Dylan Wells

New beat alert! I’m still at the @washingtonpost, but expanding my coverage and launching a newsletter about the creator economy next month (powered by @beehiiv). Sign up for Verified here — and in the meantime send me your tips and gossip 💌 wpcreator.washingtonpost.com/subscribe

I'm on a new beat at The Post, writing about consumer economics. To start us off! I wrote about the massive Boomer wealth that's about to get passed down, and how it will make our wealth gap even more extreme

*literally* me

I was heartbroken in February and again this week. Nearly every person involved with the stories about the war in Gaza that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize last year no longer works at The Post. They are best of us. 1/ pulitzer.org/node/staff-was…

News: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have donated $26 million to 20 charities across the country this week, per Swift’s longtime publicist Tree Paine. 9 of them are in New York. If you’re asking why $26 million? My thought… 13 is Taylor’s lucky number and 13 x 2 =26…

Really interesting read from @dylanewells Why it’s so hard to know who paid for political content on social media: wpcreator.washingtonpost.com/p/why-it-s-so-…

Tom Steyer concedes in a new statement and says: "It would be a travesty for Steve Hilton to win the governorship, and Californians must unite behind Xavier Becerra to ensure he does not." #CAGOV

Mace conceding defeat, endorsing Alan Wilson in #SCGov. "I want a law and order governor." Quite a turn! mace.house.gov/media/press-re…

@jesusrodriguezb @NewYorker Iconic as always

DEPT. OF PERSONAL NEWS: I’m delighted to share that I’m now a staff writer at the @NewYorker, based in D.C. I’ll be covering the political scene from Washington, the campaign trail, and beyond. Send coffee invites/chisme/hate/other treats to jesus_rodriguez@newyorker.com.

Great Politico scoop via @JasonBeeferman: "Polymarket is paying some of social media’s biggest political influencers" politico.com/news/2026/06/0…

NEW: Fox News (and other conservative outlets) were never really a thing on TikTok. But over the past year, the conservative media giant has surged on the platform, adding millions of followers and getting 1B views/month.

I can’t explain how crazy it is to have pitched a feature on clipping to million outlets last yr (with a great scoop abt a big Erika Kirk clipping campaign after Charlie’s shooting!) only to be told it was too “niche.” Then 9 mo later every single MSM outlet writes the story lol

Paramount in talks with Katie Miller for podcast deal as it eyes expansion axios.com/2026/05/14/par…

Spencer Pratt is currently running 2 paid clipping campaigns. Creators are being offered $$ to post clips of Pratt from the recent debate, along with Pratt's recent podcast appearances. Pages need to have 50%+ USA audience to participate, but do not need to be based in CA.

Nice meeting you @SenLummis

Three months later, this is my last @washingtonpost story — delayed because nearly everyone involved in it was laid off. I am very grateful to newsroom friends who made sure it published anyway, and to brave Roman Mongold and his family for their time. wapo.st/4cNY7Cm

I get the influencer angle here, but one of the reports about the shooter being dead came from a CNN reporter who was set to receive a *journalism award* at the WHCD. That's as mainstream as it gets. wsj.com/business/media…

Seeing a lot of DC people mock TMZ for this… but I’m sure most Americans aren’t familiar with the congressional calendar and glad to see an outlet with an apolitical audience highlighting it. Congress doesn’t do *no* work on recess, ofc, but if they’re proud of their schedule, they should be able to defend it to an informed constituency

Big majorities of American adults actively try to avoid the news, per @APNORC > - 62% avoid stories about Trump - 69% avoid news on social media - 57% avoid national politics news apnorc.org/projects/the-e…

The public video of the WHCD incident sucks, so we reviewed a much clearer version that establishes new findings, including which agent fired the first shots — three of which zipped pretty close to Secret Service and TSA personnel. 🎁 link wapo.st/4tQWvNW

@matthewjreidy @hannahdemissie Crushed it 👏🏼

A night that will stay with me forever. The assignment of covering the president at the WHCD felt straightforward— what unfolded was anything but. Thankful for the U.S. Secret Service and and the various agencies who stood between us and the chaos.