A little professional news: I'm thrilled to announce I'm joining @politico.com as Politics Editor with an eye on the midterms and '28. This is gonna be so much fun. www.politico.com/blogs/politi...

POLITICO Names Cameron Joseph Politics Editor

politico.com

Another wild week really got the going panel today: Jason Dick, Editor-in-chief of CQ-Roll Call, @svdate.bsky.social, Sr. White House Correspondent @huffpost.com and @cameronjoseph.bsky.social, Senior Washington Reporter for the Christian Science Monitor. bit.ly/Click-2-Listen youtu.be/9Q7peudRywk

Shutdown dealmaking Dem @shaheen.senate.gov on OMB threat not to give federal workers back pay: "Would be a lot easier to resolve the situation if Russ Vought would stop talking."

SCOOP: PA prosecutors were alerted to possible voting irregularities by one of MAGA's leading voices. A long paper trail shows Jack Posobiec has been living in Maryland but voting using his parent's address in Pennsylvania for years. Me with @marisakabas.bsky.social slate.com/news-and-pol...

MAGA’s “Voter Fraud” Watchdog Votes in a Swing State. He Doesn’t Live There.

A long paper trail shows that Jack Posobiec casts a ballot in one state and lives in another.

slate.com

Trump is threatening more mass gov't layoffs now that we're in the shutdown. He & Vought may have more to say on that today. But they don't have any more power to fire employees than they did yesterday—and actually may face some restrictions. Here come the lawsuits! www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

Trump threatens mass layoffs as shutdown begins. Can he do that?

A government shutdown is underway amid partisan spending disputes. What’s different this time: President Donald Trump is pledging to further reduce the federal workforce.

csmonitor.com

Quite a line from @duckworth.senate.gov when I asked her earlier about Trump's pocket rescissions and what Democrats' shutdown position should be: "Frankly, I don't know why we keep playing by the rules when Republicans are shooting referees in the face."

I spent time over the recess talking to Latino voters in New Jersey about Trump & the upcoming gov race. Some are feeling buyer's remorse after Hispanic areas swung hard to Trump in '24. Even Trump supporters worried about deporting longtime residents. www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

Are Trump’s gains among Latino voters fading? New Jersey is the first big test.

Were Donald Trump’s gains among Hispanic voters an anomaly – or the beginning of a more permanent realignment? The New Jersey governor’s race this year will provide an early test.

csmonitor.com

Another wild week in Trump 2.0. TX Dems Stand-up. CA-NY-IL Dems Fight Back. Selling the BBB. GOP Town Hall Problems. Trump: Obama Committed Treason. Treason Claims=Epstein Distraction. Tariff Price Hikes are Here. YouTube youtu.be/kD-hH7m6URA Audio bit.ly/Click-2-Listen

Scoop: @commoncause.org, the preeminent anti-gerrymandering org, is in the midst of a tense internal fight over whether to change its stance in light of California Dems' push to fire back at Trump/Texas/etc. Would be a big shift—and telling. www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

Top gerrymandering foe faces internal crisis as Trump pushes to redraw the maps

Common Cause has long argued against partisan redistricting. Now the group faces internal pressure to relax its stance in California, amid concerns that democracy confronts bigger challenges.

csmonitor.com

NEW: The metadata of the "full raw" video from the prison nearby Jeffrey Epstein's cell that DOJ released this week appears to have been modified—but nobody would say how, exactly, which will likely further fuel conspiracy theories. @dmehro.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/metada...

Metadata Shows the FBI’s ‘Raw’ Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Was Likely Modified

There is no evidence the footage was deceptively manipulated, but ambiguities around how the video was processed may further fuel conspiracy theories about Epstein's death.

wired.com

Steve Bannon took aim at Fox News and hawkish Republicans and warned Trump against heavy US involvement in Iran. "The Israelis have to finish what they started. They started this. They should finish it." More from this morning's @csmonitor.bsky.social breakfast: www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

Steve Bannon warns Trump against heavy US involvement in Iran

MAGA influencer Steve Bannon is warning against the Trump administration getting involved in a lengthy conflict in Iran, lighting into Republicans and conservative talking heads who he describes as be...

csmonitor.com

Local lawmakers in both parties have been facing a huge increase in death threats. In the wake of the Minnesota assassinations, they're scrambling with how to respond to keep themselves safer. www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

As political violence hits home, local lawmakers struggle with how to stay safe

Attacks on Minnesota lawmakers are part of a wave of political violence that has local officeholders grappling with how to increase their security.

csmonitor.com

Found out while reporting this that @pelosi.house.gov knew JB Pritkzer's mom "very well"—they were both senior officials in the Northern CA Dem Party at the same time and shared an office. Called her a "lovely woman" who instilled in JB his "commitment to public service."

Cameron Joseph@cameronjoseph.bsky.social · last yr.

@jbpritzker.bsky.social spent a decade working with Holocaust survivors. That experience is fueling his alarm about Trump. I sat down with him at the museum he helped build to discuss how that and his family story of surviving the pogroms shapes his worldview. www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

@jbpritzker.bsky.social spent a decade working with Holocaust survivors. That experience is fueling his alarm about Trump. I sat down with him at the museum he helped build to discuss how that and his family story of surviving the pogroms shapes his worldview. www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

How JB Pritzker’s faith and Holocaust work are powering his dire warnings about Trump

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has long invested in helping Americans understand the ongoing relevance of Nazi-era lessons. He says it’s never been more important.

csmonitor.com

RIP, Brian Wilson. Losing him and Sly Stone in quick succession hurts.

SCOOP: ICE, HSI, and DHS are getting side-door access to the nationwide system of Flock license plate cameras by asking local police to perform lookups for them, new public records show. ICE does *not* have a contract to use this surveillance tool itself. www.404media.co/ice-taps-int...

ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows

Flock's automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras are in more than 5,000 communities around the U.S. Local police are doing lookups in the nationwide system for ICE.

404media.co

Poignant grafs at the start of this @cameronjoseph.bsky.social interview with Ben Crump, the lawyer for George Floyd's family, on the five-year anniversary of his death. www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/...

Sunday marks the fifth anniversary of George Floyd's murder. I talked to civil rights lawyer @attorneybencrump.bsky.social, who reps Floyd's family. "It’s getting more daunting than ever to hold police accountable for excessive force and police brutality." www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/...

George Floyd’s family lawyer thinks the path to justice is ‘more daunting than ever’

Five years ago, the murder of George Floyd by police sparked a nationwide protest movement. Today, Ben Crump, the lawyer who represented Mr. Floyd’s family, says it’s “more daunting than ever to hold ...

csmonitor.com

It's time to play.... Will! They! Cave! www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

Trump strong-arms House Republicans. They’re not ready to cave (yet).

President Trump’s second-term legacy rests on whether he can persuade enough Republican lawmakers to support his priorities. He has more to do to close the deal.

csmonitor.com

The @trygveolson.bsky.social Seven Rules for Dealing with Autocrats, Pt. 1 Rule #1: Play the game you are in, not the one you wish you were w/ @reedgalen.bsky.social www.24sight.news/p/seven-rule...

Seven Rules for Dealing with Autocrats, Pt. 1

Rule #1: Play the game you are in, not the one you wish you were

24sight.news

"The U.S. is currently moving faster toward autocracy than any other fully democratic government that has backslid in the 21st century besides El Salvador – faster even than Hungary, Poland, or Venezuela, says Steven Levitsky, [...] co-author of the book 'How Democracies Die.'"

The Christian Science Monitor@csmonitor.bsky.social · last yr.

They’ve watched democracies fail. They see it happening under Trump.

With Stephen Miller suggesting Trump might suspend habeas corpus and ICE arresting Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, reupping my magazine cover that ran online yesterday: www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

They’ve watched democracies fail. They see it happening under Trump.

As Donald Trump fights the courts over Kilmar Abrego Garcia, targets law firms, and tests the rule of law, democracy experts warn they’ve seen this before.

csmonitor.com

Well worth a read.

Cameron Joseph@cameronjoseph.bsky.social · last yr.

Experts who work in countries where democracy has been gutted are alarmed about what's happening in the US. Hungarian Prof. Gabor Halmai (who used to work for its constitutional court): “I don’t see, anymore, such big differences between the U.S. and Hungary." www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

This was the first semester I taught Democratic Erosion where I taught cases from elsewhere in the world and thought to myself - “that doesn’t actually sound that bad” in comparison to the U.S.

Cameron Joseph@cameronjoseph.bsky.social · last yr.

Experts who work in countries where democracy has been gutted are alarmed about what's happening in the US. Hungarian Prof. Gabor Halmai (who used to work for its constitutional court): “I don’t see, anymore, such big differences between the U.S. and Hungary." www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

Bright Line Watch is a survey of polysci profs on US democracy. They were pretty positive all through the first Trump administration. Now? @brendannyhan.bsky.social: "Political scientists are in a state of alarm I've never seen before. What we’re seeing is right out of the authoritarian playbook."

Cameron Joseph@cameronjoseph.bsky.social · last yr.

Experts who work in countries where democracy has been gutted are alarmed about what's happening in the US. Hungarian Prof. Gabor Halmai (who used to work for its constitutional court): “I don’t see, anymore, such big differences between the U.S. and Hungary." www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

@kimlanelaw.bsky.social, who worked with Halmai on Hungary's constitutional court: “There’s this new way of taking over a state... All these new autocrats got elected in free and fair elections the first time. Then what they do is they attack all of the constraints on executive power."

Cameron Joseph@cameronjoseph.bsky.social · last yr.

Experts who work in countries where democracy has been gutted are alarmed about what's happening in the US. Hungarian Prof. Gabor Halmai (who used to work for its constitutional court): “I don’t see, anymore, such big differences between the U.S. and Hungary." www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

@represent.us CEO Maria McFarland Sanchez-Moreno grew up under Fujimori in Peru. She's worked throughout Latin America & the Middle East on democracy issues. She sees a familiar pattern "of democracy being hollowed out from within."

They’ve watched democracies fail. They see it happening under Trump.

As Donald Trump fights the courts over Kilmar Abrego Garcia, targets law firms, and tests the rule of law, democracy experts warn they’ve seen this before.

csmonitor.com

Cameron Joseph@cameronjoseph.bsky.social · last yr.

Experts who work in countries where democracy has been gutted are alarmed about what's happening in the US. Hungarian Prof. Gabor Halmai (who used to work for its constitutional court): “I don’t see, anymore, such big differences between the U.S. and Hungary." www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

Experts who work in countries where democracy has been gutted are alarmed about what's happening in the US. Hungarian Prof. Gabor Halmai (who used to work for its constitutional court): “I don’t see, anymore, such big differences between the U.S. and Hungary." www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

They’ve watched democracies fail. They see it happening under Trump.

As Donald Trump fights the courts over Kilmar Abrego Garcia, targets law firms, and tests the rule of law, democracy experts warn they’ve seen this before.

csmonitor.com

With Trump pushing Rob Manfred to posthumously reinstate Pete Rose, a fun fact: The man who led the investigation that got Rose permanently banned from the MLB in '89 was none other than John Dowd, Trump's first-term personal attorney.