Elizabeth Saunders

Elizabeth N. Saunders

@profsaunders.bsky.social

22K followers 3.4K following 3K posts

Professor of Political Science & Director of the Saltzman Institute of War & Peace Studies, Columbia. New Book: The Insiders' Game: How Elites Make War and Peace https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691215808/the-insiders-game .. more

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · Feb 5

Hard to think through problems when we are in a mode where the current problem gets eaten by a bigger problem within hours.

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 19h

Not claiming it was novel or determinative. It’s a political question of why this is not discussed as at least unsavory.

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 20h

I suppose there's also reason to ask why Dimon isn't getting hit in the UK press, though. It being the bonds in the UK he threatened!

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 20h

Specific advice to “mildly threaten” Brown, conveyed by Epstein from Mandelson, among other things

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21h

Yes, though I have a hard time believing that it would be that hard to make a story out of why Dimon was taking advice from Epstein to begin with? In the biggest financial crisis since the Depression?

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21h

Yes -- the puzzle is the US, not the UK, where it is being treated as a seismic scandal, related to the disclosure of sensitive gov information (as opposed to the sex crimes which have taken down others like Andrew). Of course all the crimes are intertwined which the UK seems to get.

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21h

But it may take down the UK PM. Can't just be that.

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21h

That could be part of it. Without minimizing the horrors of what Epstein did to women and girls, this financial part of the story would have had consequences for millions, and there was real anger about this in the post-crisis years. Amazed nobody can make it a story now.

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21h

But it's not even his wrongdoing this time! This is the very stuff he ran on. The insiders helping themselves. This is swampian stuff. Why was Dimon taking advice from Epstein and threatening the very foundations of the UK financial system after getting a tip from Epstein via Mandelson?

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21h

To be clear, I'm genuinely asking. More plausible is the firehose of news here (can/should this scandal displace the horrors of Minnesota? Or possible war with Iran?). But something about this seems ripe for politicizing and it seems a bit puzzling that it may take down a UK PM and...crickets here.

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21h

Put differently: If anger over elite impunity==>populism, & anger over Epstein cover-up==>release of docs, why isn't evidence of elite wrongdoing in the financial crisis, a major event in elite impunity timeline, driving outrage? Too easy to say "elite impunity" when docs released b/c of 2025 anger.

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 22h

Dumb question: This scandal, considered seismic in Britain, is really about Mandelson leaking confidential, market-moving govt information to Epstein amid the 2008 financial crisis, which Epstein in turn passed to JP Morgan, including advice to Jamie Dimon.

Why is this not hitting Jamie Dimon?

Pippa Crerar @pippacrerar.bsky.social · 22h

BREAKING: Morgan McSweeney quits as Keir Starmer's chief of staff amid fall-out from the Mandelson scandal

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21h

Dunno. I am still puzzled that this doesn't appeal to a variety of constituencies, maybe even MAGA. Mandelson isn't quite implicated in the awful sex crimes of Epstein (though maybe knew about it), but this is collusion of elites in the lopsided recovery from the financial crisis. Hugely salient.

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders

gracegeorge23.bsky.social @gracegeorge23.bsky.social · 21h

Good read!

“Dimon had raised the fact that JP Morgan was one of the biggest purchasers of UK government debt, leaving the clear suggestion in Darling's mind that America's biggest bank could effectively stop lending to Britain.”

😳

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 21h

Yes, certainly people don't know names, but the 2008 financial crisis is one of the two big events (Iraq the other) where the lack of elite accountability was fuel for populism. This is pretty clear evidence the collusion was real, and Dimon is the head of the biggest bank. Could be made a story.

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders

Graham Maughan @maughan.bsky.social · 21h

Needs combining with:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Bank of England chief Andrew Bailey shocked by Mandelson revelations

The Bank governor criticised emails between Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein during the financial crisis.

www.bbc.co.uk

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 22h

The Epstein scandal is taking down Europe’s political class. In the US, they’re getting a pass.

As Europe moves to address its shame, it’s highlighting the comparative lack of accountability in the U.S.

www.politico.com

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 22h

Some context (not the whole extent but useful): www.bbc.com/news/article...

Faisal Islam: Mandelson, Darling and the conversation I can't forget

The Epstein files appear to give extraordinary context to a call between the former chancellor and JP Morgan's boss.

www.bbc.com

Reposted by Tom Griffin

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 22h

Pippa Crerar @pippacrerar.bsky.social · 22h

BREAKING: Morgan McSweeney quits as Keir Starmer's chief of staff amid fall-out from the Mandelson scandal

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 1d

A desperate plea sent to me by a Minneapolis resident who's been on the front lines since the beginning of the ICE occupation:

Just a quick update from the Twin Cities. (Please forgive the unsolicited message). THINGS ARE NOT BETTER IN MINNEAPOLIS. The media is mostly moving on, Trump is focused on other stuff, BUT NOTHING HAS CHANGED ON THE GROUND. More than 2,000 DHS thugs continue to roam the streets, abducting people 24/7, assaulting legal observers with impunity, and routinely denying 1st, 4th, and 5th amendment rights. Drones and helicopters are overhead every day. Hundreds and hundreds of terrified families have not left their homes since mid-December ... relying on the community to bring them food and help with rent and other necessities. (Those people are NOT violent drug cartel sex offending murderers, as DHS would tell you. Most are legal residents or citizens.) If anything, things have just become more stressful and intractable (think trench warfare as a suitable metaphor): The resistance is better organized and numerous, but DHS has become more clever and better at disguise... and the county sheriff's office is increasingly supporting them . Do not let anyone tell you that Homans (the new person in charge of the occupation) is making anything better. Do not let anyone tell you that 700 ICE agents leaving the city has made much of a difference; the remaining force (again, ~2,000) is still larger than the entire city's police force (which is legally unable to do anything). Please call your congressional reps ... especially if there is any chance the administration might listen to them.

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 2d

So sorry to hear this, avid reader of your column.

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 3d

This conversation is so enlightening…stay tuned for the next episode of @chalkboardpolitics.bsky.social

The Chalkboard Politics Podcast @chalkboardpolitics.bsky.social · 3d

Just wrapped the recording of our newest episode on tariffs with our co-hosts Gulnaz and Paul! Stay tuned for the release🎙️

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders

The Chalkboard Politics Podcast @chalkboardpolitics.bsky.social · 3d

Just wrapped the recording of our newest episode on tariffs with our co-hosts Gulnaz and Paul! Stay tuned for the release🎙️

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Rosemary A. Joyce, Dana R. Fisher , and 4 more Elizabeth Saunders, Rosemary A. Joyce, Dana R. Fisher, Kate Starbird, Eric J. Sundquist, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 5d

I wrote about Minnesota and ICE and how average Americans are reclaiming the power that the administration is abusing.
www.pbump.net/o/this-is-wh...

What's been weird to learn is that other leaders of institutions act the same way. Some of them hoard and protect their influence like it's money because they, too, are rich. You don't get rich by giving your money away and (they seem to believe) you don't get powerful by exercising your power. But, in fact, that is often how power works: using power can help build power. At the very least, power holds no value unless it is exercised, which alone is a valid reason to exercise it. If you are powerful but never use your power, you are not powerful.
I'm talking here primarily about the huge, obvious loci of power — the centers of power that exist in part to serve as checks on other centers of power.
Congress vis-a-vis the presidency. The media relative to the government. Higher education in contrast to misinformation. But they often aren't serving as checks on what's unfolding, or are obviously and bizarrely using their power only sparingly, garden hoses aimed at protecting their own homes from the wildfire.
So it's left to individuals, who have stepped up where institutions have not.

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 6d

It’s not funny because it’s not true

FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · 6d

Trump: Putin agreed to no missiles going into Kyiv.

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders

FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · 6d

Trump: Putin agreed to no missiles going into Kyiv.

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 6d

Whoa…talk about an Insiders’ Game

Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 6d

Explosive from @faisalislam.bsky.social about that call that did take place with Dimon and Darling.

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Mel Bartley, Steve Peers

Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 6d

Explosive from @faisalislam.bsky.social about that call that did take place with Dimon and Darling.

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Mark Bray, Philip Nel

Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl @deardara.bsky.social · 7d

Greetings from inside the economic blockade zones of Minneapolis and St Paul! Don’t look away, please. We need you. It’s been a month and they’re trying to destroy us.

Bill Childs @billchilds.bsky.social · 7d

@deardara.bsky.social is awfully good.

deardara.com/so/adPmSCLoz...

Dara's Guide to Handling Reality

Minneapolis, inside the economic blockade zone where we are pioneering nonviolence, whistle edition

deardara.com

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Brendan Nyhan, Scott L. Greer , and 9 more Elizabeth Saunders, Brendan Nyhan, Scott L. Greer, Steve Peers, Seema Jayachandran, David R. Miller, Gerald Friedman, Robert B. Reich, James Goodwin, Seth Masket, Nathan P. Kalmoe, David Darmofal

The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 7d

Exclusive: A U.S. official has alleged wrongdoing by U.S. spy chief Tulsi Gabbard in a complaint that is so highly classified it has sparked months of wrangling over how to share it with Congress, according to people familiar with the matter.

Classified Whistleblower Complaint About Tulsi Gabbard Stalls Within Her Agency

Congress hasn’t seen the complaint, which was filed eight months ago with the U.S. intelligence community watchdog’s office.

on.wsj.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Elizabeth Saunders, Will Jennings , and 11 more Stephen M. Walt, Elizabeth Saunders, Will Jennings, Brendan Nyhan, Rosemary A. Joyce, Daniel W. Drezner, Robert C. Richards, David R. Miller, Michael H. Whitworth, Jason Lyall, Greg Linden, Colin Woodard, Timothy D. McBride, David Darmofal

Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 7d

A reminder that the Kennedy Center is the literal and legal and congressional designated presidential memorial to JFK. This would be like Trump tearing down the Lincoln Memorial to build something “better.”

HudsonRiverCroc @hudsonrivercroc.bsky.social · 7d

He’s going to tear it down

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Eric Goldman, David R. Miller

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 7d

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