Matt Bai
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
📤 3210
📥 475
📝 38
"The great enemy of clear language is insincerity." Coming soon to
@RollingStone.com
.
pinned post!
20-odd years ago, I was fired from my dream job at Rolling Stone before I could publish anything. So let's try this again! Thanks to all who read me in the Post these past 6 years - hope you'll follow the next chapter.
about 2 months ago
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reposted by
Matt Bai
Sean Woods
1 day ago
READ
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
debut in RS:
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
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Trump's 'Year Zero' Is Over. Now Comes the Reckoning
TK
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/trump-year-zero-reckoning-1235500008/
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My first
@rollingstone.com
column is now live! Thanks for reading and reposting, and please consider subscribing if you don’t already. (Piece also available on Apple News.)
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
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Trump's 'Year Zero' Is Over. Now Comes the Reckoning
TK
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/trump-year-zero-reckoning-1235500008/
1 day ago
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Wow, that Google AI is pretty good.
about 2 months ago
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20-odd years ago, I was fired from my dream job at Rolling Stone before I could publish anything. So let's try this again! Thanks to all who read me in the Post these past 6 years - hope you'll follow the next chapter.
about 2 months ago
91
19
23
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
2 months ago
"Trump and his acolytes in Congress can live under a delusion of their massive popularity and stride around like Caesar and his guards, but voters who get to decide these things are largely repulsed,"
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes.
https://wapo.st/3JkGRZz
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Opinion | Be afraid, Republicans. Be very afraid.
Democrats don’t agree on their message or who should deliver it. They won everywhere anyway.
https://wapo.st/3JkGRZz
4
11
5
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
3 months ago
"It’s a rare glimpse of bluer skies for Democrats since last year’s presidential election,"
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes. "But if their plan on immigration is to rely on Trump’s overreach, then they’ll be making the same mistake they made at the start of the Biden administration."
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Opinion | Trump’s immigration tactics repel voters. Can Democrats attract them?
If their plan is just to rely on Trump’s overreach, then they’ll be repeating Biden’s mistakes.
https://wapo.st/43jNUrX
1
4
2
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
4 months ago
"As much as you insist that the shutdown is about delivering health insurance to ordinary Americans, that gets lost in the noise,"
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes.
https://wapo.st/4o67zUo
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Opinion | The shutdown is only proving Trump’s point
The president argues that the federal bureaucracy is useless. Shutdowns tend to reinforce that view.
https://wapo.st/4o67zUo
2
2
1
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
4 months ago
"Rarely has the corrosion of social media been so plainly exposed as it has been since last week, after the horrific killing of Charlie Kirk." The latest from
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
:
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Opinion | The real enemy of democracy sneaked up on me
I used to be a cautious optimist, but social media has changed our politics for the worse.
https://wapo.st/47NAPKI
3
8
3
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
4 months ago
"I can’t stop thinking about the giant banners of Trump that keep appearing on the front of our national buildings,"
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes.
https://wapo.st/3Vrj5NX
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Opinion | Is Trump an autocrat, or does he just play one on TV?
Here’s why I am so bothered by the giant banners of Trump’s face on government buildings.
https://wapo.st/3Vrj5NX
3
4
2
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
5 months ago
"That we have often failed to apply freedoms equally — and can acknowledge that fact — isn’t an indictment of America, as Trump believes it to be; it is the story of Americans striving toward enlightenment,"
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes. h
ttps://wapo.st/4oTa65v
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Opinion | What the Smithsonian taught me about Trumpism
Trying to sanitize the American story is the antithesis of what makes the country exceptional.
https://wapo.st/4oTa65v
1
6
3
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
5 months ago
"As long as Trump is seen by a healthy plurality as the flawed but tolerable instrument of their anti-elite, anti-government rage, then we shouldn’t expect other institutions to keep him in check,"
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes. "That’s not their brief. It’s ours."
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Opinion | Our institutions aren’t failing. We are.
It is the American people who must hold the president accountable, and we’re failing spectacularly.
https://wapo.st/41HIYfA
3
5
5
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
6 months ago
Kamala Harris made the right decision to skip the governor’s race, because she clearly wasn’t dying to do the job,
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes. "She should make the same call on the presidency — even if that’s the job she wants."
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Opinion | Does Kamala Harris really scare anybody?
After skipping the California governor’s race, she should make the same call on the presidency.
https://wapo.st/4latsA7
3
3
3
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
6 months ago
"In keeping with his generally nostalgic worldview, Trump seems to harbor the ideal of a country that produces most of its own goods, and mostly for its own citizens." The latest from
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
:
wapo.st/4o18Lcx
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Opinion | Trump wants you to have your choice of Cokes — and not much else
Mexican Coke, now made in America. But the rest of his agenda is taking us in the opposite direction.
https://wapo.st/4o18Lcx
2
5
3
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
6 months ago
The last time Democrats went through an existential crisis over how to rebrand themselves, the main agitators were outsiders with little or no governing experience,
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes. "Now, a similar upheaval is underway."
wapo.st/3TJEUY1
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Opinion | Democrats have only one escape route
Unifying behind platitudes isn’t the way out of irrelevance. Making voters choose is.
https://wapo.st/3TJEUY1
5
8
3
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
6 months ago
"CVS and other pharmacies have been struggling to contain a rise in thefts by gangs of fast-moving thieves,"
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes. "Unfortunately for CVS, the solution might be worse for business than the organized shoplifting."
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Opinion | CVS was so worried about shoplifting that it stole its own soul
My local pharmacy’s products are now encased in glass, and the whole thing makes me very nervous.
https://wapo.st/3Iek6W8
3
2
4
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
7 months ago
"My issue here really has nothing to do with whether EV owners should pay more to use the roads,"
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes. "It’s entirely about how they’re being asked to pay."
wapo.st/3G4F4pz
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Opinion | This tax testifies to the utter corruption of conservative thought
Congress is coming for your EV — and what’s left of conservatism.
https://wapo.st/3G4F4pz
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“If you’re looking for a party to check the expansion of federal taxing power into new and previously unimagined terrain, you’ve come to the wrong city.”
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
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Opinion | This tax testifies to the utter corruption of conservative thought
Congress is coming for your EV — and what’s left of conservatism.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/06/16/ev-tax-big-beautiful-bill/
7 months ago
1
1
1
“By sending troops into California and challenging the sovereignty of states, Trump seems poised to do for Democrats what they can’t do for themselves, which is to provide a national hearing for a pretty deep bench of governors.”
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
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Opinion | Trump is doing Democrats a favor by elevating Newsom
The Democrats will be stronger if their opposition to Trump comes from outside Washington.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/06/12/newsom-trump-2028-democratic-governors/
7 months ago
2
2
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“You’re supposed to be this great, visionary, hyperloopy guy, and this is all you’ve got? A re-org plan? The Cat in the Hat arrived with more sophisticated tricks.”
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
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Opinion | Washington didn’t wreck DOGE. Elon Musk did.
He failed not because his ambitions were too grand, but because they were so pathetically small.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/06/01/musk-doge-defeat-washington-bureaucracy/
8 months ago
4
40
12
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
8 months ago
"No longer is Springsteen lamenting that long walk home to the America we used to know,"
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes. "Now, he’s begging us to turn around and take it."
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Opinion | In Springsteen’s protest, a fitting Memorial Day plea
His lyrics echo a nation’s slow descent from hope to distrust — and hint at redemption.
https://wapo.st/4dy7xR3
1
20
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“No university that’s true to its values ought to attempt to censor a student’s remarks, let alone treat extemporaneous speechmaking as a crime. What is this, the Democratic National Convention?”
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
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Opinion | Graduates speak their minds. Universities freak out.
In punishing students who make pro-Palestinian commencement speeches, schools lose their way.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/05/22/higher-education-gaza-universities-graduation/
8 months ago
1
4
4
reposted by
Matt Bai
Jill Lawrence
9 months ago
I've touched on this in a couple of pieces, but here's a worthwhile big dig into Elon Musk's global Starlink dealmaking and the ethics laws/rules nobody seems to care about anymore. By
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
in, yes,
@washingtonpost.com
. GIFT LINK (part of my end-of-month sale)
wapo.st/3YV66G2
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Opinion | Someone’s actually winning the trade war. It’s Elon Musk and Starlink.
Are countries being pressured to help the world’s richest man? Or are they just making smart deals?
https://wapo.st/3YV66G2
3
60
27
reposted by
Matt Bai
Senator Mark Warner
9 months ago
Interesting that right as Trump is holding countries hostage to make new trade deals, a lot of them seem to be feeling the pressure to make deals with Elon Musk’s companies!
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
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Opinion | Someone’s actually winning the trade war. It’s Elon Musk and Starlink.
Are countries being pressured to help the world’s richest man? Or are they just making smart deals?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/30/elon-musk-starlink-bangladesh-tariffs/
16
101
52
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
9 months ago
India, Vietnam, Bangladesh — Starlink's flurry of expansion comes as most of the world views Elon Musk as the second most powerful man in D.C.,
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes. "So it raises some obvious questions."
wapo.st/3Gz2qUf
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Opinion | Someone’s actually winning the trade war. It’s Elon Musk and Starlink.
Are countries being pressured to help the world’s richest man? Or are they just making smart deals?
https://wapo.st/3Gz2qUf
1
3
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Spent the last couple of months trying to figure out the connection between Starlink and US trade policy. Here’s what I learned.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
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Opinion | Someone’s actually winning the trade war. It’s Elon Musk and Starlink.
Are countries being pressured to help the world’s richest man? Or are they just making smart deals?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/30/elon-musk-starlink-bangladesh-tariffs/
9 months ago
1
6
3
"We’re running out of bulwarks, and American Jews shouldn’t feel good about that just because the white nationalist arrow hasn’t yet spun in their direction." Thanks for reading.
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Opinion | If the ADL thinks Trump’s thuggery is protecting Jews, it’s wrong
The Anti-Defamation League should loudly oppose the unlawful roundup of pro-Palestinian activists.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/01/adl-jonathan-greenblatt-jewish-palestinian-removal/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzQzNDgwMDAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzQ0ODYyMzk5LCJpYXQiOjE3NDM0ODAwMDAsImp0aSI6IjMwZGJiMzBhLTBmZjQtNDFiZC05NDM5LTc0ODI1Y2VhZDMwOSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9vcGluaW9ucy8yMDI1LzA0LzAxL2FkbC1qb25hdGhhbi1ncmVlbmJsYXR0LWpld2lzaC1wYWxlc3Rpbmlhbi1yZW1vdmFsLyJ9.9UNgEdWT04z9kajP9SybRxOaRoA7_doK0cVqReiOiQU
10 months ago
2
13
5
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
10 months ago
"Find me a moment in history when Jews anywhere benefited from a mix of rampant nationalism and repression,"
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes. "You’ll be looking awhile."
wapo.st/3E6gELt
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Opinion | If the ADL thinks Trump’s thuggery is protecting Jews, it’s wrong
The Anti-Defamation League should loudly oppose the unlawful roundup of pro-Palestinian activists.
https://wapo.st/3E6gELt
2
27
8
reposted by
Matt Bai
The New Yorker
10 months ago
“Here is the unavoidable truth: the Washington Post I joined, the one I came to love, is not the Washington Post I left.”
@ruthmarcus.bsky.social
writes about her decision to resign from the paper in the wake of editorial changes made by its owner, Jeff Bezos.
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Why I Left the Washington Post
Owner Jeff Bezos wants to transform the Opinions section of the paper, where I worked for forty years. After the publisher killed my column disagreeing with that move—it appears here in full—I decided...
https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/why-ruth-marcus-left-the-washington-post?utm_medium=social&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=bluesky&mbid=social_bluesky&utm_brand=tny
64
2439
566
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
11 months ago
"A $50 billion agency — funded by taxpayers, empowered by Congress and employing something like 11,000 people around the world — is now controlled by a handful of 20-something software engineers who have never worked a day in government." From
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
(gift link):
wapo.st/3QCdXDY
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Opinion | The blinding contempt of the DOGE bros
Terrorizing USAID isn’t reform. Here’s an inside story of Elon Musk’s takeover.
https://wapo.st/3QCdXDY
19
22
10
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
11 months ago
Trump and Musk lay siege to Washington. What should Democrats do? The latest from
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
,
@perrybaconjr.bsky.social
and David Von Drehle:
wapo.st/3ERNfVf
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Opinion | Where is the anti-Trump resistance?
Trump and Musk lay siege to Washington. What should Democrats do?
https://wapo.st/3ERNfVf
13
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1
“For me, it raises a fundamental question about Musk’s work, and I don’t think I’m alone in asking it. Is it what Musk is trying to do that makes me recoil — or is it the way in which he’s doing it?” My latest dispatch on DOGE…
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
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Opinion | The blinding contempt of the DOGE bros
Terrorizing USAID isn’t reform. Here’s an inside story of Elon Musk’s takeover.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/02/24/musk-doge-usaid-cuts-dc/
11 months ago
8
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“A Congress that has surrendered its authority to Donald Trump on every front since he took office last month remains deeply unpopular among Americans, with one notable exception: diehard Trump voters.” That would be way better. (2/2)
11 months ago
0
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Dear former
@nytimes.com
colleagues, I mean this in the most constructive way, but the headline and lead here are just wrong. "Americans" are not "loving" anything when the approval rating for Congress is at 29%. Allow me to donate a more accurate lead... (1/2)
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/u...
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New Poll Shows Americans’ Approval for Congress Has Soared, but Probably Not for Long
A major public poll indicates that Americans’ approval for Congress has soared, powered by a surge in positive assessments by Republicans. History shows such booms are common and rarely last.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/us/politics/congress-approval-republicans.html
11 months ago
0
9
4
I would argue,
@nytopinion.nytimes.com
, that Trump actually brought the American century to a close 8 years ago. Oh, wait. I did.
www.yahoo.com/news/preside...
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President Trump and the end of the American Century
It’s inauguration week just as the Framers must have imagined it: citizenry streaming into the capital from every state to celebrate the most sober and symbolic moment in the democracy, even as the so...
https://www.yahoo.com/news/president-trump-and-the-end-of-the-american-century-100054474.html
11 months ago
0
5
4
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
12 months ago
Elon Musk seems to want to break government. Can anybody stop him?
@danamilbank.bsky.social
, Ruth Marcus and
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
discuss:
wapo.st/4jKHVDf
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Opinion | Elon Musk seems to want to break government. Can anybody stop him? - The Washington Post
Elon Musk, the unelected billionaire tasked by President Trump with finding government efficiencies, is in many ways treating the federal bureaucracy as if it’s a private company he just bought. Colum...
https://wapo.st/4jKHVDf
8
17
5
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
12 months ago
🧵 The world’s richest man is said to be sleeping on a pullout couch in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
has talked to multiple agency officials and policy experts who reported different versions of the same basic story about DOGE.
wapo.st/4jLmvG0
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Opinion | What is Elon Musk doing? Not slashing the budget.
DOGE isn’t getting anywhere near $2 trillion in spending cuts. Here’s a plan that would.
https://wapo.st/4jLmvG0
7
20
15
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
12 months ago
"In each case, young Musk acolytes called with questions or demands that betrayed stunning confidence in their own abilities along with total ignorance of how the federal government works,"
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes. Among these experts is a 19-year-old Northeastern student:
wapo.st/4jLmvG0
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Opinion | What is Elon Musk doing? Not slashing the budget.
DOGE isn’t getting anywhere near $2 trillion in spending cuts. Here’s a plan that would.
https://wapo.st/4jLmvG0
1
10
4
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
12 months ago
In the past week, Musk’s minions have engaged in dramatic clashes with senior officials at the Treasury Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, which Musk called a “criminal organization.”
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
has the latest:
wapo.st/4jLmvG0
loading . . .
Opinion | What is Elon Musk doing? Not slashing the budget.
DOGE isn’t getting anywhere near $2 trillion in spending cuts. Here’s a plan that would.
https://wapo.st/4jLmvG0
0
5
1
"Musk and the newly appointed interim U.S. attorney for D.C., Edward R. Martin Jr., have decreed that it’s a crime to publicly name anyone who works for DOGE. I look forward to my trial." Thanks for reading.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
loading . . .
Opinion | What is Elon Musk doing? Not slashing the budget.
DOGE isn’t getting anywhere near $2 trillion in spending cuts. Here’s a plan that would.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/02/05/doge-musk-budget-cuts-stockman/
12 months ago
3
17
4
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
about 1 year ago
"If your main takeaway on the Musk-Ramaswamy gambit is that they’ll never come up with a way to reduce federal deficits and balance the budget, then you’re right,"
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes. "But you’re probably asking the wrong question to begin with."
bit.ly/40A9WG6
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Opinion | The education of Elon and Vivek
For decades, reformers have laid siege to the bureaucracy and failed. DOGE could be different.
https://bit.ly/40A9WG6
1
9
3
I have a new assignment: DOGE. (No, not the dog. Though that would be cool as hell.) Here’s the first installment.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
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Opinion | The education of Elon and Vivek
For decades, reformers have laid siege to the bureaucracy and failed. DOGE could be different.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/01/17/doge-musk-ramaswamy-reagan-david-stockman/
about 1 year ago
1
4
0
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
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Opinion | Biden’s legacy: A bridge to nowhere
Like so many in his generation, he vowed to empower new leadership then refused to get out of the way.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/01/06/biden-legacy-bridge-next-generation-collapsed/
about 1 year ago
7
4
1
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
about 1 year ago
"Whatever else we say about him from this point on, Bobby will no longer be judged simply as a Kennedy,"
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes.
wapo.st/4ge86Q3
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Opinion | Bobby Kennedy finally achieves escape velocity
The boy who looked so uncannily like his canonized father is finally free of the burden of legacy
https://wapo.st/4ge86Q3
0
8
1
“The boy who looked so eerily like his canonized father is free of it all — the burden of legacy, the senseless adoration of people he’s never met, the clannish identity, the constant insinuation of dilettantism.”
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
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Opinion | Bobby Kennedy finally achieves escape velocity
The boy who looked so uncannily like his canonized father is finally free of the burden of legacy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/29/rfk-judged-kennedy-legacy/
about 1 year ago
0
2
2
reposted by
Matt Bai
“Republicans are going to keep on doing this until Democrats figure out why this issue seems to always work against them — and what they need to say to get out of the box.”
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
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Opinion | The GOP is setting a trap on trans rights. Sarah McBride has an answer.
The first trans member of Congress issued a response to cruelty that was a work of political artistry.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/20/sarah-mcbride-nancy-mace-bathrooms-trans/
about 1 year ago
1
11
7
Seems like I should get a tee shirt or something.
about 1 year ago
0
1
0
reposted by
Matt Bai
Washington Post Opinions
about 1 year ago
Sarah McBride's comments on Wednesday were a work of political artistry,
@mattbaidc.bsky.social
writes.
wapo.st/3OjOGxi
loading . . .
Opinion | The GOP is setting a trap on trans rights. Sarah McBride has an answer.
The first trans member of Congress issued a response to cruelty that was a work of political artistry.
https://wapo.st/3OjOGxi
0
17
4
“Republicans are going to keep on doing this until Democrats figure out why this issue seems to always work against them — and what they need to say to get out of the box.”
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
loading . . .
Opinion | The GOP is setting a trap on trans rights. Sarah McBride has an answer.
The first trans member of Congress issued a response to cruelty that was a work of political artistry.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/20/sarah-mcbride-nancy-mace-bathrooms-trans/
about 1 year ago
1
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You mean other than our entire profession?
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 year ago
2
1
1
What's a tweet called on Bluesky? A skeet?
about 1 year ago
3
1
1
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