Publius Ammianus
@emergencynotes.bsky.social
Notes from the Emergency.
emergencynotes.substack.com
emergencynotes.substack.com
This is a perfectly reasonable question
He's the mayor-elect of America's largest city and financial capital. What kind of a question is this?
November 23, 2025 at 10:57 PM
This is a perfectly reasonable question
You do kind of wonder if a post-George Floyd movement that had centered policy brutality rather than racism might have helped prevent this
Here’s a disturbing video from Evanston of a federal agent hitting a man on the ground as people yell that he can’t breathe.
November 2, 2025 at 12:58 PM
You do kind of wonder if a post-George Floyd movement that had centered policy brutality rather than racism might have helped prevent this
This wasn’t even about migration!
Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp repeatedly refusing to say that he thinks Reform MP Sarah Pochin saying she doesn't like seeing black people on TV was racist.
Says he wouldn't use her "language" but it's right for her to express "legitimate concerns" about migration
Says he wouldn't use her "language" but it's right for her to express "legitimate concerns" about migration
October 26, 2025 at 1:28 PM
This wasn’t even about migration!
Ok fine he is very good
Mamdani's response to Cuomo's claims that he's too inexperienced to be NYC mayor: "What I don't have in experience, I make up for in integrity. And what you don't have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience."
October 17, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Ok fine he is very good
This is pre-internet thinking. Miller neither believes nor doesn’t believe this: he knows that acting as if he believes it will give him power and influence, so he does, and doesn’t examine his true beliefs too strongly.
Can Miller really believe this? If so, he is delusional. If not, then he’s a reprehensible demagogue.
October 7, 2025 at 12:56 PM
This is pre-internet thinking. Miller neither believes nor doesn’t believe this: he knows that acting as if he believes it will give him power and influence, so he does, and doesn’t examine his true beliefs too strongly.
“Labour shouldn’t try to ape the Tories on immigration, it should just stop the boats” 🤔
It's the same mistake - thinking they can outflank or neutralise Farage and Reform on immigration. They can't, for slightly different reasons. Labour actually has a better chance of reducing the electoral damage if it can get small boat numbers down and increase the salience of other issues...
October 7, 2025 at 12:54 PM
“Labour shouldn’t try to ape the Tories on immigration, it should just stop the boats” 🤔
Is Bezos going to sell WaPo to Ellison?
I am a huge fan of @crampell.bsky.social -- and hugely excited I get to be her colleague now www.semafor.com/article/10/0...
Washington Post economics columnist moves to The Bulwark
Catherine Rampell will write a weekly economics and policy-focused newsletter for the anti-Trump media brand.
www.semafor.com
October 7, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Is Bezos going to sell WaPo to Ellison?
I hate, hate, hate to say this, but right now active resistance to ICE that is anything other than polite peaceful protest is a bad idea, going to backfire, and playing into Miller’s hands
There was really and truly basically nothing significant going on in Portland in September before the invocation; a few dozen people protesting outside one building.
In Chicago, since the operation has already been ongoing for a month, resistance is more visible and widespread.
In Chicago, since the operation has already been ongoing for a month, resistance is more visible and widespread.
What would you say is so different about Chicago vs Portland?
October 7, 2025 at 12:38 PM
I hate, hate, hate to say this, but right now active resistance to ICE that is anything other than polite peaceful protest is a bad idea, going to backfire, and playing into Miller’s hands
Reposted by Publius Ammianus
Safe seat members face strong incentives to endorse interest group laundry lists regardless of the politics, which then defines the national party brand in a way that is hard for frontline members to overcome in an era of nationalized politics.
www.slowboring.com/p/the-groups...
www.slowboring.com/p/the-groups...
October 6, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Safe seat members face strong incentives to endorse interest group laundry lists regardless of the politics, which then defines the national party brand in a way that is hard for frontline members to overcome in an era of nationalized politics.
www.slowboring.com/p/the-groups...
www.slowboring.com/p/the-groups...
Reposted by Publius Ammianus
Did the federal government convert Alcatraz back to a working prison after Trump saw a movie? No
How about send troops to Portland after Trump watched a 2020 George Floyd clip on Fox? Yes
His enablers choose which insanity to act on, knowing he'll lose interest and forget
How about send troops to Portland after Trump watched a 2020 George Floyd clip on Fox? Yes
His enablers choose which insanity to act on, knowing he'll lose interest and forget
October 6, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Did the federal government convert Alcatraz back to a working prison after Trump saw a movie? No
How about send troops to Portland after Trump watched a 2020 George Floyd clip on Fox? Yes
His enablers choose which insanity to act on, knowing he'll lose interest and forget
How about send troops to Portland after Trump watched a 2020 George Floyd clip on Fox? Yes
His enablers choose which insanity to act on, knowing he'll lose interest and forget
This would be a pretty good message
Chuck Schumer, in an hour from now: The president plans to flood the streets with military personnel to oppress innocent people, but what he should be flooding the streets with is tax credits for the middle class!
September 30, 2025 at 4:19 PM
This would be a pretty good message
It would be so cool to get paid $800,000 to tell Hakeem Jeffries his own voters hate him because he doesn’t love Israel and abortion bans enough
September 21, 2025 at 1:02 PM
There was that first press conference back in 2017 where Trump shut down one WH pool reporter and if the next person had repeated that person’s question, and the next, I genuinely think we would be in a better timeline
Worth watching this brief clip.
-Note the reporter who asked about Memphis.
-Note that every other reporter should have picked up the baton and kept asking that same question. Missed opportunity to do their professional, collegial, and civic duty. Please try it next time.
-Note the reporter who asked about Memphis.
-Note that every other reporter should have picked up the baton and kept asking that same question. Missed opportunity to do their professional, collegial, and civic duty. Please try it next time.
“When will we get details on MEMPHIS?”
Trump: “Quiet. You’re really obnoxious.”
“I’m not obnoxious. I’m trying to ask you about your plans for Memphis.”
Trump: “Quiet. You’re really obnoxious.”
“I’m not obnoxious. I’m trying to ask you about your plans for Memphis.”
September 21, 2025 at 12:54 PM
There was that first press conference back in 2017 where Trump shut down one WH pool reporter and if the next person had repeated that person’s question, and the next, I genuinely think we would be in a better timeline
“Lecture”
Wrong wrong wrong. X's algorithm and pay-for-play was already shrinking audiences and collapsed click-through to links. It hasn't been a level playing field for a long time. If you want to play poker when the deck is stacked against you, it's your right, but don't lecture others for choosing not to.
One of the biggest mistakes left-of-center pundits and influencers made was decamping to Bluesky. They made themselves irrelevant, shrunk their audiences, and dramatically lessened the positive impact they could have on our public debate at the precise time we needed it most.
September 21, 2025 at 12:48 PM
“Lecture”
This is correct! Also, most of the government and opposition is addicted to X and attempting to influence them might be worth it for some people!
i will concede that if you want to influence other people addicted to X, X is worth using. but if you want to influence the actual public, text-based social media is a fool's errand.
One of the biggest mistakes left-of-center pundits and influencers made was decamping to Bluesky. They made themselves irrelevant, shrunk their audiences, and dramatically lessened the positive impact they could have on our public debate at the precise time we needed it most.
September 21, 2025 at 12:44 PM
This is correct! Also, most of the government and opposition is addicted to X and attempting to influence them might be worth it for some people!
Reposted by Publius Ammianus
There is no world in which it is normal for the president to publicly call upon his attorney general to hurry up and prosecute his political foes. It’s like the Watergate tapes but posted on social media. Let’s get a grip on what’s happening here.
September 21, 2025 at 12:56 AM
There is no world in which it is normal for the president to publicly call upon his attorney general to hurry up and prosecute his political foes. It’s like the Watergate tapes but posted on social media. Let’s get a grip on what’s happening here.
Reposted by Publius Ammianus
Grandpa is confused again
June 8, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Grandpa is confused again
Reposted by Publius Ammianus
Miller is best understood as a would-be school shooter who had the discipline to bide his time
An underrated part of all this is that Stephen Miller grew up in Santa Monica. In a real sense, getting to do this violence in this way has been his north star guiding his entire life.
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
The Cruel World According to Stephen Miller
How did he become the Trump era’s architect of hate?
www.thenation.com
June 8, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Miller is best understood as a would-be school shooter who had the discipline to bide his time
I think this is mercifully disproved by the multiple polls showing the excess of ICE and the GOP agenda are pretty unpopular
Counterpoint: The crisis is that a critical mass of Americans decided they want illiberalism and all of the imaginary they said they cared about was just post-facto rationalizing.
The crisis the American people. And it's real.
The crisis the American people. And it's real.
Everything that’s happened over the past six months has been a response to an imaginary crisis. There is no immigrant invasion. No trade crisis. No scientific or governance crisis. Just people completely high off their own supply trying to fundamentally reorder society. None of this had to happen.
June 9, 2025 at 4:47 PM
I think this is mercifully disproved by the multiple polls showing the excess of ICE and the GOP agenda are pretty unpopular
Reposted by Publius Ammianus
There are lots of things people can do at different levels. Almost anyone can protest, read a book about resistance, join an activist group, spread the word to friends and family, post online about what’s happening, and/or use their career to advance their cause.
June 8, 2025 at 8:02 PM
There are lots of things people can do at different levels. Almost anyone can protest, read a book about resistance, join an activist group, spread the word to friends and family, post online about what’s happening, and/or use their career to advance their cause.
The public face of ICE is burly dudes from Alabama who look like they’d burn after ten minutes of sun, but the workforce includes a lot of Latinos
Yes. I have heard this from both liberal and conservative people with sources inside the agency. It’s not just the pushback, it’s also that many officers want to believe they’re targeting the “bad guys” and this admin is telling them “screw you, grab families.”
Genuinely, morale is way down.
Genuinely, morale is way down.
I think people are sleeping on how catastrophically bad ICE morale is right now.
June 8, 2025 at 7:58 PM
The public face of ICE is burly dudes from Alabama who look like they’d burn after ten minutes of sun, but the workforce includes a lot of Latinos
I would really like these takes to include a “how” portion
The whole “lay back and just ignore Trump,” “don’t play into what he wants” shtick didn’t work in 2016, it didn’t work between 2020 and 2024, and it’s not going to work now. He has to be told no. He has to be held accountable. And he has to be stopped.
June 8, 2025 at 7:56 PM
I would really like these takes to include a “how” portion
Reposted by Publius Ammianus
This is a really important point and has been a consistent theme of our coverage.
June 6, 2025 at 12:35 AM
This is a really important point and has been a consistent theme of our coverage.
Why on earth would we do that I can’t possibly think
As a voter, I don’t care whether Medicare for All, or trans rights, or unions are popular—I just want to vote for someone I trust to fight like hell for those things.
The two-party system has made us all pundit-brained—we ask how this will play in swing districts, rather than what we want.
The two-party system has made us all pundit-brained—we ask how this will play in swing districts, rather than what we want.
June 6, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Why on earth would we do that I can’t possibly think
It isn’t even a belief: it’s a lack of vision. He literally cannot conceive the world except as it relates to his self-interest
I'd put this a bit more sharply than @steveinskeep.bsky.social probably can: Trump simply does not understand any boundary between himself and the government. He has no sense of the public interest and believes the government is an extension of himself personally. open.substack.com/pub/steveins...
Trump threatens Musk the same way he did Harvard
He threatened to use federal contracts to gain retribution.
open.substack.com
June 6, 2025 at 3:03 PM
It isn’t even a belief: it’s a lack of vision. He literally cannot conceive the world except as it relates to his self-interest