A seeming bit of history tonight as Ghazala Hashmi becomes the first Asian American to win statewide office in Virginia - and the first Muslim woman to win statewide office *anywhere* in the United States.

There is no greater symbol of the collapse of the post-World War II order than the prevailing narrative that the only ways to hold authoritarians accountable is with…other authoritarians.

I’ve never liked “cover reveals.” I understand why they matter to publishers, but this one had to tell the truth: no heroes, no marble—just struggle, endurance, and the fight to make freedom real and enduring. Out next spring from @steerforthpress.bsky.social and @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social

Almost immediately after Charlie Kirk was shot on Wednesday, right-wing social media accounts began speculating that his killer was transgender. Politicians and news outlets fueled the rumors. The problem? There is no evidence to back up the claim.

This is an honest takeaway: If Klein believes, as he stated, that he and Kirk were part of the same "project", then we need think deeply about what that project really is. It's a tremendously revealing piece about where the establishment left thinks it is in modern American political culture.

Our performative approach to democracy is actually and actively killing it. tadstoermer.substack.com/p/the-absolu...

just watched the first episode of Girls and got so viscerally angry at the 2012 innocence of it all, I had to turn the TV off. like they have no idea who Pete Hegseth is.

The salt trucks and snow plows aren’t coming, folks. But that doesn’t mean the viral video doesn’t matter. Just not in the way that you might think. tadstoermer.substack.com/p/the-snow-p...

We’re not just seeing the end of history, but the end of history’s ends. open.substack.com/pub/tadstoer...

So many of you have been asking about A RESISTANCE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES that Barnes & Noble put it up months early. Preorder now through tomorrow for 25% off (paperback, audiobook, or e-book) with code PREORDER25. #BNPreorder #resistancehistory @steerforthpress.bsky.social

Donald Trump’s “takeover” of Washington, DC, is authoritarian thuggery. It’s a projection of power, driven by retrograde racism.

Resistance History is Substack’s #1 Rising in History. There is a sign of the times. substack.com/@tadstoermer...

Brandon Johnson vs Donald Trump: It’s the best American resistance tradition. “Resistance is never about winning the war in a day. It’s about making the exercise of abusive power difficult, expensive, and a logistical nightmare.”

We should be glad that “Heaven was silent” when his 1784 proposal to ban slavery in the Northwest Territory was defeated. open.substack.com/pub/tadstoer...

So hoist a pint to Aaron Burr. 😀

Victory.

Miami just canceled its November election & pushed it to 2026. No public vote, just canceled. Mayor Suarez & Joe Carollo get to stick around an extra year. This feels like a power grab. If one city can delay elections for “participation,” what’s to stop others from doing it to silence opposition?

The Trump Admin has shown it will exploit any opening given it by this SCOTUS. Lifting the nationwide injunction on enforcing the birthright citizenship EO will be no exception. That’s why SCOTUS majority’s failure to address the unconstitutional EO is so cowardly. @andersoncooper360.bsky.social

Black Dandy Exhibit at the Met. Second photo is of Frederick Douglass’s clothing. Wow. Was surprised at how affecting it was to just see them and know he wore these things. Du Bois’s photo powerful, but in a different way.

The reaction to Mamdani shows how broken America’s political culture is. In any sane democracy, child care, public transit, and housing are center-left policy. For most of his policies, Mamdani is not far left. But because both parties are on the right, he gets framed that way. It’s insane.

If you want to know why every single person who went to public school is ready to run riot, this is the “surrender of the judiciary” shit topping over the DISAPPEARANCE OF FUCKING CONGRESS DICTATOR CAKE

This is a legit and unfortunate point. He did it. It can’t be taken back. There will be no consequences for it. Bombs will drop. People will die. This regime continues to plow through. So what does it mean if something *is* unconstitutional and that doesn’t matter?

🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️

"'It’s not knowledge we lack,' Peck concludes at end of 'Exterminate All the Brutes.' Rather, it's the moral courage to match emotion with action, lest we rationalize away what's left of our shared humanity & submit to a darkness we may fail, in our lifetimes, to escape." @sorayanadiamcdonald.com

Denmark is doing “No Tyrants!” today (Danes rather like their monarchy), but the bigger point is the widespread global solidarity for American opposition. 🤛🏻🤛🏻🤛🏻

There were some who thought Nazis aren’t so bad as long as you keep them on a leash. Such people are still with us, and they’re running practically all the Global North’s governments.

An advance look at “On Parade,” David Plunkert’s cover for next week's issue. #NewYorkerCovers

Golden since 1787.

Today is the last day at the NEH for me and many of my amazingly dedicated colleagues. We did our best to represent & serve the American people. To champion humanities research, teaching, public engagement, cultural heritage, infrastructure, and innovation.

“ABC News has the number at 700 Marines from Twentynine Palms ordered to ‘assist’ in Los Angeles, citing a US official. Per ABC: ‘The Marines are expected to arrive over the next 24 hours according to the official. They will be tasked with a support role, helping law enforcement only.’”

Thanks to @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social! "The proposed brief represents the largest-scale show of alumni support since Harvard filed suit against the White House in April, adding to a growing chorus of outside groups rallying behind the University." www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

“…yet arresting and physically assaulting demonstrators was as far as the Germans would go in Western Europe (during World War II).” — Halik Kochsanski, Resistance: The Underground War Against Hitler, 1939-1945.

LAPD when they think nobody is watching

A BBC World Service interviewer, in Newsday, just said that Trump “won a massive victory” in 2024. Was there something else going on aside from the presidential election?

For all of you liberal *and* conservative nationalists out there: one thing the Founders were clear on was the utter impossibility that a president would ever — and should ever — choose to nationalize the state militia, especially for use against the people. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

While everyone watched the Trump/Musk bromance breakup, the @nehgov.bsky.social dropped this insanity. Want NEH funding? Better toe the line on American Exceptionalism. No critical takes allowed. Cue a flood of garbage history projects for the next few years…at least.

While some folks are denying the transatlantic slave trade, these Black divers go to wreckages to honor the lives of those trafficked & those lost along the way. An estimated 12.5 million souls were trafficked on 10s of thousands of ships. 1.8 million died along the way. youtu.be/u2l_EugvRw8?...

This message brought to you by Harriet Tubman, an actual person who actually lived.

If your understanding of Salem 1692 is limited to "people accused of witchcraft," you're missing a crucial part: who was being accused and why. It was a women hunt, not a witch hunt. And the patterns of using moral panic to silence and control “others”? Going on right now. youtu.be/GPvTmA_PHFw

Remember in 2017 when people rushed the airports and stopped this from being implemented in a meaningful way? Why has everyone given up on mass actions? This and the women's march were tremendously successful actions. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

If @MarshaBlackburn is pushing a law to make it illegal to name ICE agents… doesn’t that mean it isn’t currently illegal? So what are she and @AndyOgles investigating Mayor O’Connell for exactly? 🤷🏻‍♂️ (Also: if ICE agents are this ashamed, maybe stop?) nypost.com/2025/06/04/u...

This is absolutely essential reading in case you’re wondering what the wholesale dismantling of civil service work has to do with you. data4democracy.substack.com/p/how-to-dis...

Here's the link to the amicus brief in support of Harvard. All alums interested in safeguarding academic freedom should consider signing: docs.google.com/forms/u/1/d/...

Just signed the @harvardalumni.bsky.social Amicus Brief to support Harvard against the Trump Administration. The work of @crimsoncourage.bsky.social has been tremendous and I’m proud to be part of it.

It's been five years since the murder of George Floyd ignited one of the most significant protest movements in modern history. But what's actually changed? @garrisonhayes.bsky.social explores the last five years, and posits: "There is still reason for hope." WATCH:

Here are actually effective places you can donate to instead of to Harvard (they literally have Billions) -Temporary housing shelters -Kids in your neighborhood's school lunch bills -mutual aids -food pantries/feeding organizations -local libraries -community care organizations -local scholarships

American Authoritarianism: Connecting Reconstruction's Collapse to Today youtu.be/gsHShkjsbZs