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Nate Weisberg

@nateweisberg.bsky.social

350 followers 350 following 40 posts

Editor @washingtonmonthly.com

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Nate Weisberg @nateweisberg.bsky.social · Apr 9

“Fox never has populist-nationalists on, hard-core MAGA people like her,” Steve Bannon told me. “For whatever reason, they’ve decided Batya is an acceptable populist-nationalist.”

Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · Apr 9

Batya Ungar-Sargon, a Berkeley-educated leftist who couldn’t bear drinking at a bar with Trump voters, is now MAGA’s top defender.

From @nateweisberg.bsky.social:

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/04/09/w...

Who is Batya Ungar-Sargon? | Washington Monthly

A Berkeley-educated leftist who couldn’t bear drinking at a bar with Trump voters is now MAGA’s top defender.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · 23h

After 30 years of publication, the U.S. Department of Agriculture abruptly canceled its annual report on the prevalence of hunger in America. The USDA’s press release condemned the report as “politicized,” “subjective, liberal fodder” that did “nothing more than fear monger.”

An American Hunger Crisis Is Coming

Trump’s cruel and disastrous policies—slashing food stamps and hiking inflationary tariffs—are creating an American hunger crisis.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · 2d

In Portland, our intrepid legal affairs editor @garrettepps.bsky.social braves ICE and kombucha to report on the Justice Department’s Orwellian arguments and how a Trump-nominated jurist is holding the line for democracy.

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/10/06/t...

The Judge Standing up to Trump’s Portland Invasion

A report on the Justice Department’s Orwellian arguments and how a Trump-nominated jurist is holding the line for democracy.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Nate Weisberg @nateweisberg.bsky.social · 8d

Because we now have two years of data with AI tools proliferating throughout the economy, and while AI has made the job search take longer, it hasn’t impacted employment or earnings in any fields. We also have data projecting the demand for bachelor’s degrees will go up. Read the piece!

Reposted by Nate Weisberg

Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · 8d

The economic whiplash of Trump’s second term, combined with AI tools that are automating the lowest rungs of white-collar work, are making it harder for new grads to find jobs. But history and data tell us that the premium on degrees is going up, not down.

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/30/t...

Nate Weisberg @nateweisberg.bsky.social · 9d

Yes, AI is reshaping entry-level work. No, the college degree isn’t losing value.

My latest for @washingtonmonthly.com:

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/30/t...

The College Degree Is Not Losing Value

AI is disrupting entry-level work, and graduates constitute a growing share of the long-term unemployed. But the degree's value still holds.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Gillen Tener Martin @gillenmartin.bsky.social · 8d

"The bartender with a doctorate will always be good copy. But the degree remains the surest, sturdiest path to prosperity."

Excellent piece by @nateweisberg.bsky.social out in the Monthly today @washingtonmonthly.com

The College Degree Is Not Losing Value

AI is disrupting entry-level work, and graduates constitute a growing share of the long-term unemployed. But the degree's value still holds.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Nate Weisberg @nateweisberg.bsky.social · 9d

Yes, AI is reshaping entry-level work. No, the college degree isn’t losing value.

My latest for @washingtonmonthly.com:

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/30/t...

The College Degree Is Not Losing Value

AI is disrupting entry-level work, and graduates constitute a growing share of the long-term unemployed. But the degree's value still holds.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · 9d

Early next month, Syria is scheduled to hold its first parliamentary elections since the fall of Bashar al-Assad. But the conditions that have long stifled democracy in the Arab world remain firmly in place.

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/29/s...

Why I’m Not Optimistic About Democracy in Syria

Early next month, Syria will be holding its first parliamentary elections since the fall of Assad. Why true democratic prospects remain dim.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · 9d

With the Corporation for Public Broadcasting eliminated, public radio and TV face their greatest crisis yet. But philanthropy can and should fill the gap.

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/29/p...

Who Will Save Public Media?

Congress eliminated the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Can philanthropy and major foundations keep public media alive?

washingtonmonthly.com

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Josh Douglas @joshuaadouglas.bsky.social · 13d

NEW for @washingtonmonthly.com: why state courts should strike down mid-decade redistricting under state constitutions: washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/25/m... #UKLawProfResearch

Mid-Decade Redistricting: Why State Courts Should Be Suspicious

State courts have reason to think unlawful partisanship is at work when a statehouse gives in to MAGA demands for mid-decade redistricting.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · 14d

Brett Kavanaugh Hits the Street!

Justice Kavanaugh greenlit racial profiling by ICE agents. @garrettepps.bsky.social imagines how the jurist sees an encounter between an ICE agent and a Hispanic Appearing Person:

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/25/b...

Brett Kavanaugh Hits the Street!

Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh greenlit racial profiling. How the jurist sees an envision an ICE agent confronting a Hispanic Appearing Person.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · 13d

The president’s decision to threaten mass layoffs of federal workers in the case of a shutdown should prompt Democrats to shift course. You can’t win a game with someone playing an entirely different game. So, stop playing.

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/26/d...

The Democrats’ Shutdown Strategy Is Bad. Trump’s Is Worse

Trump’s threat of mass federal layoffs makes Democrats’ risky shutdown strategy even worse. Here’s why they should walk away.

washingtonmonthly.com

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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 13d

absolutely shocked and disgusted to see France join the club of nations who throw former presidents in jail just because they "committed a bunch of crimes." I'm going to throw up www.wsj.com/world/europe...

Sarkozy Gets Five-Year Prison Sentence in Gadhafi Funding Case

A trial in Paris examined whether the former French president's 2007 campaign received money from the regime of Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi.

www.wsj.com

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Timothy Noah @timothynoah.bsky.social · 14d

Richard Kahlenberg, who’s argued to realign affirmative action away from race and towards social class, helped devise a race-blind College Board tool to identify prospects in low-income, high-crime neighborhoods. But the Trumpies shut that down, too.

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/24/t...

The College Board Capitulates to Trump

The College Board abandoned its race-neutral "Landscape" tool under DOJ pressure. Here's why that will weaken class-based diversity efforts.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Nate Weisberg @nateweisberg.bsky.social · 15d

“Republicans have filed for divorce with the free market, in favor of a threesome with authoritarianism and quackery.” –– @billscher.bsky.social

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/23/t...

Republicans Should Be Apoplectic Over What Trump and Kennedy Are Doing to Tylenol

Conservatives used to hate it when Democrats “picked winners and losers.” What will they say when Donald Trump does it?

washingtonmonthly.com

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Anne S Kim @anne-s-kim.bsky.social · 15d

More evidence of private equity's destructive impact on US health care:

www.newsweek.com/er-patient-d...

ER deaths surged in US hospitals taken over by private eq...

After the hospitals were acquired, mortality among Medicare beneficiaries in emergency departments rose by 13 percent on average, a study found.

www.newsweek.com

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Anne S Kim @anne-s-kim.bsky.social · 18d

I talked to the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator’s Joel Dodge about Trump’s unique brand of authoritarian-flavored industrial policy for this week’s @washingtonmonthly.com roundup:

open.substack.com/pub/washingt...

L'etat, c'est Trump

Trump's version of "state capitalism" is just another facet of his self-dealing authoritarianism. It may enrich his family but will beggar the economy.

open.substack.com

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Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · 16d

The Social Security and Medicare Funding Problems Are Real

And Congress keeps making them worse with a budget process that’s broken.

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/22/t...

The Social Security and Medicare Funding Problems Are Real

America faces looming insolvency in Social Security and Medicare as Congress worsens the debt with broken budget politics.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · 18d

While Disney/ABC and Skydance/Paramount/CBS cave to MAGA bullying, others hold firm, including The New York Times:

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/20/f...

Jimmy Kimmel, Broadcast Media, and Free Speech

The broadcast media cowardice following the MAGA crackdown on free speech is stunning. Jimmy Kimmel is Exhibit A.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.com · 16d

"One of the most troubling lessons of the past eight months is the extent to which avaricious self-interest, short-term thinking, and apathy have made our society weak. Michel Foucault titled a series of lectures, 'Society Must Be Defended.' Who is defending our society?"

Surrendering to MAGA Isn’t Just a Broadcast Media Problem

From Paramount-CBS to Disney-ABC and beyond, corporate executives are cowardly trading press freedom for profit.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Garrett Epps @garrettepps.bsky.social · 19d

Justice Jackson wrote: “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”

The Kirk Assassination and the MAGA Threat to Free Speech

Demagogues are using the tragic Kirk assassination to target free speech, the First Amendment, and America itself.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Bill Scher @billscher.bsky.social · 20d

Free Kimmel. Impeach Carr. Impeach Trump

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/19/f...

Free Kimmel. Impeach Carr. Impeach Trump

Kimmel's show was pulled from the air after his comment about Charlie Kirk's assassin prompted the FCC to threaten ABC's broadcast license.

washingtonmonthly.com

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 23d

Last November I wrote that Republicans wanted to “socialize the means of cancellation” through the creation of a “Snitch State.” Feels relevant now. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

The Rise of the Right-Wing Tattletale

In Texas and elsewhere, new laws and policies have encouraged neighbors to report neighbors to the government.

www.theatlantic.com

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 24d

It's that time of year again!
Why ranking colleges as if they were football teams has pushed schools, students, families, trustees etc in wrong directions. And some efforts to push back in better ways. Featuring @washingtonmonthly.com

fallows.substack.com/p/making-col...

Most of post 'open'

Making College Rankings Great Again.

College rankings have carried outsized influence, mostly for the wrong reasons. New approaches can help American higher ed deal with the most serious challenges if faces.

fallows.substack.com

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 24d

Let's say it again:

1) Harvard said "No," and Trump has backed off.

2) Chicago (and Illinois) said "No," and Trump has backed off.

It's day by day. But those who said "OK, sure," have gained nothing at all. Except shame.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 26d

(CNN) - President Donald Trump shelved his plans to target Chicago as the next city for his domestic crime push after advisers warned him that sending in troops .. could create legal headaches they want to avoid, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

@cnn.com
www.cnn.com/2025/09/12/p...

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sarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · 24d

idk if you've seen this south korean editorial that ran a few days ago. google translate version scorched my eyebrows www.hani.co.kr/arti/opinion...

Maga is fundamentally a populist white racism.
The slogan "Make America Great Again" is more accurately described as "Make White
America Greater." The fact that the tariff policy insisted on a 50% tariff only on steel and aluminum stems from the concentration of these groups in the Rust Belt.

The massive crackdown on illegal immigrants at the Hyundai-LG Energy Solutions joint venture plant in Georgia must be understood in this context. The scenes of our workers being chained and escorted away were reminiscent of the dragging of African slaves in the 18th and 19th centuries. The
Department of Homeland Security boasted of
"the largest single-site raid in history," and Immigration and Customs Enforcement even brazenly released footage of the raid, which was highly violating human rights, as if to boast of their "achievement."

Far-right whites may have secretly rejoiced.
Even politicians like the Georgia governor and local lawmakers, who had been active in attracting factories, have shifted their stance and sympathized with their grievances. This is likely because it's difficult to ignore the anti-immigrant sentiment of native Americans. Like the McCarthyism that swept through American society in the 1950s, irrational madness dominates American society. The recent visa issue, which could have been resolved diplomatically with advance notice from an ally, is difficult to explain beyond political maneuvering. The fact that they mobilized helicopters and armored vehicles for show, as if they had been caught, is difficult to explain.

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