Matthew Sheffield
@matthew.flux.community
🟦 Cognition, politics, AI, and media @flux.community 🟦 Articles and podcast: https://plus.flux.community/ 🟦 Cognitive framework: https://flux.community/eft Signal: matthewsheffield.01
🧵Counting is still going, but in the Alaska Senate race, Mary Peltola now has more votes than both Dan Sullivans combined, meaning that the entire controversy (including getting him to run in the first place) was a waste of time. Some Alaska political history in next post...
With new votes getting counted our lead in the 2026 midterm has gone from 56%-43% to 56%-42%, and from +13 Dem to +14 Dem. It's our best election since 1974. Well done everyone!
Alaska just added roughly 24K ballots to the Senate race, & Mary Peltola won this batch by 7 percentage points over Senator Sullivan. This grows her lead from 1.1% to 1.8%. She is now up 49% to 47.2%. And Peltola now has more votes than the two Dan Sullivans combined.
Show trials would be bad, says guy who plans to livestream an execution
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterdayHegseth denounces "show trials" and says, "we've seen this show before. They impeached President Trump over a perfect phone call."
Also! Even if we didn’t have the votes, which we did, you show up and vote against Hegseth because this was the easiest win you could have scored with voters up front. There is literally nothing you could have been doing (Pelosi in particular) that is more important
Elizabeth Spiers@espiers.bsky.social · 19h agoThis is what I mean by holding our electeds accountable. Who were these 11 Dems and why couldn’t they get to DC?
Yes. And this is why hardnosed oversight and individual anti-corruption bills are the way
Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · 19h agoBy derailing the impeachment of Hegseth, all Republicans did was tie themselves more tightly to the cratering Trump while ensuring that Dems are the party that's associated with holding the deeply unpopular, disastously failing Hegseth accountable when they impeach him next year.
This is the kind of thing that far-right people should be spending their time on instead of trying to run the country. Make reactionaries obsess about aliens again!
Media Matters for America@mmfa.bsky.social · yesterdayTucker Carlson’s guest says Marines fought and killed a giant humanoid in 2001 in Afghanistan: "This giant was flown back to the United States by a US Air Force aircraft. I think it was a C-17 aircraft."
Republicans in disarray thehill.com/homenews/sen...
Senate Republicans suspend leadership election amid demands for ‘a plan’ from John Thune
Senate Republicans on Tuesday paused their meeting to elect leaders after Senate conservatives demanded “a plan” for the lame-duck session and the next Congress when Democrats will be in the majori…
thehill.com
“A senior official exclusively told MS NOW how decorated military officers with decades of experience were withheld from promotion after Pentagon staff printed out internet searches showing they had attended official events like promoting Covid-19 vaccinations or marking International Women’s Day.”
‘You gotta be kidding me’: Hegseth used these four things to decide on senior officer promotions
A senior official exclusively told MS NOW how decorated military officers with decades of experience were withheld from promotion after Pentagon staff printed out internet searches showing they had at...
ms.now
Trumpism lost big last week, but the fascist right thinks that's a great thing for its efforts to take over the Republican Party:
As Democrats hail massive Republican defeats, fascist right sees post-Trump opportunity
Nick Fuentes and his groypers think they can dislodge MAGA now that Trump has failed electorally
plus.flux.community
Emily Oster helped sell the We Want Them Infected movement to “liberals” at the Atlantic who wanted to learn from a data driven Brown economist not someone like @drannieandrews.com. No kids were vaccinated when Oster said this and delta and omicron variants arrived after this.
Important to distinguish between “Trump largely failed to tilt the playing field in a meaningful way” (true IMO) and “Trump did not try to do so“ or threaten democracy more generally (just an obvious denial of reality)
Brendan Nyhan@brendannyhan.bsky.social · 3d agoThis thread shows what's wrong with blithe proclamations (like the below) that everything is fine and we knew it would be fine
This is an under-told story. It’s a foundational MAHA myth that they are the first people to recognize that diet and exercise are important. They are breaking new ground here. In reality, the right resisted this message when it came from Michelle Obama.
Before Trump’s efforts to make kids healthier, there was Michelle Obama
The first lady’s “Let’s Move!” initiative to improve school nutrition and exercise drew some criticism from the right — which has been much more muted as the Trump administration promotes MAHA messagi...
19thnews.org
Tennessee Didn’t Lose Tuesday Night. It’s Only Just Beginning To Roar. HUGE deep dive for y'all, I want you to know what exactly happened in the parts of the South that DIDN'T make headlines on Tuesday. Read/share/subscribe! evanhurst.substack.com/p/tennessee-...
Tennessee Didn’t Lose Tuesday Night. It’s Only Just Beginning To Roar.
Also Arkansas and Kentucky and Alabama and Louisiana and wherever else you live. This post is for you.
evanhurst.substack.com
Just once, I would like a White House reporter to ask Trump about his absurd demand that he will force Iran to "never" have a nuclear weapon. This is a totally stupid condition, one that Trump could never enforce. It's dangerously moronic that this is the official US negotiating position.
Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · 2d agoTrump pops up at an unscheduled White House presser: “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, and that’s a non-negotiable point. They understand that. They accept it, but they don’t admit that they accept it.
Called it.
Trump says he was just kidding about making UFC's Dana White his press secretary
President Donald Trump says he was only kidding about making UFC boss Dana White his next White House press secretary.
apnews.com
Matthew Sheffield@matthew.flux.community · 4d agoAnd almost certainly, Dana White will say no. A perfect projection of strength!
"The intra-Democratic debate that I despise above all others is the one that holds that Democrats must either do X or Y, but cannot possibly do both X and Y. It has made me insane for years." - @mjtoma.bsky.social newrepublic.com/article/2177...
Affordability or Accountability? Dear God, Democrats. Do Both—and More
This long-held Democratic idea that they can do only one thing at a time is poisonous, and it must end in the next Congress.
newrepublic.com
Put the stock trading ban in a single bill and introduce it now under a privileged motion. It will pass with veto-proof majority.
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d agoHouse Freedom Caucus calls for a stock trading ban — that includes the President and his family. (via @bloomberg.com)
The perfect pretext to tear down the ballroom and completely strip out everything Trump has done to the White House.
Karl Bode@karlbode.com · 2d agonumerous White House officials have dodgy Russian proxy software installed on their personal machines, potentially allowing foreign intelligence services and hackers access to sensitive White House systems for far less than the cost of a single cup of coffee:
I'm reading Vannevar Bush's "Science: The Endless Frontier," because I think we need to look at again as we reconstruct the government's science apparatus. Donald Trump has damaged it severely. It had problems before, and we should fix them as we reconstruct. I'll drop quotes on this thread. 🧵
Yes. Yglesias literally works for a moderate conservative think tank, the Niskanen Center. Most conservatives are anti-Trump and also anti-progressive. That is Yglesias's shtick also.
Kevin Fox@michigrim.bsky.social · last wk.A big theory I run with is that Matt is a conservative cosplaying as a liberal to make the Democratic Party less effective and more conservative.
Check your absentee ballot! Did you vote absentee? Has it been counted? Find out, and if not, learn what you might need to do. Call your local election office Monday morning! ⬇️
Pope Leo calls for universal health care ‘in every society’ in first address in Uruguay
Pope Leo calls for universal health care ‘in every society’ in first address in Uruguay
Recalling his own recent cancer diagnosis, Leo drew attention to the fact that “sickness, disability, physical pain, loss of autonomy, poverty, unemployment or social exclusion can make it especially ...
americamagazine.org
Grab your stopwatches: the countdown to the end of the Netanyahu era has begun. www.nytimes.com/2026/11/07/w...
Israeli Opposition Leader Tapped to Try to Form Government
Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief, hopes to succeed Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister by cobbling together a coalition after an inconclusive election.
nytimes.com
And almost certainly, Dana White will say no. A perfect projection of strength!
Mike Nellis@mikenellis.bsky.social · 4d agoI genuinely thought Dana White as White House press secretary was a joke. I should have known better. Trump has learned nothing.
Single-purpose bills, one per week. Force Trump to reveal his anti-populist agenda.
Ezra Levin ❌👑@ezralevin.bsky.social · 4d agoMake him do it. Veto a minimum wage bill. An anti-corruption bill. An end the war bill. A stop ICE bill. A save medicaid bill. A lower prices bill. Make him veto everything people want. Create the contrast, electoralize it, win in '28, and then make it all law in '29. cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_ful...
Peter Thiel's Antichrist Superstar tour is continuing. This time he was in Nashville talking to evangelical extremists. I'm not sure he realizes that people are only going to his lectures because they want his money. No way would these people ever want to hear from a gay Lutheran:
The Thiel Tapes: What Do Anti-LGBTQ Christian Nationalists See in a Married Gay Billionaire?
Peter Thiel’s fourth Antichrist lecture in Nashville revealed a surprising intersection between a tech billionaire and far-right figures who openly condemn his lifestyle.
confrontthehate.com
I am enjoying reading various right wing media figures' very bad election predictions after the fact. Everything was pure vibes, so of course, Republicans were going to win, and keep both houses of Congress! Here's a favorite:
It's Election Day. The Enemy Is at the Gates.
Election Day insights: GOP poised to retain Congress amid unreliable polls and voter enthusiasm.
townhall.com
