Today’s notice: Democrats are desperate for viral fame. We found out a top QAnoner is partnering with RFK Jr.’s PAC. DOGE is getting messy at the Department of Energy. And don’t get your hopes up about Trump 3.0.
Inside the Democratic Battle to Go Viral
Just before Election Day last year, Sen. Cory Booker went to then-Majority Leader Chuck Schumer with a problem.
Trending
“We’re way behind,” Booker told him.
While the likes of Joe Rogan were supercharging Republican rhetoric, Booker showed Schumer that engagement for Senate Democrats was comparatively “anemic.”
Of course, Booker’s warning came too late. Now Democrats across Congress are battling to catch up.
Around the Hill, Democrats have been inviting prominent influencers, like the YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen, to Congress. In closed-door sessions, leaders are urging influencers to collaborate and teach basic digital practices to Democrats. Rank-and-file members are scrambling to break through with stunts that will spark viral fame. And communications staffers are transforming their roles from press release writers to click-getters.
It remains to be seen if Democrats can chip away at the sprawling Republican social media ecosystem in time for November 2026. But in the meantime, lawmakers and staffers told NOTUS that the culture of Democratic politics on Capitol Hill is changing.
“You’re only as good as the amount of people seeing what you’re doing,” one communications director for a House Democrat told NOTUS.
The ‘Bless Their Heart’ Approach to Religious Refugees
“Refugee resettlement and asylum were once widely accepted by both parties,” NOTUS’ Casey Murray and Haley Byrd Wilt report, but things are very different now. Donald Trump is “shutting down legal ways for persecuted people to come to the U.S. and deporting people from vulnerable populations,” they write, and the majority party in Congress is largely taking a more skeptical approach toward these groups, too.
“Any time you have persecution of Christians anywhere, that should be something as fellow believers that we all have concerns about,” Rep. Michael Guest told Casey and Haley. “Until we undo all the damage that was done under the prior administration, it is going to be very difficult for those individuals. And while my heart goes out to them, I also agree with the actions of the Trump administration.”
It’s unclear whether the Trump administration plans for the shift in thinking about refugees to be permanent, but some Republicans do not seem ready to switch from offering assistance to simply “thoughts and prayers” when it comes to asylum seekers.
“We’re just at a point where there’s a pause to do an audit, an accounting of how far we’ve gotten afield from where the law actually applies,” Sen. John Cornyn told NOTUS.
Front Page
- Democrats Say the Wind Development Ban Won’t Affect Projects in Progress. The Reality is Less Clear.: Multiple lawmakers told NOTUS they’re optimistic that projects that have been leased and are in progress can continue.
- Hegseth to Reverse on ‘What You Did Last Week’ Email, Tell Civilian Staff to Comply: The updated guidance would apply to the next Office of Personnel Management email expected to go out Monday, according to a memo obtained by NOTUS.
- Donald Trump Still Hasn’t Disclosed His Secret Transition Funders: Presidents have historically disclosed their funders by Feb. 19. Trump hasn’t and the White House won’t say when he will.
- Republicans Are Overwhelmingly Thrilled With Trump’s Fight With Zelenskyy as Minerals Deal Falls Apart: As the Ukrainian president left the Oval Office without a mineral-rights deal, Republicans celebrated Trump showing Zelenskyy “the door.”
Third-Term Legal Gymnastics
Getting Trump a third term would require some serious statutory gymnastics, but some of his most dedicated fans are working on it — even if they have to astroturf legal arguments and constitutional interpretations along the way, NOTUS’ Torrence Banks reports.
The recently launched Third Term Project gained some traction after holding a news conference at CPAC last month, but a lawyer quoted on the group’s website as saying a third Trump term “could theoretically happen” told NOTUS he never spoke to the group, and also that the argument doesn’t make much sense: “I don’t see how that works.”
MAHAnon?
Tracy “Beanz” Diaz takes credit for taking the QAnon conspiracy from the darker corners of the web onto Reddit, where it blossomed into the fringiest parts of the mainstream. NOTUS’ Margaret Manto reports that Diaz is now helping take Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement further into the mainstream with a new 501(c)(4) affiliated with Kennedy’s super PAC.
Diaz is just one of several vaccine skeptics at the top of the new group, MAHA Action, Margaret reports. The CEO is the founder of an anti-vax group, for example. In his Senate confirmation hearings, Kennedy “attempted to walk back his former anti-vaccine stance,” Margaret writes.
DOGE Report
Add the Dept. of Energy to the list of agencies frustrated by upheaval. Last week, NOTUS reported on this dynamic at the Pentagon. At Energy, staffers and stakeholders tell NOTUS’ Anna Kramer a similar story but with a twist — “in all the tumult, the agency is unable to prioritize the actual policies the Trump administration has said it wants,” she writes.
Anna’s sources put the blame on directives flying in from the Office of Management and Budget rather than Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s office. “This is a fake news story,” OMB told her.
Week Ahead
- House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole is pressuring Mike Johnson to hold a vote on a stopgap plan to fund the government this week before the rapidly approaching March 14 deadline.
- Trump said on Truth Social that the 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico would go into effect Tuesday after suspending them for 30 days.
- Trump is set to host a crypto roundtable Friday run by David Sacks, the president’s crypto and AI czar, and Bo Hines, the executive director of a working group on digital assets.
Meet Us: Taylor Giorno
Welcome to “Meet Us,” where we introduce you to a member of the NOTUS team. Up today is Taylor Giorno, who is a new reporter covering money in politics.
- Hometown: Salem, Virginia
- Past: Covered business and lobbying at The Hill and was the money-in-politics reporter at OpenSecrets.
- Why journalism: I left my job as a government contractor to pursue a career where I could ask more questions and write every day. Now I can’t imagine doing anything else!
- Why AJI/NOTUS: How could I turn down the chance to cover the best beat in Washington alongside great reporters and editors as part of a growing, thriving newsroom? It was a no-brainer.
- Thing you can’t live without: Dogs.
- Best advice you’ve ever been given: The best way to get a difficult subject to talk to you is to find out if anyone has taken legal action against them. Talk to those people and come back.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.
- RFK Jr. moves to eliminate public comment on HHS decisions by Isabella Cueto at Stat News
- Speaker Mike Johnson Is Living in a D.C. House That Is the Center of a Pastor’s Secretive Influence Campaign by Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski at ProPublica
- Elon Musk’s Takeover Is Being Aided by a Trumpworld Power Couple by Jake Lahut at Wired
Be Social…
…with us!
NOTUS is hosting a conversation in our newsroom on the role of journalism in 2025. The event is on Wednesday, March 5. Our very own Jasmine Wright is hosting, with special guests Bret Baier of Fox News, Dasha Burns of Politico, Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal, Major Garrett of CBS News, Jonathan Karl of ABC News and Ali Vitali of MSNBC. Doors are at 8:30 a.m.
Interested in joining us? Please email events@aji.org to request an invite.
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