Andrew Kydd
andrewkydd.bsky.social
Andrew Kydd
@andrewkydd.bsky.social

Political science, game theory, music, wooden boats, vintage airplanes and motorcycles.

Political science 68%
Sociology 14%

Just say non-white, this is taking forever.
Some Kentucky Republicans want to ban naturalized Americans from holding public office, as the GOP drives ever-further into xenophobia. www.lpm.org/news/2026-01...
Immigrant citizens would be barred from local, state offices in Kentucky under proposed bills
A Republican lawmaker has filed two bills designed to keep naturalized Americans and those with dual citizenship from serving in local or state elected offices in Kentucky.
www.lpm.org

Thinking of Venezuela in terms of the Iraq 2003 timeline, US troops will pull down Saddam Hussein’s statue two weeks from now.
Editorial in the National Catholic Reporter: "The vice president's comments justifying the death of Renee Good are a moral stain on the collective witness of our Catholic faith. His repeated attempts to blame Good for her own death are fundamentally incompatible with the Gospel."
Catholic Vice President Vance takes to social media to justify killing of Renee Good
After the tragic shooting of Renee Good at the hands of ICE, the Catholic vice president of the United States took to social media to justify the killing.
www.ncronline.org

When you can block investigations into homicides and substitute propaganda for judicial findings, you have complete impunity.
Minn. Officials Say They’re Being Blocked From Investigating Fatal ICE Shooting
www.nytimes.com

David Koresh could not be reached for comment.
Rep. Wesley Hunt: "The bottom line is this: when a federal officer gives you instructions, you abide by them and then you get to keep you life"

So much for the imperialism of free trade.
JD Vance: "The way that we control Venezuela is we control the purse strings, we control the energy resources. And we tell the regime, 'You're allowed to sell the oil so long as you serve America's national interests.'"
Rep. Wesley Hunt: "The bottom line is this: when a federal officer gives you instructions, you abide by them and then you get to keep you life"
JD Vance: "The way that we control Venezuela is we control the purse strings, we control the energy resources. And we tell the regime, 'You're allowed to sell the oil so long as you serve America's national interests.'"
The killing of an unarmed woman by a masked federal agent in Minneapolis is a moral outrage and a betrayal of American values. There has been no justification offered—only deception and deflection from those in charge.

Reposted by Andrew Kydd

I have to hope that if the US loses a helicopter attacking Greenland that Trump is going to find out in a hurry what it means to lead the US into a deeply unpopular war.

Reposted by Andrew Kydd

In his first day in office, President Trump pardoned nearly 1,600 people in the Jan. 6th Capitol riot. Five years later, most of the officers injured that day have never widely shared their experience.

Here are some of their stories, in their own words:
Five years after Jan. 6, officers describe the toll of defending the Capitol
In his first day in office, Trump pardoned nearly 1,600 people in the Jan. 6th Capitol riot. The country has moved on, but for some the day still looms large.
www.washingtonpost.com

Would sound more impressive from an administration that was not actively destroying the foundations of US power, and if we actually knew what those laws imply for state behavior.

“We live in a world, in the real world . . . that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”
"It is a sad fact that the prime minister of Denmark is closer to our Founders in her view of the world than the Trump administration. It is a sad fact that one can have more confidence in the government of Denmark to respect election results than in Donald Trump."

open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
January 6th and the Never-Ending Coup
Trump’s insurrection could happen again.
open.substack.com
"We’ve never left the January 6 era. But what’s most staggering is how many people would prefer to pretend we never entered it in the first place...a large faction of more grudging GOP supporters, for whom the Capitol insurrection is an unpleasant memory repressed."
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
January 6th and the Never-Ending Coup
Trump’s insurrection could happen again.
open.substack.com

Whatever you think about the potential upside of removing Maduro, I would say that improving the US public’s opinion of the competence of the US military is not a morally acceptable justification for the use of force.
Opinion | Trump Was Right to Oust Maduro
www.nytimes.com

A reminder that in a democracy capable of defending itself, Donald Trump would have been placed in custody on the evening of January 6, 2021, and would have remained there ever since.

It seems like Representative Jake Auchincloss is unrelated to the writer Louis Auchincloss, which indicates that there are more Auchinclosses out there than I realized.

Research question: does the US attack on Venezuela make attacks by other countries more likely? Usual critique is that US attack makes US criticism of other countries hypocritical, and so less effective. But is that what really restrains them? US economic and military punishment are still there.

Of course they still have to worry that Trump is attempting an EQ in which the US defects and others do not. Not unprecedented.

Usual RPD assumes you dislike other side’s defections. If uncertainty involved, usually about your desire to defect or cost of punishing. But here seems to be about whether you even care if they defect.

Not sure they will defect to “punish” the US for Venezuela, about which they don’t care much, but because it may signal the US won’t punish them for their transgressions.
The destruction doesn't make for a photo-op like tearing down the East Wing of the White House or bulldozing the Rose Garden, but it's every bit as bad. Generations of American children learned to spell and count, learned the Preamble to the Constitution, from watching shows produced by the CPB.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been dissolved, ending its 58 years as the primary funder for PBS, NPR and local TV and radio stations
Corporation For Public Broadcasting Is Dissolved After 58 Years Of Service
www.huffpost.com
The foreign policy of a personalist dictatorship. There are no constraints.
Trump in a single gaggle on Air Force One just threatened:

-- a second strike against Venezuela
-- Cuba
-- Mexico
-- Colombia
-- Iran
-- Greenland (which in turn would be an attack on the EU and Denmark)

I think one of Trump’s core foreign policy beliefs dating back to the oil crisis is that we should directly control the world’s oil reserves and not let weak countries push us around. It was a big theme in his critique of the Iraq war.

True, but I can easily imagine President DeSantis, Secretary of State Rubio, and Secretary of Defense Bolton, getting congressional approval for such a thing or doing it and getting approval afterwards.

Don’t mean to be cynical, but the abduction of Maduro seems well within the US foreign policy tradition stretching back more than a century. Don’t see how it provides much evidence for a radical break with the past.
Some thoughts on what Trump has done in Venezuela and what it might mean for US national security. Caveat: not a Latin America scholar so this is focused on US policy. Clearly huge consequences for Venezuela that others can address.

First, despite the buildup, I didn't think Trump would do it.

1/
Some thoughts on what Trump has done in Venezuela and what it might mean for US national security. Caveat: not a Latin America scholar so this is focused on US policy. Clearly huge consequences for Venezuela that others can address.

First, despite the buildup, I didn't think Trump would do it.

1/