MOTHER JONES DAILY: Russ Vought Is Trump’s Shutdown Hero. His Neighbors Think His Work Is “Abhorrent.”, For furloughed workers, Trump's partisan shutdown jabs are just the latest slight, Taking stock of the Roberts court at 20—and the shadowy forces that built it, It may be hard to stop Trump from privatizing our public lands, The “war-ravaged” Portland only exists in Trump’s head., The bureaucrat who could make Trump's authoritarian dreams real (From 2024) 3OKT25

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October 3, 2025 Are you familiar with Russell Vought? You may recall that we've been reporting on this bespectacled fellow for the past year, warning that Vought is the key to delivering Donald Trump's most authoritarian plans. But the government shutdown has made Vought, now the director of the Office of Management and Budget, a central player in today's hellscape news cycle, particularly as mass layoffs over the shutdown seem imminent. As fellow Republican Sen. Mike Lee admitted the other day, Vought has been dreaming about this day "since puberty."  Charming, right? But what do Vought's neighbors have to say about this man? What do they think about living next to the so-called mastermind behind Project 2025? My heroic colleague Isabela Dias went to Vought's Virginia suburb to find out—and it's not pretty. As one neighbor told Isabela, "So many people in this neighborhood are federal workers. They do really good work, and they just feel so disrespected." "He calls himself a Christian," another said. "Pretty despicable." For more on what Vought's neighborhood thinks of him, and the blunt signs they've posted on their yards, read Isabela's great piece here. —Inae Oh

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Russ Vought Is Trump’s Shutdown Hero. His Neighbors Think His Work Is “Abhorrent.” The people living near Trump's "grim reaper" of government cuts have put up signs letting him know they stand with federal workers. BY ISABELA DIAS

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For furloughed workers, Trump's partisan shutdown jabs are just the latest slight BY ANNA ROGERS Taking stock of the Roberts court at 20—and the shadowy forces that built it BY PEMA LEVY It may be hard to stop Trump from privatizing our public lands BY CHRISTINE PETERSON The “war-ravaged” Portland only exists in Trump’s head. BY KEVIN FOSTER

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The bureaucrat who could make Trump's authoritarian dreams real (From 2024) Russ Vought has a plan to take presidential power to new heights. BY ISABELA DIAS

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