Christopher Hooks
@hooks.bsky.social
Journalist. Let me explain something to you, Walsh. This business requires a certain amount of finesse. christopherdhooks@gmail.com
“The organizational and administrative bloat that has piled up around the semiquincentennial can be overwhelming to behold.” @hooks.bsky.social reports on the United States’ semiquincentennial celebration.
Happy Fucking Birthday, by Christopher Hooks
An exhausted America turns two hundred and fifty
buff.ly
Christopher Hooks ( @hooks.bsky.social ), whose report on the United States’ 250th birthday celebration appeared in our July issue, spoke with Matthew Sherrill about “Dubya’s Texas,” the White House UFC fight, and his plans for the fourth. buff.ly/94krhKF
Every single paragraph of this 10,000 word piece is filled with stuff I wish I'd written. It's amazing. harpers.org/archive/2026...
This is the best fucking thing I’ve read all year
Christopher Hooks@hooks.bsky.social · 2mo agoFor the July issue of Harper’s, I tried to work through my feelings about the United States at this particular moment by surveying the America 250/Freedom 250 industrial complex and otherwise driving around the Keystone State: harpers.org/archive/2026...
“The long-suppressed patriot in me started to experience a sinking sort of feeling. The main reminder I had in my own life that something was worth celebrating this year had been the American flag plastered across cans of Narragansett.” – @hooks.bsky.social
Happy Fucking Birthday, by Christopher Hooks
An exhausted America turns two hundred and fifty
buff.ly
In our July issue: Christopher Hooks on America250, William T. Vollmann on a free people’s government, Ann Manov on civic centers, Meghan O’Gieblyn on willpower, Clare Bucknell on Vermeer, Rosanna Warren on John Berryman, and a story by Padgett Powell. harpers.org/archive/2026...
“The imperial capital has many beautiful buildings, and they are always kept tidy and clean. They have a quality that grates, though. The landscape is didactic, insistent. Somebody is always trying to teach you something.” — @hooks.bsky.social
Happy Fucking Birthday, by Christopher Hooks
An exhausted America turns two hundred and fifty
buff.ly
For the July issue of Harper’s, I tried to work through my feelings about the United States at this particular moment by surveying the America 250/Freedom 250 industrial complex and otherwise driving around the Keystone State: harpers.org/archive/2026...
Happy Fucking Birthday, by Christopher Hooks
An exhausted America turns two hundred and fifty
harpers.org
Christopher Hooks (@hooks.bsky.social) reports on the United States’ semiquincentennial festivities and searches for something worth celebrating. harpers.org/archive/2026...
Happy Fucking Birthday, by Christopher Hooks
An exhausted America turns two hundred and fifty
harpers.org
Allegedly the banned-for-life list from the soon to shutter Parkview Tavern.
meet me at the Ghost of the First Piggly Wiggly in the next thirty minutes if you want an Ass Kicking
just a friendly reminder to everybody that gerrymandering does not play a role in the outcome of statewide elections
John Cornyn has been released from his waking nightmare. for Ken Paxton, poor devil, the trial continues
Christopher Hooks@hooks.bsky.social · 3mo agoJohn Cornyn… welcome to The Resistance. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...
one thing that i think lets people like paxton and trump get away with so much is that they've had so many scandals that it really requires an attention to politics most people simply do not have anymore. when you're making an "indictment explainer" you've already lost
Michael Kruse@michaelkruse.bsky.social · 3mo agoTeamed up with @lmcgaughy.bsky.social to write about Ken Paxton.
“Paxton can make one charge that is more powerful than anything Cornyn can pin on Ken, and which may well push the attorney general over the line on May 26: John Cornyn was in office twenty years ago.” —great analysis on state of Texas Rs by @hooks.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...
How Texas Republicans Turned on George W. Bush
The man who delivered Texas to the GOP is now one of its chief targets.
texasmonthly.com
I rediscovered this almost two year-old piece by @hooks.bsky.social on a convention of Habsburg...restorationists? Enthusiasts? Hobbyists? A convention in Plano which hosted members of the Habsburg-Lothringen clan, one of my favorites for how strange its subjects are. thebaffler.com/latest/feeli...
At the Habsburg Convention in Plano | Christopher Hooks
Emperor Karl I was the least successful and most tragic Habsburg monarch. A symposium in Texas makes the case for why he should become a saint.
thebaffler.com
Since the headline is a bit confusing, the NYT is reporting that on the same day we hit the girl's school in Minab, we also sent a missile full of tungsten steel pellets at a girl's volleyball tournament hundreds of miles away in Lamerd. Twenty one dead. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/w...
New U.S. Missile Hit Iranian Sports Hall and School, Analysis Shows
nytimes.com
Delighted to return from vacation to something I missed: a surprisingly comprehensive ranking of weird Texas political-battle music from @hooks.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...
John Cornyn Released a Demented AI Ad of Ken Paxton Grooving to “Love Shack.” We Can’t Look Away.
Plus, a definitive ranking of the many weird installments in the surprisingly varied genre of Texas-politics music.
texasmonthly.com
feels telling about American foreign policy punditry that while many decry the aimlessness of Trump’s monstrously wrong Iran war there were far more outraged columns over the harm done to US power and influence and standing and interests and example when Biden rightly withdrew from Afghanistan.
i talked to the folks at nyt opinion about the primary last night and what's next: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/o...
Opinion | He’s No Beto, but Can Talarico Win? A Texas Writer Weighs In.
nytimes.com
Senate's done. Elsewhere, some really weird stuff. Pretty shocking result in R AG: Roy was talking tough about avoiding a runoff and he's more than 12 points down with Mayes Middleton in a really comfortable position. Did not see this coming at all.
Cancel that: Some Williamson polls open till 10, now, and there's a legal fight about Dallas ballots.
Christopher Hooks@hooks.bsky.social · 5mo agoI'm bad at math and can't responsibly call anything. But Talarico's gonna win, and I bet calls start coming soon after Dallas and Williamson end voting (in two minutes)
I'm bad at math and can't responsibly call anything. But Talarico's gonna win, and I bet calls start coming soon after Dallas and Williamson end voting (in two minutes)
Talarico is winning several of south Texas counties that have been making Dems scared the last decade by about a 2-to-1 margin, something that Cornyn is likely to point to in his runoff. Up 15 in Bexar so far. Up 7 statewide.
I realized that after 12 years, I don't actually know who or where Ken Paxton's base is. When he did poorly in hometown DFW I was worried my strongest warrior had missed a step. But he's only 2.5 points shy now and I'm less impressed by Big John
Alright, lets do some downballot. Dan Crenshaw looks a lot like he's going to get turfed out by stalwart state rep. Steve Toth, one of the great That Guys we have on offer. One incumbent down.
Greg Abbott is perfectly safe in his primary, of course. but his handpicked comptroller won't even get a runoff. Dunked in the toilet. Abbott's pick for ag commissioner cleared the bar, though, most likely. RIP Sid Miller :(
Cornyn running a little bit stronger than I would have expected but doesn't seem realistic to hope for 50%. Middleton, though, maybe? Seems like the attacks on chip roy really hit home
