I have little to add to the chat, but I will say this: Those of us who spend a lot of time talking about politics overestimate how much other people care about, or are even familiar with, the labels we use to describe, denigrate, or celebrate candidates. Sometimes we’re high on our own supply.

Where are the complaints from those folks who are always up in arms about academic freedom?

Jonathan Feingold@jpygold.bsky.social · yesterday

Everything is big in Texas. Including the racism, bigotry & law breaking across Texas’ public universities. And the resistance. The lawsuits are here. First one hit Tech. This one hits A&M. UT just matter of time. @texasaaup.bsky.social @aaup.org

I live in rural America. If Democratic politicians talked about the decrepit trailer parks strewn with trash, ramshackle houses with tarps for roofs, and collapsing barns with the same contempt that Republicans talk about urban America, they would be castigated beyond belief.

James Goodwin@jamesgoodwin.bsky.social · 2d ago

Have you seen rural America lately? That place is pretty gross, too. We're just not allowed to talk about it.

Buried beneath the headline: “An everyday student going into one of these programs who isn’t an athlete, who doesn’t have super model good looks or isn’t a natural-born comedian” might have an uphill battle...“Influencing has a success rate about equal to acting." WTF are we doing?

Jack Santucci@jacksantucci.bsky.social · 3d ago

Young people, please don’t do this with your education. Learn how to form sentences with subjects, verbs, and objects. Learn how to dismantle specious arguments. Acquire the skills needed to build a world in which “work” means more than being half-naked on TikTok. www.cnn.com/2026/08/01/b...

I'll admit that I'm a nerd and actually do enjoy spending time with friends and colleagues at conferences. But it's hard to imagine something I would enjoy less than watching a Red Sox game with a bunch of political scientists.

Total agree and here's my attempt to break down exactly what's wrong goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/why-doesnt...

"Why doesn't somebody stop this?"

A little background on the Constitution and executive power

goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com

Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · last wk.

A complete & total failure of the constitutional order that this didn't immediately end his presidency. When folks say "He can't do ______," & he has gotten away with 1) a coup attempt; 2) this reverse nullification; & 3) openly monetizing the presidency, I wonder what & who is going to stop him.

Honored to see my book featured on this list! press.princeton.edu/ideas/reflec...

Reflecting on America’s 250th anniversary: An experiment in democracy

American democracy has always been an experiment—centering ideas about individual freedom and collective responsibility. This reading list explores how those ideas evolved, and were interpreted by thi...

press.princeton.edu

🚨Attention American Political Development Scholars🚨 We are excited to announce a new APD Workshop Series where scholars--especially grad students, post-docs, junior faculty, and folks at institutions with limited research budgets--can present works-in progress. sites.google.com/maine.edu/ap...

Took advantage of the annual @univpressofkansas.bsky.social sale to pick up a few books for a new project, and finally grab @strickjl.bsky.social's Between Guns and Butter!

I carried my almost 70 pound yellow lab upstairs to bed every night for almost 10 years. She had a back injury a couple years ago so I couldn't carry her I don't want to put too much pressure on her joints now that she's 14 years old, but I loved our little "pick me up" evening routine.

Michelle says: Be kind. Always. ❤️@snarkysillysad.bsky.social · 2w ago

When your full-grown doggo still wants to be carried like a puppy: #AGoodPlace Source: www.reddit.com/r/cute/s/7XB...

It's ALMOST like if people read @pamherd.bsky.social & @donmoyn.bsky.social's Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means, they could have predicted precisely the adverse effect of layering on new administrative burdens to accessing life-saving food assistance. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/u...

Faced With Piles of New Paperwork, People Are Losing Food Stamps

Arizona’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program rolls have plummeted, offering a possible preview of national trends as states try to avoid new federal penalties.

nytimes.com

Is there a petition going around to stop putting "And What You Can Do About It" at the end of every book title? If so, I'd love to sign it.

Historian friends: You'd like this group of political scientists who study history too and are sensitive temporality--we just periodize differently and focus on institutions as rules and norms channeling power.

Ryan LaRochelle@rlarochelle.bsky.social · 2w ago

🚨Attention American Political Development Scholars🚨 We are excited to announce a new APD Workshop Series where scholars--especially grad students, post-docs, junior faculty, and folks at institutions with limited research budgets--can present works-in progress. sites.google.com/maine.edu/ap...

🚨Attention American Political Development Scholars🚨 We are excited to announce a new APD Workshop Series where scholars--especially grad students, post-docs, junior faculty, and folks at institutions with limited research budgets--can present works-in progress. sites.google.com/maine.edu/ap...

“Troy has a history of winning in deep red districts. I think that just makes him the most likely candidate to win," one Democratic voter said of Jackson's chances against U.S. Sen. Susan Collins. www.bangordailynews.com/2026/07/20/p...

Inside Troy Jackson's delegate sweep, and the undecided voters it rolled over

Supporters say Troy Jackson’s background helped him sweep the delegate process in a must-win state for Democrats hoping to retake the Senate.

bangordailynews.com

I cross-referenced my database of candidates against credible voter fraud cases. GOP politicians are implicated at 50x–38,000x the general public's rate. Yet even if every American voted with the integrity of a GOP candidate, it still wouldn't come close to justifying making voting one iota harder.

A realist perspective on small donors in US Politics from me and @zalbert.bsky.social podcast interview by @mattgrossmann.bsky.social @niskanencenter.bsky.social www.niskanencenter.org/the-rise-of-...

The rise of small donors is mostly making politics worse - Niskanen Center

Ray La Raja and Zach Albert find that small donors are just as advantaged, partisan, and extreme as larger donors.

niskanencenter.org

My roundup of the recent Supreme Court term, through the lens of democratic backsliding tomkeck.beehiiv.com/p/scotus-and...

SCOTUS and democratic backsliding

Assessing the Court's recent term through a democratic backsliding lens

tomkeck.beehiiv.com

I really don't see how there is any option other than going completely tech-free in class and do all in-person assessments. Unless you are teaching in programs/departments specifically focused on AI instruction, there is seemingly no way to prevent such widespread misuse at this scale.

Jacob T. Levy@jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 4w ago

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

Trump is now less popular with Independents than Richard Nixon was before he had to resign. www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/d...

YouGov America@today.yougov.com · 4w ago

NEW Economist/YouGov Jul 3-6 % who approve | disapprove of Donald Trump U.S. adult citizens 35% | 61% (-25) Last week 38% | 58% (-20) Start of term 49% | 43% (+6) Dem 3% | 96% Ind 21% | 71% Rep 83% | 15% 18-29: 25% | 67% 65+: 40% | 56% yougov.com/en-us/articl...

there is a cohort of men who resent the responsibilities and obligations of adulthood — of the fact that you owe things to other people. it is a fundamentally childish impulse that they have reconfigured as the height of masculinity, and i think it informs the parasocial attraction to platner.

Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social · 4w ago

what a fucking asshole

🪶The America 250 Sale continues July 6–12 by highlighting the rich histories, cultures, and enduring sovereignty of Indigenous peoples. Week 8 Theme: Indigenous Studies. Use code: 24USA250C8 at https://kansaspress.ku.edu/americas-250 #America250 #IndigenousStudies #NativeHistory #UPKansas

I think this might be one of the most incredible, unsettling and symbolic photos of today’s America I’ve ever seen. I can’t stop looking at it. From Reuters, published on the Guardian website.

Just here to post this again like I do every year, not only because Douglass was one of the founding philosophers of American liberty but because I am so moved by the kids Frederick Douglass’ descendants deliver “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”

‘What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?’: Descendants Read Frederick Douglass' Speech | NPR

YouTube video by NPR

youtu.be

We've spent a lot of time focusing on the primary source research part of it but let's not miss the fact that the expertise in analyzing those sources and the deep familiarity with all of the relevant secondary lit is also part of what has been invisibly lifted.

Historian here, Professors defeating the Confederacy since 1863! Joshua Chamberlain of @bowdoincollege.bsky.social at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Larry is obviously right. But most people are not history profs or history students. In my experience in historical spaces outside academia (I was president of a county historical association and a town historical society), this portrayal of two competing resonates with a lot of folks.

Larry Glickman@larryglickman.bsky.social · last mo.

As an American history professor, I regularly read new books, articles, and dissertations, and also evaluate unpublished manuscripts for journals and book publishers. I would not categorize the recent and emerging historiography in the binary way that Ezra Klein does.

I gave a talk at the Bangor Public Library about the vision, values, and contradictions of the Declaration of Independence. The talk was co-sponsored by the Bangor Historical Society, and they brought their Stone Copy of the DOI for folks to view. One of only 48 remaining from the original 200.

Since today is the anniversary of President Garfield being shot, I guess I should do a shameless plug for my book. Which actually ends with Garfield walking into the train station in which Charles Guiteau would shoot him. But if you want to know how he came to be president in the first place…