Craig Franson
@craigfranson.bsky.social
English professor/democracy enthusiast--18/19th century, popular culture, critical theory, writing & rhetoric. Sometime podcaster & substacker at #AmericanId, former photojournalist & actor, Idaho expat.
#Politics #Romanticism #PopCulture #Tolkien #Buffy+
#Politics #Romanticism #PopCulture #Tolkien #Buffy+
The best & simplest take so far.
Puzzled by shock at Trump/Mamdani presser. Long history of autocrats opportunistically--& temporarily--embracing enemies. I think Mamdani's right to use the moment. Suspect he gets it's just that. & also knows Trump sees he gets a little "winner" shine & can later say "I gave him a chance."
November 22, 2025 at 8:21 PM
The best & simplest take so far.
Keeping an eye on this.
Bad news! Even if the main target seems to be federal employees, rather than researchers of political extremism, this is chilling for the latter too.
Senators Want Extremism Researchers to Surrender Documents Linked to Right-Wing Grudges
The Senate homeland security committee's chair has asked researchers to turn over troves of documents related to the January 6 attack, vaccines, and more, according to a letter reviewed by WIRED.
www.wired.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Keeping an eye on this.
What a truly wild moment.
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 11:04 PM
What a truly wild moment.
Coast Guard scampers to roll back up the welcome mat for Nazis & Klansmen. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
In reversal, Coast Guard again classifies swastikas, nooses as hate symbols
The new order came hours after The Post reported the service would instead classify such symbols “potentially divisive” under guidelines set for release next month.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Coast Guard scampers to roll back up the welcome mat for Nazis & Klansmen. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
The succession struggle breaking out on the US right isn't between the GOP establishment & young fascists. It's better described as a fight between Christian ultra-nationalists & neo-Nazis. No one involved here is "normal" or "establishment" by any stretch of the imagination.
#Journalists
#Journalists
November 20, 2025 at 6:47 PM
The succession struggle breaking out on the US right isn't between the GOP establishment & young fascists. It's better described as a fight between Christian ultra-nationalists & neo-Nazis. No one involved here is "normal" or "establishment" by any stretch of the imagination.
#Journalists
#Journalists
Any aspiring fiction writers in the house? Strong endorse.
I'll be doing an online workshop on character creation and development for Blue Stoop on December 7th! Interested? Register and pay here: www.bluestoop.org/classes/p/nk...
Finding the Heart of Your Story, a masterclass with N.K. Jemisin — Blue Stoop
Building a character is building a world of one; defining them, shaping them, and changing them is what a story is for. In this craft-first virtual masterclass, award winning author N. K. Jemisin will...
www.bluestoop.org
November 20, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Any aspiring fiction writers in the house? Strong endorse.
Reposted by Craig Franson
@thcarter123.bsky.social loads his op-ed with links on all the recent coverage of Trad-Catholic antisemitism & Christian nationalism around Heritage.
Under Kevin Roberts, Heritage has returned to its extremist Catholic Paul Weyrich roots.
It has become a Leonard Leo-Opus Dei Catholic colony, a rad-trad DC outpost similar to Leo’s extremist Catholic Supreme Court.
medium.com/@thcarter123...
It has become a Leonard Leo-Opus Dei Catholic colony, a rad-trad DC outpost similar to Leo’s extremist Catholic Supreme Court.
medium.com/@thcarter123...
The Rad-Trad Heritage Blood Libel
Nov. 17, 2025
medium.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
@thcarter123.bsky.social loads his op-ed with links on all the recent coverage of Trad-Catholic antisemitism & Christian nationalism around Heritage.
Congratulations to @nkjemisin.bsky.social
✨ Please join SFWA in celebrating the announcement of our latest Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award: N. K. Jemisin. ✨
Learn more here about @nkjemisin.bsky.social, the Grand Master Award, and how the work goes on after the accolades for all we've already done:
www.sfwa.org/2025/11/16/p...
Learn more here about @nkjemisin.bsky.social, the Grand Master Award, and how the work goes on after the accolades for all we've already done:
www.sfwa.org/2025/11/16/p...
November 17, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Congratulations to @nkjemisin.bsky.social
Reposted by Craig Franson
Sssssooooo... yeah. (Wow!) 😳🤗
✨ Please join SFWA in celebrating the announcement of our latest Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award: N. K. Jemisin. ✨
Learn more here about @nkjemisin.bsky.social, the Grand Master Award, and how the work goes on after the accolades for all we've already done:
www.sfwa.org/2025/11/16/p...
Learn more here about @nkjemisin.bsky.social, the Grand Master Award, and how the work goes on after the accolades for all we've already done:
www.sfwa.org/2025/11/16/p...
November 16, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Sssssooooo... yeah. (Wow!) 😳🤗
Reposted by Craig Franson
The issue was never polarisation
When far-right politics are on the rise and being mainstreamed, opposing them uncompromisingly is the only way forward, not the extreme of a spectrum where the status quo is the reasonable middle ground
When far-right politics are on the rise and being mainstreamed, opposing them uncompromisingly is the only way forward, not the extreme of a spectrum where the status quo is the reasonable middle ground
The ‘polarisation narrative’ simplifies complex issues by constructing a spectrum where good should be found in the middle of diametrically opposed political positions
New preprint article by @juanroch.bsky.social, @daniel-balinhas.bsky.social and I
1/
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
New preprint article by @juanroch.bsky.social, @daniel-balinhas.bsky.social and I
1/
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
(PDF) A critique of the polarisation narrative: Expanding the limits of democracy, parties and political participation
PDF | To cite: Roch J, Balinhas, D and Mondon A (2025) 'A critique of the polarisation narrative: Expanding the limits of democracy, parties and... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on R...
www.researchgate.net
November 17, 2025 at 7:03 PM
The issue was never polarisation
When far-right politics are on the rise and being mainstreamed, opposing them uncompromisingly is the only way forward, not the extreme of a spectrum where the status quo is the reasonable middle ground
When far-right politics are on the rise and being mainstreamed, opposing them uncompromisingly is the only way forward, not the extreme of a spectrum where the status quo is the reasonable middle ground
Reposted by Craig Franson
I just don’t see how we can pretend even for a moment that anything involving our federal government is remotely normal when the president is covering up his involvement in a child sex trafficking ring. Like, what are we doing here
November 15, 2025 at 1:14 AM
I just don’t see how we can pretend even for a moment that anything involving our federal government is remotely normal when the president is covering up his involvement in a child sex trafficking ring. Like, what are we doing here
November 14, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Well worth the read. Chicago's experience will spread.
Letter from Trumpland: Chicago Edition 🚨
This is truly a harrowing letter from what seems like a faraway land, but it is in fact closer to all of us in the US than most of us want to believe.
This is truly a harrowing letter from what seems like a faraway land, but it is in fact closer to all of us in the US than most of us want to believe.
I Want You to Understand Chicago
aphyr.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Well worth the read. Chicago's experience will spread.
Reposted by Craig Franson
...and less than 24 hours later Condé Nast has fired Lex and the rest of the Teen Vogue political desk, even as stories like this were bringing huge numbers of readers to the site
dissatisfied by the New York Times coverage of Zohran Mamdani?
great news! I talked to the guy Thursday about his campaign’s success at bringing community together beyond this election, and contextualized how it’s potentially shifted youth engagement with politics by simply listening @teenvogue.com
great news! I talked to the guy Thursday about his campaign’s success at bringing community together beyond this election, and contextualized how it’s potentially shifted youth engagement with politics by simply listening @teenvogue.com
Zohran Mamdani's Establishment-Fighting Campaign Built Community for Young People
“What Mamdani has done is not only inspire and mobilize young people, but he has exposed the establishment and some of their calcified views of participation and inclusion.”
www.teenvogue.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:16 PM
...and less than 24 hours later Condé Nast has fired Lex and the rest of the Teen Vogue political desk, even as stories like this were bringing huge numbers of readers to the site
Reposted by Craig Franson
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…”
Trump is holding a Great Gatsby/Roaring 20s-themed party at his private club in Palm Beach tonight as he tries to withhold SNAP and health care subsidies from millions of Americans. (via Kellie Meyer)
November 1, 2025 at 1:15 PM
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…”
Selfie with bloater. Happy Halloween, all!
November 1, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Selfie with bloater. Happy Halloween, all!
Reposted by Craig Franson
Here are the companies destroying the east wing of the White House
October 23, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Here are the companies destroying the east wing of the White House
Reposted by Craig Franson
I'm always delighted to hear from @schuneke.bsky.social whose research remains alarmingly pertinent. Thanks to him for writing about Weimar with nuance, political violence, and the portents to pay attention to these days.
time.com/7321664/poli...
time.com/7321664/poli...
Can Democracy Survive Political Violence?
Assassinations, coups, and street brawls may be symptoms of democratic decay—or an intentional strategy wielded by democracy’s enemies.
time.com
October 24, 2025 at 1:50 PM
I'm always delighted to hear from @schuneke.bsky.social whose research remains alarmingly pertinent. Thanks to him for writing about Weimar with nuance, political violence, and the portents to pay attention to these days.
time.com/7321664/poli...
time.com/7321664/poli...
And to make it worse, this would be "absolutist" monarchy we're talking about, since constitutional monarchs have parliament running the purse & state properties.
There is no possible democratic, constitutional interpretation of the presidency in which Donald Trump can unilaterally destroy the White House. Because he did, he sees himself as a monarch.
Read about it in today's Triad from @jvl.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/of-kings-a...
Read about it in today's Triad from @jvl.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/of-kings-a...
October 23, 2025 at 8:09 PM
And to make it worse, this would be "absolutist" monarchy we're talking about, since constitutional monarchs have parliament running the purse & state properties.
Reposted by Craig Franson
Some of us on the academic side have been trying to tell yall what is coming for so long. We were not being hyperbolic then and we absolutely are not being hyperbolic or doomers now.
October 23, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Some of us on the academic side have been trying to tell yall what is coming for so long. We were not being hyperbolic then and we absolutely are not being hyperbolic or doomers now.
Accurate.
Merkley: "What we've seen is that democracies no longer die bc men w/guns go in and take it over. Instead, it's electeds who erode the separation of power. If you have a rubber-stamp Congress & courts that deliver more power to the executive, suddenly you have an authoritarian state. It's here now."
October 23, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Accurate.
Posting for a deep-read later. White nationalist influencers seem to be adopting fundamentalist demonization to build a bridge into ultra-nationalism. www.mediamatters.org/steve-bannon...
Calling their opponents “demonic,” some right-leaning online shows are embracing “spiritual warfare” rhetoric
Some right-wing and right-leaning podcasters have embraced the extreme rhetoric of “spiritual warfare” against their political opponents, accusing political and cultural figures they disagree with of ...
www.mediamatters.org
October 17, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Posting for a deep-read later. White nationalist influencers seem to be adopting fundamentalist demonization to build a bridge into ultra-nationalism. www.mediamatters.org/steve-bannon...
Another strong piece from @adamkinzinger.substack.com. Why can't @housedemocrats.bsky.social address far-right authoritarianism with as much clarity as former neocons?
Trump’s rhetoric has crossed a line — from “Deep State” conspiracy to open fascist playbook.
open.substack.com/pub/adamkinz...
open.substack.com/pub/adamkinz...
Trump’s “Enemy Within”: How Fascist Rhetoric Became U.S. Policy
Behind talk of “vermin” and “enemies,” Trump’s administration is mobilizing the tools of state power against its own citizens.
open.substack.com
October 10, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Another strong piece from @adamkinzinger.substack.com. Why can't @housedemocrats.bsky.social address far-right authoritarianism with as much clarity as former neocons?
So, what is the best technical term for ICE now? It's been fully militarized, it operates under the direct control of the executive branch, & it not only routinely violates judicial orders, but it would seem to violate the constitutional prohibition of a standing army. A personal paramilitary force?
The 13th largest military in the world is occupying and waging war on the people of Chicago.
“I think talking about this as an occupation is useful because it is so outrageous and abnormal,” says Jackson Potter, vice president of @ctulocal1.bsky.social.
“I think talking about this as an occupation is useful because it is so outrageous and abnormal,” says Jackson Potter, vice president of @ctulocal1.bsky.social.
The 13th Largest Army in World Is Unleashing Violence in Chicago
As federal agents kill and use extreme force in Chicago, their budget surges.
inthesetimes.com
October 10, 2025 at 5:50 PM
So, what is the best technical term for ICE now? It's been fully militarized, it operates under the direct control of the executive branch, & it not only routinely violates judicial orders, but it would seem to violate the constitutional prohibition of a standing army. A personal paramilitary force?