Terminal incoherence
Lincoln Project and Resolute Square founder. Ad-maker. NYT #1 Bestselling author. Instrument-rated pilot. Beechcraft driver. TheRickWilson.Substack.com
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Terminal incoherence
The Trump administration is undertaking an unprecedented strategy to try to undermine our elections. They are doing so by rewriting election rules, targeting election officials, supporting election deniers, and retreating from protecting voting rights. bit.ly/4l1lUPP
Trump Goes to Hell: my latest piece for Lincoln Square. It's not quite a novella in length, but it's a long read and a fun trip to the Bad Place. www.lincolnsquare.media/p/trump-goes...
People are misreading him when they say he’s going to appeal Trump voters by *avoiding* “culture war” issues. He just doesn’t want to debate them because, to him, there’s no debate.
I spent two days with Platner and, as you’ll read, was as impressed by his theory of power as I was by his policies. I think it’s FAR more important than the “how do you talk to Trump voters” question.
This story has it all: aquaculture, Black Flag, Bernie Sanders, Star Trek as policy, John Hodgman, male tears, and a candidate citing Luthen’s monologue from Andor. Meet Graham Platner, the Maine oysterman trying to crack the senate. @grahamformaine.bsky.social newrepublic.com/article/1996...
Welcome the the Friday Brief for August 29, 2025! Inside: The Forever Presidency RIP Freedom Caucus Trump Is Dying. Vance Knows. The Socialist States of Trumpmerica The War on Greenland Early Warning Signs for MAGA Flag Burning Is Protected Speech open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
If the Democratic Party intends to win this fight, it must stop functioning solely as a party & instead step into its moment in history: to lead a pro-democracy movement capable of confronting this authoritarian threat. https://www.lincolnsquare.media/p/stand-up-america-the-time-for-a-pro?r=2lckc
Pretending not to hear the whole room chanting “shame” at her is the most Susan Collins things ever
BREAKING: In Atlanta, GOP operatives are trying to strong-arm Fulton County into installing two far-right activists on Georgia’s LARGEST elections board Both have ties to the national voter suppression machine & a record of undermining confidence in our elections This can't fly under the radar
My column this week makes the case for Colorado (or any state) to join other blue states to combat red state gerrymandering. My main takeaway? Be a part of the fight or be "complicit in the anti-democratic national outcome." coloradosun.com/2025/08/24/r...
This weekend showed that JD Vance (R-Waiting For Trump To Die) is just as willing to simp for Vladimir Putin as Trump is. open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
We did not put John Bolton’s name in the headline for a reason. It’s not about him, per se; it’s about the numerous people who Trump wants the government to destroy because they hurt Trump’s feelings www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
In today's least-shocking news that we all knew before, Fox staff and producers all along the election wasn't stolen in 2020 and lied for ratings. www.mediaite.com/media/tv/fac...
Texas last night. They locked a representative in the building, they arrested those who stood up for her. We are here at the point in the fascist timeline where lawmakers are arrested, kidnapped, silenced, shot, threatened and abused. Yet there are still people who think it’s normal.
Putin told him to do this. That’s a very important piece of the story. Im not kidding. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
This stripe for example... should be straight. If I were the SECDEF and sober, I'd be upset.
Real American Presidents vs. Trump What American Presidents worth the name would say today. open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
I wrote about the disaster in Alaska: America, Humiliated Trump's Alaska Disaster Was Worse Than You Think open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
Watching Rubio flail and twitch on Face The Nation defending Russia and pretending that both sides of the war are morally equivalent is the work of a man desperate to be President when Trump is gone and terrified of offending the pro-Putin MAGA base.
The Putin festival in Alaska wasn't just a humiliation for Trump. He humiliated America in the process. open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
The Dems need to stop this "When it's all over, we'll be remembered as the ones who followed the rules" stuff, because that's how the British army had their asses handed to them in the Revolution. The followed the rules of war. The Colonists ambushed them from trees. We need to be Colonists.
i’m a believer in something @therickwilson.bsky.social said recently, which was basically “if they take 5 seats of ours, we take 10 of theirs.” there needs to be pain when they pull this shit.
Analysis | Smartmatic should drop its case against Fox News given that many of the people it accuses of fraud were hired away to work for the federal government.
Coming up on @morningjoe-msnbc.bsky.social!
Out of the blue, Trump called the Norwegian finance minister to ask when he would get the Nobel prize suggesting he would impose tariffs if he did not www.dn.no/politikk/fre...
Um. Are any corporate media outlets covering this Newsom presser?
Join us in 15 minutes! @therickwilson.bsky.social is joined by Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez today at 1:30 pm ET. The State Senator will give us an insider’s look into the fight to stop the #TXLege from redistricting the state and cheating in the mid-terms open.substack.com/live-stream/...
Hunter Biden to Melania: Bring it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs9v...
Neville Trump Meets His Master In Alaska open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
A -34 point swing on your top issue / one of your top two issues… Not good, even if you’re in Trumpworld with the utmost confidence in his ability to defy political gravity for a decade+
REMINDER: Over half the #MAGAMurderBill's healthcare carnage will kick in BEFORE the midterms...and a lot of it will hit less than 5 months from now: acasignups.net/25/07/30/hea...
The entire editorial is pathetic, milquetoast slop. In addition to ceding Trump's bullshit crime narrative, there's nothing about norms, race, Trump's threats to send troops into other cities, or his stated intent to impose his will on blue cities. The only criticism is that it probably won't work.
Our "Trump Not Like Us" ad is profiled here: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/m...
Correct.
pssst...have you seen our new quick-guides for talking about science to your friends and family? #31daysofaction
4 new quick-guides to help you help your friends and fam STAND UP FOR SCIENCE and protect democracy www.standupforscience.net/activate-eng... www.standupforscience.net/inform-activ... www.standupforscience.net/team-science www.standupforscience.net/calling-values @standupforscience.bsky.social
President Miller in action.
No, really? You don't SAY. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/u...
GOP lawmakers pressured by ex-colleague to put 'Pam Bondi under oath' as walls close in https://twp.ai/4ip6En
Virginia Giuffre’s brother: Calling it a hoax is a complete disgrace to everything that my sister has worked for, everything these survivors have worked for and continue to fight for… And that feels very uncompassionate coming from somebody that’s the leader of our country.
"We're all throwing dildos at women athletes to promote our memecoin" really puts a fine point on not just how sexist, mean and stupid so much of right now is, but also the grim degree to which we're just inundated with Stuff a 15-Year-Old Dipshit Would Think is Cool. A confederacy of Beavises.
EXCLUSIVE: @timmiller.bsky.social spoke to Andry as he shared his journey through U.S. detention that led to imprisonment in El Salvador. He speaks about abuse, survival, and rebuilding his life through faith and his hope for the future. Watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ySs...
www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...
Pride and honor are absent with quarterly earnings are all that matters. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Trump's tired old attempts at distracting from the Epstein/Maxwell scandal are failing:
interesting how some tech bros claim college is overrated and people should drop out but “Ph.D level” is a marker of expertise
Oversight Republicans are demanding to speak with the Clintons, James Comey, and Eric Holder about Jeffrey Epstein. Not subpoenaed: Alex Acosta — the U.S. attorney who made the 'sweetheart' non-prosecution agreement with Epstein. Acosta was Trump's first term Labor Secretary.
open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
His wife, The Marvelous Mrs. Measles, must be so proud!
This is the way.
😳
We've launched a souped-up version of the Litigation Tracker on Legal Challenges to Trump Administration actions. Now includes overall totals of court outcomes and status of every case. The Table is also sortable by Case Status. Open public resource for any and all interested in U.S. litigation.
We’ve never been closer to finding a potential cure for cancer than we were with mRNA. So of course, RFK Jr. cancelled all government funding for mRNA. God fucking damn it.
Sadly prescient reporting from May on mRNA vaccines (a Nobel prize winning technology) being maligned by the administration. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
In the early 2000s, I worked in countries where democracy was fragile, new, or still just an idea. We didn’t talk about “election years” or “get out the vote.” We talked about survival Strategy. Coalition Courage We didn’t always win. But we learned what worked open.substack.com/pub/trygveol...
“Mr. President, many of your detractors say you can’t fly. What is your response to them?”
Silicon Valley has shifted into its A.I. age and the signs are everywhere. The tech has become harder, the perks are fewer and the mood has turned more serious.
The most dangerous thing about drone swarming isn’t the tech — it’s the assumption that the capability already exists. warontherocks.com/20...
This isn't justice. This is one monster helping out another.
Trump has no way out of the Epstein problem; he can either continue to stonewall, which makes him look guilty, or he can release everything, which may make him look even guiltier. https://trib.al/7K8Q9eZ
BREAKING: I am suing the Department of Justice for the training videos instructing FBI personnel to flag mentions of Donald Trump in the Epstein files. My latest: www.muellershewrote.com/p/i-am-suing...
open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
The Friday Brief, August 1, 2025 Inside: The Heat A White House Press Release Maggie On Trump’s Epstein Problem Trump and the One-Eyed God Death of Democracy Promotion Faster, Please Radioactive Wasps The Ugly American, 2025 Bessent Slips Josh Hawley, Meet ETTD open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
A football field is 57,600 square feet.
Wait’ll 24 million Americans get their ACA exchange renewal notices from their insurance carriers in October.
Ask him Epstein questions every single day.
Straight out of Trump’s playbook: deny, deflect, repeat. Ryan Walters is blaming the state’s Republican governor. The fact is, folks saw what they saw. 📌 Oklahoma Superintendent responds to claims that nudity was shown on screen in his office during a meeting, calling allegations an “outright lie”
Trump's attacking Josh Hawley for standing up to him. MAGA, ask yourself why Trump's attacking one of his own just because they want to ban congressional stock trading? Trump isn't better than the swamp, Trump IS the swamp, and Josh Hawley knows it.
pedocon theory hits the mainstream; voters believe Trump was involved in the crimes allegedly committed by Epstein by a 14-point margin, 46-32
The Redistricting Arms Race open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
Gonna be on CBC 🇨🇦 📺 tonight circa 6pm et to discuss the ongoing rampaging Trump Epstein debacle, come say hi, Canadian comrades 🍁
The other context to that video of Trump cheating is all his trolls posted the same line about how virile he is. I made funny of Benny (for him, posting about Trump and long metal things is openly homoerotic), and the trolls just came after me.
I thought he said he would fix this on Day One?!?
Washington Post Editorial: Hitler doing great job with making the trains run on time.
Meanwhile over at the Washington Post, Bezos' remake of the editorial page is underway.
Satan doesn’t want his Trump files released.
We've moved on to the "Pardoning Child Sex Predator" stage of the Trump Administration. Cool. Cool. Now, MAGA = "Maxwell Always Getting Absolved" www.alternet.org/msn-uk/trump...
Satan Sues Paramount Over South Park substack.com/profile/2770...
As one does, I suppose.
mindless engagement chasing at impossible scale by opportunistic sociopaths + the complete obliteration of all federal consumer protection = bad outcomes
Oh no…that’s…terrible. www.rawstory.com/gabbard-bond...
open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
Whoopsie
I can think of 2 times when leading U.S. officials fled Washington in a panic: August 1814: British forces briefly capture the capital and set fire to government buildings. July 2025: Republicans fear they'll have to vote on the Epstein files, so they adjourn early and run for the hills.
www.huffpost.com/entry/lincol...
Special Weather Statement issued July 23 at 7:34PM EDT by NWS Tallahassee FL Additional Details Here.
To be clear, this now a massive cover up involving the President, the Attorney General, the FBI Director, and the GOP Congress.
Well, some things revert to the mean.
We’re all trying to find the guy who did this
How Ghislaine Maxwell Dies open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
I wrote “Sundown in Montana” as an imagined meeting between JD Vance, and the Murdochs as they plot to overthrow Donald Trump. A little short fiction for your reading pleasure. open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
Beep beep boop boop
Migrants at Ice jail in Miami made to kneel to eat ‘like dogs’, report alleges. Incident in which migrants were shackled with hands tied of one succession of alleged abuses at jails in Florida. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Something I am thinking a lot about is the risk posed by the large concentration of pro-democracy media on Substack. On the one hand, it facilitates those outlets growth, which is important. On the other, it’s clear their investors are looking to maximize money and an eventual exit.
What if J.D Vance and Rupert Murdoch conspired to take out Trump? Short fiction for your reading pleasure. open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
THe GOP - always trying to separate YOU from your right AND duty to vote. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...