Jan-Werner Mueller
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jwmueller-pu.bsky.social
Jan-Werner Mueller
@jwmueller-pu.bsky.social

Political Theory and Intellectual History. Politics of Architecture and Iconography. Some Public Affairs Commentary.

Posting in a personal capacity.

Texts mostly in LRB, Guardian, Foreign Policy, Architectural Review.

Representation: Wylie. .. more

Computer science 57%
Mathematics 29%

"Trump ist nicht verrückt. Er will die Insel aus geostrategischen Gründen kontrollieren. Wenn, dann wird er hoffen, durch sein Säbelrasseln irgendeine Art von Deal zu erzwingen."

"WELT-Global-Reporter" weiss leider null von bestehenden "Deals" DK-USA.

Und ausserdem: Die Linken sind schuld!
Krise des Westens: Nicht Donald Trump, sondern der Linksliberalismus bedroht Europa - WELT
Muss Europa die Werte des Westens künftig allein verteidigen, ohne die USA? Diese Behauptung ist größenwahnsinnig. Denn der eigentliche Riss verläuft im Inneren unserer Gesellschaft.
www.welt.de

Reposted by Joanna Bryson

"The policies being enacted poll badly, often catastrophically. This is not a popular revolution. It is a minoritarian project exploiting a counter-majoritarian system—and regimes built that way are inherently unstable."
The Wall Looks Permanent Until It Falls
On the optimism of preparation in a time of democratic decay.
data4democracy.substack.com

"We have more lawyers per capita and the world’s most profitable legal services industry. Yet we rank 101 out of 114 countries—behind Afghanistan—in ordinary citizens’ ability to access and afford legal services."
The Wall Looks Permanent Until It Falls
On the optimism of preparation in a time of democratic decay.
data4democracy.substack.com
The U.S.-Born Unemployment Rate Rose After Trump Reduced Immigration www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...
The U.S.-Born Unemployment Rate Rose After Trump Reduced Immigration
Government data show the Trump administration’s policies reducing the number of foreign-born workers did not help U.S.-born workers in 2025.
www.forbes.com
"Some might worry that signaling punishment for Trumpists down the line will only increase the lawlessness ...But...by that logic, one might as well give up on accountability altogether and concede that the initiative – and, ultimately, power – now rest permanently with one’s political adversaries."
A congresswoman wants to impeach Kristi Noem. She’s right to do so | Jan-Werner Müller
It may be tempting to dismiss the move as hopeless – but it interrupts the Trump administration’s promise of impunity
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller

"This administration has been running on a promise of impunity at all levels, and Democrats have to start signaling that actions have consequences."

An opinion piece from @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social worth reading this morning with your coffee.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
A congresswoman wants to impeach Kristi Noem. She’s right to do so | Jan-Werner Müller
It may be tempting to dismiss the move as hopeless – but it interrupts the Trump administration’s promise of impunity
www.theguardian.com

Personalism also means that you take every little loss of power personally.
Trump names battleship class after himself, advancing his personalization crusade
Sticking his name on everything is especially difficult to defend as it so plainly does little to meet the nation’s needs.
www.ms.now

👇🎯
It is possible to oppose Trump, see his comments on Iran, and still root for the Iranian people regardless of what the US president says. It’s not about him, it’s not about you, it’s about the people of Iran and not about just this protest, but years of people power heartbreak.

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller

It is possible to oppose Trump, see his comments on Iran, and still root for the Iranian people regardless of what the US president says. It’s not about him, it’s not about you, it’s about the people of Iran and not about just this protest, but years of people power heartbreak.

Did he misspell her name because he assumed she has to be woke?
Over at @status.news they're putting into the same frame the weakness of Tony Dokoupil, the new anchor at CBS, and the politics of Larry Ellison, "the billionaire Oracle co-founder who bankrolled his son’s takeover of CBS News’ parent company, Paramount."

"Today, we live in a clicktatorship, ruled by a LOLviathan. Our algothracy is governed by poster brains."

Recommended:
Life Under a Clicktatorship
What happens to government when everything is content?
donmoynihan.substack.com

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller

“What Danish politicians are only slowly realizing is that the main issue isn’t national security, but the Trumpian euphemism of “economic security”.” @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social on the U.S. as mafia state

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Trump doctrine exposes the US as a mafia state | Jan-Werner Müller
The Venezuela incursion is in line with this logic, made even plainer as the US eyes Greenland
www.theguardian.com
The most chilling thing to read.
“The bottom line is this: When a federal officer gives you instructions, you abide by them and then you get to keep your life,” Representative Wesley Hunt of Texas said on Newsmax."

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/o...
Opinion | By Killing Renee Good, ICE Sent a Message to Us All
www.nytimes.com
Republican bullies deploy more threats against the UK to protect their big tech corporate allies.

Did many people first think it said "mortality"?
Trump Lays Out a Vision of Power Restrained Only by ‘My Own Morality’
www.nytimes.com
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
Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).

"...niemand ist so unschuldig wie die Walliser Gottväter der Unbeflecktheit...die mächtigen Sepp Blatter und Gianni Infantino, stammen beide aus dem Oberwallis, es ist der irrste Umstand der weltweiten Sportpolitik...Blatter und Infantino haben immer alles überstanden, bis heute."
Tragödie von Crans-Montana: Der Schmerz und die Schuld des Wallis
Kein anderer Kanton der Schweiz erlebt derart viele Katastrophen wie das Wallis. Doch in kollektiver Trauer hat Einsicht wenig Platz. Das hat mit dem Grössenwahn der Bergler zu tun.
www.nzz.ch
I wonder if anyone will revisit their charitable interpretations of Elon’s definitely-not-a-Nazi-salute

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller

The FIFA World Cup, by the way, will take place in the "Western Hemisphere" (USA, Canada, Mexico), and Denmark still has a chance to qualify.
Should be fun if they make it after Trump kidnaps Greenland.

Any word on this from National Conservatives, the self-declared Burkean anti-imperialists?
WATTERS: Taking out a dictator in Venezuela -- how does that help the average American?

JD VANCE: First of all, what it means is we're gonna be able to control the incredible natural resources of Venezuela
WATTERS: Taking out a dictator in Venezuela -- how does that help the average American?

JD VANCE: First of all, what it means is we're gonna be able to control the incredible natural resources of Venezuela

'...the logic of extraction (if, necessary, preceded by extradition to a US court), exploitation and, if necessary, extortion is what most seems to be animating the quest for what one sycophant in Congress has claimed should be re-named “Red, White, and Blueland.”'
The Trump doctrine exposes the US as a mafia state | Jan-Werner Müller
The Venezuela incursion is in line with this logic, made even plainer as the US eyes Greenland
www.theguardian.com
Bill Siemering, founding program director of NPR, author of its mission statement, has asked me to inquire if any profs might be interested in a Zoom class visit? No honorarium necessary. Bill founded All Things Considered, Fresh Air, won a MacArthur, etc.
A Founding Father of NPR Worries About Its Fate
www.nytimes.com
The Donroe Doctrine: Extortion, Extraction, Exploitation (and Extradition, if needed).
The Trump doctrine exposes the US as a mafia state | Jan-Werner Müller
The Venezuela incursion is in line with this logic, made even plainer as the US eyes Greenland
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller

Strong recommend for this short 2020 essay,which links at least 2 other great ones, eg

≈per Shirin Ebadi & other female Nobel laureates “the foundational autocratic bargain” promises “restoration of private privileges of men & elites, in exchange for tolerance of erosion of democratic freedoms.”≈

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller

"Watch the movie again."
R.I.P. Béla Tarr

D. Acheson on NATO:

"You do not want to have provisions in such a treaty saying that you can throw them out...but if you can describe the...objectives that are shared by all of these countries, and one of them should no longer be...seeking those objectives, then the basis is laid for a separation."
TAPPER: Can you rule out the US is going to take Greenland by force?

MILLER: Greenland should be part of the US. By what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? The US is the power of NATO

T: So force is on the table?

M: Nobody is gonna fight the US militarily over future of Greenland