, a Texas Republican and current chair of the Young Republican National Federation who was running for reelection. On the other side was Peter Giunta, who led an insurgent group within the Young Republicans and who previously clashed with Padgett, in part because he challenged Padgett to be chair of the national federation in the August election. Giunta ultimately lost the election.

Giunta, however, was one of the members on the leaked text chain and had posted offensive messages, including “I love Hitler” and “If your pilot is a she and she looks ten shades darker than someone from Sicily, just end it there. Scream the no no word.” Giunta and other members of the group chat also repeatedly used homophobic slurs to refer to Padgett, with Arizona Young Republicans Chair Luke Mosiman at one point writing “RAPE HAYDEN.”

Giunta, who apologized for the texts, did not respond to a request for comment, and Mosiman declined to comment.

After POLITICO revealed the chats, Young Republican leaders in 23 state groups who supported Padget’s reelection bid quickly released statements condemning the leaked text messages. Several used the statements as an opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty to Padgett: Leaders in Missouri, Alaska and Wisconsin, for example, noted in their statements that they opposed Giunta’s attempt to unseat Padgett in August.

By contrast, many of the state groups that previously supported Giunta were silent in the aftermath of the leak, with the exception of a handful of states including Illinois and Georgia that denounced the texts. Several also appeared to have deleted social media posts expressing support for Giunta’s campaign.

One group that endorsed Giunta and his platform over the summer, the Arizona Young Republican Federation, lambasted what it called “mob-style condemnation driven by political opportunism or personal agendas.”

“While certain voices within our movement have been quick to condemn, many of these same individuals have overlooked or ignored deeply concerning rhetoric and actions on the political left–including public celebrations of the tragic death of Charlie Kirk and Jay Jones, calling for the death of family,” the group said in a statement.

The Arizona group, led by Mosiman, also condemned the rhetoric from the Telegram chat but raised concerns about their “authenticity and context.”

The group also used the controversy as an opportunity to take a swipe at Padgett and YRNF leadership, calling out “a troubling disregard for unity and due process” from national leaders who they said failed to communicate with state leaders before releasing its statement.

When asked about criticism against his leadership, Padgett told POLITICO that any claims of division within the organization are “baseless” while calling on Democrats to condemn violent rhetoric from members of their party.

“The YRNF unequivocally condemned the leaked messages in the Politico article—full stop,” he said. “Outside of those in the sticks, every state and local Young Republican chapter stands united.”

The fight over how to respond to the text scandal ultimately exposes the deep fissures within the Young Republican National Federation, which has around 14,000 members who have historically helped the Republican Party run its ground game during elections. Past chairs include longtime Trump ally Roger Stone as well as members of Congress.

One state chair, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about internal dynamics, said they were surprised some YRNF leaders were “not as strong in condemning the remarks” but hoped the organization could move forward as a united group.

California Young Republicans Chair Ariana Assenmacher, who was Giunta’s running mate in the August election, said in an interview she was surprised by the rhetoric used in the messages and had no knowledge of nor involvement in the group chat.

“I think it’s a very isolated event, and it’s frustrating to see something that is a very small chat being pushed as representation for Young Republicans across the country, which is obviously not the case,” Assenmacher said.

Young Republicans leaders from more than three dozen states did not respond to POLITICO’s requests for comment or declined to comment.

YRNF has seen bitter clashes between warring factions since Padgett was elected in 2023, when the opposing slate garnered less than one-fifth of the vote. But Giunta’s campaign this year picked up significant traction among state leaders disillusioned with the incumbent leadership, winning 47 percent of the vote in August’s national leadership election.

Another state chair, who was granted anonymity due to fears of retribution, said they were not surprised by the maliciousness of the messages but added that they had “never heard anything like that from the people I am friends with.”

“I don’t like attacking our own,” they said. “We spend a lot of time fighting amongst ourselves. The August election was extremely controversial, and there were personal attacks from both sides, very very unkind stuff.”

The state chair added that YRNF has been plagued by division in recent years and that they were “absolutely sure there’s extremely unkind things” in the messages of Giunta’s opponents.

Valerie McDonnell, the youngest state legislator in New Hampshire who stepped down as a Young Republican national committeewoman in August, said she was appalled by the “repeated terrible language about other members.”

“It wasn’t just a one-off comment. It was, I believe, over a span of six months, just repeated terrible language about other members,” she said. “This just was beyond belief to see the extent of this.”

Still, the second state chair worried that ongoing divisions in the organization following the August leadership election could hamper the organization’s value to the GOP in the 2026 midterm elections.

“These are the meanest people I have ever met in my life,” the person said of their Young Republicans colleagues. “I love this organization so much, and it meant so much to me in my early- and mid-20s, and it is just different. These kids are not the same. I think they’ve grown up in politics only seeing how Trump treats people and they think that’s how you treat people.”

Samuel Benson, Faith Wardwell and Jason Beeferman contributed to this report.

​Politics

Run For Something, a progressive candidate recruitment organization, is pitching major donors on a $50 million, five-year effort to expand Democrats’ footprint in battleground and red states outside the Blue Wall — an ambitious plan for a party that’s lost ground with voters across the country.

In a donor memo shared first with POLITICO, the organization paints a dire picture for Democrats if they don’t invest in red-leaning states, and details plans to support independent candidates for the first time next year.

The memo outlines a strategy for recruiting, training and electing Gen Z and millennial candidates in a dozen states, with an eye toward increasing Democratic turnout and expanding the party’s path to 270 electoral votes. But Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — which comprise the so-called Blue Wall that served as the backbone of the Democratic Party’s victories for decades — are not on the list.

“The core Blue Wall states, which Democrats have invested in for years, are not sufficient,” said Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run For Something. “We cannot keep hyper-targeting our work to only places that are seen as competitive right now. We have to prepare, not just for the likely fall of the Voting Rights Act, and the current round of redistricting, but what comes after in 2032. That’s why we have to expand the map.”

Litman’s group will also endorse “values-aligned” independent candidates for the first time in 2026, a recognition that in some states and districts, the “Democratic brand isn’t just bruised, but toxic,” the memo reads.

The organization raises concerns about Democrats’ chances of winning the White House and retaking control of Congress: the 2030 census projections show Democrats losing seats in blue states, due to population loss, and Republicans gaining them — with 70 percent of all down-ballot races left uncontested. That challenge is all the more urgent for Democrats as red states seek to redraw their congressional map to pad their midterm margins. And the Supreme Court is considering a case that could weaken the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which could wipe away majority-minority districts, often represented by Democrats, across the South.

Litman is urging Democrats to double down on recruiting and training candidates in battleground states, including Arizona, North Carolina, Ohio and Georgia, while reinvesting in long-abandoned states, like Utah, Nebraska, Iowa, Idaho, Texas, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. Based on population growth and demographic changes in these states, “these are going to open up more opportunities” for Democrats, she said.

“We should, of course, continue fighting for Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, but if we continue to be short-termist in our deep engagement, if we don’t start building political infrastructure elsewhere, we will reach a point in 2032 where we’re starting at zero,” Litman said. “If we don’t do the work in 2026 through to 2032, then turning Texas into a battleground won’t even be an option.”

She also argued that in states without much Democratic representation, “where there is no candidate recruitment, where there is no talent building for local operatives, minimal political infrastructure,” there’s an opening to “shift the brand” if “we field candidates who are vetted, with local ties, authentic.”

“We only find those people by getting them to run for city council and school board,” Litman said.

Litman co-founded Run For Something after President Donald Trump’s first victory to build up Democrats’ bench for local races. The group focused on training and recruiting candidates for non-congressional races, including legislative, city council and county commission seats.

Over the last decade, Run For Something has helped 1,500 candidates win in 49 states and raised nearly $50 million.

Its memo argues how legislative candidates can deliver “reverse coattails” when a down-ballot candidate drives turnout to lift the top of the ticket.

One example came in Ohio’s 2024 Senate race: then-Sen. Sherrod Brown lost Franklin County, where a Run For Something-backed candidate flipped a state House seat, outperforming Brown. The organization called that “an indication that the RFS recruitment model finds the candidates that reflect their communities. … In addition to driving turnout locally, good downballot candidates can be some of the best community verifiers for top of ticket/statewide races.”

​Politics

While Americans across the country deal with the consequences of the federal government shutdown, residents of Pennsylvania are being hit with a double blow.

Pennsylvania has been without a state budget for over 100 days – and remains the only state currently operating without a budget.

As a political scientist at Penn State who studies state politics and policy, I see how Pennsylvania’s budget impasse has ripple effects that are compounded by the current budget problems in Washington.

Let’s look at the present budget problems in Pennsylvania and what we can learn from past battles over the state budget.

A double crisis

Double government budget crises, like the one Pennsylvania faces now, are rare. One reason is that 46 states, including Pennsylvania, begin their new fiscal year on July 1. The federal government’s fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. Even a state like Pennsylvania, that has had late budgets for eight of the last 10 years, would have to be very late in passing a budget for it to potentially coincide with a federal budget impasse. And, of course, federal government shutdowns do not happen all the time.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro faces a delicate political environment in Harrisburg – as he has since his first budget in 2023. The Democrats control the state House by a single seat, whereas the Republicans have a comfortable majority in the Senate.

The parties have been debating over the last several budget cycles how to handle funding surpluses – much of which came from Biden-era legislation like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – and when and how to deal with the inevitable end to those surpluses.

This year, the two sides are far apart on their views of the proper spending level.

The Democrats in the House passed a US$50.3 billion spending plan, but Senate Republicans want to keep state spending flat at $47.6 billion. The two sides have clashed over proposals surrounding school vouchers, marijuana legalization and more.

As for the federal government, Republicans have a trifecta – control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives – but do not have the 60 votes in the Senate required to overcome a filibuster. Democrats have dug in over reversing cuts to health care from the earlier passed “one big beautiful bill” and expiring Obamacare subsidies.

There is little sign of an immediate end to either impasse.

In Pennsylvania, there is growing frustration on both sides about an inability to compromise. Nationally, House Speaker Mike Johnson has speculated that this may end up being the longest federal government shutdown in history. In neither case, though, does there seem to be a great deal of urgency in coming to a compromise.

Effects on Pennsylvania

These dual crises are affecting Pennsylvanians in many ways. The state government continues to function even without a budget, but counties, school districts and nonprofit organizations that rely on state funding are being forced to make difficult operating choices.

Some counties like Westmoreland and Northampton are beginning the process of furloughing employees. School districts are taking out loans, freezing hiring and deferring spending. The state already owes school districts more than $3 billion in missed payments for the past three months.

The social safety net is also fraying as social service organizations, like rape crisis centers and mental health providers, are also expending reserves, taking out loans and furloughing employees.

Then comes the federal shutdown.

Military families nationwide have been hit particularly hard, with many turning to food pantries to help meet their needs. The recent money maneuvers at the Department of Defense to pay active-duty and activated National Guard and Reserves personnel is temporary. The commonwealth also has the eighth-highest population of federal civilian employees, at over 66,000 who are not being paid.

Services like food banks are especially vulnerable in this situation, as they are seeing greater demand – which may increase due to federal workers going unpaid – but rely on both the state and federal governments for subsidies. Just this week, it was announced that Pennsylvanians buying health care through the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace for 2026 should expect a 22% increase in premiums, on average. Part of that increase is due to expectations around the expiring Obamacare subsidies at the center of the Democrats’ demands in this shutdown.

All of these forces are coming together to pinch Pennsylvania residents.

Echoes of the past

While the compounding pain of the federal shutdown is unique, long budget delays in Pennsylvania are not.

In 2023, Gov. Shapiro’s first budget was not fully passed until Dec. 14. That budget was fundamentally delayed by the acrimonious implosion of a deal on school voucher spending between the governor and Senate Republicans. The budget negotiations ended after some horse-trading on specific programs, like removing the popular Whole-Home Repairs Program started during the COVID-19 pandemic but adding funding for lead and asbestos abatement in schools.

The difference between then and now, however, is that back then the governor and General Assembly agreed on the overall budget, but typical bargaining was needed to get the votes needed to pass the spending bills after the voucher blow-up. This time, the parties are almost $3 billion apart in what should even be spent.

In the end, however, both Pennsylvania and the federal government will pass budgets, and I expect that each will be the result of protracted negotiations over multiple spending items, as Americans have seen in the past. The question is: How much pain will citizens, nonprofits and local governments face in the interim?

Read more of our stories about Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, or sign up for our Philadelphia newsletter on Substack.

Daniel J. Mallinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

​Politics + Society – The Conversation

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker turned heads this week when his campaign disclosed he won $1.4 million gambling last year. Though the billionaire Democrat doesn’t frequent Las Vegas casinos as much as he once did, the windfall is a reminder of his high-stakes past.

Pritzker has been a blackjack player for more than two decades, long before he entered public office. “He’s a whale in Vegas,” said a businessperson who’s known Pritzker for years and was granted anonymity to speak freely.

“I was incredibly lucky,” Pritzker told reporters Thursday when asked about the big win. “You have to be, to end up ahead, frankly, going to a casino anywhere.”

Luck might be underselling it.

In Chicago’s business community, Pritzker has long been known for his affinity for cards. A poker book has been seen on the shelf of his Chicago office, and he’s been spotted sidling up to a table while traveling.

That interest in poker goes beyond the personal. Pritzker teamed up with Jim Gray, who founded OptionsXpress, to start the Chicago Poker Challenge, a high-profile charity tournament that raised millions for the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, which Pritzker also helped establish.

Though Pritzker no longer plays in the event, its reputation is legendary. It was once held at the exclusive Casino Club that sits in the shadow of the John Hancock Building, not far from Pritzker’s residence.

The guest list has included an impressive roster of Chicago’s elite, including Citadel’s Ken Griffin, billionaire entrepreneur and ComPsych founder Rich Chaifetz, and OptionsXpress Holdings founder Gray. Even poker pro Phil Hellmuth Jr. has been a regular attendee.

“He is a very thoughtful player,” Ariel Capital Management founder and Democratic donor John Rogers Jr. said of Pritzker. “He has a very good understanding of the game’s nuances. He is really comfortable around a poker table. He’s always one of the better players at these tournaments.”

According to the joint federal return filed with first lady MK Pritzker, the couple reported nearly $10.7 million in adjusted gross income for 2024 — more than triple the $2.8 million they reported the previous year. The haul included $4.2 million in capital gains, nearly $3.9 million in dividends, more than $800,000 in interest income — and the $1.425 million windfall from gambling.

Pritzker, who said he is donating his winnings to charity, said the casino payout came during a vacation in Las Vegas with his wife. He didn’t say the game or the venue he played, nor could he recall what hand he played to get the big win.

While the governor’s casino winnings have generated headlines, they’re just a sliver of a much larger financial picture. Pritzker is an heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune and has an estimated net worth of $3.9 billion, according to Forbes. Pritzker does not take a salary as governor and has placed his assets in a blind trust to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

A person close to Pritzker says the governor hasn’t frequented Vegas much since he was elected governor. And given 2024 is the first noted filing of any gambling winnings — the law says you don’t have to report losses — that seems true.

Pritzker no longer holds any direct casino investments. Before his first election in 2018, he had a small stake in Elgin’s Grand Victoria Casino through a company he had invested in.

Meanwhile, gambling options in Illinois have expanded under his administration. In 2019, he approved legislation legalizing sports betting, allowed for construction of six new casinos and increased the number of slot machines available in bars and restaurants — all aimed at generating revenue to support a $45 billion infrastructure improvement initiative.

Now seeking a third term as governor, Pritzker’s political ambitions may extend even further, with speculation about a potential 2028 presidential run.

Asked whether his love of gambling could be a liability in running for office, Pritzker said, “I think people know when I got elected, and have known for some time, that I’ve been very fortunate in my life.”

​Politics

Fossil fuels still power much of the world, even though renewable energy has become cheaper in most places and avoids both pollution and the climate damage caused by burning coal, oil and natural gas.

To understand this paradox, it helps to look at how countries – particularly major greenhouse gas emitters, including the U.S., China and European nations – are balancing the pressures of rising electricity demand with the global need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet.

US embraces fossil fuels

The United States makes no secret of its fossil fuel ambitions. It has a wealth of fossil fuel reserves and a politically powerful oil and gas industry.

Since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, his administration has been promoting oil and gas drilling and coal production, pointing to rising electricity demand to justify its moves, particularly to power artificial intelligence data centers.

Reviving the “drill, baby, drill” mantra, the Trump administration has now embraced a “mine, baby, mine” agenda to try to revive U.S. coal production, which fell dramatically over the past two decades as cheaper natural gas and renewable energy rose.

The Department of Interior on Sept. 29 rolled out a plan to “unleash American coal power” by opening 13 million acres of federal land to mining. The Department of Energy also pledged US$625 million to try to make coal competitive. It includes lowering the royalty rates mining companies pay and extending the operating lifespans of coal-fired power plants.

However, these initiatives further lock communities with coal plants into a carbon-intensive fossil fuel. Coal’s resurgence would also have public health costs. Its pollution is linked to respiratory illness, heart disease and thousands of premature deaths each year from 1999 to 2020 in the United States.

The Trump administration is also ceding the clean energy technology race to China. The administration is ending many renewable energy tax credits and pulling federal support for energy research projects.

I work in the Climate Policy Lab at The Fletcher School of Tufts University, where we maintain a suite of databases for analyzing countries’ energy research budgets. The Trump administration’s 2026 U.S. budget request would slash funding for energy research, development and demonstration to $2.9 billion — just over half the budget allocated in 2025. These energy research investments would fall to levels not seen since the mid-1980s or early 2000s, even when accounting for inflation.

China’s clean energy push – and coal expansion

While the United States is cutting renewable energy funding, China is doubling down on clean energy technologies. Its large government subsidies and manufacturing capacity have helped China dominate global solar panel production and supply chains for wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles.

Cheaper Chinese-manufactured clean energy technologies have enabled many emerging economies, such as Brazil and South Africa, to reduce fossil fuel use in their power grids. Brazil surged into the global top five for solar generation in 2024, producing 75 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity and surpassing Germany’s 71 TWh.

The International Energy Agency now expects global renewable energy capacity to double by 2030, even with a sharp drop expected in U.S. renewable energy growth.

However, while China expands clean energy access around the world, its production and emissions from coal continue to rise: In the first half of 2025, China commissioned 21 gigawatts (GW) of new coal power plants, with projections of over 80 GW for the full year. This would be the largest surge in new coal power capacity in a decade for China. Although China pledged to phase down its coal use between 2026 to 2030, rising energy demand may make the plan difficult to realize.

China’s paradox — leading in clean energy innovations while expanding coal — reflects the tension between ensuring energy security and reducing emissions and climate impact.

Europe’s scramble for reliable energy sources

The European Union is pursuing strategies to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels amid the ongoing geopolitical tensions with Russia.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exposed many countries to supply disruptions and geopolitical turmoil, and it triggered a global energy crisis as countries once reliant on Russian oil and gas scrambled to find alternatives.

In June 2025, the European Commission proposed a regulation to phase out Russian fossil fuel imports by the end of 2027, aiming to enhance energy security and stabilize prices. This initiative is part of the broader REPowerEU plan. The plan focuses on increasing clean energy production, improving energy efficiency and diversifying oil and gas supplies away from Russia.

Renewables are now the leading source of electric power in the EU, though natural gas and oil still account for more than half of Europe’s total energy supply.

The EU’s fossil energy phaseout plan also faces challenges. Slovakia and Hungary have expressed resistance to the proposed phaseout, citing concerns over energy affordability and the need for alternative supply sources. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán said Hungary would continue importing Russian oil and gas. Cutting off these supplies, he asserted, would be an economic “disaster” and immediately reduce Hungary’s economic output by 4%.

The path to reducing Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels thus involves navigating internal disagreements and incentivizing long-run sustainable development. Europe does appear to be gaining in one way from the U.S. pullback from clean energy. Global investment in renewable energy, which hit a record high in the first half of 2025, increased in the EU as it fell in the U.S., according to BloombergNEF’s analysis.

Brazil: Torn on fossil fuels as it hosts climate talks

In November 2025, representatives from countries around the world will gather in Brazil for the annual United Nations climate conference, COP30. The meeting marks three decades of international climate negotiations and a decade since nations signed the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise.

The conference’s setting in Belém, a city in the Amazon rainforest, reflects both the stakes and contradictions of climate commitments: a vital ecosystem at risk of collapse as the planet warms, in a nation that pledges climate leadership while expanding oil and gas production and exploring for oil in the Foz do Amazonas region, the mouth of the Amazon River.

Thirty years into global climate talks, the disconnect between promises and practices has never been so clear. The world is not on track to meet the Paris temperature goals, and the persistence of fossil fuels is a major reason why.

Negotiators are expected to debate measures to curb methane emissions and support the transition from fossil fuels. But whether the discussions can eventually translate into a concrete global phaseout plan remains to be seen. Without credible plans to actually reduce fossil fuel dependence, the annual climate talks risk becoming another point of geopolitical tension.

Kate Hua-Ke Chi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

​Politics + Society – The Conversation

President Donald Trump phoned into a private Indiana Senate Republican caucus meeting Friday, pressing reluctant Hoosier lawmakers to undertake mid-cycle redistricting, according to two people briefed on the call who were granted anonymity to discuss the private conversation.

The call — which was Trump’s first-known call with rank-and-file Indiana state lawmakers on the matter following an August Oval Office meeting with state House Speaker Todd Huston and Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray — punctuated an intense period of national lobbying on redistricting.

It follows a new push by late MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Action this week to ramp up pressure on Indiana lawmakers who oppose mid-cycle redistricting. The New York Times first reported details of the call.

Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), a close White House ally, has warned that control of the House of Representatives could ride on whether the state can produce additional Republican-held congressional districts by reopening the maps.

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun is supportive of calling a special session to do so, likely next month, but has not wanted to strong-arm the legislature into convening in Indianapolis.

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The call also comes on the heels of Vice President JD Vance’s second visit to the Hoosier State to make the case to lawmakers last week. Allies of the White House’s efforts described that meeting as productive but not “a slam dunk.”

The Indiana Conservation Voters, a liberal environmental-focused group, has put six figures behind television ads opposing mid-cycle redistricting and set to play this weekend during this weekend’s Colts, Indiana University and Notre Dame games.

​Politics

Graham Platner is trying to move on from the divisive online posts that threaten to derail his insurgent candidacy for Senate.

The Maine business owner seeking the seat now held by GOP Rep. Susan Collins released a video Friday offering a lengthy explanation and expressing regret for Reddit comments that endorsed political violence, minimized rape in the military and disparaged police.

Platner said his online views were a reflection of his mental state following his return from military service in Afghanistan, and that his views have since evolved.

“When I got back from Afghanistan in 2011, I stayed in the Army for another year. I got out in 2012. Some of the worst comments I made, the things that I’m — I think are least defensible, that I wouldn’t even try to defend, come from that time,” he said in the video message. “When I got out, I still had the crude humor, the dark, dark feelings, the offensive language that really was a hallmark — hallmark of the infantry when I was in it.”

Platner’s social media posts, including messages from as recently as 2021, have gained widespread media attention in recent days.

POLITICO reported Platner suggested political violence is necessary to affect social change in a 2018 post. The Washington Post reported Platner downplayed concerns about sexual assault in posts from 2013. CNN reported he labeled all White Americans in rural areas as racist and stupid in one 2020 post and said all cops are “bastards” in a 2021 post. The Bangor Daily News reported Platner asked why Black people “don’t tip” in a 2013 post.

The Reddit posts were deleted prior to announcing his campaign. Platner acknowledged making the posts and has apologized for them.

Platner said in his video statement that he stopped posting on Reddit “around 2020 or 2021” when he returned to Maine.

“I went from thinking that people were bad to knowing that people are good. I went from thinking that there was no hope to having nothing but hope — a hope that is rooted in the fact that it was in my community, here in Sullivan, Maine, that I got to come home and build a nice life,” he said.

Platner, who’s been endorsed by progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, is hoping to defeat Senate Democrats’ preferred candidate Gov. Janet Mills and win the party’s nomination in Democrats’ best opportunity to pick up a Senate seat in the midterms.

Republicans quickly dismissed Platner’s video apology.

“Five minutes in which Graham Platner blames HIS FELLOW SERVICEMEN for things he said,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez said in a social media post.

​Politics