Steven S. Taylor | Lightnews

Steven L. Taylor

@sltaylor.bsky.social

650 followers 270 following 400 posts

Professor Emeritus of PoliSci and former Dean of Arts & Sciences. My research is focused on comparative democratic institutions.🖖🤘

I write about politics at www.outsidethebeltway.com

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Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 18h

Serious question: what was the shutdown stopping Trump from doing?

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 18h

I honestly think the Ds would have done well regardless, but I am open to the argument it helped with margins in VA. Still, that moment is over and so that has little to do with the vote to reopen now.

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 23h

Shutdowns don't work to force majorities to make real concessions.

It Was Always Going to End This Way – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/it-was-alway...

It Was Always Going to End This Way – Outside the Beltway

It all starts with this: I do not believe that there is any real chance for the Democrats to get what they want on healthcare. This is not a moment in which, this time, finally, the hostage-taking minority party is going to get what it wants.

outsidethebeltway.com

Reposted by Steven S. Taylor

Matt Grossmann @mattgrossmann.bsky.social · 1d

The PR was fine. The polling was good. The ask was targeted. And it still didn't matter. You can't win real concessions so the question is whether the base likes a long fight with little to show for it or if it just angers them more because you caved in the end.

Matt Grossmann @mattgrossmann.bsky.social · Sep 7

Shutting down is the easy part, starting up on your terms very hard. Maybe a lost shutdown fight would bring catharsis, but last time (DACA in 2018) it angered base & public because it was fruitless. Ask would need to be something Rep lawmakers want, not stop all Trump is doing

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 1d

This largely fits my initial assessment as well.

Guy Grossman @guygrossman.bsky.social · 1d

I will probably get excommunicated from Bsky for saying that, but I can see a case for ending the shutdown now.

- Millions of civil servants did not get a salary for over a month, and millions are losing SNAP going into the holiday season.

- But, just as important...

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 1d

How is the minority party going to force the majority into that outcome?

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 1d

But I don’t think the Democrats in the Senate have made any case that they see it as a fight over the regime (nor do I think they see it that way). Again: I wanted them to do so, but they didn’t so I don’t see how this can be assessed as a fight over the regime.

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 1d

But the Dems never made this fight about fighting autocracy (and I wish they had and argued such back on 10/1). They made it about ACA subsidies and it has become to be about SNAP, ATCs, and gov’t employees. I am not sure what other endpoint was possible than something just like this.

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 1d

I am open to someone explaining the counter position, but I can’t see how the Dems were ever going to get legislation on the ACA out of this confrontation. This was always about making a point about the GOP and health care. So, point made (along with clear cruelty and lack of caring Trump).

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 1d

Sincere question: what do you think the Dems could have wrung out of the Reps? While I think the Dems emerge from this shutdown better than I expected, PR-wise, I just can’t see a minority party getting major legislative concessions.

Reposted by Steven S. Taylor

Guy Grossman @guygrossman.bsky.social · 1d

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 1d

I must confess that given Argentina’s longterm politics, I find it hard to blame PR for its problems. I do not know enough about Indonesia to intelligently comment. I am honestly not sure I wouldn’t prefer Brazil’s institutional structure, with all its flaws, to ours.

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 1d

It isn’t like there is some obvious pathway under current institutional parameters for the US to become more democratic without some sort of reform intervention.

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 1d

It is a fair concern. But I also would argue that we are hitting legislative dysfunction in the US because our elections are not competitive, and hence not democratically response (or especially representative). PR for the House would change that.

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 1d

I was hoping it was some future incarnation of The Doctor.

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 1d

Setting aside the degree to which PR can be blamed for any of those guys (I have my doubts), I would note that at least the Brazilians had the wherewithal to prosecute Bolsonaro.

Likewise, the South Koreans.

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 1d

Seriously: what is the positive evidence of the value of the filibuster?

What actual compromise and negotiation does it regularly create?

A Question for the Filibuster – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/a-question-f...

A Question for the Filibuster – Outside the Beltway

outsidethebeltway.com

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Nandita Sharma, John McLaren , and 8 more Anna O. Law, Nandita Sharma, John McLaren, Juan Cole, Daniel W. Drezner, Alan Richardson, David R. Miller, Erin O’Donnell, Steven S. Taylor, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 2d

40 men Trump sent to CECOT tell the NYT they were beaten, tortured, and sexually assaulted. The details are worse than you can imagine.

We can’t let them get away with this. Miller and the other architects of this sadism need to go to prison.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...

‘You Are All Terrorists’: Four Months in a Salvadoran Prison

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Steven S. Taylor

Spageddy Lee @deadbarchetta.bsky.social · 3d

Happy Four Seasons Total Landscaping Day to all who celebrate. Five years now since the funniest political moment of my entire life.

Rudy Giuliani standing at a lectern in front of a landscaping company garage door with a Trump 2020 campaign sign backdrop. The whole thing looks hastily thrown together because it was.

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 4d

Vince Gilligan and #Pluribus has crashed Apple TV

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 4d

Conversely, in a multi-seat district, a constituent would have multiple offices to appeal to.

Enhanced representativeness would be a boon to democracy even if we had to figure out a different mindset on constituent services.

Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Steven S. Taylor, Timothy D. McBride

Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 4d

Nope

Reposted by Erich Fromm, Martin Gaynor, Smith , and 3 more Erich Fromm, Martin Gaynor, Smith, Steven S. Taylor, David S. Tanenhaus, Manisha Sinha

Diedrich Bader @diedrichbader.bsky.social · 4d

If sandwich shops don’t start offering a sandwich named “the acquittal” then what are we even doing

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 5d

Who knew Madison was writing about the petty ambition of a dude wanting to keep his Speaker job no matter how much kowtowing to the President he has to do!

If men were cretins, no legislative action would be necessary!

Reposted by Bryan D. Jones, Steven S. Taylor, Nathan P. Kalmoe

G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 5d

remember all those hot takes during the primary about how Mamdani was the candidate for rich white liberals? a "champagne socialist" ?
yeah, about that

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 5d

It is part of the quadrennial sport of making the NYC mayor's race waaay more important than it actually is.

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 5d

A bad night for Trump.

Thoughts on Outcomes – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/thoughts-on-...

Thoughts on Outcomes – Outside the Beltway

outsidethebeltway.com

Steven L. Taylor @sltaylor.bsky.social · 5d

Some hope amid ongoing concern.

The Main Takeaway from Last Night: Democracy Lives – Outside the Beltway outsidethebeltway.com/the-main-tak...

The Main Takeaway from Last Night: Democracy Lives – Outside the Beltway

outsidethebeltway.com

Reposted by Will Jennings, Melissa R. Michelson, Frank C. Thames , and 1 more Will Jennings, Melissa R. Michelson, Frank C. Thames, Steven S. Taylor

Kevin Morris @kevintmorris.bsky.social · 5d

Latinos in VA also moved hard back to the left from last year

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Lisa W. Fazio, Joe R. Feagin , and 11 more Shannon Vallor, Lisa W. Fazio, Joe R. Feagin, Cathy N. Davidson, Robert C. Richards, Alan Richardson, Gerald Friedman, Brian Keegan, Mark Rice, Steven S. Taylor, Michael Larkin, Stephen A. Meserve, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Southern Africa

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 6d

ah, perhaps instead of pumping millions into endless factional infighting Dem donors could invest in making local Dem organizations genuine civic spaces that can reach people during and between elections

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 6d

Off their phones and into the streets

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/n...

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