Philip Bump

New York

National columnist focused largely on the numbers behind politics

Education: Ohio State University

Philip Bump is a columnist for The Washington Post based in New York. He writes the weekly newsletter How To Read This Chart, to which you should subscribe. He's also the author of The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America.
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Latest from Philip Bump

Your regular reminder: Rally turnout doesn’t predict election results

Trump had a big rally in New Jersey over the weekend. And?

May 13, 2024
Donald Trump greets supporters during a campaign rally in Wildwood, N.J., on Saturday.

A choice young voters see: Upend the country too much or not enough?

New swing-state polling released by Siena College and the New York Times shows President Biden’s continued weakness. But how predictive is it?

May 13, 2024
A ripped American flag alongside a road in Charlotte in August 2020.

Why Donald Trump ended up praising Hollywood’s most famous cannibal

During an angry speech in New Jersey, Trump allowed his exaggerations to overflow.

May 13, 2024
Former president Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Wildwood, N.J., on Saturday.

Republicans have a new new theory of why Biden should be impeached

Republicans have introduced more than a dozen articles of impeachment against President Biden over the years. This time, it’s because of Israel.

May 10, 2024
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) yells as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington in October.

Of course Trump intertwined the Trump Organization into his presidency

If reelected, there’s no reason to think that he’d do anything different.

May 10, 2024
Former president Donald Trump watches as former White House aide Madeleine Westerhout is cross-examined by defense attorney Susan Necheles during Trump's criminal trial in New York on Friday.

Trump thinks his anti-green culture war is worth a $1 billion donation

The presumptive Republican nominee’s pitch to Big Oil was only superficially about business.

May 10, 2024
Fumes rise from the exhaust pipes of a truck in Miami on Nov. 5, 2019.

No, Democrats didn’t vote to give noncitizens a voice in Congress

The government already asks a citizenship question. In the Trump era, though, people are less interested in answering it.

May 9, 2024
People participate in a naturalization ceremony in Phoenix on July 4, 2018.

For Marjorie Taylor Greene, getting booed by the House is no disincentive

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s desired outcomes aren’t the same as a traditional politician’s.

May 9, 2024
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) speaks to the media on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday.

What extremism looks like to Sean Hannity and his party

The Fox News host offered a litany of extremist transgressions from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — such as having supported affirmative action.

May 9, 2024
Fox News host Sean Hannity, seen in 2022, did a segment on his show Wednesday evening about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The 2020-was-stolen crew is here to stoke fears of noncitizen voters

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) led a news conference featuring key Trump allies in which he tried to amplify baseless warnings about non-citizen voters.

May 8, 2024
Trump adviser Stephen Miller watches as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) speaks to reporters outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.