David Apgar
factualcommons.bsky.social
David Apgar
@factualcommons.bsky.social
Climate-tech fund manager and development economist with a philosophy problem.
After all his decades of brinkmanship, I didn't think #Trump would actually screw the pooch. But with #Venezuela, he screwed the pooch.
January 5, 2026 at 1:42 AM
#Vance must be pissed that Hegseth's DOW and the FBI are investigating #MarkKelly for telling soldiers to obey the law. They've whipped up a candidate out of thin air who could stop Vance in his tracks.
November 25, 2025 at 10:32 PM
All Maduro has to do to throw the #TrumpAdministration into confusion about attacking #Venezuela is to ask why they are attacking a (suddenly very) Christian country.
November 24, 2025 at 6:07 PM
HCR is right, Republicans could keep the govt open by voting down the filibuster. They chose instead to shut down the govt bc they desperately need a few Democratic votes as cover for their budget. They fear voter rage when their constituents find out what's in it.
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
October 1, 2025
Last night, as the government barreled toward a shutdown, President Donald J.
open.substack.com
October 2, 2025 at 4:16 PM
In the wake of the #CharlieKirk assassination, should Gavin Newsom offer to send the Cal Guard to Utah, as a patriotic gesture?
September 12, 2025 at 11:38 PM
How does #MelaniaEpstein look as a hashtag?
August 14, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Now wait. Someone murders an Atlanta-based #CDC staffer in response to #Trump Admin vilification of health officials and Agent Orange deploys soldiers in DC because two unarmed 15-year-olds scared BigBalls in his car?
August 12, 2025 at 2:49 AM
You Can't Make This Up Department: The 2 unarmed kids who supposedly tried to carjack #DOGE impresario BigBalls are... wait for it... 15 years old.
August 11, 2025 at 6:14 PM
August 8, 2025 (Friday)
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc... HCR speculating Agent Orange holding Alaska #SurrenderSummit now because Putin hacked a copy of the Epstein files.
August 8, 2025 (Friday)
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed he could stop Russia’s war on Ukraine with a single phone call.
open.substack.com
August 9, 2025 at 5:28 PM
What Would Republicans Do Department: They'd already be saying (if he were still a Democrat) #TrumpintheEpsteinfiles "won't face accusations of anything more than 'viewing' on #Epstein Island because he's not really into women, ask Melania." It would give Fox News a week of fact-free banners.
July 24, 2025 at 2:28 AM
@gtconway.bsky.social And CNN's title is: Trump Winning on Trade. While NYT's is: Japan (i.e. not us) Paying 15% Tariffs. With reporting like this, who needs Fox News?
July 23, 2025 at 8:22 PM
A date to remember. As of today, the #dollar is no longer really the world's reserve currency.
July 4, 2025 at 1:17 AM
So does #Turner get to auction off the #NSF garden sculpture of Einstein to offset incidental expenses? talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/natio...
National Science Foundation to Be Requisitioned as Mansion for HUD Secretary (And Also HUD Office)
I’m still trying to find out more about this. But as I...
talkingpointsmemo.com
June 25, 2025 at 6:12 PM
How soon will the market value of #SpaceX do the same thing as its #Starship money burners? youtu.be/UXBtxP1PdT4?...
SpaceX's Starship fails mid-flight in ninth test mission
YouTube video by Guardian News
youtu.be
June 4, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Why Harvard? It never turned down a shitty #Trump real estate deal like Columbia. But Soviet watchers thought the game changed when #Harvard asked Solzhenitsyn to give its 1978 commencement address where he damned Moscow. In Trump's orbit today, Putin has the greatest animus against the place.
May 24, 2025 at 4:36 AM
#Harvard was ready to let in US undergrads tuition-free. So #TrumpAdmin blocks its foreign students whose sponsors pay full. Hope seems to be to bankrupt H but if that fails it will have to charge fees only cabinet members can afford. Win-win for them, lose-lose for the rest of us.
May 24, 2025 at 4:23 AM
You don't suppose #Trump will install a golden toilet and open a McDonald's franchise at #Alcatraz to prepare for retirement... www.cnn.com/2025/05/05/u...
Trump wants to reopen one of America’s most notorious prisons. Here’s how Alcatraz earned its reputation | CNN
President Donald Trump on Sunday said that he would order the government rebuild and reopen Alcatraz, a former prison on a small island of the same name off the coast of San Francisco that once housed...
www.cnn.com
May 5, 2025 at 6:40 PM
"A superpower crunch over Taiwan is coming" according to The Economist. But honestly, wouldn't it be superpower malpractice if #China did not take advantage of #Trump Admin venality?
www.economist.com/leaders/2025...
A superpower crunch over Taiwan is coming
China has a new chance to call America’s bluff
www.economist.com
May 2, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Arse of the Deal Dept.: Dealmaster #Trump talks 2 hrs with Putin to get 30-day ceasefire in #Ukraine. Putin says Nyet, adds new demand to stop all aid & intelligence b4 any ceasefire. Trump says Da.
March 19, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Arse of the Deal Dept. No country celebrated the #Trump (or #Musk) shuttering of #VOA as much as China. 28 mins of farming news and 2 mins of updates on repression around the world turn out to be a powerful digestif. What did the Great Dealmaker get from China for this massive favor? Nothing.
March 18, 2025 at 2:56 AM
One reason #Trump cuts so many crappy deals is that he bases his facts on his deals instead of the other way around. As the Clout Index shows, Europe's ignoring the facts on #Russia, too. medium.com/@david_apgar...
Europe and Trump agree
The Clout Index shows both wildly overestimate Russia
medium.com
March 8, 2025 at 7:14 PM
What if tonight's #trump speech is his version of the Reichstag Speech on the Enabling Act that sidelined the 1930s German parliament? Are Congressional Democrats prepared for that possibility?
March 4, 2025 at 6:49 PM
What will happen when old age finishes creeping up on Trump, Vance gives his first fiscal order, and #Musk responds with his usual playground obscenities?
February 14, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Read “Will Any Democrat Stand Up?“ by David Apgar on Medium: medium.com/@david_apgar...
Will Any Democrat Stand Up?
Democratic members of Congress need to start preparing now if they want anyone to believe they can force Republicans to raise the debt…
medium.com
February 13, 2025 at 10:56 PM