Zachary B. Wolf
@zbyronwolf.bsky.social
I write a newsletter for @cnn. Sign up! https://www.cnn.com/whatmatters
White House adviser Stephen Miller said the 1965 Immigration Act ruined the country, ultimately causing low test scores, high health care costs and skyrocketing debt.
Mark Updegrove from LBJ library told me the law is actually a major piece of Civil Rights legislation
www.cnn.com/2025/12/11/p...
Mark Updegrove from LBJ library told me the law is actually a major piece of Civil Rights legislation
www.cnn.com/2025/12/11/p...
Analysis: The Civil Rights law that Stephen Miller says ruined America | CNN Politics
Trump’s key aide thinks the country was better off with strict quotas that sought to preserve the racial makeup of the country in the 1920s and so favored immigrants from Western and Northern Europe o...
www.cnn.com
December 11, 2025 at 6:44 PM
White House adviser Stephen Miller said the 1965 Immigration Act ruined the country, ultimately causing low test scores, high health care costs and skyrocketing debt.
Mark Updegrove from LBJ library told me the law is actually a major piece of Civil Rights legislation
www.cnn.com/2025/12/11/p...
Mark Updegrove from LBJ library told me the law is actually a major piece of Civil Rights legislation
www.cnn.com/2025/12/11/p...
I was going to say the US has a history of not naming things for living people, but then I realized the Donald Trump Institute of Peace is in line with the George Bush Center for Intelligence.
December 4, 2025 at 3:33 PM
I was going to say the US has a history of not naming things for living people, but then I realized the Donald Trump Institute of Peace is in line with the George Bush Center for Intelligence.
In the strange and troll-ey world of social media, that also means it got the WH message out to a lot of new people.
Sabrina Carpenter's post yesterday calling the White House video "evil and disgusting" is in record-setting ratio territory: 1.3 million likes (20x more than WH's), 177,000 reposts, 83 million views
December 3, 2025 at 4:13 PM
In the strange and troll-ey world of social media, that also means it got the WH message out to a lot of new people.
Note: A first and second strike (double tap?) were built into the Yemen attack Hegseth shared with everyone over Signal back in April. www.cnn.com/interactive/...
Annotating the Trump administration's Yemen war plans from their Signal group chat
Read a line-by-line analysis of the war plans shared over a Signal group chat, with additional reporting and context from CNN national security reporters.
www.cnn.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Note: A first and second strike (double tap?) were built into the Yemen attack Hegseth shared with everyone over Signal back in April. www.cnn.com/interactive/...
VP Vance and Speaker Johnson are doing everything they can to say the words "Chuck" and "Schumer" in every shutdown-related sentence. He's their new Pelosi.
October 1, 2025 at 5:40 PM
VP Vance and Speaker Johnson are doing everything they can to say the words "Chuck" and "Schumer" in every shutdown-related sentence. He's their new Pelosi.
If govt. shutdowns only exist because of a 1980 memo by Jimmy Carter's AG Benjamin Civiletti.
Ultimate Trump flex would be have Bondi simply write a new memo.
Ultimate Trump flex would be have Bondi simply write a new memo.
September 29, 2025 at 4:44 PM
If govt. shutdowns only exist because of a 1980 memo by Jimmy Carter's AG Benjamin Civiletti.
Ultimate Trump flex would be have Bondi simply write a new memo.
Ultimate Trump flex would be have Bondi simply write a new memo.
If you're the next Democratic president in, say, 2029... do you go ahead and fire all the Trump people who were installed in independent agencies or do you try to return to normal with his people?
September 25, 2025 at 6:25 PM
If you're the next Democratic president in, say, 2029... do you go ahead and fire all the Trump people who were installed in independent agencies or do you try to return to normal with his people?
What may be most apparent in this speech is Trump's complete disregard for all of the world except the US and Europe, and his fear of what's happening to Western 'heritage.'
The language is not even coded.
www.cnn.com/2025/09/23/p...
The language is not even coded.
www.cnn.com/2025/09/23/p...
Analysis: Trump’s ‘your countries are going to hell’ speech, annotated | CNN Politics
In a just-about hourlong address to the UN General Assembly, US President Donald Trump insulted the organization repeatedly.
www.cnn.com
September 24, 2025 at 5:51 PM
What may be most apparent in this speech is Trump's complete disregard for all of the world except the US and Europe, and his fear of what's happening to Western 'heritage.'
The language is not even coded.
www.cnn.com/2025/09/23/p...
The language is not even coded.
www.cnn.com/2025/09/23/p...
Madison's first draft of the #freespeech clause was more expansive:
"The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable."
"The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable."
September 24, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Madison's first draft of the #freespeech clause was more expansive:
"The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable."
"The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable."
What is Lisa Murkowski even thinking? “You're roadkill in the middle” - great interview by @audiecornish.bsky.social ... youtu.be/CLVqlJOTlNE?...
'You're roadkill in the middle': Murkowski on centrism in the Trump era | The Assignment
YouTube video by CNN
youtu.be
July 2, 2025 at 11:27 AM
What is Lisa Murkowski even thinking? “You're roadkill in the middle” - great interview by @audiecornish.bsky.social ... youtu.be/CLVqlJOTlNE?...
Anyone who takes the time to look will find the immigration crackdown right next to them.
That’s what I found — at two degrees of separation — when I heard from a friend that her child’s special needs aide’s father.
That’s what I found — at two degrees of separation — when I heard from a friend that her child’s special needs aide’s father.
June 22, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Anyone who takes the time to look will find the immigration crackdown right next to them.
That’s what I found — at two degrees of separation — when I heard from a friend that her child’s special needs aide’s father.
That’s what I found — at two degrees of separation — when I heard from a friend that her child’s special needs aide’s father.
Hmm. What do you think they’re going for with this?
June 9, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Hmm. What do you think they’re going for with this?
Shocked to learn, researching this story, that 2 million Americans got polygraphs from their employers until Congress largely outlawed their use in the private sector in 1988.
Still in use for government workers, however, and the Trump administration is leaning in.
www.cnn.com/2025/06/05/p...
Still in use for government workers, however, and the Trump administration is leaning in.
www.cnn.com/2025/06/05/p...
The Trump administration revives an old intimidation tactic: the polygraph machine | CNN Politics
When President Ronald Reagan’s White House threatened thousands of government officials with polygraph exams, supposedly to protect classified data (but probably also to control press leaks), his Secr...
www.cnn.com
June 5, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Shocked to learn, researching this story, that 2 million Americans got polygraphs from their employers until Congress largely outlawed their use in the private sector in 1988.
Still in use for government workers, however, and the Trump administration is leaning in.
www.cnn.com/2025/06/05/p...
Still in use for government workers, however, and the Trump administration is leaning in.
www.cnn.com/2025/06/05/p...
I called @markupdegrove.bsky.social about Trump rolling back diversity initiatives and he said the issue is much larger than that.
“This is certainly the biggest rollback of civil rights since Reconstruction."
More from our talk in #whatmatters lnkd.in/eGUJnF_2
“This is certainly the biggest rollback of civil rights since Reconstruction."
More from our talk in #whatmatters lnkd.in/eGUJnF_2
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
May 2, 2025 at 4:46 PM
I called @markupdegrove.bsky.social about Trump rolling back diversity initiatives and he said the issue is much larger than that.
“This is certainly the biggest rollback of civil rights since Reconstruction."
More from our talk in #whatmatters lnkd.in/eGUJnF_2
“This is certainly the biggest rollback of civil rights since Reconstruction."
More from our talk in #whatmatters lnkd.in/eGUJnF_2
Lucy with the football; Trump with the tariffs. (some of them, anyway)
March 5, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Lucy with the football; Trump with the tariffs. (some of them, anyway)
It's the doodle of mice. www.cnn.com/2025/03/04/s...
Genetically engineered woolly mouse is a step toward resurrecting extinct mammoth, company says | CNN
Scientists working to bring back the woolly mammoth have created genetically engineered mice that they say have several features of the extinct ice age giant.
www.cnn.com
March 5, 2025 at 12:45 AM
It's the doodle of mice. www.cnn.com/2025/03/04/s...
Mexico exports to US were roughly 30% of its GDP.
Canada exports to US were roughly 20% of its GDP.
US exports to Canada were about 1% of US GDP.
US exports to Mexico were about 1% of its GDP.
www.cnn.com/2025/03/04/a...
Canada exports to US were roughly 20% of its GDP.
US exports to Canada were about 1% of US GDP.
US exports to Mexico were about 1% of its GDP.
www.cnn.com/2025/03/04/a...
Trump’s tariffs could plunge Mexico and Canada into a recession | CNN
US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico could severely impact the economies of both countries, potentially slowing down production of certain goods, raising prices on products and spa...
www.cnn.com
March 5, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Mexico exports to US were roughly 30% of its GDP.
Canada exports to US were roughly 20% of its GDP.
US exports to Canada were about 1% of US GDP.
US exports to Mexico were about 1% of its GDP.
www.cnn.com/2025/03/04/a...
Canada exports to US were roughly 20% of its GDP.
US exports to Canada were about 1% of US GDP.
US exports to Mexico were about 1% of its GDP.
www.cnn.com/2025/03/04/a...
Clearly Trump feels a kinship with Putin.
Trump keeps saying he and Putin went through the Russia investigation “together.”
He’s said it a few times. It sticks out.
And Trump calls the investigation into Russian election interference a “hoax”.
He’s said it a few times. It sticks out.
And Trump calls the investigation into Russian election interference a “hoax”.
February 28, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Clearly Trump feels a kinship with Putin.
Trump keeps saying he and Putin went through the Russia investigation “together.”
He’s said it a few times. It sticks out.
And Trump calls the investigation into Russian election interference a “hoax”.
He’s said it a few times. It sticks out.
And Trump calls the investigation into Russian election interference a “hoax”.
February 28, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Trump keeps saying he and Putin went through the Russia investigation “together.”
He’s said it a few times. It sticks out.
And Trump calls the investigation into Russian election interference a “hoax”.
He’s said it a few times. It sticks out.
And Trump calls the investigation into Russian election interference a “hoax”.
Regarding the rare earth minerals in Ukraine… www.cnn.com/2025/02/27/e...
Inside a struggling Ukraine mine, Trump’s mineral deal dreams meet war-torn reality | CNN
From this beleaguered titanium mine, it’s hard to see how Ukraine could repay the half a trillion dollars that President Donald Trump has suggested they might give the US under a moonshot rare earth m...
www.cnn.com
February 28, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Regarding the rare earth minerals in Ukraine… www.cnn.com/2025/02/27/e...
Medicaid covers more than 20% of Americans -
Analysis: What is Medicaid and why is it a Republican target for cuts? | CNN Politics
It might be hard to get super interested in the back and forth of the budget bills bouncing around Capitol Hill, but they could have huge consequences for Americans’ everyday lives.
www.cnn.com
February 26, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Medicaid covers more than 20% of Americans -
"...The child was unvaccinated and had been hospitalized in Lubbock...This is the first US measles death since 2015, when a woman in Washington state died."
Child in West Texas is first US measles death in a decade | CNN
The first measles death in the growing outbreak in West Texas was a school-aged child.
www.cnn.com
February 26, 2025 at 8:41 PM
"...The child was unvaccinated and had been hospitalized in Lubbock...This is the first US measles death since 2015, when a woman in Washington state died."
'...we've got to live in the real world here...' x.com/zbyronwolf/s...
February 26, 2025 at 8:30 PM
'...we've got to live in the real world here...' x.com/zbyronwolf/s...
Dead people are a frequent bogeyman... social security, government workers, etc... www.cnn.com/2025/02/24/p...
Analysis: Elon Musk sees dead people | CNN Politics
To hear President Donald Trump and Elon Musk tell it, the dead steal elections. They get fraudulent Social Security checks. And now, apparently, dead people are working for the government too.
www.cnn.com
February 26, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Dead people are a frequent bogeyman... social security, government workers, etc... www.cnn.com/2025/02/24/p...