Zachary B. Wolf
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zbyronwolf.bsky.social
Zachary B. Wolf
@zbyronwolf.bsky.social
I write a newsletter for @cnn. Sign up! https://www.cnn.com/whatmatters
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
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.
September 29, 2025 at 4:44 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?
September 25, 2025 at 6:25 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...
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
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."
September 24, 2025 at 5:38 PM
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
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.
June 22, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Hmm. What do you think they’re going for with this?
June 9, 2025 at 2:59 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...
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
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
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
May 2, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Musk has built a dark conspiracy theory around social security.

www.cnn.com/2025/03/13/p...
Analysis: Elon Musk’s paranoid conspiracy theory about Social Security, explained | CNN Politics
Pinned to the top of Elon Musk’s X account is a six-minute clip of his recent three-hour interview with the podcaster Joe Rogan.
www.cnn.com
March 14, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Lucy with the football; Trump with the tariffs. (some of them, anyway)
March 5, 2025 at 10:05 PM
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...
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
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”.
February 28, 2025 at 6:28 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”.
February 28, 2025 at 6:25 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."
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
'...we've got to live in the real world here...' x.com/zbyronwolf/s...
February 26, 2025 at 8:30 PM
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
Trump keeps saying the US has spent $350 billion in #ukraine.

Where does he get this figure?

The actual amount is much less. And Europe has spent more, not less, than the US, at least according to the Kiel Institute. www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-a...
Ukraine Support Tracker - A Database of Military, Financial and Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine
The Ukraine Support Tracker lists and quantifies military, financial and humanitarian aid promised by governments to Ukraine.
www.ifw-kiel.de
February 26, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Very male-centric Cabinet from this angle.
February 26, 2025 at 5:14 PM
#5thingsididlastweek

1 Dissected claim Social Security pays to millions 100+ - no evidence

2 Reread Mueller Report re: Trump Russia shift

3 Watched WH Black History event as WH declared war on diversity

4 Listed DOGE cuts outside DC

5 Listened 2 Musk bio. Asperger’s blamed for no empathy
February 23, 2025 at 1:49 AM
I’m interested in who at DOGE will read millions of these emails. AI? Or is this pretense? www.cnn.com/2025/02/22/p...
Federal employees told to justify jobs in email or Musk says they face dismissal | CNN Politics
Federal workers began receiving emails Saturday asking them to explain what work they did last week, as Elon Musk announced that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
www.cnn.com
February 23, 2025 at 12:02 AM