David Rosen
@davidrosen12.bsky.social
Progressive strategy, political psychology, generational theory, and the dangers of gerontocracy. Not a work account.
Democrats have rarely had much problem winning elections when Republicans are in charge and polling horribly.
But it's been many decades since Democrats sustained a governing trifecta past two years.
And the modern party has shown no ability whatsoever to stop, much less reverse, fascism.
But it's been many decades since Democrats sustained a governing trifecta past two years.
And the modern party has shown no ability whatsoever to stop, much less reverse, fascism.
February 11, 2026 at 9:44 PM
Democrats have rarely had much problem winning elections when Republicans are in charge and polling horribly.
But it's been many decades since Democrats sustained a governing trifecta past two years.
And the modern party has shown no ability whatsoever to stop, much less reverse, fascism.
But it's been many decades since Democrats sustained a governing trifecta past two years.
And the modern party has shown no ability whatsoever to stop, much less reverse, fascism.
One of many reasons I now support universal primaries with no exceptions for anyone is that the entire U.S. leadership class is implicated.
It's kind of insane: the obvious lane open today in US politics is fiery left populism that vows to restrain & discipline the Epstein class ... but our only left party is run by that same class & its quisling pundits! Something is gonna break.
February 11, 2026 at 8:36 PM
One of many reasons I now support universal primaries with no exceptions for anyone is that the entire U.S. leadership class is implicated.
Democrats are clowns for believing they need to attend this charade in the first place.
February 11, 2026 at 5:18 PM
Democrats are clowns for believing they need to attend this charade in the first place.
For decades, Republicans have failed so badly at creating jobs that if this were a poll they'd be inside the margin of error.
Of the 52 million jobs created in America since 1989, 51 million, 97%, have been created under Dem Presidents. Essentially all of them. 4/
February 11, 2026 at 3:38 PM
For decades, Republicans have failed so badly at creating jobs that if this were a poll they'd be inside the margin of error.
The U.S. government is no longer meaningfully bound by the Constitution, the rule of the law, or the courts.
Have we updated our baseline assumptions, beliefs, and behaviors to reflect that?
Most people are still playing by a rulebook written for a world that no longer exists.
Have we updated our baseline assumptions, beliefs, and behaviors to reflect that?
Most people are still playing by a rulebook written for a world that no longer exists.
Detain, delay, defy.
A POLITICO review of hundreds of detention cases shows a pattern: ICE slow-walks or outright defies judges’ orders to release people.
A step-by-step look into how the Trump administration’s noncompliance plays out👇
A POLITICO review of hundreds of detention cases shows a pattern: ICE slow-walks or outright defies judges’ orders to release people.
A step-by-step look into how the Trump administration’s noncompliance plays out👇
How ICE defies judges’ orders to release detainees, step by step
A POLITICO review of hundreds of cases brought by ICE detainees shows a pattern of noncompliance that has frustrated judges across the country.
www.politico.com
February 10, 2026 at 6:34 PM
The U.S. government is no longer meaningfully bound by the Constitution, the rule of the law, or the courts.
Have we updated our baseline assumptions, beliefs, and behaviors to reflect that?
Most people are still playing by a rulebook written for a world that no longer exists.
Have we updated our baseline assumptions, beliefs, and behaviors to reflect that?
Most people are still playing by a rulebook written for a world that no longer exists.
Election disruption scenarios are not required to be either bound within law or remotely plausible to actually happen.
Both requirements arise out of people's blinkered beliefs about reality, not from reality itself.
Both requirements arise out of people's blinkered beliefs about reality, not from reality itself.
February 9, 2026 at 8:39 PM
Election disruption scenarios are not required to be either bound within law or remotely plausible to actually happen.
Both requirements arise out of people's blinkered beliefs about reality, not from reality itself.
Both requirements arise out of people's blinkered beliefs about reality, not from reality itself.
Reposted by David Rosen
on the balance i think partisan gerrymandering is bad but the only way it ends is if democrats weaponize it against republicans everywhere they can. wiping out republican lawmakers in blue states might bring the GOP to the table to end the practice.
February 7, 2026 at 2:35 PM
on the balance i think partisan gerrymandering is bad but the only way it ends is if democrats weaponize it against republicans everywhere they can. wiping out republican lawmakers in blue states might bring the GOP to the table to end the practice.
This is the bare minimum required to be a serious opposition.
Yet most Democratic lawmakers -- including all of the party's current leadership -- are simply unwilling to go there.
Yet most Democratic lawmakers -- including all of the party's current leadership -- are simply unwilling to go there.
The way forward for Dems is to abandon the "turn-the-page/turn-the-cheek ethos" and replace it with "proud accountability for enemies of democracy," says @brianbeutler.bsky.social.
Post-Trump era must be about accountability, not hollow reconciliation.
www.offmessage.net/p/immigratio...
Post-Trump era must be about accountability, not hollow reconciliation.
www.offmessage.net/p/immigratio...
Immigration, Fascism, And The Politics Of The American Creed
We have to protect what's best about America from ALL threats, not just the easiest scapegoats.
www.offmessage.net
February 6, 2026 at 4:36 PM
This is the bare minimum required to be a serious opposition.
Yet most Democratic lawmakers -- including all of the party's current leadership -- are simply unwilling to go there.
Yet most Democratic lawmakers -- including all of the party's current leadership -- are simply unwilling to go there.
When it comes to the right deceiving their base, we've spent two decades asking "What's the Matter with Kansas?"
Perhaps all along we should have been looking in the mirror and asking a similar question about our own side:
"Is This Blue Even True?" 6/6
Perhaps all along we should have been looking in the mirror and asking a similar question about our own side:
"Is This Blue Even True?" 6/6
February 5, 2026 at 4:22 PM
When it comes to the right deceiving their base, we've spent two decades asking "What's the Matter with Kansas?"
Perhaps all along we should have been looking in the mirror and asking a similar question about our own side:
"Is This Blue Even True?" 6/6
Perhaps all along we should have been looking in the mirror and asking a similar question about our own side:
"Is This Blue Even True?" 6/6
When I talk with normie, high-info Democrats, they have no clue how constantly they are being deceived, manipulated, and outright lied to by authorities they trust.
So the way I see it, voters aligned with Team Blue have long been and will continue to remain stupendously easy to fool. 5/6
So the way I see it, voters aligned with Team Blue have long been and will continue to remain stupendously easy to fool. 5/6
February 5, 2026 at 4:22 PM
When I talk with normie, high-info Democrats, they have no clue how constantly they are being deceived, manipulated, and outright lied to by authorities they trust.
So the way I see it, voters aligned with Team Blue have long been and will continue to remain stupendously easy to fool. 5/6
So the way I see it, voters aligned with Team Blue have long been and will continue to remain stupendously easy to fool. 5/6
In our irreparably broken media ecosystem, the tiny amount of reality testing being done is mostly excluded from the discourse or even punished.
And unfortunately, most people lack the motivation and sophistication to do reliable politics-and-public-affairs reality testing on their own. 4/6
And unfortunately, most people lack the motivation and sophistication to do reliable politics-and-public-affairs reality testing on their own. 4/6
February 5, 2026 at 4:22 PM
In our irreparably broken media ecosystem, the tiny amount of reality testing being done is mostly excluded from the discourse or even punished.
And unfortunately, most people lack the motivation and sophistication to do reliable politics-and-public-affairs reality testing on their own. 4/6
And unfortunately, most people lack the motivation and sophistication to do reliable politics-and-public-affairs reality testing on their own. 4/6
In my experience, reality testing is the only reliable way to expose political deception and manipulation.
When a politician, pundit, reporter, or advocate makes a claim -- especially when that claim validates your expectations -- you have to do the hard work to either prove or disprove it. 3/6
When a politician, pundit, reporter, or advocate makes a claim -- especially when that claim validates your expectations -- you have to do the hard work to either prove or disprove it. 3/6
February 5, 2026 at 4:22 PM
In my experience, reality testing is the only reliable way to expose political deception and manipulation.
When a politician, pundit, reporter, or advocate makes a claim -- especially when that claim validates your expectations -- you have to do the hard work to either prove or disprove it. 3/6
When a politician, pundit, reporter, or advocate makes a claim -- especially when that claim validates your expectations -- you have to do the hard work to either prove or disprove it. 3/6
People put a lot of faith in their education, knowledge, experience, attentiveness, and critical reasoning to detect a con.
But looking at recent history, it's clear these things do not alert most people on Team Blue most of the time when they are being deceived and manipulated by the powerful. 2/6
But looking at recent history, it's clear these things do not alert most people on Team Blue most of the time when they are being deceived and manipulated by the powerful. 2/6
February 5, 2026 at 4:22 PM
People put a lot of faith in their education, knowledge, experience, attentiveness, and critical reasoning to detect a con.
But looking at recent history, it's clear these things do not alert most people on Team Blue most of the time when they are being deceived and manipulated by the powerful. 2/6
But looking at recent history, it's clear these things do not alert most people on Team Blue most of the time when they are being deceived and manipulated by the powerful. 2/6
Some tough love...
The way I see it, virtually every major media outlet and the national Democratic leadership have *routinely and successfully* conned well-meaning liberals and mainstream Democratic voters out of both their money and their supposedly liberal values for decades. 1/6
The way I see it, virtually every major media outlet and the national Democratic leadership have *routinely and successfully* conned well-meaning liberals and mainstream Democratic voters out of both their money and their supposedly liberal values for decades. 1/6
February 5, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Some tough love...
The way I see it, virtually every major media outlet and the national Democratic leadership have *routinely and successfully* conned well-meaning liberals and mainstream Democratic voters out of both their money and their supposedly liberal values for decades. 1/6
The way I see it, virtually every major media outlet and the national Democratic leadership have *routinely and successfully* conned well-meaning liberals and mainstream Democratic voters out of both their money and their supposedly liberal values for decades. 1/6
I increasingly see the relationship between Democrats and Republicans as a highly toxic form of co-dependency, loosely analogous to Big Edie and Little Edie in Grey Gardens.
There are differences, but either way we're stuck in a dilapidated, dysfunctional mad house and never getting out.
There are differences, but either way we're stuck in a dilapidated, dysfunctional mad house and never getting out.
February 2, 2026 at 4:00 PM
I increasingly see the relationship between Democrats and Republicans as a highly toxic form of co-dependency, loosely analogous to Big Edie and Little Edie in Grey Gardens.
There are differences, but either way we're stuck in a dilapidated, dysfunctional mad house and never getting out.
There are differences, but either way we're stuck in a dilapidated, dysfunctional mad house and never getting out.
Yep. This is modern generational theory in a nutshell.
It's one of many examples of generation-driven periodicity in history.
It's one of many examples of generation-driven periodicity in history.
1776+84=1860
1860+84=1944
1944+84=2028
not tryna do numerology here but it does seem like there’s a rough periodicity component to our big crises
1860+84=1944
1944+84=2028
not tryna do numerology here but it does seem like there’s a rough periodicity component to our big crises
January 30, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Yep. This is modern generational theory in a nutshell.
It's one of many examples of generation-driven periodicity in history.
It's one of many examples of generation-driven periodicity in history.
Correct. The gulf between what elected officials say and what they do is enormous -- and this is going to turn out to be a good example of that.
As always, I would be happy to be proved wrong.
As always, I would be happy to be proved wrong.
January 30, 2026 at 6:49 PM
Correct. The gulf between what elected officials say and what they do is enormous -- and this is going to turn out to be a good example of that.
As always, I would be happy to be proved wrong.
As always, I would be happy to be proved wrong.
Bookmark this post for down the road.
If 2027 brings a House Democratic majority, Jeffries will insist on outsourcing subpoena enforcement to Trump's lawless and illegitimate DOJ.
Instead Democrats could modernize inherent contempt, empowering the House majority to punish defiant officials.
If 2027 brings a House Democratic majority, Jeffries will insist on outsourcing subpoena enforcement to Trump's lawless and illegitimate DOJ.
Instead Democrats could modernize inherent contempt, empowering the House majority to punish defiant officials.
Jeffries: "We cannot trust the Department of Justice. They're an illegitimate organization right now under the leadership of Pam Bondi and the direction of Donald Trump."
January 30, 2026 at 6:44 PM
Bookmark this post for down the road.
If 2027 brings a House Democratic majority, Jeffries will insist on outsourcing subpoena enforcement to Trump's lawless and illegitimate DOJ.
Instead Democrats could modernize inherent contempt, empowering the House majority to punish defiant officials.
If 2027 brings a House Democratic majority, Jeffries will insist on outsourcing subpoena enforcement to Trump's lawless and illegitimate DOJ.
Instead Democrats could modernize inherent contempt, empowering the House majority to punish defiant officials.
Reposted by David Rosen
National politics is no longer a safe job. If you're not willing to literally pledge your life, your fortune or your sacred honor, do us all a favor and don't run for federal office.
January 30, 2026 at 4:41 PM
National politics is no longer a safe job. If you're not willing to literally pledge your life, your fortune or your sacred honor, do us all a favor and don't run for federal office.
Where I work, we measure corporate power in lots of ways. Just SOME of our metrics:
-campaign & lobbying expenditures
-corporate crime enforcement
-revolving door appointments
-favors for industry in a bill
-meetings with regulators
Never forget folks: Matty is ALWAYS completely full of shit.
-campaign & lobbying expenditures
-corporate crime enforcement
-revolving door appointments
-favors for industry in a bill
-meetings with regulators
Never forget folks: Matty is ALWAYS completely full of shit.
"nobody has any idea how to measure corporate power"
yeah, sure, ok...
yeah, sure, ok...
January 29, 2026 at 4:29 PM
Where I work, we measure corporate power in lots of ways. Just SOME of our metrics:
-campaign & lobbying expenditures
-corporate crime enforcement
-revolving door appointments
-favors for industry in a bill
-meetings with regulators
Never forget folks: Matty is ALWAYS completely full of shit.
-campaign & lobbying expenditures
-corporate crime enforcement
-revolving door appointments
-favors for industry in a bill
-meetings with regulators
Never forget folks: Matty is ALWAYS completely full of shit.
Whatever you think of these demands, this is the behavior of a junior governing partner, not an opposition.
Chuck Schumer just announced demands on DHS to avoid shutdown:
1. End roving patrols, tighten rules on warrants
2. Enforce accountability & unified code of conduct for agents
3. No more masks & require bodycams
There are *already* standards on much of this.
The issue is DHS isn't following them!
1. End roving patrols, tighten rules on warrants
2. Enforce accountability & unified code of conduct for agents
3. No more masks & require bodycams
There are *already* standards on much of this.
The issue is DHS isn't following them!
January 28, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Whatever you think of these demands, this is the behavior of a junior governing partner, not an opposition.
How will these restrictions be enforced, by whom, and will the penalties be harsh, swift, and certain enough to deter either the perpetrators or the administration officials behind them?
Dems coalescing around 5 restrictions on ICE, I'm told:
DHS required to cooperate with state probes (big)
CBP stays at border
warrants for arrests
IDs, bodycams
ICE out of churches, schools
"That package unites a lot of Dems," Sen Chris Murphy tells me on the pod:
newrepublic.com/article/2057...
DHS required to cooperate with state probes (big)
CBP stays at border
warrants for arrests
IDs, bodycams
ICE out of churches, schools
"That package unites a lot of Dems," Sen Chris Murphy tells me on the pod:
newrepublic.com/article/2057...
A Dem Senator’s Harsh Takedown of Trump Hits Home: “Breaking Point”
As Trump scrambles to contain the damage from the latest ICE horrors, Senator Chris Murphy offers a sharp indictment of Trump-ICE lawlessness—and explains how Dems can meet the urgency of the moment.
newrepublic.com
January 27, 2026 at 2:44 PM
How will these restrictions be enforced, by whom, and will the penalties be harsh, swift, and certain enough to deter either the perpetrators or the administration officials behind them?
Reposted by David Rosen
The US is collapsing into fascism and going to war with Europe and the opposition party is like “I’m here to talk about the important thing: how your average grocery bill has risen by two dollars over the last year, which I also have no plan or ability to fix”
January 19, 2026 at 2:03 PM
The US is collapsing into fascism and going to war with Europe and the opposition party is like “I’m here to talk about the important thing: how your average grocery bill has risen by two dollars over the last year, which I also have no plan or ability to fix”
Close to 100% of people have no clue how right-wing psychology works or how the modern world aggravates and fuels it.
This guy gets it.
Read this thread. Retain it. Base your strategies and tactics on it.
If you do, you'll be about 50 years ahead of the curve.
This guy gets it.
Read this thread. Retain it. Base your strategies and tactics on it.
If you do, you'll be about 50 years ahead of the curve.
This is literally what I've been writing and podcasting about for years. I was planning to do an essay on this, but here's a 🧵.
The main reason is psychology. Due to personal, family, and cultural histories, some people are inherently scared of the world.
The main reason is psychology. Due to personal, family, and cultural histories, some people are inherently scared of the world.
Fight and help win a world war.
Establish a global order that cements your national power for 80 years.
Blow it all up.
What am I missing?
Establish a global order that cements your national power for 80 years.
Blow it all up.
What am I missing?
January 18, 2026 at 6:56 PM
Close to 100% of people have no clue how right-wing psychology works or how the modern world aggravates and fuels it.
This guy gets it.
Read this thread. Retain it. Base your strategies and tactics on it.
If you do, you'll be about 50 years ahead of the curve.
This guy gets it.
Read this thread. Retain it. Base your strategies and tactics on it.
If you do, you'll be about 50 years ahead of the curve.
Reposted by David Rosen
"Congress" as described by civics classes, law professors, Democrats, and libertarians — an independent branch capable of executing designated responsibilities irrespective of the partisan balance of power — does not exist. It is a fiction. Every time these things happen, more Americans see that.
January 3, 2026 at 3:41 PM
"Congress" as described by civics classes, law professors, Democrats, and libertarians — an independent branch capable of executing designated responsibilities irrespective of the partisan balance of power — does not exist. It is a fiction. Every time these things happen, more Americans see that.