Stephen Medvic
@stephenmedvic.bsky.social
Kunkel Professor of Government and Director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College.
In other words, doing what parties are designed to do (and what they did for most of their history).
Doug Mastriano is criticizing state Republicans for considering an early endorsement process for the party’s candidate for governor in 2026.
Concerned "party is going to come in and behind the scenes start coordinating candidates and pushing other people out"
www.politicspa.com/mastriano-cr...
Concerned "party is going to come in and behind the scenes start coordinating candidates and pushing other people out"
www.politicspa.com/mastriano-cr...
Mastriano Criticizes PA GOP Over Early Gubernatorial Endorsement Process
Cautions that process is dangerous by excluding grassroots
www.politicspa.com
August 20, 2025 at 4:11 PM
In other words, doing what parties are designed to do (and what they did for most of their history).
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
Donald Trump wasn’t making much from foreign deals. Then he regained power—and set aside the pretense that he cared about ethics.
‘We’d Call That Corruption’: How Trump Used The Presidency To Expand His Global Empire
Donald Trump wasn’t making much from foreign deals. Then he regained power—and set aside the pretense that he cared about ethics.
www.forbes.com
July 24, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Donald Trump wasn’t making much from foreign deals. Then he regained power—and set aside the pretense that he cared about ethics.
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
Why did American institutions fail so profoundly to hold a president accountable when other democracies routinely do? Far from normal democratic practice, it's an exceptional failure US elites and institutions. This thread and article digs into why the US system failed where others didn't: 🧵
April 14, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Why did American institutions fail so profoundly to hold a president accountable when other democracies routinely do? Far from normal democratic practice, it's an exceptional failure US elites and institutions. This thread and article digs into why the US system failed where others didn't: 🧵
Democrats just flipped a seat in a Trump +15 state senate district in Lancaster County, PA. Margin was less than 500 votes, and there will likely be challenges, but this is stunning.
March 26, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Democrats just flipped a seat in a Trump +15 state senate district in Lancaster County, PA. Margin was less than 500 votes, and there will likely be challenges, but this is stunning.
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
Our first post is a big one...Statement from Keker, Van Nest & Peters on Trump’s Latest Executive Order “Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court.”
March 22, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Our first post is a big one...Statement from Keker, Van Nest & Peters on Trump’s Latest Executive Order “Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court.”
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
Menacing the free press during a speech at the Department of Justice at which the AG proclaims her fealty. Open authoritarianism.
Trump at the DOJ: "I believe that CNN and MSNDC, who literally write 97.6% bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party. And in my opinion, they are really corrupt and they are illegal. What they do is illegal."
March 14, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Menacing the free press during a speech at the Department of Justice at which the AG proclaims her fealty. Open authoritarianism.
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
This chart seems to suggest that something is going wrong in the United States, specifically.
(www.ft.com/content/7568... )
(www.ft.com/content/7568... )
March 11, 2025 at 9:01 PM
This chart seems to suggest that something is going wrong in the United States, specifically.
(www.ft.com/content/7568... )
(www.ft.com/content/7568... )
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
Look, folks, this is it. The entire ballgame. Either we're a Republic of laws & the Constitution, or we have a dictator. This is fascism, & the impeachment vote should be happening today. Every single university president in the country should be out, in front of microphones, condemning this.
Trump takes credit for Mahmoud Khalil's arrest by ICE:
March 10, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Look, folks, this is it. The entire ballgame. Either we're a Republic of laws & the Constitution, or we have a dictator. This is fascism, & the impeachment vote should be happening today. Every single university president in the country should be out, in front of microphones, condemning this.
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
"Normally, we treat each bullet point as a separate story. But they are all connected. We are witnessing an extraordinarily broad chilling effect in American society."
Look at the length of these lists - this effort to intimidate and silence opposition is a key part of Trump II's authoritarianism.
Look at the length of these lists - this effort to intimidate and silence opposition is a key part of Trump II's authoritarianism.
March 9, 2025 at 8:55 PM
"Normally, we treat each bullet point as a separate story. But they are all connected. We are witnessing an extraordinarily broad chilling effect in American society."
Look at the length of these lists - this effort to intimidate and silence opposition is a key part of Trump II's authoritarianism.
Look at the length of these lists - this effort to intimidate and silence opposition is a key part of Trump II's authoritarianism.
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
Immediate presidency-ending scandals for any previous president from Truman to Biden, now happening daily 🤷♂️
Trump: "We have a lot of law firms that we're going to be going after, because they were very dishonest people. They were very, very dishonest. We have a lot of law firms that we're going after."
March 9, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Immediate presidency-ending scandals for any previous president from Truman to Biden, now happening daily 🤷♂️
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
ABC News has now fully taken down the old 538 website, including all interactive projects since 2014. Aside from erasing history this prevents access to publicly released data, including raw polls, averages, model estimates & story dta. Totally unacceptable for a company (allegedly) doing journalism
March 8, 2025 at 5:00 PM
ABC News has now fully taken down the old 538 website, including all interactive projects since 2014. Aside from erasing history this prevents access to publicly released data, including raw polls, averages, model estimates & story dta. Totally unacceptable for a company (allegedly) doing journalism
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
Another law firm joins those of us who have been selectively targeted by Trump Administration w/revocation of security clearances simply bc we dared represent perceived political enemies.
This is as authoritarian & unAmerican as it gets.
www.reuters.com/legal/trump-...
This is as authoritarian & unAmerican as it gets.
www.reuters.com/legal/trump-...
Trump suspending law firm Perkins Coie's security clearances
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an order the White House said would suspend security clearances to employees of Perkins Coie, citing the law firm's diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
www.reuters.com
March 6, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Another law firm joins those of us who have been selectively targeted by Trump Administration w/revocation of security clearances simply bc we dared represent perceived political enemies.
This is as authoritarian & unAmerican as it gets.
www.reuters.com/legal/trump-...
This is as authoritarian & unAmerican as it gets.
www.reuters.com/legal/trump-...
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
My colleague @stevevladeck.bsky.social points out the contrast between Samual Alito's dissent this morning supporting presidential autonomy from courts and his dissent in 2022 when Biden was president, arguing courts could dictate immigration enforcement. www.stevevladeck.com/p/129-untang...
![In that respect, contrast Alito’s analysis here with his dissenting opinion in United States v. Texas—in which he would’ve upheld an injunction by a single (judge-shopped) district judge that effectively dictated to the executive branch what its immigration enforcement priorities must be. In explaining why the Biden administration should lose, he wrote:
nothing in our precedents even remotely supports this grossly inflated conception of “executive Power,” which seriously infringes the “legislative Powers” that the Constitution grants to Congress. At issue here is Congress’s authority to control immigration, and “[t]his Court has repeatedly emphasized that ‘over no conceivable subject is the legislative power of Congress more complete than it is over’ the admission of aliens.” In the exercise of that power, Congress passed and President Clinton signed a law that commands the detention and removal of aliens who have been convicted of certain particularly dangerous crimes. The Secretary of Homeland Security, however, has instructed his agents to disobey this legislative command and instead follow a different policy that is more to his liking.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:egd33s7iuqsmwlwab6mbtrqi/bafkreic2cgcu4ob2hffwjjzpttsf72lcdierywuwlz7hk73otgwebx2aqe@jpeg)
March 5, 2025 at 7:02 PM
My colleague @stevevladeck.bsky.social points out the contrast between Samual Alito's dissent this morning supporting presidential autonomy from courts and his dissent in 2022 when Biden was president, arguing courts could dictate immigration enforcement. www.stevevladeck.com/p/129-untang...
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
I have 2 concerns about the misuse of political science ideas: 1) The public displays thermostatic tendencies in some wealthy democracies, including the United States since 1950. And I would include the tendency for midterm backlash as a thermostatic pattern as well.
March 3, 2025 at 3:27 PM
I have 2 concerns about the misuse of political science ideas: 1) The public displays thermostatic tendencies in some wealthy democracies, including the United States since 1950. And I would include the tendency for midterm backlash as a thermostatic pattern as well.
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
Great, very detailed story about how Musk’s many conflicts of interest are affecting rank and file employees in multiple agencies, including the FAA, NASA, SEC & FDA — and how those employees fear that calling out Musk’s conflicts will result in retribution.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
As Musk polices his own conflicts, some agencies hear sirens going off
The billionaire’s private interests intersect with wide areas of government work — and federal workers worry about his public role.
www.washingtonpost.com
March 2, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Great, very detailed story about how Musk’s many conflicts of interest are affecting rank and file employees in multiple agencies, including the FAA, NASA, SEC & FDA — and how those employees fear that calling out Musk’s conflicts will result in retribution.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
18F was doing exactly the type of work that DOGE claims to want – yet we were eliminated shortly after midnight. Read our letter to the American people:
18f.org
18f.org
We're not done yet | 18F
18f.org
March 1, 2025 at 11:38 PM
18F was doing exactly the type of work that DOGE claims to want – yet we were eliminated shortly after midnight. Read our letter to the American people:
18f.org
18f.org
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
18F, the federal government’s technology shop, was demolished by Musk’s team shortly after midnight. It was a cost-recoverable org, charging agencies for their expertise, using a consulting model. Its cost to government was negligible, its benefits huge. My team there once saved DoD $500 billion.
March 1, 2025 at 2:25 PM
18F, the federal government’s technology shop, was demolished by Musk’s team shortly after midnight. It was a cost-recoverable org, charging agencies for their expertise, using a consulting model. Its cost to government was negligible, its benefits huge. My team there once saved DoD $500 billion.
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
Zelensky is a hero; the Ukrainian people are heroic. Trump's suggestion that Zelensky has not shown adequate appreciation for US aid is obscene. How thin-skinned, narrow-minded, self-absorbed, & immature can a president get? Vance speaking for a president who is sitting there--reminds me of Musk.
February 28, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Zelensky is a hero; the Ukrainian people are heroic. Trump's suggestion that Zelensky has not shown adequate appreciation for US aid is obscene. How thin-skinned, narrow-minded, self-absorbed, & immature can a president get? Vance speaking for a president who is sitting there--reminds me of Musk.
Reposted by Stephen Medvic
You don't need to be a coder to figure this out. Simply type: tab age
You'll discover a smattering of 99 year olds, a few 100 year olds, a couple of 101 year olds, and a pileup of 150 year olds, but no-one in their 130s or 140s. That's a clear sign you've discovered a coding issue rather than fraud
You'll discover a smattering of 99 year olds, a few 100 year olds, a couple of 101 year olds, and a pileup of 150 year olds, but no-one in their 130s or 140s. That's a clear sign you've discovered a coding issue rather than fraud
February 15, 2025 at 6:51 PM
You don't need to be a coder to figure this out. Simply type: tab age
You'll discover a smattering of 99 year olds, a few 100 year olds, a couple of 101 year olds, and a pileup of 150 year olds, but no-one in their 130s or 140s. That's a clear sign you've discovered a coding issue rather than fraud
You'll discover a smattering of 99 year olds, a few 100 year olds, a couple of 101 year olds, and a pileup of 150 year olds, but no-one in their 130s or 140s. That's a clear sign you've discovered a coding issue rather than fraud