Follow Epolitics on Substack, Bluesky, Threads, or Twitter/X. This post was also published on Substack.
Launched in 2006, Epolitics is written and edited by Colin Delany, who has helped nonprofits and political campaigns use digital tools in effective and creative ways since the days of the dot-com boom. He is also a frequent speaker and trainer and the author of How to Use the Internet to Change the World – and Win Elections. Contact him at cpd@epolitics.com.
Welcome, new readers! And everyone else, thanks for sticking with me through another sparse publishing period. Let’s get right to it — on with the show.
Quick Hits: September 28, 2025
- Ten lessons Democrats can learn from Catelin Drey’s big win.
- The Fundraising-Industrial Complex Is Eating American Politics. “New data reveals campaigns burn about a third of donations raised just asking for more donations”.
- Innovation Will Be Driven by the Need to Meet Voters Where They Are.
- Memo Calls on ActBlue to Ramp Up Enforcement of New Policies. Featuring friend-of-Epolitics Josh Nelson.
- Right-wing Facebook scammers are grifting off Charlie Kirk’s death.
- Right-Wing Activists Are Targeting People for Allegedly Celebrating Charlie Kirk’s Death, and ‘War Is Here’: The Far-Right Responds to Charlie Kirk Shooting With Calls for Violence.
- Why Charlie Kirk Mattered So Much to the Right. “Kirk reimagined what it means to be a modern right-wing political figure. His most lasting legacy may be that he showed the Republican party the way to compete in today’s frenetic media world.”
- How Charlie Kirk Used Controversy—Often Delivered in Person—to Construct Our New Media Ecosystem.
- With few facts about the Kirk shooting, wild speculation abounds. [Published shortly after the shooting].
- How Charlie Kirk’s social media machine rewired a generation’s politics.
- The Fallout from Charlie Kirk’s Death Online. Including “Google Search spikes and unprecedented engagement for right-wing social media”.
- Social Platforms Duck Blame for Inflaming Divisions Before Charlie Kirk’s Death.
- Why Right-Wing Outlets Attacked Wikipedia After Charlie Kirk’s Shooting. Once again, the facts have a liberal bias.
- Global politics happens on Discord now.
- All the Sad Young Terminally Online Men.
- What Democrats Can Learn From Charlie Kirk. Creating a “culture of belonging”.
- Trump Downplays Post Threatening Chicago, Saying He Wants to ‘Clean Up’ City. C.f. Trump Angrily Tells Reporter His Own Truth Post Is ‘Fake News’.
- DOJ Deletes Study Showing Domestic Terrorists Are Most Often Right Wing.
- I Gazed Into the Abyss of Truth Social’s Streaming Service. “Truth+ exposes the grift and grief at the heart of Trump’s big media bet.”
- We Analyzed Thousands of Videos by MAHA Influencers. Here’s what we found.
- The Influencer FBI. “The skill set required to succeed online may not always translate to effective law enforcement.”
- Yet ANOTHER Right-Wing Payola Media Scandal!
- A Dark Money Group Is Secretly Funding High-Profile Democratic Influencers, pledging them to silence and controlling content. Many were not amused. C.f. Why Dems Keep Screwing Up Media Efforts.
- Instagram Account Promotes Holocaust Denial T-Shirts to 400,000 Followers. Meta: It’s cool, yo.
- Beyond Our Borders: How Foreign Disinformation Exploits America’s Pain.
- At least 19 killed, hundreds injured in protests after Nepal social media ban.
- How ICE Is Using Fake Cell Towers To Spy On People’s Phones.
- Google admits the open web is in ‘rapid decline’. Adios, digital commons.
- Newsletter Frequency Test: The Strategy Behind A 500% Engagement Surge.
- Consumers Are Warming Up to Digital Ads and AI, Report Finds.
- I Thought I Knew Silicon Valley. I Was Wrong. “Tech got what it wanted by electing Trump. A year later, it looks more like a suicide pact.”
- She Fought the Far Right Online for Years. Now She Wants to Do It in Congress.
- Why Feminists Must Defend Encryption.
- ActBlue Enters the Digital Organizing Game With New Acquisition.
- How to Turn a Brain Dump into a Strategy Using AI.
- The Virtual Reality Hype Cycle: Lessons for the Age of AI.
- Stop Chasing Magic Words. Start Connecting. “Yes, words matter. But authenticity matters more.”
– cpd
Top photo via Pixabay