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Tom Schaller

@schaller67.bsky.social

16K followers 620 following 1.3K posts

UMBC political scientist, NYT bestselling co-author of White Rural Rage, diehard Washington Caps fan, peripatetic. Longtime DC denizen, Albany, NY, native.

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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · Feb 1

Hey Bluesky! I’m here.

Yes, I’m still a bit stunned by my prescient tweet (below) 14hrs before the tragic DC crash, after which many of you encouraged me to finally gravitate to here.

Happy to belatedly join the community. Tom

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✨ A Goddess has NO KING ✨ @the-goddess-speaks.bsky.social · 1d

💃💃💃🦝

🏆 @vjaybomb.bsky.social

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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 11h

The Yankees have gone 16 years without rings.

Three more and that will be their longest stretch without winning a World Series since they became known as the Yankees in 1913.

I don’t feel least bit sorry for them.

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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 12h

Well played

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Alan Elrod @aselrod.bsky.social · 19h

The America we used to live in—the America we want to think we live in—is gone.

We’ll have to build again.

We want to think that the repeated, widespread abuse of basic rights by DHS; the DOJ actions against former officials like James Comey and John Bolton; the presence of 2020 election deniers across congressional and executive branch leaders; the unconstitutional dismantling of federal agencies; the consolidation of old and new media under leadership favorable to Trump; the use of lawsuits and executive branch power to intimidate and silence critics; and the clear attempts to subvert the 2026 and 2028 elections; and Trump's constant insinuation that he might seek a third term do not all in fact mean
that we have crossed the threshold into a competitive authoritarian environment.
But we have. We have passed through the veil. Whatever becomes of American liberal democracy in the near or distant future, it will be a resurrection and not a continuation.

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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 14h

Things that cause autism, per RFK jr:

1. Tylenol
2. Circumcision
3. Holiday sweaters
4. Seattle sports fandom
5. Oscar-watch parties
6. Ketchup on hot dogs
7. Visiting Brooklyn
8. Dental brush picks
9. Greta Gerwig films
10. Hummus

Stay tuned, more super-scientific studies forthcoming…

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John Fugelsang @johnfugelsang.bsky.social · 17h

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BAMny @bamny.bsky.social · 4d

Dr. Jane’s parting words of wisdom to all of us… 💚

✨ A Goddess has NO KING ✨ @the-goddess-speaks.bsky.social · 4d

I hope you'll take a moment for these beautiful parting words from the incomparable Jane Goodall.

(And she threw in a little salt for the evil ones, too)

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 21h

It really can't be said enough: the goal of the "anti-woke" movement was always to destroy social norms against bigotry. And it worked. And there's a whole lot of purportedly "left" thinkers & commentators who helped it -- indeed, it couldn't have been done without them.

They should feel bad.

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 20h

Context matters

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Ian Anson @iganson.bsky.social · 20h

The Belichick debacle at #UNC as the ultimate parable of our political moment. It's a story about strongarm tactics, hubris, assaults on legacy institutions, "moving fast and breaking things," nepotism, gerontocracy, motivated reasoning, trampled norms, and ultimately, a shockingly poor outcome.

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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 20h

Somebody should have written a book warning against this:

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21h

SCARBOROUGH: The Nebraska Rural Health Association says at least 6 rural hospitals would have to close bc of the big beautiful bill

FLOOD: Here's the deal: Some hospitals that are rural hospitals are going to eventually have to transition from being acute bed hospitals into being an ER model

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

Bray is a historian at Rutgers who received death threats after landing on Turning Points USA's Professor Watchlist. As a result, he announced he was moving to Europe. And then this happened.

This kind of harassment and abuse of scholars is Charlie Kirk's legacy and it's only getting worse.

Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 1d

“Someone” cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second.

We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared.’

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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 1d

He’s so dumb.

He thinks habeus corpus is a person and people seeking political asylum are mentally ill wards of the state.

If the black president said these things Fox would have crucified him.

But Trump gets the white dude affirmative action dummy discount his supporters claim to hate.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Q: Have you given any more thought to possibly suspending habeas corpus?

TRUMP: Suspending who?

Q: Habeas corpus

TRUMP: I don't know. I'd rather leave that to Kristi.

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 1d

Antisemitic, pro-Putin, in league with white nationalists, promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy theory - and now being platformed by the president of the United States

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 1d

"Antifa has been around in various iterations for almost 100 years in some instances, going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany."

- Jack Posobiec at Trump's roundtable on antifa

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

Quick follow up for the senator -- who is they?

Parker Molloy @parkermolloy.com · 1d

What www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

POLITICO
"They killed Charlie Kirk — the least that we can do is go through a legal process and redistrict Indiana into a nine to zero map," Sen. Jim Banks, the Republican of Indiana, told POLITICO last month.

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Jude Nagurney Camwell (Iddybud) @iddybud.bsky.social · 1d

President Lyndon Johnson invoked the insurrection law in Alabama,1965 to PROTECT civil rights activists.

Trump would do so to make war ON Americans for NO GOOD REASON.
abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics...

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Sharon Machlis @smachlis.bsky.social · 2d

This is a professor at Rutgers who teaches a class on the history of anti-fascism. He also teaches about human rights. He has received multiple death threats and been doxed. He is relocating to Europe for his safety. This is where we are in the US now. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 9d

I know we're desensitized, but it's important to note, again, that today's events would have led to the immediate impeachment & removal of any president from at least Truman to at least Obama. We're hundreds of miles on the interstate past Richard Nixon's high school prank-level crimes compared to 👇

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 9d

Trump wraps up a speech to military leaders that represented a major escalation of his effort to weaponize the armed forces into a tool he can use to violently quash domestic dissent. Hard to imagine how anyone with a shred of dignity can keep serving after this, which of course is the point.

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Thomas Brackett “Czar” Reed @czarreed.bsky.social · 1d

Thank God the National Guard will defend us from… [checks notes] … a guy in a dinosaur suit singing a song in the style of Barry McGuire

Jeff (Gutenberg Parenthesis) Jarvis @jeffjarvis.bsky.social · 1d

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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 1d

Not trans—and not trying to insult you bc I presume you already know this—but any time person makes a reference to nature, game over: after all, there are species (eg, wrasses) that change sex mid-life. And if the person making dog/cat cracks believes in god, set&match—bc god created wrasses, no?

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

#WarRavagedPortland

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Jeff (Gutenberg Parenthesis) Jarvis @jeffjarvis.bsky.social · 2d

I begged @spiegel.de to translate Jörg Schindler's excellent reporting on America's fall into theocracy and they did. As I keep saying, German journalists are doing a better job covering America's fall than American journalists. 1/
www.spiegel.de/internationa...

Trump's Crusaders: Christian Nationalists Are Gaining a Solid Foothold in Washington

U.S. President Donald Trump has opened the doors of power to far-right Christian nationalists. Their goal: an American theocracy. The separation of church and state in America is at risk.

www.spiegel.de

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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 1d

We’re harassing priests now. Super cool.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 2d

Um, ICE just coldly shot an unarmed PRIEST in the head w a pepper ball when he (and everyone around him) clearly posed no threat.

For the crime of … complaining about government policy.

Core 1A speech.

With cameras rolling, they’re sniping priests for sport.

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 2d

Here’s video of the incident

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 2d

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 2d

Here’s video of the incident

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