Podcast: Why FDR Was Awful At Twitter
And why I un-followed Dwight Eisenhower on social media.
Lacking Conviction, Republicans Impeach Themselves
Roughly one-third of the country wants to stop the clock on the twenty-first century at all costs. That’s what this impeachment trial was about.
Situation Comity
Biden is defining the terms of unity in Washington. That’s different — and significant.
Liberation Day
This is a dark moment. This is a time of celebration. Our country suffers under the acute weight of a deadly plague made unnecessarily lethal and divisive by profound ineptitude, laziness and vengefulness. Tomorrow we will replace incompetence and sloth with energy and skill. We bear the burden of an economy torn apart by a coldhearted ignorance and malice toward those in need. Tomorrow we will elevate the value of expertise and rediscover empathy. We face an existential climate crisis ignored for greed and exacerbated by magical thinking. Tomorrow we will reclaim the importance of science and reason. For
Undermine Becomes Overthrow
A little history on how we arrived at the brink of a violent overthrow of a duly elected government. At the start of what would come to be known as the Reagan era, Republicans had an electoral majority that developed out of a long stretch of economic stagnation and white pushback to the civil rights gains of the 1960s. Between 1968 and 1988, Republicans won five of six presidential elections, four by landslide margins, as majorities soured on the policies of the Great Society and white Southerners realigned as Republicans. The Republican base splintered after reading George H. W. Bush’s
First Draft of History
I started writing about the Georgia runoff and electoral vote certification three days ago for a piece I had planned to post on Thursday. Then the Capitol was attacked by right-wing insurrectionists at the direction of the president and it suddenly felt quaint to be talking about an election. As I was re-writing, the fallout from the insurrection began and events progressed at such a rapid pace that it was impossible to keep up with them. Things remain fluid and perspective requires time, so — for now — here are a few initial observations about the political ramifications of the
Accountability
Late last year, I wrote about how the incoming administration needs to address three factors in order to maximize the possibility of avoiding a second wave of authoritarianism in the soon-to-be post-Trump world. I have already considered how important it will be for Biden to be adept at crisis management and attentive to institutional repair. The third critical factor is accountability: When the Biden justice department begins turning over rocks we may finally learn the extent of the criminal activity perpetrated by the outgoing administration against the people of the United States. What we already know about illegalities large and small