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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 2h

Better than what they're actually doing.

Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 3h

Anyway you can see why MLB doesn't want games like that during the regular season. Fans might like them! Can't have that.

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 3h

Well, that stunk. I hate the Dodgers.

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 4h

Today's item: Why Trump says stupid things, how GOP voters hear those things, why Swearing-In-Gate is a Johnson blunder and why the shutdown seems low-key. Enjoy! goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/portland-i...

Portland Isn't Burning

goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 5h

Sure, and many are, but what would help more would be Republicans speaking up, and those who have leverage using it now.

(It's not impossible! We had a GOP governor speak up today on one issue. The more the better.)

Simon Rosenberg @simonwdc.bsky.social · 8h

We are witnessing the most lawless behavior by a leader in American history, just daily, extraordinary abuses of power. National Democrats must speak out in a loud and clear voice against Trump's escalating authoritarianism. It is time now.

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 8h

The Guardian reports that Letitia James has been indicted

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 6h

Ooh this should be good.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 6h

0n our podcast, JB Pritzker just told me that the California National Guard has now been seen on the ground in Illinois.

Our interview with Pritzker is running first thing tomorrow morning. Tune in!

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 6h

Uh, I assume that's eighteen ***THOUSAND*** dollars.

David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 7h

Alleges “ill-gotten gains” of $18,000 and change over the life of the Virginia home loan. (Which would be $600/year if a 30-yr loan)

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 7h

NEW: Here's the two-count indictment against NY AG Letitia James. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 6h

Really need an update of the ham sandwich thing. I mean, we know they *may* indict the ham sandwich (did one of those elsewhere today), but we now know that they won't necessarily indict the ham sandwich, and basically I'm confused without cliched aphorisms I can count on.

Pop Crave @popcrave.com · 6h

Federal charges against a Chicago couple who were arrested for protesting against ICE were dropped after a grand jury refused to indict them.

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 7h

Breaking: Looks like if this is the last update of the day that Trump approval has hit a new low in the 50+1 estimate.

(OK, by all of 0.1 percentage points, down to 41.6%. Really just an excuse to link to the spiffy new site. fiftyplusone.news/polls/approv...)

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 7h

Also she probably won't be leading with her age.

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 8h

I don't. At least not necessarily.

Anyway I'm mainly just finding excuses to push reviving/re-empowering House subcommittees. I suppose I should tag @aoc.bsky.social on it.

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 8h

Or...they could focus on Congress-building ideas. Increase funding for committees and Congressional agencies. On the House side, a new subcommittee revolution. On the Senate side, eliminate (or, my preference but it's not gonna happen, reform) the filibuster.

Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · 13h

I'd rather the next Dem president + Congress put into place a bunch of Court-curbing mechanisms *and* far more strenuous presidency-curbing mechanisms.

I don't think left-Caesarism is the best response here.

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 13h

This is why I think the next Democratic president needs to use the EXACT tools that SCOTUS has handed Trump. Don't leave room for any distinctions.

Impound funds for deportation. Give ICE the USAID treatment. Refuse to collect government-backed debt. Purge MAGA loyalists from the executive branch.

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Reposted by Jonathan Bernstein

Rachel Porter @rachelporter.bsky.social · 13h

Just published at PNAS (@pnas.org): “Electing amateur politicians reduces cross-party collaboration”

We show that districts electing first-time members of the U.S. House experience substantial declines in bipartisan representation in the subsequent Congress.

🧵1/4

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Reposted by Jonathan Bernstein

Ariel Edwards-Levy @aedwardslevy.bsky.social · 12h

Why not use your platform to highlight the kind of coverage you want to see instead of repeatedly claiming that nobody is doing it?

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Reposted by Jonathan Bernstein

Ariel Edwards-Levy @aedwardslevy.bsky.social · 12h

bsky.app/profile/case...

Michael McDonald @electproject.bsky.social · 13h

Trump says a major US city is a war zone that is burning to the ground and our incurious media are not providing live coverage of this unfolding catastrophe

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 9h

(Obviously that's nowhere close to the only thing worth noting there, but this too).

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 9h

Note the rhetorical trick: The only reason anyone would ever disagree with Trump is hatred, which has made them irrational - even if they're just supporting things that were consensus beliefs five minutes ago. Therefore Trump's (and RFK Jr's) claims need not be argued; they're self-evidently true.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 11h

RFK Jr: "Somebody showed me a TikTok video of a pregnant woman at 8 months pregnant -- she's an associate professor at the Columbia Medical School -- and she is saying 'F Trump' and gobbling Tylenol with her baby in her placenta. The level of Trump Derangement Syndrome is now a pathology."

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Reposted by Jonathan Bernstein

Sarah Posner @sarahposner.bsky.social · 14h

perhaps not a contradiction, but an intention

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 14h

This pretty much captures the contradictions of the politics of Kirk and Turning Point: Of course we oppose doxxing and violence, but we will absolutely use inflammatory language, false claims, and enemies list that fuels threats and intimidation.

Several days after publishing the petition calling for Dr. Bray’s dismissal from Rutgers, the Turning Point USA chapter added an update saying that it did not support harassment or the doxxing of him or anyone else.

“I think that all death threats and doxxing are unjustified and not how political disputes should be resolved in civilized society,” Ava Kwan, a Turning Point USA chapter member, said in an email on Wednesday.
But she defended the broader point of the petition, saying, “I think Dr. Antifa, who believes in violence as a political tool, should be fired, of course. Taxpayer money should not fund the salaries of terrorists.”

For years, Turning Point USA has maintained a watch-list of hundreds of professors whom the group accuses of advancing leftist propaganda in the classroom. Dr. Bray is on the list.

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 10h

That FBI guy that McNulty goes to for help (you remember: it has to be about terrorism for the FBI to be interested) is so, so, so pissed this year.

Steven T. Dennis @steventdennis.bsky.social · 14h

Bloomberg: Hundreds of US national security specialists including cybersecurity experts have been reassigned to support Trump's deportation push #GiftLink www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Homeland Security Cyber Personnel Reassigned to Jobs in Trump’s Deportation Push

The US Department of Homeland Security has shifted hundreds of national security specialists, including cyber personnel, into jobs that support President Donald Trump’s deportations and said it would ...

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Jonathan Bernstein

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 14h

Utterly sinister and deeply threatening to democracy:

"plans to deploy America's counter-terrorism apparatus... as well as the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department against certain left-wing groups it accuses of funding and organizing political violence"

Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 17h

President Donald Trump's threatened crackdown on the finances and activities of liberal non-profits and groups opposed to his agenda is a multi-agency effort with top White House aide Stephen Miller playing a central role, according to officials.

www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

www.reuters.com

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 13h

Mazel Tov! Looks great.

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 15h

I assume this is some subtle dig directed at the Yankees that I'm not getting but I'll endorse anyway.

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 1d

*Trump* did wrong and illegal things.

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 1d

They have! Someone this evening posted several clips.

Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 1d

Yankees finished!

Much easier to be happy and rejoice tonight. Despite everything.

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