Tech bro libertarianism may be the death of us all.

ICE has already spent over $70 million on new weapons this year. Last year, they spent less than $10 million during the same time period. During Trump’s first term, they spent an average of just $8.4 million annually. This seems more important than any ballroom.

I see Fox News is now calling Old, Osawatomie John Brown a “vigilante mass murderer.” Their racist defense of white nationalism grows bolder every day.

The weaker the Trump administration feels the more they will posture strength and grandiosity. The ballroom is nothing. Things are going to get much worse before they can possibly get better. I hope enough people are prepared for that so we can get back onto the path towards a better America.🇺🇸

Watching JD Vance act like a soulless partisan hack is disgusting. A month after wanting to ruin people’s lives for expressing schadenfreude at Charlie Kirk’s death, now he’s dismissing the “pearl clutching” response to Young Republicans celebrating rape and laughing about gas chambers. Pathetic.

The partisan civil war has already begun. The goal is not ideological, it is unassailable power.

Friendly reminder that the “attention” in “Thank you for your attention to this matter” is the point. Trump wants to distract you. From the Epstein files. From the failing economy. From the authoritarian consolidation of power. From his declining health. Stay focused.

Since the rightwing mediasphere is trying to turn John Brown Gun Clubs (JBGC) into the radical left boogeyman, here are a few things to know since I have written about the groups.

This weak, brazen attempt by Stephen Miller both to chill free speech and to set up a premise to criminalize it — and, to be clear, this is the very type of speech most central to First Amendment protections — would be laughably embarrassing if this man did not have the power that he has.

With all this talk of what is and is not violence (looking at you DHS), seems like a good reminder is in order. And if you didn't know, the World Health Organization has a really solid definition that covers a lot of ground--and does not include video recording law enforcement...

I worry people aren’t taking the Charlie Kirk martyr language seriously. It’s clear many MAGA folks really believe they are fighting a deeply religious battle. This martyr talk will lead to “higher law” arguments that completely dismiss the Constitution.

Watching Trump go after Kimmel and others is a stark reminder of how disgusting it is when a bully pretends to be the victim. Truly pathetic.

This is the playbook, folks. If you're not paying attention now and doing something about it, then you're going to have to sit down the rest of your life because democracy is being taken away. Do not be quiet in this moment.

Reading the comments made by the FCC Chair about Jimmy Kimmel, it really seems this administration does not like free speech or free markets. One worries they may just not like freedom at all.

A performative politics that treats ideological opponents as enemies to be destroyed instead of adversaries you are competing with will always tend toward violence. And so much of what passes for politics these days is performative.

Doing research on abolition rhetoric and political violence in the U.S., I spend a lot of time each day reading newspapers and speeches from the late 1850s. I really, really wish that didn’t feel so relevant for what is happening today.

If we make it a week without some MAGA nut shooting up a “radical left” college campus, I will be relieved. Trump pouring fuel on the fire and pretty much declaring war on a large swath of the American people seems very not good.

Thinking this afternoon of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and the response to her political assassination in June.

The last time I stayed awake for more than 24 hours I was incoherent and grumpy and seeing little blurry black spots that weren't real. I was not speaking coherently to millions and millions of people. Respect.

Musk seems hellbent on creating an AI driven technocracy, which is not the least bit surprising given his grandfather, Joshua Haldeman, dreamed of such a thing back in the 1930s. To be clear, real democracy cannot exist under technocratic rule.

The speed by which far right bros went from “gas is king” to “we must protect Tesla with our lives” is mind-boggling.

Instead of reporting that the Trump admin is “asking students to self-deport,” maybe folks could be more accurate: the Trump admin is harassing and threatening legal immigrants who have done absolutely nothing wrong. It's dangerous and pathetic. Words matter.

An honest headline. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

I really wish people would quit making “that’s the ballgame” claims every time Trump does something. This isn’t a game and fighting Trump’s authoritarian regime will take sustained effort for the next four years. Stop declaring democracy dead and fight for it instead.

I’m hearing that Senator Chuck Schumer just signed a deal with Amazon Publishing to write a new book—Profiles in Cowardice. Rumor is that Steve Bannon will write the foreword. Going to be a huge best seller.

This guy is running a public university like a for-profit business and is angry he can't fire more tenured faculty...yet. I fear this is the way things are heading across the country.

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." Federalist No. 47.

Trump is openly bragging about the unlawful arrest of Mahmoud Khalil because acting cruelly and creating fear is the point. 50 days in and it’s beyond clear the US is now run by an authoritarian who believes he is above the law and can silence everyone who dares disagree with him.

How it started/How it's going

As someone who studies rhetoric and violence, I avoid dehumanizing language. That said, I just keep muttering to myself--the country is being run by monsters. It's hard to see it any other way at this point. The death toll of this administration is going to be horrific.

Things seem to be going really well with the whole DOGE thing. Ideologues and idiots are destroying everything.

They find hurting people funny. There is no trying to work with these people.

I wonder what happened to all those pocket Constitutions the Republicans were waving around ten or fifteen years ago. I guess most just ended up in washing machines or fell out in bathroom stalls or something. 🤷

I thought Tyrant Trump said he was only going to be a dictator on day 1, and here we are on day 9 with the biggest constitutional crisis of my lifetime. Seems like that guy might not have been telling the truth or something.

As more states and universities talk about Competency Based Education, make sure you check out the Republican-founded, private Western Governors University. The whole idea is to let the conservative boys get college degrees without the pesky, woke professors and their stupid expertise.

Man, as a Kansan, I'm not sure Marshall should be getting too sniffy about the mismanagement of water resources. The Ogallala Aquifer is going dry as we speak -- which is going to have a massive impact on our state and its economy. #ksleg

When institutions, such as universities, close for things like snow days, I really wish some IT person could just walk into a room, flip a switch, and turn off the email. Or, you know, I had the power to resist checking email several times a day.

In the broligarchy, what do we owe one another? Do we abandon increasingly toxic social media? Do we stop engaging capitulating news media? Do we cancel corporate shopping accounts? Ultimately, how do we find a balance between self-preservation (ethical and practical) and collective well-being?

A quick glance at the news and just like that I have the Boomtown Rats’ “I Don’t Like Mondays” playing in my head. So infuriatingly sad.

So I’m assuming we’re about two months away from John Fetterman declaring himself an independent. Dude is jumping the shark.

I see media reporting the “senseless killing” of this health insurance CEO. But violence is almost never senseless; it means something to the people doing it. And it can be turned into meaning for others. To call it senseless is to refuse to acknowledge its communicative/political purpose.

You want it darker? Get ready for a slash-and-burn Kansas legislative session. kansasreflector.com/2024/12/02/y...

If you haven't read Jason Stanley's work on fascist politics, you really should. The Trump folks are clearly following the fascist playbook, right down to their sudden concern about supposedly rising infertility rates. It is so obvious and, unfortunately, so effective on too many folks.

MAGA folks like Greene and Hegseth using “national divorce” as a euphemism for civil war is awfully on-brand for misogynistic fascist politics. Mixing up the sex and violence, per usual.

Running the federal government like a for-profit organization is going to be great. It's been working out really well in higher education. So there's that.

All fascist politics traffics in some form of manufactured sex panic. The attacks on Sarah McBride are a clear example of that.

Reading US newspapers from the 1850s this morning and thinking about the vital importance of Abolitionists’ solidarity in the face of so many people telling them they were either overreacting or just crazy.

There are 62 days left until the presidential inauguration. I’m just sitting with that this evening.

Constitution of the United States. Article II. Section 2. The President “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States…”