Politics

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Election 2024

Teens Say Trump’s Former Personal Aide and Project 2025 Higher-Up Made Them Uncomfortable in Chats

Two women tell WIRED that when they were 18-year-old college freshmen, John McEntee, a former Trump administration official and cofounder of a Peter Thiel–backed dating app, behaved in ways they considered inappropriate in online conversations.

Vittoria Elliott

WIRED Politics Lab

Laura Loomer: The ‘Free Spirit’ Whispering in Trump’s Ear

Leah Feiger

WIRED Politics Lab

Barron Trump Is Finally Taking the Stage

Makena Kelly

Policy

Project 2025 Would Drastically Cut Support for Carbon Removal

The Heritage Foundation’s plan for a potential Trump second term has little time for schemes to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Matt Reynolds

Surprise! The Latest ‘Comprehensive’ US Privacy Bill Is Doomed

Gutted of civil rights protections by Democrats to woo pro-business Republicans, the American Privacy Rights Act was pulled from a key congressional hearing—and appears unlikely to receive a full vote.

Dell Cameron

Secrecy Concerns Mount Over Spy Powers Targeting US Data Centers

A coalition of digital rights groups is demanding the US declassify records that would clarify just how expansive a major surveillance program really is.

Dell Cameron

The Affordable Connectivity Program Has a Lifeline in the Senate

The ACP provided a broadband subsidy for millions of Americans. Now Congress has a plan to reinstate it.

Makena Kelly

Disinformation

US Senate Warns Big Tech to Act Fast Against Election Meddling

In an Intelligence Committee hearing with representatives from Google, Apple, and Meta on Wednesday, senators stressed that foreign influence is far from a solved problem.

Dell Cameron

What Right-Wing Influencers Actually Said in Those Tenet Media Videos

A WIRED analysis shows that right-wing stars like Tim Pool and Benny Johnson focused on topics like Elon Musk and supposed racism toward white people in hundreds of videos allegedly paid for by Russia.

Tim Marchman and Dhruv Mehrotra

DOJ: Russia Aimed Propaganda at Gamers, Minorities to Swing 2024 Election

Newly unsealed court documents reveal in unprecedented detail a campaign called the Good Old USA Project, which Russian authorities believed could impact the US election.

David Gilbert

Right-Wing Influencer Network Tenet Media Allegedly Spread Russian Disinformation

In an unsealed indictment, the DOJ alleges that employees of state-owned RT contracted for and oversaw the dissemination of Kremlin talking points by popular right-wing influencers, including Benny Johnson and Tim Pool.

Andrew Couts and Tim Marchman

Global Elections

Suspected Trump Gunman Was Once Charged With Possession of a Weapon of Mass Destruction

"I figured he was either dead or in prison by now," says the charging officer in Ryan Routh's 2002 arrest, who spoke with WIRED on Sunday.

Leah Feiger and Tim Marchman

A Single Iranian Hacker Group Targeted Both Presidential Campaigns, Google Says

APT42, which is believed to work for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, targeted about a dozen people associated with both Trump’s and Biden’s campaigns this spring, according to Google’s Threat Analysis Group.

Andy Greenberg

Sensitive Illinois Voter Data Exposed by Contractor’s Unsecured Databases

Social Security numbers, death certificates, voter applications, and other personal data were accessible on the open internet, highlighting the ongoing challenges in election security.

Lily Hay Newman

How a Secret BJP War Room Mobilized Female Voters to Win the Indian Elections

A sophisticated effort used technology to identify women who could bring other women out to vote—and offered a glimpse of the future of campaigning in India.

Nilesh Christopher and Varsha Bansal

Politics News

Elon Musk Is a National Security Risk

Musk’s now-deleted post questioning why no one has attempted to assassinate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris renews concerns over his work for the US government—and potential to inspire extremist violence.

Andrew Couts