paul johnson
@rhetoricpj.bsky.social
I live in pittsburgh and like it. wrote a book about conservative populism. have spent the last 15 years studying the right.
go arsenal! I like gin.
Book: https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817321093/i-the-people/
go arsenal! I like gin.
Book: https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817321093/i-the-people/
Reposted by paul johnson
This wildly tacky World Cup draw is a grimly fascinating preview of what happens if the aesthetics of fascism finally get their way.
December 5, 2025 at 6:28 PM
This wildly tacky World Cup draw is a grimly fascinating preview of what happens if the aesthetics of fascism finally get their way.
Ultimate sign of collapsed symbolic efficiency: killing as communication
They’re killing people as a twitter joke. It’s depraved. Can’t let yourself lose the capacity to be appalled and disgusted and outraged by this.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announces another boat strike in response to a request/wish from Turning Point USA’s Andrew Kolvet.
December 5, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Ultimate sign of collapsed symbolic efficiency: killing as communication
Lotta Pens trauma tonight it seems
December 5, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Lotta Pens trauma tonight it seems
Yea and i think the way the country responds to the court doing the ultimate Wilhoits Law is gonna be The Big Thing
Hmmmm wonder how they’ll rule on california hm
The dripping contempt the right wing SCOTUS majority holds for district judges is truly a sight to behold every time. When they deign to give actual reasons for their shadow docket holdings, it’s “look at the absolute idiots who keep getting everything wrong!”
December 5, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Yea and i think the way the country responds to the court doing the ultimate Wilhoits Law is gonna be The Big Thing
Other bad signs for the upcoming voting rights act ruling: literally fucking everything
The Supreme Court just handed Texas Republicans at least 2 more House seats & possibly up to 5 despite the state GOP explicitly justifying their remap based on an unconstitutional use of race in redistricting.
Unsurprising from this court, and it's a bad sign for the upcoming Voting Rights Act case
Unsurprising from this court, and it's a bad sign for the upcoming Voting Rights Act case
BREAKING: Supreme Court sides with Texas Republicans in fight over congressional map. The new gerrymandered map will be used in the 2026 midterms. The vote is 6–3, with the Republican appointees siding with Texas.
December 4, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Other bad signs for the upcoming voting rights act ruling: literally fucking everything
fighting the fight against the farm share sweet potatoes and getting bodied
December 4, 2025 at 9:52 PM
fighting the fight against the farm share sweet potatoes and getting bodied
second half of Commentary pod yest had interesting interview with one of the authors of the Manhattan Institute study doing the rounds today: www.commentary.org/john-podhore...
tl;dr i think they're kidding themselves a bit about the extremism of the committed GOP base voter, but...
tl;dr i think they're kidding themselves a bit about the extremism of the committed GOP base voter, but...
A Not-Good Election for the GOP
Jesse Arm of the Manhattan Institute joins us as we examine the results of the special election in Tennessee that had a Republican candidate winning with a greatly reduced margin
www.commentary.org
December 4, 2025 at 9:44 PM
second half of Commentary pod yest had interesting interview with one of the authors of the Manhattan Institute study doing the rounds today: www.commentary.org/john-podhore...
tl;dr i think they're kidding themselves a bit about the extremism of the committed GOP base voter, but...
tl;dr i think they're kidding themselves a bit about the extremism of the committed GOP base voter, but...
what, no "Civil War"?
Confirmed: They're playing November Rain by Guns n' Roses ahead of Trump signing a peace agreement with Rwanda and the DRC at the US Institute of Peace building.
December 4, 2025 at 5:39 PM
what, no "Civil War"?
This is just sl what we're living in
Kalshi for conspiracy theories
December 4, 2025 at 5:04 PM
This is just sl what we're living in
Reposted by paul johnson
🚨New pub alert!🚨 Now available open-access in @journal-of-comm.bsky.social, we (w/ @dkreiss.bsky.social, @danlane.bsky.social, & @shannimcg.bsky.social) critique political communication's "Identity Turn" and offer instead a foundation for studying #polcomm from a *group* perspective. 🧵
December 3, 2025 at 6:04 PM
🚨New pub alert!🚨 Now available open-access in @journal-of-comm.bsky.social, we (w/ @dkreiss.bsky.social, @danlane.bsky.social, & @shannimcg.bsky.social) critique political communication's "Identity Turn" and offer instead a foundation for studying #polcomm from a *group* perspective. 🧵
M-c-m undefeated
The co-founder of Kalshi says: " The long-term vision is to financialize everything and create a tradable asset out of any difference in opinion."
December 4, 2025 at 12:58 AM
M-c-m undefeated
AI deepfake horror/pornography and confronting your uncanny but definitely not 'self'...man oh man. whoever reads all that with the right combo of possessive individualism and whiteness as property and gaze theory gonna have absolutely shredded and give birth to some vital new thought
December 3, 2025 at 6:15 PM
AI deepfake horror/pornography and confronting your uncanny but definitely not 'self'...man oh man. whoever reads all that with the right combo of possessive individualism and whiteness as property and gaze theory gonna have absolutely shredded and give birth to some vital new thought
Reposted by paul johnson
This composition had eluded me for nearly a decade, but yesterday I was finally able to capture it. A train rolled through just as the Duquesne Incline was crossing over the tracks in #Pittsburgh, creating a picture perfect winter scene. It was worth the hours and hours I've waited over the years.
December 3, 2025 at 2:06 PM
This composition had eluded me for nearly a decade, but yesterday I was finally able to capture it. A train rolled through just as the Duquesne Incline was crossing over the tracks in #Pittsburgh, creating a picture perfect winter scene. It was worth the hours and hours I've waited over the years.
I see my Tennessee home is in the news tonight...
December 3, 2025 at 1:25 AM
I see my Tennessee home is in the news tonight...
Reposted by paul johnson
Got my first pass pages!!! It’s coming!
December 2, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Got my first pass pages!!! It’s coming!
Sadly a friend who snuck the nuzzi pdf says it just sucks which... yea
December 2, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Sadly a friend who snuck the nuzzi pdf says it just sucks which... yea
Pittsburgh handling the first snow of the year capably: never once
December 2, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Pittsburgh handling the first snow of the year capably: never once
Reposted by paul johnson
they are playing the pitt on tnt now, it's like watching a captive-raised condor being released into the sierras
December 2, 2025 at 2:02 AM
they are playing the pitt on tnt now, it's like watching a captive-raised condor being released into the sierras
Think I'll be passing on the Freedom City in Honduras pushed by Roger Stone
December 2, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Think I'll be passing on the Freedom City in Honduras pushed by Roger Stone
Boy that beer after the late seminar of the semester is not bad
December 2, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Boy that beer after the late seminar of the semester is not bad
tonight in seminar:
-Becca Lewis on how micro-celebrities build their brands on attacking the mainstream
-Greenwalt and McVey on Gritty and the anti-fascist imagination
-Reed van Schenck on the psychic economy of the wagecuck meme
-Mark Davis' masterful essay on of the online anti-public
-Becca Lewis on how micro-celebrities build their brands on attacking the mainstream
-Greenwalt and McVey on Gritty and the anti-fascist imagination
-Reed van Schenck on the psychic economy of the wagecuck meme
-Mark Davis' masterful essay on of the online anti-public
December 1, 2025 at 10:57 PM
tonight in seminar:
-Becca Lewis on how micro-celebrities build their brands on attacking the mainstream
-Greenwalt and McVey on Gritty and the anti-fascist imagination
-Reed van Schenck on the psychic economy of the wagecuck meme
-Mark Davis' masterful essay on of the online anti-public
-Becca Lewis on how micro-celebrities build their brands on attacking the mainstream
-Greenwalt and McVey on Gritty and the anti-fascist imagination
-Reed van Schenck on the psychic economy of the wagecuck meme
-Mark Davis' masterful essay on of the online anti-public
this is great. only thing i would add is we're in a worst of both worlds type deal, since we're not just seeing the end of a moment where there was a capacity to actualize consumer citizenship but all the late capitalist work that made consumerism the dominant mode cut out all the infrastructure...
okay here ya go, i wrote about male crisis discourse, kind of buttondown.com/abbycartus/a...
Consumer confidence
The other night, I was doing my weekly grocery shopping when I beheld an incredible scene. (I shop at a remote suburban store, as I told my therapist,...
buttondown.com
December 1, 2025 at 10:55 PM
this is great. only thing i would add is we're in a worst of both worlds type deal, since we're not just seeing the end of a moment where there was a capacity to actualize consumer citizenship but all the late capitalist work that made consumerism the dominant mode cut out all the infrastructure...
Reposted by paul johnson
it is the worst of all worlds. a "unitary *presidency*" insulated from judicial or congressional power and a weak president unable to do the job of governing
December 1, 2025 at 5:36 PM
it is the worst of all worlds. a "unitary *presidency*" insulated from judicial or congressional power and a weak president unable to do the job of governing
i would personally like this to just be We Didn't Start the Fire playing over the end of like, Transformers: Age of Extinction
every movie should end with an original song recapping the film in one way or another
December 1, 2025 at 1:33 AM
i would personally like this to just be We Didn't Start the Fire playing over the end of like, Transformers: Age of Extinction