Brendan Nyhan
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brendannyhan.bsky.social
Brendan Nyhan
@brendannyhan.bsky.social

Dartmouth political scientist and Bright Line Watch co-director. Previously Upshot NYT / CJR contributor, Spinsanity co-founder, All the President's Spin co-author.

https://sites.dartmouth.edu/nyhan/
http://brightlinewatch.org .. more

Brendan Nyhan is an American political scientist and professor at Dartmouth College. He is also a liberal to moderate political blogger, author, and political columnist. He was born in Mountain View, California and now lives in Hanover, New Hampshire. .. more

Political science 39%
Sociology 22%
Pinned
My @nytimes.com op-ed: The Boomers Are Protesting Trump. Where Is Gen Z? www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o... (gift link)

The key point: "The absence of young people from conventional protests is both a problem and a warning."
Opinion | The Boomers Are Protesting Trump. Where Is Gen Z?
www.nytimes.com
I can't say this loudly enough: THEY ARE TRYING TO NORMALIZE THE KILLING OF CIVILIANS FOR PARTICIPATING IN FIRST AMENDMENT PROTECTED PROTEST ACTIVITIES.
Homan: "We gotta stop the hateful rhetoric. Saying this officer is a murderer is dangerous. It's just ridiculous. It's gonna infuriate people more which means there's gonna be more incidents like this."
Literal propaganda for the sitting president
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery removes wall text that referred to Trump’s two impeachments — language that had upset the White House. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/a...
Smithsonian Removes Label Noting Trump Impeachments
www.nytimes.com

Not a drill

"There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."
Tapper to Noem: "I just showed you video of people attacking law enforcement officers on J6. Trump pardoned them all. You said Trump is enforcing all the laws equally. That's just not true. There's a different standard for LEOs being attacked if they're being attacked by Trump supporters."
Someone get this man under oath. Classic non-denial denial.

Reminiscent of George W. Bush's first term: "kids on Big Wheels who talk politics and know nothing" brendan-nyhan.com/blog/2007/08...
Harriet Miers: Policy wonk - Brendan Nyhan
One aspect of the Josh Green Atlantic article that hasn’t attracted much notice is this passage about the administration’s dysfunctional policy process, which was run by erstwhile Supreme Court nomine...
brendan-nyhan.com

A US general compares the White House to "teenagers playing... Risk." The people destroying the international order and undoing the security alliance that has protected American security since World War II. The holders of the nuclear codes.

Reposted by Scott A. Imberman

Authoritarian governments accuse their opponents of terrorism and otherwise try to criminalize protest and justify persecution of those who resist them
WELKER: Noem called it an "act of domestic terrorism." What's the evidence?

HOMAN: If they didn't have sanctuary policies--

W: To be clear, is anyone who protests ICE a domestic terrorist?

HOMAN: It's case by case. If you look at the definition of terrorism, it certainly could fall within it
One basic lesson from political research is that secret police generally rely on mediocre men willing to do the dirty work of authoritarian regimes in order to advance their careers.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-the-fb...

This incredibly influential AI progress graph uses estimates for how long it takes for human to complete a task from an unrepresentative sample of ~3 people per task. 3! arachnemag.substack.com/p/the-metr-g...

We're spending untold billions on AI. Can't we spend millions on rigorous evaluation?
WELKER: Noem called it an "act of domestic terrorism." What's the evidence?

HOMAN: If they didn't have sanctuary policies--

W: To be clear, is anyone who protests ICE a domestic terrorist?

HOMAN: It's case by case. If you look at the definition of terrorism, it certainly could fall within it
Homan: "We gotta stop the hateful rhetoric. Saying this officer is a murderer is dangerous. It's just ridiculous. It's gonna infuriate people more which means there's gonna be more incidents like this."
Tapper to Noem: "I just showed you video of people attacking law enforcement officers on J6. Trump pardoned them all. You said Trump is enforcing all the laws equally. That's just not true. There's a different standard for LEOs being attacked if they're being attacked by Trump supporters."
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery removes wall text that referred to Trump’s two impeachments — language that had upset the White House. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/a...
Smithsonian Removes Label Noting Trump Impeachments
www.nytimes.com
NEW: It appears billionaire Bill Ackman has donated $10k to a GoFundMe for Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who killed Renee Good.

Ackman has reposted the fundraiser but hasn’t posted about his own donation.

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

Where we are as a country
“Twitter is a defiant producer of illegal porn, the kidnapped president of Venezuela is on trial in New York, and Europe is scrambling to figure out a response to a potential US invasion of Greenland” ok bro, sure, those are things

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

“Twitter is a defiant producer of illegal porn, the kidnapped president of Venezuela is on trial in New York, and Europe is scrambling to figure out a response to a potential US invasion of Greenland” ok bro, sure, those are things
Horrible. Arson attack today at Mississippi’s largest synagogue, on Shabbat, destroyed multiple Torahs and left parts of the building in ruins
Suspect arrested in predawn fire that left parts of Mississippi’s largest synagogue in charred ruins

A fire heavily damaged Jackson’s only synagogue before dawn Saturday – the same house of worship that was firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 because the rabbi had been an advocate for civil…
Suspect arrested in predawn fire that left parts of Mississippi’s largest synagogue in charred ruins
A fire heavily damaged Jackson’s only synagogue before dawn Saturday – the same house of worship that was firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 because the rabbi had been an advocate for civil rights.
mississippitoday.org
Suspect arrested in predawn fire that left parts of Mississippi’s largest synagogue in charred ruins

A fire heavily damaged Jackson’s only synagogue before dawn Saturday – the same house of worship that was firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 because the rabbi had been an advocate for civil…
Suspect arrested in predawn fire that left parts of Mississippi’s largest synagogue in charred ruins
A fire heavily damaged Jackson’s only synagogue before dawn Saturday – the same house of worship that was firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 because the rabbi had been an advocate for civil rights.
mississippitoday.org
I had no idea the material conditions in Iran had degraded so badly. As the speaker, Prof Fatemeh Shams explains later, these are explosive, borderline revolutionary conditions, much more serious than previous rounds of mass protest

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

Cool, cool.

"According to sources, Trump has asked Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to prepare the invasion plan, but it is being resisted by the joint chiefs of staff on the grounds that it would be illegal - and not be supported by Congress."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
Trump 'orders US army chiefs to draw up plan to invade Greenland'
Donald Trump has ordered his special forces commanders to draw up a plan for the invasion of Greenland - but is being resisted by senior military figures, The Mail on Sunday has learned.
www.dailymail.co.uk
The “if she had complied, she’d still be alive” line that we’re hearing from ICE defenders is the mantra of apologists for security forces in dictatorships through the ages.
As always: "The former official said he doesn't think Trump is playing 'the sort of three-dimensional chess people ascribe to decisions like this. More often than not he's just eating the pieces.'"
There was amazing restraint and heroism by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department on Jan. 6, 2021. They were viciously attacked by rightwing extremists and rioters incited by Trump.
Also, by their own standards, the cops protecting the Capitol on Jan 6 should have opened fire all over.
“If the person is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.”

Justice Brett Kavanaugh

www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
WSJ investigation: In the past 6 months ICE agents have fired at vehicles 13 times, leading to:

* 8 people shot
* 5 of which were U.S. citizens
* 2 died
* no victims drew a weapon

The playbook: Agents box in a vehicle, block attempts to flee, then fire

www.wsj.com/us-news/vide...
Videos Show How ICE Vehicle Stops Can Escalate to Shootings
A WSJ visual investigation found that the Minneapolis ICE killing is one of 13 incidents where federal immigration agents have used deadly force against civilians in vehicles since July.
www.wsj.com

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan