Instead of watching Trump lie and ramble for an hour tonight, you should watch, listen, or read the latest Theory of Change episode in which @jeetheer.bsky.social and I discuss how tech oligarchs like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are literally basing their politics on sci-fi novels.

Trump is hurtling towards a war that could easily be a bigger disaster than the Iraq war. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Remarkably, writes @jeetheer.bsky.social,Trump seems on the verge of outdoing George W. Bush in reckless, stupid militarism. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Why Trump is tryng to steal Jesse Jackson's glory: www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Really found this whole framing of Epstein's ascendance as coinciding with the post-Church Carter-era off-booksing of a segment of the security state (the same moment/impulse that births Bill Barr) worthwhile, Jeet ( w/ @majorityreport.bsky.social @samseder.bsky.social @emmavigeland.bsky.social )

@joshkovensky.bsky.social joined @jeetheer.bsky.social on his Nation podcast to talk about how the Trump administration is using anti-terrorism law to target political groups it doesn’t like. Listen to their conversation here: www.thenation.com/podcast/arch...

From Epstein to Bezos, the ruling class is rotten to the core. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Shouldn't surprise us that Bari Weiss is willing to wage out all out war to keep Peter Attia on the new CBS. As I explained recently, her project is provide a life raft for the Epstein coterie

1. This 2016 exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Thiel is so essential, really gets to the heart of Epstein's project. Epstein: brexit, just the beginning. Thiel: Of what? Epstein: return to tribalism... finding things on their way to collapse , was much easier than finding the next bargain

From the Epstein files: were Paul Volker and Tom Brokaw really members of a secret society with a "no minorities or women allowed" rule? Brokaw is still around -- worth asking him!

In the first term, Trump did a lot of penny ante grifting, but for his second term he's really figured out how to monetize the presidency into making billions. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

CBS Culpable Billionaire Sexual Predators

1. The new batch of Epstein documents helps illuminate one contemporary controversy: What is Bari Weiss up to at CBS? I think the answer is she is trying to rehabilate the Epstein network as a bulwark of reactionary centrism. Let me explain.

Gabbard's Georgia Raid is about providing a pretext for future election intimidation. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

On Sook-Yin Lee's wry, heartfelt Paying For It, which reinvents the romantic comedy by examining the gamut of relations from Platonic love to prostitution. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

To be clear, this is a victory, which was won by ordinary people putting their lives on the line in the streets of Minneapolis while almost all their elected leaders kept quiet or made only muted criticism.

MAGA military geniuses are talking about Minnesota protestors like they are the Iraqi insurgency, the Taliban, and the Viet Cong all rolled into one.

MAGA and the NRA have made clear that they don't actually support the Second Amendment, at least not for people with politics they hate. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Mark Carney's radical speech isn't matching up with his policies www.thenation.com/article/worl...

We're talking about this with @jeetheer.bsky.social on CBC Radio's Day 6 tomorrow. Steve Bannon has compared Canada to Ukraine, and talk is more prominent of using a potential Alberta referendum as a reason to try to take Canada.

On the debate about the politics of OBAA & racial fetishization, I thought this discussion was great, particularly at the 14:08 moment. It makes the case for the movie cogently & passionately without being defensive. youtu.be/6sz89LpeqXw?...

I talk to Annelle Sheline about the protests in Iran, the madness of the Israel/US plan to resume bombing there. www.thenation.com/podcast/arch...

I didn't love this film but I enjoyed it. (I'm not a fan of overly stylized movies in general even though I can appreciate the talent involved). I like it more for having listened to this analysis, however.

Lovely tribute by Martin Scorsese to Paul Thomas Anderson and One Battle After Another. youtu.be/jhY2-_LKCR0?...

The political debate over One Battle After Another is badly framed because it misses how the movie is about competing strategies. I talk about this here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaWr...

To defend killing Renee Good, MAGA is doubling down on misogyny www.thenation.com/article/poli...

European elites are enabling Trump's imperialism. www.thenation.com/article/worl...

"you can accept that this woman's death is a tragedy" is careful wording because Vance knows -- as can be seen on twitter -- that many of his followers don't see it as tragedy but as an opportunity for libidinal delight.

Trump is drunk on war. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

In Venezuela, Trump finally gets to "take the oil" youtu.be/mvoSumadChU?...

Mar-a-Lago is a crime scene. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Obsessed with this juxtaposition

Some thoughts on Marty Supreme and Cover-Up, two films about the American Century of Lies. www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_01...

My thoughts on Avatar: Fire and Ash -- and what many critics get wrong about James Cameron. www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3Dp...

On Charles Platt's Dream Makers, which does a good job describing what it was like to meet Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Harlan Ellison etc. www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfKl...

Some thoughts on Bari Weiss and media plutocracy youtu.be/eXaTPsN7MeY?...

The 60 Minutes episode about CECOT was not only worth running, it was an exceptionally powerful work of journalism that made clear the US government has embraced torture. You can read the transcript here: www.thenation.com/article/soci...

This is good.

1. So I have a few thoughts on "heritage Americans," Nathanial Hawthorne, witch-hunting, Thomas Pynchon, Calvinism, strange feuds, the Daughters of the American Revolution, FDR, the moral responsibilities of nationalism & (I guess) Jack Kirby.

The smear campaign against Mustapha Kharbouch -- falsely accused of the Brown shooting and MIT murder by powerful politicians, pundits and plutocrats -- is a prime example of how pervasive racism has become. It's also a story largely ignored by the mainstream media www.thenation.com/article/poli...

So much fun getting to talk with BOTH @jeetheer.bsky.social and @davidklion.bsky.social about Norman P for Jeet's podcast for The Nation.

I had a blast talking to @davidklion.bsky.social & Ronnie Grinberg about the legacy of Norman Podhoretz, who died last week and whose historical importance is underrated even among his fellow neo-cons. www.thenation.com/podcast/poli...

Back in September I talked to the most diligent of Bari Weiss watchers, @davidklion.bsky.social, about what she was up to. His analysis remains the best guide to the mess at CBS www.thenation.com/podcast/arch...

On the increasing prominence of women in the films of Paul Thomas Anderson. www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0fP...

A fine piece by @jeetheer.bsky.social about Gerald Owen; a reminder, and Heer says this, that friendship CAN cross many borders of thought and belief. I remember Gerald with admiration and affection from his years at The Idler. This brought back memories. thewalrus.ca/the-friendsh...

"Whether [Epstein] was an American CIA asset, a Mossad asset, whether all these rich, important men went to that nasty island & did unforgivable things to young girls. I mean, I kind of knew it, but it’s never anything I paid a bit of attention to.” -- Susie Wiles, White House Chief of Staff

Some thoughts on Thomas Pynchon's V., as well as the history of Calvinism in America and Gravity's Rainbow. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjsR...

Norman Podhoretz (1930-2025). Here's my essay on his best book, Making It. newrepublic.com/article/1415...

The latest case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, strangely enough, is the person who runs the White House, Susie Wiles, www.thenation.com/article/poli...

The Friendship That Taught Me Community Can Transcend Politics