My new book is officially here! UNITED STATES OF OLIGARCHY looks at what oligarchy actually is, and how we got here, and where we're going—and how wealth inequality in the US threatens both democracy and national security alike, and has led directly to the resurgence of empire. Pick up a copy now!

It seems @cjcmichel.bsky.social's new book, "United States of Oligarchy," from which this article was excerpted, goes on sale today. (Congrats Casey!) And remember Philip Pullman's timeless motto: "Buy books and read them—but at least buy them."

How Jared Kushner used his position to hop in bed with autocrats

And sell out America.

motherjones.com

Extremely excited that an excerpt of my new book UNITED STATES OF OLIGARCHY is now out with @zeteo.com! Huge thanks to @mehdirhasan.bsky.social for the chance to contribute to Zeteo. UNITED STATES OF OLIGARCHY is on bookshelves *now*—go get yourself a copy! zeteo.com/p/americans-...

Americans Live in the 'United States of Oligarchy' With Elon Musk at the Top

Read an exclusive excerpt from journalist Casey Michel's new book exploring how the country's wealthiest are monopolizing U.S. democracy and propping up dictators and autocrats in the process.

zeteo.com

DC friends! I'll be speaking about my new book UNITED STATES OF OLIGARCHY (out today!!) on August 5th at 7 pm at @politicsandprose.bsky.social (Wharf location), alongside the great Matt Duss. Hope to see you there!

So happy this piece was written. It always struck me as weird that the "U.S. Civil War" was... not a civil war at all! It wasn't a war for leadership in Washington. It was Richmond trying to break off to found a new nation and seize further American lands. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/o...

Opinion | The ‘Civil War’ Is a Lie. Let’s Call It the ‘Slaveholders’ Rebellion’ Again.

To face our history, we must be honest about it.

nytimes.com

Huge thanks to Kirkus Reviews for this great review of UNITED STATES OF OLIGARCHY: "a damning account of an unaccountable caste." My new book is out tomorrow(!) - get your final pre-orders in now! www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

Only three days until UNITED STATES OF OLIGARCHY is out: "Readers will be outraged by the egregiousness of it all.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) "A damning account of an unaccountable caste." (Kirkus Reviews) Get your final pre-orders in now from your favorite bookstore!

If you're in New York this Monday, come watch my wife roast me! (Mainly by moderating my book launch for UNITED STATES OF OLIGARCHY at PowerHouse Arena in Brooklyn.) See you there! versharma.substack.com/p/come-watch...

Come watch me moderate a talk & roast my husband

He's got a highly relevant new book coming out next week: "United States of Oligarchy."

versharma.substack.com

New York friends—I'll be doing my book launch for my new book, UNITED STATES OF OLIGARCHY, next week at PowerHouse Arena in Dumbo! Monday, August 3rd 7 pm Even more incredible—@versharma.bsky.social agreed to moderate. 😍 Come on by! powerhousearena.com/events/book-...

Great Book! Don't miss how financial secrecy is fuelling the rise of oligarchy in the USA and the rest of the world!

Casey Michel@cjcmichel.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Honored to have an excerpt from my new book as the cover story for the next issue of @motherjones.com. Make sure to get a copy of the magazine on newsstands—and make sure to pre-order a copy of UNITED STATES OF OLIGARCHY now!

"The U.S. policy elite has long seemed to have a particular weakness for misreading Russia." foreignpolicy.com/2026/07/21/r...

The Western Myth of Russian Greatness

There is a long history of foreigners idealizing Russia and exaggerating its power.

foreignpolicy.com

"The Trump administration has collected more than $13bn in revenues from Venezuelan oil sales this year, according to FT calculations, but has said almost nothing about what has happened to the money." www.ft.com/content/0e56...

The US has collected about $13bn of Venezuela’s oil money. Where is it?

Washington has given diverging accounts of where the earthquake-shattered country’s funds are going

ft.com

“In its months-long campaign to strangle Russia’s hold on Crimea, Ukraine has finally killed off the idea that Crimea is some kind of "special" or "holy" place for Russians,” writes Casey Michel, Director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program, in his op-ed.

Thanks to Ukraine's new strategy, Russia's grip on Crimea is crumbling

The past month has seen an entire string of successes in Ukraine's war against Russia, with both long-range attacks and swarms of drone strikes slowly turning the tide in Kyiv's favor. Few things, tho...

kyivindependent.com

Read this 👇 by @cjcmichel.bsky.social

The Kyiv Independent@kyivindependent.com · 2w ago

“In its months-long campaign to strangle Russia’s hold on Crimea, Ukraine has finally killed off the idea that Crimea is some kind of "special" or "holy" place for Russians,” writes Casey Michel, Director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program, in his op-ed.

A new book sets the record straight on what really went wrong in communist Albania.

The CIA’s First Failed Coup

Kim Philby, parachute drops, and what really happened in communist Albania.

foreignpolicy.com

Yes, Democrats should absolutely run on corruption in the midterms (and beyond)—just look at what Democratic voters want! www.ft.com/content/f91f...

Thrilled to welcome two new senior fellows to @cipolicy.bsky.social! Yuman Rizvi joins as our Leahy Fellow on human rights & security, focusing on immigration & militarism, & @cjcmichel.bsky.social joins as Senior Fellow on corruption, as CIP builds an affirmative, progressive foreign policy

First, the U.S. pushes to seize entire lands from an ally (Greenland). Then it actively threatens to carve up another ally (Canada). And now it complains that those same allies are banding together? Complete strategic myopia.

Steven Chase@stevenchase.bsky.social · 3w ago

Senior Trump official calls ‘middle powers’ strategy waste of time, money www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

The "promise" from the IRS to never audit Trump, his family, or their businesses ever again is still intact: www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Judge Says Trump Tried to Manipulate Legal System With IRS Lawsuit

The president manipulated the legal system in a case that paved the way for the “anti-weaponization” fund and no-audit pledge, a federal judge ruled.

wsj.com

.atlatszo.hu obtained contracts from the Danube Institute, a key node in Orbán's network linking European right-wing populists with MAGA. Just before the election, it signed record-value deals, using public funds to court Anglo-American right-wingers. VSquare.org

Orbán's Foreign Payroll: How Hungary Spent a Fortune to Buy Influence on the Western Right - VSquare.org

Átlátszó has been granted access to contracts signed by the Danube Institute, a key component of the Orbán government’s attempt to build a network between European right-wing populists and the MAGA world just before the election.

vsquare.org

Putin is obsessed with conquering Ukraine. It's his idée fixe. It's a pathological obsession - it's not rational. Game theory schemes and complex IR bargaining models don't work. We need to adjust our thinking.

Casey Michel@cjcmichel.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Putin will never be convinced he will lose in Ukraine. He can only be outlasted. My latest for @foreignpolicy.com, calling for a wholesale strategic shift in Ukraine: foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/11/p...

The CIA's first covert mission of the Cold War was far stranger, far more disastrous, and far more destabilizing than we ever knew. My write-up in @foreignpolicy.com on a new book on the CIA's early missions in Albania—and what that meant for the Cold War. foreignpolicy.com/2026/07/10/c...

The CIA’s First Failed Coup

Kim Philby, parachute drops, and what really happened in communist Albania.

foreignpolicy.com

That Economist essay from Melnichenko is interesting, but way too much fear-mongering in there on what might happen to Russia post-Putin. Why is "unmanageable" "fragmentation" one of the most likely scenarios? Should Tatarstan and Chechnya and Sakha be condemned to be controlled by Moscow forever?

My latest at @houstonchronicle.com on how great it is to see James Talarico prioritize anti-corruption in his Senate run—and why so much of it comes down to campaign finance reform and overturning Citizens United (and Buckley!): www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outl...

Talarico wants to fight corruption. Who’ll join him? | Opinion

Talarico’s anti-corruption agenda goes beyond Paxton and Trump. It targets a pay-to-play culture that has warped Washington for years, writes Casey Michel, author of United States of Oligarchy.

houstonchronicle.com

Talked with @nymag.com about how Jared Kushner's lifetime of failures set him up to spark the biggest protests Albania has seen in decades:

New York Magazine@nymag.com · 4w ago

Tasked with ending wars abroad, Trump’s son-in-law accidentally ignited the ‘Flamingo Revolution’ in the Balkans.

Trump on Greenland: "That's what hurt my relationship with NATO...it's an important part for the United States. It's surrounded by China ships & Russian ships. Greenland should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark. We could remove all our soldiers out of Europe. They better be careful"

Read this by @cjcmichel.bsky.social! Spot on as always 💯 “Moscow’s claim to Crimea has been revealed as an irredentist despot’s attempt to flatten and brutalize a piece of Ukraine. Crimea should be returned to Kyiv’s control and the sooner the better” www.wsj.com/articles/put...

Opinion | Putin’s Annexations May Cost Him Crimea

Suddenly the peninsula is merely a small part of a portfolio of provinces that he claims as his own.

wsj.com

Really feels like the (completely incorrect) idea that Crimea is some kind of special place for Russia has completely collapsed in the past few weeks—even in Russia itself.

And then come meet Casey on October 7th in Munich to talk about the book! (will be online, too - of course). www.dialoguesondemocracy.com

Casey Michel@cjcmichel.bsky.social · last mo.

We're officially less than one month until the release of my next book, UNITED STATES OF OLIGARCHY! Make sure to pre-order from your favorite bookstore, and dive into America's descent into oligarchy—the legal history, the socio-economic dynamics, the political fallout, and more.

God willing: "But there will be political costs—for Republicans. If Democrats take back the House or Senate this November, they will have a field day probing the Trump family deals. Charges of GOP corruption will resound through 2028." www.wsj.com/opinion/trum...

Opinion | The Trump Family and ‘Honest Graft’

They are profiting off the Presidency in ways that demean the office.

wsj.com