People still somehow naively laugh off Trump's claims as bluster. But the Miller CNN interview is as clear as can be. They've backed themselves into a corner where they'll probably now think they can't not attack Greenland, to avoid looking like capitulating to their critics. It's completely insane.

So important. Peace Is Unraveling www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/o...

I know it was funny for people to laugh about "TACO" a few months ago... but we actually really *do* want him to chicken out on most of this stuff. Sheesh. In a government where all policy is ego and preening and performative dominance displays, giving him an off ramp to chicken out is a good thing.

As I can recall, the "policy planning process" is a) in first term, Trump makes stray offhand, uninformed remark about Greenland; b) people laugh at him about; c) defensive to the slights, he post hoc decides he meant it; d) sycophants race to tell him its genius; e) now its policy... ... RIP NATO??

People still somehow naively laugh off Trump's claims as bluster. But the Miller CNN interview is as clear as can be. They've backed themselves into a corner where they'll probably now think they can't not attack Greenland, to avoid looking like capitulating to their critics. It's completely insane.

Taking a cue from @mattglassman312.bsky.social, I have created a text-first blog for occasional musings of the sort that fit better into 300 words than 300 characters. Here is my first post—on urbanity, and where we see it. scottgehlbach.bearblog.dev/urbanity-her...

On days like today, it’s nice to have a preoccupation that isn’t tied too directly to current events. Here, a few thoughts on urban design and social interaction, inspired by @nlnathan.bsky.social’s really innovative work on gridded streets and political mobilization.

Needless to say, Congress did not authorize the US military intervention in Venezuela.

Some thoughts on what Trump has done in Venezuela and what it might mean for US national security. Caveat: not a Latin America scholar so this is focused on US policy. Clearly huge consequences for Venezuela that others can address. First, despite the buildup, I didn't think Trump would do it. 1/

Whatever happens now, we absolutely cannot allow Trump's refusal to seek Congressional authorization for what appears to be a large scale military attack on another country vanish from the media discussion, which already appears to be happening.

Among the many reasons you don’t kidnap a foreign head of state at gunpoint even if you have the capability, is that it sparks consequences you can neither control nor anticipate.

Absolute lawlessness

What this will mean, in practice, that if you are deemed an enemy of the administration, they will pore through your citizenship application paperwork looking for some reason to retroactively disqualify you. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/u...

I am hiring a post-doctoral fellow (2 years) to work on all things political finance in Africa. There are no teaching obligations, and lots of opportunities for fieldwork. A PhD in Political Science is a requirement. Please spread the word! Happy to answer questions - send them to my LSE email.

With the invasion in Iraq there was some effort to portray it (for the rubes who did not believe it was about 9/11) as about some higher ideals, promoting democracy, empowering women. Here, there isn't even a coherent lie. Its all the personal pique of the mad King that no courtiers will question.

It’s really not funny that we are starting a war for no apparent reason.

New out today

We're excited to announce our newest The Storied Teller piece, "Urban Order." WP spoke with author @nlnathan.bsky.social about his work on #Africa and connecting the #political #incentives of #state #leaders to the physical geometry of #urban #built #environments. wpj.princeton.edu/storied-tell...

Happy to learn I received the Michael Wallerstein prize in political economy for this article on the political consequences of technological change in agriculture in the US: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Do you follow @nlnathan.bsky.social? While checking out his feed, have a read of his October WP article. He backdates the construction of 1.5 million streets across a sample of #African countries to determine how #autocratic and #urban #politics shape the built environment. doi.org/10.1353/wp.2...

The October issue of @worldpolitics.bsky.social is out! Have a read: muse.jhu.edu/issue/55724 #WTO #Africa #autocrats #multilateralism #TheSouth #ExchangeRate #partisanship #race #politics #Colombia @nlnathan.bsky.social

Trump's higher ed ransom note is here - everyone would have to acquiesce to their unprecedented demands or not be "given priority for grants," plus they can demand "reimbursement" for "violations" www.wsj.com/us-news/educ... A mechanism to enforce fealty. An attack on academic freedom and democracy

So happy to see this out! We caution against excessive optimism that the opposition will restore countries back to their democratic trajectories after electoral victory. Weakened institutions and the memory of repression makes it tempting to continue rather than buck the trend of autocratization.

Surreal to walk out of teaching Phil Roessler's book on the "coup-civil war trap" to see this headline about my own country. His book has some predictions, to say the least, about what would be about to go down if this were a stereotypical autocracy and this kind of "summit" were being called...

The H1-B visa thing is, like everything else in the Trump administration, set up to carve up exceptions for friends and punish enemies. It’s the authoritarian thru-line that stitches everything together.

This H1B thing is a DISASTER for the USA. Phone your representative and senator NOW and demand action to protect America. This is an attack on the American economy and American technological and scientific advancement. Not to mention a truly awful thing to do to half a million people.

After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.

There’s competition, I know. But threatening to pull the broadcast licenses of the affiliates of an entire “big-3” television network unless they stop their evening talk show host from criticizing the president has to be one of the biggest First Amendment violations in U.S. history.

A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the President doesn’t like what they say. This is an attack on free speech and cannot be allowed to stand. All elected officials need to speak up and push back on this undemocratic act.

🎉 Congrats to @nicolewilson.bsky.social , winner of the 2025 Lynne Rienner Best Dissertation Award 👏 Honorable Mention: @victoragboga.bsky.social 👉 www.afpol.org/blog/nicole-...

How to fix America's gerrymandering problem? @benschneer.bsky.social and I wrote in Time today about a solution we developed (with @cantstopkevin.bsky.social). time.com/7309565/amer...

Check out the third cohort of Pathways@GDL Summer interns! polisci.mit.edu/news/2025/pa... @nlnathan.bsky.social @arielrwhite.bsky.social @ausis.bsky.social @ncatsuaggies.bsky.social @unm.edu @howard.edu @mit.edu @mit-cis.bsky.social

If there were still any hope for academic conferences in the US (I don’t think there is) then this would kill it.

Communist regimes insisted on a "propaganda of success," with the media daily and breathlessly reporting ever-higher quotas being met by the heroic workers and massive economic growth. Stalin sent the (few) authors of unfavorable economic reports to the gulag. This of course is very different.

Wow. A group of top scholars at Harvard just sent a letter to its president, Alan Garber, warning against surrendering to Trump. Signatories include Steven Levitsky, Dani Rodrik, Ryan Enos, Theda Skocpol, and Steven Walt. Someone forwarded it to me. Read it here:

Columbia University’s agreement with the Trump administration is a disaster for academic freedom, freedom of speech, & the independence of American higher education. Never in the history of our nation has an educational institution so thoroughly bent to the will of an autocrat. 1/

We are delighted to host Noah Nathan (@nlnathan.bsky.social) at our next @lsegovernment.bsky.social APEG Seminar this Thursday, June 19 (12:00-1:30 PM GMT). Please join us.

What will you do when authoritarianism comes to America? Because it's here. Right now.

Congratulations to Noah L. Nathan @nlnathan.bsky.social for winning the Political Ties Award for "Do Grids Demobilize? How Street Networks, Social Networks, and Political Networks Intersect," published in @ajpseditor.bsky.social

Someone should tell Trump that Elon would feel very owned if he fully funded USAID and the CDC.

More polling just dropped -- by a pretty huge margin Americans think that having international students at US universities is good for the country, not bad -- 56% to 14% (+42) and for 18-29 YOs, nearly 1/2 say international students are "very good"

Nature ran a piece finding that 25 million people could die as a result of ending USAID. This puts Trump and Musk in the category of the most brutal leaders of the 20th century in terms of unnecessary lives lost. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

will be v interesting to see if the NYT devotes the attention to this it gave to the president of Harvard's citations!

Look at the Trump official’s tie.