The philosopher Joseph Heath has a critical but thought-provoking review of Kōhei Saitō’s ecotopian book Slow Down. My takeaway is less pessimistic than Heath’s, but there are important lessons here for all of us: It’s discouraging to go into a classroom and find it full of students who believe, almost verbatim, every bad idea that […]
A recurring theme in shut-down commentary is that Democrats cannot trust Trump and congressional republicans to keep any deal they make to fund the government. This seems like a valid concern. Some commentators cite this as one of the main reasons for Democrats to refuse to fund the government. But unless the Democrats have a […]
Political wire: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (R) told MSNBC that President Trump “wants to send troops into American cities is because he wants to be able to take control of the 2026 elections.” Said Pritzker: “Now, if they’ve got troops in cities and it becomes a kind of norm for people, then it won’t be abnormal for […]
It is an article of faith among those opposed to Trump’s efforts to build an American autocracy that we should not obey in advance. The charge of obeying in advance has been leveled forcefully against universities, law firms, and media companies that choose to placate the administration rather than resist its abusive demands. Yet the […]
Trump’s crackdown on the press should make clear that he will do anything to avoid a loss in the 2026 midterm elections. He will suppress dissent, he will use masked ICE agents to intimidate voters, he will declare his opponents terrorists – anything. And it is equally clear that we cannot count on the courts […]
According to Punchbowl News, via Political Wire, Schumer sounds like he is going to hang tough in budget negotiations. I think it is possible Democrats could win a shutdown fight, although the most knowledgeable political observers disagree. But if this is real, not political theater for angry base voters, then the Democrats should have a […]
In a very insightful analysis of the Kirk shooting G. Elliott Morris makes the following points (among others): Polls overestimate support for political violence. (The reason is that random responses to poll questions by people who are not paying attention lead to overestimates of support for very unpopular options. For example, if no one supports […]
There are more stories suggesting that the Democrats are preparing to hang tough in budget negotiations. But it’s not clear if their tough talk is just marketing aimed at appeasing base voters, or if it reflects a newfound commitment to budgetary hardball. Nor is it clear that Democrats have a negotiating strategy that will be […]
In my last post I discussed how the Democrats might use whatever leverage they have in the upcoming congressional budget negotiations. Here I want to circle back to the problem I flagged at the beginning of that post: Trump and congressional Republicans might well renege on any deal, either by refusing to expend appropriated funds, […]
Congress needs to pass a funding bill by the end of September to avoid a government shut down. In theory, the Democrats should have some leverage in these negotiations due to the need for 60 votes in the Senate. Unfortunately, as Jonathan Bernstein details here, the Democrats have few good options negotiating with Republicans and […]