T W I W C

Author: William Concernwell

Truth & Talk

.[Outgoing Mail]

[Nov 22, 2025]

Congress often appears more focused on chasing headlines and scoring political points than on doing the hard work of serving the public. Lawmakers frequently prioritize flashy speeches, media battles, and symbolic legislation that draws attention but rarely solves real problems. This focus is partly driven by the intense polarization in Washington, where each party aims to rally its base rather than seek common ground, creating gridlock that stalls important policies on healthcare, education, and infrastructure. The resulting political theater makes it seem like Congress is more interested in winning public opinion battles than addressing the everyday needs of Americans.

For residents of New Hampshire, this headline-driven Congress means frustration and a lack of progress on issues critical to their lives. New Hampshire relies heavily on federal support for rural healthcare, education funding, and economic development, but gridlock often delays or blocks these resources from reaching communities. Many Granite Staters feel disconnected from their representatives, seeing elected officials more concerned with social media battles or news cycles than with profiles of their constituents’ struggles. This dynamic weakens trust in government and makes it harder for residents to get the services and support they need, amplifying the sentiment that Washington is broken and out of touch with everyday Americans.

[Sources]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/05/politics/government-shutdown-enters-second-week

https://about.bgov.com/insights/public-affairs-strategies/top-10-public-policy-issues/

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November 22, 2025
Disappointment, KY #039

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[Outgoing Mail]

Nov 20, 2025 | Postscape #039

In 2025, President Trump has frequently complained about the high cost of living and blamed previous administrations, especially Biden’s, for the inflation and price hikes Americans face. Trump claims he has “defeated” inflation and is working to bring prices down, but many experts and everyday people disagree. Tariffs imposed by his administration on imports like furniture, lumber, and electronics have raised prices not just on foreign goods but also on American-made products, pushing costs up by as much as 50% in some areas. This has forced many families to dip into savings, use credit cards, or skip meals just to get by. Despite these realities, Trump promotes policies rolling back regulations, arguing it will boost energy production and jobs, though critics say this worsens costs in the short term.

Kentucky offers a clear example of these struggles, especially for average working families. The state, heavily reliant on energy and manufacturing jobs, has seen steady price increases on everyday essentials like groceries, gas, and healthcare, making life tougher for many residents. For Kentuckians living paycheck to paycheck, the rising cost of necessities often translates into difficult choices—between paying rent, buying food, or accessing medicine. Public polling shows that a majority of Kentucky voters worry about their ability to afford basic needs and increasingly blame national policies for their financial stress. While Trump tries to paint this period as a new economic “golden era,” most Kentuckians’ experiences tell a different story marked by financial strain and skepticism about promises that prices will soon fall. This disconnect influences voter attitudes and adds pressure on politicians to address the high cost of living that is shaping everyday life across the state.

SOURCES

Trump says he ‘defeated’ inflation — so why do prices keep going up?

https://tcf.org/content/report/the-hidden-costs-of-trumps-economy-skipped-meals-rising-debt-and-the-impossible-choices-facing-american-families/

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/12/business/inflation-data-prices-rising-trump-policies

https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/americans-unhappy-direction-cost-living

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November 20, 2025
Intercourse, PA #038

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Nov 17, 2025 | Postscape #038

The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Epstein files release bill this week, following a bipartisan discharge petition that successfully bypassed leadership to compel a floor vote immediately after the government reopened.

President Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein—and his administration’s lack of transparency about the full details—remain a point of political controversy with many unanswered questions. While Trump has claimed limited association with Epstein and denies any wrongdoing, requests to release the full FBI and Justice Department files have stalled. This secrecy, combined with Trump’s past public comments and lingering links in Epstein’s social circles, fuels suspicion and speculation—especially among voters who feel that powerful people are hiding the truth. Despite calls from both political parties for fuller disclosure, Trump has alternated between promising transparency and criticizing his own supporters for dwelling on what he calls conspiracy theories.

Analysts note that efforts by the White House to bury connections between Trump and Epstein—including document delays and public denials—are an instrumental use of power for personal protection and are core traits of authoritarian governance.

For Pennsylvania voters, the Epstein saga and Trump’s evasions may have an outsize impact due to the state’s status as a closely-fought battleground. Polls and social media surveys conducted in July 2025 show that even voters who previously supported President Trump express mistrust over the lack of answers about Epstein, with some feeling betrayed by what they perceive as evasive tactics and a closed government. Civic activists and organizers in Pennsylvania have capitalized on the controversy, urging suburban women, independent voters, and young people to demand accountability and transparency from White House officials. Though die-hard supporters may stand by Trump regardless, swing voters who are concerned about government secrecy say this cloud of unanswered questions could influence their decision—creating a possible opening for Democrats and independent candidates in November.

[Sources]

5 unanswered questions around Trump and the Epstein saga

There’s a Lot We Still Don’t Know About Jeffrey Epstein

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/how-trump-spent-years-stoking-dark-theories-and-why-hes-facing-epstein-case-blowback-now

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/19/politics/epstein-trump-ties-analysis

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20r07dg6kro

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/how-trump-spent-years-stoking-dark-theories-and-why-hes-facing-epstein-case-blowback-now

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November 17, 2025
Opportunity, MT #037

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Nov 15, 2025 | Postscape #037

President Donald Trump’s administration has been widely criticized for political favoritism, often described as a “pay-to-play” system where loyal donors, allies, and business associates receive preferential treatment. This favoritism shows up in multiple ways: wealthy donors gain powerful government positions regardless of qualifications, influential supporters receive pardons or dropped investigations, and corporate allies benefit from policy decisions that favor their interests. This system creates a government where loyalty and financial support matter more than merit or the public good, fostering a climate of corruption and eroding trust in government institutions.

For the average Montanan, Trump’s political favoritism can have tangible impacts on daily life. Montana, a largely rural state with industries like agriculture and energy, depends on fair federal support and enforcement of regulations that protect workers, consumers, and the environment. Under Trump’s favoritism, federal agencies crucial to Montana—such as the National Labor Relations Board and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—have been weakened or politicized, limiting their ability to investigate labor violations and protect consumers from predatory practices. This means Montanans may face less oversight of businesses and fewer protections, while powerful donors and insiders benefit disproportionately.

[Sources]

https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-six-weeks-in-this-white-house-is-on-its-way-to-being-the-most-corrupt-in-us-history

https://campaignlegal.org/exposing-president-trumps-pay-to-play-administration

https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/trump-and-the-favoritism-grift

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November 15, 2025
A Publicist

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Nov 13, 2025

Partisan gerrymandering—when politicians draw voting district maps to favor their own party—has fueled legislative gridlock in 2025 America by ensuring that most lawmakers come from “safe” districts where they rarely have to compromise with the other side. Studies show this form of redistricting skews representation and locks in divided government, making it much harder for Congress or state legislatures to pass laws, especially on controversial issues. This entrenched partisanship means lawmakers are less accountable to the broader public and more focused on pleasing their party base, even if the public wants compromise. Research from the University of California Riverside finds many Americans see gerrymandering as a form of political corruption, which further erodes public trust in the fairness of elections and democracy itself. In 2025, legislative activity has sputtered; hundreds of bills linger without action while politicians blame each other, with real progress paralyzed by party-line voting and infighting.

Lansing, Michigan, offers a vivid case study of how gerrymandering’s legacy sustains gridlock. Historically, Michigan’s legislature was a textbook example of gerrymandering—with district lines carefully drawn by Republicans in secret to keep control even when they didn’t win the statewide popular vote. This imbalance caused Michigan’s lawmakers to pass far fewer bills and struggle with divided government, with Republican control of the House and Democrat control of the Senate often resulting in legislative stalemates. Reforms like the 2018 creation of the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission aimed to fix the problem by taking map-drawing out of politicians’ hands. However, the effects of decades of skewed maps linger, and in 2025, Lansing has seen one of its slowest years ever, passing just nine bills by August, compared with dozens or hundreds in prior years—clear evidence of partisan gridlock fueled by map manipulation

[Sources]

https://www.fairdistrictspa.com/updates/lessons-from-michigans-successful-independent-redistricting-commission

https://www.fox47news.com/lansings-legislative-gridlock-political-divide-leads-to-historically-slow-bill-passage#google_vignette

https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2025/08/12/gerrymandering-erodes-confidence-democracy

https://academic.oup.com/jla/article/17/1/77/8255538?login=false

https://statecourtreport.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/next-round-partisan-gerrymandering-fights

Redistricting

Michigan’s political districts illegally gerrymandered, court rules

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November 13, 2025
Hell, MI #036

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Nov 11, 2025 | Postscape #036

America’s economic challenges include tariffs, trade uncertainties, rising living costs, and slowing growth. These challenges are significantly worsened by the Trump administration’s tariff policies, which impose higher prices on consumers. This has led to the highest effective tariff rate in decades, resulting in an estimated $2,400 income loss per household by 2025, making essential goods more costly and big-ticket items (like cars and homes) less affordable due to increasing prices and mortgage rates.

Analysts caution that despite a legislative package (OBBB) extending tax cuts for households, the administration’s trade and immigration policies may financially disadvantage the bottom 99 percent of Americans over time, with economic benefits mainly going to the wealthiest of Americans.

Residents of Hell, Michigan, face rising living costs due to the impact of supply chains. These cost increases already strained budgets in small towns, while the negative effects on business investment and a cooling labor market limit job opportunities. This makes it tougher for families to manage daily expenses and maintain their standard of living.

SOURCES

Trump tariffs cause price high in essential goods

https://patch.com/michigan/across-mi/new-tariffs-take-effect-what-could-mean-mi-consumers

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/8-ways-trumps-turbulence-tax-is-costing-the-economy/

https://budgetlab.yale.edu/research/where-we-stand-fiscal-economic-and-distributional-effects-all-us-tariffs-enacted-2025-through-april

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/trumps-tariffs-have-failed-us-govt-revenues-go-up-while-consumers-struggle-heres-what-former-imf-deputy-md-says/articleshow/124375933.cms

https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/economy/us-economic-forecast/united-states-outlook-analysis.html

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November 11, 2025
Accident, MD #035

[Outgoing Mail]

Nov 09, 2025 | Postscape #035

The Trump administration’s actions in 2025 underscores significant impacts on average Americans, especially concerning the expenses, healthcare, and civil liberties. Critics highlight tariff policy failures in trade and manufacturing, that have led to a rising US trade deficit and declining manufacturing. The tariffs have increased consumer prices for essential goods, causing higher living costs for Americans, while manufacturing workers face job losses and an economic slowdown due to market uncertainty.

Critics note a trend of rapid executive action without proper planning that reallocates resources (and now combined with a government shutdown) has created economic and personal uncertainty for many Americans.

SOURCES

https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/capitolism/wood-tariffs-national-security-reindustrialization/

https://www.economicliberties.us/press-release/trade-industrial-data-show-trump-failing-on-trade-goals-as-u-s-manufacturing-weakens-trade-deficit-grows-in-first-half-of-2025/#:~:text=Increase%20in%20U.S.%20Imports%20in,to%20increased%20imports%20in%20January%2C

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/8-ways-trumps-turbulence-tax-is-costing-the-economy/

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November 9, 2025
Keep Selling

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Nov 07, 2025

Project 2025 has caused a sharp rollback in scientific research, human rights protections, and government accountability, creating serious concern among experts and civic groups. Reports from the Union of Concerned Scientists and the American Institute of Physics show that the plan strips key science agencies—like the Department of Energy and NOAA—of their independent voices, cutting climate programs, closing advisory boards, and reducing transparency for environmental data. These changes weaken the public’s ability to get factual information about issues like pollution or weather threats. At the same time, civil rights organizations warn that Project 2025 gives the president almost unchecked power to dismiss career officials and override public oversight laws, turning once-independent institutions into political tools. The policy framework reduces accountability by dismantling ethics offices and civil service protections, leaving fewer safeguards against misuse of power.

In Atlanta, Georgia, these rollbacks have hit especially hard in education and local civic life. Project 2025’s plans to shrink or eliminate the Department of Education have already reduced federal support for Title I schools in Atlanta, which serve mostly low-income students. Local school leaders warn that these cuts deepen inequality for families already struggling with limited access to resources. Civil rights advocates, including the Urban League of Greater Atlanta and members of Georgia’s congressional delegation, have held events and press conferences calling the agenda a “sledgehammer to democracy” because it erodes voting rights, women’s reproductive freedom, and protections for LGBTQ+ citizens. For many Atlantan activists and educators, the concern is not just losing federal funding or research—it’s losing the ability to hold powerful people accountable when their actions harm communities.

SOURCES

https://ulgatl.org/on-point-exclusive-unpacking-project-2025-in-real-time-with-the-urban-league-of-greater-atlanta/

https://www.aip.org/fyi/project-2025-outlines-possible-future-for-science-agencies

Project 2025 and a Second Trump Term: A Wake-Up Call for Climate Accountability

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November 7, 2025
On Mute

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Nov 4, 2025

Congress in 2025 has remained sharply divided, with polarization continuing to shape how politicians act and how few laws are passed. Researchers at the Carnegie Corporation and Pew Research Center report that both parties have grown more distant from one another not only on issues like abortion and climate change but in the way they view the basic role of government. Redistricting pushed by both parties—encouraged by President Trump’s allies in states they control—has worsened polarization by locking in safe seats where representatives have little reason to compromise. As a result, partisan gridlock is common, and bipartisanship, while not completely gone, is limited mainly to issues like defense spending and foreign policy where both sides see shared national interests. Even former lawmakers now admit that the “political hatred” between parties has reached a level where cooperation is difficult unless voters directly punish dysfunction.

Washington state reflects this national pattern but shows glimmers of balance. Its congressional delegation for 2025 is dominated by Democrats—ten Democrats and two Republicans—but includes a few moderates, like Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican Dan Newhouse, who have resisted the extremes of their parties. Both have been targeted by activists from their own sides, highlighting how polarization pressures even those who work across the aisle. At the same time, Washington’s political structure, with statewide mail-in voting and strong independent voter blocs, has helped sustain some degree of local bipartisanship, particularly in rural infrastructure and forestry policy. Still, the state’s mostly one-party delegation mirrors the national pattern where electoral maps and party loyalty leave little room for compromise—showing that polarization in Washington, like in Congress, is more the rule than the exception

SOURCES

https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_congressional_delegations_from_Washington

https://gowestassociation.org

https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/why-polarization-is-a-problem/

https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/politics-policy/political-parties-polarization/political-polarization/

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/polp.70082?af=R

https://criticaldebateshsgj.scholasticahq.com/article/142792-the-special-exception-a-bipartisan-consensus-on-defense-spending-in-an-era-of-extreme-political-polarization

https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/09/research-shows-there-are-no-easy-fixes-political-hatred

https://luskin.ucla.edu/is-bipartisanship-worth-it-the-challenge-of-working-through-deep-political-divides

November 4, 2025
Scramble to Explain

[Outgoing Mail]

Nov 1, 2025

The backlash to the Project 2025 cuts has been widespread because the plan aims to shrink or eliminate major parts of the federal government that people depend on for daily life. Project 2025 is a conservative roadmap written by policy groups close to President Trump, and since his return to office, it has guided budget decisions that slash funding for public health, energy, and social programs.

During the fall 2025 government shutdown, Trump’s team used the crisis to advance these cuts, laying off federal workers and halting money for environmental and housing programs in Democratic-leaning states. These actions were justified as efforts to fight “wasteful spending,” but they left many communities without support. Critics say the cuts deepen inequality because they reduce services that protect the poor, elderly, and disabled, while increasing power within the executive branch to decide where funds go.

In Colorado, the effects of Project 2025’s federal cuts have been immediate and painful. The Department of Energy canceled over $600 million in funding for 38 local projects, including those aimed at expanding clean energy and stabilizing power grids, which state leaders warned could raise electric bills and lead to job losses in rural areas. Governor Jared Polis and Colorado’s congressional delegation publicly protested these moves, saying they threaten both working families and long-term economic security. Federal reductions have also pressured Colorado’s state budget, which depends heavily on federal programs for about a third of its revenue, forcing local officials to scramble to cover gaps in childcare, healthcare, and transportation. As a result, many Coloradans see the cuts not just as temporary budget moves but as a direct attack on government’s basic role in supporting communities duringng hard times.

SOURCES

Project 2025’s Undeniable Influence on the Trump Administration: 47 Percent of Domestic Policy Recommendations Have Been Initiated or Fulfilled

Project 2025, Explained

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/amid-shutdown-fight-trump-no-longer-distancing-himself-from-project-2025

https://time.com/7323278/trump-project-2025-government-shutdown/

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/fact-sheets-the-harmful-effects-of-project-2025-by-state/

November 1, 2025