Yair Rosenberg
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yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
Yair Rosenberg
@yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
52K followers 75 following 1.1K posts
Staff writer, The Atlantic.
Teller of stories, troller of Nazis.
Newsletter: theatlantic.com/newsletters/sign-up/deep-shtetl/
Music: bit.ly/azyashir
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yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
If you haven't already read @damonberes.com on the coming era of AI-enabled anti-social media, where frictionless chatbots replace real-world connections and lead to the atrophy of human social skills and communities, you should: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
“Chatbots can create this frictionless social bubble,” Nina Vasan, a psychiatrist and the founder of the Stanford Lab for Mental Health Innovation, told me. “Real people will push back. They get tired. They change the subject. You can look in their eyes and you can see they’re getting bored.” Friction is inevitable in human relationships. It can be uncomfortable, even maddening. Yet friction can be meaningful—as a check on selfish behavior or inflated self-regard; as a spur to look more closely at other people; as a way to better understand the foibles and fears we all share. Neither Ani nor any other chatbot will ever tell you it’s bored or glance at its phone while you’re talking or tell you to stop being so stupid and self-righteous. They will never ask you to pet-sit or help them move, or demand anything at all from you. They provide some facsimile of companionship while allowing users to avoid uncomfortable interactions or reciprocity. “In the extreme, it can become this hall of mirrors where your worldview is never challenged,” Vasan said. And so, although chatbots may be built on the familiar architecture of engagement, they enable something new: They allow you to talk forever to no one other than yourself.
November 19, 2025 at 6:27 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
As I wrote in 2022, expecting Trump to gatekeep antisemites on the right like Fuentes and Carlson mistakes a cause for the cure: www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
November 17, 2025 at 12:39 AM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
When pressed on her wildest past pronouncements, Marjorie Taylor Greene has claimed she didn't know much before she entered politics. This is not a very convincing defense. It also does not explain everything she has said and done SINCE she entered politics. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
On the few occasions when she has been confronted with her past positions and incendiary assertions, Greene has deflected or pleaded ignorance. On The View, she disavowed the QAnon conspiracy theory, saying—as she has before—that she was misled by “media lies and stuff you read on social media.” On Real Time With Bill Maher, Greene noted that she never said that any wildfires were caused by a “Jewish” space laser, as some outlets reported. She merely tied such fire-starting technology to the Rothschild banking dynasty, a Jewish family that has been subject to countless anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. “I didn’t even know the Rothschilds were Jewish,” Greene explained with an aw-shucks shrug. “Before politics, I didn’t know much of any of this stuff.” Fair enough. Greene was but a tender 44 years old when she invoked the Rothschilds—the same age she was when she liked a social-media comment saying that “a bullet to the head would be quicker” for getting rid of then–House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She was practically a child—43—when she mused about executing Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama. But youthful ignorance doesn’t explain every conspiracy theory that Greene has advanced, and every bigot she has embraced, since she entered politics. Because some interlocutors appear to find interrogating her challenging, I thought I’d suggest some lines of inquiry for Greene’s next media appearance. You might say I’m just asking questions.
November 14, 2025 at 2:52 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
It's time to play that classic game, "Who said it: antisemitic Elmo or Candace Owens?"
Elmo says ALL JEWS SHOULD DIE. FUCK JEWS. DONALD TRUMP IS NETANYAHU'S PUPPET BECAUSE HE IS IN THE EPSTEIN FILES. JEWS CONTROL THE WORLD AND NEED TO BE EXTERMINATED. They are blackmailing President Donald Trump in broad daylight. The slow release of the e-mails is intentional. Now he will give them whatever they want. For those who struggle with context clues, THEY=Israel, who Jeffrey Epstein worked for. This is how our nation is run.
November 14, 2025 at 3:40 AM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
That’s because most American ills are of our own making: the result of political choices, trade-offs, and citizen preferences. Many people struggle to find affordable housing because of constraining policies in New York City, California, and other blue strongholds. At this moment, many Americans are facing the loss of their SNAP benefits because of decisions made at the federal level to shut down the government, defund its services, and prevent an emergency fund from offsetting the shortfall. The country doesn’t have Medicare for All because Americans are unwilling to pay the estimated $20 trillion it would cost per decade, not because of the approximately $500 billion we’ve sent to Ukraine and Israel over the course of those countries’ entire existence. Simply put, these situations prevail not because foreign actors defrauded America for the budgetary equivalent of pocket change, but because of policy choices made democratically here at home, for good and for ill. America’s new wave of populist politicians are right to highlight the failings of the country’s elite, both here and abroad. But if they resort to exporting blame for America’s shortfalls in housing, health care, and other areas, rather than taking a hard look within, they will have only quack cures to treat very real ailments.
November 9, 2025 at 7:30 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
This is refreshing in its unvarnished clarity. No more "Zionists," no more "Frankists," no more euphemisms. Just Jews.
November 3, 2025 at 8:06 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
Worth revisiting what I wrote in 2022 after Trump dined with Nick Fuentes. As I said then, all of this was foreseeable:
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
In other words, like so much related to anti-Semitism today—from Ye’s conspiracy theories to far-right attacks on American Jews—Trump’s elevation of anti-Jewish actors is not actually new; people are just starting to notice it. Yesterday’s Trump “mistakes” are tomorrow’s Trump guest list. There is a straight line from the 2016 campaign to the 2022 dinner. It would be comforting to think that some of Trump’s enablers have finally learned this lesson. But despite the condemnations, that’s far from clear. In the aftermath of Trump’s dinner, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declared: “There is no room in the Republican Party for anti-Semitism or white supremacy. Anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected President.” As a general rule, whenever a politician tells you that there is “no room” in their movement for X, that means there currently is room for X, which is why they were compelled to condemn it. And in this case, the contradiction is particularly apparent—after all, Donald Trump was already elected president. If McConnell truly believes what he is saying, then he is in denial about the reality of his own party.
November 2, 2025 at 3:34 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
Again, 2024:
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
November 2, 2025 at 3:13 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
What's really going on with the right and Jews right now: www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
October 31, 2025 at 6:44 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
I wrote this in September 2024. If you want to understand where we are and how we got here, read it all. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
October 30, 2025 at 9:34 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
As always:
October 29, 2025 at 5:23 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
So close to getting it, and yet so far
October 29, 2025 at 5:18 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
October 28, 2025 at 1:57 AM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
Hard to find a better illustration of why you should ignore everything before the 'but':
October 27, 2025 at 3:36 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
October 21, 2025 at 5:10 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
Oh man, this actually worked
October 21, 2025 at 3:42 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
Most Israelis oppose settlements in Gaza and want the war to end. Here's how the Israeli hard right might use the current Gaza agreement as cover to attempt to settle the area anyway:
www.theatlantic.com/internationa...
But although Trump may have momentarily stuffed the far right into a locker, it will slink out as soon as he turns his attention elsewhere. “There will be Jewish settlements in Gaza,” vowed Bezalel Smotrich, a powerful far-right minister in Netanyahu’s government, the day after Trump’s victory speech in Israel. “We have patience,” he went on, “we have determination and faith, and with God’s help, we will continue the series of victories, and the big miracles.” On Sunday, two Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza, and the army responded with air strikes. Smotrich gleefully posted one word on X before the shaky cease-fire was reestablished: “War!” The settler movement did not get where it is by giving up; its activists excel at exploiting every opening. Trump’s Gaza plan presents many such openings. According to the agreement, in the early stages of the current deal, Israel will remain in control of much of Gaza’s uninhabited territory until Hamas is disarmed and displaced. These are precisely the areas that the far right hopes to settle and even annex to Israel. Hamas is dragging its feet on releasing the bodies of dead Israeli hostages, publicly executing Palestinians opposed to its rule, and showing no sign that it intends to give up its weapons. The Israeli army and Hamas are still skirmishing along the cease-fire line. Even if none of this is enough to capsize the accord, it will likely delay further implementation and provide a window for the settlers and their political allies to try to insinuate themselves into those parts of Gaza.
October 21, 2025 at 3:01 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
I wrote this a year ago:
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
October 16, 2025 at 1:04 AM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
I wrote this a little over a month ago:
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
October 16, 2025 at 1:00 AM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
I wrote this in 2022: "In today’s Israel, men like Smotrich no longer feel the need to feign shame. They have moved from hypocrisy to outright advocacy." Piece has sadly held up well. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
October 10, 2025 at 5:01 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
Shouldn't be overlooked: Trump's victory visit to Israel doubles as a straitjacket that binds Netanyahu's government to the agreement. You can't give Trump a standing ovation in the Knesset for his fabulous peace plan, then go back to bombing right after without embarrassing him. That matters.
October 9, 2025 at 5:32 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
It's pretty clear who's the boss in the Trump-Netanyahu relationship.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Contrary to the spin of Netanyahu’s boosters in Israel and the fulmination of anti-Semites in America, Trump has never been beholden to Netanyahu. The reverse is true: Netanyahu has been beholden to Trump. For years, the Israeli leader has marketed himself to voters as the Trump whisperer and presented his alliance with the mercurial American president as an electoral asset. Netanyahu even festooned buildings with photos of himself with Trump on towering campaign posters across Israel. But these boasts have now become a straitjacket. With Israeli elections scheduled for late 2026—and possibly arriving earlier—the prime minister cannot afford a public feud with the president without refuting his own electoral argument. This means Netanyahu not only has to accept Trump’s diktats; he has to spin them as his own ideas—or risk shattering the myth he has built around himself. The president fully grasps this dynamic. “I said, ‘Bibi, this is your chance for victory,’” Trump told the Axios reporter Barak Ravid on Saturday. “He was fine with it. He’s got to be fine with it. He has no choice. With me, you got to be fine.” The president’s official rapid-response team then posted that quote on social media, in case anyone had missed the implication. Trump has not only compelled Netanyahu’s recent about-face on Gaza. Over the past six months, he has forced Netanyahu to abort a major counterstrike in Iran; publicly declared, “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank,” dashing the aspirations of the Israeli settler right; negotiated the release of an American hostage from Hamas behind Netanyahu’s back; and made the Israeli leader apologize to Qatar for his recent strike there—after which the White House released a humiliating photo of Netanyahu’s phone call of contrition. This week, he signed an executive order granting NATO-level security guarantees to Qatar, the longtime hosts and patrons of the Hamas leadership abroad. Trump has also repeatedly amplified and praised the Israelis protesting against the Netanyahu government and in favor of a hostage deal.
October 6, 2025 at 2:28 AM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
My latest on what is really happening with the Gaza negotiations and what it will take for them to succeed (gift link): www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
October 6, 2025 at 1:47 AM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
Looks like Trump is accepting Hamas's offer to negotiate the details of his proposal and wants to get the hostages out while that happens. It's past midnight in Israel on Shabbat, hope Bibi's up!
October 3, 2025 at 9:22 PM
yair-rosenberg.bsky.social
In case you are wondering, we are here
www.theatlantic.com/internationa...
October 3, 2025 at 8:22 PM