Marisa Kabas | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1987-09-04)September 4, 1987 (age 37) |
| Education | Journalism (2009) |
| Alma mater | George Washington University |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Website | thehandbasket |
Marisa Kabas (born August 4, 1987[1][2]) is an Americanindependent journalist,[3] former political strategist, and creator of the newsletterThe Handbasket.
She started off working inpublic relations before becoming a journalist.[4] She startedfreelancing forToday.com before moving to work atThe Daily Dot.[4] Kabas has written freelance forMSNBC, theHuffington Post,The New Republic,[2] andRolling Stone.[5]
She was the director of Crush 2020, a political action organization,[6] and a former political strategist.[7]
She started her newsletter,The Handbasket, in June 2022[8][5] for personal writing and essays, before switching to reporting the next year.[2] The newsletter, free and named after the phrase "to hell in a handbasket," also has a paid subscription.[2] She began writing full-time in 2024 for her newsletter.[5]
The Handbasket wrote daily updates onGeorge Santos' scandals,[9] and aboutThe Kansas Reflector, which was raided by police in 2023.
Kabas broke the news that Trump's second administration ordered staff at theNational Institutes of Health to stop travelling.[4] Days later, she broke the news that it was also was freezingfederal grants, first posting onBluesky about it.[2][8] Herscoops increased the amount of paid subscribers from 800 to 1,900.[5] The memo on federal grants was reversed two days after Kabas posted about it.[2] The Associated Press called it "a key moment for a growing cadre of journalists who work independently to gather and analyze news and market themselves as brands."[10]
Kabas grew up onLong Island,[10] attended attendedGeorge Washington University,[4] and lives inBrooklyn, New York City[2] with her husband.[8] She isJewish and says a grandparent survivedthe Holocaust.[5][4] Kabas hasacromegaly caused by a tumor calledpituitary adenoma, diagnosed in 2018,[6] and wrote extensively[7] about her treatment on the blogging websiteMedium. She had the tumor cells removed from her brain in early 2021.[6]
