Ericjhensal
@ericjhensal.bsky.social
Writing for Progressive Conjecture at https://erichensal.substack.com/ and author of "A Progressive Art of War" outlining the benefit of Sun Tzu’s ancient Art of War for modern progressive efforts. http://amazon.com/dp/B07V9JXRMS
Pinned
Ericjhensal
@ericjhensal.bsky.social
· May 23
Progressives must re-examine strategies to defeat Trump and fascism. Here is how to use a classic text to inform how we change to fight the good fight and teach Democrats what they should be doing to win. open.substack.com/pub/erichens....
Read/share if you care about public space: how Trump’s authoritarianism shows up in architecture long before it shows up in laws. https://twp.ai/4iv2bF #civics
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 19, 2026 at 7:19 PM
Read/share if you care about public space: how Trump’s authoritarianism shows up in architecture long before it shows up in laws. https://twp.ai/4iv2bF #civics
I’m not arguing Trump ordered “Speer.” I’m arguing the aesthetics that please him—and the people eager to build them.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 19, 2026 at 2:35 PM
I’m not arguing Trump ordered “Speer.” I’m arguing the aesthetics that please him—and the people eager to build them.
Short read, heavy subject: Trump-era monumentality, Speer references, and why it should unsettle us.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 19, 2026 at 9:48 AM
Short read, heavy subject: Trump-era monumentality, Speer references, and why it should unsettle us.
Architecture can be beautiful *and* ideological. The trouble starts when “beauty” means making you feel small. https://twp.ai/4iv2bB #design
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 19, 2026 at 3:18 AM
Architecture can be beautiful *and* ideological. The trouble starts when “beauty” means making you feel small. https://twp.ai/4iv2bB #design
A reader question: is this just neoclassical DC… or something else? Take a look at what Trump wants across DC and see what is happening.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 18, 2026 at 10:39 PM
A reader question: is this just neoclassical DC… or something else? Take a look at what Trump wants across DC and see what is happening.
If we can’t resist a stadium or an arch—symbols that scar the landscape—what else will we normalize?
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 18, 2026 at 8:20 PM
If we can’t resist a stadium or an arch—symbols that scar the landscape—what else will we normalize?
How do you spot authoritarian taste before it becomes “just the skyline”? Start with scale, repetition, and submission.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 18, 2026 at 5:55 PM
How do you spot authoritarian taste before it becomes “just the skyline”? Start with scale, repetition, and submission.
Opinion: the most revealing part isn’t any single design rendering—it’s how quickly professionals adapt to what power wants.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 17, 2026 at 8:08 PM
Opinion: the most revealing part isn’t any single design rendering—it’s how quickly professionals adapt to what power wants.
An arch. A stadium. A draft venue. Separate projects—one Trump aesthetic through-line.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 17, 2026 at 3:25 PM
An arch. A stadium. A draft venue. Separate projects—one Trump aesthetic through-line.
“Fascism collects its collaborators.” I wrote about what it could look like in DC architecture—one column at a time. https://twp.ai/4iv2b6 #politics
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 17, 2026 at 1:13 PM
“Fascism collects its collaborators.” I wrote about what it could look like in DC architecture—one column at a time. https://twp.ai/4iv2b6 #politics
Speer’s “Cathedral of Light” wasn’t just spectacle—it was architecture as intimidation. The parallels to Trump designs are hard to miss. https://twp.ai/4iv2b1 #history
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 17, 2026 at 10:38 AM
Speer’s “Cathedral of Light” wasn’t just spectacle—it was architecture as intimidation. The parallels to Trump designs are hard to miss. https://twp.ai/4iv2b1 #history
The first name that came to mind seeing the stadium renderings: Albert Speer. Here’s why.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 17, 2026 at 12:50 AM
The first name that came to mind seeing the stadium renderings: Albert Speer. Here’s why.
Do those perimeter columns read “civic” to you… or coercive? A closer look at the proposed Washington Commanders stadium. https://twp.ai/4iv2ax #architecture
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 16, 2026 at 1:47 PM
Do those perimeter columns read “civic” to you… or coercive? A closer look at the proposed Washington Commanders stadium. https://twp.ai/4iv2ax #architecture
When buildings are designed to erase human scale, they’re not just “style.” They’re a message. https://twp.ai/4iv2b4 #urbanism
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 16, 2026 at 11:36 AM
When buildings are designed to erase human scale, they’re not just “style.” They’re a message. https://twp.ai/4iv2b4 #urbanism
Trump’s National Mall NFL Draft venue plans (as reported in *The Architect’s Newspaper*) and the Speer echo that jumped out at me.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 16, 2026 at 5:56 AM
Trump’s National Mall NFL Draft venue plans (as reported in *The Architect’s Newspaper*) and the Speer echo that jumped out at me.
New essay: *Albert Speer Wants Credit* — on the proposed Commanders stadium renderings and what monumental design signals about power.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 16, 2026 at 4:15 AM
New essay: *Albert Speer Wants Credit* — on the proposed Commanders stadium renderings and what monumental design signals about power.
New essay: *Albert Speer Wants Credit* — on the proposed Commanders stadium renderings and what monumental design signals about power.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Albert Speer Wants Credit: Trump, Architecture, and Authoritarian Taste
twp.ai
January 15, 2026 at 10:50 PM
New essay: *Albert Speer Wants Credit* — on the proposed Commanders stadium renderings and what monumental design signals about power.
Klein tours the New York Times' Trump full transcript. A noble sacrifice of his sanity to show us Trump in all his inglory. However the NYT transcript lost most the Trump crazy because they used punctuation. While not sane-washing, audio would be more terrifying. open.substack.com/pub/williamk...
This Substack Goes Interactive
Let's Read The New York Times Trump Interview Transcript Together
open.substack.com
January 13, 2026 at 2:47 PM
Klein tours the New York Times' Trump full transcript. A noble sacrifice of his sanity to show us Trump in all his inglory. However the NYT transcript lost most the Trump crazy because they used punctuation. While not sane-washing, audio would be more terrifying. open.substack.com/pub/williamk...
Enshittification is subtle. For many, leaving is the only way past it to reach new readers.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Napoleon Dynamite and Why I Am Leaving Substack
twp.ai
January 11, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Enshittification is subtle. For many, leaving is the only way past it to reach new readers.
What gets promoted on a platform tells you what a system values. What disappears tells you more.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Napoleon Dynamite and Why I Am Leaving Substack
twp.ai
January 8, 2026 at 11:46 PM
What gets promoted on a platform tells you what a system values. What disappears tells you more.
Substack wants to be the Hallmark Movie Channel. Predictable, reassuring and never challenging.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Napoleon Dynamite and Why I Am Leaving Substack
twp.ai
January 8, 2026 at 3:28 PM
Substack wants to be the Hallmark Movie Channel. Predictable, reassuring and never challenging.
I write for readers willing to slow down. That choice has consequences in metric-driven Substack.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Napoleon Dynamite and Why I Am Leaving Substack
twp.ai
January 8, 2026 at 12:31 PM
I write for readers willing to slow down. That choice has consequences in metric-driven Substack.
Ghost is not bigger and that is the point—user maintained v. investor driven. Keep algorithms at bay.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Napoleon Dynamite and Why I Am Leaving Substack
twp.ai
January 8, 2026 at 4:00 AM
Ghost is not bigger and that is the point—user maintained v. investor driven. Keep algorithms at bay.
Greenland joins Canada as a province?
This post was Trump satire, but a bit of research reached unexpected interesting territory. With Arctic geopolitics, along with Canada and Greenland’s cultural connections , it feels worth revisiting. https://twp.ai/4itgZJ
#Arctic #Geopolitics #Greenland
This post was Trump satire, but a bit of research reached unexpected interesting territory. With Arctic geopolitics, along with Canada and Greenland’s cultural connections , it feels worth revisiting. https://twp.ai/4itgZJ
#Arctic #Geopolitics #Greenland
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Send Michael Myers to Greenland on Secret Mission
twp.ai
January 7, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Greenland joins Canada as a province?
This post was Trump satire, but a bit of research reached unexpected interesting territory. With Arctic geopolitics, along with Canada and Greenland’s cultural connections , it feels worth revisiting. https://twp.ai/4itgZJ
#Arctic #Geopolitics #Greenland
This post was Trump satire, but a bit of research reached unexpected interesting territory. With Arctic geopolitics, along with Canada and Greenland’s cultural connections , it feels worth revisiting. https://twp.ai/4itgZJ
#Arctic #Geopolitics #Greenland
If your work produces surprise instead of comfort, algorithms struggle to place it. That is the quiet cost of optimization.
newsletter.aprogressiveway.com
Napoleon Dynamite and Why I Am Leaving Substack
twp.ai
January 7, 2026 at 3:00 PM
If your work produces surprise instead of comfort, algorithms struggle to place it. That is the quiet cost of optimization.