Assistant professor of government at American University. Area of focus: US presidential power and authoritarian threats to democracy. Writing a book on emergency presidential power in context of Trump. https://www.american.edu/spa/faculty/edelson.cfm
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The single most important aim in American politics right now should be convincing the broad public that Trump is—absolutely literally, without hype or hyperbole—seeking to be a dictator. That’s never going to happen with Dem electeds constantly acting like even they don’t really believe it.
Pritzker: "When did we become a country where it's ok for the US president to insist on national television that a state should call him to beg for anything? Especially something we don't want. Have we truly lost all sense of sanity in this nation that we treat this as normal?"
That Pritzker press conference was... surreal, and I think marks a significant moment of escalation in the constitutional omni-crisis. This was the governor of a state saying plainly the Union itself is being torn apart and his state is being militarily invaded by an authoritarian regime.
I know, I know, but: The president of the US saying, literally, "we're going in" in reference to sending the military to an American city for no reason beyond terrorizing the local population should be the most immediately impeachable shit imaginable
These problems are even bigger. As a constitutional matter, the deployment of unfederalized Guard personnel into a nonconsenting state can never happen. Never.
trump thinks he is fighting a domestic war against parts of the US he sees as his enemies. Essentially a one sided civil war.
seems like lawless presidency continues. Hard to see how unilateral action can be justified here unless there was imminent threat of attack v. US. trump likely believes he can order military action at his discretion. That is dangerous for any president but especially dangerous for an authoritarian.
Again, German media are better at covering America's fall into fascism than American media. Lead stories in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Trump's DC goal is total control über alles. Is this how a dictatorship begins? Trump's propaganda is reminiscent of the Nazis'.
Unprecedented corruption - 1500x what Hunter Biden made from his paintings and going directly to the president.
We’ve spent more time talking about nonexistent crime in 🇺🇸 cities in the last month, even as we’ve totally erased actual political violence from the National Conversation™️. Hard to overstate how disheartening & deeply unserious this has been.
if you're saying you "may" declare an emergency at some point in the future, it's not an emergency. Emergencies demand urgent action--they aren't something you can say you might deal with in the future. This is another phony "emergency" the trump admin could claim in an effort to consolidate power
I'm sorry, no matter what personal or ideological gripe one has with universities or the academy, we didn't face the imminent destruction of entire parts of our institutions & the lives of dozens of students suddenly upended because of fascism before Trump. Just stop it with this unserious nonsense.
3/ those rights have already jumped dramatically. Lutnick is one of two cabinet secretaries running Trump's demolition derby. Crooked as all fuck would be the formal economics term for it.
Mid cycle gerrymander when they drew the original maps. Every article should have that front and center.
Gonna keep reposting this @timdickinson.bsky.social / me item: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
on top of everything else--and this is not the most important point of course--but Kennedy's words are a personal insult to me and I am sure many other parents. what a truly execrable person Kennedy is.
If you prefer to read this thread on our site, here’s the link: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/emer...
Today in “sentences you have to read twice.”
This is nothing else but a hybrid war that Russia wages against Europe Let's name things as they really are:Russia has made an assassination attempt of the President of the European Commission Russia has been jamming GPS-signals over many Eastern Europe countries that are in its immediate vicinity
Yeah it's not exactly subtle what's going on here
well sure, but making such decisions would indeed be risky business
He's released now. Good. But these countless "temporary" detentions aren't a glitch, they're a key fascism of feature, every one meant as an advertisement that this could happen to anyone, that detention & release shall occur without explanation.
I hate that the most obviously phony, lying clowns get taken seriously by ANYONE in this country.
trump sees political opponents as enemies--he has said this for years. He seeks to occupy "enemy" cites--within the US!!!--as if he was waging war against a hostile foreign nation.
I’m absolutely begging reporters to stop suggesting that Lisa Cook stated that she would use both properties as a principal residence on her mortgage APPLICATIONS Mortgage APPLICATIONS and mortgage AGREEMENTS are not the same thing We have no idea what she represented on the APPLICATIONS
A central rationale "claimed" for the attack on immigrants is that the US is a nation of laws-but we have seen this attack carried out lawlessly, by an admin headed by a convicted felon who has made clear in so many ways that he has no regard for the laws. This is destruction of the rule of law.
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.
Put differently, if a) what we're looking at is an unfair playing field but +/- free elections and b) the regime faces a unified opposition, Ds have a decent chance of taking the House. I am also cautiously optimistic about the Senate, but I wouldn't bet money (see @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social) ▼▼
We have a decades of scholarship on how pro-democracy forces win in competitive authoritarian systems: they form a united opposition that brings together people with otherwise profound political disagreements.
I really hope this becomes the black eye it deserves to be www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
It is less a mass deportation regime as it is a mass kidnapping and indefinite detention regime
yes. trump seeks the power of a monarch. He is using contrived emergencies as a way to advance this claim. I have a book coming out that discusses this, including in context of tariffs, rendition, domestic use of military & law enforcement: www.rienner.com/title/Above_...
Unbelievably bad. “The CDC you knew is over. Unless someone takes radical action, there is nothing there that can be salvaged.” www.advocate.com/politics/dem...
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s assault may have dealt lasting damage to the CDC, experts fear, with harsh consequences for public health. (Gift article) www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/h...
If it weren’t so painfully terrible it would be funny. #personalistforeignpolicy
You have to fight this. You MUST fight this. This is the first fight in 8 months that you, as a person without a law degree, can personally win against the Trump Administration. We still need a bit more critical mass from Democrats. Keep calling. Demand (1) statements and (2) investigative hearings
5/Fall in tourism, economic activity, employment will hit city revenue, which will create a cycle of cuts. The city is about to experience a crisis like COVID but not due to a random shock but a targeted intervention.
Chantilly is a main processing facility for those arrested by ICE during Trump's DC crackdown. ACLU attorney Sophia Gregg told @msnbc.com: Conditions are "rapidly degenerating" & "ICE is holding up to 80 people in a single room for more than a week at a time" w/no access to lawyers
When the executive ignores laws they find inconvenient, it is called a dictatorship.
It is clearly no coincidence that Prof. Ziblatt focuses on Hitler's consolidation of power as he sounds the alarm about the dangers of cooperating with or appeasing an aspiring dictator
Martin O’Malley, former Social Security Administrator, says the DOGE bro upload of SSA to cloud is the biggest data theft in history and could maybe lead to need to mass issue new SSA#s. 🤯 www.msnbc.com/the-last-wor...
mobsters like to take a stake in profitable businesses
It’s a scale of corruption that makes Hunter Biden look like a Little Leaguer. It’s a scale of corruption that would put most Third World dictators to shame.
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve on the Minnesota shooting: "The sad thing is we can't sit here and tell them that help is on the way. Because we're not going to do a damn thing about it."
yes, the irony is painful in the US at the moment
I understand he wants to keep the Epstein info secret, but it's hard for me to believe that even exposure of this info would harm him. I guess it's possible he thinks so...
in what way, however, is trump facing exposure? His moral turpitude has been publicly made clear many times over. I don't get this part of it--what does he have to fear in terms of exposure? I understand he may well fear humiliation and physical/mental decline.
Enough is enough. The health of the country is in danger. Read our resignation letters: insidemedicine.substack.com/p/breaking-n...
I'm at this point convinced both that they will try to use federal troops and paramilitaries to intimidate voters in Democratic places (especially in swing states/districts), and that this will barely register in the discourse.
I have been writing about this for nearly a decade and often emphasize that nothing I say is meant to suggest that the triumph of fascism is inevitable. I am actively working to find peaceful ways to end this madness, and I frequently meet with and speak to/with others about this.
Elementary school children are having to navigate thru a standing clutch of masked…who are they? “This is ridiculous,” a woman can be heard saying. Yes. And insanely dangerous.
this goddamn country
yes, the U.S. has lost its liberal democracy. I hope it can be regained. I am glad it survives in Canada and other countries.
Glad it’s net unpopular, but pretty depressing that the number supporting military occupation of an American city against the wishes of the residents and local government is as high as 40%.
I'd hope so but it is not easy for all. I appreciate this though as it ought to be the case.
I am so sorry. you are right--it is too much. I am glad you are doing what you are doing and appreciate it.
Exhausted. Emotional. Devastated by yet another school shooting. We are in the fight of our kids’ lives.
Another infuriating aspect of ICE roaming around D.C. that I hadn't thought about. I just talked to a D.C. woman whose husband is undocumented and whose employer is refusing to pay him for work he's already done -- and threatening to call ICE if he keeps asking for the money he's owed.
The irony/idiocy of this banner currently draped on the Department of Labor building is not lost on me, given all the federal workers he's forced out of their jobs. (Pic via Getty Images)
Growing up as Cold War American kids in the '80s, what we learned was that countries who put up giant pictures of their leaders were either run by Communists or religious fanatics. The news would show us their parades with the subtext that such egomaniacal spectacle was as un-American as it gets.
yes. this did not happen overnight
Frey: And don't just say, this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church.
can't stop thinking about this: "America has become a country where armed officers of the state shout “Papers please!” on the street at men and women heading home from work" www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/america-ti...
little greenland men
govt doesn't pick winners and losers, they used to say
Jurors would not convict people the George Washington admin prosecuted pursuant to a unilateral executive proclamation & Washington was forced to seek congressional authorization for neutrality proclamation of 1793. Of course, Washington was not an aspiring monarch. trump is-but he can be stopped.
The framers of the Constitution envisioned juries as a check on govt power. Nobody likes jury duty today (especially not the more onerous *grand8* jury duty), but we can see how it matters as grand jurors in DC insist that there are limits on an executive branch seeking absolute power.
Apropos of nothing, a reminder that German stock markets kept climbing in an almost uninterrupted fashion in the run-up to WW2. Investors are really, really bad at pricing serious institutional and political risks.
you're right -- it's constitutional failure--has been since at least the aftermath of Jan. 6, but what that means keeps getting clearer: www.acslaw.org/expertforum/...
We either live in a country governed by the rule of law, or we don’t. Yes, I’m an economist. But more than that, I want to live in a society where the rule of law prevails. That conviction doesn't depend on asset market reactions.
"Where We Are: (1) Donald Trump is acting as a dictator. (2) He is fairly easily defeated time after time when people fight back. (3) Far too few people are fighting back." substack.com/home/post/p-...
“Mr. President, I invite you to see your big, beautiful face on a banner in front of the Department of Labor, because you are really the transformational president of the American worker.” Soviet leaders would be so proud of what we’ve become www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Yes, the stakes here are large. Very large.
this a feature of dire situations: almost by definition, the more extreme the thing happening, the less people who aren't experiencing it directly believe it's happening precisely because it seems so unlikely. and it is unlikely! it's just that it's unlikely AND happening.
My recurring complaint: The office of the Presidency confers no *rights* beyond those held by all citizens. It does entail authorities and responsibilities. Trump is talking about authorities, not rights. And he's wrong. "I have a right" is the wail of a five year old.
"A fascist president is assembling a national army of right-wing thugs & invading US cities to terrorize their citizens & intimidate their leaders." I mean ... does that sound real? Even if you know, intellectually, that it is, have you really *absorbed* it?
indeed. trump will go as far as he can go. He is quite literally saying "I can do what I want"--and the implied question is "who will stop me"? so far, the answer is essentially no one--certainly not Rs in Congress and not the S Ct.
HUGE FLIP: Democrat Catelin Drey wins deep-red state Senate seat in Iowa, breaking the GOP's supermajority. Drey won by 11 points in a district Donald Trump carried by 11 points last year. It's another massive overperformance. The Iowa GOP should be very worried for the midterms. Our full writeup:
a reminder that, while trump is moving to consolidate authoritarian control, elections still offer a possibility for at least some change. How much change remains unclear--and, of course, will have to see what 2026 midterm elections and aftermath are like.
"Trump on Monday clarified that he thinks a lot of people might actually like to have a dictator in the US, as long as streets were safe." far from the 1st time trump has said something like this. no mystery about what he wants www.cnn.com/2025/08/26/p...
"Honey, I don't have much time. I've been arrested by ICE and they are sending me to a detainment center. I love you and the kids, I will be OK, please call our attorney" -- John Shin, DACA resident, speaking to his wife last week. She hasn't heard from him since www.fox13now.com/news/local-n...
yes-I'd call it a counter-revolution, though. trump is trying to undo the American Revolution and make himself an American king--everything the revolutionaries reviled.
“Day laborer Ervin Mancilla has spent 38 yrs in America as a jornalero. When asked how he was, he answered, ‘Not well.’ 'I feel down bc things are hard under Trump. It is very abusive,’ Mancilla said. 'They only care to hurt you. And w/the masks, you don’t know if they are the sheriff or not.’”
yep. He is hoping for a response that he can use to justify further crackdown/consolidation of power
I'd like one that supports liberal democracy by creating democratically elected leaders elected by majorities see e.g. Levitsky & Ziblatt's 2023 book. I'd like a way out of the 2 party system (see e.g. Drutman, 2 Party Doom Loop). I'd like clearer limits on presidential power & changes to S Ct.
Hillary Clinton called some trump supporters "deplorable" and it was a long running story that was presented as a mark against her. Stephen Miller says Democrats are "domestic extremists", an obvious synonym for terrorists. That seems much more than calling people "deplorable".
The last sentence should be terrifying for everyone (L'État, c'est moi) & this is well beyond Nixon-level impeachment/resignation stuff. Unprecedented levels of unpunished authoritarianism.
If any previous President tried to fire a member of the Fed he would have been impeached and removed from office in 72 hours.
The fact that it’s unthinkable is the key to his success.
You are living through the unthinkable: the president of the United States using the military to seize domestic power. The greatest crisis of executive power in American history, at the hands of the worst, most corrupt, and most unfit president in American history.
Yes. We are living in the aftermath of constitutional failure. That is not said to be defeatist. The point is that const failure demands specific action-fundamental constitutional reform or a new const, as I have written about for nearly a decade. Not plausible at the moment, but still *necessary*
Just received this statement from Lisa Cook: "President Trump purported to fire me 'for cause' when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so. I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022."
Despite what some Democratic consultants suggest, the pro-democracy party’s first question shouldn’t be, “Does stopping fascism poll well?”
Among all the other things, "The President has screwed things up so badly that the world's other rich countries won't deliver mail to us anymore" really should end it immediately.
A quick post from me on Crooked's substack @crooked.com on how the Republican appointees on the Supreme Court enabled Donald Trump's attack on the independence of the Federal Reserve Board. crookedmedia.substack.com/p/the-suprem...
this is chilling, blood curdling stuff.
"How did you go fascist?" "Two ways: gradually, then suddenly"
elected officials who cannot speak clearly and directly against trump's effort to impose military occupation on US cities ought to step aside and allow others who have a basic moral compass and understanding of what it means to have a United States to take their place
yes, trump thinks he is a king--and a king with more power than King George III had in 1776. The 250th anniversary of Decl of Ind will take place as trump tries to reverse the victory of the American Revolution. I have a book coming out about this: www.rienner.com/title/Above_...
yes, trump thinks he is a king--and a king with more power than King George III had in 1776. The 250th anniversary of Decl of Ind will take place as trump tries to reverse the victory of the American Revolution. I have a book coming out about this: www.rienner.com/title/Above_...