Tom Nichols
@radiofreetom.bsky.social
Staff writer at The Atlantic. Cat guy, democracy defender. Actor for a day on Succession, Jeopardy champ. New Englander and curmudgeon.
Pinned
The President Is Losing Control of Himself
Donald Trump’s outbursts on social media this week were different than usual.
www.theatlantic.com
This is a new and dire development in the ongoing American constitutional crisis. The voters, Congress, and, yes, the U.S. military must all now be more vigilant than at any time in our modern history.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Tom Nichols
I’ve got every sympathy for some poor soul for whom there’s no choice but pick the very cheapest. But it’s uncanny how many people on the average jet couldn’t afford fifty dollars more for a better airline, but can afford a giant bag of ‘duty free’ full of booze.
November 25, 2025 at 1:23 AM
I’ve got every sympathy for some poor soul for whom there’s no choice but pick the very cheapest. But it’s uncanny how many people on the average jet couldn’t afford fifty dollars more for a better airline, but can afford a giant bag of ‘duty free’ full of booze.
Reposted by Tom Nichols
It’s perfectly possible to have a nice flight if you spend some more money, but until people stop clicking on whatever is five dollars cheaper regardless of anything else , they won’t get a better economy experience.
November 25, 2025 at 1:20 AM
It’s perfectly possible to have a nice flight if you spend some more money, but until people stop clicking on whatever is five dollars cheaper regardless of anything else , they won’t get a better economy experience.
How about you take a bus
How about really clean the planes!?! They are filthy dirty- no matter your cabin! How about giving us humane seats and snacks, water and leave in time and land in time- how about not over book us and then berate us to get off or not board- how about have our luggage at the turnstile….
November 25, 2025 at 12:53 AM
How about you take a bus
Reposted by Tom Nichols
David Sedaris, on seeing middle aged male american tourists wearing logo’ed t-shirts, ball caps, shorts and sneakers on the Paris subway wrote that they “look they’re here to mow someone’s lawn”
November 24, 2025 at 11:10 PM
David Sedaris, on seeing middle aged male american tourists wearing logo’ed t-shirts, ball caps, shorts and sneakers on the Paris subway wrote that they “look they’re here to mow someone’s lawn”
Oh, no no no. I had a few flares as a kid - because it was hard to find anything cheap that wasn't a flare and my parents were tight on bucks - but as soon as I was older, it was straight-leg jeans even in the mid-70s.
I had some fugly suits, tho.
I had some fugly suits, tho.
November 24, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Oh, no no no. I had a few flares as a kid - because it was hard to find anything cheap that wasn't a flare and my parents were tight on bucks - but as soon as I was older, it was straight-leg jeans even in the mid-70s.
I had some fugly suits, tho.
I had some fugly suits, tho.
Totally agree.
It's the overall "I am 9 and going outside to play with frogs" look on grown men that I find wince-inducing
It's the overall "I am 9 and going outside to play with frogs" look on grown men that I find wince-inducing
I agree with this, but I think nice, dark, non-ripped jeans are perfectly acceptable at home and maybe on those casual work days.
I have several, and they're very classy imo.
I have several, and they're very classy imo.
November 24, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Totally agree.
It's the overall "I am 9 and going outside to play with frogs" look on grown men that I find wince-inducing
It's the overall "I am 9 and going outside to play with frogs" look on grown men that I find wince-inducing
I was a boy in the 1960s and I think I dressed like Archie (jeans, shirts, loafers) because I thought hippies looked kinda skeevy.
I wanted to emulate what looked, to me, like a classic student look. (I grew up in a working class town, so I got a lot of it from TV.)
I wanted to emulate what looked, to me, like a classic student look. (I grew up in a working class town, so I got a lot of it from TV.)
I'm afraid you would not have made a very good hippy back in the day Tom.
November 24, 2025 at 10:19 PM
I was a boy in the 1960s and I think I dressed like Archie (jeans, shirts, loafers) because I thought hippies looked kinda skeevy.
I wanted to emulate what looked, to me, like a classic student look. (I grew up in a working class town, so I got a lot of it from TV.)
I wanted to emulate what looked, to me, like a classic student look. (I grew up in a working class town, so I got a lot of it from TV.)
Heh. I think there's a group of people who just wait to argue with me. As one of my friends once said, it's like they hear everything I say in their dad's voice and they have to disagree with it, no matter what it is.
The things people who argue with you that they can’t let go of never end to amaze me.
November 24, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Heh. I think there's a group of people who just wait to argue with me. As one of my friends once said, it's like they hear everything I say in their dad's voice and they have to disagree with it, no matter what it is.
It's okay by me to wear shorts year round. But even when I'm in Las Vegas and it's 100 degrees, I put on long pants if I'm going to a nice restaurant.
New Englander looking down on me, a handsome Southern Californian, for wearing shorts year round. Sorry for your chalky calves, son
George was right, and the trend of men dressing like little boys with baseball caps and shorts year round was part of our overall cultural decline.
November 24, 2025 at 10:12 PM
It's okay by me to wear shorts year round. But even when I'm in Las Vegas and it's 100 degrees, I put on long pants if I'm going to a nice restaurant.
Indoors and in almost any circumstance. Back in the 90s, I banned hats in my classroom at Dartmouth. Fascism! (Or so the reaction seemed to indicate.) But when I looked out on the room and only saw a sea of hat brims, I'd had enough.
But Tom was talking about wearing a cap indoors (which I agree I can’t seen a reason for), but you are talking about wearing it outside (for valid reasons) ..so that’s the difference
November 24, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Indoors and in almost any circumstance. Back in the 90s, I banned hats in my classroom at Dartmouth. Fascism! (Or so the reaction seemed to indicate.) But when I looked out on the room and only saw a sea of hat brims, I'd had enough.
I'm wearing jeans right now. I will sometimes wear them as business casual with a sportcoat. (They are clean and kinda pricey jeans.) Men who wear shabby and worn jeans on a date, with a t shirt and a baseball cap, are dressing like small children.
I have no issue with men wearing jeans, though not ripped or with decoration. But I'm with Tom on the shorts and ball caps. I'm a commercial real estate agent and I can't tell you how many male clients show up like that. It's juvenile, gentlemen. Grow up.
November 24, 2025 at 10:07 PM
I'm wearing jeans right now. I will sometimes wear them as business casual with a sportcoat. (They are clean and kinda pricey jeans.) Men who wear shabby and worn jeans on a date, with a t shirt and a baseball cap, are dressing like small children.
"Correct" is one word
There is no word in the English language that can truly describe the kind of extreme WASP, prep school fuddy-duddies that you and George Will are on this subject.
It’s as though a pair of pleated khakis with an undersized inseam became sentient and began having opinions.
It’s as though a pair of pleated khakis with an undersized inseam became sentient and began having opinions.
November 24, 2025 at 10:05 PM
"Correct" is one word
This is sort of a typical Bluesky reply-guy post.
Me: Men shouldn't dress like small children
This guy:
Me: Men shouldn't dress like small children
This guy:
And men shouldn’t have long hair either? And women shouldn’t have short hair nor wear pants?
November 24, 2025 at 10:03 PM
This is sort of a typical Bluesky reply-guy post.
Me: Men shouldn't dress like small children
This guy:
Me: Men shouldn't dress like small children
This guy:
Notice that "just get up and comb your hair and be presentable" isn't an option anymore
November 24, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Notice that "just get up and comb your hair and be presentable" isn't an option anymore
Hawaii is its own special case. In the rest of the world, men should dress like adults, not like little boys.
Hmm…
I live in Hawaii, so yeah, George and Tom are mistaken.
I live in Hawaii, so yeah, George and Tom are mistaken.
George was right, and the trend of men dressing like little boys with baseball caps and shorts year round was part of our overall cultural decline.
November 24, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Hawaii is its own special case. In the rest of the world, men should dress like adults, not like little boys.
One paragraph in a long article about messaging, but I will grant that this person read the piece.
Tom says "this person didn't read the article" when someone disagrees, but I did read the article, and Carville takes things that random activists said ("defund the police") and applies it to the party as a whole (why send Baro Weiss to CBS, we do the Repubs work for them) To Post 2-
A lot of people are going to love that Carville said this. (They will not love him saying that the performative moral preening has to go.)
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
November 24, 2025 at 9:41 PM
One paragraph in a long article about messaging, but I will grant that this person read the piece.
Then why do so many men wear them indoors, and often backwards?
I'll tell you one reason, which I learned from the undergrads I used to teach: They didn't shower or wash their hair, and a cap was easier.
I'll tell you one reason, which I learned from the undergrads I used to teach: They didn't shower or wash their hair, and a cap was easier.
November 24, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Then why do so many men wear them indoors, and often backwards?
I'll tell you one reason, which I learned from the undergrads I used to teach: They didn't shower or wash their hair, and a cap was easier.
I'll tell you one reason, which I learned from the undergrads I used to teach: They didn't shower or wash their hair, and a cap was easier.
I've noticed this in restaurants, too. The woman is dressed nicely, and the guy looks like he just came in from softball practice. It's like watching a classy girl take her broke, dim-bulb brother to dinner, except it's people on a date.
The other week in London an American couple sat behind me. The woman was dressed normally. The man was wearing… a baseball shirt. I thought wt actual fk. And then he didn’t know how to behave, obv.
(I couldn’t understand why the woman didn’t come alone and let him go off to monster trucks etc)
(I couldn’t understand why the woman didn’t come alone and let him go off to monster trucks etc)
November 24, 2025 at 9:39 PM
I've noticed this in restaurants, too. The woman is dressed nicely, and the guy looks like he just came in from softball practice. It's like watching a classy girl take her broke, dim-bulb brother to dinner, except it's people on a date.
Reposted by Tom Nichols
Two things can be true:
You should not take off your shoes and put your feet on the chair ahead of you.
The Secretary of Transportation is not a serious person
You should not take off your shoes and put your feet on the chair ahead of you.
The Secretary of Transportation is not a serious person
Duffy on his demand that air travelers not wear slippers or pajamas: "It honors our country ... don't take your shoes off and put your feet on the chair ahead of you"
November 24, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Two things can be true:
You should not take off your shoes and put your feet on the chair ahead of you.
The Secretary of Transportation is not a serious person
You should not take off your shoes and put your feet on the chair ahead of you.
The Secretary of Transportation is not a serious person
George was right, and the trend of men dressing like little boys with baseball caps and shorts year round was part of our overall cultural decline.
I remember when George Will wrote a whole op ed on how distasteful wearing blue jeans was.
washingtoncitypaper.com/article/3956...
washingtoncitypaper.com/article/3956...
George F. Will Hates Jeans
So, George F. Will wrote 700 words in the Washington Post yesterday on why he hates jeans. The column, “America’s Bad Jeans,” was largely inspired by last month’s Wall Street Journal piece by Daniel A...
washingtoncitypaper.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:24 PM
George was right, and the trend of men dressing like little boys with baseball caps and shorts year round was part of our overall cultural decline.
Carville: "the Democratic Party must now run on the most populist economic platform since the Great Depression"
That's not just "it's the economy, stupid."
That's not just "it's the economy, stupid."
I agree that performative moral preening needs to go, but what Carville is recommending is just "it's the economy, stupid" with a Bernie coat of paint.
He hasn't been relevant in a quarter-century for a reason.
He hasn't been relevant in a quarter-century for a reason.
A lot of people are going to love that Carville said this. (They will not love him saying that the performative moral preening has to go.)
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
November 24, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Carville: "the Democratic Party must now run on the most populist economic platform since the Great Depression"
That's not just "it's the economy, stupid."
That's not just "it's the economy, stupid."
Yes, if it's something that James Carville and I have in common, it's that we both watched Fox over the past few years and totally absorbed its message.
(Another person who clearly didn't read the article.)
(Another person who clearly didn't read the article.)
These people uncritically accepted the Fox News, right wing narrative around what constituted "woke" and now they're out here lecturing us on something they either intentionally misunderstood or never understood in the first place.
A lot of people are going to love that Carville said this. (They will not love him saying that the performative moral preening has to go.)
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
November 24, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Yes, if it's something that James Carville and I have in common, it's that we both watched Fox over the past few years and totally absorbed its message.
(Another person who clearly didn't read the article.)
(Another person who clearly didn't read the article.)
This person is apparently a German speaker, but somehow doesn't know Hitler went to war six years after coming to power and had already destroyed the opposition.
Look, it pains me enough when Americans don't know basic history, but please, Europeans, not now
Look, it pains me enough when Americans don't know basic history, but please, Europeans, not now
November 24, 2025 at 9:07 PM
This person is apparently a German speaker, but somehow doesn't know Hitler went to war six years after coming to power and had already destroyed the opposition.
Look, it pains me enough when Americans don't know basic history, but please, Europeans, not now
Look, it pains me enough when Americans don't know basic history, but please, Europeans, not now