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ence.bsky.social
ence morse
@ence.bsky.social
3.9K followers 150 following 52 posts
data & politics @washingtonpost.com

texan in dc 🕯️
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ence.bsky.social
today I learned Austin has... curling teams?! (and 18 Texans in the olympics!!!)

killer piece from the best sports data journalist in the biz @emilygiam.bsky.social
February 9, 2026 at 4:09 PM
ence.bsky.social
@sarahellison.bsky.social @riegerreport.bsky.social @lmelgar.bsky.social and I found that nearly two dozen Republican members of congress called for investigations into Pretti's killing, along with dozens of high-profile right-wing influencers. wapo.st/4qHFxA5
Bar chart showing that dozens of right-wing influencers and Republicans, including 21 members of congress, discussed investigating Alex Pretti's shooting since Saturday, and that the numbers increased in the days after his shooting.
January 28, 2026 at 2:59 PM
ence.bsky.social
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The day Alex Pretti was shot, right-wing influencers and Republicans called him a "domestic terrorist" on social media.

But two days later, tone had shifted: the same group was calling his killing a "tragedy".

Video evidence made the difference, per our timeline (🎁 link)
wapo.st/4qHFxA5
Line chart showing that right-wing and conservative influencers were initially more likely to talk about "domestic terrorism" in connection with Pretti's shooting, but after the first day more began describing it as a "tragedy".
January 28, 2026 at 2:54 PM
ence.bsky.social
More than a third of the Agriculture Department’s food inspectors left government last year. But ICE's employee counts are way up. @merylkornfield.bsky.social and I dove into the newly released federal workforce data — here's what it shows.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
January 10, 2026 at 6:11 PM
ence.bsky.social
“The more they attack, the more I give," billionaire Jeff Yass told @laurameckler.bsky.social

Our latest piece on the political influence of billionaires dives into Yass's influence on school vouchers, TikTok, and basically every election in Pennsylvania.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
December 5, 2025 at 4:46 PM
ence.bsky.social
The partisan divide has grown, too. The wealthiest 100 tended to give more to Republicans than to Democrats before last year. But giving to the GOP spiked in 2024, with *84%* of donations going to back Republicans or conservative PACs.
November 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
ence.bsky.social
We spent a year investigating billionaires for @washingtonpost.com.

We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans.

washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
November 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
ence.bsky.social
Spanberger ran up wild margins in the DC/Richmond suburbs, flipped 6 Trump counties, and cut her losses in the rest of the state — some SWVA counties moved 15-20 points to her compared to 2021 gov's race. My first election results for @washingtonpost.com ! www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
November 5, 2025 at 6:40 PM
ence.bsky.social
gasped the first time i read this kicker www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Tom Petek, 54, conceded in an interview that he was a little nervous about coming to Washington from his hometown of Medina, Ohio, which has a population just shy of 26,000 people. It’s his first trip to D.C. in more than four years, when he joined protests outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He remains a Trump supporter and has seen news reports about a rise in crime and a slew of homicides, he said. He joked that he and his wife would have to wear bulletproof vests when visiting historic sites. But on Monday, their first full day in the city, Petek and his wife went to the National Archives, Arlington National Cemetery, the Smithsonian and the Washington Monument without incident. They planned to go on tours of the White House, the FBI building and the Capitol on Tuesday and remained unwary. “You hear the news, and the stuff about the murder rates and things, and you think, ‘Man, you’ve got to dodge bullets when you’re at the sites,’ but it’s safe,” Petek said. “You feel safe. You feel welcome.”
August 12, 2025 at 4:42 PM
ence.bsky.social
The right-wing internet couldn't stop talking about Epstein after Bondi said there was no client list... until the admin accused Obama of planning "essentially a years-long coup" against Trump. Immediately, attention flipped. my latest, w/ Cleve Wootson: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
August 6, 2025 at 2:26 PM
ence.bsky.social
The right-wing internet couldn't stop talking about Epstein after Bondi said there was no client list... until the admin accused Obama of planning "essentially a years-long coup" against Trump. Immediately, attention flipped. my latest, w/ Cleve Wootson:
washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
August 6, 2025 at 1:23 PM
ence.bsky.social
In early February, as many as 75% of Elon Musk's posts on X were about DOGE or U.S. politics.

Recently, the figure has been more like 10%. Instead, he's posting WAY more about his companies.

My latest w/ @sarahellison.bsky.social: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Bar graph displaying contents of Elon Musk's X posts in 2025, where the proportion of posts about US politics peaks in early February and has declined since then, and the proportion of posts about his companies increases.
May 21, 2025 at 6:56 PM
ence.bsky.social
The top 3 individual donors to Trump’s inaugural committee were also nominated for positions in his administration. with @cqzakrz.bsky.social @aaronschaffer.com @lmelgar.bsky.social & Nick Mourtoupalas

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
April 24, 2025 at 2:21 PM
ence.bsky.social
POV: it is Lent
April 1, 2025 at 4:23 PM
ence.bsky.social
There's criticism of climate, DEI, gender policy focuses within USAID, of course. But also plenty of stuff like this, see p. 264 here:
static.project2025.org/2025_Mandate...
Global Health. The United States is the world’s largest funder of global health initiatives. For more than 60 years, the American people have offered health assistance to the world and saved millions of lives. The USAID Bureau for Global Health (GH), the second largest within USAID, oversees a multibillion-dollar operation to support maternal and child health; voluntary family planning; PEPFAR and the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) (both started under President George W. Bush); and other initiatives against other infectious and neglected tropical diseases. Effective use of funds is essential to maximize care for the world’s neediest people.
February 7, 2025 at 5:14 PM
ence.bsky.social
One more thing to note about the USAID cuts: Project 2025's text actually recommended *more* USAID programs to counter China’s Belt + Road Initiative. and criticized Biden for discontinuing particular Trump-era USAID programs.

Speaks to how quickly all this blew up.
The next conservative Administration should restore and build on the Trump Administration’s counter-China infrastructure at USAID, end the climate policy fanaticism that advantages Beijing, and assess bilateral aid through the lens of U.S. national security interests, rewarding those countries that resist China’s debt diplomacy. It should finance programs designed to counter specific Chinese efforts in strategically important countries and eliminate funding to any partner that engages with Chinese entities directly or indirectly. USAID’s Bangkok-based Regional Development Mission for Asia should focus its strategic attention on supporting cross-border initiatives designed to counter Chinese influence.
February 7, 2025 at 5:13 PM
ence.bsky.social
absolutely yes I want to pre-order the latest from Fyodor Dostoevsky. how DID you know
January 7, 2025 at 9:30 PM
ence.bsky.social
What do Illinois Democrats and Texas Republicans have in common? They've both gerrymandered maps to give their parties 3 extra seats in the U.S. House.

+ much more in this deep dive on the House with Kevin Sullivan, ft. exclusive data from the Princeton Gerrymandering Project!

wapo.st/3LSCfI2
Map of U.S. states, colored by the grades their congressional maps received from the Princeton Gerrymandering Project. Twelve states are colored deep purple, indicating that they received a grade of F for extreme gerrymandering, including many states in the South.
October 7, 2023 at 2:05 PM
ence.bsky.social
i love that amtrak advertises me their discount night train from dc while I’m on their discount night train from dc… target audience reached ✅
An Instagram amtrak ad for night owl fares in travel from DC, viewed at 6:38 AM
September 29, 2023 at 11:24 AM