Joshua Benton
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Joshua Benton
@joshuabenton.com
12K followers 2.5K following 700 posts
21st-century media and the 19th-c American South. Founded and ran @niemanlab.org at @harvard.edu for 12 yrs; now the senior writer there. Cajun, dad of two, husband of one. Journalist with a history problem. Also: @theatlantic.com, @washingtonpost.com, etc
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Reposted by Joshua Benton
bcdreyer.social
"A few weeks ago, I heard of a

🙄
Opinion | You can’t be diverse if you exclude white men
Those year-end book lists that claim to be all about diversity often seem to miss this one major demographic, Annie Holmquist writes.
www.startribune.com
December 26, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
daviddarmofal.bsky.social
A great example of how the @nytimes.com centers white Americans and Trump supporters in its anecdotal political coverage. You never see stories like this about Black Democrats whose cities are cracked in Republican gerrymandering to give them Republican elected officials.
daviddarmofal.bsky.social David Darmofal @daviddarmofal.bsky.social · 3d
They Wanted a Conservative State. They Might Get a Democratic Representative Instead.

The passage of Proposition 50, which redrew California’s congressional map, means that all of the state’s conservative north is likely to be represented by Democrats.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/u...
They Wanted a Conservative State. They Might Get a Democratic Representative Instead.
www.nytimes.com
December 26, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
brendannyhan.bsky.social
People have no idea what a premium we have enjoyed and what losing it will cost us
filipecampante.bsky.social Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · 3d
This piece is a great illustration of how the long-term effect of Trump’s destruction of US institutions won’t be felt in a dramatic market collapse, but rather in permanently worse economic conditions, and lower prosperity.

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... So long, American exceptionalism
So long, American exceptionalism
For the first time, investors are talking about ‘US risk’
giftarticle.ft.com
December 26, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
radleybalko.bsky.social
This administration lied about the people it sent to an overseas torture prison. It lies about the people it’s deporting. It lies every day to gain political advantage. Not a chance in hell they won’t lie about huge swaths of people they suspect might vote for the other party.
December 27, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
“Neff said four states with Republican secretaries of state — Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas and Wyoming — have “complied voluntarily” with the Justice Department’s demand without memoranda of understanding”🎁
December 27, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
bretdevereaux.bsky.social
This is extremely dumb for a variety of reasons but perhaps the most obvious is that the Romans didn't apply their adoption law to grants of citizenship.

I cannot communicate how basic an error he is making here. Staggeringly elementary, a thing you learn in Roman Civ 101.
paolosandro.bsky.social Paolo Sandro @paolosandro.bsky.social · 3d
I had missed this latest delirium by Adrian Vermeule on birthright citizenship

'Common law?! NAH, it's the Roman law of adoption that should govern the interpretation of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution!'

thenewdigest.substack.com/p/immigratio...
What I suggest is different. Although broadly in the spirit of Aquinas’ two-or-three generations test insofar as it emphasizes the duties rather than the rights of immigrants who becomes citizens, it is derived not from theological principles but from a civil-law analogy — an analogy to the Roman law of adoption. After all, inclusion within “our posterity” may ordinarily arise not only through natural descent, but through legal adoption. In brief, I suggest that the legal immigrant should understand himself as an adopted son of a natural and concretely existing family, the American family, and this brings with it particular duties of filial piety and reverence for that particular family and for its thick heritage and traditions. Our laws as made, interpreted and applied should reflect that understanding as well. Because it is an analogy, not an identity, what I propose is not a set of legal rules to be directly mapped from Roman law into the American legal system. Rather it is a suggestion that the Roman law of adoption rested on a set of discernible principles of legal justice and political morality that represent the spirit of the laws bearing on immigration and citizenship in America — a time-honored mode of legal interpretation here, albeit not an originalist mode. Such principles should affect the interpretation of actually existing legal texts, rules, and doctrines; they should be understood as the soul of our law of citizenship. Needless to say, this does not answer or even purport to speak to all questions bearing on immigration. I do not speak here, for example, to the enforcement of the immigration laws against illegal immigrants, or to prospective questions of policy about exactly how much legal immigration, if any, there should be, and from where. All I address is the question what principles of legal justice and political duty apply, under existing law, to the immigrant who is already here legally. To that end I suggest a conceptual model for understanding the role and obligations of that immigrant — what justice classically understood requires of him.
December 27, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
jesspish.bsky.social
I began this story focused on the weird lies about Hurricane Helene but became very disturbed at how prevalent this pseudo-environmentalism is. The movement blocks real policy to curb climate catastrophes.
jesspish.bsky.social Jessica Pishko @jesspish.bsky.social · 3d
For @rollingstone.com I wrote about the mass national movement to ban chemtrails...which don't exist. The movement is one of the ways in which MAHA is taking over the country.
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Chemtrails Aren't Real. So Why Are Politicians Passing Laws About Them?
The history and politics of so-called weather weapons.
www.rollingstone.com
December 26, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
mims.bsky.social
some good climate/energy news:

* 96% of new US power capacity was carbon-free in 2024 (56 gigawatts!)

* 2025 included the first month ever when 51% of power on the U.S. grid was carbon-free

* The golbal trend is overwhelming: The world is now investing more $ in clean energy than fossil fuels
December 26, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
gregdoucette.bsky.social
"Every accusation is a confession" remains undefeated
December 27, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
bdgesq.bsky.social
More seriously, as most readers here know I helped draft the CA billionaire tax initiative text and you just can't get out of it by setting up a couple of LLCs in Florida. We have thought about how to block these fake paper moves for 4 years.
nytimes.com The New York Times @nytimes.com · 3d
Billionaires are considering cutting or reducing their ties to California by the end of the year because of a proposed ballot measure that could tax the state’s wealthiest residents.
A Wealth Tax Floated in California Has Billionaires Thinking of Leaving
It’s uncertain whether the proposal will reach the statewide ballot in November, but some billionaires like Peter Thiel and Larry Page may be unwilling to take the risk.
nyti.ms
December 27, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
jessethorn.bsky.social
Trying to imagine how we’d get by without Peter Thiel.
nytimes.com The New York Times @nytimes.com · 3d
Billionaires are considering cutting or reducing their ties to California by the end of the year because of a proposed ballot measure that could tax the state’s wealthiest residents.
A Wealth Tax Floated in California Has Billionaires Thinking of Leaving
It’s uncertain whether the proposal will reach the statewide ballot in November, but some billionaires like Peter Thiel and Larry Page may be unwilling to take the risk.
nyti.ms
December 27, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
jswatz.bsky.social
“Dr. McCoul is disappointed by the University’s unexplained decision to uphold her termination, but looks forward to pursuing her First Amendment, Due Process, and breach of contract claims in court very soon,” Reichek wrote in a statement.
www.texastribune.org/2025/12/24/t...
Texas A&M won’t reinstate fired lecturer despite findings
A vice chancellor upheld the firing of Melissa McCoul, seen in a viral video being confronted by a student on her gender identity teachings, saying the termination was done with “good cause.”
www.texastribune.org
December 27, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
soumya-goblue.medsky.social
"Ambitious white men in their thirties have not seen much, if any, decline over this period. Their overall employment is up...Educational attainment is up. There may be 1-2% of white men who dipped out of top 10% of personal earnings, though white men continue to be vastly over-represented there."
December 26, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
michaelhobbes.bsky.social
Incredible what you find when you start looking for data on the "white men can't get jobs anymore" phenomenon
www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2025/12/17/w...
What Does the Census Data Say About “The Lost Generation”
Savage appears wrong, but the reality is potentially bleaker.
www.peoplespolicyproject.org
December 25, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
jlazarus.bsky.social
This is the answer to Trump’s litigation threats. Not capitulation. Discovery.
newrepublic.com The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 4d
President Trump’s spiteful defamation suit against the Pulitzer Prize Board may backfire, as the latter is now demanding Trump’s psychological records, prescription medication records, and tax returns in the discovery process. trib.al/LUCScTR
December 26, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
robertscotthorton.bsky.social
GOP operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, convicted election fraudsters, were paid $960,000 in the second quarter to secure a pardon for a former nursing-home operator who defrauded the government of $38 million. Trump pardoned the man, Joseph Schwartz, last month.
Inside the New Fast Track to a Presidential Pardon
Even some of the president’s closest advisers have been surprised by a number of the recent series of pardons.
www.wsj.com
December 25, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
kevinmkruse.bsky.social
Even if you were unaware with how central Hans Von Spakovsky has been to right wing conspiracies about nonexistent “voter fraud,” you would still be right to think it’s a bad sign that someone named Hans Von Spakovsky thinks Heritage has gone too far to the right
normative.bsky.social Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 7d
This is a pretty shocking mass exodus. Heritage's legal department is basically a ghost ship at this point. And I have to imagine they'll really have to dredge the absolute bottom of the barrel to restaff it at this point. reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Breaking: Cully Stimson and Hans von Spakovsky Resign From Heritage
The Meese Center is basically empty now.
reason.com
December 22, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
lizdye.bsky.social
How racist do you have to be to freak out Hans von Spakovsky???

reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Breaking: Cully Stimson and Hans von Spakovsky Resign From Heritage
The Meese Center is basically empty now.
reason.com
December 22, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
nathankalmoe.bsky.social
Essential reading for recognizing that the problem is (& always was) supremacists (white, rich, Christian, male). Points to the scope needed for solutions too: reconstructing the Constitution, fed courts, & state govts to ensure equal say & rights for all, incl the ability to enforce that democracy.
adamserwer.bsky.social Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 7d
The right, along the Roberts Court, is trying to nullify the Reconstruction amendments guaranteeing equality under the law, in order to restore the Antebellum Constitution, which envisions “liberty” as an eternal aristocracy of race and class (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
When the 18th-century writer Samuel Johnson asked why “we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes,” he was identifying no mere contradiction, but liberty as it was imagined by men who owned other human beings as property. Slaveholders such as John Calhoun saw slavery as inseparable from their own freedom, and they worried that the false doctrine of abolitionism would eliminate that freedom away. “Already it has taken possession of the pulpit, of the schools, and, to a considerable extent, of the press; those great instruments by which the mind of the rising generation will be formed,” Calhoun said. (It seems the “woke mind virus” was telling lies about the great and benevolent institution of American slavery as far back as two centuries ago.) Defending slavery, however, required invasive uses of power, such as banning antislavery literature and returning escaped Black people to bondage. Many white Americans in the 19th century began to understand that the “Slave Power” curtailed their freedoms as well. And this is what many people forget: Systems of domination rarely spread their blessings widely. The Redemption-era revocation of Black freedoms didn’t result in prosperity for white people writ large, but a Gilded Age in which the upper classes gained unfathomable wealth and economic crises left millions destitute. The nation may have held on to white supremacy, but it also got low wages, a threadbare welfare state, and a society dominated by the rich. Everyone else was too divided by race and class to challenge them.
December 22, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
adamserwer.bsky.social
The right, along the Roberts Court, is trying to nullify the Reconstruction amendments guaranteeing equality under the law, in order to restore the Antebellum Constitution, which envisions “liberty” as an eternal aristocracy of race and class (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
When the 18th-century writer Samuel Johnson asked why “we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes,” he was identifying no mere contradiction, but liberty as it was imagined by men who owned other human beings as property. Slaveholders such as John Calhoun saw slavery as inseparable from their own freedom, and they worried that the false doctrine of abolitionism would eliminate that freedom away. “Already it has taken possession of the pulpit, of the schools, and, to a considerable extent, of the press; those great instruments by which the mind of the rising generation will be formed,” Calhoun said. (It seems the “woke mind virus” was telling lies about the great and benevolent institution of American slavery as far back as two centuries ago.) Defending slavery, however, required invasive uses of power, such as banning antislavery literature and returning escaped Black people to bondage. Many white Americans in the 19th century began to understand that the “Slave Power” curtailed their freedoms as well. And this is what many people forget: Systems of domination rarely spread their blessings widely. The Redemption-era revocation of Black freedoms didn’t result in prosperity for white people writ large, but a Gilded Age in which the upper classes gained unfathomable wealth and economic crises left millions destitute. The nation may have held on to white supremacy, but it also got low wages, a threadbare welfare state, and a society dominated by the rich. Everyone else was too divided by race and class to challenge them.
December 22, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
lemieuxlgm.bsky.social
Thread of stories run by Bari Weiss's group blog that did not ask the targets of (frequently uncorroborated) accusations for comment, let alone give them a preemptive veto over the story:
bgrueskin.bsky.social Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 7d
In 2022, Bari Weiss ran this viral first-person piece by a top Levi’s executive. She claimed she was hounded out of the company because of her vocal stance on COVID restrictions.

There are no quotes from the company. Or her colleagues.

Not even a “no comment.”

www.thefp.com/p/yesterday-...
Yesterday I Was Levi’s Brand President. I Quit So I Could Be Free.
I turned down $1 million severance in exchange for my voice.
www.thefp.com
December 23, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
asheeshksi.bsky.social
We’re living in an age of intense right-wing victimhood. Despite dominating political institutions, finance, and, yes, higher ed, the right is always complaining about being oppressed, silenced, & persecuted while they oppress, silence, & persecute everyone else.
December 23, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
justinbaragona.bsky.social
Just want to point out that this man was leading the whole Turning Point USA crowd in prayer last week.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crim...
Russell Brand charged with further counts of rape and sexual assault
The alleged offences took place in 2009, the Crown Protection Service said
www.independent.co.uk
December 23, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
michaelhobbes.bsky.social
This person analyzes American politics for a living
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
December 23, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by Joshua Benton
jamellebouie.net
always amazed to see the ways people will debase themselves for free
sallyjenx.bsky.social Sally Jenkins @sallyjenx.bsky.social · 6d
The Bari Weiss hysteria continues. Exactly what in "this piece isn't ready" and "try harder to get comment from the administration" constitutes the death of American journalism? www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
What Bari Weiss Got Right
And what she got wrong
www.theatlantic.com
December 23, 2025 at 7:08 PM