In the real world, power depends on trust. A US attack on a NATO ally would decimate American power. The Kremlin knows this. Does Congress? www.reuters.com/world/senior...

Might the ultimate result of Maduro's abduction just be to let the Trump Administration look strong while it ends sanctions and starts buying Venezuelan oil? We may expect Nicolas Maduro to ultimately get comfortable asylum in Moscow.

Five years ago.

An important warning from Mark Hertling in The Bulwark: www.thebulwark.com/p/what-regim...

Why is the US National Security Strategy for Primacy of Nations against "sovereignty-sapping incursions" of transnational organizations? This indefensible position would have opposed creation of the US federal system that intrusively organized 13 sovereign states. www.jstor.org/stable/48573...

At this holiday season, we should remember people in Ukraine and their fight for freedom. I am proud to support @razomforukraine.org and the Kyiv School of Economics, which is helping to build a brighter future in Ukraine. foundation.kse.ua/en/

The Trump administration implicitly recognized the potential need for state-building in the 2025 National Security Strategy: "We want to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States."

🔔 👀 BEAMAN: “IT WAS A FAIR ELECTION.” Tennessee Republican megadonor Lee Beaman, a Trump TVA board appointee, admits to @schiff.senate.gov he no longer believes the 2020 election was stolen, after previously calling for alternate electors. Seems like a big deal! 🤷🏼

There is zero excuse for police, in a free society, to wear a mask. Cowards

Prism has published "Decentralized Stabilization Assistance," on general lessons from failed state-building missions. A strong democratic system must be rooted in local politics throughout the nation. State-building missions fail when local politics is ignored. home.uchicago.edu/~rmyerson/re...

Patriotic Americans are gathering peacefully on Oct 18 to affirm the democratic constitutional values on which this great country was founded. #nokings This economist will be in the crowd with an American flag here in Chicago. www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i...

A manifesto calling for red-state Democrats to lead in the political revival of our great country: thehill.com/opinion/camp...

Good for him. More of this. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/u...

Even as the President sends troops to Chicago where I live, I affirm that local Democrats in red states are also on the front line for defense of democracy in America today. They need more support from @democrats.org. thehill.com/opinion/camp... #DemocracyInAmerica

What would Texans say if the President sent Illinois Guard troops to patrol their town? The Second Amendment affirms that people's right to keep local order by locally accountable forces is necessary to the security of a free state. This right is vital for all of us. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

Defending democracy is fundamentally different from winning elections when rules of democracy can be taken for granted. In a must-read article, @jvl.bsky.social observes that "Democrats are negotiating about policy when they should be negotiating about power." www.thebulwark.com/p/democrats-...

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...