David S. Meyer
@davidsmeyer.bsky.social
sociology and political science prof./ author/ swimmer/ dad
Jeanine Pirro told the truth, after exhausting other options politicsoutdoors.com/2026/08/03/j...
Jeanine Pirro told the truth, after exhausting other options
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro angered her benefactor, Donald Trump, by asking a federal judge to dismiss felony charges she’d filed against Olympian Davey Hearn,* a member of the International Wh…
politicsoutdoors.com
Getting the facts out isn't always dramatic, but it is critical to democracy. What resistance looks like: telling the truth.... politicsoutdoors.com/2026/08/02/w...
What resistance looks like: telling the truth….
Demonstrations capture the imagination–at least sometimes–but effective social movements always include much more. The image above covers a March on the Pentagon (October 21, 1967), and…
politicsoutdoors.com
try to post on the anniversary of the 1982 nuclear freeze demonstration each year. Nuclear weapons are visibly relevant, again, and there are lessons for all sorts of social movements. Froze and reversed the arms race: anniversary, repost. politicsoutdoors.com/2026/06/12/f...
Froze and reversed the arms race: anniversary, repost.
The June 12th nuclear freeze post, tweaked and updated…. I try to remember to repost this every June 12, a reminder about the massive nuclear freeze march, part of an important campaign in th…
politicsoutdoors.com
Notes from a divestment protest at a college graduation: Distant issues and proximate opponents: a note on campus protests + politicsoutdoors.com/2026/05/29/d...
Distant issues and proximate opponents: a note on campus protests +
Enemies help activists build movement campaigns. Aggressive or offensive antagonists personify grievances and help unify coalitions of opposition. They provide convenient targets and simplify the s…
politicsoutdoors.com
Pope completes his rookie year by talking with US Secretary of State. Not an easy job, but I think Leo will be picked up for another year.
May Day 2026, it's more than labor at stake. politicsoutdoors.com/2026/05/01/m...
May Day 2026, it’s more than labor at stake.
This is a repost and edit of an earlier post. As always, May Day is an international day of protest for workers rights. Below is a picture of a march at a courthouse in Philadelphia.&nbs…
politicsoutdoors.com
I am a candidate for office in the American Sociological Association. I've been asked to provide a statement on a proposed academic boycott of Israel. Here's what I wrote: Academic boycott of Israel and the American Sociological Association politicsoutdoors.com/2026/04/17/a...
Academic boycott of Israel and the American Sociological Association
I don’t usually write about professional matters here, but there are all kinds of issues about protest and organizations and influence at play here. It may be of interest to Politicsoutdoors …
politicsoutdoors.com
One battle after another (not the movie!) Does war go to the top of grievances against Trump? Or is it just one more offense? politicsoutdoors.com/2026/04/02/o...
One battle after another (not the movie!)
War dominates our screens, our politics, and our brains. For a while, it crowds out almost everything else. And, more than virtually any other issue, war polarizes. For these reasons and others, pr…
politicsoutdoors.com
The last Cesar Chavez Day (2026) politicsoutdoors.com/2026/03/26/t...
The last Cesar Chavez Day (2026)
Thanks to the California state legislature, the last Cesar Chavez Day was in 2025. March 31 will mark the holiday this year, renamed Farmworkers Day. Given the revelations of the past few days, thi…
politicsoutdoors.com
Standard for the admin to malign and discredit critics. It's unfortunate that this one is so discreditable. Joe Kent, a Top U.S. Counterterrorism Official, Resigns Over the Iran War www.nytimes.com/2026/03/17/w...
Joe Kent, a Top U.S. Counterterrorism Official, Resigns Over the Iran War
nytimes.com
Twin Cities Redux: What a Resistance win looks like politicsoutdoors.com/2026/02/12/t...
Twin Cities Redux: What a Resistance win looks like
ICE is retreating from Minneapolis, but this time it’s not because of climate change. Instead, it’s a victory–albeit a very costly one–for the resistance to the Trump Admini…
politicsoutdoors.com
Long ago, I thought Shelley had it nailed, identifying poets as the unacknowledged legislators of the world. Then I got skeptical and went to grad. school--an overreaction. Protest songs, poetry, and political influence politicsoutdoors.com/2026/01/30/p...
Protest songs, poetry, and political influence
Long ago, I was seduced by Shelley’s Defense of Poetry, which concluded with a bold claim: “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” At some point, I became skeptic…
politicsoutdoors.com
ICE made Alex Pretti a martyr. Repression in Minneapolis backfires (2) politicsoutdoors.com/2026/01/25/r...
Repression in Minneapolis backfires (2)
Federal agents keeping the peace (?) in Minneapolis after killing a demonstrator. Repression is risky for everyone. It works for authorities when most opponents are deterred from taking visible act…
politicsoutdoors.com
I'm trying to catch up with the horrifying killings in Minnesota and the resistance Repression backfires in Minneapolis (1) politicsoutdoors.com/2026/01/24/r...
Repression backfires in Minneapolis (1)
Federal agents seem determined to kill anti-deportation protesters, at least enough of them to kill the resistance. It’s not working–at least not yet. Minnesotans are fighting back. Who…
politicsoutdoors.com
theconversation.com/filming-ice-...
Filming ICE is legal but exposes you to digital tracking – here’s how to minimize the risk
Federal agents have pepper-sprayed, tackled and detained people recording their actions. If you post your recordings of agents, you also risk the feds tracking you and those around you.
theconversation.com
Here's something on Martin Luther King Day 2026 (repost plus) politicsoutdoors.com/2026/01/19/m...
Martin Luther King Day 2026 (repost plus)
Commemoration is very much a salient issue at the moment. Donald Trump, president, is rewriting the history of the Capitol Hill invasion and American history more broadly. It’s no surprise th…
politicsoutdoors.com
💥 Citizen Scholar made the list of book forums for next year's @asanews.bsky.social meetings. 💥 Thanks to @nvancleve.bsky.social, @davidsmeyer.bsky.social, @daniellaurison.bsky.social, and @jessicacalarco.com for agreeing to discuss! And @columbiaup.bsky.social www.asanet.org/annual-meeti...
What is this? Game knows game? Mamdani understands how to deploy charm? They shared favorite pizza places? www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Trump pivots from bashing Mamdani, predicting he will ‘do a great job’ as mayor
Trump warmed to Mamdani, even declaring he would finally feel comfortable moving back to the city with the 34-year-old democratic socialist running city hall.
washingtonpost.com
Creating a moral hazard for food fights? www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
Jury finds D.C. ‘sandwich guy’ not guilty of assaulting officer
Sean C. Dunn admitted he flung the hoagie at a federal agent. His attorneys called it a “harmless gesture” of protest as Trump commandeered D.C. police.
washingtonpost.com
Unintentionally, Donald Trump has fed citizen anxiety about America's expensive new nuclear buildup. New nuclear tests are a political test politicsoutdoors.com/2025/11/02/n... via @davidsmeyer1
New nuclear tests are a political test
Donald Trump announced that the United States would start testing its nuclear arsenal again–after foregoing nuclear weapons testing since 1992, when the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union fe…
politicsoutdoors.com
Alright University of Arizona letter has arrived. I would say this reads as a soft rejection where they say they would love to chat more but: "We seek no special treatment and believe in our ability to compete for federally funded research strictly on merit." president.arizona.edu/sites/defaul...
president.arizona.edu
University of Arizona rejects the compact: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://president.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2025-10/Suresh-Garimella-to-Sec-Linda-McMahon.pdf
The numbers of people who came out are extraordinary, but it will take more than large numbers at a one-day event to change the moment. The 3.5% fallacy politicsoutdoors.com/2025/10/18/t...
The 3.5% fallacy
Every media outlet is going to post estimated numbers on the No Kings rallies, and they’re sure to be impressive. Larger than the extremely large June 14 demonstrations will be seen as a sign…
politicsoutdoors.com
Our podcast guest @davidsmeyer.bsky.social isn’t interested in the romance of resistance; he examines its machinery. And what he’s found might surprise cynics: Protests work, but not the way we think they do, and almost never on the timeline we expect. #NoKingsOct18 whowhatwhy.org/podcast/why-...
Why The ‘No Kings’ March Won’t Change Anything — Until It Does - WhoWhatWhy
Millions may march this weekend. Some will go home thinking it didn’t matter. Here’s why they’re wrong — and right.
whowhatwhy.org
MIT, by emphasizing data and merit, rather than politics, set out a standard for the rest of academia. Anchoring academic resistance politicsoutdoors.com/2025/10/17/a...
Anchoring academic resistance
Last week the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) rejected the “Compact” offered by the Trump Administration, crossing a line into resistance and (implicitly) inviting other uni…
politicsoutdoors.com
Academic leaders fight first for their own schools--and higher ed becomes more vulnerable as a result. Solidarity and higher education politicsoutdoors.com/2025/10/16/s...
Solidarity and higher education
Virtually everyone starts with a gripe about higher education: costs, grades, debt, jobs, parking, artificial intelligence, natural intelligence, and so and so on. The Trump administration has floa…
politicsoutdoors.com
Academic freedom and free speech mean space for ideas you don't like. Threats of violence, often credible, shut down free inquiry. The case of Mark Bray:https://politicsoutdoors.com/2025/10/10/thugs-threats-and-repression/
The Trump/OMB/Vought threat is all about taking tens of thousands of government employees hostage. Use the language.
The win on Kimmel is one of what will be many turning points that end up mattering. Jimmy Kimmel, free speech, and turning points politicsoutdoors.com/2025/09/24/j...
Jimmy Kimmel, free speech, and turning points
When the Trump episode (epoch?) in American life ends, the brief suspension of a late night talk show host may well mark the turning point when Republicans and conservatives began to abandon this p…
politicsoutdoors.com
When is the president of antifa going to issue a statement?