Timothy Burke

@timothyburke.bsky.social

6.5K followers 920 following 1.5K posts

Professor of History at Swarthmore College. Writes at timothyburke.substack.com, continuing from his old blog Easily Distracted. Remembers when there was no Internet, and stays up late because someone is wrong on it.

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Political science 50%

Sociology 17%

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Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 15h

I'm astonished, honestly, that people with as much supposed real-life experience in politics--domestic and international--can't distinguish between a real threat and a phony-performative one. Trump in that sense is not at all unprecedented--we learned this at Munich in 1938, I thought.

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 15h

"Whether they like it or not" is pretty much the root motto of political illegitimacy. "Whether they like it or not" is something you say when you know you're in the wrong and the only thing you have is a fist and the brutal desire to use it. It's a bully's motto.

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 1d

I really really don't think we should be easily endorsing everybody who comes under the big tent of opposition to ICE. Bilal is a really questionable figure.

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 1d

I can imagine a legitimate policing power in a just society. But Americans particularly have accepted for so long the escalation of policing power--contrary to the core ideas of the Constitution--and the expansion of incarceration--that what ICE is doing now is a natural extension.

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 2d

"Just comply, don't insist on your rights as a citizen" is the antithesis of a devotion to freedom or liberty. It's especially awful coming from people who have lately embraced the idea that it was totally ok to storm the seat of government to block an election they didn't like.

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 2d

I am almost amused at the laughably inauthentic and self-wounding addiction to "messaging" among Democratic Party leaders. They can't manage a genuine reaction sor be emotionally present in the real world their base inhabits. The consultant says "affordability!" so that goes in everything they say.

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 3d

The basic thing to understand is that Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, Kristi Noem and company understand most of the big cities of their own country as no different from Venezuela or Greenland: they are targets to be invaded and bombed, not communities of citizens that they are responsible to.

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 3d

I really hope someone is archiving the r/Conservatives thread where they all say it's obvious that the US government has no real intention of military action in Greenland, that only silly libs think this is for real. But then again, we have always been at war with Oceania.

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 3d

We're pretty close to the "someone said something that wasn't supportive of ICE 100% ergo they were posing a danger to ICE ergo it's ok to send them to El Salvador because that's terrorism". Coming to a theater or drive-in near you!

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 3d

I love this man.

Ken Jennings @kenjennings.bsky.social · 3d

The “prosecute the former regime at every level” candidate has my vote in 2028.

Reposted by Will Jennings, Richard B. Aronson, Robert W. Wallace , and 25 more Will Jennings, Richard B. Aronson, Robert W. Wallace, Rosemary A. Joyce, Bruce D. Baker, Paul Goldstein, Mark J. Webb, Bonnie Honig, Richard Menke, Charles W. Smith, David R. Miller, Michael Zimmer, Michael J. Taylor, Scott A. Imberman, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Glenn H. Shepard, Elizabeth Stevenson, James Goodwin, Brian Keegan, Barrett, Timothy Burke, Jelena Subotić, Sam Kamin, Daxton R. Stewart, Charles T. Mathewes, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Dunlap

Ken Jennings @kenjennings.bsky.social · 3d

The “prosecute the former regime at every level” candidate has my vote in 2028.

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Elizabeth Saunders, Steven Van de Walle , and 29 more Anna O. Law, Elizabeth Saunders, Steven Van de Walle, Steven French, Joanna Bourke, David Rothschild, Jonathan M. Gilligan, Fabián Muniesa, Smith, Jonathan Hopkin, Felicity Callard, Janet Murray, Gerald Friedman, Julie Cupples, Glenn H. Shepard, Michael D. McDonald, James Goodwin, Dean Eckles, Julia M. Wright, Leo McCann, Timothy Burke, Lisa Diedrich, Ann Bartow, Marcus Credé, James Connelly, Miko Flohr, Hisham Zerriffi, Samuel Coavoux, Charles T. Mathewes, Annette Yoshiko Reed, Markus Haverland, Carissa Byrne Hessick

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 4d

"I’m going to pause here just to review: an institution that purports to be a university has told a philosophy professor he is forbidden from teaching Plato."

surreal times

dailynous.com/2026/01/06/t...

Texas A&M Bans Plato - Daily Nous

Drop the race and gender material from your course and the Plato readings, or teach a different course. You have a day to decide. That's a paraphrase of what Martin Peterson, professor of philosophy a...

dailynous.com

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 4d

35% of the population will support anything Trump says or does, regardless. There is the legacy media, who purport to speak for an imaginary "America" that exists only in their representations of it. There are Americans who neither forget nor forgive. There are Americans who never cared back then.

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 4d

It's a common assertion on social media that Americans in general have "forgotten" January 6th or allowed it to stand or moved on. Like all assertions about "Americans", this seems bullshit to me. There are no "Americans". 1/2

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 5d

And of course this actually turns out to be true, though it's the other way round--she's offering the deal to them. There is nothing awful we can imagine that is so far from reality that it can safely be said to be a ridiculous parody of the truth.

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 7d

My best guess is that Trump's people are offering to install Maria Corina Machado as the new head of state in Venezuela as long as she gives Trump her Nobel prize in return.

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 5d

What's fascinating is that cynical scumbags like Scott are having to rush into the vast, howling vacuum around Trump to supply the usual nonsense, because Trump and his gangsters aren't interested and aren't bothering. I don't know quite why they do it. A reflex, I guess.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

Rick Scott: "I'm glad the president didn't just take Maduro and walk away. I'm glad that he's committed to freedom and democracy in Venezuela. Now, I can't tell you how they're going to get there ... "

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 5d

Any nation that has actual elections and a more or less liberal framework of laws, rights and regulations needs to understand: if you don't defend what you have against the US, China and Russia, you're going to lose it. Don't let an American billionaire buy companies in Greenland, for example.

Reposted by Timothy Burke

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 7d

Oh, I'm so sorry--hang tight and all the best hopes.

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 7d

Looking for the part of the Constitution that says "elected members of Congress who aren't trusted by the President don't get to exercise the powers and duties assigned to them in the Constitution". Not there. Seems to me like it's Harrigan who is the guy using some other country's laws.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 7d

GOP Rep. Pat Harrigan: "There are members of Congress that they just cannot trust. And I understand that. We have folks that are Somali first and not America first."

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Timothy Burke, Henry Jones , and 2 more Brendan Nyhan, Timothy Burke, Henry Jones, Élisabeth Vallet, David Darmofal

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 7d

GOP Rep. Pat Harrigan: "There are members of Congress that they just cannot trust. And I understand that. We have folks that are Somali first and not America first."

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 7d

My best guess is that Trump's people are offering to install Maria Corina Machado as the new head of state in Venezuela as long as she gives Trump her Nobel prize in return.

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 7d

So any country that indicts another country's ruler (or other citizen) can go capture him if they have the military capability? Might makes right and all that? File that under "doctrines that everybody's going to regret sooner or later".

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 8d

Vance pushes back and says this was not illegal, arguing "Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism. You don't get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas."

A 8:42 AM · Jan 3, 2026 post from JD Vance saying "And PSA for everyone saying this was "illegal":

Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism. You don't get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas."

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 8d

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 8d

Wait, they're going to charge Maduro, who is a Venezuelan citizen, with Possession of Machineguns in an American court? Why are they even bothering with courts if they're going to be that silly?

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 8d

It's almost refreshing in one sense, and horrifying in another, because I think it signals a profound absence of any plan or purpose at all that needs a lie to cover it up. It's just about showing their readiness to use military force for anything that strikes their fancy.

Michael Kagan @michaelgkagan.bsky.social · 8d

I feel like I haven’t even been properly lied to about the purposes of this war

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Brendan Nyhan, Shadd Maruna , and 22 more Elizabeth Saunders, Brendan Nyhan, Shadd Maruna, Ian Campbell, Nicolas Véron, Michelle Everson, Jonathan Hopkin, David R. Miller, McKenzie Wark, Scott A. Imberman, Timothy Burke, Michael Jones‐Correa, Jelena Subotić, Aurélien Mondon, Federica Genovese, Niels Keijzer, Nathan Richardson, Klaus Oschema, Christina Pagel, Manisha Sinha, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Charles T. Mathewes, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Timothy D. McBride

Michael Kagan @michaelgkagan.bsky.social · 8d

I feel like I haven’t even been properly lied to about the purposes of this war

Reposted by Timothy Burke

jesse @jesseltaylor.bsky.social · 8d

This is an absolutely bananas article, but my favorite part is that Bari Weiss wants to meet people where they are by taking a private jet and a fleet of bodyguards to speak to hand-picked audiences at restaurants and private schools

Private jets and ‘Bari pitches’: Inside Weiss’ chaotic CBS Evening News reboot

EXCLUSIVE: The new CBS News editor-in-chief has chartered private flights for her armed security detail, made last-minute logistical changes and fired off ‘Bari Pitches.’ Weiss is once again accused o...

www.independent.co.uk

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 8d

All the headlines you're trying to give benediction to give Grok the agency for "apologizing". You're either trying to obfuscate or you really don't get the basic point here. Any headline that has Grok as an active agent is fundamentally and profoundly false.

Timothy Burke @timothyburke.bsky.social · 8d

"Man in the street" is 100% the easiest genre of lazy bullshit in American journalism. This is just piling on the usual "I talked to some guy in Tennessee and also my neighbor" with deliberate ideological intent. "Average Americans" in Bari Weiss's world means "not 51% of the electorate".

Ashton Pittman @ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 8d

This isn't about democratizing the news. It's about elevating "vibes" and "feelings" to be on par with lived experience and subject-matter expertise.

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