Kevin Elliott
@kjephd.bsky.social
Political theorist studying democracy, ethics, & institutions. Author of Democracy for Busy People (https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo194847654.html); more at kevinjelliott.net. Generally poasting my way through this thing
Pinned
Kevin Elliott
@kjephd.bsky.social
· Jun 24
New article out from me, in which I consider: what if I'm wrong about everything re: what's important for a flourishing democracy?
I use a recent book attacking institutions & advocating disintermediated localism to explore the limits of my view.
Get it free here: academic.oup.com/psq/advance-...
I use a recent book attacking institutions & advocating disintermediated localism to explore the limits of my view.
Get it free here: academic.oup.com/psq/advance-...
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
Harvard professor Steven Levitsky, who studies democracy backsliding, on Don Lemon's arrest:
“This is a new dimension. In democracies, journalists don't get arrested. In authoritarian regimes, journalists get arrested."
More in @status.news: www.status.news/p/don-lemon-...
“This is a new dimension. In democracies, journalists don't get arrested. In authoritarian regimes, journalists get arrested."
More in @status.news: www.status.news/p/don-lemon-...
January 31, 2026 at 3:58 PM
Harvard professor Steven Levitsky, who studies democracy backsliding, on Don Lemon's arrest:
“This is a new dimension. In democracies, journalists don't get arrested. In authoritarian regimes, journalists get arrested."
More in @status.news: www.status.news/p/don-lemon-...
“This is a new dimension. In democracies, journalists don't get arrested. In authoritarian regimes, journalists get arrested."
More in @status.news: www.status.news/p/don-lemon-...
"I am brainless, but money is the real brain of all things and how then should its possessor be brainless? Besides, he can buy clever people for himself, and is he who has...power over the clever not more clever than the clever?"
As a side note, it’s funny to see so many of these emails with thirsty academics repeatedly enact Marx’s bit in the 1844 Manuscripts about the power of money. “Oh Mr Epstein, your house in New York is enormous and, unrelatedly, your questions at dinner were so intelligent, so insightful, so deep.”
![That which is for me through the medium of money - that for which I can pay (i.e., which money can buy) - that am I myself, the possessor of the money. The extent of the power of money is the extent of my power. Money's properties are my - the possessor's - properties and essential powers. Thus, what I am and am capable of is by no means determined by my individuality. I am ugly, but I can buy for myself the most beautiful of women.
Therefore I am not ugly, for the effect of ugliness - its deterrent power - is nullified by money. I, according to my individual characteristics, am lame, but money furnishes me with twenty-four feet.
Therefore I am not lame. I am bad, dishonest, unscrupulous, stupid; but money is honoured, and hence its possessor. Money is the supreme good, therefore its possessor is good. Money, besides, saves me the trouble of being dishonest: I am therefore presumed honest. I am brainless, but money is the real brain of all things and how then should its possessor be brainless? Besides, he can buy clever people for himself, and is he who has [In the manuscript: is. - Ed.] power over the clever not more clever than the clever? Do not I, who thanks to money am capable of all that the human heart longs for, possess all human capacities? Does not my money, therefore, transform all my incapacities into their contrary?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:myqic77tkmdhmaufgkvj43hr/bafkreidpuxbx764xh7vobavcnvs3v2lo5fnfi6dukfrmk3ygxmseznkyxi@jpeg)
January 31, 2026 at 4:10 PM
"I am brainless, but money is the real brain of all things and how then should its possessor be brainless? Besides, he can buy clever people for himself, and is he who has...power over the clever not more clever than the clever?"
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
DM me? We used to get hundreds of highly qualified applicants for a single job posting. Good prosecutors are increasingly hesitant to work for this DOJ.
January 31, 2026 at 3:51 PM
DM me? We used to get hundreds of highly qualified applicants for a single job posting. Good prosecutors are increasingly hesitant to work for this DOJ.
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
This is a part of the perpetual tension of free societies that we seem to have forgotten. We have to constantly mind it. We can’t get rid of this tension. This is actually what I am working on in the historical contribution of puritans to liberal societies.
Yes, regimes allowing for organized internal dissent & the peaceful movement into & out of power by different social formations are better than those that don't, in many ways. But when groups organize themselves to destroy that system of power circulation, democracy should protect itself from them.
January 31, 2026 at 3:57 PM
This is a part of the perpetual tension of free societies that we seem to have forgotten. We have to constantly mind it. We can’t get rid of this tension. This is actually what I am working on in the historical contribution of puritans to liberal societies.
This is a good thread illustrating the insight that some superlatively important political truths are counterintuitive, such as that a regime allowing for internal dissent is strengthened by it rather than weakened.
Yet putting it in these unconditional terms is misleading, I think...
Yet putting it in these unconditional terms is misleading, I think...
Democracies are so strong that they allow people to criticize democracy. In fact, the ability to do so is an essential quality of democracy. Authoritarians are so weak they don't allow people to criticize authoritarians. Silencing dissent is an essential quality of authoritarian regimes.
January 31, 2026 at 3:46 PM
This is a good thread illustrating the insight that some superlatively important political truths are counterintuitive, such as that a regime allowing for internal dissent is strengthened by it rather than weakened.
Yet putting it in these unconditional terms is misleading, I think...
Yet putting it in these unconditional terms is misleading, I think...
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
ICE Expands Power of Agents to Arrest People Without Warrants
www.nytimes.com
January 31, 2026 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
It is so grim.
So what I’m gathering is a pedophilic billionaire successfully worked to destigmatize race science among the academic, political, and business elite partly by sex trafficking girls. Is that the shape of it so far?
January 31, 2026 at 3:19 PM
It is so grim.
The point about "ethnic" categories not being pre-political, but rather forged strategically by political actors and by political events, is one of the most important insights one should always have in mind in politics
January 31, 2026 at 3:26 PM
The point about "ethnic" categories not being pre-political, but rather forged strategically by political actors and by political events, is one of the most important insights one should always have in mind in politics
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
three key quotes about race and political reality
January 31, 2026 at 3:12 PM
three key quotes about race and political reality
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
New from me: It is not just that the US is experiencing democratic backsliding. Authoritarianism has emerged more quickly than in other benchmark countries.
This graph from John Burn-Murdoch sums it up. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/autocracy-...
This graph from John Burn-Murdoch sums it up. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/autocracy-...
January 31, 2026 at 3:12 PM
New from me: It is not just that the US is experiencing democratic backsliding. Authoritarianism has emerged more quickly than in other benchmark countries.
This graph from John Burn-Murdoch sums it up. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/autocracy-...
This graph from John Burn-Murdoch sums it up. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/autocracy-...
As the lawlessness of the regime accelerates, the logic of impunity ratchets up the stakes of removal
January 31, 2026 at 2:08 PM
As the lawlessness of the regime accelerates, the logic of impunity ratchets up the stakes of removal
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
new CBS contributor Peter Attia
Here is Peter Attia MD emailing Epstein’s assistant claiming he goes into “JE withdrawal” when he doesn’t see him.
January 31, 2026 at 10:20 AM
new CBS contributor Peter Attia
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
Next time choose *not* to get played.
January 31, 2026 at 1:48 PM
Next time choose *not* to get played.
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
“They seem intent on trying to influence the outcome of 2026,” she says, “because they fear accountability by the voters.”
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
From Minnesota to Georgia, Trump’s plans to interfere in the midterms are becoming more dangerous
The seizure of ballots in Fulton County, Georgia, follows the DOJ’s demands for voter data in Minnesota.
www.motherjones.com
January 31, 2026 at 1:03 PM
“They seem intent on trying to influence the outcome of 2026,” she says, “because they fear accountability by the voters.”
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
State constitutional politics set precedents for national constitutional politics.
Note how Republicans expand a supreme court when it generates uncongenial decisions without feeling like they need to tie themselves into knots with overly complex reform schemes
Note how Republicans expand a supreme court when it generates uncongenial decisions without feeling like they need to tie themselves into knots with overly complex reform schemes
The Utah Senate has passed a bill that would expand the state supreme court by 2 seats (to be filled by the GOP governor).
This comes as local conservatives are angry about judicial decisions in Utah, inc. one that safeguarded direct democracy in 2024 & one that struck down their gerrymander.
This comes as local conservatives are angry about judicial decisions in Utah, inc. one that safeguarded direct democracy in 2024 & one that struck down their gerrymander.
January 31, 2026 at 12:59 PM
State constitutional politics set precedents for national constitutional politics.
Note how Republicans expand a supreme court when it generates uncongenial decisions without feeling like they need to tie themselves into knots with overly complex reform schemes
Note how Republicans expand a supreme court when it generates uncongenial decisions without feeling like they need to tie themselves into knots with overly complex reform schemes
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
Utah voters have the power to refer a piece of legislation to the ballot and then reject it. They can do that here. They should!
The Utah Senate has passed a bill that would expand the state supreme court by 2 seats (to be filled by the GOP governor).
This comes as local conservatives are angry about judicial decisions in Utah, inc. one that safeguarded direct democracy in 2024 & one that struck down their gerrymander.
This comes as local conservatives are angry about judicial decisions in Utah, inc. one that safeguarded direct democracy in 2024 & one that struck down their gerrymander.
January 30, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Utah voters have the power to refer a piece of legislation to the ballot and then reject it. They can do that here. They should!
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
This seems bad for a peaceful global order!
At its headquarters in Geneva, signs warning of the situation have been put up everywhere. In an almost desperate attempt to save cash, the escalators are regularly turned off and the heating turned down.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
UN risks 'imminent financial collapse', secretary general warns
António Guterres says the international body could run out of money by July due to members' unpaid fees.
www.bbc.com
January 31, 2026 at 3:46 AM
This seems bad for a peaceful global order!
Putting up the North Korea numbers ol' Donny's always wanted for himself
January 31, 2026 at 3:37 AM
Putting up the North Korea numbers ol' Donny's always wanted for himself
Skimming today's headlines is like watching a world that got kicked in the head
January 31, 2026 at 3:31 AM
Skimming today's headlines is like watching a world that got kicked in the head
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
“We are planning a pogrom,” Secretary Noem announced. “If Congress doesn’t impeach and remove me and other key DHS leaders we will commit many more.”
Breaking MS NOW:
The Trump admin is now eyeing Ohio for immigration enforcement operations that could begin as early as next week.
The operation is expected to target Haitian immigrants — with temporary protected status for Haiti expiring on Feb. 3.
The Trump admin is now eyeing Ohio for immigration enforcement operations that could begin as early as next week.
The operation is expected to target Haitian immigrants — with temporary protected status for Haiti expiring on Feb. 3.
ICE eyeing Ohio next, where it is expected to target Haitian immigrants
An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitians live in Springfield, Ohio, a community that President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance targeted during the 2024 campaign, falsely accusing the community ...
www.ms.now
January 31, 2026 at 3:18 AM
“We are planning a pogrom,” Secretary Noem announced. “If Congress doesn’t impeach and remove me and other key DHS leaders we will commit many more.”
On the left, the WSJ. On the right, daily reality
January 31, 2026 at 3:20 AM
On the left, the WSJ. On the right, daily reality
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
Jan 29-30 poll of 4,615 U.S. adults (+/-1.7 points)
% who think the government should attempt to make housing prices go up | down
U.S. adults 4% | 54%
Democrats 5% | 60%
Independents 3% | 55%
Republicans 5% | 46%
today.yougov.com/topics/polit...
% who think the government should attempt to make housing prices go up | down
U.S. adults 4% | 54%
Democrats 5% | 60%
Independents 3% | 55%
Republicans 5% | 46%
today.yougov.com/topics/polit...
January 30, 2026 at 2:09 PM
Jan 29-30 poll of 4,615 U.S. adults (+/-1.7 points)
% who think the government should attempt to make housing prices go up | down
U.S. adults 4% | 54%
Democrats 5% | 60%
Independents 3% | 55%
Republicans 5% | 46%
today.yougov.com/topics/polit...
% who think the government should attempt to make housing prices go up | down
U.S. adults 4% | 54%
Democrats 5% | 60%
Independents 3% | 55%
Republicans 5% | 46%
today.yougov.com/topics/polit...
Reign of terror
Breaking MS NOW:
The Trump admin is now eyeing Ohio for immigration enforcement operations that could begin as early as next week.
The operation is expected to target Haitian immigrants — with temporary protected status for Haiti expiring on Feb. 3.
The Trump admin is now eyeing Ohio for immigration enforcement operations that could begin as early as next week.
The operation is expected to target Haitian immigrants — with temporary protected status for Haiti expiring on Feb. 3.
ICE eyeing Ohio next, where it is expected to target Haitian immigrants
An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitians live in Springfield, Ohio, a community that President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance targeted during the 2024 campaign, falsely accusing the community ...
www.ms.now
January 31, 2026 at 3:14 AM
Reign of terror
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
This is exactly the energy we need.
It's near-white out conditions in Chicago as the snow comes down, and tonight's anti-ICE/CBP rally is wrapping up in front of city hall.
But not before the crowd bounces and chants, "I believe that we will win!"
But not before the crowd bounces and chants, "I believe that we will win!"
January 31, 2026 at 1:52 AM
This is exactly the energy we need.
Reposted by Kevin Elliott
One thing I think we should consider more is how caring about politics and being a reliable voter are correlated but distinct traits. There are habitual voters who don’t want to discuss politics, and people who care about politics but struggle to follow through and vote.
Characteristically thoughtful discussion of a known snag of survey research -- people who care a lot about politics are more likely to take political polls -- and what we might be able to do to address that
(As noted, I think this is such a fun experiment)
(As noted, I think this is such a fun experiment)
Hello super friends.
There is a new @crosstabspodcast.com
It features a cool experiment in talking to non-political voters by @kabirkhanna.bsky.social at @cbsnews.com
He's super smart. You should listen to him.
Hey, did you know it's an election year?? Again??!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...
There is a new @crosstabspodcast.com
It features a cool experiment in talking to non-political voters by @kabirkhanna.bsky.social at @cbsnews.com
He's super smart. You should listen to him.
Hey, did you know it's an election year?? Again??!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...
January 31, 2026 at 1:27 AM
One thing I think we should consider more is how caring about politics and being a reliable voter are correlated but distinct traits. There are habitual voters who don’t want to discuss politics, and people who care about politics but struggle to follow through and vote.