Max Boot
@maxboot.bsky.social
CFR fellow, Washington Post columnist. Pulitzer finalist for biography. Author: REAGAN: HIS LIFE AND LEGEND, NYT bestseller and NYT 10 best books of 2024. Man of many hats. Repost ≠ endorsement. maxboot.net.
Pinned
“Anti-American” = anti-MAGA. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Trump officials move to screen visa applicants’ posts for ‘anti-American’ speech
The administration’s efforts to curtail legal migration have accelerated in a way that immigrant rights advocates say is chilling public discourse.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 26, 2025 at 5:25 PM
“Anti-American” = anti-MAGA. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Reposted by Max Boot
Symbolic air strikes, whether in Syria or Nigeria, will not defeat ISIS. Many of Trump’s other actions, from cutting foreign aid to trying to eliminate online moderation, are actually undermining the struggle against ISIS and other terrorist groups. As i just wrote: wapo.st/4qrV8U5
December 25, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Symbolic air strikes, whether in Syria or Nigeria, will not defeat ISIS. Many of Trump’s other actions, from cutting foreign aid to trying to eliminate online moderation, are actually undermining the struggle against ISIS and other terrorist groups. As i just wrote: wapo.st/4qrV8U5
Reposted by Max Boot
I did not understand this: one of the five Europeans the US has barred from traveling to the United States...is a permanent resident who lives with his family in the US.
Now he is worried about being arrested and deported for the crime of monitoring online hate.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
Now he is worried about being arrested and deported for the crime of monitoring online hate.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
Judge Blocks Detention of British Researcher Who Scrutinizes Online Hate
www.nytimes.com
December 26, 2025 at 3:55 AM
I did not understand this: one of the five Europeans the US has barred from traveling to the United States...is a permanent resident who lives with his family in the US.
Now he is worried about being arrested and deported for the crime of monitoring online hate.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
Now he is worried about being arrested and deported for the crime of monitoring online hate.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
🎁 link to WaPo column: wapo.st/4paLTX4
December 26, 2025 at 1:22 AM
🎁 link to WaPo column: wapo.st/4paLTX4
Symbolic air strikes, whether in Syria or Nigeria, will not defeat ISIS. Many of Trump’s other actions, from cutting foreign aid to trying to eliminate online moderation, are actually undermining the struggle against ISIS and other terrorist groups. As i just wrote: wapo.st/4qrV8U5
December 25, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Symbolic air strikes, whether in Syria or Nigeria, will not defeat ISIS. Many of Trump’s other actions, from cutting foreign aid to trying to eliminate online moderation, are actually undermining the struggle against ISIS and other terrorist groups. As i just wrote: wapo.st/4qrV8U5
"'Reagan: His Life and Legend' is an outstanding political biography that like all good political biography helps explain the subject, but also puts Reagan in the larger context of our politics both before and after his eight years in the White House." marccjohnson.substack.com/p/a-reading-...
A Reading List
A few of the good reads I enjoyed this year
marccjohnson.substack.com
December 25, 2025 at 9:22 PM
"'Reagan: His Life and Legend' is an outstanding political biography that like all good political biography helps explain the subject, but also puts Reagan in the larger context of our politics both before and after his eight years in the White House." marccjohnson.substack.com/p/a-reading-...
Reposted by Max Boot
🇺🇦 Kupyansk is being cleared, the Russian group has lost the ability to hold its positions, — head of communications department of Joint Forces Group, Trehubov.
There are about 50 Russian servicemen in the city. Some of them are surrendering, in particular, foreign mercenaries.
There are about 50 Russian servicemen in the city. Some of them are surrendering, in particular, foreign mercenaries.
December 25, 2025 at 8:40 AM
🇺🇦 Kupyansk is being cleared, the Russian group has lost the ability to hold its positions, — head of communications department of Joint Forces Group, Trehubov.
There are about 50 Russian servicemen in the city. Some of them are surrendering, in particular, foreign mercenaries.
There are about 50 Russian servicemen in the city. Some of them are surrendering, in particular, foreign mercenaries.
This is how Putin responds to Trump’s peacemaking ==>
Moscow has attacked Ukraine’s energy grid on a scale unseen in past years. Whereas last winter, a major Russian attack might have involved 100 drones and missiles, now it can send 500. www.wsj.com/world/christ...
Christmas in Ukraine Approaches With Power Grid in Crisis
Moscow has launched far more drones and missiles than in previous years, leaving energy supplies at a tipping point.
www.wsj.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:00 PM
This is how Putin responds to Trump’s peacemaking ==>
Moscow has attacked Ukraine’s energy grid on a scale unseen in past years. Whereas last winter, a major Russian attack might have involved 100 drones and missiles, now it can send 500. www.wsj.com/world/christ...
Christmas in Ukraine Approaches With Power Grid in Crisis
Moscow has launched far more drones and missiles than in previous years, leaving energy supplies at a tipping point.
www.wsj.com
December 24, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Moscow has attacked Ukraine’s energy grid on a scale unseen in past years. Whereas last winter, a major Russian attack might have involved 100 drones and missiles, now it can send 500. www.wsj.com/world/christ...
Reposted by Max Boot
I’ll just note that the US didn’t do this to China, which outright bans US social media websites
US bars former EU commissioner Breton and others over tech rules ft.trib.al/TgoG45B
US bars former EU commissioner Breton and others over tech rules
France hits out at visa sanctions as Washington targets what it calls the ‘global censorship-industrial complex’
ft.trib.al
December 24, 2025 at 11:12 AM
I’ll just note that the US didn’t do this to China, which outright bans US social media websites
For some on the right, supporting the advancement of women and minorities has now become a disqualification for being a university president. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
Conservative backlash brews over DEI efforts of U-Va.’s next president
Some conservatives criticized the Republican-led board for picking as its next president someone who has overseen diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 24, 2025 at 3:16 PM
For some on the right, supporting the advancement of women and minorities has now become a disqualification for being a university president. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
If you want to know why independent journalism is vitally important and worth supporting, read this. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
I am The Post’s ‘federal government whisperer.’ It’s been brutal.
One reporter’s effort to show how Trump was transforming government brought her 1,168 new sources — and nearly broke her.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 24, 2025 at 3:12 PM
If you want to know why independent journalism is vitally important and worth supporting, read this. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
The Trump administration attack on content moderation online may be intended to benefit right-wing trolls but, as I note in this @postopinions.bsky.social column, it will also benefit jihadist terrorist groups like ISIS that recruit online: wapo.st/4qrV8U5
December 24, 2025 at 4:46 AM
The Trump administration attack on content moderation online may be intended to benefit right-wing trolls but, as I note in this @postopinions.bsky.social column, it will also benefit jihadist terrorist groups like ISIS that recruit online: wapo.st/4qrV8U5
Reposted by Max Boot
"While the administration focuses on pseudo-terrorists, it risks losing focus on the battle against actual no-kidding terrorists." @maxboot.bsky.social on all the ways Trump is endangering us with stupid policies unrelated to reality or facts. The stuff of nightmares. Gift link 🎁 wapo.st/4aAy3tL
Opinion | Trump is losing sight of America’s real terrorist threat
ISIS and al-Qaeda thrive as Trump recklessly reallocates scarce security resources.
wapo.st
December 24, 2025 at 3:06 AM
"While the administration focuses on pseudo-terrorists, it risks losing focus on the battle against actual no-kidding terrorists." @maxboot.bsky.social on all the ways Trump is endangering us with stupid policies unrelated to reality or facts. The stuff of nightmares. Gift link 🎁 wapo.st/4aAy3tL
Reposted by Max Boot
All of these bootlegged copies of the 60 Minutes segment flooding my feed (saying, ‘Watch it quick! Before it disappears!’) makes me feel like I’m in the Soviet Union and just got some black market foreign newspaper I need to hide under a floorboard in my house.
This is where America is now
This is where America is now
December 23, 2025 at 1:58 AM
All of these bootlegged copies of the 60 Minutes segment flooding my feed (saying, ‘Watch it quick! Before it disappears!’) makes me feel like I’m in the Soviet Union and just got some black market foreign newspaper I need to hide under a floorboard in my house.
This is where America is now
This is where America is now
Reposted by Max Boot
Trump’s domestic deployment of the National Guard marks an area where he has diverged from the consensus of the conservative legal movement, with no plausible footing in Federalist Society dogma. And it is extremely telling that SCOTUS finally drew the line here. slate.com/news-and-pol...
Trump Just Faced the Biggest Supreme Court Defeat of His Second Term So Far
But another battle looms in the distance.
slate.com
December 23, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Trump’s domestic deployment of the National Guard marks an area where he has diverged from the consensus of the conservative legal movement, with no plausible footing in Federalist Society dogma. And it is extremely telling that SCOTUS finally drew the line here. slate.com/news-and-pol...
This will never be built.
Trump Class Battleship Construction Won’t Begin Until 2030s www.twz.com/sea/trump-cl...
Trump Class Battleship Construction Won't Begin Until 2030s
With Trump class ship construction many years off, the survival of a program to build such large and expensive warships is even more questionable.
www.twz.com
December 23, 2025 at 8:29 PM
This will never be built.
Reposted by Max Boot
BREAKING: #SCOTUS rejects Trump over deployment of National Guard to aid immigration enforcement in Illinois, says law limits use to when regular military is insufficient. 3 justices dissent: Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26... Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
25A443 Order
www.documentcloud.org
December 23, 2025 at 8:15 PM
BREAKING: #SCOTUS rejects Trump over deployment of National Guard to aid immigration enforcement in Illinois, says law limits use to when regular military is insufficient. 3 justices dissent: Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26... Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Reposted by Max Boot
WSJ: “At least 10 CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, which are used by special-operations forces, flew into the region Monday night from New Mexico. C-17 cargo aircraft from Army bases arrived Monday in Puerto Rico. Military personnel and equipment were transported on planes.”
December 23, 2025 at 7:46 PM
WSJ: “At least 10 CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, which are used by special-operations forces, flew into the region Monday night from New Mexico. C-17 cargo aircraft from Army bases arrived Monday in Puerto Rico. Military personnel and equipment were transported on planes.”
If only wars were decided like beauty pageants.
December 23, 2025 at 6:32 PM
If only wars were decided like beauty pageants.
Reposted by Max Boot
Here are six ways that Trump is weakening America’s defenses against actual no-kidding terrorists while fixating on faux threats like antifa and Venezuela. wapo.st/4qrV8U5
Opinion | Trump is losing sight of America’s real terrorist threat
ISIS and al-Qaeda thrive as Trump recklessly reallocates scarce security resources.
wapo.st
December 22, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Here are six ways that Trump is weakening America’s defenses against actual no-kidding terrorists while fixating on faux threats like antifa and Venezuela. wapo.st/4qrV8U5
The group did not do what Mr. Musk said it would: reduce federal spending by $1 trillion before October. On DOGE’s watch, federal spending did not go down at all. It went up…. Many of the largest savings that DOGE claimed turned out to be wrong. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
How Did DOGE Disrupt So Much While Saving So Little?
www.nytimes.com
December 23, 2025 at 5:34 PM
The group did not do what Mr. Musk said it would: reduce federal spending by $1 trillion before October. On DOGE’s watch, federal spending did not go down at all. It went up…. Many of the largest savings that DOGE claimed turned out to be wrong. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
The move by John Malcolm and his colleagues at the Meese Center is especially notable. We’re told it is endorsed by Mr. Meese, the Reagan-era Attorney General who is now 94 years old and has been a fixture at Heritage. www.wsj.com/opinion/heri...
Opinion | The Heritage Foundation Blows Up
Its conservative scholars jump to Mike Pence’s policy shop after being stifled at the think tank.
www.wsj.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:11 PM
The move by John Malcolm and his colleagues at the Meese Center is especially notable. We’re told it is endorsed by Mr. Meese, the Reagan-era Attorney General who is now 94 years old and has been a fixture at Heritage. www.wsj.com/opinion/heri...
The 49ers are playing lights out. If Nick Bosa and Fred Warner were still healthy, they would probably be Super Bowl favorites. Amazing that they are still in the hunt even without their two best defensive players. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...
Column | It’s time to talk about the 49ers and the Super Bowl again
Kyle Shanahan avoided talking about long-term goals entering this season, but with San Francisco contending for the NFC’s top seed, nothing is off-limits.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:13 PM
The 49ers are playing lights out. If Nick Bosa and Fred Warner were still healthy, they would probably be Super Bowl favorites. Amazing that they are still in the hunt even without their two best defensive players. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...
Reposted by Max Boot
Drug cartels are driven by profit, not by murderous ideology like ISIS. Antifa is a loose-knit group of activists who aren’t plotting mass casualty events like al-Qaeda. Venezuela is complicit in human rights violations & drug trafficking, but it doesn’t sponsor terrorism like Iran. wapo.st/4qrV8U5
Opinion | Trump is losing sight of America’s real terrorist threat
ISIS and al-Qaeda thrive as Trump recklessly reallocates scarce security resources.
wapo.st
December 22, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Drug cartels are driven by profit, not by murderous ideology like ISIS. Antifa is a loose-knit group of activists who aren’t plotting mass casualty events like al-Qaeda. Venezuela is complicit in human rights violations & drug trafficking, but it doesn’t sponsor terrorism like Iran. wapo.st/4qrV8U5