Jeff Sharlet
@jeffsharlet.bsky.social
I wrote a book about now, THE UNDERTOW: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, & 2 about how we got here, THE FAMILY & C ST, also a Netflix series. Also THIS BRILLIANT DARKNESS & SWEET HEAVEN WHEN I DIE. Professing @ Dartmouth. That's not my cat.
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
seen in my neighborhood in south Minneapolis
February 10, 2026 at 10:28 PM
seen in my neighborhood in south Minneapolis
They’re talking about ICE.
February 11, 2026 at 2:40 AM
They’re talking about ICE.
I dunno I don’t think ICE in Minneapolis is cuing up dvds
February 11, 2026 at 1:08 AM
I dunno I don’t think ICE in Minneapolis is cuing up dvds
A dvd? How do they play it?
RON JOHNSON: In Central America, if you become a police chief, the drug cartels send you a DVD w/ a video of your family going to church or school...that's what ICE agents are facing
SORKIN: But these people are allowed to protest
J: They want their activists to dox them & put families at risk
SORKIN: But these people are allowed to protest
J: They want their activists to dox them & put families at risk
February 10, 2026 at 11:35 PM
A dvd? How do they play it?
Saying Trumpism hasn't accomplished much is likeBoston fans saying Yankees suck. It might feel good, but more often than not it's not true. That's just a game; this is countless lives damaged, ruined, ended. It's not doomerism to count the costs; it's remembering what, & who, you're fighting for.
When I hear people say that Trump hasn't accomplished much (an argument that comes from both the center and the left) it is mind-boggling. In one year they have destroyed the foundation of climate regulation, crippled the public health system, and brought immigration to a standstill.
This guts me
February 10, 2026 at 10:40 PM
Saying Trumpism hasn't accomplished much is likeBoston fans saying Yankees suck. It might feel good, but more often than not it's not true. That's just a game; this is countless lives damaged, ruined, ended. It's not doomerism to count the costs; it's remembering what, & who, you're fighting for.
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
This guts me
February 10, 2026 at 10:25 PM
This guts me
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
"There are still plenty of places to read about literature.…But they are produced for an audience that already knows it cares....The books section of a newspaper plays an altogether different role. It does not cater to aficionados; it seeks new recruits."
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
February 10, 2026 at 10:31 PM
"There are still plenty of places to read about literature.…But they are produced for an audience that already knows it cares....The books section of a newspaper plays an altogether different role. It does not cater to aficionados; it seeks new recruits."
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
Great! Push back against it. Saying you know it's not gonna be close isn't pushing back against doom. It's saying to a real threat, that we can fight, "La la la, I can't hear you!"
February 9, 2026 at 11:10 PM
Great! Push back against it. Saying you know it's not gonna be close isn't pushing back against doom. It's saying to a real threat, that we can fight, "La la la, I can't hear you!"
Yeah. It's melting my brain. I've seen a bunch of posts along these lines, and some from some normally astute people.
February 9, 2026 at 11:08 PM
Yeah. It's melting my brain. I've seen a bunch of posts along these lines, and some from some normally astute people.
Um of disagreement or um of "it's insane to say midterms are all sewn up, no worries"? (As if victory for this incarnation of the Democratic Party would put an end to our worries.)
February 9, 2026 at 11:06 PM
Um of disagreement or um of "it's insane to say midterms are all sewn up, no worries"? (As if victory for this incarnation of the Democratic Party would put an end to our worries.)
The above is as far from a doomer post as can be. At this late date, declaring it's all going to work out, nobody *you* know supports Trump--that's a kind of doomerism by delusion. Democracy is a struggle, not a tide just sometimes comes in.
February 9, 2026 at 11:05 PM
The above is as far from a doomer post as can be. At this late date, declaring it's all going to work out, nobody *you* know supports Trump--that's a kind of doomerism by delusion. Democracy is a struggle, not a tide just sometimes comes in.
This drives me nuts: people saying we don't need to worry about Trump seizing ballots because it won't be close enough to matter. What timeline do these folks live in? Not just the last ten years, but the many times elections have turned out closer than expected? But yes, *the last 10 years.*
February 9, 2026 at 11:03 PM
This drives me nuts: people saying we don't need to worry about Trump seizing ballots because it won't be close enough to matter. What timeline do these folks live in? Not just the last ten years, but the many times elections have turned out closer than expected? But yes, *the last 10 years.*
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
ICE has now spent over half a BILLION dollars just on purchasing warehouses around the country to convert into detention camps.
If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
ICE to begin detaining immigrants inside Social Circle warehouse in April
Homeland Security plans to build warehouse detention facilities in other cities being met with opposition.
www.ajc.com
February 9, 2026 at 5:56 PM
ICE has now spent over half a BILLION dollars just on purchasing warehouses around the country to convert into detention camps.
If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
They are wonders. The kind of book for which even the splendid word “book” seems inadequate. Marvels, strange objects.
February 9, 2026 at 6:02 PM
They are wonders. The kind of book for which even the splendid word “book” seems inadequate. Marvels, strange objects.
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
This is 18-mo-old Amalia waving to me when she was detained.
She was hospitalized with a respiratory infection while at ICE’s Dilley facility for immigrant families.
She’s one of dozens of detainees who I spoke to via video and phone calls, letters and an in-person visit. 🧵1/
She was hospitalized with a respiratory infection while at ICE’s Dilley facility for immigrant families.
She’s one of dozens of detainees who I spoke to via video and phone calls, letters and an in-person visit. 🧵1/
February 9, 2026 at 11:21 AM
This is 18-mo-old Amalia waving to me when she was detained.
She was hospitalized with a respiratory infection while at ICE’s Dilley facility for immigrant families.
She’s one of dozens of detainees who I spoke to via video and phone calls, letters and an in-person visit. 🧵1/
She was hospitalized with a respiratory infection while at ICE’s Dilley facility for immigrant families.
She’s one of dozens of detainees who I spoke to via video and phone calls, letters and an in-person visit. 🧵1/
Something I'm learning from Epstein files is how often rich & powerful people who don't really know each other as much beyond status markers tell each other "I miss you."
February 9, 2026 at 1:56 PM
Something I'm learning from Epstein files is how often rich & powerful people who don't really know each other as much beyond status markers tell each other "I miss you."
I'm re-reading The Bathysphere Book: Effects of the Luminous Ocean Depths, by Brad Fox, to teach tomorrow. It belongs in a tiny canon of the brilliantly odd literary nonfiction of things found and assembled, w/ Svetlana Alexievich's Voices from Chernobyl and Lauren Redniss' Radioactive.
February 9, 2026 at 1:51 PM
I'm re-reading The Bathysphere Book: Effects of the Luminous Ocean Depths, by Brad Fox, to teach tomorrow. It belongs in a tiny canon of the brilliantly odd literary nonfiction of things found and assembled, w/ Svetlana Alexievich's Voices from Chernobyl and Lauren Redniss' Radioactive.
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
February 9, 2026 at 12:25 PM
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
I was not serious…
February 9, 2026 at 3:06 AM
I was not serious…
Six of my books are in the database Anthropic agreed in a settlement it took, for which it is compensating me. You’re entitled to your opinion about AI; you’re not entitled to dictate mine or to falsify facts.
February 9, 2026 at 12:40 AM
Six of my books are in the database Anthropic agreed in a settlement it took, for which it is compensating me. You’re entitled to your opinion about AI; you’re not entitled to dictate mine or to falsify facts.
Tell you what -- as the one who's had his books stolen, and had to deal with students unlearning how to write, and his field, journalism, decimated, I'll decide for myself what the "proper response" is.
February 8, 2026 at 11:25 PM
Tell you what -- as the one who's had his books stolen, and had to deal with students unlearning how to write, and his field, journalism, decimated, I'll decide for myself what the "proper response" is.
Reposted by Jeff Sharlet
The best bit in 1984 about the novel-writing machines: Julia (who works in the Fiction Department) "could describe the whole process of composing a novel, from the general directive issued by the Planning Committee down to the final touching-up by the Rewrite Squad."
October 29, 2025 at 3:02 PM
The best bit in 1984 about the novel-writing machines: Julia (who works in the Fiction Department) "could describe the whole process of composing a novel, from the general directive issued by the Planning Committee down to the final touching-up by the Rewrite Squad."
This is like saying big ag disrupts the priestly class that calls itself farmers. Work is work. If you can’t respect that of others, you’re a scab at heart. All the rest is commentary.
February 8, 2026 at 10:45 PM
This is like saying big ag disrupts the priestly class that calls itself farmers. Work is work. If you can’t respect that of others, you’re a scab at heart. All the rest is commentary.