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/3mzq5rl7gws27At some point, maybe now in light of Tuesday, the insistence on perpetual identity victimhood becomes self-corrosive and self-defeating. Why deny yourself confidence, surety - and power? JFK did not. He rejected the politics of resentment peddled in MA by James Michael Curley.07 Nov 2026 14:56 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzq5rl7gws27https://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mzpwhyi2w22aA-y-o-t-t-e07 Nov 2026 12:45 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzpwhyi2w22ahttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mzpuj4z7ns2a"There was no use explaining to him that if you pay more, you get more. Ford had proved that when he gave his workers raises the year before. He more than tripled production." Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers.07 Nov 2026 12:10 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzpuj4z7ns2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mzo5sagj5k2zClemenza: That's all right. These things gotta happen every five years or so, ten years. Helps to get rid of the bad blood....Like they should have stopped Hitler at Munich, they should never let him get away with that, they was just asking for trouble.06 Nov 2026 19:51 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzo5sagj5k2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mzo5hrnmnk2fSo much for bringing in a David Gergen type.06 Nov 2026 19:45 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzo5hrnmnk2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mzo5fqvyns2fRemember, Goebbels got to be Chancellor for a day.06 Nov 2026 19:44 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzo5fqvyns2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mzo5cq3jc22fMakes sense. Goebbels stayed until the End.06 Nov 2026 19:42 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzo5cq3jc22fhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mzo3esg4rk2rLIV golf. Cybertrucks. Laura Loomer. Susie Wiles.06 Nov 2026 19:08 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzo3esg4rk2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mznzwqpim22wThe data center thing is fascinating, as it seems a totally grassroots phenomenon. Americans don't like being forced fed AI, and the GOP trifecta refused to apply even the slightest regulation. So the voters, demanding a voice, looked around for leverage and found a crowbar.06 Nov 2026 18:42 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mznzwqpim22whttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mznyoeajcc2xUneasy lies the head that wears the crown. The election for Senate Majority Leader has been by secret ballot. And sometimes winks and nods are interpreted as commitments, when they are not.06 Nov 2026 18:19 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mznyoeajcc2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mznxwfjgas2gLIV golf. Cybertrucks. Laura Loomer. [contains quote post or other embedded content]06 Nov 2026 18:06 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mznxwfjgas2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mznxrhfhck2g"How do we keep all these groups under the same umbrella, and discourage them from going public, which only serves to divide and weaken us?" - Speaker Tip O'Neill to his staff. All quotes from "Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century." 6/606 Nov 2026 18:03 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mznxrhfhck2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mznxjj5wfc2g"We stroked and we stroked and we stroked and we traded." - James A. Baker, 5/606 Nov 2026 17:59 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mznxjj5wfc2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mznxhehvi22g"We talked about the need to go forward expeditiously while you were at the heart of your power...the Carter administration had not had a strong sense of priorities and have overloaded the system and there was gridlock and there was inertia and deadlock" - Ken Duberstein, 4/606 Nov 2026 17:58 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mznxhehvi22ghttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mznxe6fi3k2g"We were single-minded in those first six to eight months. We kept our eye on the ball. We had a 100-day plan." - James A. Baker. 3/606 Nov 2026 17:56 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mznxe6fi3k2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mznxcgdvkk2g"The record of the last four years is instructive. Jimmy Carter announced seven major economic programs, on average a new one almost every six months....Both the policies and the articulation of those policies were characterized by vacillation...inconsistency and confusion." Memo to Meese. 2/606 Nov 2026 17:55 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mznxcgdvkk2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mznx6o3m2c2gAdvice from the Reaganistas: "The honeymoon period will end, organized interest groups will regain their strength and aggressiveness, and the clock will move inexorably toward another campaign....Politically, the time is now to attempt the most difficult tasks." - memo to Ed Meese, 1/606 Nov 2026 17:53 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mznx6o3m2c2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mznkogiikk2nFast fixes for American working families: Federal diesel tax moratorium. Hike the minimum wage. Restore Obamacare subsidies. End the war.06 Nov 2026 14:09 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mznkogiikk2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mznjoygngk2aLIV golf. Cybertrucks.06 Nov 2026 13:51 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mznjoygngk2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mzlvtsdiyc2vIn the afterlife he did not believe in, Clarence Darrow is smiling and having a laugh with Jesus at the news of the Newsom commutations.05 Nov 2026 22:23 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzlvtsdiyc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mzlm4wrjbk2jThe goal of a congressional investigation is to find facts and reach conclusions that inform lawmaking. Compiling fresh evidence for the need to restore all the since-gutted post-Watergate reform legislation - campaign finance, war powers, budget et al - is not vindictive, it is necessary.05 Nov 2026 19:30 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzlm4wrjbk2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mzjanirtes2cWhy Jeffries took the meeting with Kushner last summer. https://www.archives.gov/files/legislative/resources/education/veto/background.pdf04 Nov 2026 20:59 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzjanirtes2chttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mzivo2x3zk2w"Remember thee? / Ay...whiles memory holds a seat / In this distracted globe." https://apnews.com/article/trump-inauguration-tech-billionaires-zuckerberg-musk-wealth-0896bfc3f50d941d62cebc3074267ecd04 Nov 2026 17:42 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzivo2x3zk2whttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mzitxc6bas23Now can we find out about the $50,000 in the takeout paper bag?04 Nov 2026 17:12 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzitxc6bas23https://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mziplnzlg22fCongressional leaders are cat herders. No vast hidden powers. Poorly situated to be national voices. They respond to their caucuses to maintain majorities, pass legislation and groom the terrain for presidential candidates whose competition will define the party - starting about now.04 Nov 2026 15:54 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mziplnzlg22fhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mzij44h7qc2rThere you go, Canada. We're not so bad, eh?04 Nov 2026 13:57 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzij44h7qc2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/biographer.bsky.social/post/3mzigubkbmc2lWithout much attention from outside the West, Deb Haaland keeps making history.04 Nov 2026 13:17 +0000at://did:plc:ahda76rzgnry52cssscfduq7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzigubkbmc2l