Andy Craig
@andycraig.bsky.social
@theunpopulist.net
Election law and policy, liberalism and democracy, and occasional pugs.
Election law and policy, liberalism and democracy, and occasional pugs.
The military has a duty to refuse unlawful orders, but Congress has a duty to remove from office a president and secretary who would issue such orders. There is something off about members of Congress talking about the former while refusing to say the latter, the part that's actually their job here.
November 25, 2025 at 6:38 AM
The military has a duty to refuse unlawful orders, but Congress has a duty to remove from office a president and secretary who would issue such orders. There is something off about members of Congress talking about the former while refusing to say the latter, the part that's actually their job here.
Aside from the high seas murder spree, an order to court martial a sitting senator for 100% legal political speech, and to do so under blatant unlawful command influence, would probably be the clearest case yet of an order so manifestly unlawful there is a duty for anybody in uniform to refuse it.
November 25, 2025 at 6:25 AM
Aside from the high seas murder spree, an order to court martial a sitting senator for 100% legal political speech, and to do so under blatant unlawful command influence, would probably be the clearest case yet of an order so manifestly unlawful there is a duty for anybody in uniform to refuse it.
Most insubstantial "rebellion" ever. They're annoyed by three recruitments in key races. In one, their alternative imploded w/ a Nazi tattoo. In another, they're split among different candidates. So this amounts to one race, MN, where they're united behind the lt. gov. against a House member.
Chuck Schumer Faces Pushback From a ‘Fight Club’ of Senate Democrats
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:55 AM
Most insubstantial "rebellion" ever. They're annoyed by three recruitments in key races. In one, their alternative imploded w/ a Nazi tattoo. In another, they're split among different candidates. So this amounts to one race, MN, where they're united behind the lt. gov. against a House member.
Reposted by Andy Craig
What comes after Trump? It won't be a return to the status quo but instead a new American Reconstruction. Today on the show I'm joined by The UnPopulist's @andycraig.bsky.social and @shikhadalmia.bsky.social to discuss what that reforged American democracy will look like.
ReImagining Liberty 094: A New American Reconstruction
A conversation with Andy Craig and Shikha Dalmia
www.aaronrosspowell.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:16 PM
What comes after Trump? It won't be a return to the status quo but instead a new American Reconstruction. Today on the show I'm joined by The UnPopulist's @andycraig.bsky.social and @shikhadalmia.bsky.social to discuss what that reforged American democracy will look like.
Reposted by Andy Craig
“Within the White House, Trump and his lieutenants aren’t planning on letting up…Trump has told some advisers that he wants RICO prosecutions and conspiracy charges leveled against the six Democrats, a source with direct knowledge of the matter tells Zeteo…
zeteo.com/p/how-we-gre...
zeteo.com/p/how-we-gre...
November 24, 2025 at 6:19 PM
“Within the White House, Trump and his lieutenants aren’t planning on letting up…Trump has told some advisers that he wants RICO prosecutions and conspiracy charges leveled against the six Democrats, a source with direct knowledge of the matter tells Zeteo…
zeteo.com/p/how-we-gre...
zeteo.com/p/how-we-gre...
That video wasn't even all that remarkable, other politicians and public figures have already said similar things. It probably would have been quickly forgotten. But the obsessive deranged over-reaction shows how they really are spooked about the possibility of refusing unlawful orders.
November 24, 2025 at 7:49 PM
That video wasn't even all that remarkable, other politicians and public figures have already said similar things. It probably would have been quickly forgotten. But the obsessive deranged over-reaction shows how they really are spooked about the possibility of refusing unlawful orders.
This is all so ludicrously improper and meritless on so many levels, I'd bet the likelier result is nothing more comes of it beyond this purely performative bluster, because Hegseth has no idea what he's doing and they'd struggle to find literally anybody in uniform willing to move forward with it.
November 24, 2025 at 7:36 PM
This is all so ludicrously improper and meritless on so many levels, I'd bet the likelier result is nothing more comes of it beyond this purely performative bluster, because Hegseth has no idea what he's doing and they'd struggle to find literally anybody in uniform willing to move forward with it.
Rand Paul got elected in 2010 and faced no serious primary challengers in 2016 and 2022. The idea Trump ever got him elected or re-elected is nonsense.
Trump on Rand Paul: “He's a nasty liddle' guy”
Trump on Thomas Massie: “a sick Wacko”
Trump on Thomas Massie: “a sick Wacko”
November 24, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Rand Paul got elected in 2010 and faced no serious primary challengers in 2016 and 2022. The idea Trump ever got him elected or re-elected is nonsense.
Reposted by Andy Craig
Hang on, as @klasfeldreports.com notices, the Comey dismissal may be without prejudice, but the judge ruled that the original indictment was *invalid*, and notes that an invalid indictment doesn't toll the statute of limitations. She thinks the statute has passed.
November 24, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Hang on, as @klasfeldreports.com notices, the Comey dismissal may be without prejudice, but the judge ruled that the original indictment was *invalid*, and notes that an invalid indictment doesn't toll the statute of limitations. She thinks the statute has passed.
Reposted by Andy Craig
Judge Currie rejects AG Bondi's attempt to bless the indictments after the fact:
"It would mean the Govt could send any private citizen off the street — attorney or not — into the grand jury room to secure an indictment so long as the AG gives her approval after the fact. That cannot be the law."
"It would mean the Govt could send any private citizen off the street — attorney or not — into the grand jury room to secure an indictment so long as the AG gives her approval after the fact. That cannot be the law."
November 24, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Judge Currie rejects AG Bondi's attempt to bless the indictments after the fact:
"It would mean the Govt could send any private citizen off the street — attorney or not — into the grand jury room to secure an indictment so long as the AG gives her approval after the fact. That cannot be the law."
"It would mean the Govt could send any private citizen off the street — attorney or not — into the grand jury room to secure an indictment so long as the AG gives her approval after the fact. That cannot be the law."
Reposted by Andy Craig
1/Judge Cameron Currie dismisses the Comey prosecution because Lindsey Halligan was improperly appointed US Atty.
November 24, 2025 at 5:38 PM
1/Judge Cameron Currie dismisses the Comey prosecution because Lindsey Halligan was improperly appointed US Atty.
"no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office."
Congress has gotten into the bad habit post-WWII of overlooking this re: Reserves/Guard. But what happens if a member is involuntarily recalled as an officer under 10 USC 688?
Congress has gotten into the bad habit post-WWII of overlooking this re: Reserves/Guard. But what happens if a member is involuntarily recalled as an officer under 10 USC 688?
November 24, 2025 at 5:39 PM
"no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office."
Congress has gotten into the bad habit post-WWII of overlooking this re: Reserves/Guard. But what happens if a member is involuntarily recalled as an officer under 10 USC 688?
Congress has gotten into the bad habit post-WWII of overlooking this re: Reserves/Guard. But what happens if a member is involuntarily recalled as an officer under 10 USC 688?
Reposted by Andy Craig
On rare occasions something like the poop jet video or Trump Tower Gaza will get picked up a bit, but it's... a choice... to mostly treat it as not even newsworthy that his "Truth" feed is now a constant flood of full-blown manic psychosis.
November 24, 2025 at 10:34 AM
On rare occasions something like the poop jet video or Trump Tower Gaza will get picked up a bit, but it's... a choice... to mostly treat it as not even newsworthy that his "Truth" feed is now a constant flood of full-blown manic psychosis.
Uhh... those aren't cartoony black-and-white prisoner stripes. They're concentration camp uniforms, blue vertical stripes. It's muddling the two a bit (of course they're variations on the same idea) but the AI slop is obviously pulling from pictures of the latter, it's a very distinct color palette.
November 24, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Uhh... those aren't cartoony black-and-white prisoner stripes. They're concentration camp uniforms, blue vertical stripes. It's muddling the two a bit (of course they're variations on the same idea) but the AI slop is obviously pulling from pictures of the latter, it's a very distinct color palette.
This is why the dirty little secret is "roundtabling," you get a few folks together and do your little petition fraud blunt rotation so it's not sheets full of obviously identical handwriting on each line. Usually by pay-per-sig petitioners, which gives the candidate/campaign plausible deniability.
Wanna know how bad the Arizona legislator's petition forgeries were? Here's the examples from the Austin Smith indictment.
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24...
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24...
November 24, 2025 at 4:56 AM
This is why the dirty little secret is "roundtabling," you get a few folks together and do your little petition fraud blunt rotation so it's not sheets full of obviously identical handwriting on each line. Usually by pay-per-sig petitioners, which gives the candidate/campaign plausible deniability.
The DNC / state parties would have to decide how to handle the results for delegate allocation purposes, but the party itself can't switch state-run primaries to RCV. That would require passing new state laws, or else the party disregarding the primary in favor of some private thing like caucuses.
Democratic politicians and activists are quietly lobbying to upend the way the party picks its presidential nominee by urging the use of ranked-choice voting.
Scoop: Democrats eye ranked-choice voting for 2028 primaries
It's a tool that drew national attention when it propelled New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to a decisive primary win.
www.axios.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:53 AM
The DNC / state parties would have to decide how to handle the results for delegate allocation purposes, but the party itself can't switch state-run primaries to RCV. That would require passing new state laws, or else the party disregarding the primary in favor of some private thing like caucuses.
Not the worst thing about this of course, but the idea that medieval Europe judicially executed 2% of the population is ludicrous. Even at the highest peaks you get nowhere close to 1 in every 50 people. That's wartime massacres territory.
November 24, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Not the worst thing about this of course, but the idea that medieval Europe judicially executed 2% of the population is ludicrous. Even at the highest peaks you get nowhere close to 1 in every 50 people. That's wartime massacres territory.
She has it exactly backwards. The domestic deployments to date are a much weaker case for being so manifestly illegal as to justify refusal; that's a high bar. The boat strikes are outright unambiguous murder, everyone in that chain down to the one pulling the trigger has had a clear duty to refuse.
Sen. Slotkin said today—to my surprise—that she's unaware of any illegal orders *so far*.
abcnews.go.com/Politics/wee...
abcnews.go.com/Politics/wee...
November 24, 2025 at 12:24 AM
She has it exactly backwards. The domestic deployments to date are a much weaker case for being so manifestly illegal as to justify refusal; that's a high bar. The boat strikes are outright unambiguous murder, everyone in that chain down to the one pulling the trigger has had a clear duty to refuse.
This isn't what they actually said of course, but even if they had, it's entirely protected by the First Amendment to say you think the military should disobey the president, even if you concede the orders in question are lawful. Advocating that people should break the law is still protected speech.
President insists his word is the one and only law in this land.
November 23, 2025 at 9:16 PM
This isn't what they actually said of course, but even if they had, it's entirely protected by the First Amendment to say you think the military should disobey the president, even if you concede the orders in question are lawful. Advocating that people should break the law is still protected speech.
Reposted by Andy Craig
The SLAPP Back Initiative is the first-of-its-kind database tracking strategic lawsuits against public participation, potentially meritless or malicious legal actions that chill speech and deter scrutiny.
A project by @nyu.edu's First Amendment Watch.
Learn more at slappback.org.
A project by @nyu.edu's First Amendment Watch.
Learn more at slappback.org.
November 21, 2025 at 9:26 PM
The SLAPP Back Initiative is the first-of-its-kind database tracking strategic lawsuits against public participation, potentially meritless or malicious legal actions that chill speech and deter scrutiny.
A project by @nyu.edu's First Amendment Watch.
Learn more at slappback.org.
A project by @nyu.edu's First Amendment Watch.
Learn more at slappback.org.
Reposted by Andy Craig
Super knowledgeable discussion of Trump 2.0 and beyond by @aaronrosspowell.com @shikhadalmia.bsky.social and @andycraig.bsky.social
www.theunpopulist.net/p/america-wi...
www.theunpopulist.net/p/america-wi...
America Will Need a Reconstruction Project After Trump: A Conversation with Shikha Dalmia and Andy Craig
Liberals will have to rebuild the institutions of governance and accountability that Trump is destroying and The UnPopulist plans to lead the way
www.theunpopulist.net
November 23, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Super knowledgeable discussion of Trump 2.0 and beyond by @aaronrosspowell.com @shikhadalmia.bsky.social and @andycraig.bsky.social
www.theunpopulist.net/p/america-wi...
www.theunpopulist.net/p/america-wi...
We talk of refusing unlawful orders, but really that's a very high bar. It's only for orders that are manifestly unlawful, something *obviously* illegal on the face of it. And the core example of that is refusing an order to wantonly murder noncombatants, which is exactly what they are doing.
Oddly enough, in media coverage of Dems' video warning against carrying out illegal orders, there's very little discussion of *whether it's actually reasonable to fear Trump is giving illegal commands or not.*
The evidence is strong that he is. Media should say so:
newrepublic.com/article/2035...
The evidence is strong that he is. Media should say so:
newrepublic.com/article/2035...
November 23, 2025 at 7:41 PM
We talk of refusing unlawful orders, but really that's a very high bar. It's only for orders that are manifestly unlawful, something *obviously* illegal on the face of it. And the core example of that is refusing an order to wantonly murder noncombatants, which is exactly what they are doing.