Tim Sprunt

DC | Former @ppi and @AEI | @cwru alum | Lifelong @pirates fan and follower of @atptour

[US Open Tennis @usopen]

On Monday night, Roger Federer received his ring from the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

[Jonah Goldberg @JonahDispatch]

Sophistic, demagogic, horseshit.

First: It’s not the General’s job to ask that (though I am sure many do).

Second: Generals aren’t asking to go to war, as far as I can tell.

Third, and most importantly, IT IS THE JOB of legislators to ask “how are WE going to pay for” things

And that’s the job Sayed is running for. Senators are supposed to ask how to pay for things and make choices based on the math of the money available. That’s literally it, that’s the job.

He wants to make low brow social media arguments as if they’re brilliant.

[Pittsburgh Pirates @Pirates]

Opening Debut.

[José Morgado @josemorgado]

Absolutely amazing video from the @atptour

[PPI @ppi]

670,000+ furloughed workers.
$14B in permanent economic losses.
Critical federal services destabilized.

PPI’s @timsprunt details the steep costs of the longest shutdown in U.S. history—and argues it's time for Congress to bring it to an end. https://t.co/6icEvGau0X

[Tim Sprunt @timsprunt]

And read my longer report with @BudgetBen on how we can pair this reform with meaningful changes to Medicare that will actually cut health-care costs for patients and taxpayers.

https://t.co/cRvWbcQnss

[Tim Sprunt @timsprunt]

My latest for @PPI dives into how to handle expiring enhanced ACA subsidies. Instead of establishing income caps, which would recreate the benefit cliff problem with the original ACA, benefits should gradually phase-out for households as their incomes increase.

[Tim Sprunt @timsprunt]

This change would ensure we’re providing generous benefits to those who need it while not giving windfalls to high-income households.

https://t.co/quCJRCenPP

[Tim Sprunt @timsprunt]

@JMackeyPG Novak has to be on the list if you’re gonna include Roger and Rafa

[Derek Thompson @DKThomp]

The tragedy here has levels.

It's not just that the U.S. has terminated congressionally mandated USAID contracts covering all of our global tuberculosis programs, all supplies of emergency food packets around the world, and malaria supplies for 50 million ppl.

It's also folks in the comments—many of whom are already paying the lowest effective federal tax rate in decades, for their quintile—cheering the end of life-saving programs they never knew existed. It's like:

"Hey bro, so we reduced your total federal tax rate several times in the last half century."

"Awesome."

"And we're gonna try to reduce it further."

"I love it."

"Oh, and for trivial savings you will never experience, or notice, or think about, we also canceled programs we had on the books that were saving millions of lives."

"Hell ya! Incredible stuff. Thank you so much!"

[Governor Josh Shapiro @GovernorShapiro]

Come and take it.

[Roger Federer @rogerfederer]

Vamos, @RafaelNadal!

As you get ready to graduate from tennis, I’ve got a few things to share before I maybe get emotional.

Let’s start with the obvious: you beat me—a lot. More than I managed to beat you. You challenged me in ways no one else could. On clay, it felt like I was stepping into your backyard, and you made me work harder than I ever thought I could just to hold my ground. You made me reimagine my game—even going so far as to change the size of my racquet head, hoping for any edge.

I’m not a very superstitious person, but you took it to the next level. Your whole process. All those rituals. Assembling your water bottles like toy soldiers in formation, fixing your hair, adjusting your underwear... All of it with the highest intensity. Secretly, I kind of loved the whole thing. Because it was so unique—it was so you.

And you know what, Rafa, you made me enjoy the game even more. 

OK, maybe not at first. After the 2004 Australian Open, I achieved the #1 ranking for the first time. I thought I was on top of the world. And I was—until two months later, when you walked on the court in Miami in your red sleeveless shirt, showing off those biceps, and you beat me convincingly. All that buzz I’d been hearing about you—about this amazing young player from Mallorca, a generational talent, probably going to win a major someday—it wasn’t just hype.

We were both at the start of our journey and it’s one we ended up taking together. Twenty years later, Rafa, I have to say: What an incredible run you’ve had. Including 14 French Opens—historic! You made Spain proud... you made the whole tennis world proud.

I keep thinking about the memories we’ve shared. Promoting the sport together. Playing that match on half-grass, half-clay. Breaking the all-time attendance record by playing in front of more than 50,000 fans in Cape Town, South Africa. Always cracking each other up. Wearing each other out on the court and then, sometimes, almost literally having to hold each other up during trophy ceremonies.

I’m still grateful you invited me to Mallorca to help launch the Rafa Nadal Academy in 2016. Actually, I kind of invited myself. I knew you were too polite to insist on me being there, but I didn’t want to miss it. You have always been a role model for kids around the world, and Mirka and I are so glad that our children have all trained at your academies. They had a blast and learned so much—like thousands of other young players. Although I always worried my kids would come home playing tennis as lefties.

And then there was London—the Laver Cup in 2022. My final match. It meant everything to me that you were there by my side—not as my rival but as my doubles partner. Sharing the court with you that night, and sharing those tears, will forever be one of the most special moments of my career.

Rafa, I know you’re focused on the last stretch of your epic career. We will talk when it’s done. For now, I just want to congratulate your family and team, who all played a massive role in your success. And I want you to know that your old friend is always cheering for you, and will be cheering just as loud for everything you do next.

Rafa that!

Best always, your fan, 

Roger

[David Brooks @DavidBrooks224]

America is a bitterly divided nation. This is how we got this way. https://t.co/cEsxgvFevX

[Matthew Gertz @MattGertz]

Well. That's not good.

[Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @Noahpinion]

Look, I don't know how else to put this, but...this stuff just doesn't have any juice anymore. It's nonsense, everyone can see it's nonsense, and the country has walked away from it. It's not going to be the basis of a new America, or the Resistance, or anything. It's cooked.

[Ritchie Torres @RitchieTorres]

Peter Beinart has an op-ed claiming that outrage among young Black Americans against Israel is one of the causes of Democratic defeat in the 2024 election.

Beware of white progressives who project their own ideological biases onto working-class communities of color. Here’s the ground-level truth. If you’re a young man of color struggling to pay your rent, put food on the table, and keep your family afloat, the furthest issue on your mind is a conflict 5000 miles away. The existential issue for you is inflation. The crippling cost of living is the cause of your discontent. Anyone claiming otherwise is representing their own ideological imagination rather than reality.

[Derek Thompson @DKThomp]

My big-picture explanation for Trump’s crushing victory is this:

This wasn’t the 1st post-pandemic election. It was the 2nd COVID presidential election.

You can’t explain Trump’s across-the-board romp without seeing the ways—obvious and subtle—that the pandemic haunted 2024

[Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @Noahpinion]

364,000 likes for this nonsense.

If you want Democrats to spend a decade in the political wilderness, this is how you do it.

[Jake Sherman @JakeSherman]

Free Press on CBS meeting: “There was an open debate in the meeting about whether it is “fair to talk about whether Israel should exist at all.” There are some people at CBS who think that “Israel’s existence as a state should be part of fair conversation,” said one CBS source. Can you imagine journalists having that conversation about any other country?”

https://t.co/3sFL3ADnYY

[James Hohmann @jameshohmann]

Tony Dokoupil’s tough questions on Israel were good journalism.

The CBS anchor was doing his job in his interview with guest Ta-Nehisi Coates.

New column from @RuthMarcus:

https://t.co/Z7Jn4cUhXS