Historian. UVA. PhD, Groningen. Biographer of Clarence Darrow, Tip O'Neill, Ted Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Next up: The American Revolution on the Frontier.https://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mrqhjmfnz22bYears ago, at an American Enterprise Institute on the threats to working-class prosperity in America, Ross Douthat proposed that the solution was fascism, and then giggled.28 Jul 2026 22:29 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrqhjmfnz22bhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mrpdavuup22gGet real. Ask young folks what they saw in the Smithsonian and they'll say: Cool US space ships, Wright Bros plane, Enola Gay, Hope diamond, Star Spangled Banner, dinosaurs, First Ladies gowns, pandas, Washington's sword, Lincoln's hat, Chuck Berry's Cadillac. Only twisted adults see woke.28 Jul 2026 11:40 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrpdavuup22ghttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mrpa3j3qk22sThere is a % of diehards who won't be happy with any South to North or East to West migration (aside from pale South Africans). That said, the best future lies in a measured, structured process that safeguards existing wages & cultures and favors assimilation: the AFL-CIO position for decades.28 Jul 2026 10:43 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrpa3j3qk22shttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mrhr3oi7z226Finished "Contested Continent." Review to come in the Washington Independent Review of Books. It won't be loved by either extreme in the culture wars. Or in Spain.25 Jul 2026 11:26 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrhr3oi7z226https://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mrhprmeebk27 He'sBerlusconi, not Mussolini, thankfully.25 Jul 2026 11:03 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrhprmeebk27https://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mrf5hrrafc2oThis all goes back to Alger Hiss.24 Jul 2026 10:30 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrf5hrrafc2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mrapmhtka22iNixon appears to be back on X. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19iBaM3MwD/22 Jul 2026 16:11 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrapmhtka22ihttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mr47x32yvc2mBryson. Be aware. ETTTTS.20 Jul 2026 21:20 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mr47x32yvc2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mr3vmdfn4c2j"Waist deep in the Big Muddy and the big fool says to push on"20 Jul 2026 18:15 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mr3vmdfn4c2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mqwpbb2gfs25Restraint. There is going to be a 2026 Democratic nominee. There are 20-some contenders of all stripes. The nomination won't be worth as much if the new New Left and mainstream Democrats venomously savage each other, with help from (Nixon-admiring copycatting) Trump goons. See 1972.18 Jul 2026 16:38 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqwpbb2gfs25https://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mqm4fsloxk22DSA? The Watergate Babies came to Congress in the late 1970s. They were brash, irreverent, and ready to shake things up. They were liberal and "radical" - many came from the McGovern coalition. Time passed, and they got old and real, like the 1950s rebels before them....yet youth will have its day.14 Jul 2026 11:34 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqm4fsloxk22https://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mqjel335tc2sEven in Tip O'Neill's time. A hundred million is a lot less than the 300+ million we have now, and when he was a young legislator in the 1930s many were still on the farms. When writing his biography I found he was always bumping into the East Coast famous at nightclubs and events. [contains quote post or other embedded content]13 Jul 2026 09:22 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqjel335tc2shttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mqcwh3hguk2kNo shame department: An American vice president, JD Vance, calling your job fake. His only job is to kiss ass (and read the day's obituaries.)10 Jul 2026 19:54 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqcwh3hguk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mq3p4y7wzc26Yankees are coming to DC. Can we get Trump to visit them in their locker room? Signed, Nats fans.07 Jul 2026 22:54 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mq3p4y7wzc26https://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mpvofg2ugk27An excerpt from a work in progress. https://johnafarrell.substack.com/p/young-george-washington05 Jul 2026 13:25 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpvofg2ugk27https://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mpt42rpdos2kBonne fête de l'indépendance! Merci, ma belle France.04 Jul 2026 12:51 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpt42rpdos2khttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mpsvnzejws2l"They can be a great people, Kal-El; they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way." Happy Birthday, America. A page turns; the score shifts; the pendulum slows, stops, and swings the other way. There are better days ahead.04 Jul 2026 10:57 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpsvnzejws2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mprhbmblrk2jGive Ezra a break. He is a journalist. He has not the time for nuance, research, reflection, subtlety. Tomorrow's deadline is insistent and perpetual. Ellen Goodman compared it to baseball. if you hit .300 you are doing great. We and he may want him to be more - but he's a journalist. [contains quote post or other embedded content]03 Jul 2026 21:07 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mprhbmblrk2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mpr6nakzoc2aA great Senate story we would not see today: Bob Dole and Orrin Hatch joined Ted Kennedy to defeat the powers of hate and ignorance, in the form of Jesse Helms, and fund AIDS research and treatment. I only had room for a chapter; it's worth a book. [contains quote post or other embedded content]03 Jul 2026 18:32 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpr6nakzoc2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mpmh4usuvc2xContreras makes the final out in a 10-2 Washington victory at Fenway. Nats win the series. Baseball gods have spoken.01 Jul 2026 21:21 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpmh4usuvc2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mplxpgzits2xRepublicans might do a little more worrying about the age of these Democratic upstarts than their ideology. Only a year or two ago, the Democratic Party was looking like an old folks' home.01 Jul 2026 16:45 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mplxpgzits2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mph2vs3ft227I remember talking to Scalia about gay marriage. Power is vested in the legislature - in Congress - he told me. It was not up to the Supreme Court to make up rights in a space where Congress chose to act, or not act. And the executive was to execute what Congress decreed, not to elbow it aside.29 Jun 2026 17:59 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mph2vs3ft227https://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mper3vmvzs2dFor them that missed the Schaefer swimming era.28 Jun 2026 19:58 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mper3vmvzs2d