One last time: My attempt to portray the ideological and intellectual landscape of the tech billionaire world, trace their political trajectory since the height of the neoliberal consensus in the 1990s, and explain the more recent activation of long-standing anti-democratic tendencies. New piece:

I must say I’m not super impressed with responses that mock my piece for exploring the tech elite’s radicalizing trajectory because “Duh, they’re all fascist nerds, ‘nuff said!” That sort of reflexive anti-intellectualism is quite toxic to the political discourse (it’s also just really mean?).

ICYMI yesterday: I wrote about one of the defining - and most dangerous - stories of our time: America’s tech barons are openly and aggressively siding with authoritarianism. An exploration of what is fueling their radicalization to the right – and why it is happening now:

This is not *just* a story of capitalists attempting to maximize profit by sucking up to the authoritarian regime. Let’s not assume a false binary between profit motives and ideology. Yes, these guys want to sell stuff. But it’s also a tale of political and ideological radicalization.

Perhaps the question we should be focusing on is not what the newest generation of AI can and cannot do… The key question is: How much power can we allow the billionaires behind these technologies to accumulate as they are aggressively siding against modern democracy? Please consider subscribing:

Sunday reading: Fueled by profit motives, ideological radicalization, and elite self-victimization, America’s tech barons are aggressively taking the side of authoritarianism. I wrote about why the tech billionaires are aligning with Trump – and why now:

The tech billionaires did not depart from a previously stable liberal-democratic conviction. This is not a complete aberration. It is better understood as the result of an activation and exacerbation of long-standing anti-democratic tendencies and reactionary sensibilities.

A great piece, and particularly helpful for folks like me who are not plugged in to the tech bros conversation. It also makes me realize I need to be paying way more attention to the tech bros conversation.

Sunday reading: Fueled by profit motives, ideological radicalization, and elite self-victimization, America’s tech barons are aggressively taking the side of authoritarianism. I wrote about why the tech billionaires are aligning with Trump – and why now:

Why the Tech Billionaires Are Aligned with Trump Fueled by profit motives, ideological radicalization, and elite self-victimization, America’s tech barons are aggressively taking the side of authoritarianism. But why now? My new piece:

This looks absolutely fantastic! The history of the Voting Rights Act - and all the many ways in which the Roberts Court has been assaulting it. @kevintmorris.bsky.social is doing brilliant, essential work - and this book will be mandatory reading the minute it is out. Pre-order this now.

It is a difficult challenge to strike the right balance between articulating clearly that liberal democracy is under acute threat – and needlessly perpetuating the Far Right’s assertions of strength and dominance. As Orbán found out on Sunday: Nothing about these people is inevitable. More here:

Six big-picture conclusions from Orbán’s smashing defeat – and what it all means for the transnational struggle against rightwing authoritarianism. I wrote about why Hungary matters – and why nothing about rightwing authoritarianism is inevitable. Some thoughts from my new piece: 🧵

People are insisting that Cowen and Ross Douthat, who's peddling the same nonsense, are not stupid. Well, the only other option is that they're deliberately pushing this mendacious, ignorant nonsense. Either way, this "Orbán is no authoritarian / democracy was never in danger" shit is disqualifying

Wrote about this today: Statements like this, from Cowen, betray a child’s understanding of politics (and/or a high level of disingenuousness). Don’t waste time listening to people who can’t conceive of the political conflict beyond a simplistic binary of perfect democracy vs full-on dictatorship.

Friends, if you have space in your budget to support a(nother) independent writer fighting for democracy, please consider a paid subscription to Democracy Americana. This is a weekly must-read for me.

Wrote about this today: Statements like this, from Cowen, betray a child’s understanding of politics (and/or a high level of disingenuousness). Don’t waste time listening to people who can’t conceive of the political conflict beyond a simplistic binary of perfect democracy vs full-on dictatorship.

Why Hungary Matters Six big-picture conclusions from Orbán’s smashing defeat – and what it all means for the transnational struggle against rightwing authoritarianism. The most important one: Nothing about rightwing authoritarianism is inevitable. My new piece:

Why Hungary Matters Six big-picture conclusions from Orbán’s smashing defeat – and what it all means for the transnational struggle against rightwing authoritarianism. The most important one: Nothing about rightwing authoritarianism is inevitable. My new piece:

I have zero doubt that Donald Trump would love to cancel the elections or nullify a result he doesn’t like - and rule as a dictator. But I strongly disagree with the suggestion that Trump and his regime are currently executing a coherent scheme to get us to that end result.

Sunday reading - I wrote about the coherence fallacy: The MAGA regime will continue to escalate because they are ideologically, temperamentally, and psycho-politically incapable of anything else. But there is no strategic genius at work here.

Beware of the coherence fallacy. The MAGA regime will continue to escalate because they are ideologically, temperamentally, and psycho-politically incapable of anything else. But there is no strategic genius at work here.

This regime is not systematically implementing a masterplan. We are dealing with chaotic destruction wrought by an increasingly delusional wannabe-dictator who leads a comically incompetent government and a movement drowning in its own conspiratorial hyperreality.

Let us not overlook the immense threat right in front of us because we are obsessing over secret schemes and cunning deception. Whatever MAGA’s version of scorched earth is, that’s what they will seek to unleash before they are done. Please consider subscribing:

The greatest danger now is not that the regime will systematically execute some complex secret masterplan - but that delusion, ideology, and ineptitude are conspiring to make escalation almost inevitable. Chaos, bloodlust, zealotry, and frustration breed destruction.

🧵; part of what I think is going on here is that mainstream media norms deem it too illiberal to simply characterize Trump and his lieutenants as what they are -- barbarians who have risen to positions they are intellectually, temperamentally, and culturally unfit for -- and be done with it

Donald Trump Does Not Have a Plan He has dictatorial desires. But not everything is a brilliant distraction or part of a cunning masterplan. Let’s not turn incompetent agents of malice into omnipotent supervillains. Some thoughts from my new piece: 🧵 steady.page/en/democracy...

Donald Trump Does Not Have a Plan He has dictatorial desires. But not everything is a brilliant distraction or part of a cunning masterplan. Let’s not turn incompetent agents of malice into omnipotent supervillains. Some thoughts from my new piece: 🧵 steady.page/en/democracy...

Donald Trump Does Not Have a Plan He has dictatorial desires. But not everything is a brilliant distraction or part of a cunning masterplan. Let’s not turn incompetent agents of malice into omnipotent supervillains. My new piece:

Excellently put. On the key dynamics shaping the extreme Right. Tucker, Fuentes, et al are not voices of reason or moderation. They are extremists operating from incentives that push them, in this moment and on these issues, to signal distance from Trump. Absolutely not a reason to align with them

I don’t think anyone is surprised that a man so entirely devoid of morality, so fully defined by his desire to dominate and punish, would revel in violent fantasies of destruction and mass murder. But this is utterly shocking nonetheless. A deranged horror show. An acute threat to humanity.

!!!

ICYMI over the Easter weekend: I wrote about why Murray Rothbard and Francis Fukuyama are crucial context for the Right’s assault on birthright citizenship, about how we conceptualize progress in history, and about the possibility of democratic change. No Right is Ever Safe:

Sunday reading I wrote about the assault on birthright citizenship in the larger context of the Right’s attempt to roll back whatever racial and social progress has been achieved over the past century and a half. And about our understanding of progress - and the possibility of democratic change:

Sunday reading I wrote about the assault on birthright citizenship in the larger context of the Right’s attempt to roll back whatever racial and social progress has been achieved over the past century and a half. And about our understanding of progress - and the possibility of democratic change:

Let us believe them when they say they want to “repeal the twentieth century.” Whether or not enough people can be convinced to defend the vision of egalitarian pluralism with equal ferocity and conviction may well decide the fate of democracy.

No Right Is Ever Safe – but Progress Is Possible The outrageous assault on birthright citizenship should prompt us to reflect on the fragility of democratic progress - and our own responsibility to defend it. Some thoughts from my new piece:

The lesson from U.S. history, if there is one, is not that progress is impossible. There has been tremendous progress at times! But we must not assume directionality in history. There is no arc, there is no linear progression, no utopian end goal we are somehow destined to reach.

I wrote about why Murray Rothbard and Francis Fukuyama are crucial context for the Right’s assault on birthright citizenship. Also: About narratives of progress, the lack of directionality in history, and the possibility of democratic change.

Excellent piece describing how Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship fits into the Right’s decades-long effort to repeal the 20th-century Constitution. Connects the dots between the Roberts Court’s overall agenda and a lot of what the admin is doing now.

No Right Is Ever Safe – but Progress Is Possible The outrageous assault on birthright citizenship should prompt us to reflect on the fragility of democratic progress - and our own responsibility to defend it. Some thoughts from my new piece:

No Right Is Ever Safe – but Progress Is Possible The outrageous assault on birthright citizenship should prompt us to reflect on the fragility of democratic progress - and our own responsibility to defend it. My new piece:

Points for self-awareness, I guess... But also (and I know I am not exactly telling anyone anything new here): Just unprecedented levels of unfit and unqualified, all in this one man - and that is the man the American Right has elevated to the most powerful political office in the world.

This is exactly it. And both parts of this are crucial: - Dismantle all parts of the state that could serve as engines for democratization and equality or curtail the power of moneyed elites - Mobilize the coercive powers of the state to impose a reactionary order against majority will.

As the Supreme Court is considering Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship: The whole thing is obscene - Trump’s blatantly unconstitutional order as well as any attempt to launder this white nationalist assault on pluralism and equality into respectability. Wrote this a while ago:

This is happening tonight - please come join us if you’re around!

This is happening tonight - please come join us if you’re around!

If you are in or around Hamburg, come join us tomorrow evening for this event. I will be talking about the political situation in the United States, the struggle between authoritarianism and democratic pluralism, and where America might be going next:

On No Kings day, remember: The “Where are the protests?” lament after Trump took power was always based on a (willful) misperception – a myth propagated by a punditry vying for relevance, hellbent on presenting grandiose reckonings rather than careful empirical assessments.

If all that happens is you feel a little better being around likeminded people, then it matters! This is a long slog, and we should take every hopeful boost we can get. #NoKings