aselrod.bsky.social
President & CEO, Pulaski Institution. Columnist, Arc Digital. Contributing Editor, Liberal Currents. Teaching, Arkansas State-Beebe
Other words: MSNBC, Foreign Policy, The Bulwark, Salon, UnPopulist
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The subtext here, insomuch as you can call it subtext, is that the law can act arbitrarily so long as it’s acting against opponents of the regime. It’s the *opposition* that is pretext.
bsky.app/profile/bria...
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The scale of the No Kings protests has to be sustained for the next 3 and a half years.
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The subtext here, insomuch as you can call it subtext, is that the law can act arbitrarily so long as it’s acting against opponents of the regime. It’s the *opposition* that is pretext.
bsky.app/profile/bria...
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And it makes the aforementioned blowups in blue cities all the more likely. Which, again, is what they want.
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They’re going to keep using this sort of strategic ambiguity to perpetrate authoritarian crackdowns and lock up anyone they want
bsky.app/profile/bria...
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“I’m sure these men wouldn’t do anything to dishonor the elementary school pickup line…”
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I think ICE raids during voting will happen
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Setting elections aside, they also very clearly want an excuse to subdue—or “liberate”—America’s cities, which they see as bastions of liberalism and opposition.
bsky.app/profile/asel...
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Setting elections aside, they also very clearly want an excuse to subdue—or “liberate”—America’s cities, which they see as bastions of liberalism and opposition.
bsky.app/profile/asel...
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I have started thinking a lot about what the worse-case end of the spectrum looks like for 2026. And I’m not at all sure what the best path is.
One thing is they won’t “declare martial law.” But you’ll very likely see an increase in ICE operations in places they want to disrupt.
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You can’t call that conspiracy mongering when Rep. McIver is being indicted and Senator Padilla was forced to the ground and cuffed.
Noem said explicitly they want to liberate places from Dem governance. Why should we expect they’ll tolerate losing the House?
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Moreover, I do expect this kind of create combustibility then arrest people who get in their way approach to be used intentionally in the midterms.
Wait until 2026 when you have Dems threatening to flip key seats in CA, WI, NY, TX. They’ll probably find a way to arrest one of them.
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Hochul has already commented bsky.app/profile/rebe...
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You can’t call that conspiracy mongering when Rep. McIver is being indicted and Senator Padilla was forced to the ground and cuffed.
Noem said explicitly they want to liberate places from Dem governance. Why should we expect they’ll tolerate losing the House?
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Moreover, I do expect this kind of create combustibility then arrest people who get in their way approach to be used intentionally in the midterms.
Wait until 2026 when you have Dems threatening to flip key seats in CA, WI, NY, TX. They’ll probably find a way to arrest one of them.
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This is competitive authoritarianism plain and simple.
I think we should expect ICE to continue provoking confrontations by operating in masks, refusing to show warrants or IDs, and treating elected officials like rowdy protesters.
We are gonna see more Dems in handcuffs.
bsky.app/profile/moll...
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This is competitive authoritarianism plain and simple.
I think we should expect ICE to continue provoking confrontations by operating in masks, refusing to show warrants or IDs, and treating elected officials like rowdy protesters.
We are gonna see more Dems in handcuffs.
bsky.app/profile/moll...
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And it means the midterms will be harder. They are going to arrest more elected Democrats. They will almost certainly arrest candidates in 2026.
Our best hope is to mobilize the sort of mass opposition and outrage we saw this past weekend at #NoKings rallies across America.
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We aren’t entering or approaching competitive authoritarianism. It’s fully here.
McIver, Baraka, Padilla, Lander.
The use of state power to muzzle and even jail the opposition is officially here. The U.S. is a competitive authoritarian system now.
It’s reversible! But the midterms are crucial.
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And it means the midterms will be harder. They are going to arrest more elected Democrats. They will almost certainly arrest candidates in 2026.
Our best hope is to mobilize the sort of mass opposition and outrage we saw this past weekend at #NoKings rallies across America.
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We aren’t entering or approaching competitive authoritarianism. It’s fully here.
McIver, Baraka, Padilla, Lander.
The use of state power to muzzle and even jail the opposition is officially here. The U.S. is a competitive authoritarian system now.
It’s reversible! But the midterms are crucial.
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As I was saying bsky.app/profile/asel...
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I would like to report an assault
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They're really going with "Israel's bombing of Iran is in response to the Babylonian Captivity under Nebuchadrezzar II."