When people convince themselves that they should get mad at the dummy rather than the ventriloquist. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/u...

i'd say it did. the public put a group of thieves, vandals and extremists in office last november and they promptly went about destroying everything that might work to limit their ability to loot, steal and inflicting pain on the people they hate

it is wild that Labour is doing exactly what the reactionary centrists recommend and is absolutely destroying its base of support as a result, and yet reactionary centrists in the US are just utterly silent about the complete failure of their program.

It's so interesting that in the name of practicality we are urged to avoid any practical action; in the name of redemption we are urged to exonerate people who have shown no interest in redemption; in the name of civility we are urged to overlook the cruelty of those who scorn all civility

The powers that be in US media decided a while ago democracy and rule of law are boring. A reality TV / prestige antihero show about a personalist dictatorship is more exciting. So instead of “President Interferes, Violating Constitutional Principle,” it’s “Will Voters Stupidly Make Him Hit Them?”

Dems: "It's really important that we not seem like we're overreacting, so we'll keep our criticism inside-voice - no allegations of authoritarianism, only a focus on policy." MAGA: "Great. In that case we'll ignore the Constitution, invade the capital, set up checkpoints, prosecute critics."

Wall Street Financier: "I just like a candidate who is pro-business & pro-economic growth. That's why I supported a guy, who raises and cancels tariffs without thinking; fires the person who brings him numbers he doesn't like; and is thinking of integrating crypto schemes into our financial system.

It's infuriating that the entire political universe understands why this is happening - Donald Trump and Stephen Miller are gutter bigots whose nativist politics are rooted in their all-consuming hatred of nonwhite foreigners - but for some reason we can't say it out loud.

The authoritarians have agency. Stop acting like these are acts of God. There is no "fight" between Columbia/Harvard and Trump. Trump is attacking Columbia/Harvard. (Also, the idea that the procedural violations are equivalent is absurd.)

there’s something that really rankles about all of these utterly unqualified dipshits who got their jobs because trump liked how they looked on television spending all their time on television telling other people to get a job

really interesting that the vice president cites as a key intellectual influence a guy who thinks black people are natural slaves

Standing up for immigrants means not freaking out when an immigrant celebrates their country of origin

Nazi Germany, 1935: “Was President Hindenburg mentally fit in 1932?”

The US government, which has claimed it has to destroy American universities because a few pro-Palestinian protesters are evidence of unchecked anti-Semitism, is defending an actual neo-Nazi party in Germany.

They’ll pressure a NATO ally to release a sex trafficker and racketeer but they won’t pressure a tiny dictatorship to return a man it’s holding on our behalf, who they admit they sent there by accident

The administration says that criminal immigrants can be deported to a foreign forced labor prison without a hearing that could determine if the person is actually a criminal or actually an immigrant and that if it makes a mistake it can’t be rectified because the person is now outside their control.

Trump refuses to repatriate innocent man from El Salvador prison because man has no history of sexual misconduct.

There's no reason to beat around the bush on this: Trump's Ukraine plan is literally just to make Ukraine an American colony. He's trying to divide up the country with Russia like Germany did with Poland.

Today in the casual media normalization of authoritarianism

"We have accomplished more in 43 days" than other administrations in 8 years, and he's right. in the sense, that they have done more damage, harmed more poor kids abroad, undermined more laws, fired more civil servants including veterans etc etc

One annoying thing about the "run the government like a business" guys is that they also are terrible at running businesses. I run my podcast "like a business" in the sense that things are made to a high quality and shipped on time, but it seems their only version of "good business" is "layoffs"

President Trump’s simpering fealty to Vladimir Putin and Russia is embarrassing and dangerous. Illinois stands with Ukraine, and so should the White House.

The US is now demanding massive war reparations: -from Ukraine, which acted in self-defense against Russian aggression -for the US, which did not get attacked or even fight in the war -as compensation for resources the US used in ways that served US interests, when most US money went to US companies

a new agency made of teenage neonazis and drug dealers is in charge of the entire government. the richest man in the world, who gave a nazi salute at the president's inauguration, says he is in charge. officially, he isn't. the government won't tell the courts who is in charge

An important point to keep in mind.

"The richest man alive, an actual Nazi and a fucking sicko, who was not elected, is firing tens of thousands of people to further enrich himself and the president he has usurped all to make Americans' lives worse" has to be among the biggest layups of all time for messaging. And yet.

donald trump has ordered the IRS to hand over all of your personal information to a Holocaust denier who works for the richest man on Earth, who is a Nazi

The headline doesn't do the article justice. Trump's admin is arguing that anything like Black Student Associations, Black History Month events, programs to retain minorities, etc are illegal and worthy of defunding the school. www.insidehighered.com/news/diversi...

We have a Saturday night massacre. We have a Benghazi. We have tensions with Canada. The richest man on earth controls the government. We have a new Russiagate. We have a drunk running the military. We have a VP in league with neo-Nazis. Dems: “Keep your powder dry. He’ll screw up any day now.”

“Worst halftime show I’ve ever seen”

There is no rational thought process behind these people, the arguments they offer are bad-faith, the ideologies they espouse are incoherent rationalizations. Their entire existence is built around securing the emotional thrill of imagining themselves as strong tormentor and others as weak victim

Everyone following Trump's orders "because he's the president", while Trump and Musk are acting like the laws don't exist, are acting with LEARNED HELPLESSNESS. Either Trump obeys the law that make him president, or he breaks them and he's an ILLEGITIMATE usurper and you owe him zero obedience.

one thing i’m stuck on is this idea that “masculine” energy means license to act like a chud in public, as opposed to more traditional notions of public masculinity, such as those that put a premium on the performance of integrity, honesty, honor and generosity.

They didn’t like Biden because he made their jobs boring for four years

My book THERE WAS NOTHING YOU COULD DO is currently on sale for 45 percent off as part of Cyber Monday. www.amazon.com/There-Was-No...