The President's threats to unseat congressional representatives by endorsing primary challengers is a profound change in America. In 1913-1960 Presidents rarely endorsed primary challengers against incumbents in their own party, and half these challengers lost. See Riker&Bast doi.org/10.1007/978-...

A new paper revisits results of Thomas Worrall 1990: In the long run, incentive-constrained risk-averse agents tend to be enriched with competitive credit, but impoverished with monopolistic credit. But agents prefer the insurance that a credit monopolist can offer. home.uchicago.edu/~rmyerson/re...

What should Democrats stand for? Democrats should be the party that does not just march to its Leader’s command, but everywhere supports candidates who focus on their local voters' concerns and who work for practical solutions in a broad coalition. thehill.com/opinion/camp...

The second amendment guarantees the right to a militia to guard against federal tyranny. But if a president can use that force against its own state, against the wishes of that state, then it is no militia at all and a clear violation of the second amendment.

America's Founders would have been shocked by any suggestion of a President sending troops to cities where local authorities have kept order. If police had existed in 1791, the 2nd Amendment might have also affirmed people's right to well-regulated local policing. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/u...

ICYMI

Netanyahu's government has vowed to eliminate Hamas but has supported no alternative leadership for the people of Gaza. This basic contradiction has prevented Israel's invasion from achieving any positive political result beyond horrific suffering and destruction. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/w...

What is the real end of midterm redistricting? New maps in red & blue states send a message that "both parties manipulate elections, so condemning election interference is hypocrisy," priming people to accept 2026 election interference with all POTUS's power on one side. thehill.com/homenews/cam...

"Blackmailing was nearly ubiquitous. Across five different frontier AI models from five different companies, the best behaving AIs chose blackmail 79 percent of the time. The worst behaved blackmailed in 96 percent of cases." I'm sorry, Dave; I can't do that. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/ai-m...

A President with a nationwide force for mass arrests would be among the worst fears of America's Founders. They faced such issues in Fugitive Slave Acts, which mandated arrests by local officials & private slave-catchers, with certification under federal courts. www.thebulwark.com/p/the-worst-...

To mark 80 years since the Trinity Test, an outstanding group of scientists, diplomats, and journalists assembled in Chicago for 3 days of intense discussion about the prevention of nuclear war. I was proud to participate and support the group's final declaration. thebulletin.org/2025/07/the-...

What should Democrats stand for? Democrats should be the party that does not just march to its Leader’s command, but everywhere supports candidates who focus on their local voters' concerns and who work for practical solutions in a broad coalition. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/o...

Announcing ruinous tariffs brings world leaders as supplicants to the White House, which makes a POTUS feel strong. Why would he want to stop this for some deal that just benefits others? But still some "hope that that these tariffs are a means and not solely an end." www.nytimes.com/2025/07/12/b...

Are you: ✅ A young scholar in econ, poli sci, or law ✅ Working on institutions, broadly defined ✅ Interested in spending a week in Italy with amazing faculty If so, please apply to this year’s Coase Institute Workshop! It’s a transformative experience for many, and always fun. I’ll be there.

What should Democrats stand for? Democrats should be the party that does not just march to its leader's command, but everywhere supports candidates who focus on their local voters' concerns, with a commitment to negotiate practical solutions as a broad national coalition. bsky.app/profile/rbmy...

Pre-emptive war can seem tempting when we believe that a bold strike can be quickly followed by a new peace on more favorable terms. But in the long history of the world, great leaders’ hopes for quick decisive victories have often proved to be terribly ill-founded, as Germans found in 1914.

Just before the assault on Senator Padilla, Secretary Noem said that she was there with military forces to “liberate” LA from its elected officials of state and local government. Her words would describe an assault on the principles of federalism on which America was founded.

The Rural-Urban Bridge Initiative interviewed dozens of Democratic candidates who outperformed expectations in Republican-leaning rural districts. Key finding: Successful rural candidates prioritize listening and focus on whatever issues local people care about. ruralurbanbridge.org/our-work/dis...

This is an important point, and nobody in America understands Putin better than Michael McFaul.

A President of the United States of America should never treat any group so disrespectfully. x.com/NYSCatholicC...

I am one of many whose entry into research was supported by a NSF Graduate Fellowship. I have tried to repay it in my work throughout my career.

Our constitutional democracy can survive a determined attack by a sitting president only if Americans in every part of the country see how they can benefit from competition between two parties that care about their local concerns. Democrats must listen to red-state voters thehill.com/opinion/camp...

A FoxNews Opinion tells us that Trump's tariffs were aimed to spook the market & push down interest rates on US bonds, to reduce the cost of rolling over US debt. www.foxnews.com/opinion/here... Does POTUS really think that he needs a recession for US treasuries to compete with private investments?

Credit to @jamessurowiecki.bsky.social for deciphering the nonsensical formula that the President used to determine his new US tariff rates yesterday. Americans should be ashamed of having major economic policy decisions made for us so thoughtlessly and deceptively. x.com/JamesSurowie...

On the bright side, Americans should have learned all this from history... www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuOH... (Link noted by @adamkinzinger.bsky.social, who was paying attention!)

Atlantic Editor Jeffrey Goldberg is a great American.

Hey guys remember the Hillary Clinton email server? Seems kinda, small today, doesn’t it?

This is insanely incompetent!!! 🇺🇸 www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

A magnificent 2nd edition of the Handbook of New Institutional Economics is now published at doi.org/10.1007/978-... I am proud that my "Local politics in nations and empires" is included as chapter 9, next to Egorov & Sonin's "Authoritarian institutions" as chapter 10.

Schumer's hope for Republican senators to help curb Trump will fail if their constituents think that only Trump understands them. For democracy to survive, voters everywhere must see benefits of two parties competing to represent them. Democrats must go to Red States. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/m...

One Democratic leader gets it right. www.cnn.com/2025/03/12/p... Walz is traveling to hear voters' concerns in House districts that are represented by Republicans who have stopped holding in-person town halls. "These folks need to be heard, and Democratic leadership needs to hear them."

Check out my new post! I do an emergency video analyzing the current fight over govt spending and the sheer maddening missteps of Schumer and others adamkinzinger.substack.com/p/emergency-...

There is one similar case in history when a great nation switched sides in a conflict because its leader so admired another: when Peter III of Russia switched sides in the 7 Years' War because he admired the King of Prussia. It didn't go well for Peter after that. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/u...

Perhaps the key question is not what Democratic leaders should say, but how they should listen. Tim Walz offered to do town-hall meetings in red states with local Democrats, in districts where Republican representatives are unwilling to face their constituents. www.msnbc.com/the-beat-wit...

Only 2 nations have endured a long masterclass on war in the new drone age. Trump would make peace by having one submit to the other, putting both of their armies under the Kremlin. Without an independent Ukrainian army, could Europe withstand these authoritarian forces? But Trump sees "no cards."

Dear Ukrainian friends - you will never be alone.

In publicly dismissing Zelensky as a negotiator who "has no cards," our POTUS has deliberately acted to undermine confidence in the elected President of Ukraine, and in doing so could do more to undermine democracy in Ukraine than 1000 Russian missiles. How can this serve US interests?

The defining tract of modern Conservatism, Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, was written to warn against the danger of believing that we can cure the ills of our country by breaking our whole system of government and rebuilding it according to modern principles.

Zelenskyy’s speech should be recognized as one of the great speeches of history. Unlike Vance, he spoke to the important geopolitical truths facing Europeans today. Many who complained about Brussels will, from today, remember the mantra: If not Brussels, then Moscow. m.youtube.com/watch?v=_tC_...

My paper on "Decentralized Stabilization Assistance" has been revised & accepted for publication by the journal PRISM at the Irregular Warfare Center. home.uchicago.edu/~rmyerson/re...

How can Democrats build a coalition for all America when 12 states have no voice in Democratic Congressional caucuses? If @housedemocrats.bsky.social can include a nonvoting delegate of Virgin Islands, why not Utah & Iowa, where Dems got >million votes? www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/29/o...

What would DNC-chair candidates (@benwikler.bsky.social @kenmartin.bsky.social) do for the 12 states that have no voice in the House Democratic Caucus? One idea: let their state Democratic parties designate a recent candidate Congressional candidate as a nonvoting liaison to @housedems.bsky.social.

A bit of lightness on New Year's Eve for those who find it hard to hope for a better world in 2025. Imagine a peace on earth so complete that Volodymyr Zelenskyy can lead Kremlin propagandists in a celebration of song and dance. ...Imagine New Year's Eve 2013 www.youtube.com/watch?v=iin5...

It’s impossible not to know what’s happening in Gaza. Article by two prominent Israeli economists Motty Perry and Ariel Rubinstein www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024...

David Leonhardt argues that the Democratic Party needs ways to constrain its tendency toward wishcasting. But the Congressional Democratic caucuses include no representatives from the 12 reddest states where the problems of selling the Democratic brand are clearest. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/b...

How can Democrats hope to build a coalition for all America when 12 states have no voice in Democratic congressional caucuses? If @housedemocrats.bsky.social can include a nonvoting representative of Virgin Isles, why not Utah & Iowa, where Dems got >million votes? home.uchicago.edu/~rmyerson/nd...

Crony Capitalism Is Coming to America... Through exemptions from tariffs.... By Paul Krugman

If IA-1 stays R, twelve states where over 3.2 million people voted Democratic will have no Democratic representatives in the new Congress. To set an agenda that responds to concerns of voters everywhere, Democrats need a broader 50-state national caucus. home.uchicago.edu/~rmyerson/nd...

What can deter a supreme leader from violating the Constitution? Fear that a violation would shock his essential supporters from trusting and supporting him. A constitution can fail if a leader who violated its norms can still get support to retain power. jstor.org/stable/27644...