Michael Gould-Wartofsky
@mgouldwartofsky.bsky.social
Scholar of the far right + the radical left. Author of The Occupiers (Oxford 2015), Resistance (forthcoming). PhD in Sociology. Nothing human is alien to me. https://thecriticalrealist.com
Pinned
The Critical Realist
Writings on politics, culture, and society by Dr. Michael Gould-Wartofsky.
thecriticalrealist.com
Welcome to the newest iteration of my newsletter: The Critical Realist.
Powered by @ghost.org and readers like you, The Critical Realist will feature writings on politics, culture, and society, alongside updates on future plans, forthcoming projects, and works in progress.
thecriticalrealist.com.
Powered by @ghost.org and readers like you, The Critical Realist will feature writings on politics, culture, and society, alongside updates on future plans, forthcoming projects, and works in progress.
thecriticalrealist.com.
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
Elon Musk, the guy who did two Nazi salutes in public and has previously described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” thinks it should be a crime to “falsely” call someone a Nazi or a fascist.
November 27, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Elon Musk, the guy who did two Nazi salutes in public and has previously described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” thinks it should be a crime to “falsely” call someone a Nazi or a fascist.
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two National Guard members have been shot in Washington, D.C., and their condition isn't known, AP source says.
November 26, 2025 at 7:47 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two National Guard members have been shot in Washington, D.C., and their condition isn't known, AP source says.
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
A Gen Z-led advocacy group announced a boycott campaign targeting major corporations “that enable, profit from, or directly collaborate with ICE.” Beyond the Ballot launched “Not With My Dollars: ICE Out of My Wallet” just days before Black Friday kicks off.
Boycott Campaign Targets Companies Tied to ICE Ahead of Black Friday
The Not With My Dollars campaign takes aim at Amazon, Whole Foods, Dell, Microsoft, Home Depot, Spotify, and Target.
truthout.org
November 26, 2025 at 5:38 PM
A Gen Z-led advocacy group announced a boycott campaign targeting major corporations “that enable, profit from, or directly collaborate with ICE.” Beyond the Ballot launched “Not With My Dollars: ICE Out of My Wallet” just days before Black Friday kicks off.
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
when its definitely not a hostage situation
November 25, 2025 at 4:19 PM
when its definitely not a hostage situation
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
While ICE abductions, often in broad daylight, have provoked fear and outrage, the escalation is also unleashing a less visible form of economic treachery on Chicago’s immigrant working class: wage theft, lost income, work speedups, and economic slumps that spread through neighborhoods. My latest.
Visible and Invisible: How ICE Is Terrorizing Chicago’s Working Class
Fear, panic, hiding for days—this is the experience of families under assault by the Trump Administration
inthesetimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:03 PM
While ICE abductions, often in broad daylight, have provoked fear and outrage, the escalation is also unleashing a less visible form of economic treachery on Chicago’s immigrant working class: wage theft, lost income, work speedups, and economic slumps that spread through neighborhoods. My latest.
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
1/ THREAD: This year ICE has sent a record 600 immigrant kids into federal shelters, more than in the previous four years combined. Data suggests some are being separated from their families.
For one 15-year-old, it began with a cracked windshield 👇
For one 15-year-old, it began with a cracked windshield 👇
November 25, 2025 at 2:01 AM
1/ THREAD: This year ICE has sent a record 600 immigrant kids into federal shelters, more than in the previous four years combined. Data suggests some are being separated from their families.
For one 15-year-old, it began with a cracked windshield 👇
For one 15-year-old, it began with a cracked windshield 👇
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
Trump filling out his NYC DSA membership card to vote on primarying Jeffries right now
November 21, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Trump filling out his NYC DSA membership card to vote on primarying Jeffries right now
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
i feel…nuts
Q: Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist?
MAMDANI: I've spoken about--
TRUMP: That's okay. You can just say yes. I don't mind.
MAMDANI: I've spoken about--
TRUMP: That's okay. You can just say yes. I don't mind.
November 21, 2025 at 8:56 PM
i feel…nuts
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
WHOA. The FBI was/is spying on a Signal chat for a New York immigration court watch group, claiming they were “anarchist violent extremist actors.”
Your reminder that the government is watching and don’t say anything in a big group chat you wouldn’t say on TV.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Your reminder that the government is watching and don’t say anything in a big group chat you wouldn’t say on TV.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
The FBI spied on a Signal group chat of immigration activists, records reveal
Exclusive: Agency accessed private conversations of New York ‘courtwatch’ group that was observing public hearings
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:55 PM
WHOA. The FBI was/is spying on a Signal chat for a New York immigration court watch group, claiming they were “anarchist violent extremist actors.”
Your reminder that the government is watching and don’t say anything in a big group chat you wouldn’t say on TV.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Your reminder that the government is watching and don’t say anything in a big group chat you wouldn’t say on TV.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
Internal university communications reveal how a network established for post-9/11 intelligence sharing was turned on students protesting genocide.
How U.S. Universities Used Counterterror Fusion Centers to Surveil Student Protests for Palestine
Internal university communications reveal how a network established for post-9/11 intelligence sharing was turned on students protesting genocide.
interc.pt
November 21, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Internal university communications reveal how a network established for post-9/11 intelligence sharing was turned on students protesting genocide.
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
Feds drop case against woman shot by Border Patrol agent in Brighton Park
DEVELOPING from @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
DEVELOPING from @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Feds drop case against woman shot by Border Patrol agent in Brighton Park
It's one of the most high-profile prosecutions to result from the Trump administration's "Operation Midway Blitz." Defense attorneys have been aggressively challenging evidence and sought a speedy tri...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Feds drop case against woman shot by Border Patrol agent in Brighton Park
DEVELOPING from @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
DEVELOPING from @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
Jake Lang, a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter, was punched in the face while leading a march against Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan.
Pardoned J6er punched in the face after Quran burning fails at anti-Muslim protest
Jake Lang, a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter, was punched in the face while leading a march against Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan.Before the Dearborn protest began, Lang arrived on a bus obtained from a former campaign staffer of Republican gubernatorial candidate Anthony Hudson. Lang Slammed Hudson after he...
bit.ly
November 19, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Jake Lang, a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter, was punched in the face while leading a march against Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan.
Welcome to the predator state.
EXCLUSIVE: The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation. Read and share the latest from @propublica.org. By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social, Avi Asher-Shapiro & @amierjeski.bsky.social www.propublica.org/article/andr...
The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation
Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.
www.propublica.org
November 18, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Welcome to the predator state.
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
“I do think that Maga is a fascist movement, I do think that the intent of the administration is to destroy opposition and protest and is to create an authoritarian system”
Death threats and accusations: the professor targeted by the US far right
Mark Bray has become one of the highest-profile people caught up in Donald Trump’s efforts to target Antifa
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:28 PM
“I do think that Maga is a fascist movement, I do think that the intent of the administration is to destroy opposition and protest and is to create an authoritarian system”
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
All joking aside, the heartbreaking thing about this story is seeing how a white “journalist” with poor prose & worst journalist ethics gets to repeatedly crash out & land plum jobs while so many poor, trans, Black, Native journalists never get in journalism’s door. Like…
How do you land Vanity Fair west coast editor at age 32 after having affairs with two presidential candidates you were covering as a journalist. That is some prime white lady shit.
November 18, 2025 at 1:28 PM
All joking aside, the heartbreaking thing about this story is seeing how a white “journalist” with poor prose & worst journalist ethics gets to repeatedly crash out & land plum jobs while so many poor, trans, Black, Native journalists never get in journalism’s door. Like…
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
The fact that no one in the room stood up for her says a lot about how we got here bsky.app/profile/pale...
"Quiet! Quiet, Piggy."
November 18, 2025 at 2:55 PM
The fact that no one in the room stood up for her says a lot about how we got here bsky.app/profile/pale...
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
An incredibly Trump-era headline theintercept.com/2025/11/17/p...
Pardoned Capitol Rioter Tried to Hush Child Sex Victim With Promise of Jan. 6 Reparation Money, Police Say
Pardoned Capitol rioter Andrew Johnson tried to keep a child sex abuse victim quiet with claimed $10 million Jan. 6 reparations, police say.
theintercept.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:57 AM
An incredibly Trump-era headline theintercept.com/2025/11/17/p...
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
I get why it happens but goddamn do I wish anything could hit as hard on the timeline as something that sucks that everyone hates written by or about the worst person you know. I wish something good or interesting was able to get anywhere near the traction some shit that sucks does.
November 17, 2025 at 5:39 PM
I get why it happens but goddamn do I wish anything could hit as hard on the timeline as something that sucks that everyone hates written by or about the worst person you know. I wish something good or interesting was able to get anywhere near the traction some shit that sucks does.
In the “big tent” theory of change, there has always been room for anti-Black, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and anti-Semitic sentiment.
We need a better theory of change.
We need a better theory of change.
Raskin: We are a big tent. We must be a huge, vast tent. I say this is a party that’s got room for Marjorie Taylor Greene if she wants to come over.
November 17, 2025 at 5:07 PM
In the “big tent” theory of change, there has always been room for anti-Black, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and anti-Semitic sentiment.
We need a better theory of change.
We need a better theory of change.
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
just opening up the new Epstein docs at random:
November 12, 2025 at 9:42 PM
just opening up the new Epstein docs at random:
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
Stay classy Larry
November 12, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Stay classy Larry
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
Rape is the distillation of the far-right worldview that Trump embodies: a gleefully sadistic act of domination carried out as fulfillment of a supposedly natural hierarchy. It would be weird if Trump wasn’t a rapist, given his ideological commitments—which is before you get to all the accusations.
i mean c’mon. the president’s best friend was the most notorious pedo in the country’s history who ran a massive child trafficking ring. every bit of circumstantial evidence we have says that trump was a participant. if this were a criminal trial we’d have enough evidence to compel a plea deal.
November 12, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Rape is the distillation of the far-right worldview that Trump embodies: a gleefully sadistic act of domination carried out as fulfillment of a supposedly natural hierarchy. It would be weird if Trump wasn’t a rapist, given his ideological commitments—which is before you get to all the accusations.
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
a new genre of photo in the last year is federal agents working for ICE pointing guns directly at photographers
November 11, 2025 at 12:41 AM
a new genre of photo in the last year is federal agents working for ICE pointing guns directly at photographers
Reposted by Michael Gould-Wartofsky
I just want everyone to have the experience of living in dignity with access to sufficient food, safe housing, needed medical care, high quality education, and time to engage with what sparks their curiosity and spirit
this should not be controversial 🫠
this should not be controversial 🫠
November 10, 2025 at 3:16 AM
I just want everyone to have the experience of living in dignity with access to sufficient food, safe housing, needed medical care, high quality education, and time to engage with what sparks their curiosity and spirit
this should not be controversial 🫠
this should not be controversial 🫠