Sociologist, Princeton University; co-founder, The American Prospect; author of books on history of American medicine; media; liberalism. Forthcoming: American Contradiction: Revolution and Revenge from the 1950s to Now.https://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lvbijzd4vc2wIn “The Premature Guide to Post-Trump Reform,” tinyurl.com/yunb54ab I set out three levels of reform: change in the law, the Supreme Court, and the Constitution. The first, modeled on post-Watergate reforms, calls for efforts to curb presidential aggrandizement through new legislation … https://tinyurl.com/yunb54ab31 Jul 2025 15:52 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lvbijzd4vc2whttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lvbh4jtsqc2wOut today @prospect.org “Trump has shown how vulnerable [we are] … authoritarian rule when the president is contemptuous of [constitutional] norms, Congress is under his thumb, and the Court is an accomplice.” What to do? Here you go: “The Premature Guide to Post-Trump Reform” tinyurl.com/yunb54ab https://tinyurl.com/yunb54ab31 Jul 2025 15:26 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lvbh4jtsqc2whttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lm2xwrvvo22cRead this brilliant article by the historian Tara Zahra explaining how today’s right-wing reaction against trade and immigration recapitulates the first crisis of globalization in the early 20th century. Proud that Tara began her career at @theprospect.bsky.social https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/opinion/globalization-collapse.html05 Apr 2025 12:52 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lm2xwrvvo22chttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3ll36xpaitc2mImportant article by Aziz Huq on the U.S. following the path of Nazi Germany toward a “dual state”—partly rule of law, partly rule by prerogative (dictatorship). https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/05/trump-executive-order-lawlessness-constitutional-crisis/682112/23 Mar 2025 21:33 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3ll36xpaitc2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lk4hoy54522kWe need a new #proCanada movement to support Canada, to buy Canadian, to vacation in Canada, to express Americans’ long admiration of Canada, friendship with Canada, appreciation of Canadian decency and neighborliness, in contrast to the imperial lunacy driving the US today.11 Mar 2025 16:16 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lk4hoy54522khttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3ljyjn5f5r22nThank you for reminding me about that old piece. It’s still true now. And, yes, it would be great to get new data on public perceptions of Social Security’s overhead costs and the realities. [contains quote post or other embedded content]10 Mar 2025 02:40 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljyjn5f5r22nhttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lixlhlpitk27Are Denmark’s Social Democrats winning because they made one strategic decision—to keep immigration at lower levels than other European countries and the US? Check out this piece by David Leonhardt of the NY Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/magazine/denmark-immigration-policy-progressives.html25 Feb 2025 00:15 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lixlhlpitk27https://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3liovxcq5ok27Will Trump politicize or privatize the Postal Service? I’ll bet on politicize. Privatization would result in heavy cutbacks and higher rates in rural areas and small towns that vote Republican. They’re just not profitable to serve. But politicizing the post office—that’s the oldest graft in the US.21 Feb 2025 13:29 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3liovxcq5ok27https://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lioupfgxcc27Cancel culture with real power. [contains quote post or other embedded content]21 Feb 2025 13:07 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lioupfgxcc27https://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3line7z5gkk2vSuch an adorable poodle. Putin has him well trained for the coming surrender. [contains quote post or other embedded content]20 Feb 2025 22:39 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3line7z5gkk2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3limmp2henc26Trump’s polling numbers are slipping as he pursues unpopular policies. It’s what happened the first time around, but this will be worse. Prediction: He will end up the most hated president in American history, a stain on America’s good name. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/20/trump-policies-opposed-by-americans/20 Feb 2025 15:38 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3limmp2henc26https://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lhyrwlayxc2mOn the loss of a model of intellectual integrity and courage—Christopher Jencks. He showed us how to wade into troubled waters and come out the stronger for it. @theprospect.bsky.social https://prospect.org/health/2025-02-12-christopher-jencks-exemplary-radical-skeptic/12 Feb 2025 18:18 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhyrwlayxc2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lhtdmjyui22wImagine if we had done this to the Hungarians who fled their country in 1956 or the Cubans who later fled Castro. Trump’s decision to end TPS for Venezuelans is a betrayal of the Republican Party’s own traditions. And of the trust Venezuelans placed in him. https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/02/09/trump-migrants-venezuelans-deport-tps/10 Feb 2025 14:19 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhtdmjyui22whttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lhqsrfokc22r@jimrutenberg.bsky.social: Trump’s attacks on media resemble Nixon’s. But the context then was different: a Democratic Congress whose hearings validated reporting on Watergate, and a Supreme Court that reliably defended press freedom. Outcome now much less certain. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/09/business/media/trump-nixon-media-press.html09 Feb 2025 14:12 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhqsrfokc22rhttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lhmbm3dzrc27The Republican adherence to federalism is like the Republican adherence to balanced budgets. Federalism and balanced budgets just apply to the Democrats, not to themselves. Limits for thee, not for us. [contains quote post or other embedded content]07 Feb 2025 18:54 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhmbm3dzrc27https://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lhmaxqj2us2qNow we can see clearly what should have been clear before: Republican support for federalism and denunciations of federal power have been a matter of expediency rather than principle. With Trump, they gave up federalism without a peep: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/us/politics/donald-trump-california-newyork-executive-orders.html07 Feb 2025 18:43 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhmaxqj2us2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lhlz7w6fqk2zDay by day, Trump is clarifying things for the many voters in 2024 who refused to take seriously his announced intentions. The opposition will grow. https://prospect.org/politics/2025-02-07-2024s-foreseeable-unforeseens/07 Feb 2025 16:24 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhlz7w6fqk2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lhfjolp4622yAnother day, another insanity: Think of all the time and energy lost to all of us now that, once again, we have to attend to this man’s stupid and vicious ideas. https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/04/politics/netanyahu-trump-white-house-meeting/index.html05 Feb 2025 02:30 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhfjolp4622yhttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lha4h3kcnc2dI see headlines like this—“Tariffs will shut down North American auto production within a week, industry warns”—and wonder, just how does the political payoff from Trump’s tariffs work?02 Feb 2025 22:50 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lha4h3kcnc2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lh7aotzl5c2gAmid all the bleak assessments, read Ezra Klein’s counterintuitive analysis: “Trump is acting like a king because he is too weak to govern like a president. … He is trying to overwhelm you … to persuade you of something that isn’t true. Don’t believe him.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-trump-column-read.html02 Feb 2025 14:33 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lh7aotzl5c2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lh55iv63vc2yTrump sending Venezuelans given temporary protected status back to Maduro’s Venezuela. Next? Cubans with TPS back to Cuba? Why didn’t Eisenhower and Kennedy think of that when Cubans were first fleeing to the US? https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/01/trump-venezuela-deportation-maduro-migrants/01 Feb 2025 18:31 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lh55iv63vc2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lh4yklhnl224While Trump’s assaults on the Constitution are the bigger problem, let’s not ignore his assaults on our intelligence. See David Brooks in the NY Times on the “six principles of stupidity.” And look who’s talking about the “dumbest trade war” ever. https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-tariffs-25-percent-mexico-canada-trade-economy-84476fb2?mod=hp_opin_pos_001 Feb 2025 17:02 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lh4yklhnl224https://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lh4s4qycv22gI have a slightly different take. Trump 1 wasn’t foiled by the deep state; he lacked clear ideas about policy and appointed people to top posts who found him to be unfit. Now he is using the fiction of the deep state to entrench a real right-wing deep state that Democrats will find hard to undo. [contains quote post or other embedded content]01 Feb 2025 15:07 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lh4s4qycv22ghttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lh4n2bwor224I don’t know why people think DEI began with “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” The original was “domination, exclusion, and inequality." That’s a much deeper tradition.01 Feb 2025 13:36 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lh4n2bwor224https://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lh2crkfois2rTop officials in professional agencies—the FBI director, the FAA director, now the Census director—need to stop resigning before their terms are over. Their resignations validate the idea that they’re political appointees. Make Trump fire you! And speak out! https://apnews.com/article/census-bureau-robert-santos-redistricting-bac775b7251f4bfabb9026f0930a553d31 Jan 2025 15:27 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lh2crkfois2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lh26hhrgss2vWho’d have thought that higher immigration could boost growth? And that a country might have low energy prices because renewable power now generates 60 percent of its electricity? Check out what’s happening in Spain. [contains quote post or other embedded content]31 Jan 2025 14:10 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lh26hhrgss2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lgyueqp4d22uYes, not so hard to learn the difference! But perhaps you didn’t grow up a child of privilege with a famous name and come to expect things to be given to you that you didn’t earn. And then try to compensate for your drug addiction and mediocrity by appealing to ignorance and playing on desperation. [contains quote post or other embedded content]31 Jan 2025 01:37 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lgyueqp4d22uhttps://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lgykvi356222I so hope Deborah Pearlstein is right about the courts, and I love her line that Trump’s order to kill birthright citizenship violates not just the 14th Amendment but “the foundational idea that citizens decide who should be a president, not the other way around.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/opinion/trump-law-control-authoritarian.html30 Jan 2025 22:47 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lgykvi356222https://bsky.app/profile/starrprospect.bsky.social/post/3lgykfqrm7k22I look at Gaba’s “psychedelic donut" and, yeah, we shouldn’t be surprised that people find the US health care system incredibly confusing. But I still think the next secretary of HHS ought to know the basics of Medicare and Medicaid. [contains quote post or other embedded content]30 Jan 2025 22:38 +0000at://did:plc:wee34fjm74e6vwzi77sl7vq4/app.bsky.feed.post/3lgykfqrm7k22