Government and policy writer. Views are my own. pbacon@tnr.com

Reposted by Perry Bacon
ritamoore.bsky.social's profile picture
From @anatosaurus.bsky.social:
"If you were in the room where it happened and you didn't stop it, you made it happen. War Criminal Cabinet."
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Reposted by Perry Bacon
victorerikray.bsky.social's profile picture
I’m on a plane for a panel on structural racism tomorrow at the University of Michigan. One of the questions is how do we communicate with people who might be hostile to social science on race?

My answer is some folks are hopeless, and we write them off while convincing those we can.
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"The right-wing media is so large it's creating characters and soap operas that legacy media covers as news. I don't think that there's any real way out of that, outside of building a broad and big left media ecosystem to balance that out," says @ajbauer.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/208666/transcript-democrats-can-learn-right-media-strategy
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"The anti-woke backlash is a Red Scare, basically. It's the same logic. The goal is to, again, pull leftists and liberals apart, to create a wedge" between them," says @ajbauer.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/208666/transcript-democrats-can-learn-right-media-strategy
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This @sarayasin.bsky.social essay launching "The Key" is excellent. This line captures so much. "It just takes far too much effort to make these stories happen." She means the necessary, moral, honest stories, like calling a genocide a genocide. Must-read. www.thekeymagazine.com/p/western-journalism-palestine-objectivity-legacy-media-genocide-bias-gaza?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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"Journalism is unique but it mirrors the other institutions that have failed to meet this moment, whether it is academia or the arts — all too willing to torpedo their credibility and principles to silence any speech or sentiment perceived as pro-Palestinian." www.thekeymagazine.com/p/western-journalism-palestine-objectivity-legacy-media-genocide-bias-gaza?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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"Wittingly or unwittingly, Swan, Haberman, and the Times provided a massive platform for Rubio, Vance, and others to point the finger solely at Trump for a misguided war." newrepublic.com/article/208784/vance-rubio-wiles-iran-war-trump
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I hoped that the Times and other outlets realized from 2017-20 the folly of stories without named sources in which Trump aides distance themselves from his decisions. Alas. This week the NYT allowed Trump's advisers to claim they privately doubted the war. newrepublic.com/article/208784/vance-rubio-wiles-iran-war-trump
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"Sanders leading the anti-AI charge is a critical mission. The Democratic Party and the country desperately need a leader who isn’t afraid of being portrayed as a Luddite or anti-business and will therefore forcefully air concerns about the proliferation of AI." newrepublic.com/article/208635/bernie-sanders-ai-oligarchs
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Excellent piece.
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Reposted by Perry Bacon
murshedz.bsky.social's profile picture
Bondi's "dismissal is the latest sign of Trump’s growing weakness and the successful resistance to his authoritarian aims."

Sharp piece as usual from @perrybaconjr.bsky.social ↘️
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It's not fashionable to say this, but basically Schumer, Jeffries and the Democratic Caucuses forced Trump, Johnson and Thune to tap out. They didn't give an inch and now Republicans are going to have to go through the meat grinder that is a SECOND reconciliation bill.
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Excellent post.
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Reposted by Perry Bacon
ewong.bsky.social's profile picture
NEW: Regime change has occurred in Iran. Or it hasn’t. It is a goal of the war. Except it isn’t. Trump brags about having done "regime change" in Iran, but other US officials are doubtful. It's personnel change — Iran remains theocratic and authoritarian. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/us/politics/trump-regime-change-iran.html?unlocked_article_code=1.XVA.Oxz1.NI4-72BhrUSx
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Reposted by Perry Bacon
andybeshearky.bsky.social's profile picture
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"Mass immigration is good, socially and economically; is the single most significant factor in America’s current position as the global locus of commerce and culture; we’ve been lucky to have it; and we should want more," writes @felipedlh.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/208088/democrats-immigration-message-position-historic-opportunity
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"A cautious, ideology-moderated party that makes the right noises and spooks nobody is the wettest dream of the corporate “center.” The donor class would love a Democratic Party that wins and operates like an ineffective Republican Party changes nothing much materially, especially not for the rich."
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"Well, she got nearly 24,000 fewer votes in Michigan in 2024 than Kamala Harris. So maybe she should be taking notes, not giving them."
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Reposted by Perry Bacon
tbooker1.bsky.social's profile picture
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A world in which the views of Hasan Piker (or Ta-Nehisi Coates 8 years ago) are shared by most Democratic voters is a world many Dem wealthy donors/Dem pols don’t want to live in. This opposition to new thinking is natural and logical. New/different voices expand people’s political imaginations.
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Reposted by Perry Bacon
jaywillis.net's profile picture
Can I interest you in reading the first post I ever published on Balls and Strikes dot org? ballsandstrikes.org/legal-culture/legal-journalism-is-broken/
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Reposted by Perry Bacon
mcopelov.bsky.social's profile picture
Performative public lying is a hallmark of far right authoritarian parties
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To me, the question is less, “Will Rahm win the 2028 nomination” and more, “Is Rahm’s general theory of politics being implemented by many Democratic officials?”
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In my experience, the “anti-woke views” are sincerely held in many elite circles and not just a cover. “We had a meritocratic process that happened to result in mostly white men being hired and now DEI is stupidly forcing us to change and bring in less qualified people,” etc.
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And if there were such an election, he might win.
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I don't know where he will finish. But if you look at polls of Democratic voters, their positions are much closer to Ro Khanna's than Rahm's. Khanna gets plenty of coverage too, but not the kind of "this person is savvy" coverage that Rahm receives.
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They know this! This is not about smart election coverage. He is bluntly stating what these editors/reporters want to hear Democrats saying.
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Great. Thanks for your work.
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"Republicans too radical, Democrats too woke" is the ideology of the owners of most major news outlets and many of the senior editors and reporters they have hired/promoted. This is Rahm's platform. So of course they amplifying his message. It is their message too.
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