Mark Follman
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markfollman.bsky.social
Mark Follman
@markfollman.bsky.social
18K followers 490 following 1.6K posts
Author, dad, journalist at Mother Jones/CIR. My book TRIGGER POINTS is the story of expert teams who are preventing mass shootings, from K-12 schools to the FBI https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062973533/
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markfollman.bsky.social
surreal top story on the New York Times home page right now

calling this shameful for America would be a huge understatement
Trump Posts Video Portraying Obamas as Apes
February 6, 2026 at 4:34 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
frankly Tim Scott should also demand that Trump apologize to the country. This is behavior that just can’t be defended in any way… though JD Vance will probably try since he eagerly signed up for that job (“Hey guys come on, you should really have a sense of humor”) archive.is/hM4X6#select...
February 6, 2026 at 4:11 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
Capitol Hill reporters should ask Speaker Mike Johnson about this horrible racist material promoted by Trump, then show it to Johnson when he says he hasn’t seen it and insist on a response

The current occupant of the Oval Office isn’t just a bad person he’s a mental trainwreck
February 6, 2026 at 3:51 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
the tail wagging the Bezos
"Good Boy" says Trump; headlines about job cuts at the Post and Melania documentary
February 6, 2026 at 12:13 AM
markfollman.bsky.social
2/ "Make no mistake: The thousands of new recruits to ICE were selected with violence in mind. Recruitment ads targeted male-dominated places and spaces where violence is either required or valorized... The content of those ads makes it clear that ICE is the place to scratch the violent itch."
Make no mistake: The thousands of new recruits to ICE, driven by a $100 million “wartime recruitment” push, were selected with violence in mind. Recruitment ads targeted male-dominated places and spaces where violence is either required or valorized: gun shows, military bases and local law enforcement, along with UFC fight attendees and people who spent time browsing for tactical gear and weapons. The content of those ads makes it clear that ICE is the place to scratch the violent itch. Recruitment posters and slogans focus on ideas of national defense and sacred duty, positioning immigrants as an existential threat by imploring applicants to “defend the homeland” against an incursion of “foreign invaders.” Veterans get a special nod with phrasing like “your nation calls once more.” The work of detaining immigrants is depicted as an epic, heroic quest, with frontier imagery and cowboy-hat clad horsemen alongside language like “one homeland, one people, one heritage.”
January 28, 2026 at 7:48 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
House Speaker Mike Johnson has denied Rep. Ilhan Omar more robust security despite the fact that threats against her have increased www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
Rank-and-file members of Congress are not typically assigned Capitol Police security details, but the speaker can approve additional protection in cases of elevated risk. During President Trump’s first term, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi provided Omar with 24-hour Capitol Police protection after she was repeatedly targeted at rallies. Omar has since said that Speaker Mike Johnson has not offered her similar protection, even as threats against her have increased.
January 28, 2026 at 6:50 AM
markfollman.bsky.social
"An image disclosed in court filings shows a book warehouse that was alleged to play a role in Anthropic's Project Panama, its project to scan, digitize and destroy millions of books." wapo.st/4rjXAMQ
"An image disclosed in court filings shows a book warehouse that was alleged to play a role in Anthropic's Project Panama, its project to scan, digitize and destroy millions of books. (Obtained by the Post)
January 27, 2026 at 8:11 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
Great that Trump appears to be seeking an off-ramp with Walz now that his ugly agenda is starting to crack under national outrage—but also a reminder that Trump was vicious to Walz after a far-right extremist shot and murdered MN lawmakers last year, and he even shamefully implied Walz was behind it
“So whacked out” Depending on who the victims are, Trump’s divisiveness has taken other forms—including what he doesn’t say or do in the aftermath. Back in June of last year, when a man in Minnesota hunted two Democratic state lawmakers at their homes, fatally shooting former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and wounding Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Trump was notably muted as a search was underway for the suspect. Trump offered only a brief, uncharacteristic written statement, posted by Leavitt on his behalf, in which he denounced the violence generally and said that the DOJ and FBI were fully on the case. After the suspect was captured and evidence emerged that he was a Trump supporter who held extreme far-right views, Trump began using media interviews to trash Gov. Tim Walz as “grossly incompetent” and “a terrible governor.” Normally after such a rare, high-stakes catastrophe, a president would offer support to regional leaders directly impacted, but not in this case. Trump sowed uncertainty in the media about whether he would reach out to Walz, and when asked again three days after the assassinations, he scoffed. “I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out. I’m not calling him,” he said. “The guy doesn’t have a clue. He’s a mess.” Three months later, when asked by a reporter why he hadn’t ordered US flags lowered in honor of Hortman—as he had just done for Kirk—Trump said he was “not familiar” with who Hortman was. He added that he “wouldn’t have thought of” lowering flags for her and blamed Walz for not making the request. Earlier this January, Trump promoted a delusional conspiracy theory on social media suggesting that Walz himself was behind Hortman’s killing.
January 26, 2026 at 8:26 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
2/ Key point, as it's plenty clear that Trump is eager to use Insurrection Act: "While Walz and Frey’s seeming passivity in the face of an all-out federal attack on their constituents is provoking anger among activists, it may be a case where caution and restraint is the better part of valor." 👉
While Walz and Frey’s seeming passivity in the face of an all-out federal attack on their constituents is provoking anger among activists, it may be a case where caution and restraint is the better part of valor. Citizens are already generating massive resistance to the federal presence in Minnesota, and any additional “official” resistance by local or state officials may tip the scales for Trump and bring federal troops into the picture, an escalation that would be surely worse for residents, the state, and the nation at large. Trump has already put some 1,500 federal troops in Alaska on standby to deploy to Minnesota, and all indications are that he’s eager for an excuse to do so.
January 26, 2026 at 7:41 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
DHS is using explosives on people’s homes???

“Bovino has often used the phrase “turn and burn” to describe Border Patrol operations, a reference to actions like smashing windshields, using explosives to blow down the doors of homes and engaging in car chases.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/u...
Bovino has often used the phrase “turn and burn” to describe Border Patrol operations, a reference to actions like smashing windshields, using explosives to blow down the doors of homes and engaging in car chases.
January 26, 2026 at 2:27 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
2/ Madness is a fair description of this response from Stephen Miller. No rational person who watches that excruciating video of the latest killing by ICE will see "a domestic terrorist trying to assassinate federal law enforcement" — this is completely untethered from reality, and Miller knows it.
January 25, 2026 at 1:59 AM
markfollman.bsky.social
January 24, 2026 at 1:09 AM
markfollman.bsky.social
January 24, 2026 at 1:05 AM
markfollman.bsky.social
OK I’ll be the one to go ahead and say it’s time to get rid of this particular genre of “Inside” headlines… hackneyed, awkward, a waste of precious space. (Not to mention almost weirdly normalizing in this example.)
Inside Trump’s Head-Spinning Greenland U-Turn
January 22, 2026 at 1:38 AM
markfollman.bsky.social
House GOP are OUTRAGED about this and will immediately call a hearing on Hunter Biden www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/u...
January 17, 2026 at 12:30 AM
markfollman.bsky.social
🚨 No accident they just announced a DOJ probe into Walz and Frey—potential pretext for Insurrection Act. Trump literally said this, as I detailed in my story

“We have an Insurrection Act for a reason...if governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that” www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Trump’s latest threat has long been building. Though the federal courts recently thwarted some of his extended deployments of National Guard troops, he has made clear repeatedly that he may further attempt to use the American military against Americans. “We have an Insurrection Act for a reason,” he told reporters in the Oval Office last fall. “If people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that.”
January 17, 2026 at 12:11 AM
markfollman.bsky.social
3/ He also uses chaos. As I write, "Trump provokes so much controversy for the public to process that his exploitation of violent tragedies tends to fade quickly from consciousness. The rhetoric has an intended effect, then attention is gone."

Here's how it worked with a mass shooting in Michigan 👉
article text: The Trump White House said nothing further. Media coverage dwindled. But there was evidence from the start that some people had perceived the source of the massacre the way Trump wanted: As a Wall Street Journal reporter described from near the scene that day, “I’ve heard people yelling out car windows about radical leftists.”
January 16, 2026 at 4:51 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
2/ Political historian Matt Dallek says that Trump's conduct is in part designed to justify his extreme policies after the fact, "including the unleashing of ICE on blue cities and states." www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
article text: This pattern of conduct from Trump may be pushing the nation farther down a dark path, says Dallek, the historian. One concern is that the more violent events we have, the more divided the country could become. “Because the interpretation of those events by different factions is so in conflict, each violent episode worsens the atmosphere. It inflames people on all sides, and it’s impossible at that point for reason to triumph over the fury that people feel, in some cases justifiably.”
January 16, 2026 at 4:35 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
🤡

Trump is regifted a Nobel Peace Prize at the White House on Jan. 15, 2026 (Bubba McClownerson/AP)
image of Trump being regifted a Nobel Peace Prize at the White House on Jan. 15, 2026
January 16, 2026 at 3:47 AM
markfollman.bsky.social
Same congressman who tried to claim Jan. 6 was all just a friendly tourist visit now invents a story about "heroes expected to recover"—after the only person hurt was the woman shot dead at point-blank range by a reckless ICE agent.

The J6 video didn't lie, and the Minneapolis video doesn't lie.
January 7, 2026 at 10:46 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
Gotta hand it to the Financial Times for this headline and gallery treatment of the execs presiding over the ever worsening cesspool known as X www.ft.com/content/ad94...
January 7, 2026 at 7:00 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
A couple thoughts on this segment, as someone who has researched mass shootings for a long time:

-the idea that ‘it won’t happen here’—still common—is untenable, but also challenging to reconcile with undue fear.

-our society still puts far too little focus on real PREVENTION of mass shootings. /2
Critically, though, this sort of dreaming and striving can only happen in a place that is safe, inclusive, and supportive. Brown embodies that. And it’s not just an intellectual safety or openness, but a physical one: The gates to campus are always open, and anyone can stroll through, attend a lecture or event, or pop into one of several libraries and buildings that are accessible to the Providence community. In the wake of the shooting, I’ve been struck by the repeated interviews where current students who survived Saturday’s shooting have said something similar. Mia Tretta, a Brown junior who was shot in the stomach in 2019 by a gunman at her high school, said in an interview that “a big reason I chose Brown was because of the safety I felt on campus.” A master’s student told the Brown Daily Herald, the university’s student paper: “One thing that makes Brown unique in the world is its openness.” Annelise Mages, a freshman, said something similar to the New York Times: “I would say that Brown is the institution I would have thought least likely to have a school shooting.”
December 17, 2025 at 10:08 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
Looking forward to the additional context from Susie on Trump’s prolonged revenge efforts and his “alcoholic’s personality”
December 16, 2025 at 4:47 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
Equally ghoulish and repugnant. Loomer is a portrait of a very sad and lost human being
December 15, 2025 at 8:34 PM
markfollman.bsky.social
Indiana senate says NOPE — lawmakers "overwhelming" reject Trump's redistricting power grab and threats www.indystar.com/story/news/p...
Indiana lawmakers reject Trump's mid-decade redistricting push
December 11, 2025 at 9:56 PM