This statistic says it all: "The share of Americans who describe themselves as middle class has dropped from 85 per cent a decade ago to 54 per cent." www.ft.com/content/2805...

This is essentially the same story told by the Panama Papers of 2016, the Paradise Papers of 2017 & the Pandora Papers of 2020. Nearly 7TB of data on released on wealthy people, mostly men, doing terrible things at scale & facing no consequences:barely any prosecutions, miniscule # of convictions.

Years after he first invaded Ukraine, it's time to forget the idea that we can ever convince Putin he won't win in Ukraine. It's a strategy destined for failure. (And probably always was.) It's time to find a new strategy—one that can actually succeed. My latest: foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/11/p...

Putin will never be convinced he will lose in Ukraine. He can only be outlasted. My latest for @foreignpolicy.com, calling for a wholesale strategic shift in Ukraine: foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/11/p...

The Heritage Foundation made employees watch Tucker Carlson’s monologues on Ukraine, "which were rife with conspiracy theories about the war," and "to delete past tweets in support of Ukraine aid" www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Can't believe there aren't more movements on the U.S. mainland to support the elimination of America's colonies. Statehood, independence, free association—whatever those colonized populations want. www.wsj.com/world/guam-u...

"In the first half of this year, the Trump Organization’s income soared 17-fold to $864 million from $51 million a year earlier... Of the first-half total, $802 million – more than 90% – came from Trump crypto ventures, including sales of World Liberty tokens." www.reuters.com/investigatio...

Would be great if American officials stopped taking trips to foreign dictatorships that were paid for by those same foreign dictatorships. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...

No idea why there isn't more analysis of this—Chinese claims on Russian territory, which Russia first thieved from China in the 19th century—in English-language media. www.wsj.com/opinion/xi-a...

Wild that the NBA is today tipping off a tournament sponsored by a regime currently inflaming a genocide(!) in Sudan... and that no one is even batting an eye.

Reason #1,000 why it was so myopic to call Trump an "isolationist" (not that any political figure in American history was ever an "isolationist," anyway). www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-...

"A number of Sims creators have announced they are stepping away from the game, and it all has to do with video game company EA announcing its planned $55 billion acquisition by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners." www.teenvogue.com/story/the-si...

Putin couldn't do anything when Azerbaijan tore into Karabakh. He couldn't do anything when Assad fell. And now he can't do anything with Maduro suddenly at risk. Disastrous presidency overseeing a declining regional power.

Of course Paul Manafort has also been working with Dodik's allies in Republika Srpska: www.politico.com/news/magazin...

'Should Beijing attack, 67.8% of the 1,214 people surveyed said they would be "very willing or somewhat willing" to fight in defense of Taiwan' www.dw.com/en/most-taiw...

As expected, US has lifted sanctions vs. Russian backed Bosnian Serb secessionist Dodik, his entire regime, & their vast commercial holdings. Dodik has spent tens of millions lobbying the US to this effect since 2017. A categorical mistake for US interests in the region but money talks.

"U.S. intelligence agencies say the United Arab Emirates sent increasing supplies of weapons including sophisticated Chinese drones to a major Sudanese militia this year, bolstering a group that has been accused of genocide" www.wsj.com/world/how-u-...

What bizarre framing. *Of course* American efforts to seize Greenland—like Russian efforts to seize Ukraine, Israeli efforts to seize Palestine, etc etc—are imperialism. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/o...

I'm not sure why anyone ever expected private sector executives to be some kind of symbol of resistance to Trumpism (i.e., Harris thinking they would be "guardrails of democracy"). Complete misunderstanding of relationship between corporate power and politics, both historic and contemporary.

Sneaking suspicion "oligarchy" is going to be even more relevant next year than it is now...

Honestly, I'm surprised there's anyone who thinks we can still convince Putin that he's not going to win the war in Ukraine. Absolutely zero evidence Putin will ever think that. He's so far down the rabbit hole of conspiracy and historic illiteracy, there's no coming back.

"White House officials said Kushner is the driving force behind the split-reconstruction plan" www.wsj.com/world/middle...

"The treatment of the Inuit populations in Alaska is a warning for the Inuit population of Greenland." www.politico.eu/article/gree...

new @cjcmichel.bsky.social banger coming next summer, folks read.macmillan.com/lp/united-st...

Now that my beloved Mariners have been bounced from the baseball playoffs, it's time for some good news: my new book cover!

Extremely excited to see this new Price of Power pub, not just because of the minutiae on offshore and tax avoidance schemes—but also because of how it highlights how offshore is all around us (including the NBA!): thepriceofpower.substack.com/p/the-politi...

Signing a new partnership with Rwanda. Rushing head-long into new business with Gulf autocrats. Re-entering China, and promising that this time they won't criticize Beijing. Is there a single dictatorship that the NBA *won't* partner with?

Good the @nytimes.com sheds light on efforts of Kremlin-backed Serb secessionist regime in Bosnia to hijack US policy in region via $30+ million Dodik has spent lobbying in DC over past decade. In sum, for US to enable Dodik is to invite new conflict in Bosnia. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

"The colonists sought not just territory, but unchallenged dominion. To achieve this, they needed to erase the legitimacy of Native governance and justify violent dispossession." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

"Xinyue Lou is accused of funneling foreign campaign donations to President Trump’s campaign." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/n...

"Gilded Rage" isn’t simply a rehash of existing reportage. What separates Silverman’s book from other writeups, and where his book truly shines, is in his attempt to get at the root of Silicon Valley’s anti-democratic lurch. ICYMI @cjcmichel.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/why-our-te...

"Gilded Rage" isn’t simply a rehash of existing reportage. What separates Silverman’s book from other writeups, and where his book truly shines, is in his attempt to get at the root of Silicon Valley’s anti-democratic lurch. www.thebulwark.com/p/why-our-te...

When Trump came along—a fellow oligarch, looking to use the power of the American presidency to enrich himself and his cronies as much as possible—these figures jumped at the chance to share in the spoils. www.thebulwark.com/p/why-our-te...

The Gilded Age may have revealed the excesses of an unchecked oligarchy, but at least it left behind centers of learning, culture, and philanthropy. Today’s roster of plutocrats seems uninterested in that. www.thebulwark.com/p/why-our-te...

"Today’s roster of plutocrats, though, seems uninterested in leaving behind libraries, museums, universities. Instead, they’re mostly leaving behind one thing: their rage, unabated and unending, which we’ll be dealing with for years to come." Always a pleasure to publish @cjcmichel.bsky.social:

For most Americans, perhaps the most surprising feature of the 2024 election was the rightward lurch of Silicon Valley. A new book helps make sense of it. @cjcmichel.bsky.social reviews @jacobsilverman.com's "Gilded Rage": www.thebulwark.com/p/why-our-te...

I really appreciate this review of Gilded Rage in The Bulwark. I hoped that some of the book's concerns -- corruption, authoritarianism, rule of law, inequality, our shared stake in society -- would have broad appeal. www.thebulwark.com/p/why-our-te...

A new book shines light on how America's tech oligarchs made such a hard-right, authoritarian lurch in recent years—and how so many Americans missed it, even when all the signs were there. www.thebulwark.com/p/why-our-te...

Trump Opens the White House Doors to Foreign Regimes and Their Dirty Money Lobbyists for foreign countries have long helped other governments influence US policy but nothing compares to the brazen corruption of the 2nd Trump administration @cjcmichel.bsky.social www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Decades ago, a man named Ivy Lee jump-started the foreign lobbying industry, whitewashing the Nazis, Soviets, and Mussolini. Nearly a century later, the industry is unlike anything we've ever seen—all of it thanks to the White House. My latest at @thenation.com: www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Every week brings a new international corruption scandal that would have defined any other presidency, but which is totally normalized under Trump. And foreign dictatorships just keep taking advantage. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/b...

Insane to me that so many of these already-wealthy American comedians would willingly take even more money from Saudi Arabian tyrants. Talk about something that's going to haunt them the rest of their careers. hrf.org/latest/hrf-s...

Kushner "sees only what Israel is creating with American weapons: a flattened ruin on a prime piece of coastland – a beachfront parking lot ready for redevelopment." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Incredible that in 3.5 years, with hundreds of thousands of Russians dead, Putin *still* hasn't managed to conquer even the Donbas. Just a spectacular, historic failure.

This is phenomenal news not only for New York, but for Americans worried about foreign regimes sinking their teeth into American politics. www.ft.com/content/50bd...

Really in shocking just how little work Western scholars have done on Sakha. Massive landmass, clearly non-Russian, obvious history as a separate nation, substantial natural resource wealth—and renewed agitation for autonomy. Wild how little scholarly work has been done on it.

Israeli settlers have an influential lobbyist working in Washington to push the Trump administration to okay annexation of the West Bank. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

There's now an official U.S. governmental website hawking the "Trump gold card" visa scheme—selling American residency to any kleptocrat, cartel head, or oligarch who can afford it. trumpcard.gov

Democrats should build their future policy platform against one clear idea: anti-corruption. And this should go not just for domestic policy, but for foreign policy as well. Writing on the topic with Trevor Sutton and Matt Duss for @foreignaffairs.com: www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

If you want to understand this Trump administration's rampant corruption ... you have to go back to Eric Adams, and how they made the case against him disappear. I got a bunch of new details on this deep dive for @nytimes.com ... www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/o...