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February 07, 2025 | The American Prospect

Hannah Story Brown

Op-Ed 2024 Election/TransitionClimate and EnvironmentDoug BurgumEthics in GovernmentInteriorTech

Trump’s Energy Czar Is All In on AI

When Donald Trump nominated North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to be his interior secretary, centrist to right-of-center “abundance agenda” advocates were jubilant. Politico reported, with typically amoral zeal, that Interior would be led by an “overnight rock star in the tech and energy worlds.” Burgum has a foot in both camps, as a former governor from fracking country with deep ties to fossil fuel executives like fracking magnate Harold Hamm, and a venture capitalist invested in software companies who sold his own software company to Microsoft for $1.1 billion in 2001.

January 23, 2025 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Jeff Hauser

Newsletter 2024 Election/Transition

Four Pillars to Hold Up the Roof of Resistance

This week has been…well, whatever negative thing you want to say about American politics, we probably agree with you. Or think you’re being a bit too hopeful. That said, the coming months must eventually end up as a nadir in the trajectory of modern history. Even if #resistance is seemingly out of fashion (and wrongly so: not all elements of the recent past should be deemed cringe, and #resistance was a net positive, even if it led to outsized audiences for alternatively gauche and grifting behavior), resistance is not only necessary—it can and must succeed.

January 15, 2025 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

KJ Boyle

Newsletter 2024 Election/TransitionClimate and EnvironmentHousingIndependent Agencies

Tough Questions For Trump Nominees: The Lee Zeldin and Scott Turner Edition

We urged a more aggressive and justifiably confrontational approach in our recommended questions for Doug Burgum, Chris Wright, Russell Vought, Pam Bondi, and Scott Bessent, which you can read here and here. Today we’ll get into questions for Lee Zeldin, nominee for the Environmental Protection Agency, and Scott Turner, nominee for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

January 08, 2025 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Hannah Story Brown

Newsletter 2024 Election/TransitionClimate and EnvironmentCorporate Crackdown

Who Bought The Presidency?

With less than two weeks until Trump’s inauguration, the Senate confirmation process for his roster of loyalists will be underway before we know it. The confirmation hearings for Trump’s energy picks are already set, with hearings for Interior nominee Doug Burgum, Energy nominee Chris Wright, and EPA nominee Lee Zeldin scheduled for January 14, January 15, and Wednesday or Thursday of next week respectively. This newsletter series will highlight the ties between Trump’s personnel picks and the exploitative industries and their billionaire CEOs who will be enriched by their appointments.

December 11, 2024 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Hannah Story Brown

Newsletter 2024 Election/TransitionClimate and EnvironmentDoug BurgumInterior

Doug Burgum and the Myth of the “Normal” Trump Nominee

Trump has spent the month since the election firing off a rapid torrent of Cabinet picks. His nominees generally fall into two types: obviously whacko (see Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, RFK Jr.) and superficially normal (think Marco Rubio, Doug Burgum, Pam Bondi). While the headline-grabbing scandals and general trumpery of the first group easily draw scorn, it’s important that we not grade the second group on a credulous curve, overlooking the economic interests behind their soothingly conventional manner.