It's often been debated if Trump could pull off a fascist takeover of the United States, because he's clearly not very smart. I talked to @anneapplebaum.bsky.social about that for my newsletter
staff writer @theatlantic. author of GULAG, IRON CURTAIN, RED FAMINE, TWILIGHT OF DEMOCRACY and AUTOCRACY INC https://linktr.ee/anneapplebaum
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It's often been debated if Trump could pull off a fascist takeover of the United States, because he's clearly not very smart. I talked to @anneapplebaum.bsky.social about that for my newsletter
September 1, 1939 I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire Of a low dishonest decade: Waves of anger and fear Circulate over the bright And darkened lands of the earth...
open.substack.com/pub/anneappl...
Read the new preface: open.substack.com/pub/anneappl...
what does that have to do with anything
it will be!
NEW: Social Security’s chief data officer, Charles Borges, has resigned, three days after submitting a whistle-blower complaint that alleged members of DOGE had uploaded the confidential personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans to an insecure cloud server.
I didn't say I agreed with him, or think he should be emperor, I said I like reading his posts so I hope he stays. I find what he writes about healthcare interesting. I'm not on here to insult people, it's boring.
Something blue states will need to explore: how to create cross-state compacts dedicated to a functioning government as the Trump administration walks away from it's responsibilities.
I like reading your posts so I hope you stay
I don't see any of this kind of stuff, maybe because I've blocked it...
NEW. A wide-ranging and I think very instructive conversation with @anneapplebaum.bsky.social on Ukraine, Europe, Trump, and the danger of authoritarianism. youtu.be/F8yzpfxOm6o?...
There is no possible legitimate reason to do this. It’s what despots do. It’s petty. It’s dangerous. It’s unAmerican. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08...
Atlantic festival coming up! In NYC, September 18-20 I am speaking at various events, with @garrykasparov.bsky.social, @lynseyaddario.bsky.social and others. Sign up here: www.theatlantic.com/theatlanticf...
Trump is now clearly telegraphing that he's going to militarize Chicago in part to retaliate against JD Pritzker for daring to criticize his occupations
"In all, officials said, Russia launched 598 drones and 31 missiles in the overnight assault on Kyiv and other cities. Ukraine’s defenses shot down 563 drones and 26 missiles, according to the Ukrainian authorities."
What did Putin think of the Alaska summit? Well, he just sent drones and missiles to hit an apartment building, a shopping mall and the headquarters of the European Union in Kyiv. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/w...
The fire sale at the end of the empire www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
❗️The movement of Russian missiles and drones launched at Ukraine overnight.
The fire sale at the end of the empire www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
In Israel, hundred of thousands take to the street opposing Netanyahu's planned military campaign in Gaza City and demanding that he accept the hostage release deal already accepted by Hamas. www.cnn.com/2025/08/27/m...
Today’s episode of The Ezra Klein Show. Trump Is Building His Own Paramilitary Force The journalist @radleybalko.bsky.social explains the mechanisms Trump is using to create a personal army. open.spotify.com/episode/3OTs... youtu.be/UcTZ_en5FTM?...
The Battle of DC is underway, brave US troops march on the nation’s Capitol, meeting the enemy head on in a desperate struggle against littering. With steel in their hearts and plastic bags in their hands, the troops brave behind enemy lines.
National Guard soldiers called into service for President Trump's law enforcement surge in D.C. have been assigned to spread mulch at federal monuments. Normally the Park Service does that, but the administration laid off the workers. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Donald Trump is embodying the type of big government that right-wing politicians and thinkers have been warning about for a century, @dgraham.bsky.social argues in The Atlantic Daily.
US accused of conducting hostile campaign designed to destabilize Denmark, a close democratic ally amp.dw.com/en/denmark-s...
Chancellor Merz: if Putin doesn't agree to a meeting with President Zelenskyy, the EU is working on further sanctions. "President Zelenskyy made it clear in Washington last week that he is ready to sit down with Putin at the table in the coming days. It is now Moscow's move.
Note that I didn't say Trump IS Hitler, just that he was deliberately using language borrowed from Mein Kampf (immigrants "poisoning the blood" of the nation) which foretold extremist intentions
Of course www.wsj.com/business/ene...
From October, 2024: Everything that has happened was predictable, and indeed predicted youtu.be/pHDVpBLMiFI?...
Our slide into authoritarian rule would not be possible without Trump's willing accomplices. William Pulte's corruption of the bureaucracy to single out the mortgages of Trump foes like Lisa Cook for "investigation" is the perfect example of this. New piece from me: newrepublic.com/article/1996...
So @mediaite.com put this 2024 interview with @anneapplebaum.bsky.social , author of "Autocracy, Inc" & staff writer for @theatlantic.com on youtube last week: youtu.be/pHDVpBLMiFI?... In it, she talks about contents of her piece from October 2024: www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
yes www.amazon.de/Die-Achse-Au...
I'm one of the 37 targeted below by DNI Tulsi Gabbard. I haven't had a clearance nor worked in government since 2013. This is political theater & a dangerous example of government abusing its powers to punish private citizens for openly exercising their 1st Amendment rights. My full statement:
I will post the preface on my substack!
Paperback, with new preface, available TODAY www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/725302...
Dear journalists: The President has not fired Lisa Cook. The President is *trying* to illegally fire her. Your words shape people’s reality. Please be accurate in your reporting.
Must read www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/o...
that's why I liked it when Pritzker said "it doesn't bend on its own"
Pritzker: Trump looked at the cameras and asked for me personally to say, Mr. President, can you do us the honor of protecting our city? Instead, I say, Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. Your remarks about this effort have betrayed a continuing slip in your mental faculties
Statement from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker on reports that Trump plans to deploy the military in his state
I just managed to mangle the quote "the arc of history bends towards justice" live, on MSNBC @nicollewallace.bsky.social, quoting Governor Pritzker. But I liked what he said next: "it doesn't bend on its own."
Walz: "It boggles my damn mind that in the midst of a military takeover of our cities, the flaunting of the rule of law, that the press finds the need to talk about, 'Oh, there's a division in the Dem Party.' There's a division in my damn house & we're still married and things are good. That's life"
they can't
We’re gonna need a bigger time capsule. . . www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Journalists everywhere need to stand in solidarity on this killing spree and resulting news blackout. See below in this thread for some actions and stay tuned here https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-hits-gaza-hospital-killing-least-20-people-including-five-journalists-2025-08-25/
God forbid Americans see democracies (Brazil, S. Korea…) holding presidents accountable for illegal activities. They might get ideas.
Today I spoke with Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The courts & public outcry forced Trump to return him to MD, but Trump’s cronies keep lying about his case & are engaged in a malicious abuse of power to try to deport him to Uganda. As I told Kilmar, I won’t stop fighting for justice & due process for all:
trump very clearly sees any attempt to hold a criminal head of state accountable as a threat to his own standing
⚡️Polish president vetoes Ukraine aid law, threatens Starlink services for Ukraine. "I can't imagine a better gift for (Russia's President Vladimir) Putin's troops than cutting off Ukraine from the Internet," Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said.
I'm not sure who has to hear this, but it is NOT normal that the government sends the military into its own cities. In fact, in many countries, this has led to mass protests... 🙄
Vance can’t be this ignorant, can he? WWII was not ended with a negotiation. Germany and Japan were dictatorial and genicidal regimes that had to be crushed by the military might of the US and Russia. FDR did not sit down and negotiate with Hitler.
In case anyone is still wondering why Bolton was raided
Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicize Americans who serve in uniform, and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he's causing families. We'll continue to follow the law, stand up for the sovereignty of our state, and protect Illinoisans.
The safety of the people of Illinois is always my top priority. There is no emergency that warrants the President of the United States federalizing the Illinois National Guard, deploying the National Guard from other states, or sending active duty military within our own borders.
The State of Illinois at this time has received no requests or outreach from the federal government asking if we need assistance, and we have made no requests for federal intervention.
Remembering today when pro-GOP media erupted with outrage over Kamala Harris' warning that Trump had plans to militarize the national guard and deploy them on the streets of US cities. Indeed, he had such plans. And now he's implementing them.
Remember 24 hours? What a joke. Trump can’t end the war because he’s unwilling to put pressure on Putin, a murderous tyrant and war criminal who helped him get elected in 2016 and whom he treated as a statesman and BFF.
When’s the last time you heard a Vice President talk about an investigation this way? You haven’t. Because the DOJ/FBI are supposed to be independent, and a VP using “we” to describe a particular investigation is not supposed to happen.
Here’s what we’re reading today: Ukraine marks 34 years of independence — the third celebration during the full-scale war. It’s a time to honor the values Ukrainians fight for and remember those who died for freedom. World leaders, including Kellogg, came to Kyiv to show support.
We’re 7 months in, and “Pentagon plans military deployment in Chicago” is a headline in the Washington Post. And because it’s city number three, we’re already numbing to it. If you read this about any other democracy in the world, you’d conclude that it was well on the road to a dictatorship.
Reminder that Trump is also discarding sanctions, putting pressure on Ukrainians and ending support for Russian-language indepdendent media, all of which encourages the Kremlin www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
This is a must-read account of @anneapplebaum.bsky.social’s first-hand reporting from the civil war in Sudan. Only @theatlantic.com, it seems, has the courage to cover the most horrific, homicidal war on the planet right now. apple.news/AaZefClF6SGa...
The Pentagon is blocking Ukraine from using long-range missiles to hit Russian military targets. No wonder Putin still thinks he can win the war www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
Thanks for all of the comments...I do believe that Republicans who continues to speak out despite being targeted by the administration deserve to be called brave.
John Bolton is a brave and clear critic of Donald Trump. We interviewed him for season one of Autocracy in America, for the episode on alliances and kleptocracy www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...
These guys go on all day about cultural marxism but are actually nationalizing private enterprises.
Russian fuel prices hit historic highs, export bans, major refineries offline from Ukrainian strikes Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence separately alleges civilian rationing imposed from Crimea to Pacific territories euromaidanpress.com/2025/08/23/r...
The war is over when the Russians understand that they can't win. Last week's summits did not help us reach that point Listen to Radio Atlantic: www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...
Sloppy, careless, toxic DOGE unfairly targeted an Afghan who was working with the US, and now his family are in Taliban prisons www.propublica.org/article/doge...
Horrific story. DOGE targeted him on social media. Then the Taliban took his family.
Sure, they are openly using federal agencies to investigate and potentially prosecute their opponents, but maybe someone filled out a form wrong?
The FBI is raiding John Bolton's house, apparently at Kash Patel's personal direction, the NY Post is reporting:
People are losing their minds about a meaningless Trump tweet again. Ukraine has been attacking targets across Russia for well more than a year. And they will do so increasingly with their new systems. Trump had played no role in it except for trying to delay it.
They are dense
They are dense
Do you know how insane and infuriating it is to live in a country where one party claims, with media and public support, the mantle of being the ‘tough on crime’ party while its leader openly calls for convicted criminals to be released from prison ‘or else’?
Can you imagine a US envoy handing a Nazi medal to the family of an American who died fighting for Hitler? Because this just happened: www.cnn.com/2025/08/20/p...
Surprise! Russians don't want to meet with Zelensky www.cnn.com/2025/08/20/w...
On the partisan groups that work inside occupied Crimea. Long term occupation will not be easy for Russia www.counteroffensive.news/p/ukrainian-...
Who would have thought we would arrive so quickly at stage of the Doctors Plot
Fictitious conspiracies are easier to pursue since there's no chance that reality will intervene apnews.com/article/trum...
The US capital is being flooded with military troops at the direct order of the president and media is barely talking about, because the president didn't say "I am doing authoritarianism" but "the military is here to fight crime"
Hard to believe it, but we are progressing quickly towards a full blown imaginary conspiracy, complete with prosecutions nypost.com/2025/08/19/u...
It's also a bit stupid because the research will still take place, just not in the U.S. www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Follow the Kleptocracy Tracker! It's on my Substack, and also now @snfagora.bsky.social snfagora.jhu.edu/our-work/res...
Someone please tell them why he is doing it
Reminder that Putin has never said he wants a trilateral meeting, had never said he would respect Ukrainian sovereignty, and has never said he wants to end the war. Not to be a downer, but the discussion of security guarantees is premature.
Yes, it could be staged or manipulated. But this is the image Russian propagandists want us to see: the US and Russian flags together, on a vehicle attacking Ukraine
From Russia Today's Telegram channel, this morning
War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength - and Germany violates human rights more than El Salvador. on the upsidedown world of the new State Department human rights reports www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
American police, and police in democracies, wear badges, not face masks
Weird how all of these young far right guys think Hitler should have won the war www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
There’s no longer any pretense this has anything to do with crime (there are cities or parts of cities in SC and Ohio that have higher crime rates than DC — send the troops there!). This is about establishing a precedent for Trump seizing control of the nation’s capital when he wants to.