Today for @jodemocracy.bsky.social, I lay out the tension between anti-corruption accountability politics (of which I am a huge fan!) and big-tent democracy coalition building. The dilemma: it's hard to convince regime fence sitters to jump ship if they expect punishment under restored democracy.

Journal of Democracy@jodemocracy.bsky.social · 8h ago

Calling for accountability against corrupt officials is a powerful message for building a movement. But it can make it harder to encourage defections from your opponent’s camp. Here’s how to handle the dilemma.

Calling for accountability against corrupt officials is a powerful message for building a movement. But it can make it harder to encourage defections from your opponent’s camp. Here’s how to handle the dilemma.

Why Anticorruption Campaigns Aren’t a Silver Bullet | Journal of Democracy

Calling for accountability against corrupt officials is a powerful message for building a movement. But it can make it harder to encourage defections from your opponent’s camp. Here’s how to handle…

journalofdemocracy.org

Valuable piece from @reidpauly.bsky.social in @goodauth.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social @belfercenter.bsky.social Why the US struggles to coerce Iran.

Why the U.S. is finding it hard to coerce Iran

The limits of U.S. coercion are evident in the dispute over Iran's nuclear program. Understanding how coercion works can help explain why this is so challenging.

goodauthority.org

Just listened to an excellent Civic Forum episode on the future of Hungarian democracy. Lots of lessons here for the U.S. democracy movement! cc @rorytruex.bsky.social

After Orban: Lessons from Hungary On Democratic Healing

Civic Forum interview on how the Hungarian people toppled the Orban regime, and what Americans can learn

rorytruex.substack.com

The optimistic way to read this is that Democrats have a ton of ground to gain if they actually make demonstrable, genuine commitments, as a party, to root out corruption and pass anti corruption legislation.

Polling USA@usapolling.bsky.social · last wk.

"Who's better on..." 🔵Women's Rights: D +18 🔵Environment: D +17 🔵Democratic Norms: D +10 🔵Cost of Living: D +4 🟣Political Violence: Even 🟣Wars/Terrorism: Even 🔴AI: R +1 🔴Corruption: R +1 🔴Guns Control: R +3 🔴Immigration: R +5 🔴Crime: R +14 Ipsos / July 26, 2026

The Quiet (Haters) Car

Big Ol’ Mush@chadstanton.blacksky.app · last wk.

A bigger flex would be buying his own personal Amtrak car

👀 see you in October: The Rise and Fall of Tunisian Democracy, Cambridge University Press Grateful for the endorsements from Professors Melani Cammett and Milan Svolik and Prime Minister Youssef Chahed. Coming soon to a library near you! www.cambridge.org/core/books/r...

More than 500 scholars agree: "We write to urge Congress to do what most democracies have already done: adopt proportional representation." proud to be among them. medium.com/@scholars-re...

Letter to Congress: End the Redistricting Wars by Adopting Proportional Representation

Gerrymandering persists because single-member districts allow it.

medium.com

lmfao

McSweeney's@mcsweeneys.net · 2w ago

"When España beat Argentina in the Copa Mundial final, I worked up the coraje to invitar Pilar to Cold Stone Creamery, which is how we celebrar importantes eventos in Connecticut."

"When España beat Argentina in the Copa Mundial final, I worked up the coraje to invitar Pilar to Cold Stone Creamery, which is how we celebrar importantes eventos in Connecticut."

I Watched the Copa Mundial Non-Stop on Telemundo for Cinco Weeks and Now I Don’t Hablar Inglés Anymore

“Hola, Chad aquí, de Greenwich, Connecticut, a muy blanco área of los Estados Unidos. A few weeks ago, I decidir to watch Estados Unidos vs. Paraguay in fútb...

buff.ly

Turns out soccer is a great sport when everyone agrees that fouling is strictly prohibited

4-0 before the half, lmfao

Matthew Cebul@matthewcebul.bsky.social · 3w ago

The most England thing ever would be to play 90 minutes of pure offense and score like 4 goals here, now that the cup isn't actually on the line

Somebody is eventually going to write a banger dissertation on personal animosity + grudges in IR in the Trump era -- I'd bet that declassified diplomatic comms, personal memoirs, etc. will be full of examples of world leaders finding funny ways to get back at Trump for his ham-fisted bullying

StrangeBrickDroog@strangebrickdroog.bsky.social · 3w ago

Excessive belligerence also causes a fourth problem, and that is it makes your enemy retaliate in a much more insidious manner due to the extreme animosity you generate.

Today in @foreignaffairs.com, @reidpauly.bsky.social and I reflect on why Trump’s belligerent approach to coercion so often fails, and what it will take to repair the damage that Trump is inflicting on U.S. statecraft:

The Lost Art of Coercion

Why Trump’s belligerence is a sign of weakness.

foreignaffairs.com

England getting what it deserves — you can’t just decide to quit playing offense for half of the game and expect to win against a good team.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Matthew Cebul@matthewcebul.bsky.social · 4w ago

I don‘t think anybody is beating France. They’d stomp in the Argentina rematch, and Bellingham‘a heroics alone wont be enough to beat them. France just seem so solid, everywhere.

Yeah, ok, that was a good goal

This is gonna get called back on account of Haaland shoving his man back into the Stone Age

After years of saving it for another day, I just finished @joeabercrombie.com's First Law series. Never has a story so unholy, so thoroughly and viciously miserable, been so perfectly conceived. It's a revolting train wreck that you just gape at for three books, awestruck. What a brilliant writer.

Morocco largely dominated the Netherlands and are a very good team, but France has them in complete lockdown. Essentially zero looks, while France generates offense at will. Beating them this year is going to take something very special.

Mbappe, boy I dunno

"My binificence" 😂

Eliot Higgins@eliothiggins.bsky.social · 4w ago

In case you missed it, here's Count Binface's appearance on the BBC this morning.

After last night's Mexico England throwdown, watching Spain squeak by Portugal was....uninspiring

Presumably the golf tournament will be held at a Trump property

Tom Pepinsky@tompepinsky.com · last mo.

you people are going to need to sit down for this: the Olympics are in LA in 28, Trump will still be president, and that man loves gold more than any other human past or present

WHAT IS GOING ON IN MEXICO

VAR STRIKES AGAIN

Unbelievable from Haaland there

I’ve seen enough, Cabo Verde beats Argentina 2-3

I missed the first 90 minutes of Argentina Cabo Verde, lets just check the sco LOL WUT GOAL GOAL GOAL

Dem politicians should have some faith that voters will hear Mamdani's dogged patriotism -- "We're far from perfect, but we're not done, either, and we're sure as hell not going anywhere" -- and identify more with it than anything the nativist GOP has to offer.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last mo.

Mamdani: "As we mark 250 years ... we see the wealthiest country -- one where children go to sleep hungry while the world's first trillionaire hungers for more ... we see masked agents terrorizing our streets, eating food cooked by undocumented neighbors before spiriting them away in unmarked vans"