Steven S Smith
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profstevensmith.bsky.social
Steven S Smith
@profstevensmith.bsky.social

Political scientist, ASU and Wash U. Congress, elections, public opinion, survey research. Husband, dad, granddad. RT ≠ endorsement. Personal views. https://stevesnotes.substack.com https://sites.wustl.edu/smith/

Steven S. Smith is Professor of Political Science at Arizona State University. He also is the Kate M. Gregg Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis. For many years, he was the Director of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy, He served on the faculties of George Washington University, Northwestern University, and the University of Minnesota and was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Smith is one of the leading scholars of legislative institutions and congressional politics and is cited frequently by major news sources. He served as editor of Legislative Studies Quarterly and chaired the Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association. He won the Barbara Sinclair Lecture Award from the American Political Science Association in 2023. .. more

Political science 62%
Business 12%
Now that Bari Weiss pulled a segment telling the truth about Trump's deportations to let Stephen Miller have his say (i.e. spread propaganda), it's a good time to check out our deep dive into Miller's real worldview and agenda, which doesn't pull any punches:
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
Inside Stephen Miller’s Dark Plot to Build a MAGA Terror State
He is descended from Russian Jews—you know, the kind of people who were once denounced as alien and unassimilable. Today, his project is to unleash government persecution of those he deems alien and u...
newrepublic.com

Why aren't the serious journalists on 60 Minutes resigning?

www.frbsf.org

NEW -

Race, Gender, and Nascent Political Ambition - https://cup.org/4s4ZzFT

- Andrea Junqueira, @dzobrien.bsky.social, @mhayes.bsky.social, Jongwoo Jeong, Brian Crisp & Matthew Gabel

#OpenAccess

Reposted by Steven S. Smith

NEW -

Race, Gender, and Nascent Political Ambition - https://cup.org/4s4ZzFT

- Andrea Junqueira, @dzobrien.bsky.social, @mhayes.bsky.social, Jongwoo Jeong, Brian Crisp & Matthew Gabel

#OpenAccess
I was in the Speaker's Lobby when this happened and it generated a storm of protest. Rep. Riley Moore R-WV gaveled a procedural vote to a close while one Democrat was ready to vote. That vote would have defeated the measure on a 204-204 tie - but Moore opted for a very fast gavel.
4 House Republicans have signed the discharge petition for a 3-year extension of health insurance subsidies offered by Democrats. That gives it 218 signatures - and will force a vote probably in January.

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

Senators--Thune--come to the defense of your colleague and your institution. Now would be a good time.
🚨BREAKING: The Trump administration escalated its effort to punish a sitting U.S. senator for protected political speech Monday, formally converting the Pentagon’s review of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) into an official Command Investigation under military law. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Trump Admin Intensifies Military Probe Against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, Launches Command Investigation
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
🚨BREAKING: The Trump administration escalated its effort to punish a sitting U.S. senator for protected political speech Monday, formally converting the Pentagon’s review of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) into an official Command Investigation under military law. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Trump Admin Intensifies Military Probe Against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, Launches Command Investigation
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com

Reposted by Steven S. Smith

"A stalemate on the frontline is a necessary condition for serious peace talks. That can only be achieved if President Trump provides more and better weapons to Ukraine and imposes and enforces more and better sanctions against Russia."
michaelmcfaul.substack.com/p/trump-need...
Trump Needs a New Ukraine Strategy
My latest, as published in TIME.
michaelmcfaul.substack.com
I simply could not and would not respond on social media last night about Rob and Michele. I am beyond devastated at the loss of two dear friends. There will be lots of mentions of his brilliant as an actor and director. He was just a wonderful person, as was she. Generous, a true Mensch.
Bovino, the man overseeing mass deportations, publicly declared that we must all have our papers on us, at all times, or we could be stopped, harassed, kidnapped, and detained, as they did with the man in this case, who is a US citizen.
This one isn’t downloadable but if you have TikTok go watch it. Well worth your time www.tiktok.com/t/ZTr4gRL7v/
@Mercado Media video credit #minnesota #illinois #louisiana #america
TikTok video by June Osborne
www.tiktok.com

A Heritage observation that there is "far more scholarly ammunition" must be referring to rubber bullets and blanks.

The 21st (Indian Removal Act) and 44th (end of Reconstruction) come to mind.

Tied for first.
Worst ever? This Senate is a non-stop, multiple-choice horror show, from dangerous appointees to health care failures to dereliction of its constitutional duties. I talk with Senate expert @irashapiro.bsky.social about its betrayals in my latest at @thebulwark.com
www.thebulwark.com/p/worst-sena...
Worst. Senate. Ever.
Republican senators surrendered to Trump, and now they own this catastrophe.
www.thebulwark.com
Worst ever? This Senate is a non-stop, multiple-choice horror show, from dangerous appointees to health care failures to dereliction of its constitutional duties. I talk with Senate expert @irashapiro.bsky.social about its betrayals in my latest at @thebulwark.com
www.thebulwark.com/p/worst-sena...
Worst. Senate. Ever.
Republican senators surrendered to Trump, and now they own this catastrophe.
www.thebulwark.com

1/ A few thoughts about @williambaude.bsky.social’s comment in yesterday’s NYT chat that, “It’s amazing how many of our problems today could be solved by a Congress that was willing and able to legislate in response to national problems.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/o...
Opinion | At the Supreme Court, Scenes From a Judicial Backlash
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Steven S. Smith

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis... www.startribune.com/augsburg-pre...

Severing removable protections from delegation provisions for IRCs by this Court would blatantly contradict Congress's intent that they are inseverable and, in time, gut Art I Sec 8. This Court is on the verge of rerouting the constitutional authority into a one-way path to dictatorship.

Support Ukraine now.
Study after study shows campaign ads barely move the needle. So where does money’s real power come from? I ranked the five ways money corrupts politics—from least to most corrosive. What I’ve learned from 15 years of tracking political money:
Money Doesn't Buy Elections. It Does Something Worse.
Campaign ads barely move the needle. The real influence is hiding in plain sight.
open.substack.com

Reposted by Steven S. Smith

Rep. Adelita Grijalva D-AZ says she was just pepper sprayed by ICE agents in Tucson
Dave Barry, as good as ever.

open.substack.com/pub/davebarr...
My Brain
Such as it is.
open.substack.com
In a post on X tonight, the State Department says it “renamed the former Institute of Peace to reflect the greatest dealmaker in our nation's history.”

“Welcome to the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.”

Well, "yes" seems to be the only allowable answer to the question, "Does faculty member request review of specific
course material to potentially remain in course?" But if there is an implied "no," doesn't that end the process. Anyway, this is absurd and a serious violation of academic freedom.

What is the value of the gold Trump has put into the White House and will add to his ballroom? Receipts?
This is one of the most important exposés published in WSJ in several years, and it derives from intercepts and analyses by foreign intelligence services studying the conduct of Trump and his inner team. It's first and foremost a wake up call to the people of the United States.
Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine
The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.
www.wsj.com