Politico Magazine released their annual list of 50 Ideas Blowing Up American Politics (And the People Behind them) a few weeks back. It’s a list everyone should check it out – regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum – because it does an excellent job of presenting 50-people who you might not have heard of, but could have a significant impact on your life or your future kids’ life.

Summarizing all 50 would be too much for one piece so it will be broken down to the top-25. These are all political characters you should pay attention too.

1. Steve Bannon – Bannon is Donald Trump’s former Chief of Staff. He’s a well-educated man who was the editor-in-chief at Breitbart news before becoming Trump’s CoS and after getting fired he returned to that position. The highlight of Bannon’s reign on Trump’s campaign and political career was when he got VIP seats for some of the girls who accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault for one of the presidential debates. It stole headlines and rendered the actual topics of discussion for the debate useless. It remains one of the greatest campaign ploys in political history. Although Bannon is out of the West Wing and back at Breitbart, his voice still matters, because it matters to people at the West Wing who matter. That voice is pushing hard for anti-immigration and global economic nationalism. Do not underestimate Bannon, or you’ll rue the day.
2. Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin – When Trump was elected, everyone with an opinion and social media account started to spout off their opinion about how much of a tragedy it was. But very few actually discussed what the next play was to stop Trump now that he was elected. That’s where Greenberg and Levin come in. The two of them created Indivisible, a political playbook of how to stop Trump’s legislation from the ground up. If followed, Democrats could have the house back in 2018, and stop Trump’s re-election in 2020 and get their own candidate in. If you hate Trump, listen to these two like they’re your parents until Trump is out of office.
3. Neil Gorsuch – One of the first hardline conservative decisions Trump made was appointing Gorsuch as a Supreme Court Justice. Gorusch believes in originalism, which is a school of thought that believes the Constitution is meant to be followed based on its original form until a modernized version is created. That may sound harmless, but keep in mind that people of color were slaves at the time the Constitution was written and that women couldn’t vote or work. He is one of the main characters who needs be pushed out of his position as quickly as possible for the good of the country.
4. Sally Yates – Remember a time when you stood up for what you believe in, regardless of consequences and the authoritarian figure who would come down on you with their wrath of power? Enjoy this last moment of being proud of it, because Yates will make you forget about it. Yates was the former US Attorney General and when Trump presented his travel ban, Yates ruled it unconstitutional due to its clear judgment of people based on religion. Shortly after Yates ruling, Trump issued her a handwritten letter to inform her that she had been fired. Yates stands by the ruling that she made, and that is why she is now known as the face of institutional resistance.
5. Mick Mulvaney – Mulvaney is the current Director of Office of Management and Budget. It’s a position that is usually only followed by nuanced political followers, but in Trump’s administration every position needs to be followed. Mulvaney is a supporter of radical small government and in his 2018 budget blueprint he suggested massive cuts everywhere but military spending. America is already the world’s biggest military spender by far, responsible for more than a third of the world’s military spending. Mulvaney’s budget plan is like if the Patriots released half their starters and just gave the money saved to Tom Brady. If Mulvaney’s name is attached to something, you should have a lot of questions.
6. Lonnie Bunch III – Bunch’s political and cultural importance has been increased due to the recent debate over confederate statues and monuments. Bunch opened the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the nation’s capital and near the White House. Bunch had been making the idea a reality since 2005 as the founding director and he finally opened the museum in a time where modern American history needed it most.
7. Susan Fowler – Silicon Valley is awesome, as in the TV show on HBO. The actual area in California that dominates the tech industry? Not so much. Fowler was an engineer at Uber and after she left she wrote a 2900 word blog post exposing sexism in the tech industry. Shortly after, Uber’s CEO Travis Kalanick resigned. There’s no hard evidence that proves that Fowler was the main reason why but it seems likely. Her blog post flashed that the tech industry might be at the top of the sexist ladder, and now they’ll have to take a serious look at their hiring practices and evaluate the beliefs of the people within.
8. Scott Pruitt – Trump named Pruitt the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and he might be the only man more dangerous then climate change itself. Pruitt isn’t scare of climate change because he doesn’t believe it’s caused by humans. Instead, he’s made his mark by convincing Trump to pull out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and has focused the EPA on cleaning up toxic waste sites while improving water and air quality. Pruitt is also a huge supporter of fossil fuels and wants to slash the EPA’s budget, cutting nearly a thousand jobs. Similar to Mulvaney, if his name is attached to something it’s time to research it.
9. Angela Merkel – After Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election there wasn’t much we could be assured of, but something we could be assured of was that Merkel was still the most powerful woman in the world. Merkel is the Chancellor of Germany, the leader of the free world. She has practically scoffed at Trump throughout the duration of his presidency by shooting down his stance on climate change, refugees, and neo-Nazis. Merkel keeps hope alive for an entire gender even after Clinton’s gutting defeat.
10. Norm Eisen – It seems like every day there’s a new legal scandal that Trump is involved in, Eisen is the man investigating them. The former Chief of White House Ethics lawyer under Obama is the lead attorney in 66-percent of corrupt cases against Trump and has challenged Trump on receiving profits from the Government. If someone takes Trump out of office based on legality, it seems ever so likely that it will be Eisen.