New online: Nikhil Pal Singh on Zohran Mamdani. www.dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...

Democratic socialism / social democracy is a normal part of politics and reflects the views of a not insignificant number of people in this country and if the Democratic Party is worried about its effect on national competitiveness they have two options

This is probably going to get lost because there's a lot going on today but it's important

To add to this, I would say that insofar as there has been a debate about whether Bush or Trump is “worse,” it should be replaced with an understanding of all the things Bush did that make it possible for Trump to be worse

I will stop quoting sections of GANGSTERS OF CAPITALISM when they stop being relevant. us.macmillan.com/books/9781250135599/gangstersofcapitalism/

checking in on the principled restrainers over at Tucker HQ

There was plenty of good stuff in Lepore’s These Truths but there was a really bad paragraph about the perniciousness of the “alt left”. I wonder what experiences she had to lead her to these conclusions that few seem to share

My personal version of “men think that they could have a fistfight with a bear and win” is that I think I would come across OK in a Chotiner interview

@maxgranger.info interviews the Salvadoran journalist Julia Gavarette about the state of the country and Bukele's methods of control www.newglobalpolitics.org/el-salvador/

I agree with this thread and this point

As long as Elon Musk is making us talk about Tolkien again here is @gerrycanavan.bsky.social's sharp piece about the challenges and joys of reading and enjoying Tolkien from the left www.dissentmagazine.org/article/tolk...

The spookiest thing about Spirit Halloween is that it does haunt the husks of dead retail space

This kind of thing is precisely why it was the CIA that sponsored modern art for US diplomatic purposes during the Cold War, the conservatives of that era complained in the same way if it was done overtly

Normal building history, then a bunch of racist, transphobic trolling by awful people

From the article referenced below: tldr esp. in authoritarian systems, mediocrities and worse tend to go into the secret police b/c those with better performance have better opportunities elsewhere, so secret police gets the dregs who are extra-dependable because the thing they can offer is loyalty

Dissent is looking for a Senior Editor - please let me know if you have any questions about this position www.dissentmagazine.org/about-dissen...

welcome to earth! can I interest you in a redevelopment opportunity

I think the thing that is hitting me most about the destruction of the East Wing of the White House is that it is the most physical manifestation of the fact that nobody who could stop him is stopping Trump from indulging his autocratic whims

It’s probably random and silly that it’s frogs but I like it because of frogs’ role an as indicator species and because it suggests the boiling frogs metaphor

Always some of the most fun of the year: TNR’s Nobel coverage

Hell of a thing to put next to a statue of Joan of Arc. (h/t David Pilling)

When AI-generated fake news popped up I think most of us were worried about its use to fool others, but it turns out we should have been most worried about the right using it to fool itself

My review of Osita Nwanevu's The Right of the People is here; 1) we have a short window to improve American democracy; 2) a Second Reconstruction is a good way to imagine it; 3) we need to learn from Chile's (unsuccessful) recent attempt and build wide support newrepublic.com/article/2011...

As part of our section on Authoritarianism and Resistance in the most recent @dissentmag.bsky.social, Julia Gavarette writes about El Salvador's criminalization of dissent and the people facing a choice of prison or exile--and those with no choice at all www.dissentmagazine.org/article/a-pe...

Dissent hosted a conversation by ex-conservatives who moved to the left in 2020, in case you're curious www.dissentmagazine.org/article/why-...

The whole federal government is in violation of the Hatch Act right now, but it doesn't matter because no one will enforce it; just another example of why we are no longer under the "rule of law"

I was a reading an article by legendary Argentine reporter Jacobo Timerman from the New Yorker in 1987: he's reporting from Chile and neither he nor anyone else knows that the plebiscite the next year will successfully set a path for Pinochet's removal

Can the most eloquent and thoughtful supporter of the "fascism thesis" and one of its most eloquent and thoughtful critics find common ground? Tonight on the Ganz & Riley show

I interviewed Dylan Riley about Trump, fascism, and civil society for @dissentmag.bsky.social www.dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...

Please listen to Brad. I'm the editor of a small magazine and I'm going to try to do my part but it's nowhere near enough; I have written to some people with greater capacity to convene and there's been no follow-up, maybe I'm just not important enough and that's fine, but the work needs to get done

I don't know what's going to happen but I'm really alarmed that no one, as far as I can tell, is doing any planning for a total institutional break and what would follow

It was a true honor to talk to legendary political scientist Adam Przeworski about how he understands the present crisis, what he learned from Chile and Poland, and how to move forward from here www.dissentmagazine.org/article/how-...

It was a true honor to talk to legendary political scientist Adam Przeworski about how he understands the present crisis, what he learned from Chile and Poland, and how to move forward from here www.dissentmagazine.org/article/how-...

This has already happened, just quietly! I know of people who expected to be in Trump’s crosshairs who left the US defensively

This is a masterful and subtle discussion of the idea of "settler colonialism" by Aziz Rana in the fall @dissentmag.bsky.social - both in the ways that it can be misused, and the reasons that it remains a meaningful concept www.dissentmagazine.org/article/whos...

Teaching a great group of first-year students and having very similar experiences

ICYMI, this series is one of my favorite things I've ever done

Important new book from a brilliant scholar!

This "brown note" that causes you to shit your pants when you hear it is real and this lady discovered it, everyone in this crowd shit their pants and you will too if you listen to this with the sound on

Fearful Americans Stockpiling Facts Before Federal Government Comes To Take Them Away https://theonion.com/fearful-americans-stockpiling-facts-before-federal-gove-1819579589/

@dancow.bsky.social, we worked on the high school paper together. Also there was the football player Tim Dwight but you’ve forgotten him by now while @dancow.bsky.social lives on

I know this isn't the point here but the proliferation of videos taken by people while they are driving is making me, as a cyclist, parent, pedestrian, citizen, etc. want to slash some tires (figurative)

When Evita Perón died all publications were expected to observe official mourning and not to publish anything critical of her. The literary magazine Sur (where Borges etc. wrote) was anti-Peronist and just put a black line around the issue, which was considered insufficient

The Uncertainty of the Poet, by Giorgio de Chirico, 1913

Bolsonaro gets what he deserves, 27 years and chronic hiccoughs www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/w...

After her hearing at 26 Federal Plaza, a woman was detained and escorted toward the stairwell. Her husband, confused and in shock, was guided toward the exit. Minutes later, he broke down in the elevator. They entered together, but he left alone. This happens here daily. #ICE

We elected a new anti-pope

Here's a snippet from a livestream by Adam Bartholomew that shows the immediate aftermath of the shooting and ends with an eyewitness describing an apparent wound to Kirk.