Tom Nichols
@radiofreetom.bsky.social
Staff writer at The Atlantic. Cat guy, democracy defender. Actor for a day on Succession, Jeopardy champ. New Englander and curmudgeon.
Pinned
Pete Hegseth Should Sit This One Out
By inserting himself into the situation in Minnesota, the secretary of defense is only making things worse.
www.theatlantic.com
"Pete Hegseth might consider adding another task to his many duties, one that would be of immense help to the nation and to the armed forces: He should shut up."
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Technically, a democrat brought you the war in Vietnam
Republicans brought us the horrors of war in Vietnam and Iraq
February 2, 2026 at 6:05 AM
Technically, a democrat brought you the war in Vietnam
Reposted by Tom Nichols
The White House Military Office Coast Guard aide was on “Football” duty tonight for Emperor Trump’s return to Washington, DC, from Palm Beach. The ~45-lb. satchel follows Trump 24/7, enabling him alone to authorize the use of any of our ~1,770 deployed nuclear weapons—up to 900 on alert—at any time.
February 2, 2026 at 3:25 AM
The White House Military Office Coast Guard aide was on “Football” duty tonight for Emperor Trump’s return to Washington, DC, from Palm Beach. The ~45-lb. satchel follows Trump 24/7, enabling him alone to authorize the use of any of our ~1,770 deployed nuclear weapons—up to 900 on alert—at any time.
Reposted by Tom Nichols
Nonsensical North Korean-style propaganda again and again and again
February 2, 2026 at 3:44 AM
Nonsensical North Korean-style propaganda again and again and again
I think we have reached the point where I could say “don’t stick a hot fork up your nose” and several of you would rush to the kitchen and start heating up forks just to have an argument with me
“What do you need resilience for”
Ohhhkay
“What do you need resilience for”
Ohhhkay
And what do you need resilience for? For when it gets better? Think that's going to happen, Tom? I don't. Wages will continue to stagnate. Prices will continue to increase. The blame for both is pure American corporate greed. We haven't fixed that yet, so please explain what "resilience" is for.
February 2, 2026 at 3:55 AM
I think we have reached the point where I could say “don’t stick a hot fork up your nose” and several of you would rush to the kitchen and start heating up forks just to have an argument with me
“What do you need resilience for”
Ohhhkay
“What do you need resilience for”
Ohhhkay
George Wallace was not invited to speak at a college campus. He threw a big political rally and didn’t like that people who showed up for it didn’t like him. But thank you for proving that you are incapable of understanding the difference.
I thought shouting down speakers was bullshit authoritarianism?
February 2, 2026 at 3:35 AM
George Wallace was not invited to speak at a college campus. He threw a big political rally and didn’t like that people who showed up for it didn’t like him. But thank you for proving that you are incapable of understanding the difference.
Reposted by Tom Nichols
Fox News is going to dine out for months on the profiles in this story while liberals defend them.
Meanwhile, no work is done to improve the circumstances of *actual* poor people
Also, I don’t believe someone lives alone in San Diego off a $50k salary and still can buy food delivery.
Meanwhile, no work is done to improve the circumstances of *actual* poor people
Also, I don’t believe someone lives alone in San Diego off a $50k salary and still can buy food delivery.
February 2, 2026 at 3:33 AM
Fox News is going to dine out for months on the profiles in this story while liberals defend them.
Meanwhile, no work is done to improve the circumstances of *actual* poor people
Also, I don’t believe someone lives alone in San Diego off a $50k salary and still can buy food delivery.
Meanwhile, no work is done to improve the circumstances of *actual* poor people
Also, I don’t believe someone lives alone in San Diego off a $50k salary and still can buy food delivery.
I have video, but when I’ve posted it, Sony pulls it down because it’s a copyright violation. My shows aired in February 1994
This is something I've wondered about also. I know Tom won about five shows straight (or whatever the limit was at the time), but I've never found an old video copy and don't know exactly when he appeared on the show (sometime in the mid-90s?)
Care to weigh in, Tom?
Care to weigh in, Tom?
February 2, 2026 at 3:28 AM
I have video, but when I’ve posted it, Sony pulls it down because it’s a copyright violation. My shows aired in February 1994
I’m watching a CNN documentary about 1968 and feeling nostalgic about a time when people in Texas would boo George Wallace right off of stage
February 2, 2026 at 3:25 AM
I’m watching a CNN documentary about 1968 and feeling nostalgic about a time when people in Texas would boo George Wallace right off of stage
Houses are too expensive, so screw it, I’m just gonna blow all my money on takeout and delivery food
I don't order out but I also don't have kids. I'm not going to judge those who do while working in today's economic environment.
Remember, the average price of a house in 1989 was about $130k in today's dollars. Now it's around $410k. Hard to make up that difference with groceries.
Remember, the average price of a house in 1989 was about $130k in today's dollars. Now it's around $410k. Hard to make up that difference with groceries.
Inflation Adjusted Housing Prices
Inflation-Adjusted Housing Prices show that housing prices don't "always go up" giving an unbiased look w/o inflation clouding the picture.
inflationdata.com
February 2, 2026 at 3:19 AM
Houses are too expensive, so screw it, I’m just gonna blow all my money on takeout and delivery food
Yes, obviously, the problem is that people who are living long-term in motels don’t have enough kitchen utilities.
Proof again that no matter what point you bring up, someone will manufacture a disagreement based on the least relevant cases instead of the material that was posted.
Proof again that no matter what point you bring up, someone will manufacture a disagreement based on the least relevant cases instead of the material that was posted.
February 2, 2026 at 3:11 AM
Yes, obviously, the problem is that people who are living long-term in motels don’t have enough kitchen utilities.
Proof again that no matter what point you bring up, someone will manufacture a disagreement based on the least relevant cases instead of the material that was posted.
Proof again that no matter what point you bring up, someone will manufacture a disagreement based on the least relevant cases instead of the material that was posted.
Good God. What a complete lack of resilience of any kind. Just give up and keep ordering out.
If you have spent your whole life watching your family work hard but slide further down the food chain, why not comfortspend. It's not like she doesn't know about wealth inequality & maybe AI makes her career gone in a few years. Hard to believe in long-term rewards given this century's history.
February 2, 2026 at 3:08 AM
Good God. What a complete lack of resilience of any kind. Just give up and keep ordering out.
My bad, kids, I saw it somewhere else.
This was from Aug 28, 2025.
February 2, 2026 at 3:04 AM
My bad, kids, I saw it somewhere else.
Having a working kitchen is not lucky. Pretty sure that almost no one in America - and definitely no one in that story - has to build a fire in the middle their living room room to heat a can of beans.
Yes, affordable home cooked is the ideal for anyone lucky enough to have a working kitchen. Weird that in the same timeline as people going broke on delivery and paying for tattoos on credit, you have upper middle class people voting against taxes so they can drop $10k on unique dining experiences.
February 2, 2026 at 2:50 AM
Having a working kitchen is not lucky. Pretty sure that almost no one in America - and definitely no one in that story - has to build a fire in the middle their living room room to heat a can of beans.
The story includes a couple with one of them a marketing exec in a beautiful home full of expensive cookware spending 700 a week on delivery and his 4 yr old son can work the food app.
Shaming is good.
Shaming is good.
February 2, 2026 at 2:42 AM
The story includes a couple with one of them a marketing exec in a beautiful home full of expensive cookware spending 700 a week on delivery and his 4 yr old son can work the food app.
Shaming is good.
Shaming is good.
Reposted by Tom Nichols
Reposted by Tom Nichols
Quiet. We’re busy rebuilding Venezuelan infrastructure. And the Kennedy Center. 🤡
Tens of thousands of people across Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana have gone a week without power or heat after a brutal ice storm. At least three dozen people have died in connection with the storm, officials have said.
Fear and Anger Grow as Thousands Remain Without Power in the South
More than 30 people have died across three Southern states in connection with last week’s storm, and thousands remain without power.
nyti.ms
February 2, 2026 at 1:37 AM
Quiet. We’re busy rebuilding Venezuelan infrastructure. And the Kennedy Center. 🤡
February 1, 2026 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Tom Nichols
I’ve had to change my mind about so many people over the last ten years but Dr. Chomsky is one of the people I have not had to change my mind about
we’ve known Chomsky was a piece of shit since he tried to downplay and deny the Khmer Rouge genocide back in the 70s, but I’m glad more people are *finally* figuring this out
February 1, 2026 at 7:48 PM
I’ve had to change my mind about so many people over the last ten years but Dr. Chomsky is one of the people I have not had to change my mind about
None of your business, but one of them was after some drinks on the Sunset Strip the night I won on Jeopardy
Ok Tom.
You can’t drop that and not give us the deets.
Let’s see your ink!
You can’t drop that and not give us the deets.
Let’s see your ink!
February 1, 2026 at 6:10 PM
None of your business, but one of them was after some drinks on the Sunset Strip the night I won on Jeopardy
I agree, but here's the thing: You should not make public policy as if the problems people are creating for themselves are also problems that are amenable to public solutions. It's true that affordability is a real problem, but factoring in food deliveries should not be part of that equation.
Not saying it's WISE behavior but from a human psychology standpoint it's not hard to see why it's common, truly broke people face an entirely different set of carrots and sticks than even just-barely-getting-by people do.
February 1, 2026 at 6:07 PM
I agree, but here's the thing: You should not make public policy as if the problems people are creating for themselves are also problems that are amenable to public solutions. It's true that affordability is a real problem, but factoring in food deliveries should not be part of that equation.
Ahem. My TV is mounted where it should be.
But I am making a nice family room/den out of my basement and I'm putting a big TV down there.
Also: A 55 inch TV costs less now than a 19 inch did in 1985. Which is insane. That 19 inch, adjusted for inflation, would cost over a grand now.
But I am making a nice family room/den out of my basement and I'm putting a big TV down there.
Also: A 55 inch TV costs less now than a 19 inch did in 1985. Which is insane. That 19 inch, adjusted for inflation, would cost over a grand now.
Is this because you ignored the Experts and mounted your last TV wrongly?
February 1, 2026 at 6:03 PM
Ahem. My TV is mounted where it should be.
But I am making a nice family room/den out of my basement and I'm putting a big TV down there.
Also: A 55 inch TV costs less now than a 19 inch did in 1985. Which is insane. That 19 inch, adjusted for inflation, would cost over a grand now.
But I am making a nice family room/den out of my basement and I'm putting a big TV down there.
Also: A 55 inch TV costs less now than a 19 inch did in 1985. Which is insane. That 19 inch, adjusted for inflation, would cost over a grand now.
Not me. I'm going out today to buy a TV and then take my wife to dinner.
Too cold for the Sedan chair, tho, we're taking the SUV.
Too cold for the Sedan chair, tho, we're taking the SUV.
Tom, are you really ready to delve headfirst, on a quiet Sunday, into Burrito Taxi Discourse (TM)? Because it’s way worse than all the other Discourses you’ve waded into. You may never know peace again.
February 1, 2026 at 5:53 PM
Not me. I'm going out today to buy a TV and then take my wife to dinner.
Too cold for the Sedan chair, tho, we're taking the SUV.
Too cold for the Sedan chair, tho, we're taking the SUV.
"I didn't read the article"
It looks like you're trying to demonize the poor on the basis of a very unusual odd case that doesn't represent them.
Why are you doing that?
What do you gain from punching down?
Why are you doing that?
What do you gain from punching down?
February 1, 2026 at 5:52 PM
"I didn't read the article"