Our series America After Trump examines how democracies fall, and how they come back. On Aug. 19 at 12:30 PM ET, @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social is continuing the conversation live with Protect Democracy. Register now: protdem.org/AfterTrump
Zack Beauchamp
@zackbeauchamp.bsky.social
Senior Correspondent at Vox covering the crisis of global democracy. Author of The Reactionary Spirit, a book on that topic, and a '25-'26 distinguished visiting fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Perry World House.
Emily Wilson disliking Nolan's Odyssey while Ben Shapiro loves it is the perfect twist ending to the culture war
Trump's speech last night was a travesty, of course, but it was also incredibly weak. And that weakness is a sign of American democracy's underlying strength. www.vox.com/politics/495...
Trump’s election fraud speech was a weirdly good sign for American democracy
Trump’s primetime speech accidentally exposed the limits of his campaign to undermine US elections.
vox.com
Alright folks, I'm watching Trump's speech so you don't have to
Just bumped into Roger Stone at…the Watergate Hotel
I know everyone here hates generative AI, but I've spent the morning using it to conduct some basic research/literature reviews and it is just obviously better at this task than Google search ever was.
A week ago, the Indian government forced a streaming service to take down a controversial new movie. The saga exposed just how thoroughly Modi's authoritarian government has suppressed free speech in Bollywood — and how Trump is using similar tactics here www.vox.com/politics/495...
Modi’s government brought Bollywood to heel. Hollywood should pay attention.
A censored Indian film shows how quickly creative freedom can buckle under political pressure.
vox.com
What's with this YouTube/streamer thing where they play clips from another show in split screen with them making faces? It's so much more annoying than just showing the clip and then reacting
Erling Haaland taking this Viking thing a little too seriously
People across the political spectrum are excited about a potential Jon Ossoff presidential run in 2028. But does he have a clear enough base to succeed? 🎥: @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social
In the Dungeon Crawler Carl books, there is a character called Uzi Jesus — a ripped, gun-toting Christ that represents alien invaders' attempt to make Earth culture look as despicable as possible
Right Wing Watch @rightwingwatch.bsky.social · 4w agoPastor Martin Sedra fumes that "America has created this gay version of Jesus Christ": "Jesus was not effeminate. Jesus was a bold lion. I always tell people Jesus was not a soft guy. He had six packs. He was the most ripped guy you'll ever meet."
"A third of Finland’s population is estimated to have died of starvation during a famine in the 1690s." humanprogress.org/the-grim-tru...
The Grim Truth About the “Good Old Days”
humanprogress.org
Rahm Emanuel's speech in Israel is getting less attention than it deserves. It shows just how far to the left the Democratic party has moved on the topic — and augurs a fundamental rupture in the US-Israel alliance if Dems win in 2028 www.vox.com/politics/494...
A new speech shows how Israel lost the Democratic party
Rahm Emanuel and the death of the pro-Israel Democrat.
vox.com
Does she understand that the first sentence directly contradicts the second
I'm not talking about the Maine electorate. I'm talking about the following groups: 1) The consultants who recruited him and ignored red flags 2) The media figures who stanned him 3) The Substackers and think tankers who defended him against "smoothgroins" and HR ladies
Eoin Higgins@eoinhiggins.bsky.social · 4w agoHe won 72% of the primary vote, does this guy think 150k Maine Dems are “urbanites who hate their liberal neighbors” or is it possible that the message and politics had broad appeal
The Platner mess has exposed a very specific sub-tendency on the American socialist left: urbanites whose politics are defined by their hatred of their liberal neighbors, and channel that distaste into a condescending fetishization of rural/working-class male identity
"Gambling has become a more common leisure activity than reading a book" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
The End of Reading Is Here
Optimists once believed that universal literacy was inevitable. Now it seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history.
theatlantic.com
As I've been saying for months, there are only two ways this Iran thing ends: American surrender or an actual attempt at regime change involving US ground troops. Trump doesn't want either, and so we're stuck in a perpetual see-saw between bombing and negotiations.
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 agowhat a fucking asshole
Zohran up 32 points over Bibi among American Jews should scramble a lot of very dumb narratives
This is going to go down as the single worst piece of political writing of the year
Look, it’s actually super simple. Balogun’s red card was suspended under Article 27 which clearly states that FIFA can change the rules when it feels like it. In the case of Belgium’s appeal, this obviously doesn’t apply because FIFA doesn’t feel like it
Zack Beauchamp@zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · last mo.It is so, so funny to see FIFA invent ad hoc legalisms for their completely fake appeals process
It is so, so funny to see FIFA invent ad hoc legalisms for their completely fake appeals process
Sam Kunti@samindrakunti.bsky.social · last mo.In the barrage of statements, this is a new statement - from Fifa.
Why must I constantly update apps for no discernible reason
Not even a little bit of a soccer fan but I’m loving this game
Recently in Italy I was asked, "Where are you from?" When I said "USA," amusingly he fell silent. Today the President is bent on maximum grift, but I'm still proud to be American. Thanks to @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social for a historian's vision of the country's founding.
The late historian who rekindled my hope for America’s future
Gordon Wood’s argument for the “radicalism” of the Revolution reveals something profound — and hopeful — about America.
vox.com