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Valerie Bunce

@bunski.bsky.social

89 followers 96 following 58 posts

Political scientist, retired from Cornell, specialist in transitions from democracy to dictatorship (and vice-versa) in Postcommunist Europe and Eurasia. Agonized observor of US transition.

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Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · 4d

I am wondering: what does she know that people outside the Trump
Circle don’t know. She could be looking ahead to Maga post-Trump and creating a lane for herself. Especially likely if other Rs will be brought down along w Trump.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · 7d

If only Republicans in Congress would just ignore Trump’s dangerous, stupid, policies and carry out their constitutional duties.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · 8d

Yes! Just what we need.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · 10d

But any thoughts about why the authors put out this report?

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Reposted by Valerie Bunce

Kathleen Belew @kathleenbelew.bsky.social · 10d

The report completely neglects the way that much of the momentum in far right extremism has now become part of STATE VIOLENCE. It does not count ICE actions, militia actions, vigilantism clothed in state authority. THIS IS WHERE THAT VIOLENCE NOW RESIDES. (4)

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Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · 10d

Great comments! I know you know what you are talking about!

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · 13d

Grievances have to be continuously invented, restocked and repeated, if they are the driving force behind politics and policy.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · 13d

So did embarrassment. The more grandiose, self-promoting and moralistic the claim, the more likely it is a lie. These people specialize in super-size whoppers.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · 16d

So the UN is only one more case of retribution for this guy, like, say, Letitia James or Columbia? One wonders—what did Tylenol do to him? Windmills? Shower heads?He is quite the grievance collector.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · 18d

Geopolitical genius striles again.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · 29d

But why just the northeast—Michigan and the other great state schools in the Midwest. But there is the small matter of weather…

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · 29d

Perfect. And the states are making no cuts. It’s a matter of sharing with localities. And the localities are making no cuts, it’s a matter of sharing with neighborhoods.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · 29d

Hard choices for blue states, because they care about the well-being of their populations. Red states have less of a problem, because they don’t care.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · Sep 3

Surreal, but not if you were in Moscow in the second half of the ‘90s.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · Sep 2

Yes.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · Sep 2

Or at least secession. Blue states do not support regime change.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · Aug 28

Mealy mouthed is the perfect description. People, including the mainstream media, don’t understand the gravity of what is happening. They assume (wrongly as we know from accounts of revolutions),that their lives would be in turmoil, if Trump were actually carrying out a fascist revolution.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · Aug 24

You are right, Jamelle. Many never-Trumper Republicans have phrases, hardly the norm, that set them off. They are always on the lookout for ways to “balance” their criticisms of the GOP. Having turned on “their” party, they want to be sure that the Democrats deserve their support.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · Aug 22

Revolutions always re-make states through a combination of purges and new forms of state intervention. Sigh.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · Aug 20

Nothing like respect for elders! I prefer aging white hippies to aging white corrupt, racist billionaires.

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Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · Aug 19

Was Trump the first one?

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · Aug 19

I shudder to imagine how he understands the origins of war and the preconditions for peace.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · Aug 19

Oh Philip Bump—I do miss your columns! You have a knack for asking the right—the telling—questions. A lot of bad questions, bad comparisons and casual uses of data have been sparked by Trump’s assault on the state, democracy and the international order. Keep giving us the alternative!

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · Aug 15

Not to mentioned who is not there.

Valerie Bunce @bunski.bsky.social · Aug 15

A case will be made for ice patrolling elections, because “illegals” vote. The elections will be stolen by controlling voter registration and intervening in vote tabulation. If Dems win by some miracle, a coup will be launched. A LOT of coups historically have happened in the wake of elections.