E.J. Fagan
@ejfagan.com
Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Illinois Chicago. Author of The Thinkers: The Rise of Partisan Think Tanks and the Polarization of American Politics. Also, baseball.
Pinned
E.J. Fagan
@ejfagan.com
· Nov 18
The Thinkers: The Rise of Partisan Think Tanks and the Polarization of American Politics (Studies in Postwar American Political Development): Fagan, E.J.: 9780197759660: Amazon.com: Books
The Thinkers: The Rise of Partisan Think Tanks and the Polarization of American Politics (Studies in Postwar American Political Development) [Fagan, E.J.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Thinkers: The Rise of Partisan Think Tanks and the Polarization of American Politics (Studies in Postwar American Political Development)
www.amazon.com
Hello new Bluesky followers!
I study U.S. politics and policymaking, focusing on the politicization of expertise and information processing.
I published a great book this summer. It's called The Thinkers: The Rise of Partisan Think Tanks and the Polarization of American Politics. Check it out!
I study U.S. politics and policymaking, focusing on the politicization of expertise and information processing.
I published a great book this summer. It's called The Thinkers: The Rise of Partisan Think Tanks and the Polarization of American Politics. Check it out!
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
The Secretary of Defense, ladies and gentlemen
November 25, 2025 at 1:23 PM
The Secretary of Defense, ladies and gentlemen
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
In a personalist regime, the leader always gets a taste.
Republican administrations literally backed death squads to fight communism. And now Trump is expropriating domestic companies and it's just 🦗🦗🦗
Republican administrations literally backed death squads to fight communism. And now Trump is expropriating domestic companies and it's just 🦗🦗🦗
November 25, 2025 at 1:27 PM
In a personalist regime, the leader always gets a taste.
Republican administrations literally backed death squads to fight communism. And now Trump is expropriating domestic companies and it's just 🦗🦗🦗
Republican administrations literally backed death squads to fight communism. And now Trump is expropriating domestic companies and it's just 🦗🦗🦗
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
November 25, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
NEW: Support from Latinos helped Donald Trump reclaim the White House. But today, 68% of Latinos say the situation of Hispanics is worse than it was a year ago. It's the first time in @pewresearch.org polls that a majority of Latinos have expressed that view. www.pewresearch.org/race-and-eth...
November 25, 2025 at 1:48 PM
NEW: Support from Latinos helped Donald Trump reclaim the White House. But today, 68% of Latinos say the situation of Hispanics is worse than it was a year ago. It's the first time in @pewresearch.org polls that a majority of Latinos have expressed that view. www.pewresearch.org/race-and-eth...
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
Cannot overstate how, from my perch as a national-security reporter, this would have been an earth-shattering scandal in a prior era.
Billionaire Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, pardoned by Donald Trump, has been accused of facilitating millions of dollars’ worth of payments to Hamas in the wake of its attack on Israel on October 7 2023. Zhao also financed the Trump family's entrance into the cryptocurrency market.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao accused of facilitating payments to Hamas
Crypto tycoon pardoned by Donald Trump faces US court complaint from families of victims of October 7 attack
www.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Cannot overstate how, from my perch as a national-security reporter, this would have been an earth-shattering scandal in a prior era.
We’re invading Venezuela in a week and this is what the Secretary of Defense is up to.
Hegseth is very very terrified, deep deep down of something to do with maleness www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
U.S. ready to cut support to Scouts, accusing them of attacking 'boy-friendly spaces'
Documents show the U.S. military is planning to sever all ties with the organization formerly known as the Boy Scouts.
www.npr.org
November 25, 2025 at 1:13 PM
We’re invading Venezuela in a week and this is what the Secretary of Defense is up to.
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
NEW: 52% of Latino adults in the U.S. say they worry that they, a family member or a close friend could be deported.
www.pewresearch.org/race-and-eth...
www.pewresearch.org/race-and-eth...
November 25, 2025 at 4:50 AM
NEW: 52% of Latino adults in the U.S. say they worry that they, a family member or a close friend could be deported.
www.pewresearch.org/race-and-eth...
www.pewresearch.org/race-and-eth...
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
NEW: Rubio saw that the Russians had exerted great influence on a Ukraine "peace" plan drafted by Witkoff and Kushner and blessed by Trump and Vance. He flew to Geneva to try steering the proposal to something the Ukrainians would accept. Our story: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...
How Rubio Tried to Bring a Pro-Russia Peace Plan to Middle Ground
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:43 AM
NEW: Rubio saw that the Russians had exerted great influence on a Ukraine "peace" plan drafted by Witkoff and Kushner and blessed by Trump and Vance. He flew to Geneva to try steering the proposal to something the Ukrainians would accept. Our story: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
Some thoughts on empirical distributions of z-scores
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/11/24/s...
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/11/24/s...
Some thoughts on empirical distributions of z-scores | Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu
November 24, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Some thoughts on empirical distributions of z-scores
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/11/24/s...
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/11/24/s...
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
Of all the major cities in the United States, Chicago provides the greatest value, with robust amenities and culture without correlated housing costs. But if Chicago wants to retain that status, some things need to change.
op-ed by me, Stef, and Jasmine (co-leads for @abundanthousingil.bsky.social)
op-ed by me, Stef, and Jasmine (co-leads for @abundanthousingil.bsky.social)
Commentary: Make 2026 the year to achieve real progress on reforming housing affordability
Growth in and around Chicago depends on lawmakers getting it done, write leaders of Abundant Housing Illinois.
www.chicagobusiness.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Of all the major cities in the United States, Chicago provides the greatest value, with robust amenities and culture without correlated housing costs. But if Chicago wants to retain that status, some things need to change.
op-ed by me, Stef, and Jasmine (co-leads for @abundanthousingil.bsky.social)
op-ed by me, Stef, and Jasmine (co-leads for @abundanthousingil.bsky.social)
Tax data centers!
November 25, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Tax data centers!
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
“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...
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
TFW you direct your bureaucracy to start counting “kinda sort of theoretically recoverable” as proven reserves to show off to your friends
November 24, 2025 at 9:44 PM
TFW you direct your bureaucracy to start counting “kinda sort of theoretically recoverable” as proven reserves to show off to your friends
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
absolutely incredible -- CNN host introduces a segment about Trump's "new healthcare proposal," but less than two minutes later breaks into her script to announce "breaking news" that Trump's healthcare proposal is being postponed
November 24, 2025 at 8:55 PM
absolutely incredible -- CNN host introduces a segment about Trump's "new healthcare proposal," but less than two minutes later breaks into her script to announce "breaking news" that Trump's healthcare proposal is being postponed
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
The truly wild thing is this isn’t even true, a shit-ton of their oil reserves on paper are heavy tar sands and every US oil company will take one look at that at $80/bbl and walk away because it isn’t close to economically viable.
Rep. Salazar on Venezuela: "We're about to go in ... we need to go in ... Venezuela for the American oil companies will be a field day"
November 24, 2025 at 9:26 PM
The truly wild thing is this isn’t even true, a shit-ton of their oil reserves on paper are heavy tar sands and every US oil company will take one look at that at $80/bbl and walk away because it isn’t close to economically viable.
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
this is that $100M expense that Hal is whining about that actually saves him money, avoiding taxes
Every sports team in NYC makes this payment, and it's a net benefit for the billionaire owners (as opposed to a net loss for the taxpayers).
www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...
www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...
Yankees, Mets PILOT bonds continue to provide millions in stadium tax exemptions
The Yankees and Mets both saved tens of millions in tax exemptions because of their stadiums.
www.sportsbusinessjournal.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:51 PM
this is that $100M expense that Hal is whining about that actually saves him money, avoiding taxes
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
🚨We analyzed 138 million geocoded property tax records to quantify how municipal boundaries spatially overlap onto economic segregation in every US metro area—creating disparities in localities’ ability to fund public goods. And we made an interactive map of our results! [1/16]
November 24, 2025 at 4:31 PM
🚨We analyzed 138 million geocoded property tax records to quantify how municipal boundaries spatially overlap onto economic segregation in every US metro area—creating disparities in localities’ ability to fund public goods. And we made an interactive map of our results! [1/16]
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
A bit more detail about this post. Trump-world (and particularly Press Sec. Karoline Leavitt) have been leaning heavily on the idea of a popular mandate from last year's election. Declining polls and the 2025 elections strain that argument, but the presidency still has a whole lot of power
Trump is learning the limits of mandate politics. Maybe. open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...
Trump is learning the limits of mandate politics. Maybe.
After the 2024 election, Trump and his communication team – especially press secretary Karoline Leavitt – seized on the idea that his 49.8% of the popular vote constituted a historic mandate. This, ac...
open.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:49 PM
A bit more detail about this post. Trump-world (and particularly Press Sec. Karoline Leavitt) have been leaning heavily on the idea of a popular mandate from last year's election. Declining polls and the 2025 elections strain that argument, but the presidency still has a whole lot of power
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
PUNCHBOWL: “.. GOP members messaged us over the weekend saying that they, too, are considering retiring in the middle of the term. Here’s one particularly exercised senior House Republican:
@punchbowlnews.bsky.social
@punchbowlnews.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 3:37 PM
PUNCHBOWL: “.. GOP members messaged us over the weekend saying that they, too, are considering retiring in the middle of the term. Here’s one particularly exercised senior House Republican:
@punchbowlnews.bsky.social
@punchbowlnews.bsky.social
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
Really important to stress that the Crown Jewels of the US higher education system were never the Ivies or elite SLACs (other countries have equivalents of these) but the well-funded, large, cheap, and excellently staffed public state university systems bringing high quality education to the masses.
One of the bragging rights that the US ed system had in the 20th century is that we didn't have education tracks. Essentially, any kid could go to a CC or state school & major in whatever they wanted to (obviously an oversimplification). I fear this aspect of the American dream is dying.
November 23, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Really important to stress that the Crown Jewels of the US higher education system were never the Ivies or elite SLACs (other countries have equivalents of these) but the well-funded, large, cheap, and excellently staffed public state university systems bringing high quality education to the masses.
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
JD Vance and Peter Thiel are running a sustained operation out of the White House designed to acquire Greenland, either voluntarily or by force. Thiel has laid out plans for what he intends to do with the island nation in past writings. It doesn't entail the consent of the Greenlanders for anything.
November 23, 2025 at 8:52 PM
JD Vance and Peter Thiel are running a sustained operation out of the White House designed to acquire Greenland, either voluntarily or by force. Thiel has laid out plans for what he intends to do with the island nation in past writings. It doesn't entail the consent of the Greenlanders for anything.
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
As we all wait for Callais to come down, our piece showing that Shelby County increased the racial turnout gap in most of the covered parts of the country has cleared the replication check and is incoming at JOP.
Gutting the VRA was bad, actually.
Gutting the VRA was bad, actually.
November 24, 2025 at 12:47 AM
As we all wait for Callais to come down, our piece showing that Shelby County increased the racial turnout gap in most of the covered parts of the country has cleared the replication check and is incoming at JOP.
Gutting the VRA was bad, actually.
Gutting the VRA was bad, actually.
Reposted by E.J. Fagan
And MAGA is still convinced that Twitter proves that their shitty movement is widely supported in the US 🙄
November 23, 2025 at 5:25 PM
And MAGA is still convinced that Twitter proves that their shitty movement is widely supported in the US 🙄
Does Jared Kushner have even a pretend job in the Trump Administration?
The American delegation is: Secretary Rubio, Special envoy Witkoff, Jared Kushner, SecArmy Driscoll, State Dept counselor Michael Needham, US Amb Julie Davis, Deputy NSA Andy Baker, and EUCOM commander Gen. Grynkewich.
November 23, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Does Jared Kushner have even a pretend job in the Trump Administration?
Median household income is 24% higher in states won by Harris.
Bessent: "You know the best way to bring your inflation rate down? Move from a blue state to a red state. Blue state inflation is half a percent higher."
November 23, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Median household income is 24% higher in states won by Harris.