My position as a card-carrying Neolib shill is that I'd rather elect DSAers who win Dem primaries over literally any Republican. It's Vote Blue No Matter Who praxis time, baybeeeeee

Ah, so the question remains: can Trump take this big of an L without walking back on the deal within a week because people (correctly) call him a loser?

Shipwreck@shipwreck75.bsky.social · 4h ago

Proposed Hormuz deal would give Iran control of inbound traffic, sources say www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Whitehouse: "Today I think is a sad and embarrassing day for this committee as it looks like on a party-line vote we are going to advance out of this committee probably the most discreditable person ever to seek the office of attorney general. Let's start with the Epstein files ... "

It’s completely nuts that Trump won by less than 2M votes with near universal media help and worldwide rage at incumbents and the media treated this like a permanent sea change towards MAGA and now less than 2 years later he’s the least popular President in history and there’s no media reckoning

To add to this observation, theres a pretty clear dynamic in political discourse online where lefty vs normie D candidates get treated p differently even while messaging in the same wheelhouse & "kitchen table issues" is a big example of this. Another point towards "its all aesthetics" for many ppl

Aubrey Gilleran@aubreygilleran.bsky.social · 6d ago

Some accounts I like on here are very invested in the idea that DSA candidates and other progressives are the only way we're going to get GOP accountability, but those candidates aren't running on that, either! It's all economic populism.

I mean, the core of the issue is price, no? Government grocery stores that operate in areas the market has opted not to serve at market rates is like a Public Option for food. Government stores selling *below* local market prices is different and raises a lot of important questions.

Andrew Lawrence@ndrew.bsky.social · 7d ago

the thing about government grocery stores is that food deserts are a real thing and people need food

I think it's good that Mamdani is Just Doing Stuff but more people gotta realize that it is not a matter of Will or motivation or whatever but because the NYC Mayor, as an office, is one of the uniquely powerful individual offices you can hold in the United States (seriously)

The reason I don't care if Trump's support for UA is entirely based on a last-minute desire to get away from Russia's loser-stench and associate with the winner after the war is because I expect Ukraine to become the key global pro-democracy force after the war. Love this for UA; sad as hell for US

There's the theory that the key problem with NAFTA was diffuse benefits in exchange for acute harms, which bodes very ill for the white nationalist anti-immigrant project. Essentially surrendering diffuse benefits while also causing massive acute harms (Haitians in OH, for example).

Basic rules of society that we need to re-establish post Covid: - You actually have to stop for red lights and stop signs. - If you want to watch videos or listen to music in a shared public space, you need to use headphones. - Your pet does not need to go everywhere with you. - Don’t litter.

Mitch McConnell isn't dead, but he is dying, and the best possible situation for Democrats is the one we have now, where he's too sick to leave the hospital but too stubborn to resign, and you should be extremely suspicious of people demanding Democrats rescue the GOP from this situation.

There is an open and loud effort to fracture the anti-MAGA coalition by any means necessary. When the bot account couldn't convince you of the McConnell narrative, it switched to Israel/Palestine.

ike, son of mike@i-bresnick.bsky.social · 2w ago

Fun to see the script in action.

Yes, yes, Russia deserves far worse than freezing the conflict, but that's up to the Ukrainians to decide. I will note that these kinds of public meetings/statements from allies are a sign of desperation in the Kremlin, and probably a sign Putin himself is considering trying to freeze the war.

NOELREPORTS@noelreports.com · 2w ago

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called for freezing the war in Ukraine and returning to the Istanbul negotiation format during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Tokayev said the conflict should be frozen to help restart negotiations. #Ukraine

An analogy I'm thinking about, Trump attacking Iran because Venezuela went well and he thought it would be easy and consequence-free : Trump picking up combat operations again because Herculean efforts were made to keep oil prices from reflecting the real damage of Round 1

As a non-Marxist economist, it is objectively true that high healthcare costs + employment-based insurance + no public health insurance is a barrier to entry for new firms, which is anti-competitive and therefore bad from pro-market first principles. Employer-only healthcare is rent-seeking.

mtsw@mtsw.bsky.social · 2w ago

One thing that happened after Obamacare passed is that it made it much easier for star workers to leave for startups and the ruling class HATES this (they want entrepeneurship and the pathway to the upper class restricted exclusively to their class and their kids)

I feel like of Canada wants to punish the US for the Mad King's tariffs, they should find a means to stop/slow the export of the things we aren't tariffing. Oh, potash is your weakness and will hurt the president's political base? We found a way to restrict exports and sell it elsewhere. Get bent.

The sheer quantity of "Dems suck because they won't do the most strategically unwise thing possible and make sure the GOP has a vote from Kentucky available in the Senate" messaging does make me feel like it's some kind of bot activity, tbh.

When James Talarico says, "Christ is the immigrant deported without due process," is that "leftist" or is it "moderate"? It's both, and it's neither. It's a Democrat speaking about his values in ways he thinks the people of his state will find compelling.

Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · 2w ago

Here's the short version of why I think the idea that Dems can only salvage their brand with moderation is mostly bullshit. Check out this exchange with @creynoldsnc.bsky.social on this: newrepublic.com/article/2132...

When Dems attack Trump's corruption, is that "leftist" or "moderate"? It's neither. People need to stop trying to map everything on to these ludicrously simplistic little templates, which are just designed to facilitate factional infighting and build online followings.

Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · 2w ago

Here's the short version of why I think the idea that Dems can only salvage their brand with moderation is mostly bullshit. Check out this exchange with @creynoldsnc.bsky.social on this: newrepublic.com/article/2132...

we should tax the rich and also be receptive to information that challenges our negativity biases. thank you for coming to my TED Talk

The aspect of propaganda that many don't realize affects them is amplification. OK, you don't fall for blatant lies, and sycophantic praise makes you cringe. But I bet many have a general impression of something that's based on anecdotes selected and repeated by propagandists more than you realize.

Ossoff: "Here's what's going to happen tonight: the world's most famous sore loser will deliver a prime-time presidential sour grapes address to pursue his 6-year-old grievances about the 2020 election, while his war in the Middle East spirals out of control & the cost of living continues to rise.."

This too. If you went only by mainstream media coverage, Biden withdrawing from Afghanistan was much worse than Trump attacking Iran, though the geopolitical downsides for the US of leaving Afghanistan were about zero (maybe net positive, making US better able to back Ukraine when Russia attacked).

Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · 3w ago

“Trump may have miscalculated somewhat” is, famously, the same measured tone & framing with which Joe Biden’s not-100%-surgically-clean end to the last forever war was covered by the press: bsky.app/profile/mcop... Happy week, everyone!

“Trump may have miscalculated somewhat” is, famously, the same measured tone & framing with which Joe Biden’s not-100%-surgically-clean end to the last forever war was covered by the press: bsky.app/profile/mcop... Happy week, everyone!

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 3w ago

“.. since Vietnam, American presidents have repeatedly gotten into conflicts that seem like they could last forever .. “.. Trump may have fallen into the same trap.” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/w...

Yes, that's an example of the media bias. Instead of treating Trump's unique historical error for what it is, present it as the sort of thing many presidents do, as if it's just something about the office and America's geopolitical position. No. Iran is an unprecedented type of US screw up.

@jlp2024.bsky.social · 3w ago

Equating trump's failures to earlier ones is s way to minimize his harm ("why should he know better if other potus didn't?")

As a general rule, current prices suggest more people want to live in cities than can, and we should facilitate that by using the tax dollars collected in economically prosperous cities to improve said cities, not subsidize rural areas on vibes over who's a "real American."

LOWρUFO 🇺🇦🇵🇸🌍@lowrhoufo.bsky.social · 3w ago

I don't really see too much of a gulf between "revenge on the rurals" and "reduce subsidies on rural areas somewhat" policy. A mild pullback is an extinction-level event for these areas, and people are mostly choosing their preferred branding

I suppose my take on the birth rates is: 1.) anyone who can read a graph can see it’s a problem 2.) there is overwhelming evidence work from home can help solve the problem 3.) the fact most self-described pro-natalists focus on brood mare fantasies instead suggests they are not serious people

And, for further context, networks also refused to air Biden's speech about democracy's collapse.

As Biden warned about democracy’s collapse, TV networks aired reruns

Broadcasters NBC, CBS and ABC usually air presidential prime-time addresses live. But they found Biden's Philadelphia speech more "political" than newsworthy.

washingtonpost.com

Jeremy Diamond ☕️@dmnd.me · 3w ago

For context, ABC, NBC, and CBS refused to air an Obama address in 2014 that expanded DACA and shifted border enforcement away from folks who clearly posed no threat. apnews.com/20ccd7a90e43... What did they air instead?

Four years ago, Biden gave a speech warning about the dangers to democracy and the networks refused to air it because it was "political." I wonder if Trump making a partisan case for relitigating the 2020 election and calling for his political opponents to be jailed is going to be "political" too?

Matt Negrin still host of Hardball on MSNBC@mattnegrin.bsky.social · 3w ago

As has been the case for six years any news outlet taking trump live thursday night after he said he’ll lie about the 2020 election and the legitimacy of georgia’s senators is explicitly endorsing that lie as a legitimate opinion