Jan W. Mueller | Lightnews

Jan-Werner Mueller

@jwmueller-pu.bsky.social

16K followers 900 following 1.9K posts

Political Theory and Intellectual History. Politics of Architecture and Iconography. Some Public Affairs Commentary.

Posting in a personal capacity.

Texts mostly in LRB, Guardian, Foreign Policy, Architectural Review.

Representation: Wylie. .. more

Videos

Computer science 57%

Mathematics 29%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller, Will Lowe

Joshua Cherniss @jcherniss.bsky.social · 2d

What WAS "Cold War liberalism," you ask? If you read German -- or have Google translate -- you can read my thoughts here:
www.kas.de/de/web/gesch...
(with references to @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social and @lkatfield.bsky.social, among others)

Was war der Cold War Liberalism?

Zur historischen Eigenart, inneren Spannung und aktuellen Relevanz eines skeptischen Liberalismus

www.kas.de

Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 2d

"But to own a property, as Trump knows very well, you have to be able to occupy it."

Or you demonstrate that you own it by destroying it.

With impunity.

Whose Hemisphere? | Fintan O’Toole

The US capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro reinforces the Trump administration’s capacity to invent any pretext to justify the use of armed force.

www.nybooks.com

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller

Gabriela Greilinger @gabrielagreilinger.com · 2d

See this interesting blog post by Emilia Belknap and Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte, presenting evidence that doesn't really support such narratives.

ukandeu.ac.uk/most-british...

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller

Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 3d

👇

Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 3d

"No. 6: In the pursuit of truth, the newspaper shall be prepared to make sacrifices of its material fortunes, if such course be necessary for the public good."

Opinion | An Elegy for My Washington Post

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller

Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 3d

Here's the link: collections.fes.de/publikatione...

The vicious cycle of far-right success in Europe

Publikationen der Stiftung. The vicious cycle of far-right success in Europe / Tarik Abou-Chadi ; Issuing Department Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung | Democracy of the Future, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung | Eur...

collections.fes.de

Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 4d

"We find that the default feed of X showed more content from far-right AfD than from other political parties."

Political Biases on X before the 2025 German Federal Election – EQUATE & Machine Learning Blog

groups.cs.umass.edu

Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 4d

'The National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument. Among the anticipated changes? No longer calling his murderer a “racist.”'

Medgar Evers’ killer was a Klansman, but Trump administration says stop calling him a racist - Mississippi Today

Among anticipated changes to a new visitor brochure for the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument is no longer using "racist" to describe the killer of the civil rights leader.

mississippitoday.org

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller, Christian Fisch

David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 4d

A bus stop near Tesla's flagship store in London. Imagine a Super Bowl ad that showed only this.

Reposted by Laurent Pech

Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 5d

"It is at the very least inconsistent to warn against rule of law regression and violations while failing to police one’s own membership. We are where we are because too many in senior positions who had and have the power to act have failed to do so."

Important piece by Bodnar and Pech:

Immunising the Venice Commission Against Autocratic Contamination

verfassungsblog.de

Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 5d

'...it is naive to think that supporting the Minnesota protests or interfering with ICE arrests is simply and indisputably “the Christian thing to do.”'

The Spectator instructing American bishops on the meaning of Catholicism.

The Catholic Church is getting swept away by ICE outrage

Cardinal Joseph Tobin called for the defunding of ICE by lawmakers during an interfaith prayer livestream on Sunday

spectator.com

Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 5d

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Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 5d

"Freedom of assembly has been the liberty most subject to prior restraint: states find it easier to control space than to control speech. In many countries, a jurisprudence of free assembly remains underdeveloped; in the US, there has not been an assembly case in front of the...Court for...decades."

Free Assembly for a Free People

A broad range of views on democracy to help break the stalemate caused by partisan conflict.

democracyproject.org

nitasha tiku @nitasha.bsky.social · 5d

My story on Elon Musk cutting safeguards at xAI is on the front page of today's @washingtonpost.com. I’m also among 100’s of reporters laid off. I absolutely loved my job my brilliant coworkers & the thrill of reporting @ the center of forces upending the world: AI & Silicon Valley’s political power

cover of The Washington Post on Wednesday Feb 4, 2026. Headline on bottom, right: Musk wanted to hook users; his chatbot got more sexual

Reposted by Federico Finchelstein

Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 5d

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Reposted by Jan W. Mueller, David R. Miller

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Jan W. Mueller, Matthew Bunn , and 1 more Stephen M. Walt, Jan W. Mueller, Matthew Bunn, Ryan Enos

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 5d

"We are now in a system of competitive authoritarianism. And it’s just about whether we manage to take our democracy back from that."

On the pod, @ryanenos.bsky.social is so good on Harvard pulling back from surrender to Trump, and on need for institutions to fight:
newrepublic.com/article/2061...

Trump Spirals Into Crazed Fury After Harvard Humiliates Him Very Badly

As Trump rages at Harvard over leaks that he’s backtracking in his fight with the university, a Harvard political scientist explains why the stakes in this battle are far bigger than they seem.

newrepublic.com

Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you!

Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you -

Ben Mullin @benmullin.bsky.social · 5d

A staggering statement from former Washington Post editor Marty Baron: "This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations."

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller, Scott L. Greer

Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 6d

once again, East Central Europe leads the way notesfrompoland.com/2024/10/31/n...

Reposted by Laurent Pech, Beatriz Gallardo Paúls

Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 6d

Individual journalists might thrive, but the press as a collective actor - and as understood in constitutions - cannot survive without a minimum of professional solidarity.

Don’t just ask the next question after yet another obscene attack on a female reporter.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

KAITLAN COLLINS: What would say to Epstein survivo---

TRUMP: You are so bad. You are the worst report. No wonder CNN has no ratings. She's a young woman. I don't think I've ever seen you smile. They should be ashamed of you.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

Reposted by Ralf Michaels

Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 6d

"The point is not that what progressives do must never be criticized; the point is that the relentless drive to find fault with both sides equally results in a sense of (false) equivalence among those taking cues from supposedly trustworthy centrists."

Beware of ‘anti-woke’ liberals: they attacked the left and helped Trump win | Jan-Werner Müller

So-called ‘reactionary centrist’ pundits proclaimed that there was a global ‘vibe shift’ in favor of the right. They were wrong

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller

Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 6d

"The other iron law of reactionary centrism – beyond the asymmetry that is hiding behind the seeming evenhandedness – is that only the left and liberals really have agency."

Brilliant column by @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social

Beware of ‘anti-woke’ liberals: they attacked the left and helped Trump win | Jan-Werner Müller

So-called ‘reactionary centrist’ pundits proclaimed that there was a global ‘vibe shift’ in favor of the right. They were wrong

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller, Jens Rydgren

Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 6d

Great intervention by @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social on reactionary centrism, anti-wokeness, and the tendency to interpret the success of the right as backlash instead of as its own political project

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Beware of ‘anti-woke’ liberals: they attacked the left and helped Trump win | Jan-Werner Müller

So-called ‘reactionary centrist’ pundits proclaimed that there was a global ‘vibe shift’ in favor of the right. They were wrong

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller, Philipp Sarasin

Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 6d

"In the 20th century, it was important to position oneself against fascism and authoritarian state socialism simultaneously," writes @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social.

"But today, a reflexive position in the middle...makes little sense in a completely asymmetrical political landscape."