This is such a great idea/service!! Have Brendan-bot give you pre-submission comments on your paper!
Dartmouth political scientist and Bright Line Watch co-director. Previously Upshot NYT / CJR contributor, Spinsanity co-founder, All the President's Spin co-author. https://sites.dartmouth.edu/nyhan/ http://brightlinewatch.org
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This is such a great idea/service!! Have Brendan-bot give you pre-submission comments on your paper!
If you want to find that @brendannyhan.bsky.social line made actual—what would you say if you saw it in another country?—look no further than global headlines & front page stories about the US. The world isn't missing what's happening here. (See alt-text for translation)
Don’t print lies in the newspapers. Don’t keep platforming the lying liars to performatively lie on your teevee shows. End the interviews immediately if you’ve messed up by inviting them anyway & they once again performatively lie in public. What is journalism, anyway?
"How do I look my self in the mirror" is something I think a lot of government employees engaged in tearing families apart and ruining lives need to consider Maybe that's why so many of them are wearing masks.
Good use of scare quotes tbh
Whether or not these people are actual foreign agents is almost irrelevant. Their actions are observationally equivalent to & indistinguishable from the actions actual foreign agents would be taking. The consequences of our total Article I constitutional crisis, right here:
Where we are as a country
Jesus fucking christ. The Trump administration tried to send a bunch of children to Guatemala at 3 am and justified it by saying that the kids just wanted to return to their parents in Guatemala, but the kids actually told the court that they are afraid of being sent back to Guatemala.
I wrote this weeks after trump won in 2016 and almost ten years later I still think there is basically nothing more to say, not because I am super smart but because this is all so very empty and stupid www.lawfaremedia.org/article/bull...
Also, Orban was able to cement his power early on thanks to a parliamentary supermajority that allowed Fidesz to rewrite the constitution to lock in their advantages (even though this may now be fading). There’s not really anything comparable in the US system
I would have added a little more context to make this clear, but I'm not a reporter: "The president's net negative 18-point approval rating is his lowest recorded since [he tried to overthrow the government in] January 2021..."
Stopped at a Midas repair shop today and the guy there brought up the CDC. This is an example where raising the salience of what is going on really can break through the noise.
Thread. I'm probably a bit less alarmist than Dan is...but fully agree on the questions of what's at stake and what should be done, and he (or even the more alarmist folks) could easily be correct.
Basically yes?
this point—that this era is not forever and accountability can come in many forms—has for some reason proved bizarrely elusive for democrats
The extent to which ICE is ignoring all civil rights and due process is astounding — and indicative of a culture where they’ve been told they can do literally no wrong. Agency and admin leaders must face sanctions and legal consequences.
Jimmy Carter and the tennis courts but for the mad king
New work by @brendannyhan.bsky.social & @jasonreifler.bsky.social shows further evidence of positive impact of prebunking This is why EIP wrote What to Expect rumor guides for certain periods in elections! And it’s why election deniers reframe this as “brainwashing” www.science.org/content/arti...
Thread
I've been told this means you should not be eligible for any public positions
You spelled ENDANGERING wrong, @nytimes.com. “Pushing the boundaries” is a *positive* frame implying unconventional innovations. There are no innovations here. Just medieval anti-science populist attacks on some of best methods of truth seeking we have.
Thank you @brendannyhan.bsky.social & @jasonreifler.bsky.social for this impt research which illustrates that getting out *ahead* of rumors & lies about elections — instead of simply responding w/ fact-checking afterwards — is essential. We must tell the truth about how elections are actually run.
Mamdani is a citizen just like Vance. He no more owes "gratitude" to the US than does anyone else. The suggestion is that he is some kind of second-class citizen who owes deference to the country and those born here - exactly the kind of blood-and-soil nationalism that Vance so often promotes.
Children with brain cancer
Mad king watch
"the financial advantage enjoyed by incumbents at all levels of government has declined 25-50% over the last decade. This decline, however, is driven entirely by individual donors, & esp. small-dollar donors; in contrast, the advantage among corporate PACs has remained stable—or even increased."
By a 7-4 vote, the full Federal Circuit has *affirmed* a lower-court ruling holding that many of President Trump’s tariffs exceed his statutory authority. The ruling won’t go into effect until October 14, though—which gives the Trump administration plenty of time to seek intervention from #SCOTUS:
Taylor Swift’s in-house legal commando squad right now
BREAKING: Social Security Administration chief data officer and whistle-blower Charles Borges has resigned after bombshell report that SSA put highly-sensitive data at risk. He sent out an email to colleagues moments ago. Here is the text of his email shared with me:
Voting Integrity Messages Fights Misinformation in the Lab. But What about the Real World? www.scientificamerican.com/article/voti... Telling people exactly how voting security works helps defeat election misinformation. But outside experts question how well that works in the real world
“We’ve probably underweighted the importance of giving people novel, factual information about how elections are secured,” @brendannyhan.bsky.social says. “It genuinely seems to be information people haven’t been exposed to.” 🧪 #misinformation www.science.org/content/arti...
New study by @brendannyhan.bsky.social, @jasonreifler.bsky.social & colleagues demonstrates that prebunking election fraud rumors — by warning about anticipated false claims & filling conceptual gaps that those claims exploit — helps to reduce belief in falsehoods: www.science.org/content/arti...
We all almost there! If we also convince North Korea, Iran and Nicaragua to provide security guarantees that would surely seal the peace deal
I don't think Ernst was a particularly strong incumbent, and incumbency advantage isn't what it used to be anyway. It's a Republican state, whatever we make of the 2025 specials. But: Any time Republicans have to pick a nominee for an open seat there's a serious chance of disaster for them.
what a mess and a stupid way to run a country
It’s not just that every accusation is a confession; every accusation is also a rationalization. Trump constantly pretended Biden was personally directing prosecutions of Trump & allies, when of course DOJ norms would have made it unthinkable for the White House to have any direct contact.
OG AI doomerism
"Black cities were at the epicenter of fraud dialogue... electoral confidence deteriorated most for racially-resentful Whites post-election in 2020.... racially resentful White Americans are especially likely to believe accusations of fraud when...racialized" link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Posts about scientific research on Bluesky receive substantially more attention than similar posts on Twitter. More importantly, you're far less likely to get sexist or racist replies.
I'm not an AI expert but length, subject matter, domain-specific differences between AI and human writing - lots of factors that seem like they could affect performance
Why help one American geopolitical rival gain at the expensive of the US and America's allies & partners in Europe when Trump can help two American geopolitical rivals gain at the expensive of the US and America's allies & partners in Europe?
People are often surprised to learn that Lee was an officer who never made it past colonel. The purported promotion to general was awarded by a treasonous cabal calling itself the "confederate states of america" which was put down by force by the Union army, which also had superior generals.
The phrase “unconstitutional abuse of power” is right there
What people think they 80s were like versus what the 80s was actually like.
Much more encouraging AI detection results than I have seen before, though we need comparable stats for academic papers.
"The move forces members of Congress to confront a question that has lingered over the legislative branch all year: What is the point of the two parties negotiating a federal budget if the executive branch insists it has the power to unilaterally determine what funds get spent?"
“End-run” “Pushing limits” “Unusual” “Redefining” “Challenging norms” “Boldly upending” Sounds heroic, muscular. Our English language already contains the word illegal. No need to craft misleading/laudatory synonyms for suspending our Constitution. In this dangerous moment, we must speak clearly.
incredible. 10/10 no notes. Emil Bove continued to work at DOJ - for the administration- after he was confirmed as a judge. Almost as if he doesn’t think his role, defending stuff Trump did, changed once he became a judge! (sure he wasn’t sworn in but AYFKM???) www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/u...
yo this guy is cooking
Trump admin planning to change student visas from lasting for duration of academic program to fixed 4-yr term, and then much harder to renew Could destroy US ability to attract global talent, particularly those seeking advanced degrees in STEM. The median time to complete a PhD is 5.7 yrs per NSF.
Putting his political opponents in danger - see also John Bolton
Correct link: drive.google.com/file/d/1KTOz...
oops tx, here it is drive.google.com/file/d/1KTOz...
They're now saying it out loud: The Administration's goal is to undo the political independence that Congress granted the Fed, so that the President can directly set rates.
Notable to see Obama speaking out more
Jim O’Neill is a tech investor, former CEO of the Thiel Foundation, and co-founder with Peter Thiel of the Thiel fellowship. He has no direct medical education or experience. It’s hard to get away from the feeling that they really are trying to kill us.
Openly telling us that the goal is to completely politicize the Federal Reserve and monetary policy.
Excellent short thread. This is what I've tried to be saying since January. We should all agree there's a sustained, ongoing, multi-pronged attack on democracy, with many battles that can go either way, and that frames everything.
I often talk about the fact that MAGA does not access the same news as the left wing. I present to you Exhibit A. Dr. Daskalakis’ resignation letter excoriated RFK Jr. and shared that RFK Jr. was lying to the public, manipulating data, and ordering unethical actions. This what Fox News served.
Destroying the capacity of the richest, most powerful country in the history of the world for nothing. Over nothing.
What is a regime dedicated to destroying all kinds of expertise? Authoritarianism doesn't seem right -- these things aren't usually up for popular vote -- and even under non-democratic gov'ts, careerists usually make decisions on public health. So what is it?
Stacey Abrams and I sound the alarm - the time to act to stop autocracy is now. time.com/7312340/stop...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
I believe this is what the kids call performative
Cong Rs & Ds "became more critical of the media between the 1960s & the 1990s and have polarized since. Rs...more negative about the media than at any time since 1939...elite criticism predicts subsequent declines in copartisans’ perceptions of journalists" s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets.prod....
Courage and fear are both contagious
When Ziblatt is talking about the lessons from Weimar for the present day, you listen. Chilling.
A must read, especially for anyone who thinks that making little concessions and keeping your head down will work:
Sen Cassidy received his wallet back from Bobby and is PISSED to find that it is, in fact, empty.
MOAR authoritarian imagery
The full video of my conversation with @perrybaconjr.bsky.social this AM on democratic erosion substack.com/@brendannyha...
"I was encouraged to see the CDC director refused to resign, to force the Trump administration to fire her. I was thrilled to see Lisa Cook refuse to passively accept Trump's attempt to fire her and to say instead, no, this is illegal," says @brendannyhan.bsky.social.
"You don't need a partisan lens to see when troops are occupying the nation's capital and masked men are kidnapping people off the street, you should be worried about authoritarianism. If you've cracked the history book once or twice, you don't need much expertise to recognize what we're seeing."
"Scholars who study these processes around the world have really been taken aback by how quickly this has proceeded," says @brendannyhan.bsky.social. newrepublic.substack.com/p/democratic...
Scholars are sounding the alarm. Michigan's @donmoyn.bsky.social has an important piece declaring that we are in authoritarianism now. (donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-author...) Here's Dartmouth's @brendannyhan.bsky.social making a similar argument.
Horrifying
Imagine what the reaction would have been
Hoping this is useful - looking for feedback
Ladies and gentlemen, the meritocracy
The news about Trump shortening ICE academy training to 47 days (from 50) and having Boeing's next fighter jet named the F-47 plays well with this line of thought. It's ridiculous and an attempt to will a personality cult into existence nation-wide (not just among the MAGA types)
What could go wrong?
What defending institutions and the rule of law looks like
Seems like the kind of thing federal agents could handle if they weren’t busy tracking down America’s most wanted DoorDash delivery drivers in DC.
i find this image so fascinating. it is both a literal example of authoritarianism but also a second-hand reproduction of the aesthetics of other authoritarian states. it's like a simulacra of authoritarianism whose purpose is to attempt to make the simulacra real.
I’ll be doing a live chat with @perrybaconjr.bsky.social to talk about democratic erosion in the US at the Substack of the @newrepublic.com at 9 AM ET open.substack.com/live-stream/...
“Our officers should be sentient beings who understand just war theory, the laws around conflict, the orders that they are morally obligated to disobey,” France said, arguing that the Trump administration, by contrast, wants to breed compliance rather than teach nuance.’
Back in 2020, YouTube suspended OAN's channel, demonetized it, and noted it was not an "authoritative" source. Now, five years later, the Google-owned platform has inked a deal to put the MAGA propaganda network in millions of living rooms. Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/youtube-oa...
Agree with this. Make them fight for every inch. Worth reading this thread.
🚨Border Patrol arrested two firefighters who were actively fighting a wildfire at the time. When the other members of the crew asked for a chance to say goodbye, a Border Patrol agent told the crew member “you need to get the f*ck out of here. I’m going to make you leave.”
Herein lies the rub: “By inappropriately applying shared decision-making principles to a scenario where robust evidence strongly supports vaccination, the CDC abandons the clinician’s professional responsibility to offer clear, directive guidance when warranted.”
One more time, shout out to the very serious people who suggested that RFK had some really good points about public health. No way to have predicted how things would turn out, except to look at his past record and everything he said about vaccines.
Is he trying to lose the elections?
This is absolutely catastrophic for U.S. higher education, and for U.S. global leadership. Just the latest in a series of senseless acts of self-sabotage by a malevolent administration bent on making the United States weak and poor.
Authoritarianism watch: