Us@250’s @drtedj.bsky.social and @mjrp.bsky.social discuss the complexities of modern American patriotism, past anniversaries, and how America's upcoming 250th anniversary can spur change. 🇺🇸 https://go.newamerica.org/america-turns-250-democracy-is-shaky-5

The latest from Theodore R. Johnson:

The US and Iran reached a temporary ceasefire yesterday, but the conflict wasn't just about shipping lanes—it was a crisis of national identities. The real measure of success in the Strait of Hormuz is based more on 🚨ontological security🚨than national security. wapo.st/3O5HxUY

"While their right to vote is no more sacred than anyone else’s, their service is a distinct claim to that right," @drtedj.bsky.social writes. "And casting a ballot should be easier for them than it is for the commander in chief." https://wapo.st/4vkMZ7c

"Why push for a law that will hurt your voters, too?" @drtedj.bsky.social writes. "Making the electorate smaller and more exclusive pushes power up to the few; making it larger and more diverse spreads power out to the many." https://wapo.st/4t7XkBg

Why would Trump push for a law that will hurt his voters, too? Making the electorate smaller and more exclusive pushes power up to the few; making it larger and more diverse spreads power out to the many. wapo.st/4tb7z8b

On this 60th anniversary of Harper v. Virginia, ending the poll tax, Congress is debating the revanchist “Save America” Act. A truth about our democracy: Making the electorate smaller & more exclusive pushes power to the few; making it larger and more diverse spreads it to the many. wapo.st/4tb7z8b

Trump’s tinkering with the White House would be better spent expanding the legislature’s chambers; we don't need a 1,000-person ballroom — we need a 1,000-member Congress. But that would require building something bigger than himself, and that seems to be the one deal he can’t close. wapo.st/4cUcxRO

“The United States can win wars, celebrate gold , commemorate the nation’s founding, but if its president and politics reap rewards by sowing division, Americans are more likely to rally to a party’s pennant than around the nation’s flag.” wapo.st/3Nd0tAE (gift link)

SCOTUS operates in months and years; the executive, in days and hours. The Constitution made the branches equal in power, not in speed. That asymmetry is a feature of the system, but in the hands of defiant presidents, it becomes a loophole readily exploited. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

I have a new essay out this morning about Black History Month, remembering in a moment when those in power want us to forget, and the importance of seeing people in the past as people www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"Like most of MAGA, many Black voters who backed Trump expected an exit from foreign entanglements and to reap dividends from a bustling economy," @drtedj.bsky.social writes. "They’re getting neither." https://wapo.st/4kG7XIN

"In the 2024 election, Trump proved there were Black voters willing to give him a shot, and he convinced enough of them that MAGA held a place for them. But their experience in it — and the lack of anything to show for it — did not meet expectations. The honeymoon is over." wapo.st/4s0qeD5

I had a fascinating conversation with Ted Johnson, Senior Fellow at @newamerica.org and columnist at @washingtonpost.com, on civic bravery and how its incumbent on us as ‘moral patriots’ to call out our nation’s institutions when they fall short. open.substack.com/pub/thebeaco...

"The lesson of Black history is that preventing republican institutions from clawing back democratic gains and making government more responsive requires vesting more authority in more citizens," @drtedj.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/409mq6g

This year is the 100th anniversary of Black History Month. America’s values are tested when it must share power with the people it once excluded. In this way, Black history is a definitive measure of the nation’s progress and capacity to live its creed - and evidence of the urgent work that remains

This year is the 100th anniversary of Black History Month. America’s values are tested when it must share power with the people it once excluded. In this way, Black history is a definitive measure of the nation’s progress and capacity to live its creed - and evidence of the urgent work that remains

Most people cannot fathom the amount of racist, hateful things that Black columnists routinely receive.

“The most visible symbol of our thinning republic is ICE, whose actions have become shorthand for unaccountable federal power … it’s a democratic republic in structure, but it governs with diminishing regard for the people and behaves like it’s afraid of the president — a republic in name only.”

It’s a democratic republic in structure and process, but it governs with diminishing regard for the people and behaves like it’s afraid of the president — a republic in name only. Today’s precedents set the baseline for tomorrow, leaving the republic intact in structure but brittle in essence.

"In practice, citizenship's legal meaning and the rights it confers have been eclipsed by partisan judgments about who belongs," @drtedj.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/4sHdoKT

Citizenship did not protect Renee Good from those who wear the shield. Democracies can survive policy fights and constitutional debates. But they cannot survive when citizenship no longer imposes obligations — on institutions, on the state, or on those who wield force in its name. wapo.st/49AsFEv

My column made it to late night!! 😂

"Grappling with the morality of a mission is part of life in uniform," @drtedj.bsky.social writes. "Questioning the legality of operations shouldn’t be." https://wapo.st/3LgHiVF

"Sometimes service requires acting in gray areas — moral ones, certainly, but democratic ones, too. Increasingly, the military is asked to conduct operations w/o congressional authorization or public debate. The democratic costs of that arrangement are real, as are the human costs." wapo.st/3YppRVR

The “Redemeers” in the South were proficient at this. See Massacres at Colfax, Tulsa, Elaine, and so on.

They telegraphed the whole thing months ago. The operation in Venezuela wasn't a policy choice - it was an ego stroke. (gift link) wapo.st/4ptASAy

I was *just* briefing some folks on why I think this matters for organizing.

"The country has yet to understand these changes and runs the risk of collapsing distinct histories into a singular Black experience, exacerbating rather than reducing racial tensions, and clinging to a caricature of what it means to be Black in America." Very informative piece.

“The country has yet to understand these changes and runs the risk of collapsing distinct histories into a singular Black experience, exacerbating rather than reducing racial tensions, and clinging to a caricature of what it means to be Black in America.”

When the pursuit of glory is a preoccupation...

🧵Ecstatic + GRATEFUL to share the cover of my first book, The Price of Exclusion: The Pursuit of Healthcare in A Segregated Nation (HarperCollins June 2026). I can’t wait to share this in community with you. Pre-orders are available today, wherever books are sold : bookshop.org/beta-search?...

"If this month is any indication, artificial intelligence has disrupted yet another part of American life: electoral politics." The latest from @drtedj.bsky.social:

All politics is local … but the desire for economic security - or, at the very least, predictability - is universal.

"There are certainly deceitful people and practices, but the far more common find among the nearly 7 million disabled veterans, which includes me, are people who want to understand the available benefits and accept no more," @drtedj.bsky.social writes. "And no less."

"If [Trump] gets his way, the country’s government will consist of little more than a presidency with two servile branches" The latest from @drtedj.bsky.social:

The stories I could tell about “consultants” trying to sell me the pathway for increasing my 30% disability rating to 100% www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

Tomorrow! The lineup of arts, policy, and scholarship is incredible: www.newamerica.org/conference/t...

"The result is a democracy with historically high levels of participation, but a republic that’s far less representative" @drtedj.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/43wGPUW

How Trump uses American civil religion to focus everything on him. wapo.st/3W33yUL

The Secretary of Defense was lecturing military leaders about the warrior ethos when he should have been ensuring military pay was exempted from the government shutdown.

Ted Johnson: Hegseth said the military would be color-blind, but also that anyone with chronic razor bumps will be kicked out; coincidentally, two-thirds of the service members who hold such shaving waivers are Black. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Trump has a long record of prioritizing appearance & complicity over competence. Hegseth is cast in this mold, forgoing explanations of changes to defense strategy & the use of U.S. cities as training grounds for the more pressing issue of obsessing over clean-shaven killers who look good in uniform

Trump managed to stumble into gains with a changing Black electorate wapo.st/4mBGeIq

"While arming the Guard may be a political decision, telling troops whom to shoot — even if they don’t — has ramifications far beyond politics." Some lessons from history and from my time in the military, on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

"Politicians often use the Guard as an instrument of executive prerogative. It has long been this way, meaning the mission sometimes changes w/ the wind. ... While arming the Guard is a political decision, telling troops whom to shoot — even if they don’t — has ramifications far beyond politics."

I'll say it a thousand times -- any account of the past that only celebrates the good parts of a nation without reckoning with the bad is not what we call "history" It is propaganda, pure and simple.

As America approaches its 250th birthday, @drtedj.bsky.social reflects on what our past celebrations say about who we are, and who we still hope to be. Read more from @washingtonpost.com here:

Half the time I post something related to race on this website I get someone in the comments like, “yeah america is a racist country what do you expect.” I’m starting to think folks like this are bots or ops designed to make people feel helpless. Think we should call it “doomsplaining”

Walter Kimbrough @hiphopprez.bsky.social and I chatted about HBCUs and how they’ve managed the Trump White House.