As we await whatever fresh hell Trump's speech tonight will unleash, it’s important to step back and recognize the broader strategy characterizing much of Trump 2.0. I suspect the same strategy will be deployed in the run-up to the 2026 elections. The template is 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁.

Here's a slightly longer version, which I think captures much of what has happened over the past 1.5 years. And I expect this is the playbook for the 2026 elections: Begin by announcing extreme "election integrity" measures and ultimately retreat to a position that seems moderate only by comparison.

Incredible.

Unfortunately, a stunned Paris is how they all got into this whole mess to begin with

Check out our new book, Frontiers of American Reaction Vol. 1! This ebook collects essays written from 2022 to 2026 and takes on themes ranging from myths and MAGA to the tech right and liberalism. Download it for free now! www.illiberalism.org/frontiers-of...

A very smart, timely piece by @lkatfield.bsky.social in @thebulwark.com www.thebulwark.com/p/how-trumpi...

Hell of a photo

On this 250th Independence Day, join with Abraham Lincoln in honoring the Declaration’s promise—our founding commitment to human equality and freedom—that, in all its complexity, defines who we are as Americans. ICYMI @lkatfield.bsky.social:

icymi @gregsargent.bsky.social on the creedal nation, including some Lincoln: “In Lincoln’s speech, dedication to the proposition that all people are created equal is a substitute for ties of heritage and blood.“ Obama adds “It’s no less strong for being so.“ newrepublic.com/article/2121...

It is seriously alarming how many of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people are just screamingly mentally unwell in deeply toxic, dangerous ways.

"Trumpism is a betrayal of the very things we are meant to be celebrating...[let's] reject Trump and his intellectual lackeys in their nativism...and instead join with Lincoln in honoring the Declaration’s promise." Good @lkatfield.bsky.social on 250th and MAGA: www.thebulwark.com/p/how-trumpi...

The right-wing attack on birthright citizenship is not just about birthright citizenship itself. As MAGA’s reaction to the Supreme Court ruling proves, it is part of their opposition to a broader ideal, that “All men are created equal.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

My friend @lkatfield.bsky.social has execrable Trumpian id Michael Anton utterly dead to rights in this piece (and elsewhere). www.thebulwark.com/p/how-trumpi...

My reply to Michael Anton’s review of Furious Minds. lkfieldnotes.substack.com/p/reply-to-f...

Come for the West Coast Straussians versus the nationalist conservatives, stay for the fundamental defense of the American idea. New from @lkatfield.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/how-trumpi...

Note to people asking "why not Thielism"—Musk lost twice Thiel's net worth just today.

Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/v...

Youtube link: youtu.be/R0UczZ_4ND8?...

Spotify link to the episode: open.spotify.com/episode/3sSt...

Pumped to share this latest Virtual Sentiments episode with @lkatfield.bsky.social perfectly timed for Independence Day weekend (and her Best Book Award win from APSA’s American Political Thought section!) Available wherever you prefer to listen to podcasts! open.substack.com/pub/kristenc...

Congratulations to @lkatfield.bsky.social, whose book Furious Minds has won the @apsa.bsky.social American Political Thought Section's Best Book Award! Field's work tells the story of the thinkers of the New Right and their powerful assault on American freedoms, values, and ideals: buff.ly/MkAzAdo

the feds have done more to harass americans angry over good and pretti’s killings than they have to investigate them

From earlier today at the new Obama Library, a photo of all the living non-insurrectionist presidents.

“Furious Minds” is an excellent book that explains in depth how dangerous Trump and the “new right” is. And in in a way that even I can understand.* @lkatfield.bsky.social *I know I’m engaging in self- deprecation. The truth is I’m a genius.

New polling data suggests JD Vance's blood-and-soil nationalism is toxically unpopular with actual Americans

genuinely speechless here.

Sohrab is turning that big dial that says racism.

Finding various lefty people in the humanities kinda annoying but not thinking it is worth burning down every free institution in the west to prevent such people emerging nor allying with the fascists in the process of doing as much? This is a superpower.

Listen to this interview with @lkatfield.bsky.social, author of Furious Minds, on @npr.org's 1A, where she discusses what "masculinism" means for America:

Only took him ten years to figure it out bsky.app/profile/sahi...

In case you missed it, the video of our event with Osita Nwanevu on his book, The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding, is now available! Check it out! @lkatfield.bsky.social

this claim does not reflect to me an interest in high academic standards

Here was DHS’s statement at the time.

@lkatfield.bsky.social, author of Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right, joins The Briefing with Michael Waldman to discuss the new conservative movement on the right.

Another reminder: if there exists *any* class of people who don't have due process rights, then *nobody* actually has due process rights because the government can always just say you're in that class.

Really enjoyed reading and writing up some thoughts on @lkatfield.bsky.social excellent book Furious Minds. She brilliantly demonstrates the perils of ideas-first determinism. I was especially interested in how the Christian Right has been corrupted. open.substack.com/pub/johnheat...

Join A.J.Bauer for a book talk about MAKING THE LIBERAL MEDIA on May 27 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM CMT at Goldsmiths University of London. Mark your calendar today! buff.ly/QqtjxPL

Goes so hard

just open contempt for the united states as a pluralist and secular democracy. and a reminder that the function of the fiction that the united states was founded as a fundamentalist christian nation is to establish a hierarchy of human worth with white christians at the top

Check out this feature in @dagensnyheter.bsky.social written by Max Hjelm in which he discusses Furious Minds by @lkatfield.bsky.social: www.dn.se/ledare/max-h... 🇸🇪

DC friends, this is happening today: Come and hear Osita Nwanevu discuss democracy and how to build one. Join us @illsp.bsky.social at 4:30pm at GW. Register here: lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/kcc5nwp

DC friends, this is happening today: Come and hear Osita Nwanevu discuss democracy and how to build one. Join us @illsp.bsky.social at 4:30pm at GW. Register here: lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/kcc5nwp

Reminder to join us this Thursday, May 11, for a discussion with Osita Nwanevu about his timely new book on American democracy, past and present. Register here: tinyurl.com/58r2frj3 @lkatfield.bsky.social

Who will think of the plight of the “vilified” ultra wealthy now that their second-homes in NYC might be taxed at a slightly higher rate, as they already are in Montana? share.google/EeFfrPecjZrO...

For @theipaper.com, I tried to explain why we live in a world where Laura Loomer is still a thing. inews.co.uk/opinion/pro-...

Incredible reporting (and writing) here, by @robertdownen.bsky.social. A must-read chronicling of decades-worth of efforts to expose abuse throughout the SBC, and also a searing indictment.

Incredible reporting (and writing) here, by @robertdownen.bsky.social. A must-read chronicling of decades-worth of efforts to expose abuse throughout the SPC, and also a searing indictment.

This was an incredible piece Rob. It deserves awards.