Tom Schaller
@schaller67.bsky.social
UMBC political scientist, NYT bestselling co-author of White Rural Rage, diehard Washington Caps fan, peripatetic. Longtime DC denizen, Albany, NY, native.
A great follow-on essay to the great original essay. Elrod is making some of the most compelling arguments of this moment in our politics:
Alan Elrod@aselrod.bsky.social · 3d agoI wrote about Will Stancil, Luigi Mangione, Trump AI slop, Lenin memes, and Hasan Piker’s defense of Mao. Yes, they’re all connected www.liberalcurrents.com/the-parasoci...
this is an admission of a crime btw; superpacs cannot coordinate with candidates
Headquarters@headquartersnews.bsky.social · 2d agoQ: MAGA Inc., the Super PAC that your allies control-- Trump: Not my allies, I control. $800M. I could spend it on anything I want. I have a busy schedule. I won. I'm not campaigning. A lot of people are angry at Republicans. They are not angry at me.
The moment Collins announced she was a no on Blanche, you KNEW they had the votes.
Hey folks, here’s my latest piece for @atrupar.com Public Notice. Thanks for supporting me and Aaron. open.substack.com/pub/aaronrup...
Relitigating Trump's old failures to distract from new ones
Republicans go all in on the politics of grievance.
open.substack.com
They’re all spineless cowards afraid of his voters.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5d agoCornyn: "There's nothing we could do to rein in the president"
Sense & sensibility are sinking in... www.reuters.com/world/us/dem...
Voters prefer Democrats over Republicans on economy for first time in a decade, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
Democrats lead Republicans 37% to 36% on stewardship of the US economy, while President Donald Trump's approval rating fell to 35% from 37% last month, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows.
reuters.com
Two differences between late Biden and late McConnell: McConnell is clearly far more incapacitated—but Republicans are of course far more unified in covering for and defending him. Democrats and liberals hate one thing most: That the Dems *never* respond forcefully enough.
The Invite is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. Brava to Olivia Wilde who gives the best performance (and all four actors were great) and directed.
I can’t believe it. All my childhood punishments have become my adult goals. • Eating vegetables • Staying home • Having a nap • Going to bed early
It's absolutely insane we've somehow let the Covid recriminations debate become like "why didn't we reopen in person schools before there was a vaccine" and not "why did none of the trump guys go to jail for stealing PPE from New York hospitals in March 2020"
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced Friday that she has restored voting rights for 66,085 people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to vote due to past felony convictions. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Virginia Gov. Spanberger has restored voting rights for 66,000 people with past felony convictions
The volume presents a dramatic reversal of prior Gov. Glenn Youngkin's tenure, when he restored less than 10,000 voter's rights during his entire four-year term.
democracydocket.com
Republicans want to rewrite the history of COVID just like they want to rewrite the history of January 6th and the ongoing reality of climate change. They refuse to accept that they or their ideas could be the villain of the story. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Anthony Fauci’s high-profile Senate hearing: what we learned
Six years on from Covid crisis, Republicans still politicizing science – and Fauci remains a political punching bag
theguardian.com
Trump absolutely cratering by many metrics in new CNN poll: 66% say he puts himself over country 61% disapprove of ballroom, arch, etc 57% say lacks sharpness to serve (!) 73% say he's out of touch w/regular people (!!) His personalist project is over. New piece: newrepublic.com/article/2137...
We’ve Officially Entered the Twilight of Late-Stage Trumpism
It’s all there in a new CNN poll, and it’s heartening to see: Large majorities are sick of Donald Trump’s vanity, venality, and megalomania.
newrepublic.com
Dear MAHA and MAGA types: Please, please really stick it to Fauci and millions of other libs by refusing all vaccines. That’ll teach us! And in gratitude for these lessons, we shall lavish upon you Darwin Awards. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/08/w...
As Parents Reject Vitamin K Shots, Some Babies Develop Devastating Bleeding
Doctors described treating brain and abdominal hemorrhages in infants who hadn’t received the routine injection. Several said the images of those patients were seared in their minds.
nytimes.com
Could somebody please just show a chart with county level support for Trump and Covid deaths post-vaccine? It’s clear that places where people refused to get vaccinated got sick and died at higher rates. It’s a simple fact.
Today Lindsay Graham is commemorated on Capitol Hill. As I argued in @atrupar.com Public Notice, the senator died a sellout to conservatism and bootlicking coward: www.publicnotice.co/p/lindsey-gr...
Lindsey Graham and the rot of modern conservatism
From Gingrich to Trump, Graham was a fixture as the GOP became increasingly malignant.
publicnotice.co
Wrote about the Masculinity Scam, or how selling reactionary ideas about what makes a man helps a small number of bad people profit and makes everyone else (including men) miserable www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
This is why I'm always saying that fascism is not an alternative set of principles. It's freedom from the constraints imposed by principles qua principles. It's permission to avoid the work of knitting together a coherent, rule-bound *self*, the work of thought itself.
As everyone knows, the best humor is the kind you have to explain.
Elon has been melting down and raging nonstop since his interview with The Economist and Chef Andres is one of the best and kindest humans on planet earth.
Public officials signing NDAs—that should be illegal—to work secretly with energy company and Meta to create a data center. Disgusting. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/b...
5 Things to Know About Meta’s Giant Data Center in Louisiana
The road to the giant project was paved with secret meetings and an ever-expanding building plan.
nytimes.com
He’s insane, cruel, stupid: ‘Is This Supposed to Be Fun?’ Trump Hurls Insults at Correspondents’ Dinner www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/u...
At Correspondents’ Dinner, a Rambling Trump Hurls Insults
President Trump gave the keynote speech as relations between his administration and the press continue to deteriorate.
nytimes.com
Hey Donald “it’s all because of me when markets reach new records” Trump: the Nasdaq has fallen more than NINE percent in the past SEVEN weeks. Could you explain to us how that’s not your fault and in fact probably Joe Biden is to blame? I forget how that logic works. Need reminder. Thx.
Only $146,000 per apartment. That’s over $12,000 a month per apartment. What a deal.
Martin Austermuhle@maustermuhle.bsky.social · 2w agoWow: The National Guard has signed a $292 million contract to house thousands of troops deployed to D.C. in 2,000 apartments in the city, instead of in hotels or other places where they've been put up. www.notus.org/defense/nati...
Less gracious title to this piece: “Pro-life blithely people kill more babies and mothers”
ProPublica@propublica.org · 2w agoWe found that the sepsis rate in second-trimester pregnancy loss hospitalizations increased by more than 50% under Texas’ abortion ban. Here’s how we did our analysis. (Published Feb. 2025)
We found that the sepsis rate in second-trimester pregnancy loss hospitalizations increased by more than 50% under Texas’ abortion ban. Here’s how we did our analysis. (Published Feb. 2025)
Texas Won’t Study How Its Abortion Ban Impacts Women, So We Did
Since Texas banned abortion, no one has studied the statewide effects on pregnant women experiencing complications. Here’s how we sifted through data on millions of pregnancy hospitalizations and anal...
propublica.org
Breaking News: Federal officials acknowledged in court documents that they canceled grants to states that didn’t vote for President Trump in 2024. nyti.ms/4gRd5Kb
