• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

Trump’s PAC Men

James Blair and Chris LaCivita are set to embark on an ambitious midterm agenda, working amid a sprawling web of interlinked super PACs, LLCs, and dark money groups that make it difficult to know who’s funding whom—and how much anyone is getting paid. It’s either sinister or brilliant, depending on one’s politics, but almost certainly both.

james blair
James Blair, who turns 37 next week, is among the chief architects of Republicans’ election strategy, which includes an evolving MAGA financing network. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Leigh Ann Caldwell
May 19, 2026

Join Puck to listen to this article

With just five months to go before the midterms, White House deputy chief of staff James Blair is returning to the private sector—just in time to oversee an absolute geyser of Republican political spending. In many ways, it’s a return to the job that he has trained for all his career, only with higher stakes and a larger profile.