“The truest understanding of slavery doesn’t serve any political faction,” @chatterton.bsky.social argues—“rather, it acknowledges the horrors of racial oppression while still allowing us to see beyond them.”

“Sanitizing slavery has become a core objective of the reactionary right—a malignant response to progressives’ oversimplification of American history. But the truest understanding of slavery acknowledges the horrors of racial oppression while still allowing us to see beyond them.” t.co/XrF5UjIlj6

Perhaps more than any other group, looksmaxxers reveal the depth of the moral crisis that confronts young men today. @chatterton.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Subpoenaing the Fed chair in the middle of a political fight over interest rates is not normal. It’s intimidation. Jerome Powell says he won’t bend—but this sets a dangerous precedent for the independence that keeps inflation in check. open.substack.com/pub/adamkinz...

Bluesky is such a sealed epistemic vacuum in many corners not a single person points out that just this past September Charlie Kirk literally got his neck blown open in public *by his ideological opponent.*

@jamellebouie.net I’ve been quite clear in condemning the killing. Even a cursory glance at my twitter, IG or even this Bluesky account I barely use shows you’re dishonest. It’s actually more productive to argue with Megyn Kelly than such a bad faith actor as you.

There is a growing and palpable bloodlust and desire to see ideological opponents quite literally eradicated that should give us all extreme pause. It’s been a long time since the most meaningful divide in American political and cultural life was between “left” and “right.” 1/2

The philosopher Rebecca Newberger Goldstein argues in her new book that the often-painful struggle to justify our existence is the very thing that makes us human, John Kaag writes:

A large masked man who is surrounded by armed backup shooting a lone and panicked woman in the face in broad daylight is such an insane visual metaphor for this administration’s overall disproportionate use of force

STRAIGHT UP MURDER

so many people will grasp for the flimsiest reason to justify a needless death then blithely go about their day

“It is re-reading, not reading, that counts

"I used to listen to music all the time," @chatterton.bsky.social laments. "Now I fill every available moment with the sound of people talking." Compulsively listening to podcasts shows "just how limiting too much information can be," Williams argues:

The pleasure of just building a small fire at home and simply sitting in front of it is almost unparalleled

Khanna: You’ve got the DOJ releasing the names of survivors—which they are not allowed to do by law—but not releasing the FBI interview files with those same survivors. Those FBI interviews contain the names of other men: Wall Street tycoons and politicians…

There's no use in making the humanities relevant, @chatterton.bsky.social argues, because "the most useful lesson the humanities have to offer today is a profoundly countercultural one:"

Grateful to the Miami Book Fair for hosting me in conversation with one of my intellectual heroes, Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

The left’s embrace of moralized rhetoric might seem harmless, but to win back power, Democrats will need “precisely the kind of introspection and self-criticism that moralism precludes,” @chatterton.bsky.social argues.

»Camus hätte dieses Buch geliebt.« Mehr zu »Toxische Gerechtigkeit« von Thomas Chatterton Williams (übersetzt aus dem Englischen von Stephan Kleiner): www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/buch/thomas-...

My conversation with the brilliant Coleman Hughes is now available at @thefp.com and wherever you get your podcasts. www.thefp.com/p/the-great-...

Really an extraordinary pair of lectures and public conversation on the subject of joy in dark times between Roger Berkowitz and Teju Cole at the @hannaharendtcenter.bsky.social at Bard this morning.

My conversation with Jon Haidt at the 92NY. This was one of my favorite discussions so far: youtu.be/iVDi9T5Rwj0?...

A few days ago, I finished reading #SummerOfOurDiscontent by @chatterton.bsky.social. Let’s just say that I found myself quoting C+C Music Factory in my write-up, and that is not a bad thing. Thoughts & quotes ⬇️. #books #ThomasChattertonWilliams

What does cancel culture mean in the year 2025? Michael Moynihan chats with @chatterton.bsky.social and John Wood Jr. at #freespeechsummit2025

Spoke for three hours with Anna and Dasha🎙️🍷 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...

“Just as the left used [George] Floyd’s death to justify and hasten all manner of political ends, the right is invoking [Charlie] Kirk’s name to advance illiberal aims and silence opponents,” @chatterton.bsky.social argues:

I wrote about Charlie Kirk and George Floyd: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Blue sky

Search his name for yourself. Just endless examples without a single dissenting statement between them. You can scroll and see dozens and dozens of responses that all come to the same conclusion. As toxic as Twitter really is, I’ve never seen a dozen posts in a row with zero disagreement.

Very hard to understand Trump and MAGA’s animus towards Comey. He’s the decisive factor in there ever even being a president Trump. You’d think he’d never have to buy a drink for the rest of his life in MAGAland.

Excellent m.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zkj...

It's easier to win an argument with a genius than an idiot.

(dark) blue sky

Ahead of the October publication of Summer Of Our Discontent (Toxische Gerechtigkeit) in Germany, thank you @zeit.de Magazin for the spread 🙏🏽: www.zeit.de/zeit-magazin...

In a nutshell

I’ve spent half of my adult life living in one foreign country or another and I don’t think I’ve ever felt so estranged from the surrounding culture as I am from the aesthetics and sensibilities of this movement. Not even a criticism, I just feel more at home in Greece than in these images.

The effort to turn Kirk into a saint is genuinely bizarre. And it should go without saying that the impulse to resist this propaganda in no way excuses or condones the horrific violence.

"25 percent of the black male vote he got. This is the least racially polarized election since the 1970s. He has a multiethnic coalition behind him." And at least some of it is driven by the toxicity of the Democratic brand and not love of Trump. @chatterton.bsky.social joins @timmiller.bsky.social

"It's one of the most hair-raising things I've heard from an elected politician, the vice president telling Americans to inform on each other....things are moving so fast." @chatterton.bsky.social joins @timmiller.bsky.social on today's Bulwark Podcast:

I'm so proud of my husband @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social, who puts up with a lot of unmerited criticism but also has moments like this. He writes the truth, which resonates with reasonable people across partisan lines. May we all one day be united again. (gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/o...)

We had a great evening last night with @chatterton.bsky.social and @oblongbooks.bsky.social discussing “Summer of our Discontent” with @rogerberkowitz.bsky.social Join us again at the JOY conference @bardcollege.bsky.social October 16-17! hac.bard.edu/joy-2025

JD Vance goes to Munich and the United Kingdom to lecture Europeans on free speech and then addresses Americans asking them to inform on each other: "When you see someone celebrating Charlie's murder, call them out — and, hell, call their employer." The hypocrisy is the point.

Hair-raising conformity. This is reminiscent of posting the black square on Instagram circa 2020—but supercharged and with the force of state coercion behind it. nypost.com/2025/09/14/s...

Quick escalation to Soviet-style informing on neighbors now

“Barely writes” is a strange accusation. Ive got three books out and my work has appeared everywhere, from The New Yorker, NYT, to Harper’s, to the LRB, the Nation, New Republic, WSJ, WashPo, LA Times, to The Atlantic. You name it. Also internationally: I had six pieces in Le Monde this summer.

I see them when I get a flood of random replies. That happens frequently since you post about me *a lot.* It’s flattering to count an NYT columnist as my own personal stalker. Anyone can look up just how many posts you’ve made about me. If I had a dollar for each, it would dent my mortgage payment.