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Chris Edelson

@chrisedelson.bsky.social

1.5K followers 630 following 2.2K posts

Assistant professor of government at American University. Area of focus: US presidential power and authoritarian threats to democracy. Writing a book on emergency presidential power in context of Trump. https://www.american.edu/spa/faculty/edelson.cfm

www.american.edu

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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · Feb 28

trump's breathtaking, revolutionary unilateral action could not be justified even in an emergency (and none existed when trump took office). He is claiming unilateral power that goes beyond what Lincoln claimed at start of civil war--& Lincoln crucially gained retroactive approval from Congress 1/2

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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 7h

Anne Frank and Underground Railroad analogies write themselves.

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 13h

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Brendan Cantwell @cantb.bsky.social · 17h

MIT’s response to The Compact invitation

The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core beliefs. That scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.

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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 17h

Four cheers for MIT.

orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart

orgchart.mit.edu

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Jim Daley @jimdaleywrites.bsky.social · 17h

I'm at the scene where ICE abducted multiple people from Lincoln and Foster this morning.

A WGN producer was among the people taken, allegedly because she was among a group of bystanders who tried to intervene. ICE agents hit this car while making their getaway.

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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 17h

more evidence of trump's projection. He falsely said that he was the only thing that stood between his supporters and mass prosecutions. In fact, trump is the enabler for partisan, selective, baseless prosecution of his perceived enemies

Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 1d

Jim Comey was first, but let's be clear: Donald Trump is coming for the rest of us too. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/we-are-all...

Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 17h

not sure, but I know there are of course questions about his health

Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 17h

or he's Jefferson Davis as US, rather than Confederate, president

Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 17h

yes, it came out of nowhere. not like trump has been waging a trade war or anything. Does this man have absolutely no sense of self-awareness?

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 2d

This speech from @marisakabas.bsky.social is really worth reading.

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 2d

New — I was fortunate to speak in front of students and faculty at Grinnell College in Iowa tonight about the business of independent journalism, the current state of media under Trump 2.0, and billionaire control.

I published my full speech because I thought it might resonate beyond campus:

Truth, morality and independence in journalism under the second Trump regime

My full remarks to students and faculty at Grennell College.

www.thehandbasket.co

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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 1d

Just 'cause it has to be said every now and then.

GOP Senators and Representatives are obviously okay with...everything...that's happening.

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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 17h

same kind of garbage I recently heard from someone I know who supports trump. I had guessed he got his talking points/slogans from Fox. It was like speaking to a character from Orwell's Animal Farm--"4 legs good, 2 legs bad!" "Democrats are Marxists"! brain dead stuff, robotic

Reposted by Chris Edelson

Joel Mendelson @jpmendelson.bsky.social · 18h

Apparently if you don't want a king ruling America and want to express that in public, you are pro-Hamas and antifa.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 20h

Mike Johnson: "We're so angry about it. I mean, I'm a very patient guy, but I've had it with these people. The theory we have right now -- they have a hate America rally that's scheduled for October 18 on the National Mall. It's the pro-Hamas wing and antifa people ... "

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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 2d

We aren't on the verge of an authoritarian takeover. We are in the middle of it.

But I worry people don't see the whole scheme. They just pay attention to each new daily outrage. So I went to the Senate floor to explain Trump's plan.

Here's a 🧵of the speech. It's important.

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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 18h

has he brought peace to US streets e.g. in Chicago, LA, Portland? Has he brought peace by ordering military strikes against boats in the Caribbean that may simply contain fishermen? what about by threatening to invade other countries? I'd consider the whole picture here

Reposted by Chris Edelson

Federico Finchelstein @finchelsteinf.bsky.social · 20h

Yes. This connects to strategies of repression as experienced during Argentine Dictatorship's "dirty war" on its citizens...

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 20h

Stephen Miller just said that Chicago ICE raid was one of the most successful law enforcement operations ever. I asked Pritzker to respond.

"If this was Pinochet’s Chile, if this was Argentina under authoritarian rule, maybe you’d call it successful," he said. 2/

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 18h

yes, that was the concept I was thinking of--thank you

Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 19h

I am not an expert on the military, but I had thought that even adversarial countries establish lines of communication in order to avoid inadvertent conflict. trump sees Illinois and other states governed by Democrats as hostile countries and acts as if he is at war with them

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 20h

JB Pritzker also talks about his inability to get any top Trump officials on the phone, probably because they *want* this to be experienced as an invasion. He explains why this could make law enforcement officials on both sides *less* safe. Total dereliction. 3/

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

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Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · 20h

It might be hard to convey to people outside economics just how seismic this is. The Trump effect has most certainly arrived to US academia.

Florian Scheuer @florianscheuer.bsky.social · 23h

I am delighted to share that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will join our Department of Economics @econ.uzh.ch at the University of Zurich on July 1, 2026, as Lemann Foundation Professors of Economics.

🧵 1/7

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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 20h

yes--this is something I have often said and thought in recent years--the first step/first task is to accurately describe the reality we face and are experiencing

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Alan Elrod @aselrod.bsky.social · 20h

I’m sorry to say that the liberal democracy we tried to save has been transformed. I’m sad to say the America we love is now a new thing, a competitive authoritarian state.

And it’s getting worse. We only win this long-term fight by meeting reality head-on.

www.liberalcurrents.com/all-in-our-h...

All In Our Heads: On Losing Our Democracy and Life Beyond Our Imaginations

Our language has to meet the moment, and we have to be relentless about dispelling the fiction MAGA is selling.

www.liberalcurrents.com

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 1d

Without comment.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/u...

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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 1d

lower federal cts have tried to set limits in similar cases when trump illegal deployed military to US cities. This S Ct, however, is a dubious check at best (if at all)

Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 1d

A functioning Congress would not allow trump to publicly signal the possibility of illegally invoking the Insurrection Act when there is no actual insurrection/break down in civil order. trump knows Rs in Congress will set no limits--that is quite dangerous and allows trump to break the law at will

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 1d

Nothing remotely resembling an insurrection is happening anywhere in the country. Any violence associated with protest has been isolated, mild, and, in nearly every case, instigated by federal law enforcement. If we let Trump get away with calling dissent an insurrection, our republic is over.

BREAKING: Trump Admin 'Seriously' Considering Using the Insurrection Act, Reports NBC

President Trump is "seriously" considering invoking the Insurrection Act in order to more easily deploy National Guard troops to major cities as part of crime crackdown, NBC reported on Wednesday

www.mediaite.com

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 2d

The man with the nuclear codes is like your grandpa struggling with the TV remote

Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 2d

WSJ: President Trump believed his Truth Social post demanding prosecutions of James Comey and other political foes was a private message to his attorney general, and "and was surprised to learn it was public."

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 1d

Trump has repeatedly fired Black government officials and replaced them with white men www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/u...

Trump Fires Black Officials From an Overwhelmingly White Administration

www.nytimes.com

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