@enlightenmentstan.bsky.social
Small l liberal. Real American - just like every other American. Pro immigration, free trade, and pro democracy. Don't tread on anyone. 🇺🇲 🗽🇺🇦 🇹🇼 🇩🇰🌐
Reposted
I mean, that's progress I guess, but it is chilling and horrifying that we've only got a bare majority on the right side of "Should people who've been convicted of no crime be renditioned to a Salvadoran torture prison without due process?"
Remarkable from WaPo poll: Trump sinking fast on immigration among independents.
56% disapprove of handling of issue
62% oppose removing foreign students
52% oppose renditions to El Salvador
Only 21% want Abrego Garcia left there
Engage, Dems.
New piece from me:
newrepublic.com/article/1944...
56% disapprove of handling of issue
62% oppose removing foreign students
52% oppose renditions to El Salvador
Only 21% want Abrego Garcia left there
Engage, Dems.
New piece from me:
newrepublic.com/article/1944...
Trump Is Suddenly Bleeding Independents. A Brutal New Poll Shows Why.
Immigration was his best issue in the polls. But now he's sinking on it. Maybe Americans care about the rule of law after all.
newrepublic.com
April 25, 2025 at 6:49 PM
I mean, that's progress I guess, but it is chilling and horrifying that we've only got a bare majority on the right side of "Should people who've been convicted of no crime be renditioned to a Salvadoran torture prison without due process?"
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Thousands of Afghans with Temporary Protected Status are people who helped US forces and who risked their lives to work with the Coalition. Now Trump is going to toss them aside, strip their legal status, and maybe even try to deport them back to the Taliban. It's unconscionable.
April 11, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Thousands of Afghans with Temporary Protected Status are people who helped US forces and who risked their lives to work with the Coalition. Now Trump is going to toss them aside, strip their legal status, and maybe even try to deport them back to the Taliban. It's unconscionable.
Reposted
In related news, Kim Jong-un successfully drove a car at the age of three, and his father Kim Jong-il invented the hamburger.
REPORTER: President Trump looks healthier than ever before. I'm sure everybody in this room could agree. Is he working out with Bobby Kennedy and is he eating less McDonald's?
LEAVITT: I can confirm the president is in very good shape
LEAVITT: I can confirm the president is in very good shape
April 11, 2025 at 5:53 PM
In related news, Kim Jong-un successfully drove a car at the age of three, and his father Kim Jong-il invented the hamburger.
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You can probably guess who this is referring to if you have been online today, but it is also a fairly generic description of a certain type of guy who now holds a lot of power
he is just the most obvious loser. a miserable mediocrity whose response to his own failure is to try to destroy institutions that rejected him
April 11, 2025 at 2:51 PM
You can probably guess who this is referring to if you have been online today, but it is also a fairly generic description of a certain type of guy who now holds a lot of power
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Even Putin would be like, “Might want to dial it back a notch.”
Members of Trump's cabinet, as well as Congresspeople and Senators, are being instructed to wear a tribute to their inglorious, convicted felon leader.
boingboing.net/2025/04/09/t...
boingboing.net/2025/04/09/t...
Trump's new loyalty test: "golden Trump bust lapel pins"
Members of Trump's cabinet, as well as Congresspeople and Senators, are being instructed to wear a tribute to their inglorious, convicted felon leader.
boingboing.net
April 11, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Even Putin would be like, “Might want to dial it back a notch.”
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"These tariffs are killing our US manufacturing operations, but Trump should KEEP tariffs on my competitors' products and only REMOVE tariffs on my inputs."
Classic move. Almost makes me want to root for the tariffs. 🤬
Classic move. Almost makes me want to root for the tariffs. 🤬
April 9, 2025 at 4:37 PM
"These tariffs are killing our US manufacturing operations, but Trump should KEEP tariffs on my competitors' products and only REMOVE tariffs on my inputs."
Classic move. Almost makes me want to root for the tariffs. 🤬
Classic move. Almost makes me want to root for the tariffs. 🤬
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I didn't want this. I said something like it would happen, and implored America to take a different path.
But a plurality of voters wanted this.
Finance and business wanted this, and backed it with money.
SCOTUS wanted this, so badly they twisted the Constitution to get it.
This all was a choice.
But a plurality of voters wanted this.
Finance and business wanted this, and backed it with money.
SCOTUS wanted this, so badly they twisted the Constitution to get it.
This all was a choice.
April 9, 2025 at 1:58 PM
I didn't want this. I said something like it would happen, and implored America to take a different path.
But a plurality of voters wanted this.
Finance and business wanted this, and backed it with money.
SCOTUS wanted this, so badly they twisted the Constitution to get it.
This all was a choice.
But a plurality of voters wanted this.
Finance and business wanted this, and backed it with money.
SCOTUS wanted this, so badly they twisted the Constitution to get it.
This all was a choice.
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This is keeping the buyer from leaving the dealership to think about it energy.
April 9, 2025 at 2:14 PM
This is keeping the buyer from leaving the dealership to think about it energy.
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Yes, the captain intentionally piloted the ship into a huge iceberg, cracking the vessel like an egg.
But the officers insist we'll all greatly benefit from an invigorating midnight swim through Arctic waters.
But the officers insist we'll all greatly benefit from an invigorating midnight swim through Arctic waters.
April 9, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Yes, the captain intentionally piloted the ship into a huge iceberg, cracking the vessel like an egg.
But the officers insist we'll all greatly benefit from an invigorating midnight swim through Arctic waters.
But the officers insist we'll all greatly benefit from an invigorating midnight swim through Arctic waters.
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same people who wanted Biden tried for treason over egg prices will watch their retirements evaporate and still vote Trump a third time and I think there’s a religious component to that
April 9, 2025 at 11:30 AM
same people who wanted Biden tried for treason over egg prices will watch their retirements evaporate and still vote Trump a third time and I think there’s a religious component to that
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every single voter was faced with a basic intelligence test and unfortunately 49.9% of them failed it
Apropos of nothing: Kamala Harris predicted this exact moment happening:
“Understand that part of Trump’s plan is to put in place a national sales tax of at least 20% on everyday goods and necessities.”
She warned us over & over again & she was so right.
“Understand that part of Trump’s plan is to put in place a national sales tax of at least 20% on everyday goods and necessities.”
She warned us over & over again & she was so right.
April 3, 2025 at 12:42 PM
every single voter was faced with a basic intelligence test and unfortunately 49.9% of them failed it
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FWIW, this is what your Republican uncle is seeing right now.
April 2, 2025 at 10:42 PM
FWIW, this is what your Republican uncle is seeing right now.
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More than five years ago, I wrote about the American conservatives who admire Russia dictatorship. Now they run America www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The False Romance of Russia
American conservatives who find themselves identifying with Putin’s regime refuse to see the country for what it actually is.
www.theatlantic.com
March 21, 2025 at 11:40 PM
More than five years ago, I wrote about the American conservatives who admire Russia dictatorship. Now they run America www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
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who's on what platform, 2025 edition
March 21, 2025 at 2:20 PM
who's on what platform, 2025 edition
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When the govt calls someone a criminal, you shouldn't automatically believe it. That's what charges and trials are for.
Always been true, but especially with this govt.
How stupid and/or bigoted do you have to be to take the "they're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats" liars at their word?
Always been true, but especially with this govt.
How stupid and/or bigoted do you have to be to take the "they're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats" liars at their word?
March 18, 2025 at 5:09 PM
When the govt calls someone a criminal, you shouldn't automatically believe it. That's what charges and trials are for.
Always been true, but especially with this govt.
How stupid and/or bigoted do you have to be to take the "they're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats" liars at their word?
Always been true, but especially with this govt.
How stupid and/or bigoted do you have to be to take the "they're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats" liars at their word?
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It seems as if half the people in the MAGA/America First movement express open regret that Hitler didn't win World War II - and the other half don't know that if we'd listened to the America First movement of the day, he would have.
March 17, 2025 at 5:35 PM
It seems as if half the people in the MAGA/America First movement express open regret that Hitler didn't win World War II - and the other half don't know that if we'd listened to the America First movement of the day, he would have.
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Toward the end of his historical analysis of fascism in Europe, Robert O. Paxton muses on what an American-style fascism would look like. Writing in the early 2000s.
March 13, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Toward the end of his historical analysis of fascism in Europe, Robert O. Paxton muses on what an American-style fascism would look like. Writing in the early 2000s.
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Brian Klaas - One of the strangest dynamics of modern politics is that the richest man in the world chooses to get his information from grifting ignoramuses on social media.
open.substack.com/pub/briankla...
open.substack.com/pub/briankla...
"Knowingness" and the Politics of Ignorance
Much ink has been spilled about "polarization." Most of it ignores a major cause: the widespread, misplaced faith that we already know that which we do not know.
open.substack.com
March 12, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Brian Klaas - One of the strangest dynamics of modern politics is that the richest man in the world chooses to get his information from grifting ignoramuses on social media.
open.substack.com/pub/briankla...
open.substack.com/pub/briankla...
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So messed up how “if a rich, famous criminal is held legally accountable for crimes he definitely did, they’ll come for you, who did no crimes, next” resonates with more of the US public than “if a legal resident who committed no crime is disappeared without notice, they could come for you next.”
Yes. If DHS can barge in, say your visa was revoked, be told you have a green card, say it's revoked too, and then disappear you so that neither your lawyer nor your family can find you, then all the guardrails are gone. There is no policy, practice, or law protecting anyone.
re the previous repost: if they can disappear permanent residents they can disappear citizens
March 10, 2025 at 12:55 PM
So messed up how “if a rich, famous criminal is held legally accountable for crimes he definitely did, they’ll come for you, who did no crimes, next” resonates with more of the US public than “if a legal resident who committed no crime is disappeared without notice, they could come for you next.”
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Seen at the Don’t Abandon Ukraine demonstration today.
March 8, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Seen at the Don’t Abandon Ukraine demonstration today.
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The U.S. literally would not exist without the help France provided in the Revolutionary War. To say nothing of help in more recent times, like post 9/11.
Trump on NATO: "If the United States was in trouble and we called them. We said, 'We got a problem, France.' Do you think they're gonna come and protect us? Hmm. They're supposed to. I'm not so sure." (Literally the only time NATO Article 5 was invoked was after 9/11 on behalf of the US.)
March 6, 2025 at 10:27 PM
The U.S. literally would not exist without the help France provided in the Revolutionary War. To say nothing of help in more recent times, like post 9/11.
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"Trump calculated that he needed to foster a sense of grievance among his base if he was going to ever be president again. The best way to do that was to not just challenge the results but deliberately to build a conspiracy around them.
www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-vict...
www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-vict...
Playing the Victimhood Long Game
Trump knew all along that the path back to power lay through lies and grievance.
www.thebulwark.com
March 6, 2025 at 5:01 PM
"Trump calculated that he needed to foster a sense of grievance among his base if he was going to ever be president again. The best way to do that was to not just challenge the results but deliberately to build a conspiracy around them.
www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-vict...
www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-vict...