Rick Shenkman
@rickshenkman.bsky.social
Historian’s can’t predict the future. We can’t even agree on the past. Journalist & historian. Author of POLITICAL ANIMALS: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics (Basic Books).
This guy never served. He faked an injury to avoid the draft. None of his children have served. He called those who did serve their country "suckers and losers." He skipped the centenary memorial for servicemen who died in WWI because it was drizzling. This is more than usually repellent.
We're being forced to rerun the bloody lessons that led to the laws of armed combat, as "it's stupid and weak that we can't do this to them" inevitably leads to "oh no, now they're trying to do this to us, and it's ultimately better for everyone, including us, if no one does."
mtsw@mtsw.bsky.social · 3w agoFor a very long time there was an international taboo on assassinating foreign leaders even of countries you were at war with, and the Trump administration thought it was because people were pussies not because "now they're gonna try to kill YOU"
An administration that spent years aggressively banning transgender troops from serving under the guise of stopping "medical dependency" and "taxpayer-funded hormones" is now setting up a massive, government-funded pipeline for gender-affirming hormone therapy.
Thank the gods for @marcelias.bsky.social
Marc Elias@marcelias.bsky.social · last mo.NEW: Friday night’s ruling marked the department’s 12th straight loss in lower courts in its legal crusade to force all 50 states and the District of Columbia to forfeit their voter rolls to the federal government. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
this is one of the many small changes Trump is making in his attempt to manipulate the midterms
Marc Elias@marcelias.bsky.social · last mo.🚨BREAKING: President Donald Trump Thursday dismissed all remaining commissioners on the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), a bipartisan federal agency created to help states administer elections. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Under Trump: -An ExxonMobil lawyer runs DOJ's Environment division -An Amazon executive runs OSHA -A crypto and prediction markets lawyer runs the CFTC -A private prison executive runs ICE The list goes on... The revolving door is spinning out of control.
This rejection of a review of the defamation standard is an important victory for the free press. Thomas and Gorsuch have advocated for eroding the actual malice standard.
Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social · last mo.JUST IN: NYT v Sullivan escapes unscathed at #SCOTUS as justices deny review of dismissal of law prof Alan Dershowitz's libel suit v. CNN. Justice Thomas joined by Gorsuch again complain that Sullivan standard is made up, but can't get votes for cert. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/28...
Congress is getting ready to remove the requirement that shell companies register their real owners. The bill "will restore America’s status as the leading offshore haven"
Anne Applebaum@anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 2mo agoRepublicans trying to make the world safe for kleptocracy newrepublic.com/article/2118...
When people in Washington lower their voices and say, “Please don’t use my name. I’m afraid he’ll come after my family’s livelihood,” it means something has broken. People no longer trust the law to protect them.
Hey, Mike, let me explain: Pete Hegseth (your SECDEF with white supremacy tattoos) follows a whack-job pastor named Wilson out of can’t-make-this-up👉🏻Moscow, Idaho. Lots of Mormons in Idaho, so when Wilson says his neighbors r deceived by the devil and worship satan, he’s talking about your people
In what world is this anything other than a blatant violation of the emoluments clause? Is Trump literally going to profit directly from an event he is hosting at the White House, charging admission for and receiving proceeds from the tickets?
David Waldman@kagrox.bsky.social · 2mo agoI can’t believe we’re sleepwalking into this shit.
This is the crux of my argument in this piece: Let's not play dumb about the real intent behind Trump/MAGA bullying Dems to accept the ballroom, which is to get them to symbolically submit to dictatorial rule by getting them to genuflect before Trump's building of a Caesar-like monument to himself.
Brian Beutler@brianbeutler.bsky.social · 3mo agoOTOH, fully agree with this from @gregsargent.bsky.social: “those Democrats who warned that the ballroom was a ‘distraction’ from kitchen table issues effectively hand-waved away those darker intentions, proceeding as if they don’t carry big stakes for our civic well-being and democratic future.”
It's probably the most consequential and crippling change in US politics in a half-century and basically nobody said shit about it. Everyone, including establishment Dems and the mainstream media, just shrugged. Oh well I guess that's how things are now. No more legislating.
Meanwhile the California grid now boasts the equivalent of 12 nuclear power plants worth of batteries -- the total cost of which was, I suspect, less than a single nuclear plant.
California’s Battery Array Is as Powerful as 12 Nuclear Power Plants. Here’s What’s on the Horizon. - Inside Climate News
An expert in the state’s energy grid explains how the state is faring amid federal cuts.
insideclimatenews.org
Barney Frank: Don't make the most controversial stuff into litmus tests This guy:
Matty de Scrantonia@matterrigo.bsky.social · 3mo agoCivil rights were a controversial agenda too Tom
When President Obama was running for office in 2008, his call to service inspired me to work at the VA to help veterans. I often ask Trump supporters what he’s done to inspire them to be better, and I can’t ever get an answer.
Ashley Zacharias@ashleyzacharias.bsky.social · 3mo agoTrump has never made anyone a better person; he has only given bad people permission to show how bad they are.
A deranged shooter racing through a hotel to shoot the President is a real wake-up call … on the need for g̵u̵n̵ ̵c̵o̵n̵t̵r̵o̵l̵ a gigantic ballroom. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Trump, allies use dinner shooting to press case for White House ballroom
A White House ballroom would be far more secure than any hotel facility, Trump says, as he and his allies argue that Saturday’s shooting bolsters their case.
washingtonpost.com
Good news: “After years of growth fueled by the war, Russia’s economy contracted by 1.8 percent in the first two months of the year, compared with the same period in 2025.” www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/w...
As Putin Orders That the Economy Be Fixed, Russia Grasps for Solutions
nytimes.com
Stop buying the claim that Trump is obsessed with 2020; we already have eyewitnesses who say he knows he lost. What he *is* obsessed with is (a) the narrative of 2020, and *far* more importantly (b) how that election can be leveraged to steal 2026 and 2028 and end our democracy.
Orban became to the far-right what Fidel Castro had once been to the far-left: a beau ideal. He pioneered the attacks on immigrants & globalist elites that have become standard populist fare.He attracted gullible fellow travelers such as Tucker Carlson to extol his supposed successes. bit.ly/4mr52EH
Opinion | Orban’s defeat shows the Achilles’ heel of populist power
Formerly ascendant European right-wing parties are in retreat, a possible omen Trump’s MAGA movement.
bit.ly
He's also made more threats in the last year and a half than he did in his first four year term.
Bill Grueskin@bgrueskin.bsky.social · 4mo ago"Bloomberg examined Trump’s record of following through on threats to attack other countries and non-state actors. "Looking at his first term, he made good on threats roughly 20% of the time. "In his second term to date, that rate has risen to 50%." www.bloomberg.com/news/live-bl...
