Many of us in the democracy community tried to persuade the Obama folks that small-d democracy should be more of a priority than they made it. My sense then was that they nodded politely, but didn't really get the point. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/u...

“The largest number of people to vote for anything in the history of Maine have said they don’t want super PACs. ... It demonstrates that this is a deeply purple issue; there was no difference in the results in red districts or blue districts." https://bit.ly/4tHG86G

This Culpepper and Thelen article on how consumer identity supports platform power is a stone-cold classic. "Focusing on the critical role played by consumers in explaining the powers platform firms wield in the rich democracies lends insight as well into their distinctive vulnerabilities"

Brilliant, from the Colbert show the other night: Ian McKellen recites a speech, “The Stranger’s Case,” thought to be by Shakespeare in which Sir Thomas More addresses an unruly London crowd that has rioted demanding that strangers from abroad be sent back. “What would you think, to be thus used?”

Join me and @stevelevitsky.bsky.social at our next session of The Breakdown, this Thursday 2/18 at 4pm ET. Register here: ash.harvard.edu/events/the-b...

The pace at which US wealth concentration is rising is simply staggering The concentration of AI wealth into the hands of a few tech barons + plutocratic capture ==> unchartered territory

Important report from @bcburden.bsky.social who runs the @electionscenter.bsky.social on this point. electionlab.mit.edu/articles/opt...

This @bostonreview.bsky.social piece by @adambonica.bsky.social and @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social is an absolute must-read, as are many of the responses to it. Spread this one far and wide.

"I demand the sum of one bm̶illion dollars"

Join Jonathan Rauch, @stephenrich.bsky.social and me to talk about whether the Trump admin is "fascist," what that means, and whether the name matters on the @harvardash.bsky.social Terms of Engagement (Tuesday noon ET). www.youtube.com/live/vGghrgX...

Huge Billy Bragg fan, too.

Like many men of a certain age, I’m a huge Springstein fan. Here’s a new track with some Dylanesque notes.

Normal thing for a major urban American newspaper to have to post.

The fundamental tenet of Robert Peel, who founded the first municipal police force in London, is that the police are the people and the people are the police. Once this connection is destroyed, you are simply an occupying force. This is why ICE should be withdrawn from Minneapolis, today.

Secretary of State Steve Simon’s statement on the outrageous request from the US Attorney General www.sos.mn.gov/about-the-of...

Many of us educators in the democracy space have argued for decades that there should be more civic education courses in K-12, college, etc. But the folks in Minneapolis and your comment make me think the real problem is that leaders of business, media, and politics need more civic education.

Thank you, President Roth. No official at my university (Harvard) can make a statement like yours as an official because our institutional voice policy forbids it. That’s too bad, because the successful defense of democracy just might require leaders of its institutions to speak up and defend it.

Bellingcat analysis of Alex Pretti killing by federal Officers. (T1) officer appears to have taken weapon off of Pretti’s waist, (T2) then walks away with the gun, (T3) and then 2 other officers shoot him, 10 times. If Bellingcat analysis holds up, Pretti was killed after he was disarmed.

Here is the newly-unsealed State Department memo confirming -- finally -- that the detention of Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk was based on an op-ed. No antisemitic activity. No support of terrorism. An op-ed in a student newspaper. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

This is what democracy looks like… www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/u...

More than 200,000 Danish citizens have signed a petition to buy California as a response to Trump’s attempt to take Greenland. They say they will provide Californians with “rule of law, universal health care, fact-based politics, and a lifetime supply of Danish pastries.”

[Trump] boasted that he had accomplished so much that “when you think of it, we shouldn't even have an election.” www.reuters.com/world/us/fiv...

DHS Secretary Noem deploys hundreds more federal agents to Minneapolis citing corruption. According to this ranking, MN is in lowest five states in US for levels of corruption. Five most corrupt states: KY, LA, MT, WV, and, yes, Noem’s own South Dakota. www.cato.org/blog/public-...

Very informative - and disturbing - analysis of shooting of Renee Good by @nytimes.com. Evidently, officer was to the left of the SUV, not in front of it, when he fired. The double (triple) tap shots, at maybe 1 or 2 feet away from her, are hard to watch

Minnesota Public Radio says today marks the first and only shooting and homicide in Minneapolis in the year 2026

NPR built a visual archive of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, showing exactly what happened through the lenses of the people who were there. In "Chapter 2: Stop the Steal," we look at how false claims of a stolen election mobilized Trump supporters.

1. Hundreds of corps that pledged to stop donating to members of Congress who voted to overturn the election on 1/6/21 have broken their promise over the last 5 years But we've identified 10 promise keepers: Farmers Airbnb Expedia Nike Clorox Eversource Energy Holland & Hart Qurate Whirlpool Lyft

Very glad that many more of my fellow Americans are democrats (small-d) than imperialists. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...

Completely consistent. Trump Nat Sec Strat document mentions democracy only 3 times; 2 of those are in the context of Europe. “Democracy” appears 38 times in Biden’s 2022 NSS. Democracy is simply not a priority (might interfere with actual priorities, e.g. oil). www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

Watching the 60 Minutes CECOT segment feels somehow transgressive to me. Very disturbing report on human rights violations. Check it out here, in full broadcast quality, courtesy of @yasharali.bsky.social www.thereset.news/p/breaking-h...

Scary. “The Massachusetts’ US Attorney General’s office has filed charges against the suspect they are seeking for the MIT shooting and the Brown shootings, according to a person familiar with the investigation.” www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/18/m...

Notable that Trump’s National Security Strategy (Nov 2025) mentions “democracy” just 3 times. Once warning that protecting democracy can be used to justify violating rights, and twice in the context of Europe. “Democracy” occurs 38 times in Biden’s 2022 NSS. www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

#2 on the list of striking @pewresearch.org findings from the past year: What I call the "fish diagram." International public opinion of the United States has worsened in Trump's second term, while global opinion of China has improved. www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

MAGAs ideas? Join our special guest @lkatfield.bsky.social, @stephenricher.bsky.social and me to talk about what strands of the "ideas first" right such as Chris Rufo, Curtis Yarvin, "Bronze Age Pervert," Michael Anton, JD Vance, and others. Terms of Engagement: www.youtube.com/watch?v=odk0...

"To fix things we need to put down our phones, meet in person across tribal lines and seek common ground while respecting different ideas about how to get there." @postopinions.bsky.social #HigherEd #Harvard

Why are Congress members allowed to trade stocks while making the rules? 🤯 The Restore Trust in Congress Act stops this conflict of interest. It’s simple. Pass it already.

W @harvardash.bsky.social & @politicsprof.bsky.social, my team @brookings.edu is working on our next edition of the Democracy Playbook It will be a driver’s manual for democracies globally on how to make U-turns Hear more on The Current podcast 👇 www.brookings.edu/articles/ins...

After becoming a congressional leader, a politician’s stock portfolio beats out those of peers by 47 (!!!) percentage points a year through trades timed around bills and firms that later get government contracts www.nber.org/papers/w34524 via @florianederer.bsky.social

@stephenricher.bsky.social and I talk about the Epstein files as a litmus test of populism / elitism? Will Epstein break MAGA? What are its effects on higher ed?

If anyone is curious about the current list of search terms being used by right wing activist organizations to harass university professors, here's a public records request I received today from Mike Howell of the Heritage Foundation. Not intimidating or meant to curtail by my speech at all, right?

Ask yourself how bad it’s got to be for conflict of interest in the current administration to be a page one story. Answer below.

A sobering look at shutdown pain from housing authority residents (and how you, too, can become a citizen journalist). My latest Substack on two women fighting for basic human dignity. open.substack.com/pub/bethmacy...

Good read from @ryanenos.bsky.social: “the paradox of prosperity… is that the people most able to resist authoritarianism are also those perhaps most vulnerable and least willing to resist it.”

@stephenricher.bsky.social and I are going live in 15 mins to discuss trends in democracy this year and our democracy wish lists. @harvardash.bsky.social www.youtube.com/live/rYUI8rY...

@lessig.bsky.social sez: “Saying Larry Summers has to step down is another version of the same kind of scapegoating,” Lessig said. Harvard … “failed to hold accountable the most powerful people on campus with ties to Epstein.” www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/18/m...

LMFAO

Veritas, Jim. “following a call with a top Justice Department official, he had four hours to resign, or severe punitive measures would be leveled against the school” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/u...

Join @stephenricher.bsky.social and me to talk about “fusion voting” as a way to make democracy better by enabling third and fourth parties to compete. About 15% of Mamdani’s vote came from supporters of the Working Families Party rather than the Democratic Party. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXDu...

Just finished @bethmacy.bsky.social new Paper Girl. Really powerful book about the politics of our time. I’m going to be recommending this and teaching out of it. intrepidpapergirl.com/papergirl/