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Zinke the latest to skirt ‘drain the swamp’ pledge

At least 33 people who have left the Trump administration have started lobbying – violating the spirit, if not always the letter, of the "drain the swamp" pledge Donald Trump touted when his presidency began. The terms of the pledge stated top officials could not to lobby their former agencies for five years after leaving the government, could not lobby the White House or any other political appointees until the Trump presidency ended, and could not even facilitate meetings or provide background to other lobbyists.

The roster was assembled by Pro Publica – just as Ryan Zinke, the former Interior secretary, gave the issue new prominence by signing up to work at Turnberry Solutions, a lobby shop started two years ago by Corey Lewandowski and several other former Trump advisors.


Pro Publica found at least 18 onetime Trump officials have registered as lobbyists, while the others work at lobbying or advocacy law firms. Almost all work on issues they oversaw or helped shape when they were in government. Nearly 2,600 officials signed the ethics pledge in 2017, according to the Office of Government Ethics; just 25 did not. In theory the consequences for violating the pledge are fines and a permanent ban from registering a lobbyist.

Some former officials "are tiptoeing around the rules," the site reported, by saying they are doing consulting work that is not strictly the same as lobbying. Others say they got special waivers to get out of their pledges and some of the 33 were among those who did not sign initially. (The House Democrats' HR 1 aims to close some of the loopholes that have been around since before the Trump pledge.)

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Rear view diverse voters waiting for polling place to open
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Open Primaries Topic Creates a Major Tension for Independents

Open primaries create fine opportunities for citizens who are registered as independents or unaffiliated voters to vote for either Democrats or Republicans in primary elections, but they tacitly undermine the mission of those independents who are opposed to both major parties by luring them into establishment electoral politics. Indeed, independents who are tempted to support independent candidates or an independent political movement can be converted to advocates of our duopoly if their states have one form or another of Open Primaries.

Twenty U.S. states currently have Open Primaries for at least one political party at the presidential, congressional, and state levels, including Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin. At least 15 states conduct "semi-closed" primaries, a middle position in which unaffiliated voters still have an option to choose to vote in one of the major party primaries.

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Senator Maggie Hassan Tops National Rankings for Cross-Party Work

Lori Chavez-DeRemer, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Labor Department, greets Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) as she arrives for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on February 19, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Getty Images, Chip Somodevilla

Senator Maggie Hassan Tops National Rankings for Cross-Party Work

Senator Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) is the most bipartisan member of Congress per the rankings of multiple organizations.

According to the Pew Research Center, 61 percent of Americans in 2023 stated that having political conversations with those who have different political beliefs are “stressful” and “frustrating,” a 10 percent increase from 2016. But Sen. Hassan said the best way she finds common ground with her colleagues, regardless of political affiliation, is to discuss what they are hearing from their constituents since she finds Americans across the country are experiencing many problems.

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Congress Bill Spotlight: Congress Meeting in Philadelphia on Declaration of Independence 250th Anniversary

New legislation would convene Congress at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, the site of the Declaration of Independence’s signing on July 4, 1776, for the 250th anniversary on July 2, 2026.

Getty Images, Douglas Rissing

Congress Bill Spotlight: Congress Meeting in Philadelphia on Declaration of Independence 250th Anniversary

Hopefully, Nicolas Cage wouldn’t steal it this time, like he did in 2004’s implausible adventure movie National Treasure.

What the bill does

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Entertainment Can Improve How Democrats and Republicans See Each Other

Since the development of American mass media culture in the mid-20th century, numerous examples of entertainment media have tried to improve attitudes towards those who have traditionally held little power.

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Entertainment Can Improve How Democrats and Republicans See Each Other

Entertainment has been used for decades to improve attitudes toward other groups, both in the U.S. and abroad. One can think of movies like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, helping change attitudes toward Black Americans, or TV shows like Rosanne, helping humanize the White working class. Efforts internationally show that media can sometimes improve attitudes toward two groups concurrently.

Substantial research shows that Americans now hold overly negative views of those across the political spectrum. Let's now learn from decades of experience using entertainment to improve attitudes of those in other groups—but also from counter-examples that have reinforced stereotypes and whose techniques should generally be avoided—in order to improve attitudes toward fellow Americans across politics. This entertainment can allow Americans across the political spectrum to have more accurate views of each other while realizing that successful cross-ideological friendships and collaborations are possible.

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