Columnist for MSNOW, Public Notice. Formerly: Washington Post, The Week, American Prospect. Subscribe to my newsletter! The Cross Section: paulwaldman.substack.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvlhcudmq22wLook, any time the Republicans choose a speaker who isn't a child molester (see Hastert, Dennis), it's an accomplishment [contains quote post or other embedded content]15 Sep 2026 20:23 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvlhcudmq22whttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvkwqb4suc2cNever a bad time to remind ourselves that in addition to being a halfwit, Mullin got his job because Trump thought he was a badass MMA fighter, when in fact his career consisted of a couple of matches in a Tulsa semipro league, including one in which he managed to beat a teenager named Huggie Bear [contains quote post or other embedded content]15 Sep 2026 15:26 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvkwqb4suc2chttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvkw2jzrjc2cI just like monuments, I don't even care what they're meant to monumentize, why are you criticizing me for my love of monuments [contains quote post or other embedded content]15 Sep 2026 15:14 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvkw2jzrjc2chttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvkpyl42yc2qJD Vance keeps feeding stories to the NY Times about how he's the only one in the Trump admin who knows the Iran war is a disaster. It isn't going to work. The war will be an anchor tied to him when he runs for president in 2028. My latest at Public Notice: https://www.publicnotice.co/p/jd-vance-iran-war15 Sep 2026 13:25 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvkpyl42yc2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvkoy7d4cs2qDemocratic and Republican candidates are converging on a similar position on AI and data centers. But Trump keeps cutting his own party off at the knees. The latest at The Cross Section: https://paulwaldman.substack.com/p/trump-finds-one-more-way-to-sabotage15 Sep 2026 13:07 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvkoy7d4cs2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvjb3fymws2iSo this AI company made a chatbot of me? What the actual frak? Does anyone know what the hell the deal with Shapes Inc is?14 Sep 2026 23:26 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvjb3fymws2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvil7o7dlc27"Our dear friend Umar" yeah right [contains quote post or other embedded content]14 Sep 2026 16:54 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvil7o7dlc27https://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvidsjrpq22yWhy is "things" in quotes [contains quote post or other embedded content]14 Sep 2026 14:42 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvidsjrpq22yhttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvi7i3jjp22dJust an intimate destination wedding with a small group of family and close friends, plus the Putin crony spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to bankroll the event. This story is bonkers. https://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-jr-wedding-bankrolled-russian-oligarch-umar-kremlev-putin14 Sep 2026 13:24 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvi7i3jjp22dhttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvi6nieqkc2dYou definitely do not have to hand it to Texas Republicans, who have spent the last year in an orgy of the most vicious anti-Muslim bigotry imaginable. Also, it's just a few of them who have condemned French, while plenty of them are supporting him. [contains quote post or other embedded content]14 Sep 2026 13:10 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvi6nieqkc2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvi5k6wgtk22Elon Musk and other Republicans are pouring huge amounts of money into the midterms on the premise that ginning up hate at trans people is a surefire way to win. Fortunately, they're wrong about that. But Dems can avoid helping them. My latest at MS NOW: https://www.ms.now/opinion/elon-musk-midterm-spending-anti-trans-ads14 Sep 2026 12:50 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvi5k6wgtk22https://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvgiz3etbs2yOnce when my kid was on a coed soccer team there was one girl who was so much better than all the other kids, the parents just stood there watching her run through the other team like Maradona and saying "Holy shit, look at her" [contains quote post or other embedded content]13 Sep 2026 21:10 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvgiz3etbs2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvgfruo6ms2yNot gonna give up hope yet, but it looks like Ben Shelton is the latest in a long line of players to get to their first major final and just collapse from the pressure13 Sep 2026 20:12 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvgfruo6ms2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvg6rz2oik2jThis may be the most "You just showed us the entire movie" trailer in the history of "You just showed us the entire movie" trailers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTsfeOv4JAU13 Sep 2026 18:07 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvg6rz2oik2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvfsyjilv227Good to see Epstein pal Alan Dershowitz getting into the Trump-pardons-for-sex-traffickers business, this will surely be the path to restore his reputation https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/nyregion/dershowitz-alexander-brothers-pardon.html13 Sep 2026 14:36 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvfsyjilv227https://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvef7jysd227I'm sure we can trust that these guys have only the most noble of motives, this couldn't possibly be an effort to arrest the rolling PR and political disaster they find themselves in [contains quote post or other embedded content]13 Sep 2026 00:56 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvef7jysd227https://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvbx6wz7a22zWhy do all these Nazis keep showing up on Republican campaigns, it's a real mystery https://washingtonsun.com/senate/husted-fires-political-director-over-past-nazi-posts12 Sep 2026 01:40 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvbx6wz7a22zhttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvbwlsb6722zAlways a good sign when an article about your campaign includes the phrase "the other convicted sex offender" because you have connections with more than one https://apnews.com/article/whatley-pastor-sex-offender-prayer-rally-01eab33af03f6a308719ce6a6215745112 Sep 2026 01:29 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvbwlsb6722zhttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvarlk7jkk2nEvery Democrat today: Let us remember the lives lost on 9/11 and recommit ourselves to building a better world together Every Republican today: Thank God we have Donald Trump as president, we're killing Moozlems and it's awesome11 Sep 2026 14:27 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvarlk7jkk2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvaqtdxenc2nAfter 9/11, there was this quip circulating among neocons: "Everyone wants to go to Baghdad. Real men want to go to Tehran." But it didn't happen, because even among that bloodthirsty crowd they realized what a spectacularly stupid idea it was. [contains quote post or other embedded content]11 Sep 2026 14:14 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvaqtdxenc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mvaqjdv2qc2cIn the end, Republicans say "What do we got for this election? How about hate? Let's go with hate." Who could have predicted this, it's only the thing they've done in literally every election for the last 40 years. [contains quote post or other embedded content]11 Sep 2026 14:08 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvaqjdv2qc2chttps://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mv7khf2uuk2mWhen the Trump cultists first put out this horror in early 2024 I did a deep dive on the original Paul Harvey "God made a farmer" speech and the ways it was being remade in the service of the most vulgar Christian nationalism: https://paulwaldman.substack.com/p/so-god-made-a-meme [contains quote post or other embedded content]11 Sep 2026 02:47 +0000at://did:plc:qlnirjwff4ibiw3wchmleszo/app.bsky.feed.post/3mv7khf2uuk2m