Civil society is the guardrails—news organizations, universities, churches, prof organizations, foundations, other nonprofits, etc—not industry. This is not a new idea. They fought back in Trump’s first term. A primary goal in his second term is to crush these groups and leave society defenseless.

Mainers: Sinclair owns WGME 13.

Its a cult for one man and one man only

What’s more astonishing: 1) that the president clearly believes, and repeatedly suggests, that asylum seekers are people from mental asylums, or 2) that no journalist has ever challenged him on this and no mainstream media outlets have done any deep dives on this story?

Seriously, I think what Aaron does makes a bigger contribution to us knowing what’s happening than all these networks and CNN combined.

Counter-point: we’ve never had this kind of power grab by an actual authoritarian regime. (No, the John Adams had many faults, but it wasn’t that and Wilson didn’t grab powers to do his nasty stuff.)

Head:Desk

It really is like Nixon live blogging Watergate and the journalism establishment saying eh, what can you do

The Trump 1 version of the revised transatlantic pact was: Europeans must spend more on defence & we Americans will sell you more US weapons. Painful for Europeans but fine for US. Under Trump 2: Europeans will pay more for defense & we won't sell you kit. How does this make any sense for the US?

Trump criticizes Pam Bondi for not charging his adversaries quickly enough, in a Truth Social post that looks a lot like a DM. truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...

Any news organization that agrees to these terms should just shut themselves down.

162,000 doctors strong: The American College of Physicians demands RFK Jr. be removed as HHS Secretary, warning he is undermining vaccines, science, and public health. www.acponline.org/acp-newsroom... #BlueSky #MedSky #NewsSky #NurseSky #SciSky

I think this comparison is largely right. Yes, it’s a replay of McCarthyism’s ugliest aspects but that was fueled by a widespread sense that the country faced dire external dangers while this is about a deeply unpopular president’s grudges.

Joined @utoronto.ca anthropologists to look at Gallup's wellbeing index across the #AmericanNations. Southern "honor" cultures poor on traditional metrics, but good in self-assessed meaning/purpose. Northern "dignity" cultures were opposite. Details @plosone.org: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Let’s also have a probe of Woodrow Wilson’s mental decline and George Washington’s dental health.

Susan Collins voted to confirm RFK Jr to this position. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/h...

Nations Apart, my forthcoming book, made the @nextbigidea.bsky.social's November Must Read list. (Curators are Malcom Gladwell, Susan Cain, Daniel Pink and Adam Grant.) That's good, right? nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/nex...

Unbridled authoritarianism now. They aren't even attempting a pretext.

Stephen Colbert: “Tonight we’re all Jimmy Kimmel…. With an autocrat, you can’t give an inch. If ABC thinks that this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive, and clearly they've never read The Children's Book If You Give a Mouse A Kimmel.”

My quote to the AP: "What we’re seeing is an unprecedented attempt to silence disfavored speech by the government... Donald Trump is trying to dictate what Americans can say." www.yahoo.com/news/article...

"When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles" Frank Herbert

Guy who gets it:

The last political column I was allowed to write in the @washingtonpost.com was a criticism of Obama. His people took issue with my piece, but we were respectful. Now he is tweeting in support of me. This is how free political speech and respect for debate *actually works*. Or used to work.

Respectfully disagree: 1) in fact it is unusual for a democracy w/ this level of GDP to turn authoritarian & so quickly; 2) the weakness of both institutions (congress & courts) and individuals (Schumer etc) is shocking. Would take less than 10 people in congress or 2 SC justices to stop all this.

Becoming increasingly clear we’re gonna have to build a parallel infrastructure for all the media we really love. The reason all of this is happening under the color of law is hyperconsolidation, dissent being traded straight up for merger approval, or fear of harassment.

in light of the kimmel news, just a reminder that a few days ago a prominent fox news host literally called for killing homeless people. right afterward, someone shot up a couple homeless encampments. that fox news host still has his job.

For instance:

if Jimmy Kimmel's political humor is too hot for you to handle, I'm not sure "snowflake" even cuts it as a term of derision for the level of fragility you've achieved

This is censorship in action. The FCC chair threatens ABC and Disney over Kimmel’s comments. Hours later, he’s off air. It’s dangerous and unconstitutional. The message to every media company is clear: Adopt the MAGA line or the Federal Censorship Commission will come after you.

This is really shameful and pathetic, even for Kash Patel. Maybe have qualified law enforcement people head the FBI instead of professional shit posters.

Nations Apart, my forthcoming book, made the @nextbigidea.bsky.social's November Must Read list. (Curators are Malcom Gladwell, Susan Cain, Daniel Pink and Adam Grant.) That's good, right? nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/nex...

At the highest stakes moment since 1860, Schumer and Jeffries are completely failing the country.

Quick point. Trump cannot silence you, period. He doesn’t have the means or the tools, and if he did he would be too weak to use them. This is a bluff. It only works if you let it.

Joined @utoronto.ca anthropologists to look at Gallup's wellbeing index across the #AmericanNations. Southern "honor" cultures poor on traditional metrics, but good in self-assessed meaning/purpose. Northern "dignity" cultures were opposite. Details @plosone.org: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

cato institute analysis of murders by political ideology since 1975, excluding 9/11

Coates just doesn't miss. He doesn't. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/c...

coates is genuinely a generational writer

Happening right in front of us

Just say it clearly: Because the incumbent was assassinated.

The free speech activist who built a list of professors he worked to get fired for their speech must be celebrated for his support of free speech, and anyone who quotes his speech accurately in context will be fired and/or face state punishment by the champions of free speech, do I have that right?

I am just going to keep posting that the TX governor recently pardoned a political murderer. The dude texted "I'm going to shoot protestors", then went and shot a Black Lives Matter protester. He was convicted in a jury trial. Hard to find a more blatant example of celebrating political violence.

Campus cancel culture is out of control. Surely @harpers.bsky.social has a follow up letter coming out any moment.

The president is intentionally killing non-combatants who pose no direct threat in violation of domestic, international and military law and his VP and chief policy adviser are promising an authoritarian crackdown on his political opponents. Just today. Democracy and the rule of law are on the line

it’s murder, not euthanasia. “involuntary lethal injections” are murder.

This is just objectively the exact opposite of the truth. Every serious effort to actually quantify the ideological valence of political violence has found the reverse of what Vance claims.

Charlie Kirk was a champion of free speech and anyone who says otherwise will be fired

Whether it's Joe Biden condemning the killing of Charlie Kirk in 2025 or Charlie Kirk calling for the killing of Joe Biden in 2024, both men have issued strong words about the other's killing.

Posobiec - whose ties to white supremacists are legion - wrote a book last year called “Unhumans” in which he labeled half the country UNHUMAN It is language designed to inspire political violence yet our cable news channels have made him a talking head about political violence