March 18, 2019 ESTABLISHMENT GATEKEEPERS ARE COMING DOWN; IS THAT A GOOD THING? Matter of Fact By Television Appearance Americans are placing less and less trust in traditional institutions. According to Gallup, that trust has been waning for at least the past 20 years. And that means rising political stars don’t need the blessing of the establishment to win elections. Soledad O’Brien sits down with Republican strategist Bruce Mehlman to talk about the rise of what he calls “permissionless politics” and the potential downsides. Read the full article »
March 15, 2019 Tech giants face new threats from the government and regulators The Economist Software may be eating the world, as the technology investor Marc Andreessen famously said, “but the world is starting to bite back,” says Bruce Mehlman, a lobbyist in Washington. Read the full article »
February 25, 2019 Smaller tax refunds (so far) are a big headache for Republicans Politico By Aaron Lorenzo Sage Eastman of Mehlman Castagnetti, a former longtime Republican aide on the Ways and Means Committee, said, “People were voting in 2018, so you party with bigger paychecks in 2018 and risk the hangover in 2019 and hope it wears off before 2020.” Read the full article »
February 6, 2019 The State of Our Union Fox Business News By N/A Bruce Mehlman appears on Fox News Business to discuss why the state of our union is better than you think. Read the full article »
February 5, 2019 State Of The Union Is Trump’s First Major Speech In 2020 Election Cycle LISTEN· 5:03 NPR By Mara Liasson President Trump will deliver his State of the Union address Tuesday night to Congress and the nation. It’s his first major speech as the 2020 election cycle gets under way. Read the full article »
February 4, 2019 The state of our union is better than you think — here’s why Fox News By Bruce Mehlman Stories of Washington’s political dysfunction are legion, the laments predictably consistent. Tribalism is rising. The middle has disappeared. The media crave conflict. Voters tune out. Such sad and overwrought tales make for great copy. They reflect what we feel and they’re often true. Read the full article »
January 17, 2019 Axios AM: Mike’s Top 10 Axios By Mike Allen Bruce Mehlman of Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas, in one of his hotly awaited decks, says we’re moving toward a “Permissionless Planet,” spurring “mounting calls for new guardrails, gatekeepers or even systemic reform.” Read the full article »
January 15, 2019 The Daily 202: Anxiety about the pace of change animates populist movements on the right and left The Washington Post By James Hohmann Republican strategist Bruce Mehlman believes the defining clash of our time is between people who believe change is coming too slowly and those who believe change is happening too quickly. Read the full article »
January 9, 2019 Democrats seek early victories on drug prices The Hill By Peter Sullivan Lauren Aronson, executive director of the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing, said her group has “long supported the Creates Act and other bipartisan, market-based solutions that will put an end to Big Pharma’s abusive practices, boost competition and lower drug prices.” “We’re looking forward to continuing our work with lawmakers to advance these bills and provide relief to millions of Americans,” she said. Read the full article »
November 28, 2018 Looking To 2020, Both Democrats and Republicans See Costs and Benefits of Trump’s ‘MAGA’ Rallies in Midterm Election Results Los Angeles Times By Noah Bierman “People entered the 2018 election with pretty strong views of the president, one way or another,” said Bruce Mehlman, a Republican strategist and lobbyist who publishes a widely read political analysis. “The rallies didn’t change them. But the rallies allowed the president to make the election a referendum on him.” Read the full article »
Lobbyists Target Newly Elected Democrats Politico By Theordoric Meyer and Marianne Levine The number of new Democratic members who have forsworn accepting corporate PAC contributions — which would climb to 41 if T.J. Cox is confirmed to have beaten Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), according to End Citizens United PAC — has made some corporations nervous. Lobbyists have tried to reassure their clients that not all the newly elected Democrats consider themselves part of the progressive wing of the party. “When you look at those new members, there are a lot of moderate members, too,” said David Castagnetti, a partner at the lobbying firm Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas. “They’re not all hostile toward business.” Read the full article »
November 24, 2018 House Results Underscore That What’s Good For Trump Isn’t So Good For The GOP The Washington Post By Dan Balz Republican strategist Bruce Mehlman produced a set of charts analyzing the 2018 election, including one showing various fault lines within the electorate. They include divisions based on race, age, gender, education and geography. Race — whites vs. nonwhites — remains the biggest divide of all. But geography is by far the fastest growing, and now the urban-rural divide is almost as wide as the divide between whites and nonwhites. Read the full article »