Elisabeth R. Anker
@libankerdc.bsky.social
Professor: Political Theory & American Culture
Author: UGLY FREEDOMS (Duke) & Orgies of Feeling: Melodrama and the Promise of Freedom (Duke)
Coeditor: Theory&Event
Next Book: “Every Man a Sovereign”
Libby to my pals
Web: https://tinyurl.com/Elisabeth-Anker
Author: UGLY FREEDOMS (Duke) & Orgies of Feeling: Melodrama and the Promise of Freedom (Duke)
Coeditor: Theory&Event
Next Book: “Every Man a Sovereign”
Libby to my pals
Web: https://tinyurl.com/Elisabeth-Anker
Pinned
Just dropping this piece I wrote here. This entire administration is the ugliest of ugly freedoms: www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/o...
We Are All That Lady
December 25, 2025 at 11:19 PM
We Are All That Lady
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.
Surviving CECOT (full documentary) | Deported to a Maximum-Security Prison | FRONTLINE + ProPublica
YouTube video by FRONTLINE PBS | Official
m.youtube.com
December 21, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
Weird how The Free Press was able to publish all of these without comment from the Washigton University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital.
December 22, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Weird how The Free Press was able to publish all of these without comment from the Washigton University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital.
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
This sounded better in the original German.
JD Vance: "In the United States of America you don't have to apologize for being white anymore"
December 21, 2025 at 7:26 PM
This sounded better in the original German.
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
They’re building a white supremacist dictatorship in front of our eyes.
JD Vance: "In the United States of America you don't have to apologize for being white anymore"
December 21, 2025 at 7:25 PM
They’re building a white supremacist dictatorship in front of our eyes.
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
man, George Wallace was more subtle than this
JD Vance: "In the United States of America you don't have to apologize for being white anymore"
December 21, 2025 at 7:28 PM
man, George Wallace was more subtle than this
Trump doesn’t care that the font is wrong and it looks tacked on. It’s all part of the cheesy schlock aesthetic they love. No different than this:
December 19, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Trump doesn’t care that the font is wrong and it looks tacked on. It’s all part of the cheesy schlock aesthetic they love. No different than this:
Lil’ Far rightists are straight up fascists obsessed with n*zi germany or really their insane fantasy of it. It is supremely dangerous and fucked up
From the right-wing Manhattan Institute's focus group of Gen Z conservatives -- just jaw-dropping stuff. We have a very sick society. www.city-journal.org/article/manh...
December 19, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Lil’ Far rightists are straight up fascists obsessed with n*zi germany or really their insane fantasy of it. It is supremely dangerous and fucked up
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
From the right-wing Manhattan Institute's focus group of Gen Z conservatives -- just jaw-dropping stuff. We have a very sick society. www.city-journal.org/article/manh...
December 19, 2025 at 6:46 PM
From the right-wing Manhattan Institute's focus group of Gen Z conservatives -- just jaw-dropping stuff. We have a very sick society. www.city-journal.org/article/manh...
Of all the terrible things this administration has done, this is the worst.
After Trump Officials Cut Food Aid to Kenya, Children Starved to Death
After Trump Officials Cut Food Aid to Kenya, Children Starved to Death
After Trump Officials Cut Food Aid to Kenya, Children Starved to Death
“Brutal and traumatizing”: Interviews and a trove of internal documents show government officials and aid workers desperately tried to warn Trump advisers about impending disaster and death.
www.propublica.org
December 19, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Of all the terrible things this administration has done, this is the worst.
After Trump Officials Cut Food Aid to Kenya, Children Starved to Death
After Trump Officials Cut Food Aid to Kenya, Children Starved to Death
Christopher Anderson has been doing some heavy lifting for democracy
vanity fair photographer christopher anderson posts this story on his instagram, suggesting he intentionally posed stephen miller underneath a painting of native americans
December 18, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Christopher Anderson has been doing some heavy lifting for democracy
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
FOUR new deaths in ICE detention. That puts the total this year at 30 people dead; the highest in ICE's history and worse than even during the COVID years.
It's clear that the system is breaking down. Many of these are preventable deaths.
It's clear that the system is breaking down. Many of these are preventable deaths.
In the 90 minutes since I posted this, I've gotten two more death notifications.
ICE has a responsibility to take care of these people, something they are clearly disregarding. This is beyond horrifying. We must ensure dignity and humanity for detained people in this country.
ICE has a responsibility to take care of these people, something they are clearly disregarding. This is beyond horrifying. We must ensure dignity and humanity for detained people in this country.
Within 15 minutes today, I got two back-to-back notifications of deaths at ICE facilities.
28 people have died in ICE custody since Trump took office. These facilities are overcrowded & are putting their own profits over health and safety. We need oversight & accountability NOW.
28 people have died in ICE custody since Trump took office. These facilities are overcrowded & are putting their own profits over health and safety. We need oversight & accountability NOW.
December 18, 2025 at 7:53 PM
FOUR new deaths in ICE detention. That puts the total this year at 30 people dead; the highest in ICE's history and worse than even during the COVID years.
It's clear that the system is breaking down. Many of these are preventable deaths.
It's clear that the system is breaking down. Many of these are preventable deaths.
Thanks Olivia! Hope you feel great about enabling your brain worm lover's rise, and taking away needed healthcare for vulnerable children
December 18, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Thanks Olivia! Hope you feel great about enabling your brain worm lover's rise, and taking away needed healthcare for vulnerable children
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
Lol. They're making a film about the orcas attacking yachts and the orcas are the BAD GUYS?? Talk about a missed opportunity.
December 17, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Lol. They're making a film about the orcas attacking yachts and the orcas are the BAD GUYS?? Talk about a missed opportunity.
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
Another example of how fucked originalism is as a methodology. Basically directly imports schmittian colonialism into the constitution, like hey there were some white guys who made an apartheid state and hoarded the weapons for themselves and so we have to read it like a settler colonial hoard law
NEW: 6th Cir upholds the fed law barring undocumented immigrants from having guns.
What's shocking, though, is Judge Thapar's separate opinion arguing that noncitizens lack not only 2nd Am rights, but likely 1st, 4th & other const'l rights! 🧵
www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf...
What's shocking, though, is Judge Thapar's separate opinion arguing that noncitizens lack not only 2nd Am rights, but likely 1st, 4th & other const'l rights! 🧵
www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf...
www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov
December 16, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Another example of how fucked originalism is as a methodology. Basically directly imports schmittian colonialism into the constitution, like hey there were some white guys who made an apartheid state and hoarded the weapons for themselves and so we have to read it like a settler colonial hoard law
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
I wish people would decide whether Bluesky users are responsible for the rise of fascism because our engagement with them is so annoying we drove the right wing bananas, or are we responsible because we don’t engage with them at all.
December 15, 2025 at 6:33 PM
I wish people would decide whether Bluesky users are responsible for the rise of fascism because our engagement with them is so annoying we drove the right wing bananas, or are we responsible because we don’t engage with them at all.
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
It’s crazy how the “Don’t tread on me!” and “Live free or die” crowd is fine with masked gangs of anonymous armed federal agents hassling, detaining, and assaulting people on the streets “papers please”-style.
This feels like the most basic freedom of not living in a fascist police state.
This feels like the most basic freedom of not living in a fascist police state.
Here's interview with US citizen scanned by ICE's facial recognition tech. Walking home from gym, authorities come over. He says he's a citizen. Put him in car. Only release after scanning his face
“Flagrant violation of rights and incompatible with a free society”
www.404media.co/how-a-us-cit...
“Flagrant violation of rights and incompatible with a free society”
www.404media.co/how-a-us-cit...
How a US Citizen Was Scanned With ICE's Facial Recognition Tech
Jesus Gutiérrez told immigration agents he was a U.S. citizen. Only after they scanned his face, did the agents let him go.
www.404media.co
December 15, 2025 at 3:31 PM
It’s crazy how the “Don’t tread on me!” and “Live free or die” crowd is fine with masked gangs of anonymous armed federal agents hassling, detaining, and assaulting people on the streets “papers please”-style.
This feels like the most basic freedom of not living in a fascist police state.
This feels like the most basic freedom of not living in a fascist police state.
WE NEED TO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE HERE (and not just pontificate on why it would never be possible):
Australia to tighten gun laws after Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre
Australian leaders have promised to immediately overhaul already-tough gun control laws after a mass shooting targeted a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
apnews.com
December 15, 2025 at 3:41 PM
WE NEED TO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE HERE (and not just pontificate on why it would never be possible):
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
imagine a government that reacted when horrendous shit happens apnews.com/article/aust...
Australia to tighten gun laws after Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre
Australian leaders have promised to immediately overhaul already-tough gun control laws after a mass shooting targeted a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
apnews.com
December 15, 2025 at 3:27 PM
imagine a government that reacted when horrendous shit happens apnews.com/article/aust...
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
👇
Markus Frohnmaier of the German far-right AfD meets a US State Department official, praises MAGA, attacks Europe’s political direction – and has a long record of pro-Kremlin engagement. This article connects the dots: shekhovtsov.substack.com/p/from-mosco...
December 15, 2025 at 3:31 PM
👇
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
Stephen Miller is employing state terror in service of the open goal of shifting the ethnic mix of the country. In numerous ways he's doing this at the expense of public safety.
We spent weeks reporting on Miller's real aims. Here's the result. We hope you'll read:
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
We spent weeks reporting on Miller's real aims. Here's the result. We hope you'll read:
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
Inside Stephen Miller’s Dark Plot to Build a MAGA Terror State
He is descended from Russian Jews—you know, the kind of people who were once denounced as alien and unassimilable. Today, his project is to unleash government persecution of those he deems alien and u...
newrepublic.com
December 15, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Stephen Miller is employing state terror in service of the open goal of shifting the ethnic mix of the country. In numerous ways he's doing this at the expense of public safety.
We spent weeks reporting on Miller's real aims. Here's the result. We hope you'll read:
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
We spent weeks reporting on Miller's real aims. Here's the result. We hope you'll read:
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
This NYT story failed the reader by not digging deeper. One subject dropped out of college after one year (five years ago) and lists "Windows" as his skillset. Story should be: young conservatives who blame immigrants for their personal failures and whose lives won't be improved w/ fewer immigrants
December 15, 2025 at 8:36 AM
This NYT story failed the reader by not digging deeper. One subject dropped out of college after one year (five years ago) and lists "Windows" as his skillset. Story should be: young conservatives who blame immigrants for their personal failures and whose lives won't be improved w/ fewer immigrants
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
This entire weekend
December 15, 2025 at 3:58 AM
This entire weekend
Reposted by Elisabeth R. Anker
ICE PEPPER SPRAYED A ONE-YEAR-OLD because her mother was filming them.
ICE pepper-sprayed this 1-year-old girl.
Once at the hospital, the doctor had to call in a poison control specialist.
They had never seen anyone that young pepper sprayed.
Another horrific story.
More details below.
Once at the hospital, the doctor had to call in a poison control specialist.
They had never seen anyone that young pepper sprayed.
Another horrific story.
More details below.
December 15, 2025 at 1:02 AM
ICE PEPPER SPRAYED A ONE-YEAR-OLD because her mother was filming them.