Benjamin Balthaser
@blbalthaser.bsky.social
Assoc prof of multiethnic US lit; au of Dedication (2011), Anti-Imperialist Modernism (2016), Citizens of the Whole World: Anti-Zionism & the Cultures of the US Jewish Left (2025). He/him. 🕎🌹😷🇵🇸Chicago 🐢
https://iusb.academia.edu/BenjaminBalthaser
https://iusb.academia.edu/BenjaminBalthaser
I understand the ambivalence ppl have for Mamdani’s mtg w Trump, but as we debate, I just ask that folx don’t lie about what it’s like to have ICE invade yr city - the feeling of siege & terror as armed gangs rove the streets abducting ppl, smashing cars; pepper spray & tear gas
November 26, 2025 at 5:02 AM
I understand the ambivalence ppl have for Mamdani’s mtg w Trump, but as we debate, I just ask that folx don’t lie about what it’s like to have ICE invade yr city - the feeling of siege & terror as armed gangs rove the streets abducting ppl, smashing cars; pepper spray & tear gas
The only thing more unsettling than the social media streamed spectacle of ICE raids is the chilly lack of spectacle surrounding the Trump admin's plan for “regime change” in Venezuela. They are barely going through the motions; they don’t seem to be trying v hard to make their lies plausible
November 25, 2025 at 11:49 PM
The only thing more unsettling than the social media streamed spectacle of ICE raids is the chilly lack of spectacle surrounding the Trump admin's plan for “regime change” in Venezuela. They are barely going through the motions; they don’t seem to be trying v hard to make their lies plausible
Many current political positions on the left remind me of what an erstwhile comrade posted after watching Andor on TV: “Disney’s is more radical than DSA!” True, in the same sense that Quentin Tarantino killed more Nazis than General Zhukov
November 23, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Many current political positions on the left remind me of what an erstwhile comrade posted after watching Andor on TV: “Disney’s is more radical than DSA!” True, in the same sense that Quentin Tarantino killed more Nazis than General Zhukov
I feel like it’s getting lost in the shuffle that Zohran Mamdani is the first politician to say Israel is committing a genocide from the White House www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfe...
Mamdani says Israel is ‘committing genocide’ in Gaza at Trump meeting
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza at a meeting with President Trump.
www.aljazeera.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:40 PM
I feel like it’s getting lost in the shuffle that Zohran Mamdani is the first politician to say Israel is committing a genocide from the White House www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfe...
The contradiction in which a mass mediated spectacle of socialism vs fascism runs into the need for a municipal socialism to not fail, to deliver the goods. I am not comfortable tbh but I also can’t say I’d come up w anything better than a different set of contradictions
November 22, 2025 at 7:36 PM
The contradiction in which a mass mediated spectacle of socialism vs fascism runs into the need for a municipal socialism to not fail, to deliver the goods. I am not comfortable tbh but I also can’t say I’d come up w anything better than a different set of contradictions
Ok perhaps we shouldn’t get our DSA news from the NYT - the Marxist Unity Group has articulated a number of good reasons not to endorse Ossi, namely that he’s an opportunist and not a committed socialist
socialisttribune.substack.com/p/why-we-sho...
socialisttribune.substack.com/p/why-we-sho...
November 22, 2025 at 4:07 AM
Ok perhaps we shouldn’t get our DSA news from the NYT - the Marxist Unity Group has articulated a number of good reasons not to endorse Ossi, namely that he’s an opportunist and not a committed socialist
socialisttribune.substack.com/p/why-we-sho...
socialisttribune.substack.com/p/why-we-sho...
Ok if there is any reason for DSA to strategically part ways w Mamdani, this may be it. The historical mission of DSA’s electoral wing should be to unseat Jeffries and Schumer 🌹🧹
November 22, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Ok if there is any reason for DSA to strategically part ways w Mamdani, this may be it. The historical mission of DSA’s electoral wing should be to unseat Jeffries and Schumer 🌹🧹
I’ve always been uncomfortable w “the Holocaust industry’s” underlying assumption, that “Auschwitz” is no longer a usable antifascist history. What is so remarkable about this clip is the admission that the Zionist colonization of this history has failed
November 22, 2025 at 3:34 AM
I’ve always been uncomfortable w “the Holocaust industry’s” underlying assumption, that “Auschwitz” is no longer a usable antifascist history. What is so remarkable about this clip is the admission that the Zionist colonization of this history has failed
Trump is genuinely a racist, white nationalist, anti democratic POS; he is also savvy enough to get in front of a mob and call it a parade
I think even Trump has a crush on Mamdani
Q: Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist?
MAMDANI: I've spoken about--
TRUMP: That's okay. You can just say yes. I don't mind.
MAMDANI: I've spoken about--
TRUMP: That's okay. You can just say yes. I don't mind.
November 21, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Trump is genuinely a racist, white nationalist, anti democratic POS; he is also savvy enough to get in front of a mob and call it a parade
I think even Trump has a crush on Mamdani
Q: Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist?
MAMDANI: I've spoken about--
TRUMP: That's okay. You can just say yes. I don't mind.
MAMDANI: I've spoken about--
TRUMP: That's okay. You can just say yes. I don't mind.
November 21, 2025 at 9:14 PM
I think even Trump has a crush on Mamdani
My most conservative position is that elected politicians should not call for the murder of other elected politicians
November 20, 2025 at 6:25 PM
My most conservative position is that elected politicians should not call for the murder of other elected politicians
Reposted by Benjamin Balthaser
Some people will try anything except wearing a mask
November 18, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Some people will try anything except wearing a mask
I can’t tell if I am more stunned someone still thinks IQ is real, or that someone is surprised the historical accumulation of wealth under capitalism might not meritocratically reflect the score a nation gets on an exam
November 18, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I can’t tell if I am more stunned someone still thinks IQ is real, or that someone is surprised the historical accumulation of wealth under capitalism might not meritocratically reflect the score a nation gets on an exam
Tom Alter was fired from Texas State for praising socialism, Maura Finkelstein & Steven Salaita from MU & UIUC rsp for criticizing a genocidal, apartheid regime the US supports; many students have been expelled not despite their courageous moral stances, but bc of them. Yet Harvard keeps this guy.
A guy makes ONE tiny mistake (has a years-long friendship with the world's worst sex trafficker; brags about sexually harassing colleagues; is racist; says women are stupid) and his whole LIFE is blown up (does slightly fewer speaking engagements; keeps teaching at #1 university)??!?!?!?!?!
So Harvard is keeping this guy, but Claudine Gay had to step down over ginned up plagiarism accusations and bad-faith accusations of anti-Semitism.
Got it.
Got it.
November 18, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Tom Alter was fired from Texas State for praising socialism, Maura Finkelstein & Steven Salaita from MU & UIUC rsp for criticizing a genocidal, apartheid regime the US supports; many students have been expelled not despite their courageous moral stances, but bc of them. Yet Harvard keeps this guy.
Oh you hated Larry Summers since he was president of Harvard? I hated him since he was chief economist of the World Bank
November 18, 2025 at 6:03 AM
Oh you hated Larry Summers since he was president of Harvard? I hated him since he was chief economist of the World Bank
When anyone asks me for a fast example of how global neoliberalism is structurally racist, I share Larry Summers’ famous memo describing Africa as “under polluted” and of “little marginal utility” as grounds for shipping toxic waste to the continent
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summers...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summers...
Summers memo - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 18, 2025 at 5:08 AM
When anyone asks me for a fast example of how global neoliberalism is structurally racist, I share Larry Summers’ famous memo describing Africa as “under polluted” and of “little marginal utility” as grounds for shipping toxic waste to the continent
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summers...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summers...
Late to commenting on this - but it is v strange to simultaneously be living through a fake antisemitism panic attempting to crush the left, and real antisemitism panic, by really real antisemites, also trying to crush the left jewishcurrents.org/confronting-...
Confronting the Anti-Zionist Right
Jewish Currents discusses Nick Fuentes on Tucker Carlson, Norman Finkelstein on Candace Owens, and the newfound influence of the anti-Israel right.
jewishcurrents.org
November 17, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Late to commenting on this - but it is v strange to simultaneously be living through a fake antisemitism panic attempting to crush the left, and real antisemitism panic, by really real antisemites, also trying to crush the left jewishcurrents.org/confronting-...
Apologies to my working class NYC comrades, we tried
November 16, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Apologies to my working class NYC comrades, we tried
The anti-Sheinbaum protests were sparked by the assassination of a mayor who flew in helicopter w an assault rifle shooting at suspected, unarmed criminals.
November 16, 2025 at 6:44 PM
The anti-Sheinbaum protests were sparked by the assassination of a mayor who flew in helicopter w an assault rifle shooting at suspected, unarmed criminals.
Yes. And ppl are still dying from covid and becoming disabled from long covid
sometimes it will just hit me that over a million americans died from covid in a short period of time and we never had a national mourning. we never collectively grieved. we never honored the dead. this feels like a failure
November 16, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Yes. And ppl are still dying from covid and becoming disabled from long covid
You belong to a v particular cultural-politico formation if you can pronounce Ghislaine correctly, no notes, but Mamdani throws you for a seemingly permanent loop
November 16, 2025 at 3:30 AM
You belong to a v particular cultural-politico formation if you can pronounce Ghislaine correctly, no notes, but Mamdani throws you for a seemingly permanent loop
An anti-Zionist Jewish commentator once sd, w some irony, the US is going to have to get “more antisemitic” to break w Israel. Were it true: most the non-Jewish architects & advocates of Zionism, Balfour, Churchill, Nixon, were antisemites. Tbf most of the Jewish ones were too
November 15, 2025 at 6:20 PM
An anti-Zionist Jewish commentator once sd, w some irony, the US is going to have to get “more antisemitic” to break w Israel. Were it true: most the non-Jewish architects & advocates of Zionism, Balfour, Churchill, Nixon, were antisemites. Tbf most of the Jewish ones were too
I can’t remember a plausibly threatened invasion by the US that has received less attention and alarm by the press.
November 15, 2025 at 4:43 AM
I can’t remember a plausibly threatened invasion by the US that has received less attention and alarm by the press.
Beyond implications the president is a rapist of underage women, the Epstein scandal has been a parallax view into the economy & political imaginary: at once a window into the predatory workings of neoliberalism, also a de-politicized conspiracy theory laden w tropes of Jewish men devouring children
November 15, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Beyond implications the president is a rapist of underage women, the Epstein scandal has been a parallax view into the economy & political imaginary: at once a window into the predatory workings of neoliberalism, also a de-politicized conspiracy theory laden w tropes of Jewish men devouring children
Reposted by Benjamin Balthaser
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 15, 2025 at 12:01 AM
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.