Assistant professor of political science. I think about identity, stigma, race, and politics more than any normal person should. Lover of life. Pro-democracy. People should dance more. Not Hakeem Jeffries, the Minority Leader.
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đš Job! đš Brown Sociology & the Watson School of International & Public Affairs are hiring a TT assistant professor whose research focuses on social policy (broadly conceived). Apply by 9/15: apply.interfolio.com/172655 Happy to chat about life at Brown, etc!
Precisely. Saturday breakfast in rural South Carolina was often grits and canned sardines or salmon pattiesâwith a nap post.
One thing this moment makes clear is how easy it is for some to justify insanely horrible acts. âTheyâre illegal.â âWe need law & order.â âThe president can do what he wants.â âTheyâre the children of Hamas.â Scary thing: those willing to tolerate these bad acts donât seem to have a red line.
Itâs so good. đ
Trumpâs is an authoritarian project, to be sure. But it is also very much a project motivated by a politics of white grievance, white resentment, and white identity. And this govt will use its power to assert white dominance anyway it canâfrom brutalizing immigrants to restoring Leeâs portrait.
I dare you to go to Annunciation School and tell our grieving community, in effect, guns donât kill kids, antidepressants do. Just shut up. Stop peddling bullshit. You should be fired.
Iâm very excited to share that my paper âCleavage theory meets civil society: A framework and research agendaâ with @eborbath.bsky.social & Swen Hutter has now been published online in âȘ@wepsocial.bsky.social⏠(w/ open access funding thanks to @wzb.bsky.socialâŹ!) www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Big congrats!!
#Psychjobs My former institution Colby College is hiring a tenure track in intergroup relations, broadly defined & open to many psych areas (not just social). This is my replacement line. I truly enjoyed my time at Colby and it's a great dept! Happy to answer Qs if I can. apply.interfolio.com/172552
Super important thought from Steve Levitsky, co-author of "How Democracy Dies." newrepublic.com/article/1996...
UPDATE: Governor Cook has issued a statement. âPresident Trump purported to fire me âfor causeâ 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.â
When they start doing a fascism, you do everything in your power to stop them. Those are the rules. And you convince the public that they should be on board with that effort, too. Just imagine these guys (theyâre all guys) at other periods of American history. Just wild shit.
Despite what some Democratic consultants suggest, the pro-democracy partyâs first question shouldnât be, âDoes stopping fascism poll well?â
They just decided to torment this man in one way after another for no apparent reason â pure Kafka.
In Trumpâs Ideal Picture of America, Diversity Is Taboo www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/u... This is why diverse newsrooms matter. One of the first pieces to really name what Trump is doingâand still not clearly enough. His project is a brazen white identity project. Brazen and racist.
I havenât done this in the age of AI, and Iâm not sure of what we do to avoid this kind of cheating. Back to in class blue books for all!
Love how much yâall use this assignment. Keep on keeping on!
Iâve been busy, but why in the absolute fuck would I care what Jillian Michaels has to say about slavery or about 99.9 percent of topics. We live in such a stupid time and we must stop giving idiots platforms that elevate their stupidity.
Jillian Michaels Whiteness is a credential (@victorerikray.bsky.social 2019) Exhibit 99966437732 journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....
This administrationâs treatment of immigrants is cruel and inhumane. May we never forget the callousness of those responsible.
man DC statehood seems like it'd be a pretty helpful barrier to authoritarianism
Got my advance reader copies of Living in a DAISY Age yesterday! They look amazing! Itâs hard to put into words how I feel holding a physical copy of my book đ€Ż Preorder: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Living...
following our anlaysis of moderates and WAR, this new piece (conducted completely independent of what me and mark were doing!) confirms the same finding: very little relationship between WAR and ideology, & more important, completely swamped by uncertainty data4democracy.substack.com/p/do-moderat...
We took a close look at Split Ticket's WAR metric, which has become influential in Democratic circles for suggesting moderates significantly outperform progressives. Our finding: The metric contains systematic biases that overstate the advantage of moderation. A corrected model shows no advantage.đ§”
I am very proud to announce that I have minded my business and kept my own counsel throughout all of this.
I was gonna mind my own business, too, but I couldnât help myself.
Oh my goodness, did I have the good fortune of introducing you to that paper, Linda? Makes me happy because I want everybody to read it, and now eager to read the one you just shared!
This looks good!
Just me!
And having spent a lot of time thinking about the real social harms of respectability, Iâm reluctant to support these kinds of campaigns that further the narrative that there is some ideal representation of the racial group. And make no mistake, thatâs what these campaigns imply.
These images stand outâ& get all this attentionâb/c thereâs some implicit image of black people in so many of our minds thatâs associated w/ neg racial stereotypes. This line of looks is thought to be extraordinary b/c so many arenât used to thinking of black people as dignified. That bothers me.
You canât think of the Ralph Lauren Oak Bluffs lineâor the Black folks who regularly visit Marthaâs Vineyardâw/out thinking abt class, respectability, & abt what it means that so many are so eager to lean into this as the public representation of Blackness. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/s...
Yes! Thank goodness youâre doing this work. Was so grateful for this piece by @dkreiss.bsky.social and @shannimcg.bsky.social, but so much more needed! journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
I could be wrong, but I donât think weâve fully reckoned w/how much the Trump agenda is rooted in racial grievance. Every day, weâre seeing the full force of white identity politics in action. Wild how much of it is just taken for granted, at least from where I sit. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/a...
Some good news. ActBlue just announced major updates to crack down on deceptive fundraising. New rules ban impersonation, fake matches, and excessive spam. Big step in the right direction. Shout out to Josh Nelson and everyone who has been advocating for these changes.
On every level, what Israel is doing in Gaza is unconscionable, and people of conscience must say so.
Just under two weeks until I send my book to presses for review! Loads of new theoretical, conceptual, & empirical work on respectability as ingroup policing, & how stigmaâvia what I call perceptions of collective costsâcan disrupt solidarity and encourage punishment. Really excited abt this book!
This is very, very bad. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/u...
Power. Itâs all about power. And the GOP is willing to adopt just straight up fascism to keep power. Nothing at all is off the table, which is why it is so important that they lose power.
I am so proud of the excellent public work @adambonica.bsky.social is doing. If you havenât seen it, you should check it out. Itâs such a testament that you can be a damn good scholar and have principles that meet the moment.
Fantastic piece by @perrybaconjr.bsky.social that drills down on why so many elite institutions have given Trump what he wants. Itâs not just an appeasement strategy (bad enough on its own) but also reflects deeper reactionary tendencies among those leading these institutions.
Am Econ Assn speaks out about firing the #BLS Commish. "It is standard practice for statistical estimates to be revised as [better] data become available. These revisions reflect the commitment of statistical agencies to accuracy, transparency, and methodological rigor--not failure or bias."
Wow. A group of top scholars at Harvard just sent a letter to its president, Alan Garber, warning against surrendering to Trump. Signatories include Steven Levitsky, Dani Rodrik, Ryan Enos, Theda Skocpol, and Steven Walt. Someone forwarded it to me. Read it here:
Remember all those long-range plans? Turns out many of our âbestâ universities are deeply short-term in their thinking. May I never be such a willing accomplice in my own undoing.
Weâre hiring a junior colleague in AP @au-spa.bsky.social Please share broadly & questions can come to me! (Iâm chair!) american.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/AU/job/Main-...
This from @mayasen.bsky.social is spot on.
My respect for @mehdirhasan.bsky.social increased by several magnitudes after watching whatever the hell this was. Also reaffirmed my decision years ago to say hell no when asked to debate Charlie Kirk. Better Mehdi than me. youtu.be/2S-WJN3L5eo?...
Like so many, I loved Andrea Gibsonâs poetryâtheir vulnerability, their deep self-understanding, their way of giving the soul what it needed. This NYT eulogy by @ambertamblyn.bsky.social captures their âradical tenderness.â You should read it. And listen to Andrea. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/20/o...
oh, we have some straightforward gutter racism. âthe blacks and the browns are the reason white people canât get aheadâ www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
This govât wants us to think it can do whatever it wantsâincluding terrorize ppl to enforce a racist immigration agenda. This court says: No, you canât. Proud of our friend Mark Rosenbaum for fighting hard to make this happen. As always, heâs clear on the stakes. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/u...
Every accusation was a confession
The centerâs motto: âDEI for me and not for thee!â
Glad to see diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives thriving at the nationâs top universities.
1/ Authoritarian movements often come cloaked in legal justifications. There is even a term for it: âautocratic legalism.â Iâd argue that this is the proper context to understand âunitary executive theoryâ (UET), the engine behind Project 2025 and several recent SCOTUS rulings. Hereâs why: đ§”
Prof Skocpol making a crucial point here. The centralized police. And then the lawless quasipolice who guard the camps. Trumpâs death bill moves the US towards those two thresholds, well known from Germany in the 1930s. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/criti...
âŠ
Pretty much captures it. Too bad so many Americans have forgotten this or just don't care anymore. Let the holiday today be a reminder that we all need to channel the Americans of 1776 (flawed as they were on so many levels) and say hell no to our wannabe Mad King.
Yes. Those who wrote it were wrong about many things, but not this thing.
TLDR the Declaration of Independence: basically, fuck the kingâand fuck kings in general. FeelsâŠrelevant.
I grew up in TX & FL my family had to have SNAP & Medicaid at times. At one point we lived in subsidized housing while my grandmother worked two jobs. Helping our communities live in a safe house & be able to eat regularly is not only about human compassion, it benefits everyone in the local area.
If only the Times had standards that helped them think through the story a bit more before publishing it. But at least the social media standards are tightly policed.
100%.
Also this.
Everyone needs a course on identity. I teach twoâone undergrad, one grad. The journalists behind this piece are welcome anytime. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/n...
A hard day for those who care about justice. Sharing these words from Rev. William Barber II, whoâs long been a moral voice for the poor. âThe passage of this bill is deadly, but it is not a defeat. We must meet it with a resurrection.â
I never had to rely on SNAP, but I did volunteer for a clinic in law school that helped people get SNAP, and so got to deal with the absolutely MONSTROUS hurdles they made people jump through to be able to get these benefits they were entitled to.
Lots of political issues are complicated. I know because Iâm a professional nerd about some of them. The central tenets of contemporary GOP policy are not complicated issues. They just hurt people. Making it harder to access Medicaid and SNAP is just simply wrong.
My son with an autism spectrum disorder utilized Medicaid during early childhood development. The interventions he received enabled him to graduate highschool, get a full-time job with private health insurance, and now live independently.
Itâs so fucked up. Everything from food stamps & Medicaid to subsidized housing, Pell grants, so much moreâŠIâve benefited from it all. Those safety nets contributed to my success. I have literally defied the odds of where someone like me is supposed to be in life. Thatâs why they want it gone.
I am literally only alive to write and teach on health policy/politics because of Medicaid.
I grew up in rural South Carolina with a single mom who worked multiple jobs. At times, we relied on Medicaid and SNAPâlike so many others. My heart breaks for those now wondering if that help will still be there. Imagine having all that power and choosing to make peopleâs lives worse. Shameful.
đŁïž It wonât and *cannot* love you
LISTEN. State, private, selective, a little less selective, all of them are suspect and canât be trusted to protect their most marginalized students.
Just one more reminder that universities are not brave places. And if youâre part of a marginalized group, donât count on your interests being protected when it really matters. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/u...
New OA article (with Al-Fahm & @mjonescorrea.bsky.social) in Political Behavior: We test if Latinx Trump supporters pulled back after reminders of his anti-Latinx rhetoric. Despite expectations, support grew in 2020. Suggesting co-ethnic attacks may matter less n/1 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Wrong Hakeem; this is why my replies are off.
Read this @nytimes.com piece by @jacobhacker.bsky.social and @patrick-sullivan.bsky.social that lays out just how bad the GOP budget bill isâespecially for working-class and poor folks. âAre they the party of working people or of the rich and powerful? Legislation speaks louder than words.â
Itâs Pride wknd in SF & while Iâm being a lazy gayâwriting at homeâI figured Iâd share a little thing I teach using P.R.I.D.E. I tell students that much of what we do reflects desire for Power, Regard, Influence, Dignity & Esteem. The PRIDE-approach is key to how we think abt identity at Stanford.
But Justice Sotomayor explains lays plain the dangerous consequences of this decision.
SCOTUS just stripped judges' power to stop unconstitutional orders nationwide in a move KBJ calls "an existential threat to the rule of law" The Court has chosen a side, and it isn't the rule of law. Lower courts can't protect the Constitution because the Supreme Court won't let them.
This administration is pursuing a white supremacist projectâattacking birthright citizenship, gutting DEI, welcoming white S. Africans under the guise of âwhite genocide,â and brutalizing brown folks whoâve contributed to this country for decades. We must fight this project relentlessly.
When democracy challenges their preferred status quo, too many of these folks shamelessly turn to authoritarian tactics to overturn its outcomes. The current climate only emboldens these fascist fools. Those of us who still believe in the promise of democracy must not give up the fight!
Yup, for all the praise Harvard initially received for fighting back, they should receive magnitudes more criticism if they end up caving
This administration wants to eliminate gender studies departments while simultaneously constantly reminding us of the need for them
I hope Harvardâs administration heeds the strong case @ryanenos.bsky.social and @stevelevitsky.bsky.social make in this piece. To give in to the demands of an authoritarian government would risk the universityâs credibility and make it complicit in the erosion of American democracy.
So it turns out that young people do vote⊠if you give them a reason to!
It is frightening that the defense of basic rights and democratic self-government against the authoritarian onslaught depends so much on people who are evidently unable and/or unwilling to grasp who and what we are facing and instead just cling to signaling âbipartisanshipâ and upholding âunity.â
Levitsky: âI think of this as a mugging, so a good deal is the mugger drops his gun and goes away.â Precisely.
Itâs very very good.
Actually, this is a live Joahua Ray Walker show, and ive been introduced to his tunes tonight. Very good singer. The people are celebrating, though. And I am the people. www.joshuaraywalker.com
The people are celebrating as far as Los Angeles. Good job, NYC.
NEW YORK (AP) â Andrew Cuomo concedes New York City Democratic mayoral primary to Zohran Mamdani.
đ
Los Angeles
Some say itâs radicalâeven crazyâto demand that government do more to make peopleâs lives better. But what they donât say is this: maintaining a status quo that fails so many and renders so many disposable? Thatâs radical too. Iâm not a New Yorker, but if I were, Iâd rank Mamdani first.
It's only been about 150 days since Jan. 20. And yet there's been so much devastation to so many people. It's more important than ever for Dems to actually be a party that reflects the people it seeks to representâto be aggressively pro-democracy, anti-authoritarian, anti-corruption, anti-oligarchy.