Of course Senate Dems caved. It's a classic collective action problem. Political Science 101: the Administration will usually beat Congress, like any unified actor versus dozens of actors with their own divergent interests who struggle to coordinate. The problem is structural, not personal.

Strong Sturmabteilung (SA) vibes No matter how fasc they seem, there's always Röhm for them to get much worse

CORRECTION: Trump only *gradually* instigated the attack on the Capitol over the course of months, told the crowd at the White House on Jan 6 to "walk down to the Capitol" and to "fight like hell," did nothing to stop them for hours as violence erupted, then told rioters how much he loved them

A civilized country won't hesitate to jail its former president 🇫🇷

No one needs to speak out against Trump's destruction of the rule of law more than federal judges--which means resigning--and no judge's voices are more critical right now than those still committed to Reagan's legacy of opposing authoritarianism everywhere

'tis the Seasons

Supreme Court justices should not be encouraging people to have particular political identities and positions.

Kegseth and Squee and the Devil's Triangle—boof all that!

Happy Halloween! We recorded the ACTUAL Dance of Death (via music from a #NewberryLibrary book c. 1650) for your listening pleasure! Read all about it while you listen to the recording in my latest blog post! www.newberry.org/blog/spooky-...

What Heritage is not distancing itself from

Does the rise of populism have economic roots, and more protectionist and anti-immigration policies help? Quick thread on my latest piece here buff.ly/O2SoUok

Getting my literary princess on

🚨 TOMORROW at 12:10 PM ET 🚨 Join @berinszoka.bsky.social at @cdt.org’s Future of Speech Online Conference to discuss the First Amendment’s limits on FCC and FTC authority over editorial policies. standtogether.swoogo.com/foso25/9611110

There is an expansive literature on the causes of the rise of #populism. Its lesson? Policies designed to appease populism are unlikely to be effective. That battle can only be won through argument. New @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social insight by @johnspringford.bsky.social Read here: buff.ly/O2SoUok

Strong evidence that in the highest echelons of the present capitalist order, ideology and charismatic patrimonialism are stronger than quarterly revenues.

This is how Viktor Orbán took over Hungary's media—and killed its democracy

ICE making röhm for new leadership

“No one has the right to obey" – Hannah Arendt (reporting on Adolf Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem, 1964)

🔔 FPF's @caitlinvogus.bsky.social will join a panel of experts to break down how the FCC and FTC target journalists and the First Amendment, and how to fight back. 🗓️ Oct. 29, 12:10 p.m. ET RSVP for @cdt.org's #FutureOfSpeech 2025, “Working the Refs” panel: standtogether.swoogo.com/foso25/9611460

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕽𝖊𝖎𝖈𝖍 𝕾𝖙𝖚𝖋𝖋

and yet it manages to be delightfully dark

Biden's vanity got us here. Kamala's could kill us all. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/u...

Even the OG Vandals were better

Eyes on the ball(room)!

All he has to do is run for VP, then take over when his running mate resigns right after being inaugurated. The 22nd Amendment only bars him running *for President* again. I explained all this last year: www.thebulwark.com/p/donald-tru...

Don Carrleone repeats his threats to broadcasters who don't fall into line: "there’s broadcasters... that may very well end up losing their licenses. Now, of course, there’s a whole process that has to be run there that people don’t really focus on” NB: he runs the process youtu.be/137HrN9VntM?...

🗓️ Mark your calendars 🗓️ We're excited to have @berinszoka.bsky.social representing @techfreedom.org at The People’s Oversight Hearing on Wednesday, November 12. Register today to secure your spot! www.eventbrite.com/e/the-people...

"Always" is a big word. Who's gonna tell her about William Jennings Bryan (Dem nominee in 1896, 1900 and 1908) and the Scopes Monkey Trial?

I'm a huge fan of @brihreed.bsky.social and his Question Everything podcast. I was intrigued when he announced his latest season would be an exploration of Section 230 and why he feels it should be repealed. I obviously disagree, but I try to keep an open mind. But the 1st episode is a disaster.

Look, "if Obama did this" is a boring counterfactual, but the shit that scanned as "defiling the office" under Obama would blow your mind.

Classic Orbán: blame the Jews

A load of shit by any other name, however, sends a starkly clear message: “Trump’s post is not only juvenile but also betrays striking contempt for tens of millions of Americans he ostensibly leads and for the concept of democratic free speech,” open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

It's a monarchy not a republic apparently

Meanwhile, 40% of Americans approve of Trump and 5% "aren't sure." 🤦‍♂️

baby steps

Puns for Democracy

Brendan Carr did this—by weaponizing the FCC's broad discretion over broadcasters to install Bari Weiss as head of CBS News This is essentially how Viktor Orban took over Hungarian media. And it's just the beginning... My take on Don Carrleone’s mafia racket: thehill.com/opinion/civi...

“Expertise is… a process, driven by trial and error. ʼBelieving in the scienceʼ doesn’t mean taking what scientists say at any moment as holy writ—the scientists themselves don’t do this. It means believing in the process and accepting that what is seen as truth today may look like error tomorrow.”

“For my friends everything, for my enemies the law” —Oscar R. Benavides, dictator of Peru 🇵🇪

So it only took Apple to 14 years to offer touchscreen laptops after Windows did? 🤦‍♂️

"[Trump's] a crazy person who's in charge of the most powerful nation. Knowing that I can stand in front of 12 of my fellow citizens and be found not guilty for standing up for basic human rights makes me feel like, despite the scary times we live in, we have hope for the future." 👏

The prerogative state (whims of the Leader) is crowding out the normative state (the rule of law). That's how fascism works.

Now they're trying to cancel Members of Congress just for having swastikas in their offices! Will the war on fReE sPeAcH never end?!?

My new paper on "How Speech-Based Immigration Restrictions Threaten Academic Freedom" (forthcoming in Lee Bollinger & Geoffrey Stone, eds., Academic Freedom in the Era of Trump, Oxford Univ. Press): papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

1)You may remember the articles criticizing liberal students for their hesitancy to make friends with conservative students—alleging that they were less open-minded than their conservative counterparts.

The people who accused Obama of rounding them up and putting them in concentration camps now get to LARP their dark fictions into reality—with someone else getting locked up by jack-booted thugs

If you were an admin or member of one of the Facebook groups that the DOJ jawboned Facebook into censoring, we want to talk to you! Please shoot me a message,