David Dagan
@daviddagan.bsky.social
Director of editorial and academic affairs at Niskanen Center. Read Hypertext: hypertext.niskanencenter.org. Read The Liberal Fortress: daviddagan.substack.com. Book: http://amzn.to/29rrt90.
Read the whole thing!
I would be very proud of this paragraph, had I wrote it
October 18, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Read the whole thing!
ABC has joined the slackjaw club, dismayed at being called on its proclaimed principles, incapable of retort. It joins law firms, broadcasters, and Fortune 500 corporations that have all been exposed as suffering from an advanced stage of moral rot. Trump sensed that spinelessness and pushed. 1/2
September 19, 2025 at 2:46 AM
ABC has joined the slackjaw club, dismayed at being called on its proclaimed principles, incapable of retort. It joins law firms, broadcasters, and Fortune 500 corporations that have all been exposed as suffering from an advanced stage of moral rot. Trump sensed that spinelessness and pushed. 1/2
One of the most baffling points in the @ezraklein.bsky.social piece on Kirk: "We can live with losing an election because we believe in the promise of the next election." But Kirk didn't! And yet Ezra concludes: "We were on the same side on the continued possibility of American politics."
September 12, 2025 at 4:40 PM
One of the most baffling points in the @ezraklein.bsky.social piece on Kirk: "We can live with losing an election because we believe in the promise of the next election." But Kirk didn't! And yet Ezra concludes: "We were on the same side on the continued possibility of American politics."
I mourn Kirk's killing. I admire his charisma, organizing genius, & commitment to debate. THAT was right about his way. I also believe he used his talents to promote lies that damaged our democracy and bigotry that divides us. THAT was wrong about his way. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
No, Charlie Kirk was not practicing politics the right way
His assassination deserves full condemnation; his full impact should not be sidestepped.
www.motherjones.com
September 12, 2025 at 4:15 PM
I mourn Kirk's killing. I admire his charisma, organizing genius, & commitment to debate. THAT was right about his way. I also believe he used his talents to promote lies that damaged our democracy and bigotry that divides us. THAT was wrong about his way. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
It can be a trap if you make it a trap. It's a gift if you make it a gift. The line is: We have a big crime problem and we'd love more cops to help solve it. But Trump is cutting money for cops and sending troops because he isn't coming after criminals - he's coming after democracy.
Chief of staff to Gov JB Pritzker -->
I am begging my fellow Dems to emerge from the reflexive “it’s a trap” position on these issues and realize that some things are very simple: the public doesn’t like the federal government turning the military against its own citizens.The public doesn’t like the armed occupation of a city.Period.
August 28, 2025 at 3:17 PM
It can be a trap if you make it a trap. It's a gift if you make it a gift. The line is: We have a big crime problem and we'd love more cops to help solve it. But Trump is cutting money for cops and sending troops because he isn't coming after criminals - he's coming after democracy.
Big new paper from Steve Teles
@niskanencenter.bsky.social
today niskanencenter.org/abundance-va.... Steve outlines six types of “abundance” thinking he predicts will shape US politics. As in the Progressive Era, broad principles will attach to distinct cultural and political economic projects.
@niskanencenter.bsky.social
today niskanencenter.org/abundance-va.... Steve outlines six types of “abundance” thinking he predicts will shape US politics. As in the Progressive Era, broad principles will attach to distinct cultural and political economic projects.
Varieties of Abundance - Niskanen Center
We will know that abundance has succeeded when there is a proliferation of “abundances,” different governing projects attached to previously existing ideologies, interests, and parties.
niskanencenter.org
August 28, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Big new paper from Steve Teles
@niskanencenter.bsky.social
today niskanencenter.org/abundance-va.... Steve outlines six types of “abundance” thinking he predicts will shape US politics. As in the Progressive Era, broad principles will attach to distinct cultural and political economic projects.
@niskanencenter.bsky.social
today niskanencenter.org/abundance-va.... Steve outlines six types of “abundance” thinking he predicts will shape US politics. As in the Progressive Era, broad principles will attach to distinct cultural and political economic projects.
Reposted by David Dagan
This is getting very bad:
*FBI raids top Trump critic's home
*Trump loyalist gins up "mortgage fraud" pretexts for DOJ probes of Schiff, Letitia James, Lisa Cook
*Bannon says ICE will monitor 2026 voting
*DHS memo vows LA operations "for years to come"
New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/1994...
*FBI raids top Trump critic's home
*Trump loyalist gins up "mortgage fraud" pretexts for DOJ probes of Schiff, Letitia James, Lisa Cook
*Bannon says ICE will monitor 2026 voting
*DHS memo vows LA operations "for years to come"
New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/1994...
Trump’s FBI Raid of John Bolton’s Home Looks Like a “Five Alarm Fire”
Thus far little is known about Friday’s law enforcement action against a top Trump critic. But we’re seeing an escalation of authoritarian power on many fronts that has grown unmistakable.
newrepublic.com
August 22, 2025 at 4:07 PM
This is getting very bad:
*FBI raids top Trump critic's home
*Trump loyalist gins up "mortgage fraud" pretexts for DOJ probes of Schiff, Letitia James, Lisa Cook
*Bannon says ICE will monitor 2026 voting
*DHS memo vows LA operations "for years to come"
New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/1994...
*FBI raids top Trump critic's home
*Trump loyalist gins up "mortgage fraud" pretexts for DOJ probes of Schiff, Letitia James, Lisa Cook
*Bannon says ICE will monitor 2026 voting
*DHS memo vows LA operations "for years to come"
New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/1994...
I spent a lot of time trying to level-set on how we reached the point of starvation in Gaza. First of several posts: daviddagan.substack.com/p/why-are-ga...
August 8, 2025 at 2:44 PM
I spent a lot of time trying to level-set on how we reached the point of starvation in Gaza. First of several posts: daviddagan.substack.com/p/why-are-ga...
Reposted by David Dagan
Some racial profiling was happening from the start, but the operation was supercharged in mid-May when the White House ordered ICE to stop using warrants, targeted operations, and just "go out on the streets" and arrest people. These arrests shot from 500/week to 1,500/week
August 5, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Some racial profiling was happening from the start, but the operation was supercharged in mid-May when the White House ordered ICE to stop using warrants, targeted operations, and just "go out on the streets" and arrest people. These arrests shot from 500/week to 1,500/week
The BLS firing is one of Trump's most chilling moves yet. He is demanding that we be lied to about the most material facts of most Americans' lives - how they earn a living. And it will come at the expense of that living, because it destroys the foundations for investing in the United States.
August 4, 2025 at 2:42 PM
The BLS firing is one of Trump's most chilling moves yet. He is demanding that we be lied to about the most material facts of most Americans' lives - how they earn a living. And it will come at the expense of that living, because it destroys the foundations for investing in the United States.
Reposted by David Dagan
I want to enthusiastically endorse this piece from @cselmendorf.bsky.social & @profschleich.bsky.social. Thus far YIMBY has been almost entirely focused on More Housing, but ultimately, if you want people to accept density, you have to make it *nice*, and that means more than just housing.
YIMBYism started as a single-issue movement. It's time to think bigger.
New research shows that voters who like cities back denser housing. To make cities more likeable, YIMBYs need to act more like a party.
hypertext.niskanencenter.org
July 24, 2025 at 5:35 PM
I want to enthusiastically endorse this piece from @cselmendorf.bsky.social & @profschleich.bsky.social. Thus far YIMBY has been almost entirely focused on More Housing, but ultimately, if you want people to accept density, you have to make it *nice*, and that means more than just housing.
The great @henrymjtonks.bsky.social cranked up his time machine and came up with really critical lessons for Democrats. But not only Democrats. 1/2 hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/lessons-fr...
July 28, 2025 at 3:43 PM
The great @henrymjtonks.bsky.social cranked up his time machine and came up with really critical lessons for Democrats. But not only Democrats. 1/2 hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/lessons-fr...
As @mattyglesias.bsky.social notes today, certain interest groups certainly built the polarization machine deliberately, but @jmcrosson.bsky.social wrote this great piece for us about how many just got sucked into it, even as single-issue orgs. 1/2 hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/when-lobby...
When lobbyists have to pick a side
Partisan polarization has sucked in the special interests that long kept Congress pragmatic.
hypertext.niskanencenter.org
July 28, 2025 at 3:37 PM
As @mattyglesias.bsky.social notes today, certain interest groups certainly built the polarization machine deliberately, but @jmcrosson.bsky.social wrote this great piece for us about how many just got sucked into it, even as single-issue orgs. 1/2 hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/when-lobby...
YIMBYism needs to become more party-like, @cselmendorf.bsky.social and David Schleicher argue in today's Hypertext. Here's why. Shoutout to @dbroockman.bsky.social & @jkalla.bsky.social.
July 23, 2025 at 5:14 PM
YIMBYism needs to become more party-like, @cselmendorf.bsky.social and David Schleicher argue in today's Hypertext. Here's why. Shoutout to @dbroockman.bsky.social & @jkalla.bsky.social.
Reposted by David Dagan
Hypertext—Niskanen’s intellectual journal—is turning two!
We launched it to tackle one big question: How do we make America’s institutions work for the 21st century?
Now we’re sharpening that mission 🧵
We launched it to tackle one big question: How do we make America’s institutions work for the 21st century?
Now we’re sharpening that mission 🧵
July 18, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Hypertext—Niskanen’s intellectual journal—is turning two!
We launched it to tackle one big question: How do we make America’s institutions work for the 21st century?
Now we’re sharpening that mission 🧵
We launched it to tackle one big question: How do we make America’s institutions work for the 21st century?
Now we’re sharpening that mission 🧵
The "TACO" shorthand for thinking about Trump is not just annoying as an acronym - I also think it misreads the moment. I think it grows out of confusion that comes with being in what I'm thinking of as The Warp Zone.
June 20, 2025 at 7:09 PM
The "TACO" shorthand for thinking about Trump is not just annoying as an acronym - I also think it misreads the moment. I think it grows out of confusion that comes with being in what I'm thinking of as The Warp Zone.
Iraq and Afghanistan from the beginning were conceived as regime-change invasions involving ground troops. A war goal of destroying Fordow aerially is limited and (I think!) achievable. Whether we should do it hinges on nonpublic intel IMO - but that's the question on the table.
For those unconditionally cheering the attacks on Iran, remember that our early strikes in Afghanistan and Iraq were “successful”. But we ended up getting dragged into costly wars that created more terrorists than we killed. The American people haven’t forgotten that.
June 19, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Iraq and Afghanistan from the beginning were conceived as regime-change invasions involving ground troops. A war goal of destroying Fordow aerially is limited and (I think!) achievable. Whether we should do it hinges on nonpublic intel IMO - but that's the question on the table.
MAGA's Massive Ordnance Penetrator - thoughts on the American crisis meeting war in the Middle East. daviddagan.substack.com/p/magas-mass...
MAGA's Massive Ordnance Penetrator
Donald Trump's coalition and contradictory worldview faces the Iranian moment as Congress ducks its responsibility. What would a reasonable president do?
daviddagan.substack.com
June 19, 2025 at 2:22 AM
MAGA's Massive Ordnance Penetrator - thoughts on the American crisis meeting war in the Middle East. daviddagan.substack.com/p/magas-mass...
Early in the war that began on Oct. 7, a friend said to me: “It’s like Covid, but with bombs.” That's more true than ever now that the fight is directly with Iran. But Israelis know why they are going through this.
daviddagan.substack.com/p/what-israe...
daviddagan.substack.com/p/what-israe...
What Israelis are going through - and why
Like Ukraine, Israel is first in a bully's line of fire - but certainly not last.
daviddagan.substack.com
June 16, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Early in the war that began on Oct. 7, a friend said to me: “It’s like Covid, but with bombs.” That's more true than ever now that the fight is directly with Iran. But Israelis know why they are going through this.
daviddagan.substack.com/p/what-israe...
daviddagan.substack.com/p/what-israe...
My latest Israel-Gaza post - taking seriously the problem of Hamas diverting aid, and condemning the prolonged blockade that has driven Gazans to the brink.
daviddagan.substack.com/p/the-blocka...
daviddagan.substack.com/p/the-blocka...
The blockade was a disaster
Hamas militarizes the aid. Blocking it for so long was still wrong.
daviddagan.substack.com
June 11, 2025 at 10:17 PM
My latest Israel-Gaza post - taking seriously the problem of Hamas diverting aid, and condemning the prolonged blockade that has driven Gazans to the brink.
daviddagan.substack.com/p/the-blocka...
daviddagan.substack.com/p/the-blocka...
The Trump administration caved on the Abrego Garcia case because the courts did not cower. Now they are using their politicized DOJ to save face with hyperbolic criminal charges. This is at once a big win for the rule of law and a reminder of the danger we still face.
June 6, 2025 at 8:28 PM
The Trump administration caved on the Abrego Garcia case because the courts did not cower. Now they are using their politicized DOJ to save face with hyperbolic criminal charges. This is at once a big win for the rule of law and a reminder of the danger we still face.
The travel ban for the administration is a convenient distraction from reconciliation and infighting, but still worth reflecting on. It's a measure of how far we've fallen that in Trump II, this wouldn't even make a top 10 list of abuses.
June 5, 2025 at 1:55 PM
The travel ban for the administration is a convenient distraction from reconciliation and infighting, but still worth reflecting on. It's a measure of how far we've fallen that in Trump II, this wouldn't even make a top 10 list of abuses.
I think the smart version of this is not "too much constraint" but "the wrong constraint in the wrong places." But it's hard to be schematic about what those wrong places are - as the well-taken critique of Marc's schema higher in Sam's thread indicates.
They say the problem is too much regulation and process, too much constraint of powerful institutions, "everything bagel liberalism" that concedes too much to labor and other Democratic Party-aligned interests.
June 4, 2025 at 2:55 PM
I think the smart version of this is not "too much constraint" but "the wrong constraint in the wrong places." But it's hard to be schematic about what those wrong places are - as the well-taken critique of Marc's schema higher in Sam's thread indicates.
This seems to be getting more traction over at The Bad Place but it really needs to resonate here. The usual story we tell about primaries being the source of our woes has looked deeply flawed for a while: Primary voters are not more "extreme" as a general matter. 1/2
The broader point: Super-informed/extreme primary voters or uninformed general election voters are unlikely polarization’s main drivers. Groups & other factors studied in the literature are more likely.
Feedback welcome!
Full paper available here: osf.io/7xbza
Feedback welcome!
Full paper available here: osf.io/7xbza
OSF
osf.io
May 28, 2025 at 3:33 PM
This seems to be getting more traction over at The Bad Place but it really needs to resonate here. The usual story we tell about primaries being the source of our woes has looked deeply flawed for a while: Primary voters are not more "extreme" as a general matter. 1/2
Reposted by David Dagan
"No president in living memory has attacked the sources of American strength and dynamism in the way that Trump already has done."
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/o...
Opinion | ‘I Even Believe He Is Destroying the American Presidency’
Trump’s wanton attacks on institutions and individuals have a specific purpose.
www.nytimes.com
May 23, 2025 at 2:48 PM
"No president in living memory has attacked the sources of American strength and dynamism in the way that Trump already has done."
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/o...