Alexandre Blanchet
@alexblanchet.bsky.social
Directeur de l’analyse stratégique et de la transformation sociale, Commissaire au bien-être et aux droits des enfants du Québec | Politologue | papa 2x | Coureur 🏃♂️
Posts in English & Français
📍Montréal, Québec, Canada
Posts in English & Français
📍Montréal, Québec, Canada
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
Trump's approval ratings are tanking.
He's flailing on the economy.
He backtracked on the Epstein files and lost control of the GOP.
His plot to steal the 2026 midterms is faltering.
Do not let him gaslight you into believing he is all powerful.
He's flailing on the economy.
He backtracked on the Epstein files and lost control of the GOP.
His plot to steal the 2026 midterms is faltering.
Do not let him gaslight you into believing he is all powerful.
November 20, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Trump's approval ratings are tanking.
He's flailing on the economy.
He backtracked on the Epstein files and lost control of the GOP.
His plot to steal the 2026 midterms is faltering.
Do not let him gaslight you into believing he is all powerful.
He's flailing on the economy.
He backtracked on the Epstein files and lost control of the GOP.
His plot to steal the 2026 midterms is faltering.
Do not let him gaslight you into believing he is all powerful.
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
Costly signaling like gang tattoos - if it's subtle, doesn't work
As of January, plastic surgeons in Washington DC have seen a “surge in ‘Mar-a-Lago face’ requests from Trump insiders”...Surgeons told the outlet that more Washingtonians want their procedures to be not unnoticed but obvious and overdone." www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Plastic surgeons wrestle with requests for ‘Mar-a-Lago face’: ‘You’re going to look like Maleficent’
The puffy, artificial look is rising in popularity - thanks to Maga elite such as Kristi Noem and Matt Gaetz
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Costly signaling like gang tattoos - if it's subtle, doesn't work
À égalité statistique avec Incertain.
Beaucoup de gens semblent attendre une autre option…
Beaucoup de gens semblent attendre une autre option…
Léger : « Lequel des chefs de partis politiques provinciaux suivants ferait le meilleur premier ministre du Québec ? »
Le PQ conserve la tête, mais l’écart se resserre, ma chronique → www.qc125.ca/p/leger-le-p...
Le PQ conserve la tête, mais l’écart se resserre, ma chronique → www.qc125.ca/p/leger-le-p...
November 12, 2025 at 10:14 PM
À égalité statistique avec Incertain.
Beaucoup de gens semblent attendre une autre option…
Beaucoup de gens semblent attendre une autre option…
C’est via un article dans le NYT que je découvre que Jean-Philippe Pleau a écrit un livre que je devrais absolument lire. Considérant la thématique, ma déconnexion des médias québécois a quelque chose d’ironique. C’est aussi profondément triste.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/w...
A Quebec Writer Confronts His ‘Little Darkness’ as a Class Defector
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:07 PM
C’est via un article dans le NYT que je découvre que Jean-Philippe Pleau a écrit un livre que je devrais absolument lire. Considérant la thématique, ma déconnexion des médias québécois a quelque chose d’ironique. C’est aussi profondément triste.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/w...
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
👇👇👇
The problem w polling - as someone who does lots of surveys - is that surveys construct opinions that simply do not exist in nature for *huge* chunks of people and too few of the data science bros conducting campaign polling understand this very basic feature the survey response. Vibes indeed.
The existence of this photograph (which is a real photo of a real person at a Mamdani campaign event) is enough to establish for me that voters writ large have absolutely no grasp of what policy is or how any given policy impacts their lives. It's all vibes.
October 30, 2025 at 4:04 AM
👇👇👇
Les États-Unis sont en train de saboter les fondations de leur dominance en matière d’innovation. Ceux qui s’imaginent que le « magnificent 7 » est possible sans cet écosystème universitaire ont un doigt dans l’œil jusqu’au coude…
Some doctoral programmes in the US are admitting no students at all amid uncertainty about federal science funding
go.nature.com/4o63boK
go.nature.com/4o63boK
US PhD admissions shrink as fears over Trump’s cuts take hold
Some doctoral programmes are admitting no students at all amid uncertainty about federal science funding.
go.nature.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Les États-Unis sont en train de saboter les fondations de leur dominance en matière d’innovation. Ceux qui s’imaginent que le « magnificent 7 » est possible sans cet écosystème universitaire ont un doigt dans l’œil jusqu’au coude…
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
This is an essential. "Democrats need to beat the Trumpists in elections that we ensure are free" is the best strategy for the next 2-4 years. But it is not a long-term strategy! The only possible long-term strategy is that someone else needs to defeat the Trumpists for control of the Repub Party.
“Win every election” is not a viable strategy for preventing authoritarianism
October 13, 2025 at 7:04 PM
This is an essential. "Democrats need to beat the Trumpists in elections that we ensure are free" is the best strategy for the next 2-4 years. But it is not a long-term strategy! The only possible long-term strategy is that someone else needs to defeat the Trumpists for control of the Repub Party.
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.
October 7, 2025 at 11:29 PM
I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.
L’ironie est que, pendant ce temps, les enseignants communiquent avec les parents via des groupes Facebook « privés » parce qu’on est toujours incapables d’avoir une alternative qui ferait le boulot.
ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/219...
ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/219...
Les informations d’enfants et de parents compromises
Des centaines d’écoles et de garderies du Québec utilisent une application, HopHop, qui met à risque les informations de milliers d’enfants et de parents.
ici.radio-canada.ca
October 7, 2025 at 8:38 PM
L’ironie est que, pendant ce temps, les enseignants communiquent avec les parents via des groupes Facebook « privés » parce qu’on est toujours incapables d’avoir une alternative qui ferait le boulot.
ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/219...
ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/219...
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
This is a breathtaking abuse of the law and power by the President of the United States.
America is on the brink of martial law.
Do not be silent.
America is on the brink of martial law.
Do not be silent.
This evening, President Trump is ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States. No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate.
October 6, 2025 at 2:03 AM
This is a breathtaking abuse of the law and power by the President of the United States.
America is on the brink of martial law.
Do not be silent.
America is on the brink of martial law.
Do not be silent.
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
The thing regular people don’t often grasp about ‘academic freedom’ is that if you don’t allow experts to research & teach in their fields of expertise, guided by their professional judgment & decades of training, you have effectively given up on the concept of knowledge & shut down your university
Universities are moving rapidly to comply with laws that don't exist.
“I’m emotionally shellshocked right now,” said one professor in the Texas Tech system. “What does it say about academic freedom? It says we don’t have it.” The professor spoke by phone from the inside of a car to avoid being overheard by colleagues.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
September 27, 2025 at 11:41 AM
The thing regular people don’t often grasp about ‘academic freedom’ is that if you don’t allow experts to research & teach in their fields of expertise, guided by their professional judgment & decades of training, you have effectively given up on the concept of knowledge & shut down your university
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
Imagine a politician giving a speech down the street from an ICE processing center, telling protesters to "fight like hell," and those protesters then breaking into the center and smashing stuff.
Clearly that wouldn't be his fault.
Clearly that wouldn't be his fault.
Top Trump officials are reportedly working to identify groups whose activities “led to” violence, whatever that means. The vagueness is the point: The people's government is actively looking for political activity they can *pretend* to link to violence. 5/
newrepublic.com/article/2009...
newrepublic.com/article/2009...
September 26, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Imagine a politician giving a speech down the street from an ICE processing center, telling protesters to "fight like hell," and those protesters then breaking into the center and smashing stuff.
Clearly that wouldn't be his fault.
Clearly that wouldn't be his fault.
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
David Letterman réagissant à la répression gouvernementale à l'égard des talkshow de fin de soirée, son emploi pendant des décennies :
David Letterman to Jeffrey Goldberg on Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension: “You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian—a criminal—administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.” #TAF25 bit.ly/4n0Uv2p
September 18, 2025 at 11:46 PM
David Letterman réagissant à la répression gouvernementale à l'égard des talkshow de fin de soirée, son emploi pendant des décennies :
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
🧵 Who's the most informed about American politics? Very lefty seculars.
My new FREE study @sfjournal.bsky.social finds atheists/agnostics, especially if they are politically sorted, score higher on knowledge of basic civics & current politics than other groups. 1/ academic.oup.com/sf/advance-a...
My new FREE study @sfjournal.bsky.social finds atheists/agnostics, especially if they are politically sorted, score higher on knowledge of basic civics & current politics than other groups. 1/ academic.oup.com/sf/advance-a...
September 24, 2025 at 5:05 PM
🧵 Who's the most informed about American politics? Very lefty seculars.
My new FREE study @sfjournal.bsky.social finds atheists/agnostics, especially if they are politically sorted, score higher on knowledge of basic civics & current politics than other groups. 1/ academic.oup.com/sf/advance-a...
My new FREE study @sfjournal.bsky.social finds atheists/agnostics, especially if they are politically sorted, score higher on knowledge of basic civics & current politics than other groups. 1/ academic.oup.com/sf/advance-a...
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
DJT: I am using the state to punish criticism and extort people
WH: this business decision was driven by
DJT: No I am using the state to punish criticism and extort people
WH: Unitary executive theory implies that
DJT: I SAID I AM USING THE STATE TO PUNISH CRITICISM AND EXTORT PEOPLE FOR MONEY
WH: this business decision was driven by
DJT: No I am using the state to punish criticism and extort people
WH: Unitary executive theory implies that
DJT: I SAID I AM USING THE STATE TO PUNISH CRITICISM AND EXTORT PEOPLE FOR MONEY
“I can't believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled!”
September 24, 2025 at 12:23 PM
DJT: I am using the state to punish criticism and extort people
WH: this business decision was driven by
DJT: No I am using the state to punish criticism and extort people
WH: Unitary executive theory implies that
DJT: I SAID I AM USING THE STATE TO PUNISH CRITICISM AND EXTORT PEOPLE FOR MONEY
WH: this business decision was driven by
DJT: No I am using the state to punish criticism and extort people
WH: Unitary executive theory implies that
DJT: I SAID I AM USING THE STATE TO PUNISH CRITICISM AND EXTORT PEOPLE FOR MONEY
Tout est devenu tellement con.
UPDATE: President Trump and his deputies tied autism to acetaminophen use during pregnancy, presented a cancer drug as a possible treatment, and said the FDA would change labeling to reflect both claims. There is little strong scientific evidence for either.
Trump blames Tylenol for autism. Science doesn't back him up
President Trump and his deputies tied autism to acetaminophen use during pregnancy, presented a cancer drug as a possible treatment, and said the FDA would change labeling to reflect both claims. There is little strong scientific evidence for either.
n.pr
September 23, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Tout est devenu tellement con.
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
“They studied 51 populist presidents and prime ministers who were in power between 1900 and 2020 and found that after 15 years, GDP per capita was 10% lower when compared with a plausible nonpopulist counterfactual.”
The US economy has a new problem: Democracy is under siege www.cnn.com/2025/09/22/b...
The US economy has a new problem: Democracy is under siege | CNN Business
Some political scientists see a pattern that suggests American democracy is being undermined in real time. The stakes are massive for the US economy and the business world.
www.cnn.com
September 22, 2025 at 12:24 PM
“They studied 51 populist presidents and prime ministers who were in power between 1900 and 2020 and found that after 15 years, GDP per capita was 10% lower when compared with a plausible nonpopulist counterfactual.”
This essentially means the end of the US as an international hub for virtually everything that has driven economic growth over the past 70 years.
there’s a lot of talk about big tech and corporations but so many international academic colleagues are also on H1Bs.
no university is going to pay 100k extra a year to keep them. if this holds, it would essentially mean the end of foreigners on tenure track jobs at US universities.
no university is going to pay 100k extra a year to keep them. if this holds, it would essentially mean the end of foreigners on tenure track jobs at US universities.
At $100,000 per H1B visa, Amazon alone will end up paying $1 Billion. Or, more likely, laying off most of their international staff.
www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-h...
www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-h...
September 20, 2025 at 5:31 PM
This essentially means the end of the US as an international hub for virtually everything that has driven economic growth over the past 70 years.
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
By next spring, they'll be bragging about the passenger airliner they shot out of the sky because it was filled with "antifa commandos"
This appears to be the 3rd lethal US strike in the Caribbean.
Once again, the specific "terrorist" entity targeted is not identified.
No legal justification is offered for this premeditated killing.
President Trump is asserting a license to kill outside of the law. 1/n
Once again, the specific "terrorist" entity targeted is not identified.
No legal justification is offered for this premeditated killing.
President Trump is asserting a license to kill outside of the law. 1/n
September 20, 2025 at 12:38 AM
By next spring, they'll be bragging about the passenger airliner they shot out of the sky because it was filled with "antifa commandos"
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
This commentary offers a clear, powerful statement of why freedom of speech is at the heart of democracy and must be defended, whether the speaker is Charlie Kirk or Jimmy Kimmel, MAGA supporters or MAGA opponents.
September 19, 2025 at 1:56 PM
This commentary offers a clear, powerful statement of why freedom of speech is at the heart of democracy and must be defended, whether the speaker is Charlie Kirk or Jimmy Kimmel, MAGA supporters or MAGA opponents.
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
Democracy, more than anything is a practice. I always think that the Civil Rights Movement succeeded because from the Civil War black Americans built institutions: universities, fraternities and sororities, churches, that engaged them in democratic practice.
generally speaking, and with the glaring exception of november 2024, the more directly democratic an institution has been, the better it has checked Trump (eg grand and petit juries); the more elite and insular, the less effective (the Senate, the Supreme Court, big business)
September 18, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Democracy, more than anything is a practice. I always think that the Civil Rights Movement succeeded because from the Civil War black Americans built institutions: universities, fraternities and sororities, churches, that engaged them in democratic practice.
Reposted by Alexandre Blanchet
Respectfully disagree: 1) in fact it is unusual for a democracy w/ this level of GDP to turn authoritarian & so quickly; 2) the weakness of both institutions (congress & courts) and individuals (Schumer etc) is shocking. Would take less than 10 people in congress or 2 SC justices to stop all this.
What America is going through is not unusual in historical terms. Plenty of examples like it today elsewhere in the world.
What makes it unusual is the rapid collapse from a set of widely espoused norms and values that centered on liberty. It is the sacking of the shining city on hill that shocks.
What makes it unusual is the rapid collapse from a set of widely espoused norms and values that centered on liberty. It is the sacking of the shining city on hill that shocks.
September 18, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Respectfully disagree: 1) in fact it is unusual for a democracy w/ this level of GDP to turn authoritarian & so quickly; 2) the weakness of both institutions (congress & courts) and individuals (Schumer etc) is shocking. Would take less than 10 people in congress or 2 SC justices to stop all this.
It seems increasingly clear that the US corporate ladder has not been selecting for courage, integrity, or moral standing. So what has it been selecting for?
Far more dangerous than Trump, I think, is how quickly the last eight months have pulled back the curtain on America's elites and shown everyone how venal, how cowardly and how utterly mediocre the foundation of our society has been.
*DISNEY'S ABC PULLS KIMMEL SHOW INDEFINITELY, WSJ REPORTER POSTS
September 18, 2025 at 2:09 AM
It seems increasingly clear that the US corporate ladder has not been selecting for courage, integrity, or moral standing. So what has it been selecting for?