Nick Davis
@ntd.bsky.social
political scientist at football-u @ http://nicholastdavis.com, outdoorsperson, gardener of two small humans, PI @ http://demos-lab.net, stuff older than 60 days self-destructs.
Pinned
Nick Davis
@ntd.bsky.social
· Mar 17
curious to see whether SCOTUS permits Trump's abuse of constitution across lots of issues but rn it looks like trump take legitimacy. @matthewhitt.bsky.social and i are finally...finally forthcoming in AJPS talking at length abt a new era of judicial public opinion.
preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
if Ossoff — who must constantly tread a tightrope — talks like this then wtf is democratic leadership doing
Ossoff: "You're seeing what I'm seeing, right? The president posting about the Obamas like a Klansman."
February 9, 2026 at 1:43 PM
if Ossoff — who must constantly tread a tightrope — talks like this then wtf is democratic leadership doing
There are a lot of people raging at the TV right now
February 9, 2026 at 1:27 AM
There are a lot of people raging at the TV right now
you cant just try on shoes at dicks sporting goods anymore. you have to scan a shoe, then select a size, and then wait a long ass time for someone to bring you the shoe. this is technological enshitification — I’m here for a tactile experience with kids. what psychopath decided people want this?
February 8, 2026 at 5:35 PM
you cant just try on shoes at dicks sporting goods anymore. you have to scan a shoe, then select a size, and then wait a long ass time for someone to bring you the shoe. this is technological enshitification — I’m here for a tactile experience with kids. what psychopath decided people want this?
an entire generation of scholars devoted their careers to measuring the ways in which negative racial affect (resentment, anxiety, symbolic racism) emerges in subtle ways because being an old fashioned racist was impolite and here we are in the fourth quarter and gutter racism has roared back
February 6, 2026 at 8:45 PM
an entire generation of scholars devoted their careers to measuring the ways in which negative racial affect (resentment, anxiety, symbolic racism) emerges in subtle ways because being an old fashioned racist was impolite and here we are in the fourth quarter and gutter racism has roared back
Good data viz
February 6, 2026 at 1:55 PM
Good data viz
one reason why studies of backsliding that rest on “electoral turnover” as the proxy for democratic health are so foolhardy. minimalist conceptions of democracy are woefully undercooked.
Again, even if the Democrats win, & even if the Republicans cede power in January, it will still not be evidence that we are a democracy or that things worked. Elections under these conditions fail basic criteria of democratic process, & this stuff doesn't happen in any actual democracy anywhere.
February 6, 2026 at 11:30 AM
one reason why studies of backsliding that rest on “electoral turnover” as the proxy for democratic health are so foolhardy. minimalist conceptions of democracy are woefully undercooked.
Would love for democrats to promise to recoup all the sketchy 100 millions that Trump had lined his own pockets with. Campaign on holding that shit to account. Flood the IRS with agents solely bent on bringing the Trump empire to heel.
February 5, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Would love for democrats to promise to recoup all the sketchy 100 millions that Trump had lined his own pockets with. Campaign on holding that shit to account. Flood the IRS with agents solely bent on bringing the Trump empire to heel.
Reposted by Nick Davis
We all forgot about this but this is probably the best headline to explain the guys whole vibe
February 5, 2026 at 4:10 PM
We all forgot about this but this is probably the best headline to explain the guys whole vibe
just chatted with my mother who watched Melania unironically. I need a drink.
February 5, 2026 at 4:27 PM
just chatted with my mother who watched Melania unironically. I need a drink.
breaking norms is bad yes but the fact that noem and co. are literally breaking *laws* by deporting ppl in the legal asylum queue is just this darkly funny rebuke on a lot of the norms discourse from the last decade
"we need rules, not norms"
is uhhhh super hollow in face of rampant criminality
"we need rules, not norms"
is uhhhh super hollow in face of rampant criminality
February 5, 2026 at 1:34 PM
breaking norms is bad yes but the fact that noem and co. are literally breaking *laws* by deporting ppl in the legal asylum queue is just this darkly funny rebuke on a lot of the norms discourse from the last decade
"we need rules, not norms"
is uhhhh super hollow in face of rampant criminality
"we need rules, not norms"
is uhhhh super hollow in face of rampant criminality
I can’t believe I have to wait three more weeks to find out if the saucy Bridgerton boi is gonna get the girl. ugh. unbelievable.
February 5, 2026 at 3:26 AM
I can’t believe I have to wait three more weeks to find out if the saucy Bridgerton boi is gonna get the girl. ugh. unbelievable.
the little smirk
begets feelings
that are not fit for the internet
begets feelings
that are not fit for the internet
Reporter: Do you plan to apologize to the family of Alex Pretti?
Vance: For what?
Vance: For what?
February 4, 2026 at 7:14 PM
the little smirk
begets feelings
that are not fit for the internet
begets feelings
that are not fit for the internet
Hello, Alabama Resident.
I do not think this is very cool.
I think a lack of access to basic healthcare services is actually very bad.
I do not think this is very cool.
I think a lack of access to basic healthcare services is actually very bad.
Dr Oz: "Alabama has no OBGYNs in many of their counties, so they're doing something pretty cool. They're actually having robots do ultrasounds on these pregnant moms."
February 4, 2026 at 6:27 PM
Hello, Alabama Resident.
I do not think this is very cool.
I think a lack of access to basic healthcare services is actually very bad.
I do not think this is very cool.
I think a lack of access to basic healthcare services is actually very bad.
this is perfect @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social
February 3, 2026 at 5:15 PM
this is perfect @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social
unshaved, rummaging thru fridge, looking over proofs
February 3, 2026 at 2:05 PM
unshaved, rummaging thru fridge, looking over proofs
just trust me. when teh "shawty got low" drop hits you'll know.
Low
YouTube video by MAAPS - Topic
www.youtube.com
February 3, 2026 at 2:02 PM
just trust me. when teh "shawty got low" drop hits you'll know.
Reposted by Nick Davis
one thing that really fucking pisses me off is that an entire generation of boomers grew up beating their children and telling them that "tHerEs conSEquEncEs for THat theRe MisBeHAVioR!!!" and then those millennials grew up and the boomers were like "ha ha sike!" ("oh, and we hav all the money")
February 3, 2026 at 1:49 PM
one thing that really fucking pisses me off is that an entire generation of boomers grew up beating their children and telling them that "tHerEs conSEquEncEs for THat theRe MisBeHAVioR!!!" and then those millennials grew up and the boomers were like "ha ha sike!" ("oh, and we hav all the money")
what polity / vdem / whatever score is associated with this
This is absolutely insane: DHS claims the right to subpoena your emails and to send investigators to your house. In this case, because a retiree sent the mildest possible criticism to a prosecutor. No judges involved.
www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
Homeland Security is targeting Americans with this secretive legal weapon
Under Trump, the Department of Homeland Security has weaponized administrative subpoenas to attack free speech, according to privacy and civil rights groups.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 3, 2026 at 1:47 PM
what polity / vdem / whatever score is associated with this
Attia cozied up to the pedo ringleader and is a dear buddy of Kevin Spacey. Company you keep says volumes.
“.. Weiss insists she does not want to cut ties with Attia over his links to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and sees it as giving in to the mob.”
@calderone.bsky.social #$PSKY
www.thewrap.com/creative-con...
@calderone.bsky.social #$PSKY
www.thewrap.com/creative-con...
February 3, 2026 at 12:46 AM
Attia cozied up to the pedo ringleader and is a dear buddy of Kevin Spacey. Company you keep says volumes.
well it was nice while it lasted. what a total conflation of how context produces different forms of anger. terminal online brain has returned.
February 2, 2026 at 2:53 PM
well it was nice while it lasted. what a total conflation of how context produces different forms of anger. terminal online brain has returned.
an uncomfortable reality: functional democracy needs shared social virtues. once scoundrels take the tiller and theres no enforceable punishment mechanisms, the entire institutional project tips over like a house of cards. you can redesign institutions, but purging depravity from public service? oof
February 2, 2026 at 2:48 PM
an uncomfortable reality: functional democracy needs shared social virtues. once scoundrels take the tiller and theres no enforceable punishment mechanisms, the entire institutional project tips over like a house of cards. you can redesign institutions, but purging depravity from public service? oof
i cannot convey the difficulty of trying to teach this catastrophe to college freshmen, who are pretrained to believe that there are automatically "two sides" to every story. the depths of corruption on display are so profound that you sound like an insane person trying to communicate it.
Foreign countries are bribing our president to sell out the American people.
Trump family businesses made $187 MILLION from this deal, and just months later he gave the UAE some of our most top-secret AI tech.
They are selling our national security to the highest bidder.
Trump family businesses made $187 MILLION from this deal, and just months later he gave the UAE some of our most top-secret AI tech.
They are selling our national security to the highest bidder.
February 2, 2026 at 2:17 PM
i cannot convey the difficulty of trying to teach this catastrophe to college freshmen, who are pretrained to believe that there are automatically "two sides" to every story. the depths of corruption on display are so profound that you sound like an insane person trying to communicate it.
few men have stewarded public regard for an institution into the ground as badly as john roberts. a real captain of the titanic. may history remember him as the architect of democratic backsliding.
Jodi Kantor in the NY Times reports that the Chief Justice requested Court employees sign nondisclosure agreements in November 2024 - moving to formal contracts requiring silence/confidentiality after Trump was reelected: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...
February 2, 2026 at 2:14 PM
few men have stewarded public regard for an institution into the ground as badly as john roberts. a real captain of the titanic. may history remember him as the architect of democratic backsliding.
see, jonathan haidt, free speech is alive and well in college campuses
University of Illinois college republicans advocate for executing protesters as “traitors” with art that takes a disturbing killing and makes it even more extreme.
dailyillini.com/news-stories...
dailyillini.com/news-stories...
‘Fell the enemies:’ Illini Republicans support ICE amid killings - The Daily Illini
In a post that included a graphic of a presumed officer holding a gun to someone's head, Illini Republicans stated that they “stand with ICE."
dailyillini.com
February 2, 2026 at 12:33 PM
see, jonathan haidt, free speech is alive and well in college campuses