Bloomberg.com • 11th March 2025

This GOP Fight Will Determine How Many Kids Go Hungry

A group of Republican lawmakers in the White House and Congress don’t believe it’s the government’s job to feed people. But at the state level, the GOP is heading in a different direction.

Bloomberg.com • 7th March 2025

Florida Deserves Better Candidates for Governor

For nearly half a century, Florida has been America’s ultimate political bellwether. Now, the race to replace Governor Ron DeSantis in 2026 is flashing a warning sign about the influential state’s shallow leadership pool.DeSantis can’t run again because of term limits, but he wants to run for president again so he’s looking for a way to stay relevant. He’s propping up his wife Casey and President Donald Trump endorsed Congressman Byron Donalds. Florida can do better, and it should.

Bloomberg.com • 27th February 2025

Even Steve Bannon Knows Cutting Medicaid Is a Mega-Risk

Republicans are taking a huge political gamble as they try to find money for tax cuts by threatening to slash Medicaid. As Congress has learned repeatedly, most recently in 2018, when the party in power messes with Americans’ health care, things don’t go well for them in midterm elections.

Bloomberg.com • 23rd February 2025

What Declaring War on the AP Really Means

President Donald Trump’s standoff with the Associated Press over its refusal to abide by his executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico isn’t a benign dust-up between a global media institution and a stubborn president. It’s a deliberate and carefully targeted strategy of media intimidation.

Bloomberg.com • 15th February 2025

The GOP Is Obsessed With DEI in Schools. What About the ABCs?

Linda McMahon’s nomination to head the Department of Education has always seemed incongruous. But after watching her Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, I now see why President Donald Trump would appoint the co-founder and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. Like WWE itself, with its choreographed athletic feats and staged conflict, the president’s commitment to America’s school children is pure performance art.

Bloomberg.com • 12th February 2025

Meet the Educator Who Thinks Fewer Women Should Go to College

Conservatives have made no secret of their desire to dismantle the current university system and replace it with their own, “anti-woke” version that would discourage the advancement of women and minorities. Scott Yenor, nominated to chair the board of trustees at the state-run University of West Florida, is one of the lightning rods in this crusade — and if he is confirmed to that post, he will make Florida his proving ground. State senators should vote to reject his nomination when they meet in...

Bloomberg.com • 6th February 2025

Florida Orange Juice Could Be Tariffs’ Most Iconic Casualty

President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada is on hold for now but, if it resumes, it could deliver a fatal blow to one iconic American industry: Florida orange juice. If Trump resumes the reckless trade war with the US allies of Canada and Mexico, the impact of their retaliatory tariffs in Trump’s home state of Florida alone would not only raise the cost of importing Mexican juice to Florida bottlers, it could squeeze the Canadian market dry.

Bloomberg.com • 2nd February 2025

Don’t Eliminate FEMA. Reform It.

President Trump is making noises about slashing the disaster-management agency. That’s the wrong call in an era of climate risk. He shouldn't eliminate it. He should reform it. Here's why.

Bloomberg.com • 29th January 2025

Florida Republicans Bucked DeSantis on Immigration. Imagine That.

In a remarkable flip of the script, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature stood up to an authoritarian this week — Governor Ron DeSantis. It was a baby step, driven by pragmatic politics not ideology, but it demonstrated that there may be a limit to autocratic overreach when the executive is a lame duck. Congress should take note.

Bloomberg.com • 26th January 2025

Trump’s First Week Will Hurt Kids for a Long Time

In President Trump’s inaugural address, he promised to change “an education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves” and make America “the most respected nation on Earth.” But every child learns that you judge people by their deeds, not their words. As Trump’s first week in office draws to a close, it is worth asking what message his early actions are likely to teach America’s children about our country — and what impact this week’s orders is likely to have on them.

Bloomberg.com • 17th January 2025

Why Is Ashley Moody Replacing Marco Rubio? Loyalty

On Thursday, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody was named by Governor Ron DeSantis to replace Marco Rubio in the Senate after, as is widely expected, the Miami Republican is confirmed as President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of state. Moody will be a dependable, go-along, get-along addition to the US Senate — a reliably pro-Trump vote. She will neither compete for the limelight nor command it when it shines upon her.

Bloomberg.com • 15th January 2025

Pam Bondi Needs to Explain Whose Side She’s On

The nominee for attorney general should have to account for her apparent willingness to side with Trump over the rule of law.

Bloomberg.com • 12th January 2025

Trump Is Making America Florida

There is a reason that President-elect Donald Trump has tapped so many Floridians to fill his administration. Florida is the breeding ground for the kind of government Trump envisions for his second term: A souped-up executive branch that has contempt for institutions; a talent for exploiting the resentment of working-class voters; a desire to give favorable treatment to donors; and an urge to aggressively use state power to attack dissenters.

Bloomberg.com • 29th December 2024

Is Democracy Dying? These States Will Tell Us

If you want to understand the health of American democracy, what happens in state legislatures matters just as much as what happens in Washington, DC, and Mar-a-Lago.In 2025, we can assess the health of democracy at the state level by watching four pressing issues: how states respond to federal spending cuts; how legislatures handle November’s ballot initiatives; whether local officials keep trying to subvert elections; and how far states get in eroding the wall between church and state. If you...

Bloomberg.com • 14th December 2024

North Carolina Voters Wanted Bipartisanship. Republicans Refused.

In the November election, North Carolina Republicans lost their supermajority in the state legislature. They also lost sight of their role as public servants.Democrats picked up a single Republican seat and ended the Republican Party’s ability to override the governor’s veto. Because the incoming governor is a Democrat, state Republicans quickly went to work to limit his powers before they lose theirs. In the November election, North Carolina Republicans lost their supermajority in the state le...

Bloomberg.com • 7th December 2024

DOGE's Best Idea Yet Is Ending the Twice-a-Year Time Change

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the two billionaires tasked by President-elect Donald Trump to find ways to make government more efficient, have hit upon one good idea: ending the obnoxious and inconvenient twice-a-year clock change between daylight saving time (in the summer) and so-called standard time (in the winter). “Looks like the people want to abolish the annoying time changes!’’ Musk declared on X in response to a poll from a user that found that 82% of the 38,000 respondents supported a...

Bloomberg.com • 6th December 2024

Marco Rubio May Be Trump’s Most Promising Cabinet Pick

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is perhaps President-elect Donald Trump’s least-controversial cabinet pick. Admittedly, that isn’t a high bar. Trump’s cabinet selections have mostly been unqualified, irresponsible or both. But if Rubio is confirmed as secretary of state, he could actually do some good — particularly for US relations with Latin America.As a three-term Republican senator and former presidential candidate who morphed from Reagan Republican to Trump acolyte, Rubio is viewed by many trad...

Bloomberg.com • 27th November 2024

Pam Bondi Has a Track Record of Putting Donors Above the Law

Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general and Donald Trump’s pick to run the Department of Justice, has what he likes in all his cabinet picks: a made-for-TV presence and a track record of fealty. And unlike Trump’s first pick — fellow Floridian flame-thrower Matt Gaetz — Bondi actually has some relevant experience. She was a prosecutor for 26 years, including eight years as state AG. Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general and Donald Trump’s pick to run the Department of Justice, h...

Bloomberg.com • 25th November 2024

The Looming GOP Divide Over School Vouchers

Republican donors extol school choice. But in many red counties, parents understand that their best bet is to keep funding flowing to public schools.

Seeking Rents • 22nd November 2024

Seeking Rents podcast: Why so many legislators don't care what you think

I enjoyed speaking with Jason Garcia about my findings with Carolyn Silverman on one-party states and what the implications are for voters.