America has weak parties, that's true, but i don't think we've really wrestled with just how much of the Republican infrastructure is Trump specific now. It is unclear to me how Republican politics will function without Trump. He's the institutions at this point. It's not clear they're transferable.

One thing that doesn't get discussed enough is how Trump reshaped the Republican Party on the institutional level. Trump's grassroots fundraising dried up in 2024 and a few billionaires funded his campaign. Seems to be permanent feature now. Unclear how this infrastructure would work w/o Trump.

In the lead up to the civil war, sending slaves back to Africa after abolition was one of the dominant views even among many slavery opponents, because they didn't believe Blacks were capable of self-government. Prof. Wurman is spinning the racism classic hits.

"and Brush therein" The man might have lost some velocity on his fastball, but he's still capable of reminding you of the Poaster he once was.

No one committed to democracy ever spent so much time undermining elections. You can be pro-democracy or you can be pro-Trump but you cannot be both and we need to say this clearly.

In the lead up to the civil war, sending slaves back to Africa after abolition was one of the dominant views even among many slavery opponents, because they didn't believe Blacks were capable of self-government. Prof. Wurman is spinning the racism classic hits.

Personally, I think it'll go the way it usually goes when a far-right leader dies The group immediately tears itself apart as former followers all try to seize power I bet we'll see a ton of right-wing subfactions based around individual characters in open war with one another

One thing that doesn't get discussed enough is how Trump reshaped the Republican Party on the institutional level. Trump's grassroots fundraising dried up in 2024 and a few billionaires funded his campaign. Seems to be permanent feature now. Unclear how this infrastructure would work w/o Trump.

Our media's addiction to "both sides are equivalent, serious alternatives" framing means we are forced to pretend this dullard has Serious Thoughts. We're in the business of habitually lying to ourselves, and like all forms of gaslighting, the bill is coming due.

Broke: Department of War Woke: Department of Gender Affirming Care

Our media's addiction to "both sides are equivalent, serious alternatives" framing means we are forced to pretend this dullard has Serious Thoughts. We're in the business of habitually lying to ourselves, and like all forms of gaslighting, the bill is coming due.

And now we can’t even eat our vegetables

I'm convinced that strong public facing morality is key to getting us out of this corrupt and amoral Trump Era. Trumpism is a reflection of the society that produced it, and we cannot move to something better without re-anchoring society to a coherent set of real values.

I'm convinced that strong public facing morality is key to getting us out of this corrupt and amoral Trump Era. Trumpism is a reflection of the society that produced it, and we cannot move to something better without re-anchoring society to a coherent set of real values.

"Liberals need to simultaneously throw sand in the gears of Donald Trump’s attempt at authoritarian consolidation and start thinking about what a replacement immigration system would look like." www.liberalcurrents.com/the-reconstr...

"there's nothing he loved more than fake money for doing crimes. I can't think of a better tribute"

Platner’s level of early support, and the magnitude of things were we’re told to look past (because of his early support) makes me think of @daniellethomsen.bsky.social work on candidate exit and the importance of support early on.

Americans with Graduate degrees (now 14.5% of the population) are far more liberal & vote far more consistently Democratic than those with only undergraduate degrees; & local graduate degrees are very strong predictors of geographic voting patterns journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Whelp, this post should put the cognitive decline rumors to bed once and for all.

I think one reason why we're at such a low cultural moment is we've lost the distinction between behaviors we have to tolerate because banning them is worse, and actively encouraging them. Sports betting is the equivalent of putting a cigarette in someone's mouth and offering to light it. 1/3

The country survived a civil war, great depression, two world wars, pandemics, etc., but I’m not sure we’ll ever fully come back from “live, laugh, love” signage at the White House.

Look folks, the difference between a political party and a cult is that in a party you can kick out the leader when they screw up—no single person defines the institution. In a cult, kicking out Dear Leader means you never get to go on the secret spaceship behind the comet.

Incorrect. I want to see a $40,000,000 ad buy for Gorilla Glue. I want a 30 second spot in the Superbowl about why we, as a nation, should roll up some Dragon Piss.

That’s right. We shouldn’t have alcohol or cigarette ads either.

There's a big difference between something being legal and being encouraged. I think marijuana should be legal, because the war on drugs is a disaster, but we don't need ads for weed running on daytime TV--there's no social utility in maximizing consumption. Sports betting is even worse. 2/3

lol I remember John McCain singing "bomb Iran" to the tune of the Beach Boys' Barbara Ann 18 years ago.

I think one reason why we're at such a low cultural moment is we've lost the distinction between behaviors we have to tolerate because banning them is worse, and actively encouraging them. Sports betting is the equivalent of putting a cigarette in someone's mouth and offering to light it. 1/3

Several years of data collection, 2 editorial teams and a few rounds of R&R were all well worth it to finally see this paper in print. Thanks to all the survey teams and the many experts who helped make this possible. doi.org/10.1086/736578

The guy who got elected because he played the Business Understander on TV does not, in fact, understand business. At one point in time, Republicans loved free enterprise (h/t @larryglickman.bsky.social), but those days are over and now we have economy by mad king fiat.

If you want to understand the politics of American Jews, you need to appreciate that small L liberalism is the group's central political commitment. Liberalism is great for minority groups and allowed Jews to thrive in the US. 1/2 www.cambridge.org/core/books/f...

Aging patriarch finding himself with no friends and left alone with nothing but his grievances

"We must reinstill a warrior culture" i confidently assert, while cosplaying as Woody from Toy Story 5

If you want to understand the politics of American Jews, you need to appreciate that small L liberalism is the group's central political commitment. Liberalism is great for minority groups and allowed Jews to thrive in the US. 1/2 www.cambridge.org/core/books/f...

‘Polarization’ has become the master concept for diagnosing our current democratic crisis. But this is not polarization. It is the radicalization of the political right. By misdiagnosing it, we risk becoming complicit in the crisis. 🧵 Just out in Perspectives on Politics doi.org/10.1017/S153...

If you haven't been paying attention, the Ukrainians have dramatically seized the upper hand against Russia over the past months thanks to long-range drone attacks on Russian oil infrastructure. It's really an incredible feat of ingenuity may well destabilize the awful Putin regime.

If you haven't been paying attention, the Ukrainians have dramatically seized the upper hand against Russia over the past months thanks to long-range drone attacks on Russian oil infrastructure. It's really an incredible feat of ingenuity may well destabilize the awful Putin regime.

Democracy > AI

If you listen carefully to Trump, especially now in his diminished state, he will often reveal that his "the 2020 election was rigged" line is a political strategy and not a real belief. By forcing his party to go along with bullshit, he flexes his power over them. It's domination. 1/2

The most revealing thing about AI is who its biggest fans are

Whelp.

If you listen carefully to Trump, especially now in his diminished state, he will often reveal that his "the 2020 election was rigged" line is a political strategy and not a real belief. By forcing his party to go along with bullshit, he flexes his power over them. It's domination. 1/2

Trump won OH, IA, and TX by 11, 12, and 14 points. Polling shows Republican senate candidates are running even or behind in these states, which is a shift of D+7 to 9 points, so far. More interestingly, these states are demographically very different, which suggests multiple groups are shifting. 1/3

The only requirement to serve in this cabinet is a bottomless appetite to debase yourself for Dear Leader. We're more than a decade in at this point. Everybody can see what Trump is. A lot of people have decided that unlimited debasement is worth it if it comes with access to power.

So much of Trumpism is rooted in the idea that any sacrifice, no matter how small, for the greater good is for suckers. It's a vision of society based on satisfying whatever impulse you have and damn the consequences. You see evidence of this everywhere from masking to climate change.

So much of Trumpism is rooted in the idea that any sacrifice, no matter how small, for the greater good is for suckers. It's a vision of society based on satisfying whatever impulse you have and damn the consequences. You see evidence of this everywhere from masking to climate change.

Trump won OH, IA, and TX by 11, 12, and 14 points. Polling shows Republican senate candidates are running even or behind in these states, which is a shift of D+7 to 9 points, so far. More interestingly, these states are demographically very different, which suggests multiple groups are shifting. 1/3

Remember how badly you were feeling two years ago? Who could have imagined then what we're seeing today?

Perhaps most notably, Fox News had a couple polls drop yesterday from IA and GA. In Iowa, which has become quite Republican over past 15 years, the Democrats were up in both the open Senate and Gov races. Iowa is huge if the Dems want a path to a Senate majority 2/x www.foxnews.com/politics/fox...