Joel Mathis
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joelmathis.bsky.social
Joel Mathis
@joelmathis.bsky.social
2.5K followers 740 following 4.3K posts
Opinion at @kansascity.com and @kansas.com‬. Was in Philly once upon a time. Journalism will never love you back. Occasionally deactivate my account for a day or so to clear my head.

https://joelmmathis.substack.com/
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joelmathis.bsky.social
I'm starting to think the Trumpist mastery of propaganda is failing them. The DHS agents posing this way makes it look like they're ashamed of themselves.
Man with dreadlocks facing camera. Agent with back to camera wearing POLICE HSI jacket. Woman with pink hair. Agent with back to camera wearing POLICE HSI jacket. Person with messy hair obscuring their eyes. Agent with back to camera wearing POLICE HSI jacket. Young man facing camera. Agent with back to camera wearing POLICE HSI jacket.
January 28, 2026 at 8:49 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
Noted.
January 28, 2026 at 3:43 AM
joelmathis.bsky.social
Again: She's describing Somalis here, oblivious to how it resembles Trumpism.
Edward Banfield called this phenomenon “amoral familism.” Loyalty inward, indifference outward. Where it dominates, corruption is not a deviation from the system. In truth, it is the system. Public institutions become spoils to be captured, law becomes negotiable, and accountability vanishes.
January 27, 2026 at 10:08 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
AHA on the use of ostracism by the the clan-based Somalis; border czar Tom Homan promising to make anti-ICE demonstrators "famous."
Ali: The clan code also explains something many observers prefer not to see: silence. Silence is enforcement. Those who break ranks are dealt with swiftly. Ostracism is severe and permanent. This clarifies why so few Somalis publicly condemn abuse, even when wrongdoing is obvious. To speak is to choose exile. To remain silent is to survive. In clan societies, loyalty is rewarded more reliably than honesty. Post: TOM HOMAN: “We’re going to create a database where those people that are arrested for interference, impeding and assault, we’re going to make them famous. We’re going to put their face on TV. We’re going to let their employers, in their neighborhoods, in their schools, know who these people are.”
January 27, 2026 at 10:07 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
I mean: Oh really? You think "individual accountability, transparency, impersonal law, and trust beyond kin" are necessary to make society work? Interesting.
This structure is pre-modern, but it is also anti-modern. It resists the very conditions that make liberal societies function: individual accountability, transparency, impersonal law, and trust beyond kin. Ernest Gellner warned that a modern nation-state cannot be built on tribal loyalty. Tribalism fragments authority and dissolves shared obligation. Where it persists, institutions decay.
January 27, 2026 at 10:02 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
At Claremont, Ayaan Hirsi Ali is trying to explain why Minnesota Somalis - and the Minnesotans who embrace them as community - are bad guys. She starts with this, and I wonder if she really doesn't understand this also describes Trumpism to a large degree. americanmind.org/salvo/minnes...
Somali society is organized around the clan. Loyalty is not abstract, nor is it civic. It is biological and binding. The individual exists only insofar as he serves the group. Protection, marriage, honor, silence, and punishment are governed by this code. Obligations flow inward, sanctions flow downward. The clan precedes the individual and outlives him.
January 27, 2026 at 10:01 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
Teen son joined classmates in an anti-ICE protest walkout today. Baby’s first protest and first protest sign.
Hand-scrawled “melt the ice” poster
January 27, 2026 at 9:33 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
Every single time I see a picture of Josh Hawley in cowboy boots:
January 27, 2026 at 2:33 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
Here's a paywall-free version of my column today: www.msn.com/en-us/news/u...
Schmitt calls Minneapolis federal agent shooting a choice. He's right, kind of | Opinion
January 27, 2026 at 2:22 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
I canceled my sub a few months ago. I think that was the right choice. But this still profoundly dispiriting, both for my industry and for my country. Damn it all.
January 26, 2026 at 8:27 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
And Eric Schmitt has weighed in. He’s right about the first sentence.
Eric Schmitt @Eric_Schmitt The crisis in Minneapolis is a choice These immigration operations are taking place in red states across the country—with none of the violence & unrest But the Left has decided escalating anarchy serves their political interests Tim Walz must stop the war on law enforcement
January 25, 2026 at 11:34 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
Kansas’ Democratic member of Congress finally weighs in.
January 25, 2026 at 10:13 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
I'm not sure that's entirely true.
January 25, 2026 at 5:44 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
We're in the "good policy but bad execution" state of conservatives dealing with their fuckups. (See Iraq: 2005.) Anyway, the name absent from this analysis is "Stephen Miller" who DOES want widespread roundups and who is the guy really running stuff and Trump is happy to let him.
A lot of what is happening now is Kristi Noem marginalized Tom Homan and the head of Border Patrol because those two prioritized deportations of criminals and gang members. Noem and Corey Lewandowski wanted broad, public round-ups without prioritizing the illegal aliens. They have bypassed Homan and the head of Border Patrol and elevated Greg Bovino because they want the public confrontations and displays. And that's not the progressive press reporting this. That's the conservative Fox News, New York Post, and Washington Examiner: https://foxnews.com/us/ice-leadership-shakeup-exposes-growing-dhs-friction-over-deportation-tactics-priorities https://nypost.com/2025/12/11/us-news/trump-border-czar-homan-dhs-chief-noem-barely-speaking-or-meeting/ https://washingtonexaminer.com/news/investigations/4423912/noem-lewandowski-campaign-oust-trump-border-leader-sources/ It is not just Tim Walz and Jacob Frey driving tensions. It is a policy choice made by the Secretary of Homeland Security and those around her because they thought it would make for great coverage.
January 25, 2026 at 2:05 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
An excerpt:
We are nearing a breaking point. We are still just a few hours into this latest crisis and I’m not sure that the Minneapolis civic order — or the American one, for that matter — can hold over the next day or two. And if so, I feel certain it cannot survive the next ICE shooting, should it happen any time soon. We are on the brink of something awful. We are in the midst of something awful, actually — Minnesotans, especially. It can get worse. I do not want this.1 And I do not believe most Americans want this. But I don’t think most Americans want to see their neighbors killed in the streets by government agents, either. God help us. 1 I am terrified that maybe by writing these words I might be adding to the momentum of that terrible thing. I am trying to understand and represent the truth as best as I can in the moment. Please forgive me if I have failed.
January 24, 2026 at 10:44 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
Over at the other place, my centrist friend (and former colleague) Damon Linker has hit his breaking point.
Damon Linker @DamonLinker I'm not proud of this tweet. Don't know that I've ever lost it like this on here before. But look: we have pseudo-intellectual dipshits actively justifying extra-judicial murder by paramilitaries run by the president & mocking the victims. There is no other name for that. Quote Damon Linker @DamonLinker · 1h Replying to @MHowellTweets You are a fucking fascist. Don't deny it. Own it. Just admit you want to live in a tyranny and see your political opponents gunned down by armed agents of the state. Fucking @ClaremontInst "Lincoln Fellow" bullshit.
January 24, 2026 at 9:11 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
Makes sense. archive.ph/vICID
January 24, 2026 at 7:28 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
I wrote this in May 2024. I didn't have the imagination to understand Trump was mainly going to go after migrants in Democratic jurisdictions, but this was otherwise foreseeable. You can't do what he wants and not get a terrible result. www.kansascity.com/opinion/read...
There are other questions. What happens when soldiers outfitted in camouflage and bearing assault rifles appear in Kansas communities to drag away our neighbors? And what do we do to support the families left behind? According to AIC, there are 34,678 “U.S. citizen children” — Kansas children — living with at least one undocumented parent. Somebody will have to take care of them. Perhaps Trump will continue his long history of overpromising and under-delivering. We can hope. But we should take his declarations seriously. And we should clearly understand that there is no magic wand that makes undocumented migrants go away without painful, ugly disruption to the communities where they live and work. Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article288241400.html#storylink=cpy
January 24, 2026 at 6:25 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
FWIW, and it's not much. www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
Homeland Security shares account of fatal shooting The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents were conducting a "targeted operation" in Minneapolis at 9:05 a.m. Saturday looking for "an illegal alien wanted for violent assault." "An individual approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun," the agency said in a statement. "The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted." "Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots," the department's statement continued. "Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject but was pronounced dead at the scene." DHS said the man had two magazines and "no ID" and that more information would be coming.
January 24, 2026 at 5:46 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
Checking in on Claremont:
Headline: Space Law for a Space Republic
January 23, 2026 at 5:33 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
Saw the two recent releases in the cinema. #lastfourwatched
22 They Call Her Death 18 Moonstruck 18 Hamnet 17 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
January 23, 2026 at 2:43 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
Between Minnesota and Maine, one starts to wonder if the Trump Administration is going after the low-hanging fruit of ethnic cleansing.
January 23, 2026 at 1:12 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
Same energy.
January 23, 2026 at 2:12 AM
joelmathis.bsky.social
Oh?
Josh Hawley @HawleyMO Republicans are the party of human dignity
January 22, 2026 at 9:46 PM
joelmathis.bsky.social
It's wrong to gay-bait Graham, because gay-baiting is wrong.
January 22, 2026 at 7:11 PM