Brendan Nyhan
banner
brendannyhan.bsky.social
Brendan Nyhan
@brendannyhan.bsky.social

Dartmouth political scientist and Bright Line Watch co-director. Previously Upshot NYT / CJR contributor, Spinsanity co-founder, All the President's Spin co-author.

https://sites.dartmouth.edu/nyhan/
http://brightlinewatch.org .. more

Brendan Nyhan is an American political scientist and professor at Dartmouth College. He is also a liberal to moderate political blogger, author, and political columnist. He was born in Mountain View, California and now lives in Hanover, New Hampshire. .. more

Political science 39%
Sociology 22%
Pinned
My new op-ed with @lkfazio.bsky.social:

Trump sent a 'compact' to our universities. They should reject this devil's bargain.
Any institution that yields to these broad and intrusive demands would forever be subservient to the whims of the government.
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

Ominous
NEW: President Trump's pardon of his alleged 2020 co-conspirators was less about shielding them from past crimes, his adversaries say, than about signaling to others that he has their back if he needs them again in 2026 or 2028.

w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social

www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

many of us have elderly relatives we worry about being taken advantage of by people who don't have their best interests at heart.

but those relatives don't have the nuclear codes.
You can prevent this kind of thing by having a president who isn't an idiot child
NEW: President Trump's pardon of his alleged 2020 co-conspirators was less about shielding them from past crimes, his adversaries say, than about signaling to others that he has their back if he needs them again in 2026 or 2028.

w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social

www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
You can prevent this kind of thing by having a president who isn't an idiot child
A systematic attack on the rule of law. Watergate-level high crimes and misdemeanors happening every day.
Breaking MSNBC:

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida called a division-wide meeting this afternoon, following the resignations of two prosecutors who were asked to take part in a vast "conspiracy" investigation into former intel and law enforcement officials.
U.S. Attorney investigating alleged grand ‘conspiracy’ calls unit-wide meeting after two prosecutors resign
Career prosecutors on “pins and needles” after flurry of subpoenas approved.
www.msnbc.com

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

They got the HR guy to sign off on the subpoenas because the line prosecutors refused.

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

Breaking MSNBC:

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida called a division-wide meeting this afternoon, following the resignations of two prosecutors who were asked to take part in a vast "conspiracy" investigation into former intel and law enforcement officials.
U.S. Attorney investigating alleged grand ‘conspiracy’ calls unit-wide meeting after two prosecutors resign
Career prosecutors on “pins and needles” after flurry of subpoenas approved.
www.msnbc.com
First Trump is trying to expropriate $230M from DOJ for himself, now this
This allows Trump (via DOJ) to use taxpayer money to bribe eight GOP Senators. It's that simple, there's no other way to describe it.

And where's the compensation for people injured by the Trump admin's unlawful conduct through DHS & DOGE?

Take a bow, @schumer.senate.gov, you did this.

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

Guys he actually did it ....
This allows Trump (via DOJ) to use taxpayer money to bribe eight GOP Senators. It's that simple, there's no other way to describe it.

And where's the compensation for people injured by the Trump admin's unlawful conduct through DHS & DOGE?

Take a bow, @schumer.senate.gov, you did this.
“.. demonstrates how Mr. Trump’s handling of pardons and commutations has allowed some convicts to return to criminality.”

@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/n...

Reposted by David R. Miller

Read one (1) history book and tell me this is ok
New:

On The Gateway Pundit's podcast yesterday, Stewart Rhodes announced he's relaunching the Oath Keepers

He also urged Trump to “call us up as a militia" & "order us all to come together in our counties under his command."
www.mediamatters.org/oath-keepers...

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

This is depraved.

“While Border Patrol photographers snapped photos, one agent shouted, “Everyone say, ‘Little Village!’”
Border Patrol Agents Pose At The Bean For Apparent Photo Op
The photo op came after agents tear-gassed a Little Village street and were spotted in the area numerous times. At the Bean, one agent shouted, "Everyone say, 'Little Village!'"
blockclubchicago.org
This is such a bizarre talking point; I've thankfully never had to use most of the types of insurance that I have for me and my family

This is a good excuse to share my WSJ letter to the editor explaining that "not filing a claim doesn’t mean you didn’t need insurance" www.wsj.com/opinion/the-...
New:

On The Gateway Pundit's podcast yesterday, Stewart Rhodes announced he's relaunching the Oath Keepers

He also urged Trump to “call us up as a militia" & "order us all to come together in our counties under his command."
www.mediamatters.org/oath-keepers...
Forthcoming in the AER: "“Potential” and the Gender Promotion Gap" by Alan Benson, Danielle Li, and Kelly Shue. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
“Potential” and the Gender Promotion Gap
(Forthcoming Article) - We show that subjective assessments of employee “potential” contribute to gender gaps in promotion and pay. Using data on 29,809 management-track employees from a large retail ...
www.aeaweb.org

No movement in prediction markets for House control over news of Dems moving to end shutdown kalshi.com/markets/cont... polymarket.com/event/which-...
kalshi.com

New AI timeline forecasts from The Longitudinal Expert AI Panel forecastingresearch.substack.com/p/introducin... Lots of uncertainty but more expert/superforecaster convergence than I expected

The real Slow House = the leadership suite with Patel and Bongino

"arrived wearing a trucker hat and a green hooded sweatshirt"

Fussed over flights, screwed over our ally, took a picture with the king, left

Not now, more severe flu variant www.bbc.com/news/article...

Easily the most interesting (and optimistic) thing I've read in a while climatedrift.substack.com/p/why-solarp...
seems to me that those democrats inclined not to fight perceive themselves as living through a somewhat ordinary cycle of presidential overreach and backlash and not something much more significant and dangerous

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce

Even more true today: Democrats are ripe for a base revolt like the GOP in 2015 when Trump went down the escalator.

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce

Assume all the yes and no votes from Dem senators are strategic and not sincere votes. The party caucus made a decision. No way to know how many were in favor. Then the caucus decided who would vote yes and no based on what would protect each of them politically the most. That’s how this works.
The caucus meeting was just to orchestrate who would fall on the sword but not be up for a vote in 2026.
so currently defectors are:

Kaine (2030)
Shaheen (Retiring)
Hasan (2028)
Fetterman (2028)
Durbin (Retiring)
CCM (2028)
Rosen (2030)
King (2030)

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

Still upset about no power of the purse language. You truly do hate to see it. The Trump admin undertook the most expansive set of illegal budgetary actions of any president in history, and broadcast as loudly as possible they’d keep doing it, and nothing. Budgetary lawlessness.