Thread by @DataRepublican

. @PunchbowlNews would you like to comment on this business model I've reversed engineered of how you keep @LeaderJohnThune in line?

@PunchbowlNews @LeaderJohnThune Punchbowl, would you also like to comment on how virtually every major sponsor of yours has donated to John Thune for a total of 1.2 million?

@AndrewDesiderio , any comments?

@PunchbowlNews @LeaderJohnThune @AndrewDesiderio By the way ... the only people who are sponsoring me on this are my $3/month subscribers. I don't know any heavy hitter here who's been approached to go against SAVE America Act.

John Thune is your paid influencer.

This is the mother of all projections.

Let's go through Thune's handlers, shall we? The crossover Punchbowl sponsors who also donated to Thune.

Goldman Sachs, $150,000 to Thune:
Top financial-sector H-1B user. Relies on foreign talent pipeline for trading, quant, and tech roles. Primary stake: filibuster preservation blocks financial regulation reform. A stricter enforcement ecosystem threatens their workforce model and signals a broader documentation-verification environment they oppose.

Comcast/NBCUniversal, $120,000 to Thune:
Major H-1B user for engineering and tech. Owns MSNBC, the cable network that platforms @AndrewDesiderio himself to amplify Thune's framing nationally. Comcast's cable/infrastructure workforce includes significant numbers of undocumented- adjacent workers. Unique dual stake: financial interest in immigration permissiveness AND editorial interest in maintaining the access journalism model.

Chevron, $111,000 to Thune:
Uses H-1B visas for petroleum engineers and technical staff. Refinery and pipeline operations rely on immigrant labor at lower skill tiers. Stake in SAVE Act specifically is moderate — primary lobbying focus is energy regulation — but benefits structurally from filibuster preservation that slows all enforcement legislation.

Merck, $100,000 to Thune:
Top pharma H-1B employer. Approximately 30% of US pharmaceutical researchers are foreign-born on work visas. Merck has actively lobbied for STEM immigration expansion. PhRMA member — same filibuster-dependency rationale: drug pricing reform dies at 60 votes. A tighter identity-verification enforcement environment would disrupt their researcher pipeline.

Wells Fargo, $90,000 to Thune:
Banks undocumented immigrants via ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) accounts — a significant revenue stream. Wells Fargo has an active ITIN mortgage lending program that extends home loans to non-citizens without Social Security Numbers. Strict ID verification norms that SAVE Act signals would threaten this customer base. Also a major H-1B employer for technology roles.

American Express, $75,000 to Thune:
H-1B user for technology and data science roles. Provides financial services to international travelers and non-citizen customers. Opposes documentation requirements that reduce the size of their serviceable customer base. A confirmed Punchbowl event attendee (Brett Loper, Govt Affairs) and consistent Thune donor.

@PunchbowlNews @LeaderJohnThune @AndrewDesiderio Google/Alphabet, $75,000 to Thune:
Among the largest H-1B sponsors in the United States annually. Lobbied against mandatory E-Verify. Employees donated heavily to FWD . us (the Zuckerberg-founded pro-immigration lobbying coalition). Google supported DACA protections.

Meta/Facebook, $72,500 to Thune:
Zuckerberg co-founded FWD . us in 2013 — the most prominent pro-immigration corporate lobbying coalition in Washington. Meta subject of a reinstated federal lawsuit (2024) for systematically preferring foreign workers over US citizens in job postings. Spent $935K+ funding American Edge Project newsletter ads on Punchbowl, Axios, and Politico while lobbying against tech regulation.