DataRepublican is going after John Thune & his handlers this morning

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

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@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?

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@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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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