Women’s progress in attaining elected office stalled in 2024. Yesterday we got a first look at whether 2026 will change that trajectory. My new one: open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...

@jonathanbernstein.bsky.social: "This is the only time a president this unpopular has launched this big of a war in the polling era" open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...

ICYMI

Too many times, we have seen gun violence inflict immense heartbreak and loss in Minnesota. It’s time for us to come together to take real, actionable steps toward common sense gun laws.

On AOC '28. Plus the links @johnsides.bsky.social @lizsuhay.bsky.social @jennmjacksonphd.bsky.social @dandrezner.bsky.social @smotus.bsky.social @mirandayaver.bsky.social and more all at GP/BP goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/aoc-28

Really excellent @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social column today on how to think about presidential primaries. open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...

Finally got around to reading Backlash Presidents and it's so, so good. I learn so much from @juliaazari.bsky.social. Totally recommend. press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

_Strength In Numbers_ gains more strength as it gains more numbers. Spitting distance from being a top-50 publication on Substack. Join us! (a free sub gets you at least two articles a week — a pretty good deal for time invested, IMO) gelliottmorris.com/subscribe

NEW: There are 2,400+ elections for DA & sheriff this year. These matter hugely to criminal justice & policing—including: *these are often officials who decide ICE collaboration.* So I took a dive into these 2,400+ races to identify early hotspots and battlegrounds. Read, & check out our maps:

Also I'll immodestly say: I think @juliaazari.bsky.social and @dbernstein.bsky.social and I have been good guides to [all this] and if you haven't subscribed you should, and also I'll invite y'all to support us and keep us going with a paid subscription. goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com

Wrote a thing about whether the American presidency even exists anymore. No reason. open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...

Everything Jamelle says. Plus: The problem with doomer expectations of "canceling" elections (other than it's annoying) is there are real things Trump/GOP might do to attempt to impede fully free & fair elections and doomerism doesn't go well with preparing to counter and resist those real dangers.

Wired has ungated this article.

Had some thoughts about what happened last week and how we got here goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/decades-of...

Trump keeps losing and also keeps doing stuff. Yes, that's hard to wrap our heads around. My item today gets into it (without, alas, fully explaining it.) Plus the links! goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/losing-los...

a few thoughts youtu.be/lERS4kJIQR8

Nope

You can read my take on Trump's illegal invasion of Venezuela here: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

Impeachment talk again? Dem-only impeachment might or might not be a good idea, but it's not much of a check on a lawless president (as we saw in the first Trump impeachment!) - and there are plenty of other real checks Congress can try that a Dem House could implement.

While this is a good point, it's also true that it's never too late. Anyone who chooses Team Republic today, regardless of what they've done or supported so far, is going to have a better reputation than those who stick with Team Trump. Fair or not. And those on Team Republic should welcome them.

wrote about whatever last week was, and its implications for Trump as Republican Party leader open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...

I'm not sure that Trump has finally killed off a US political ritual that's been ready to die for a while now. I am sure he's terrible at it. goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/prime-time

Really liked this one and think it's a very helpful way to think about something that confuses a lot of analysts. Although he really missed the obvious chance to make a Hegseth/Rise of Skywalker analogy. But overall: Don't miss this one.

a belief that liberals are not in spiritual communion with the white working class, which is held as the virtuous repository of american identity.

In my new piece, I consider Trump’s very limited communications strategy, from calling affordability a hoax to yesterday’s no-real-press-allowed Pentagon press conference. Please read and subscribe! open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...

ICYMI

Oops forgot to push yesterday's (not-yet-stale!) speculation about, among other things, Thomas and Alito, and why strategic retirement for them might be more complicated than one might think. goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/shutdown-i...

My live interview with Ian Silverii about how Democrats should be running and what kinds of candidates they should be finding begins in just a few hours!

Donald Trump sent more money to bail out Argentina than it would have cost to extend the ACA tax credits for just 1 year. I don't plan to let anyone forget it.

Ugh with all the fuss I forgot to tweet out my item today: In praise of Pelosi and why they should be building statues of her all over. Plus so many links. goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/the-speaker

Don’t worry your heads ladies, the menfolk are handling US-Central Asia relations

Five Lessons from the 2025 Election Results: honestgraft.substack.com/p/five-lesso...

Alt-pitch: Trump, the WH, Jafar, the Genie, I love the Capitol...plus all the links! @adambonica.bsky.social @smotus.bsky.social @dcinbox.bsky.social @mirandayaver.bsky.social @hsulli.bsky.social @donmoyn.bsky.social and more goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/trumps-att...

Trump wants the Department of Justice to pay him $230 million of YOUR taxpayer dollars. So, while health care costs rise for millions of Americans, our billionaire President is sticking his hand out. Trump is the most corrupt president in American history. Full stop.

If you attend a No Kings Day event, please record the number of people in attendance in our crowdsourced crowd-counting sheet. We prefer official estimates above ad-hoc counts — if you count yourself, pls be conservative (people are bad at estimating crowd sizes). docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Feel like we could use more reporting on those "lots of GOP polls." What's the business model for partisan survey results?

I don't think I remembered to pitch yesterday's item - which I think holds up just fine today, mainly because I leaned heavily on people who know what they're talking about. At GP/BP. Please consider supporting us! goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/after-more...

The heart of God breaks with every act of deadly violence; every life ended by another by greed, anger, envy, revenge, or retribution. Blessed are those who mourn, and blessed are the peacemakers.

Political violence is never acceptable. It's really that simple. We can't have a democracy otherwise. I hope Mr. Kirk makes a full recovery. My thoughts are with his family.

Midterm conventions: The GOP version will probably be just a rebranded Trump rally, so whatever; a Dem version would likely be an utter and pointless fiasco, highlighting their weaknesses instead of playing to their strengths. At GP/BP. Don't be the last kid on your block to subscribe!

I'll keep saying it: RFK Jr. is a deadly threat to our public health and safety.   He is razing CDC, NIH, and other health agencies to the ground—putting politics and deranged conspiracy theories over science.   We need bipartisan oversight immediately, and he must be FIRED.

Trump loses *all the time*. Not always, and it's certainly not the whole story, but few presidents get defeated anywhere near as often.

Folks, my usual election night post: if you appreciate our coverage of these local elections at Bolts, … consider becoming a donor or subscriber to support it! boltsmag.org/donate … & even if it’s not the right time for that, sign up for our free newsletter to be informed: boltsmag.org/newsletter

As I become a one-woman broken record book self-promotion machine, this kind of thing makes me glad that I dropped everything to spend ~5 years writing a book that reemphasizes just how much politics in this country are driven by race, starting with slavery.

The attack on vote-by-mail, Trump's latest attack on democracy. At GP/BP. Hope you'll subscribe. goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/trumps-cam...

Apparently some people over here don't know that I'm posting almost daily on Substack. It's free 6 days a week, with only the Sunday primers (which are very labor-intensive) paywalled. According to the U.S. politics bestseller list, this venture is going pretty well

At GP/BP: How the present fight is incremental, as every battle matters. And how we'll probably get out of it (if we do) by muddling through, not by grand design and careful reform - and that's just fine. goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/fighting-f...

Still think the top priority of how Trump has organized his 2nd presidency is to prevent him from having to confront information that could challenge his impulses and biases. Even this BLS thing is probably less about public opinion than about keeping Trump comfortable.

it is crazy how the president gets to be a poor wittle aggwieved pwivate citizen when he wants to complain about news coverage against him, and then a de-facto king who is immune from prosecution for “official acts” (still TBD what that means) when he tries to do a coup