Peter Hamby

1 month ago | puck.news | Peter Hamby

Ever since Elon Musk launched his slash-and-burn effort to shrink the federal government under the auspices of DOGE and with the blessing of Donald Trump, polls have demonstrated that voters are queasy about the idea. The latest survey from our partners at Echelon Insights found that a majority of likely voters (51 percent) disapproved of Musk's current role in the federal government.

2 months ago | puck.news | Peter Hamby

Bear with me for a moment while I do a little Tom Friedman impersonation. I was at my local barbershop the other day in Los Angeles-Latino-owned, suitably hip, mostly staffed by millennial Trump haters who also think Democrats are corny-being interrogated about the current state of American politics, against my will. "Who can beat Donald Trump?" I was asked. I turned the question around, stuck in my swivel chair, reminding them that Trump (we hope) isn't up for a third term in 2028.

2 months ago | puck.news | Peter Hamby

Bear with me for a moment while I do a little Tom Friedman impersonation. I was at my local barbershop the other day in Los Angeles-Latino-owned, suitably hip, mostly staffed by millennial Trump haters who also think Democrats are corny-being interrogated about the current state of American politics, against my will. "Who can beat Donald Trump?" I was asked. I turned the question around, stuck in my swivel chair, reminding them that Trump (we hope) isn't up for a third term in 2028.

2 months ago | puck.news | Peter Hamby

In the month following the apocalyptic Los Angeles firestorms, Rick Caruso has been everywhere: Real Time With Bill Maher, the Sam Harris and Joe Rogan podcasts, NBC News, CBS Mornings, every local TV affiliate-basically wherever there's a microphone and a camera. It's a national media blitz befitting a presidential campaign, but wink wink, Caruso doesn't hold any political office.

2 months ago | puck.news | Peter Hamby

Members of the Democratic National Committee gathered in Washington over the weekend to elect a new chairman, Ken Martin, the little-known, 51-year-old leader of Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, a white guy with a nice haircut and an accent straight out of the latest season of Fargo. The chairman's race was mostly a behind-the-scenes affair obsessed over by party activists and journalists, but ignored by the general public and the vast majority of exhausted Democratic voters.