Jim Carroll
@jtccarroll.bsky.social
Editor, The Hot Screen; contributor at Flux
Reposted by Jim Carroll
Went back to the history of the Sicilian Mafia to illustrate something obvious but worth stating explicitly: The Trump administration behaves like an organized crime syndicate running a protection racket, not a representative government www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
November 8, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Went back to the history of the Sicilian Mafia to illustrate something obvious but worth stating explicitly: The Trump administration behaves like an organized crime syndicate running a protection racket, not a representative government www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by Jim Carroll
oh so these people do pay attention to who politicians follow on social media, they just don’t care that the vice president follows a bunch of actual neo-nazis
Axios tried to bust James Talarico for following adult content creators on Instagram and I'm genuinely impressed by his campaign's response
November 8, 2025 at 4:39 PM
oh so these people do pay attention to who politicians follow on social media, they just don’t care that the vice president follows a bunch of actual neo-nazis
My latest at @flux.community: With so many rich and powerful Americans leaning into self-preservation or even the benefits of authoritarian rule, the U.S. will need a cultural and economic reset as well as a political one. 1/
plus.flux.community/p/as-elite-c...
plus.flux.community/p/as-elite-c...
As elite complicity with Trumpism grows, a revival of democracy will require a social reckoning
With so many rich and powerful Americans leaning into self-preservation or even the benefits of authoritarian rule, the U.S. will need a cultural and economic reset as well as a political one
plus.flux.community
November 6, 2025 at 12:21 AM
My latest at @flux.community: With so many rich and powerful Americans leaning into self-preservation or even the benefits of authoritarian rule, the U.S. will need a cultural and economic reset as well as a political one. 1/
plus.flux.community/p/as-elite-c...
plus.flux.community/p/as-elite-c...
Reposted by Jim Carroll
Many non-Trumpist elites have been willing to accede to his power grabs because ultimately they are anti-democratic as well.
They differ from Trump only in their legalism, @jtccarroll.bsky.social writes at @flux.community plus.flux.community/p/as-elite-c...
They differ from Trump only in their legalism, @jtccarroll.bsky.social writes at @flux.community plus.flux.community/p/as-elite-c...
As elite complicity with Trumpism grows, a revival of democracy will require a social reckoning
With so many rich and powerful Americans leaning into self-preservation or even the benefits of authoritarian rule, the U.S. will need a cultural and economic reset as well as a political one
plus.flux.community
November 4, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Many non-Trumpist elites have been willing to accede to his power grabs because ultimately they are anti-democratic as well.
They differ from Trump only in their legalism, @jtccarroll.bsky.social writes at @flux.community plus.flux.community/p/as-elite-c...
They differ from Trump only in their legalism, @jtccarroll.bsky.social writes at @flux.community plus.flux.community/p/as-elite-c...
Reposted by Jim Carroll
A nuanced assessment of the limited but important impact of No Kings protests and of what it means that "a staunchly authoritarian movement is in power but [hasn't] been able to install a consolidated autocracy yet."
Worth reading by @thomaszimmer.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/42mxk7j4
Worth reading by @thomaszimmer.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/42mxk7j4
America As No-Longer-Democracy and Not-Yet-Dictatorship
Where does the country stand after the largest day of protest in U.S. history? Putting “No Kings” in perspective
tinyurl.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:15 PM
A nuanced assessment of the limited but important impact of No Kings protests and of what it means that "a staunchly authoritarian movement is in power but [hasn't] been able to install a consolidated autocracy yet."
Worth reading by @thomaszimmer.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/42mxk7j4
Worth reading by @thomaszimmer.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/42mxk7j4
Reposted by Jim Carroll
A Constant Torrent of Authoritarian Arrogance, Corruption, and Complicity
American politics is an exasperating, frenzied, and acutely dangerous mess. Let’s sort through the events of the past week to separate what matters from what does not.
New piece:
American politics is an exasperating, frenzied, and acutely dangerous mess. Let’s sort through the events of the past week to separate what matters from what does not.
New piece:
A Constant Torrent of Authoritarian Arrogance, Corruption, Complicity
American politics is an exasperating, frenzied, and acutely dangerous mess. Let’s sort through the events of the past week to separate what matters from what does not.
democracyamericana.com
October 26, 2025 at 5:57 PM
A Constant Torrent of Authoritarian Arrogance, Corruption, and Complicity
American politics is an exasperating, frenzied, and acutely dangerous mess. Let’s sort through the events of the past week to separate what matters from what does not.
New piece:
American politics is an exasperating, frenzied, and acutely dangerous mess. Let’s sort through the events of the past week to separate what matters from what does not.
New piece:
Reposted by Jim Carroll
Sunday Reading: A Constant Torrent of Authoritarian Arrogance, Corruption, and Complicity
American politics is an exasperating, frenzied, and acutely dangerous mess. Let’s sort through the events of the past week to separate what matters from what does not.
Some thoughts from my new piece:
American politics is an exasperating, frenzied, and acutely dangerous mess. Let’s sort through the events of the past week to separate what matters from what does not.
Some thoughts from my new piece:
A Constant Torrent of Authoritarian Arrogance, Corruption, Complicity
American politics is an exasperating, frenzied, and acutely dangerous mess. Let’s sort through the events of the past week to separate what matters from what does not.
democracyamericana.com
October 26, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Sunday Reading: A Constant Torrent of Authoritarian Arrogance, Corruption, and Complicity
American politics is an exasperating, frenzied, and acutely dangerous mess. Let’s sort through the events of the past week to separate what matters from what does not.
Some thoughts from my new piece:
American politics is an exasperating, frenzied, and acutely dangerous mess. Let’s sort through the events of the past week to separate what matters from what does not.
Some thoughts from my new piece:
Reposted by Jim Carroll
This is several days old. But amidst so much else id missed it. That’s a stunning number. No wonder they about-faced. Reminder of the power of consumers in oligarch era, not subject to the same kind of targeting.
October 26, 2025 at 12:38 AM
This is several days old. But amidst so much else id missed it. That’s a stunning number. No wonder they about-faced. Reminder of the power of consumers in oligarch era, not subject to the same kind of targeting.
My latest @flux.community: The No Kings protests show that many millions understand that the aim must be to delegitimize MAGA authoritarianism, not just beat it - even as the GOP moves in countervailing fashion to delegitimize democracy itself. 1/
plus.flux.community/p/no-kings-p...
plus.flux.community/p/no-kings-p...
No Kings Protests Highlight Crucial Fight to Delegitimize MAGA Authoritarianism
As the president and his allies dismiss a pro-democracy majority as extremist, they highlight the GOP's outlandish dream of a one-party nation
plus.flux.community
October 24, 2025 at 11:57 PM
My latest @flux.community: The No Kings protests show that many millions understand that the aim must be to delegitimize MAGA authoritarianism, not just beat it - even as the GOP moves in countervailing fashion to delegitimize democracy itself. 1/
plus.flux.community/p/no-kings-p...
plus.flux.community/p/no-kings-p...
So whether or not your city gets invaded by federal troops hinges on whether it contains a billionaire friend of the president who can call off the dogs. Totally absolutely not authoritarian or corrupt at all.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/u...
Trump Calls Off Federal Operation in San Francisco
www.nytimes.com
October 23, 2025 at 11:09 PM
So whether or not your city gets invaded by federal troops hinges on whether it contains a billionaire friend of the president who can call off the dogs. Totally absolutely not authoritarian or corrupt at all.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/u...
My latest @flux.community: Not only has the Trump regime severely curtailed refugee admissions to the U.S., it's constructing new rules that assert only whites can be real citizens. 1/
plus.flux.community/p/privilegin...
plus.flux.community/p/privilegin...
Privileging refugee status for Afrikaners and Neo-Nazis, Trump administration flaunts its white supremacist core
Not only has this regime severely curtailed refugee admissions to the U.S., it's constructing new rules that assert only whites can be real citizens
plus.flux.community
October 23, 2025 at 12:15 AM
My latest @flux.community: Not only has the Trump regime severely curtailed refugee admissions to the U.S., it's constructing new rules that assert only whites can be real citizens. 1/
plus.flux.community/p/privilegin...
plus.flux.community/p/privilegin...
Reposted by Jim Carroll
Trump apparently ordering his appointees to get him a check for about a quarter billion of US taxpayer dollars www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...
Trump Said to Demand Justice Dept. Pay Him $230 Million for Past Cases
www.nytimes.com
October 21, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Trump apparently ordering his appointees to get him a check for about a quarter billion of US taxpayer dollars www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...
Reposted by Jim Carroll
Reminder: We spent YEARS reading thousands and thousands of articles on the Tea Party and how it was a true expression of the American people's will, and it never mounted anything nearly as big as Saturday's No Kings rallies. [1/3]
October 19, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Reminder: We spent YEARS reading thousands and thousands of articles on the Tea Party and how it was a true expression of the American people's will, and it never mounted anything nearly as big as Saturday's No Kings rallies. [1/3]
Good round-up of the massive displays of patriotism and defiance this weekend's No Kings demonstrations brought to cities around the nation from @brettwilkins.bsky.social @commondreams.org @flux.community. Big takeaway for me: Leading Dems showed up, too.
plus.flux.community/p/millions-t...
plus.flux.community/p/millions-t...
Millions turn out for No Kings rallies across America
The people are rising up against Donald Trump’s tyranny and corruption
plus.flux.community
October 19, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Good round-up of the massive displays of patriotism and defiance this weekend's No Kings demonstrations brought to cities around the nation from @brettwilkins.bsky.social @commondreams.org @flux.community. Big takeaway for me: Leading Dems showed up, too.
plus.flux.community/p/millions-t...
plus.flux.community/p/millions-t...
Reposted by Jim Carroll
Unless and until some kind of compelling legal and moral argument is presented as to why this is a legitimate use of deadly force, this is just…mass murder.
The military has now killed 27 people as if they were enemy soldiers in a war zone and not criminal suspects. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/u...
U.S. Military Kills Another 6 People in 5th Caribbean Strike, Trump Says
www.nytimes.com
October 14, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Unless and until some kind of compelling legal and moral argument is presented as to why this is a legitimate use of deadly force, this is just…mass murder.
Reposted by Jim Carroll
They are pursing a "strategy of tension" but there's no red brigades to help them out. bsky.app/profile/sjsh...
one of the reasons they're so mad at "no kings" is that they thought they were going to get a different kind of protest. they *want* the black bloc to be out there fighting with the cops. those are the images they've been trying to generate from "go." instead--
newrepublic.com/article/2016...
newrepublic.com/article/2016...
MAGA Rage at “No Kings” Boils Over—and It Quickly Backfires on Trump
As Trump allies smear the coming protests, a good writer on MAGA skewers the absurdity of these attacks on large swaths of Americans—and explains why our best recourse will be to turn out in force.
newrepublic.com
October 14, 2025 at 3:19 PM
They are pursing a "strategy of tension" but there's no red brigades to help them out. bsky.app/profile/sjsh...
My latest at @flux.community: There is no beating the president and MAGA without a strategy for defeating the political violence they are inflicting on American society. 1/x
plus.flux.community/p/democrats-...
plus.flux.community/p/democrats-...
Democrats must transform Trump's threats and violence against Americans into a decisive cudgel against him
There is no beating the president and MAGA without a strategy for defeating the political violence they are inflicting on American society
plus.flux.community
October 14, 2025 at 3:16 AM
My latest at @flux.community: There is no beating the president and MAGA without a strategy for defeating the political violence they are inflicting on American society. 1/x
plus.flux.community/p/democrats-...
plus.flux.community/p/democrats-...
Reposted by Jim Carroll
Democrats must make Trump's violence central to their case against him
There is no beating the president and MAGA without a strategy for defeating the political violence they are inflicting on American society
Via @jtccarroll.bsky.social: plus.flux.community/p/democrats-...
There is no beating the president and MAGA without a strategy for defeating the political violence they are inflicting on American society
Via @jtccarroll.bsky.social: plus.flux.community/p/democrats-...
Democrats must transform Trump's threats and violence against Americans into a decisive cudgel against him
There is no beating the president and MAGA without a strategy for defeating the political violence they are inflicting on American society
plus.flux.community
October 11, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Democrats must make Trump's violence central to their case against him
There is no beating the president and MAGA without a strategy for defeating the political violence they are inflicting on American society
Via @jtccarroll.bsky.social: plus.flux.community/p/democrats-...
There is no beating the president and MAGA without a strategy for defeating the political violence they are inflicting on American society
Via @jtccarroll.bsky.social: plus.flux.community/p/democrats-...
Reposted by Jim Carroll
This one featuring @karenattiah.bsky.social discusses how the broader center-to-left has failed to understand power, at both personal and organizational levels.
We have to seek power and use it in order to protect our beliefs.
We have to seek power and use it in order to protect our beliefs.
To stop Trump’s authoritarianism, his opponents must understand and wield power
Karen Attiah, a victim of Trumpist purge at the Washington Post, discusses how liberals and progressives can get their groove back
plus.flux.community
October 10, 2025 at 7:35 PM
This one featuring @karenattiah.bsky.social discusses how the broader center-to-left has failed to understand power, at both personal and organizational levels.
We have to seek power and use it in order to protect our beliefs.
We have to seek power and use it in order to protect our beliefs.
Reposted by Jim Carroll
George was just trying to get to work.
ICE pepper-sprayed him, dragged him from his car, locked him in a detention center, and placed him on suicide watch. He even missed his young daughter’s birthday in the process.
This man is a veteran and American citizen. Don't look away.
ICE pepper-sprayed him, dragged him from his car, locked him in a detention center, and placed him on suicide watch. He even missed his young daughter’s birthday in the process.
This man is a veteran and American citizen. Don't look away.
"They put me on suicide watch and they put me in the cell, I'm naked, in like a hospital dress and just a concrete bed with like a mattress, like a thin mattress and, they leave the light on 24/7."
@timmiller.bsky.social talked to a veteran who ICE wrongly detained and brutalized
@timmiller.bsky.social talked to a veteran who ICE wrongly detained and brutalized
October 10, 2025 at 7:02 PM
George was just trying to get to work.
ICE pepper-sprayed him, dragged him from his car, locked him in a detention center, and placed him on suicide watch. He even missed his young daughter’s birthday in the process.
This man is a veteran and American citizen. Don't look away.
ICE pepper-sprayed him, dragged him from his car, locked him in a detention center, and placed him on suicide watch. He even missed his young daughter’s birthday in the process.
This man is a veteran and American citizen. Don't look away.
@vermontgmg.bsky.social on vital context re gov shutdown that most Dems in Congress seem to ignore: "These budget negotiations and the shutdown must be seen against the backdrop of the entire year of presidential overreach and constitutional violations." 1/
www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/there-is-n...
www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/there-is-n...
There is no budget "deal" to be made
President Trump has so broken the constitutional framework as to make joint normal, responsible government impossible.
www.doomsdayscenario.co
October 8, 2025 at 9:29 PM
@vermontgmg.bsky.social on vital context re gov shutdown that most Dems in Congress seem to ignore: "These budget negotiations and the shutdown must be seen against the backdrop of the entire year of presidential overreach and constitutional violations." 1/
www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/there-is-n...
www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/there-is-n...
Reposted by Jim Carroll
This powerful JB Pritzker response to Trump's lawless threats is another reminder of what I tried to argue this morning: Pritzker understands Stephen Miller's theory of this moment, and he's responding accordingly:
newrepublic.com/article/2014...
newrepublic.com/article/2014...
October 8, 2025 at 6:51 PM
This powerful JB Pritzker response to Trump's lawless threats is another reminder of what I tried to argue this morning: Pritzker understands Stephen Miller's theory of this moment, and he's responding accordingly:
newrepublic.com/article/2014...
newrepublic.com/article/2014...
Reposted by Jim Carroll
Must read from @willbunch.bsky.social
@inquirer.com
“Defeating fascism requires a very different type of posture-both politically and morally-than might an old-fashioned political quarrel between liberals and conservatives…we must declare ourselves anti-fascists.”
www.inquirer.com/opinion/trum...
@inquirer.com
“Defeating fascism requires a very different type of posture-both politically and morally-than might an old-fashioned political quarrel between liberals and conservatives…we must declare ourselves anti-fascists.”
www.inquirer.com/opinion/trum...
Why we can’t allow Trump to ban that other f-word | Will Bunch
The column the Trump regime wants to ban: America has to call out surging fascism in order to defeat it.
www.inquirer.com
October 6, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Must read from @willbunch.bsky.social
@inquirer.com
“Defeating fascism requires a very different type of posture-both politically and morally-than might an old-fashioned political quarrel between liberals and conservatives…we must declare ourselves anti-fascists.”
www.inquirer.com/opinion/trum...
@inquirer.com
“Defeating fascism requires a very different type of posture-both politically and morally-than might an old-fashioned political quarrel between liberals and conservatives…we must declare ourselves anti-fascists.”
www.inquirer.com/opinion/trum...
Reposted by Jim Carroll
Thank God the feds have finally shown up to protect us Oregonians from the octogenarian veterans and their wives! Those people have been running roughshod over the community for long enough!!!
An 84-year-old said she sustained a concussion and was hit with a projectile after she and her husband, a Vietnam vet, were knocked down by federal officers.
Federal agents knock down elderly couple during Portland protest
An 84-year-old said she sustained a concussion and was hit with a projectile after she and her husband, a Vietnam vet, were knocked down by federal officers.
www.oregonlive.com
October 5, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Thank God the feds have finally shown up to protect us Oregonians from the octogenarian veterans and their wives! Those people have been running roughshod over the community for long enough!!!
Reposted by Jim Carroll
"This Week in Democracy – Week 37: Trump Goes Full Fascist and Denounces 'Enemy From Within'"
Another week of Zeteo's project to document the growth of authoritarianism in Trump's second term.
Another week of Zeteo's project to document the growth of authoritarianism in Trump's second term.
This Week in Democracy – Week 37: Trump Goes Full Fascist and Denounces 'Enemy From Within'
Another week of Zeteo's project to document the growth of authoritarianism in Trump's second term.
zeteo.com
October 4, 2025 at 10:34 PM
"This Week in Democracy – Week 37: Trump Goes Full Fascist and Denounces 'Enemy From Within'"
Another week of Zeteo's project to document the growth of authoritarianism in Trump's second term.
Another week of Zeteo's project to document the growth of authoritarianism in Trump's second term.