Santi Ruiz

6 days ago | statecraft.pub | Santi Ruiz

This conversation, with transit guru Stephanie Pollack, is one of my favorite conversations we’ve recorded. For one, I had a blast recording — Pollack’s funny, and she’s got a killer Boston accent. For another, she explains some ideas I care about incredibly well — how well-intentioned regulations turn bad, how political pressures make simple things hard to pull off, why building in the real world is so hard. She taught me a huge amount about building transit. And she’s a great storyteller.

1 month ago | ifp.org | Santi Ruiz

Geothermal has made encouraging progress since FORGE was founded. The lab has impressed members of Congress. Via the Energy Act 2020, Congress gave GTO authorization to renew FORGE and establish up to three more FORGE sites. The Department of Energy (DOE) recently approved a four-year extension for FORGE, accompanied by up to $80 million in new funding.

2 months ago | statecraft.pub | Santi Ruiz

DOGE is the most interesting story in state capacity right now. Yet although we’ve talked around it on Statecraft, I haven’t covered it directly since the beginning of the administration. In part, that’s because of the whirlwind pace of news, but also because of the sense I get in talking to other DOGE watchers, that we’re like blind men feeling different parts of the elephant. And, frankly, because it’s the most polarizing issue in public discourse right now.

2 months ago | open.substack.com | Santi Ruiz

DOGE is the most interesting story in state capacity right now. Yet although we’ve talked around it on Statecraft, I haven’t covered it directly since the beginning of the administration. In part, that’s because of the whirlwind pace of news, but also because of the sense I get in talking to other DOGE watchers, that we’re like blind men feeling different parts of the elephant. And, frankly, because it’s the most polarizing issue in public discourse right now.

2 months ago | statecraft.pub | Santi Ruiz

We recorded today’s Statecraft after I saw this tweet from friend-of-the-pod Nick Bagley, and realized that we had to have him on immediately. What’s going on here? As President Trump kicks off his second term with a flurry of executive orders, his administration is being hit with a wave of injunctions: that is, district judges around the country are ordering the federal government to pause all kinds of actions. Democrats are praising the judges, Republicans are criticizing them.