Elizabeth Spiers
@espiers.bsky.social
NYT opinion writer, Slate Money co-host, Dem messaging consultant, NYU prof, former EIC The New York Observer, Dealbreaker founder and Gawker founding editor. Brooklyn via Bama. Rednexican. Striver with no chill.
https://linktr.ee/elizabethspiers
https://linktr.ee/elizabethspiers
Pinned
Melania at the Multiplex
Packaging a $75 million bribe from Jeff Bezos as a vapid, content-challenged biopic.
www.thenation.com
Some brave journalists go to war zones and get shot at. I went to the Melania movie, and would probably opt for being shot at over having to sit through it again www.thenation.com/article/cult...
This is on Tuesday!
My next opinion writing workshop is next week! www.elizabethspiers.com/workshops/
Workshops
Learn to write professional op-eds and personal essays with Elizabeth Spiers, a contributing writer for The New York Times opinion section, former columnist at Fortune and Fast Company, and opinion co...
www.elizabethspiers.com
February 7, 2026 at 2:20 PM
This is on Tuesday!
This seems like an opportunity for some A game public mockery
I can't think of anything I'd want to do less with my time than attending a protest against taxing billionaires. This is an insane amount of bootlicking energy.
An AI startup founder says he's planning a 'March for Billionaires' in protest of California's wealth tax | TechCrunch
The organizer of the event swears it's not a joke.
techcrunch.com
February 7, 2026 at 1:39 PM
This seems like an opportunity for some A game public mockery
Remember the shitty men in media list? Someone needs to compile a big list of all of these men, circulate it widely and make sure they’re never allowed around young women again
BREAKING: Bard College President Leon Botstein’s name appears in the Epstein files more than 2,500 times, including arranging travel to Epstein’s island and hosting a visit with “girls” on campus…
As a Bard student parent, I demand Leon Botstein’s immediate removal.
As a Bard student parent, I demand Leon Botstein’s immediate removal.
February 7, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Remember the shitty men in media list? Someone needs to compile a big list of all of these men, circulate it widely and make sure they’re never allowed around young women again
Also: the deranged racism!
This is bleak: Jes Staley, currently CEO of Barclays, reassuring Epstein that popular revolt against financial elites is unlikely because capitalism and pop culture have defanged social movements, leaving people more invested in consumption than justice.
February 7, 2026 at 1:28 PM
Also: the deranged racism!
Reposted by Elizabeth Spiers
hard to think of a better example of "you may not believe in class war, but billionaires know they're in one" than this
This is bleak: Jes Staley, currently CEO of Barclays, reassuring Epstein that popular revolt against financial elites is unlikely because capitalism and pop culture have defanged social movements, leaving people more invested in consumption than justice.
February 7, 2026 at 3:53 AM
hard to think of a better example of "you may not believe in class war, but billionaires know they're in one" than this
Reposted by Elizabeth Spiers
The feds killed Renee Good and then killed the investigation into her death. They sent a message to Renee Good’s family that her death meant nothing to them. And a message to ICE agents that they are free to shoot first because no questions will be asked later. 1/2
NYT: How Trump/Kash blocked an investigation into the murder of Renee Good. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/u...
February 7, 2026 at 1:21 PM
The feds killed Renee Good and then killed the investigation into her death. They sent a message to Renee Good’s family that her death meant nothing to them. And a message to ICE agents that they are free to shoot first because no questions will be asked later. 1/2
Reposted by Elizabeth Spiers
I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.
Great work everyone.
Great work everyone.
February 6, 2026 at 3:00 PM
I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.
Great work everyone.
Great work everyone.
Reposted by Elizabeth Spiers
We tried to succinctly describe it here but I think much of the coverage and conversation about the minute long racist video is underselling how weird it was. It’s a clip from some election denial bullshit idk what it was then OUT OF NOWHERE near the end there’s the Obama as the ape/monkey…
BREAKING: Madman President Promotes Racist Video of the Obamas as Apes
Trump’s policies and actions are fueled by explicit racism and election denial. The Obama-ape video encompasses both, writes @swin24.bsky.social.
Read now: zeteo.com/p/trump-obam...
Trump’s policies and actions are fueled by explicit racism and election denial. The Obama-ape video encompasses both, writes @swin24.bsky.social.
Read now: zeteo.com/p/trump-obam...
BREAKING: Madman President Promotes Racist Video of the Obamas as Apes
Trump’s policies and actions are fueled by explicit racism and election denial. The Obama-ape video encompasses both.
zeteo.com
February 7, 2026 at 1:12 PM
We tried to succinctly describe it here but I think much of the coverage and conversation about the minute long racist video is underselling how weird it was. It’s a clip from some election denial bullshit idk what it was then OUT OF NOWHERE near the end there’s the Obama as the ape/monkey…
What. The. Fuck. This is… no words
I'm sorry to just attach this to your post randomly, but I searched for "u2" and stumbled on something that has nothing to do with the band and a lot to do with torture, or torture fantasies. I cannot handle this.
www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
redacted, but still VERY graphic and VERY triggering
www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
redacted, but still VERY graphic and VERY triggering
www.justice.gov
February 7, 2026 at 1:13 PM
What. The. Fuck. This is… no words
Reposted by Elizabeth Spiers
I sincerely hope that JD Vance gets this reaction every single place he goes.
Vice President JD Vance gets roundly booed at the opening ceremony of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympics. "Those are a lot of boos for him, whistling jeering," says the presenter. US athletes receive a warm welcome from fans, though.
February 6, 2026 at 9:34 PM
I sincerely hope that JD Vance gets this reaction every single place he goes.
Reposted by Elizabeth Spiers
The gall. He shot a woman who posed no threat to him and then boasted about it as he and his colleagues falsely maligned *her* reputation to cover it up.
The only question should whether his texts are admitted as evidence at his criminal trial.
The only question should whether his texts are admitted as evidence at his criminal trial.
The feds say the release of a Border Patrol agent's texts could "sully" his reputation.
But a judge says they're fair game, partly because Homeland Security has shown "zero concern" for the rep of Chicago's Marimar Martinez.
UPDATED @chicago.suntimes.com story: chicago.suntimes.com/2026/02/06/f...
But a judge says they're fair game, partly because Homeland Security has shown "zero concern" for the rep of Chicago's Marimar Martinez.
UPDATED @chicago.suntimes.com story: chicago.suntimes.com/2026/02/06/f...
Federal judge will let Marimar Martinez release text messages sent by Border Patrol agent who shot her
U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis pointed out that Martinez is "presumed innocent of any offense of which she has not been convicted." Martinez's attorney said the text messages and other evidence ...
chicago.suntimes.com
February 6, 2026 at 9:00 PM
The gall. He shot a woman who posed no threat to him and then boasted about it as he and his colleagues falsely maligned *her* reputation to cover it up.
The only question should whether his texts are admitted as evidence at his criminal trial.
The only question should whether his texts are admitted as evidence at his criminal trial.
Reposted by Elizabeth Spiers
Pour one out for every professional political pundit, writer, consultant whatever that has spent the last decade trying to pretend that the Trump phenomenon was about trade or opiates and not a big chunk of white america losing its mind over having a black president bsky.app/profile/kyle...
A screenshot from a video posted on Trump's Truth Social account: truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...
February 6, 2026 at 9:28 AM
Pour one out for every professional political pundit, writer, consultant whatever that has spent the last decade trying to pretend that the Trump phenomenon was about trade or opiates and not a big chunk of white america losing its mind over having a black president bsky.app/profile/kyle...
Reposted by Elizabeth Spiers
“Is it too obvious to say that of course the right only values family as a system of ownership and property, only values motherhood as a way to push women from public life… only values babies & births when they are white babies and white births, meant to reproduce the nation as they imagine it?”
"The people tearing these loved ones apart are often the very same people who have spent so much of the past several years lecturing the American people, and in particular American women, about the importance of parenthood and family," writes @moiradonegan.bsky.social.
Republicans are the party of separating and destroying families | Moira Donegan
Their ‘pro-family’ rhetoric is a cynical and hollow sham
www.theguardian.com
February 6, 2026 at 6:31 PM
“Is it too obvious to say that of course the right only values family as a system of ownership and property, only values motherhood as a way to push women from public life… only values babies & births when they are white babies and white births, meant to reproduce the nation as they imagine it?”
Reposted by Elizabeth Spiers
One of the reasons I so greatly dislike the “can men and women be friends?” nonsense (yes, full stop, shut up) is that it casts suspicion on people with opposite-sex friends instead of where it more often belongs: on people with no opposite-sex friends.
Anyway, yeah. The overwhelming impression one gets from so many of these emails is that a lot of them are guys who have never had a real, serious friendship with a woman in their lives.
Which sucks for them, but also sucks for every woman who has to deal with them, ever.
Which sucks for them, but also sucks for every woman who has to deal with them, ever.
February 5, 2026 at 6:47 PM
One of the reasons I so greatly dislike the “can men and women be friends?” nonsense (yes, full stop, shut up) is that it casts suspicion on people with opposite-sex friends instead of where it more often belongs: on people with no opposite-sex friends.
I realize you've all already read 1,826,362 Melania reviews (including mine, perhaps) but it is always worth reading @drewmagary.bsky.social on pretty much anything and this is great. I also will not be able to unsee the fact that "[Trump] stands in italics."
"It has no journalistic value and even less entertainment value."
'Melania' is so, so, so bad
"It has no journalistic value and even less entertainment value."
bit.ly
February 6, 2026 at 6:39 PM
I realize you've all already read 1,826,362 Melania reviews (including mine, perhaps) but it is always worth reading @drewmagary.bsky.social on pretty much anything and this is great. I also will not be able to unsee the fact that "[Trump] stands in italics."
Reposted by Elizabeth Spiers
I've also added more dates for all three workshops (opinion writing, personal essay, and developing a writing practice): www.elizabethspiers.com/workshops/
Workshops
Learn to write professional op-eds and personal essays with Elizabeth Spiers, a contributing writer for The New York Times opinion section, former columnist at Fortune and Fast Company, and opinion co...
www.elizabethspiers.com
February 4, 2026 at 6:21 PM
I've also added more dates for all three workshops (opinion writing, personal essay, and developing a writing practice): www.elizabethspiers.com/workshops/
I want a personal apology from every reactionary centrist who claimed Trump supporters were just motivated by “economic anxiety”
Last night, Trump posted a video to his social media platform that contained a racist clip showing Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys. It's still up:
February 6, 2026 at 1:48 PM
I want a personal apology from every reactionary centrist who claimed Trump supporters were just motivated by “economic anxiety”
The next opinion workshop is on Tuesday!
I've also added more dates for all three workshops (opinion writing, personal essay, and developing a writing practice): www.elizabethspiers.com/workshops/
Workshops
Learn to write professional op-eds and personal essays with Elizabeth Spiers, a contributing writer for The New York Times opinion section, former columnist at Fortune and Fast Company, and opinion co...
www.elizabethspiers.com
February 6, 2026 at 1:52 AM
The next opinion workshop is on Tuesday!
Reposted by Elizabeth Spiers
the Epstein files are really devastating because they remind me of how many girls and women miss out on professional opportunities, mentorship and careers because of how many powerful, rich and influential men only view girls and women — and interactions with them — through the lens of sex
February 5, 2026 at 5:05 PM
the Epstein files are really devastating because they remind me of how many girls and women miss out on professional opportunities, mentorship and careers because of how many powerful, rich and influential men only view girls and women — and interactions with them — through the lens of sex
TIL that Jeffrey Epstein bought Woody Allen 31 pairs of luxury boxer shorts www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/s...
How Epstein Used Luxury Goods to Curry Favor
www.nytimes.com
February 5, 2026 at 3:34 PM
TIL that Jeffrey Epstein bought Woody Allen 31 pairs of luxury boxer shorts www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/s...
Reposted by Elizabeth Spiers
Name them
shame them
shame them
February 5, 2026 at 2:30 PM
Name them
shame them
shame them
Reposted by Elizabeth Spiers
Crucial from @brianbeutler.bsky.social: Anyone selling warehouses to ICE for camps should prepare for video leaking of "people inside being tortured." They'll have to answer for atrocities "in their communities."
On the pod we went big on Trump's new vulnerabilities:
newrepublic.com/article/2061...
On the pod we went big on Trump's new vulnerabilities:
newrepublic.com/article/2061...
Trump Reveals Hint of Panic on ICE as Prison Camps Anger MAGA Country
As Trump’s planned ICE detention camps face resistance in unlikely places, a sharp observer of Democrats explains how this moment is handing them a major opportunity to seize control of this debate.
newrepublic.com
February 5, 2026 at 1:06 PM
Crucial from @brianbeutler.bsky.social: Anyone selling warehouses to ICE for camps should prepare for video leaking of "people inside being tortured." They'll have to answer for atrocities "in their communities."
On the pod we went big on Trump's new vulnerabilities:
newrepublic.com/article/2061...
On the pod we went big on Trump's new vulnerabilities:
newrepublic.com/article/2061...
I'm in the files because I wrote about Epstein being a creepy pedophile way back in 2006 and someone sent it to him. I'm okay with that. (Dealbreaker was doing flood the zone Epstein coverage at the time, along with Gawker and The Palm Beach Post, and well, almost no one else.)
do not honestly know if this title is literal or metaphorical
February 5, 2026 at 2:43 PM
I'm in the files because I wrote about Epstein being a creepy pedophile way back in 2006 and someone sent it to him. I'm okay with that. (Dealbreaker was doing flood the zone Epstein coverage at the time, along with Gawker and The Palm Beach Post, and well, almost no one else.)
Reposted by Elizabeth Spiers
Organizers of the National Prayer Breakfast invite Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez, the dictator of El Salvador, best know for his torture camps and friendly relations with drug cartels, as a featured speaker. The invitation is a good demonstration of the political values of Christian Nationalists.
February 5, 2026 at 2:19 PM
Organizers of the National Prayer Breakfast invite Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez, the dictator of El Salvador, best know for his torture camps and friendly relations with drug cartels, as a featured speaker. The invitation is a good demonstration of the political values of Christian Nationalists.
I do not know how anyone ever confused Epstein for a genius. He just pulled stuff out of his ass all the time. Writing is a complex mental task neurologically and not at all linear: uwaterloo.ca/writing-and-...
February 5, 2026 at 1:59 PM
I do not know how anyone ever confused Epstein for a genius. He just pulled stuff out of his ass all the time. Writing is a complex mental task neurologically and not at all linear: uwaterloo.ca/writing-and-...