Brian Beutler
@brianbeutler.bsky.social
Off Message, Politix.fm;
Formerly: Crooked Media, TNR, TPM; www.offmessage.net/subscribe
Formerly: Crooked Media, TNR, TPM; www.offmessage.net/subscribe
Reposted by Brian Beutler
there are fields that help you understand why the world's most powerful defense establishment is being controlled by mentally ill people but military theory isn't one of them
January 7, 2026 at 12:46 AM
there are fields that help you understand why the world's most powerful defense establishment is being controlled by mentally ill people but military theory isn't one of them
Reposted by Brian Beutler
"Marco Rubio, we salute you!"
the new CBS new anchor is really playing up and amplifying wingnut memes from Musk's platform.
Not much different than Fox, Newsmax or any other right wing propaganda machine. Nice work Bari.
the new CBS new anchor is really playing up and amplifying wingnut memes from Musk's platform.
Not much different than Fox, Newsmax or any other right wing propaganda machine. Nice work Bari.
Here's the clip of Tony Dokoupil ending tonight's broadcast by absolutely gushing over "ultimate Florida Man" Marco Rubio.
January 7, 2026 at 1:16 AM
"Marco Rubio, we salute you!"
the new CBS new anchor is really playing up and amplifying wingnut memes from Musk's platform.
Not much different than Fox, Newsmax or any other right wing propaganda machine. Nice work Bari.
the new CBS new anchor is really playing up and amplifying wingnut memes from Musk's platform.
Not much different than Fox, Newsmax or any other right wing propaganda machine. Nice work Bari.
Reposted by Brian Beutler
Good point from @markjacob.bsky.social, worth thinking through now:
"The media’s general deference to the US military’s need for operational secrecy is likely to be tested in coming months and years. After all, Trump is perverting the mission of the military far beyond legitimate national security"
"The media’s general deference to the US military’s need for operational secrecy is likely to be tested in coming months and years. After all, Trump is perverting the mission of the military far beyond legitimate national security"
“The press has to ask itself: Is it still in the public interest for journalists to keep secrets about Trump’s anti-democratic use of the military?”
My free Stop the Presses newsletter.
My free Stop the Presses newsletter.
Will the press continue to keep Trump’s military secrets?
The goal is protecting the troops, but secrecy can also protect criminality
www.stopthepresses.news
January 6, 2026 at 10:59 PM
Good point from @markjacob.bsky.social, worth thinking through now:
"The media’s general deference to the US military’s need for operational secrecy is likely to be tested in coming months and years. After all, Trump is perverting the mission of the military far beyond legitimate national security"
"The media’s general deference to the US military’s need for operational secrecy is likely to be tested in coming months and years. After all, Trump is perverting the mission of the military far beyond legitimate national security"
Reposted by Brian Beutler
If we can't prosecute him here, we can send him somewhere that will prosecute him and his entire treasonous administration.
If Donald Trump ends up dying in a Venezuelan prison, as he probably should, he’ll have John Roberts to thank. www.offmessage.net/p/extradite-...
Extradite Former President Trump?
I think I'm getting there...
www.offmessage.net
January 6, 2026 at 10:14 PM
If we can't prosecute him here, we can send him somewhere that will prosecute him and his entire treasonous administration.
Reposted by Brian Beutler
If Donald Trump ends up dying in a Venezuelan prison, as he probably should, he’ll have John Roberts to thank. www.offmessage.net/p/extradite-...
Extradite Former President Trump?
I think I'm getting there...
www.offmessage.net
January 6, 2026 at 6:55 PM
If Donald Trump ends up dying in a Venezuelan prison, as he probably should, he’ll have John Roberts to thank. www.offmessage.net/p/extradite-...
Reposted by Brian Beutler
that would rule
If Donald Trump ends up dying in a Venezuelan prison, as he probably should, he’ll have John Roberts to thank. www.offmessage.net/p/extradite-...
Extradite Former President Trump?
I think I'm getting there...
www.offmessage.net
January 6, 2026 at 7:01 PM
that would rule
Reposted by Brian Beutler
I don't focus on Yarvin so much as the updates that Vance is now following account X, where account X is often someone I recognize as a minor celebrity in the white supremacist Twitterverse. He doesn't have that many follows, mind you.
January 6, 2026 at 8:50 PM
I don't focus on Yarvin so much as the updates that Vance is now following account X, where account X is often someone I recognize as a minor celebrity in the white supremacist Twitterverse. He doesn't have that many follows, mind you.
Reposted by Brian Beutler
I am once again asking the media to treat it as a huge fucking scandal that the Vice President of the United States has pickled his brain in white supremacist, antisemitic garbage babble
Curtis Yarvin has written a very long screed in defense of his post in which he said, “Hitler spoke the truth.”
A sampling of select portions is below and includes, in reference to Jewish people, the words:
“The only way to tell is the name and the nose.”
A sampling of select portions is below and includes, in reference to Jewish people, the words:
“The only way to tell is the name and the nose.”
January 6, 2026 at 3:56 PM
I am once again asking the media to treat it as a huge fucking scandal that the Vice President of the United States has pickled his brain in white supremacist, antisemitic garbage babble
Reposted by Brian Beutler
Trump has recently taken to saying "no one is above the law." But -- given that the packed Supreme Court gave The Donald free license to crime -- it may require action by another nation to hold Trump accountable, as Brian argues.
If Donald Trump ends up dying in a Venezuelan prison, as he probably should, he’ll have John Roberts to thank. www.offmessage.net/p/extradite-...
Extradite Former President Trump?
I think I'm getting there...
www.offmessage.net
January 6, 2026 at 7:06 PM
Trump has recently taken to saying "no one is above the law." But -- given that the packed Supreme Court gave The Donald free license to crime -- it may require action by another nation to hold Trump accountable, as Brian argues.
If Donald Trump ends up dying in a Venezuelan prison, as he probably should, he’ll have John Roberts to thank. www.offmessage.net/p/extradite-...
Extradite Former President Trump?
I think I'm getting there...
www.offmessage.net
January 6, 2026 at 6:55 PM
If Donald Trump ends up dying in a Venezuelan prison, as he probably should, he’ll have John Roberts to thank. www.offmessage.net/p/extradite-...
Reposted by Brian Beutler
A modest proposal… www.offmessage.net/p/extradite-...
Extradite Former President Trump?
I think I'm getting there...
www.offmessage.net
January 6, 2026 at 4:18 PM
A modest proposal… www.offmessage.net/p/extradite-...
Think its actually pretty bearish for Trump if “only” 80 percent of his supporters back his war on Venezuela. If “only” 80 percent of his supporters supported HIM, he’d be toast. newrepublic.com/article/2049...
Trump Blurts Out Dark Truth About Venezuela Plan—and About MAGA Voters
To some critics, it’s about plunder. To others, it’s about hemispheric hegemony. Actually, it’s about both.
newrepublic.com
January 6, 2026 at 5:31 PM
Think its actually pretty bearish for Trump if “only” 80 percent of his supporters back his war on Venezuela. If “only” 80 percent of his supporters supported HIM, he’d be toast. newrepublic.com/article/2049...
Reposted by Brian Beutler
The justices seemed so appalled that someone could be disqualified based on factfinding by a state trial judge--as if people don't lose their liberty, their homes, and their children in state trial courts every day of the week.
January 6, 2026 at 4:18 PM
The justices seemed so appalled that someone could be disqualified based on factfinding by a state trial judge--as if people don't lose their liberty, their homes, and their children in state trial courts every day of the week.
Reposted by Brian Beutler
Trump v. Anderson was wrongly decided, is my hottest take. And obviously wrongly decided. There.
January 6, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Trump v. Anderson was wrongly decided, is my hottest take. And obviously wrongly decided. There.
A modest proposal… www.offmessage.net/p/extradite-...
Extradite Former President Trump?
I think I'm getting there...
www.offmessage.net
January 6, 2026 at 4:18 PM
A modest proposal… www.offmessage.net/p/extradite-...
Reposted by Brian Beutler
Republicans made welfare fraud in Minnesota the most important story in the country. Schumer turned a war for oil into a question about national security briefings.
January 5, 2026 at 5:53 PM
Republicans made welfare fraud in Minnesota the most important story in the country. Schumer turned a war for oil into a question about national security briefings.
No Dem votes for the budget.
“Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois and Colorado will be cut off from around $7 billion in funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance to households with children, according to two people familiar with the matter.”
Monstrously cruel.
Monstrously cruel.
Health Dept. to Freeze $10 Billion in Funding to 5 Democratic States
www.nytimes.com
January 6, 2026 at 3:59 PM
No Dem votes for the budget.
Reposted by Brian Beutler
the entire contradiction at the heart of the last 15 years of dem dysfunction has been simultaneously insisting the only mechanism for punishing republican malfeasance is the vote while also adopting a posture of bipartisan comity with those very politicians voters are supposed to be disciplining.
he should be saying their failures to act are grave violations of their oaths of office, a disgrace to the senate, blah blah blah. he should be making the case to the public to be mad, not dumping it on our laps and saying “you do something about it”
January 6, 2026 at 6:06 AM
the entire contradiction at the heart of the last 15 years of dem dysfunction has been simultaneously insisting the only mechanism for punishing republican malfeasance is the vote while also adopting a posture of bipartisan comity with those very politicians voters are supposed to be disciplining.
Reposted by Brian Beutler
@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social, could you please establish an official NYC Mayor account on Bluesky and post everything your office is currently posting on X over here?
And please remove all city accounts from X, which has become a CSAM creation and distribution site?
No money for Musk, ever, please.
And please remove all city accounts from X, which has become a CSAM creation and distribution site?
No money for Musk, ever, please.
January 5, 2026 at 4:09 PM
@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social, could you please establish an official NYC Mayor account on Bluesky and post everything your office is currently posting on X over here?
And please remove all city accounts from X, which has become a CSAM creation and distribution site?
No money for Musk, ever, please.
And please remove all city accounts from X, which has become a CSAM creation and distribution site?
No money for Musk, ever, please.
Reposted by Brian Beutler
Dude could still announce today he'll put a rider on the upcoming CR overturning this, or zeroing out Kennedy's office, etc. - and that he won't vote for the CR unless it's included. My guess is he could round up at least a handful of Republicans to join him. Maybe a dozen or more.
But nope.
But nope.
January 6, 2026 at 2:12 AM
Dude could still announce today he'll put a rider on the upcoming CR overturning this, or zeroing out Kennedy's office, etc. - and that he won't vote for the CR unless it's included. My guess is he could round up at least a handful of Republicans to join him. Maybe a dozen or more.
But nope.
But nope.
Reposted by Brian Beutler
IMO the argument is that you can make things into big enough deals that it matters. Khanna found Massey and found survivors and made the Epstein Files the gigantic story it should be. Only then did establishment Dems come along. You can, in fact, make things into big hairy deals if you do it right.
if you want the Senate to do something, Senate Republicans must do something.
People are dunking on this but I'm not really sure what plays Schumer has other than to try to peel off Rs.
People are dunking on this but I'm not really sure what plays Schumer has other than to try to peel off Rs.
Schumer: "Republicans must -- if there was ever a time, they must step up to the plate. This is the time. And if they don't, they're gonna feel the heat from their constituents."
January 6, 2026 at 1:24 AM
IMO the argument is that you can make things into big enough deals that it matters. Khanna found Massey and found survivors and made the Epstein Files the gigantic story it should be. Only then did establishment Dems come along. You can, in fact, make things into big hairy deals if you do it right.
Reposted by Brian Beutler
everything keeps getting dumber so I may come to regret this question but does the New York Times have any particular reason to believe the Nazi Pillow guy is a "strong" candidate for governor?
January 6, 2026 at 2:11 AM
everything keeps getting dumber so I may come to regret this question but does the New York Times have any particular reason to believe the Nazi Pillow guy is a "strong" candidate for governor?
Reposted by Brian Beutler
COOPER: Do you believe the Trump administration is still lying?
CHRIS MURPHY: Donald Trump lies every single day, so of course you can't take anything he says as the truth
CHRIS MURPHY: Donald Trump lies every single day, so of course you can't take anything he says as the truth
January 6, 2026 at 1:55 AM
COOPER: Do you believe the Trump administration is still lying?
CHRIS MURPHY: Donald Trump lies every single day, so of course you can't take anything he says as the truth
CHRIS MURPHY: Donald Trump lies every single day, so of course you can't take anything he says as the truth
Reposted by Brian Beutler
I am genuinely at a loss for a precedent here. Very, very few states in history ever enjoyed the success of the USA even on a regional level and I just can’t think of any of them dynamiting it all for absolutely no gain
January 6, 2026 at 12:37 AM
I am genuinely at a loss for a precedent here. Very, very few states in history ever enjoyed the success of the USA even on a regional level and I just can’t think of any of them dynamiting it all for absolutely no gain
Yes. Republicans are surely more shameless than Dems, but from the outside looking in, the disparity is magnified when Dems whiff on opportunities to shame Republicans. They tell themselves Republicans are beyond shame, anyhow, and that things like *tying Republicans to CSAM* aren’t ~~persuasive~~.
If the biggest donor to the DCCC/DNC ran a website where you could use AI to take women's clothes off I feel like there'd be a demand for Dems to give the money back.
January 6, 2026 at 12:39 AM
Yes. Republicans are surely more shameless than Dems, but from the outside looking in, the disparity is magnified when Dems whiff on opportunities to shame Republicans. They tell themselves Republicans are beyond shame, anyhow, and that things like *tying Republicans to CSAM* aren’t ~~persuasive~~.