NEW: A stunning new project from @lawfaremedia.org's @katherinepomps.bsky.social finds that 97 Jan. 6ers who received clemency for their role in the Capitol riot then got arrested, charged, and/or convicted with subsequent crimes—a number much higher than previously reported.

Is America about ideals, or identity? Mitt Romney or JD Vance? It's emerging as the great ideological division of the future, especially on the Right. Join me for an exciting conversation @brookings.edu on June 23... www.brookings.edu/events/what-...

This dismissal for vindictive prosecution is how a judge sounds when he's shouting from the rooftops that an administration is corrupt. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

This is what friends of law and liberty are projecting on the DOJ's Trump banner right now:

We should have seen it coming. www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/dem...

My exchange today with Claude...I'm sorry, this is creepy.

The Supreme Court is about to give the president authority over the executive branch that's undreamt-of by the founders. www.aei.org/op-eds/a-thr...

While Israel is spit-roasted for a genocide it didn't commit, crickets about Hamas's use of Gaza's population as human shields. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

Real war...pretend victory. spectator.com/article/trum...

The Declaration hinges on "consent of the governed"...but what does it actually mean? And are we losing it? www.brookings.edu/articles/is-...

No, there wasn't a global effort by the Biden administration to censor the internet...and two recent consent decrees don't change that fact. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what...

Here's an actually solvable, yet important, problem. There's no reason to sell precise geolocation data to consumers. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/it-i...

Patrimonialists and authoritarian populists are always corrupt and incompetent...and that's how you defeat them, as Hungary demonstrates again. Orban’s defeat shows the Achilles’ heel of populist power www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Remember the song-and-dance we got about Vietnam? The White House tallied ordnance dropped and targets hit, as if that was the same as winning. Well...here we go again. maxboot.substack.com/p/what-did-o...

Though I know we're all out of bandwidth, this is important: Trump's DOJ is vindictively prosecuting Smartmatic as part of its election denial campaign. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

On the ground in Kiev and Kharkiv with Max Boot. He finds remarkable resolve and resilience. maxboot.substack.com/p/why-ukrain...

The four enduring truths of the Mueller report. They shatter the claim that Russia's involvement in the 2016 election--and Trump's involvement with Russia--are a "hoax." www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

Amid a blizzard of commentary on the war and the situation in Iran, Vali Nasr shares real expertise with Paul Starobin. newbooksnetwork.com/understandin...

Brilliant tour d'horizon of the global twin threats of Putinism and populism from Tom G. Palmer. open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...

In case you're still using TikTok, here's a reminder that it's a dishonest company with even more dishonest backers. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/info...

One of the frustrations of being an editor/organizer is that I don't get to do my own thinking and work. One of the joys is that I get to platform absolutely first rate conversations by brilliant minds such as this one at LibCon2025. Moderator @jonrauch.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...

Important new concept from @sarahlongwell25.bsky.social: "vice signaling." From her 2/11/2016 interview with Sam Harris... www.samharris.org/podcasts/mak...

Detailed analysis by Rob Shapiro finds MAGA is the same type of authoritarian, violence-prone mass movement that brought dictators to power in other countries. www.sonecon.com/hannah-arend...

Whatever else you do today, do not miss this column by Russell Moore about the real meaning of the Epstein debacle. www.christianitytoday.com/newsletter/a...

Sam Harris and I dissect the Trump phenomenon and sadly conclude...yes, it's fascism. www.samharris.org/podcasts/mak...

Want to know why Trump is granting asylum to supposedly persecuted white South Africans? Read this insightful essay by Eve Fairbanks about the false (and racist) claim that whites were better off under apartheid. www.thedial.world/articles/new...

This is, quite frankly, complete bullshit. I’ve received more criticism, harassment, and — at one point — calls for my death in the past six months of criticizing this administration than I did in an entire FBI career of investigations, operations, and arrests. And I never wore a goddamn mask.

How about those fiscally conservative Republicans? "OMB estimates that the lawmakers in 2025 added $2.6 trillion to the deficit through 2030 and $4.4 trillion through 2035." www.crfb.org/press-releas...

"Recent events have brought Trump’s governing style into sharper focus," Jonathan Rauch argues. "'Fascist' best describes it, and reluctance to use the term has now become perverse." theatln.tc/wVq7MFaa

Wake up, Europe! open.substack.com/pub/billemmo...

Must-read from Larry Diamond: "We are left with the worst of all possible worlds. Maduro is gone but his predatory dictatorship lives on. There is no sign of a plan to induce this awful regime to negotiate a transfer of power to the democratic coalition." www.theunpopulist.net/p/trumps-bet...

Why what's been achieved in Gaza is a ceasefire, not a peace deal. There is only one genocidal party to the conflict, and it's Hamas. www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/202...

Frank Fukuyama's incisive analysis of Venezuela. Explains why legality is a side issue (and a dead end for Dems) open.substack.com/pub/persuasi...

Here's a brilliant and also moving analysis of the U.S. shift toward authoritarianism...and the importance of individual acts of resistance. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FeO...

"Next year Europe will have to change its approach and start copying China. It needs to punch back to deter an increasingly hostile America." open.substack.com/pub/billemmo...

"As for Trump, the only things that can be predicted with confidence is that he will continue to call for peace and continue to collude with Putin." open.substack.com/pub/billemmo...

Trump's gift to Putin. 73 percent of Germans say relations with the US are "bad." www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/...

Bill Emmott: "Europe offends Trump in much the same way as Democratic Ukraine offends Putin." billemmott.substack.com/p/trumps-hat...

At RDI's conference in DC, I just heard a retired federal judge, Mark Wolf, say Trump might declare martial law to impede the 2026 elections. He's not predicting, but no one thinks he's crazy to raise it. rdi.org/2025-frontli...

Tim Mak has it about right. www.counteroffensive.news/p/trumps-str...

This is a stunning indictment...not of Letitia James but of DOJ and the Trump administration. Serious prosecutors and lawyers would be hanging their heads in shame. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Rob Shapiro: Trump has made the affordability crisis worse, and opened the door wide for Democrats to mount a populist campaign from the left. washingtonmonthly.com/2025/12/02/a...

Tom Nichols states the obvious...but let's please not forget that the first boat strike, which targeted civilians posing no imminent threat or hostility to the US, was probably as illegal as the second. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

"Conspiracy theories define what it means to be a conservative in America today. It used to be the Reaganite agenda of low taxes, deregulation, individual freedom. But it really is whether you believe in these weird theories that partake of a different reality." www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GDA...

DOGE unleashed chaos in federal agencies. Many are rehiring after firing; key talent is gone. www.brookings.edu/articles/how...

"The serious way in which to understand this American “peace plan” is that it shows that Trump is the weakest president to occupy the White House for 100 years." open.substack.com/pub/billemmo...