PopInfo Weekly: Medicaid, Mamdani, and misinformation
A Popular Information analysis found that American taxpayers are spending billions each year on Medicaid benefits for hundreds of thousands of Amazon and Walmart employees. The companies are two of the largest and most profitable in the US, but many of their employees qualify for Medicaid because their take-home pay hovers at or below the poverty line.
On Sunday, the New York Post ran a story with the headline: “STAY AWAY: Thousands of 9/11 families demand Mamdani be banned from 25th-Anniversary.” The story covered a petition on Change.org started by Giovanni Galante, whose wife was a victim of the 9/11 attacks. But in an interview with Popular Information, Galante acknowledged that there was no actual list of family members who had signed the petition.
The second Trump administration has been waging war on the Smithsonian Institution. Recently, this fight led to a report accusing the National Museum of American History of “extreme political activism” and an executive order calling for warning signs outside the museum. Why is President Trump so worked up about this? Popular Information explored the influence of fake “historian” David Barton and his son Tim.
The far-right news outlet Newsmax announced this week that it struck a deal to allow Meta to train its AI products on its reporting. Newsmax’s CEO is close friends with Trump and the outlet has frequently pushed misinformation, including the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. https://popular.info/p/meta-will-train-its-ai-on-far-right
The best of the rest
Last year, DOGE delayed a $10 million grant that would have funded efforts to thin out about 4,000 acres of forest at high risk of burning in Minnesota. According to the Washington Post, “[m]ost of that work never got started.” Now, some of these same forests are ablaze. (Washington Post)
Mother Jones obtained a July 2025 report that revealed that “at least two officers affiliated with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) systematically collected vehicle, license plate, and social media information from everyday people last summer, and at times entered that data into a digital evidence management platform.” Some of these people attended anti-ICE protests, but another “simply drove his Jeep around a public parking lot.” (Mother Jones)
MAGA influencer Nick Adams has been celebrated by the Trump administration for the work of his nonprofit, Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness (FLAG), which provides civics education to American children. But a ProPublica investigation found little evidence that FLAG has actually provided any educational materials to students or schools. Meanwhile, the nonprofit has been paying Adams and his mother a combined compensation of over half a million dollars — roughly half of its annual revenue. (ProPublica)
Numerical information
Over 600: The number of soldiers wounded in the Iran War, according to new data released by the Pentagon. Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the war.
1.5%: The US economy expanded at only a 1.5% pace during the second quarter of the year.
$10 million: The amount the Trump administration is seeking from Congress to cover extra expenses incurred during its Freedom 250 events earlier this month.
Quote of the week
“Fidel Castro was a billionaire. Putin is a billionaire. The leaders of communist regimes are always rich. They steal and rob from those they govern.”
– Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX)
(Trump made over $2 billion in 2025 alone, while in office.)
Photo of the week
And his 2028 AI-generated photo got 21K likes??? Bots??
The "2028" photo looks like it was taken about 40 - 50 years ago. . .maybe when he was at Zorro Ranch, or on his "special friend's" island in the Carribean. Because, frankly, sweetheart, he hasn't looked that good since he was shaking down poor people who inhabited his rat-infested apartment buildings.