I’m really interested in the decision to start using the term “Epstein Class”. It’s obviously been tested & resonates. The decision to have Senator Jon Ossoff roll it out in earnest had some important meaning, too. We’re blurring the line between anti-Zionism/Israel and antisemitism already

What I don’t get is why these motherf*ckers use the language of the enemy so readily. Could just as easily parade around calling it the ‘ENSLAVE America Act’. They should all be doing that - all the Dems. But they don’t. Not like they don’t consultants that can come up with this stuff.

People really do need to take a long look at these No Kings Rallies and consider what Controlled Opposition would like like if the Trump Regime wanted to nerf the power of protest without taking away the right to protest. youtu.be/LKVh6UlUDMI?...

As per my longstanding policy on the matter, I refuse to consider the premise that any Ayatollah fucks, much less the sexual proclivities of said Ayatollah. You might as well assert that Grimace is gay. I don’t know what to do with this information & it’s none of my business, anyway.

Re-skeeting as a make-good for not being nicer to Billy Bragg.

Here's a clip from a podcast I am incubating that brings up the "No Kings" rallies and leads to a thought experiment about what Controlled Opposition might look like. No suggesting the No Kings rallies are controlled opposition, but how would we know if they were? youtu.be/LKVh6UlUDMI

They’re gonna assassinate him and then they are going to say that doing it was: Gavin Newsom who ordered it, 2: God’s will, and 3: payback for Charlie Kirk.

I've recruited a PhD on Global Fascism named @cajohnson-craig.bsky.social to do a podcast with me about Autocratic Despair. We're having fun developing it on his Patreon. Apple Podcasts feed will be up soon w/ trailers. Join the advisory committee today at www.patreon.com/FifteenMinut...

What’s the difference between outlawing spontaneous protests and neutering them like these “No Kings” rallies do? Pretty similar results is all I’m saying. The latter is preferable because ‘No Kings’ protests are a release valve. Nobody’s read for the “Controlled Opposition” conversation.

Myself & @cajohnson-craig.bsky.social took a gaze into the abyss today on the Autocratic Despair podcast. We tackled a question that antifascist history-nerds should all be asking themselves right now: "What more must Billy Bragg do to win us over?" The answer might surprise you. 1/

There’s like 700% markup on coffee. It’s literally a commodity & Starbucks somehow was smart enough to build what is effectively a moat on it using smoke & mirrors, but they couldn’t figure out how to prevent their staff from unionizing. One of the great lessons on hubris.

21% haircut on my Schwab account this week. Still up YTD, but that’s on account of precious metals mutuals - which are a hedge against the market going down. That hedge isn’t hedging this week. Still long on them because he is going to destroy the dollar as the World Reserve Currency.

Got some good feedback on the Autocratic Despair podcast I’m developing with the guy who wrote “How to Talk to Your Son About Fascism” @cajohnson-craig.bsky.social Were releasing the beta run of episodes through his Patreon https://www.patreon.com/FifteenMinutesofFascism 1/

You can really get a good idea of how bad things are when they start trotting out the JV Congressmen to sell it to the American people. Fall guys auditioning for henchman roles is what I see. Tony Wied and Derrick Van Orden are loosening up in the bullpen right now.

Say what you will about this, but you ought to also acknowledge that his is one of the all-time heat checks in World History. Didn’t get what he wanted out of it, but it did not fall entirely flat, either.

Monday March 23rd at 6pm at the library in downtown Green Bay, WI - we will be having another edition of the "Autocratic Despair Dialogues". Stare into the abyss with others, in person. Hope to see you there.

This was a fun campaign to watch. Bold action. I don’t think our politics align perfectly, but I would have voted for her just to encourage more people to demonstrate that they have balls the way she did. Hat tip of respect to this tiny dynamo.

Yarvin & Soros buddying up is a fun new wrinkle for people with that whole “small cabal of elites are controlling everything” worldview. Perhaps it’s Yarvin negotiating better terms to continue playing his “intellectual case for evil” character. 1/

24 inches of snow in Green Bay since Sunday? Green Bay is an 8-12 inch snowstorm once or twice per winter city. 3-4 times in a bad winter. This is silly. It was unusual & fun when 23 inches of snow happened in 2019, but if I wanted this more than once in a lifetime, I’d move to Buffalo.

Green Bay is getting a blizzard with Thundersnow today. Haven’t had too much experience with Thundersnow in my life, but my dog is the most frightened I can ever remember her being. Absolutely ruining the snow for her.

If you are looking for some insight on who to root for in the Toledo/Akron matchup this evening, Toledo Head coach Tod Kowalczyk was my next door neighbor for a couple of years in the 2000’s and we were pretty friendly. Always rooting for his success.

Any time I see A “Bolsonaro is gravely ill” news report, I’m reminded of how many of these types are constantly on the verge of death as a strategy. I wonder whether Bolsonaro is the exception & I realize how well it works. Have to bring this up with @cajohnson-craig.bsky.social next time we chat.

If you’re given a platform & you don’t speak up in 2026, you’re going to have to live with that. It ought to be clear that it won’t be safe to do so very soon. If it isn’t clear, then you aren’t paying attention to what is happening.

NEW: Pete Hegseth's pastor and mentor says the United States should ban public Masses, Marian processions, and Corpus Christi devotions. Hegseth invited the anti-Catholic preacher to lead a prayer service at the Pentagon on February 14.

Colts fans, I made this handy guide last time Jones got a huge bag, feel free to use it

Might be close to hitting a saturation point on this topic soon. Enjoy the fun while it lasts.

Probably worth mentioning that Autocracy cannot entrench itself without a robust controlled opposition. Intentionality isn’t a factor — that’s just a debate that allows them to continue to do it. If you’re functioning as controlled opposition, you ARE controlled opposition.

How’s everyone else incorporating the idea that we not only bombed a school full of kids, we double-tapped the site to kill all the rescue people searching for bodies? We meant to do it, too. Someone ordered it and soldiers carried it out - probably without hesitation. “U—S—A!”

All those “Climate Pledge Arena” drone shots on WWE Raw tonight are showcasing work that Jones Sign Co. did a few years back. Helicopter installation on the roof for that job. Installers were walking around with hero status for weeks afterward.

Watching 60 Minutes to research whether I can muster up an impression of Pete Hegseth. Is anyone out there doing one right now that I can study?

You can safely ignore any story that points out what an asshole Tr*mp is: He’s the biggest of all-time and it isn’t close. Keep your head in the ballgame, everyone: The forced-birth camps are still open. The guards at other camps are wagering on which detainees they can get to commit suicide.

Trump-backed propaganda channels growing. Nexstar is the largest local TV broadcasting group, with more than 200 stations in 116 U.S. markets reaching 220 million people. TEGNA owns 64 television stations in 51 U.S. markets, TEGNA reaches more than 100 million people. deadline.com/2026/02/nexs...

www.contrariannews.org/p/these-chri... utterly fascinating and equally frightening

He’s got a Hopkinson Flag as his pocket square. Same as his tattoo. White Christian Nationalists love that flag because if you look at the negative space in the stars section, there is an “88”. H is the 8th letter in the alphabet, so they use “88” to signal one another & it means “Heil Hitler”.

Spare a thought for Anderson Cooper - who quit every journalist’s dream job at 60 Minutes because CBS got bought out by oligarchs to go back to his job at CNN only to have the same shitheels buy that channel.

Truly lucky to have been able to work out a deal with this guy to do illustrations for the Resist Autocratic Despair book and the Autocratic Despair podcast

USA is committing war crimes to kill little girls. You and I are to blame for this. We allowed this to happen. We continue to allow it to happen.

If that dude is Bruce Bruce, then who is Earthquake?

Resist Autocratic Despair sticker in the wild! @tanktastrophe.bsky.social is sticker-mogging the greater Chicagoland area.

My guy stacks policy wins the way other reps stack excuses. Education? Stacked. Mental health funding? Stacked. Bipartisan credibility? Stacked. Jawline? Believe it or not, also stacked. The Tallywhacker is running a stack so tall it’s structurally unsound and yet it does not fall.

Planning to put my hopes & dreams into Talarico as a “right guy at the right time” 2028 presidential candidate. Combatting Autocratic Despair through magical thinking is just fine. The “Tallywhacker” is an avatar for our hope for a better future. Won’t you join me?

Sincerity-maxxing.

“Talarico stands up and the room recalibrates. Unspoken rizz. Ambient rizz. The Tallywhacker is emitting rizz passively like a policy space heater.” #TalaricoMaxxing

“The Tallywhacker posted a thread about teacher retention and I saved it. I bookmarked a state legislator’s policy thread. My man has me saving screenshots of appropriations language. This is what he’s done to me. I’m down catastrophic for good governance.” #TalaricoMaxxing

“My boy the Tallywhacker just filed three education bills in one session. Three. That’s a hat trick of democracy. My man woke up and chose legislation” Creating an old school hash tag so I can search these: #TalaricoMaxxing

“Talarico-shaped hole” is a heady comedic premise that speaks to the larger cultural aspect of “Autocratic Despair”. Shall we engage in blind hope projected onto one human man? Are we risking further demoralization if we put our hopes & dreams in Talarico and it doesn’t work out the way we hope?

I think this country is bound to find out we have both an individual and a collective Talarico-shaped hole & I’m looking to position myself to cash in as we wake up to that truth.

Huge shoutout to my co-host Dr. Craig Johnson @cajohnson-craig.bsky.social for maintaining academic composure on this week's Autocratic Despair podcast while I exclusively used TikTok Manosphere brainrot language conventions to describe James Talarico. I am 48 years old & it was LIBERATING! 🧵👇

This right here is why I am really hoping that Talarico is launched into the national spotlight by winning the Texas Senate primary. No better person to explain the Christian Nationalism problem calmly and from a position of moral authority than Talarico. He’s the right man at the right time.