I think any story about Trump's autocracy should be mostly about the people and institutions who failed to stop it. This guy isn't a political genius, everything else just happens to be rotten. 'Toddler Consolidates Power In Household' is a story about incompetent parents, not shrewd maneuvering

Here's a key exchange. Rep Chip Roy smeared protesters for not believing we have "no king but Jesus," but @anamariecox.bsky.social reports seeing many protesters in his district on No Kings' side with signs bearing more pious religious messages than his. Transcript: newrepublic.com/article/2020...

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 very first statute authorizing domestic use of the military during domestic emergencies, enacted in 1792 by a Congress full of the same folks who wrote and ratified the Constitution, expressly provided for judicial review in certain circumstances *before* the President could even send troops.

The story of 2024 is this: Trump had a plan to destroy American government called Project 2025, which had, literally, not a typo, a 4% approval rating. He lied constantly and said he wouldn't do it. Then he entered office and immediately implemented AN EVEN MORE EXTREME VERSION OF IT.

Returning to a subject I was discussing this morning on X, I think a single video like this does more to radicalize people against ICE than any loaded rhetoric any politician has ever used, and DHS should think very hard about the consequences of supporting this kind of behavior from its agents.

The number of people who claim to follow the Prince of Peace and then cheer for stuff like this is… well, not that surprising, but still disturbing.

A decade ago, the Heritage Foundation went full meltdown about how Obama was an imperial president when he had issued about the same number of executive orders -- though he had reached it after six years, not six months.

great work bill cassidy this would have been an excellent question to ask him at the confirmation hearings which you greased the wheels for

The American experiment is based on the idea that citizenship is not based on ethnicity. We tried to conflate the two with slavery and the constitution failed as a result. The reconstruction amendments made this principle explicit. This shit is fundamentally anti American and anti patriotic.

A pre-dog-walk 🧵 on the pandemic. To me, the lesson of the pandemic is a very familiar one, although as far as I can tell, no one is talking about it or learning it (which is also familiar). It's about the contrast between America's two political parties.

It’s weird that we have an entire term called the “war on Christianity” but it’s only applied to the sexy green M&M and not something that both materially harms Christian churches and offends the theological background of them

The people who say we talk too much about slavery are the same ones who insist that we need public monuments and statues of men who are famous solely for waging a war of treason in defense of slavery. Statues that were created explicitly to deny any sense of "hope and progress" after the Civil War.

from chandra manning's wonderful book "what this cruel war was over"

Something that really stuck with me from the early pages of BLACK RECONSTRUCTION is Du Bois writing about slaveowners who knew deep down exactly what they were guilty of and who resorted to dissipation and alcoholism to drown the voice they heard inside themselves.

Imagine if someone proposed ceding Texas back to Mexico and framed it as “redrawing the maps.”

Creating a "national police force" was for decades a right-wing bogeyman, the feared unconstitutional federal usurpation of states' rights, the very thing "support your *local* police" and fetishizing elected sheriffs was all about.

Every activated Guardsman has a family, a job, school, or something that they are leaving to do their duty. It’s one thing when it’s a war… or a real mass civil disturbance, which those only last a few days. But to rip these people from their lives for a show… is awful.

if you're reporting on the UCLA shakedown, you should ask the gov. what the legal basis for the $1 billion demand is. if they point to title VI, ask how a billion dollar demand squares with the limited remedies available by law. if they say the False Claims Act, ask which specific contracts.

“Hey quick follow up for the History Respecter — what aspect of the Confederacy are you *most* proud of? The treason against the United States? The defense of slavery? All the losing? I bet it’s the losing.”

Police officers have fully internalized the mantra that their job is to get home safely at the end of their shift, yet they still want to be treated as if they're putting themselves in the line of fire even though they rarely do.

One of the many contradictions of Trumpism is that the whole appeal of Trump is that he is waging TOTAL WAR on every other part of society. But then it's totally unfair if anyone else wants to fight back.

Not only would it not be happening, all the people who are arguing it's no big deal would be arguing you are hysterical to think it would have happened.

The message of War Pigs — that war is evil, and that rich warmongers will go to Hell — is an impeccably textual Christian message. The Satanic Panic had to invent hidden messages in Ozzy Osbourne's music to justify hating and fearing him. A bag of tricks they are still pulling from.

thinking about work while you're watching a movie doesn't count as work

Du Bois on what these assholes were really like

We should be particularly concerned with this one because of the historical analog. When I was in law school I read the entire set of transcripts for the Nuremberg Trials (McGill is a document repository). German has two verbs for eating: the one used for people and the one used for animals.

you know who is a very deeply believing christian that never does anything bigoted with it and also never does the no true scotsman thing he just lives out his values in public and speaks from the heart about his beliefs to set a fantastic example? stephen fuckin colbert that's who

I am so goddamn sick of ppl resigned to living under the boot doompoasting about how it's all going to be shit forever. Most wannabe dictators fail in power. And many who 'succeed' do so briefly. And our wannabe dictator has all the marks of one who flames out before consolidating anything.

The implication, of course, is that God murdered the guy who actually did die that day, or at least couldn’t be bothered to save him. What an utterly theologically and morally bankrupt thing to say.

For those of us who believe the Supreme Court is, at least in part, a political institution, its saving grace is that it moves the law only in increments, is reactive rather than proactive, and must give its reasons and be judged on them. A Court that doesn't do those things isn't worth having.

Yeah, this is ridiculous. To the extent that there is ignorance, it is culpable ignorance that is morally indistinguishable from knowledge. You have a moral obligation not to know this little about someone whose every word you accept as gospel.

Ex-farm worker here. We need to talk about this whole "But a living wage for farm workers would spike the cost of food!" thing. Not true AT ALL. Y'all don't understand how fast experienced farm workers are. The average tomato picker pulls 650lbs per hour. At $20/hr, that's $0.03/lb for labor.

It's weird that a big tent Democratic party wouldn't include the guy who just handily won the Democratic primary in the city with the most Democratic voters in America. #votersmatter

It is odd how we look at "crime" in this country...the singular decision to rescind PEPFAR funding by the Trump administration, for instance, will likely cause the death of more people than all the people convicted of murder in all of our prisons combined www.ajmc.com/view/end-of-...

the thing about the Trump II is that they're chipping away at the very foundations of everything we've taken for granted and doing truly indescribable damage at home and abroad, but we can absolutely fix the damage—like three terms, half in trifecta, would even do the job

Laughing in front of cages designed to hold migrants and refugees, many of whom came to this country fleeing extreme violence and poverty, and hoping to raise their children in a more compassionate country. And many of whom followed all the legal procedures to enter the country.

Question: does it make America great again to deport a guy who’s willing to run into the ocean where a shark is prowling to save a child and chase away the shark?

Washington, D.C., has a population roughly equivalent to Alaska's. And it has zero senators. If D.C. had senators, the GOP megablil bill would have failed today. Instead, Murkowski got carve-outs and money for Alaska, and then voted to subject DC to the bill

When my wife became a citizen, the judge said a few words before administering the oath. She said "In a few moment, you will become as American as I am. There is no second-class category of citizens in this country." It was deeply moving.

In one of his more candid moments, Scalia said this about judicial power. Unthinkable for a Justice to cop to lawmaking now.

I used to be a pediatric oncology nurse. Something to know about childhood leukemia is that there is a 95% survival rate, but it requires a couple years of very regimented chemo. If this kid declines, it’s entirely because he didn’t get the care he needs, NOT because of the cancer.

this is just an observation but one way to think of the civil war is that it WAS about states rights, but the right in question was the right of free states to stay free

I still can’t understand the subset of people in the political world who lie as naturally as they breathe - but - who wear these giant crosses, constantly cite Scripture, demand that the Ten Commandments be displayed and find every opportunity possible to talk about “the Bible,” God or praying.

The “messaging” in this case was “pointing out the language of the law.”

the republican two-step: 1. pass huge, regressive tax cut that explodes the deficit 2. start complaining about the deficit the second a democrat takes office, demand spending cuts, get portrayed as Serious Deficit Hawks

Just to put it in perspective: Trump’s birthday parade drew about 8,600 people. Meanwhile, Connecticut held 30 rallies, and over 10,000 showed up in Hartford alone. Donald Trump got ratioed by Hartford, Connecticut. On his birthday.

Some thoughts about the military parade in my hometown of Washington DC today -- specifically, the route. Military parades in DC are quite rare. But when they happen, they have always begun, symbolically and geographically, at the Capitol and moved outward. 1/