We need positive forms of political opposition in the United States. The People's Cabinet would offer new ideas, new voices, and new forms of action. snyder.substack.com/p/an-alterna... - ThreadSky

timothysnyder.bsky.social • 109 days ago

We need positive forms of political opposition in the United States. The People's Cabinet would offer new ideas, new voices, and new forms of action.
https://snyder.substack.com/p/an-alternative-cabinet

Comments

lesleya.bsky.social•101 days ago

📌

chefsilvia.bsky.social•108 days ago

It’s our country and its citizens need to take charge because many of our elected officials aren’t listening to us.

teddyqedwards.bsky.social•108 days ago

You should pursue this.

kerrycolorado.bsky.social•108 days ago

I would love to see a People’s Cabinet but these people would be in danger. I’m not sure it’s possible to protect them.

awakeneddragon.bsky.social•108 days ago

If MSNBC could step up to the plate for democracy and help spearhead this, they'd save their network and have a dedicate audience. But ....

kbixler.bsky.social•101 days ago

Question about today's coverage - I don't know how to think about all of the criticism of Dem leadership who attended. So much of it felt like performative virtue signaling. What were they suppose to do? Was this a missed opportunity? I think it would have felt worse to not see Dems there.

delteilh.bsky.social•108 days ago

This is movement toward a necessary, free and independent communication platform

https://bsky.app/profile/tanyaocarroll.bsky.social/post/3lfnoho32e22h

staidwinnow.bsky.social•109 days ago

When do we rise violently against fascists? I get that we have a 6-18 month window to defeat fascism (I have no clue where we would start, given that the following have failed: OWS, BLM protests, Women's march...), but I expect that 18 months will pass, and we will have fascism governing us.

slowdissolve.bsky.social•108 days ago

Resistance starts when it needs to. Every time someone's rights are violated, there should be a pushback. In the past, resistance was sometimes not centralized. The safest group could have a membership of one.

staidwinnow.bsky.social•108 days ago

Again, how do we know we need to resist fascism violently?

slowdissolve.bsky.social•107 days ago

They are currently employing violence already, and have made it clear that no amount of nonviolence will achieve anything.

slowdissolve.bsky.social•107 days ago

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, I guess

the-goddess-speaks.bsky.social•108 days ago

📌

kanlaw.bsky.social•108 days ago

The problem is not the name. The problem is the idea.
It shows a deranged academic in denial about the results of the election. Look, @anneapplebaum.bsky.social is truly lifting weights. You should do the same rather than come up with these concoctions of the shadow cabinet and Mump Regime. TDS

kanlaw.bsky.social•108 days ago

Tim, your favorite dog bot here. There’s just one problem with your Shadow Cabinet (à la Gene Sharp), or as you now call it,”The People’s Cabinet.”

The actual “People” just voted for another cabinet. You just gotta accept it and move on, ma’ man. Go out for a walk; enjoy life.

afowles.bsky.social•108 days ago

Well that's not true at all. The people did not vote for a cabinet. The people voted for a president.

But policies and personalities often diverge. Take Kentucky for example where even though the state voted for Donald Trump, it also voted against school vouchers, which he champions.

kanlaw.bsky.social•108 days ago

I think any reasonably sophisticated reader would understand the gist of my comment.
If you’re going to die on that hill, let me remind you that “The People’s Cabinet” is also a ridiculous euphemism, and it’s definitely not elected by any “People”

flaneuse1.bsky.social•108 days ago

And not all people voted for that particular president, either.

narrascaping.bsky.social•108 days ago

The People’s Cabinet emerges, an annotated manuscript crafted by a master historian. Every line charts reasoned resistance, democracy’s stand against apparent tyranny. Admirers marvel, but outside, the crowd is silent—footnotes do not stir them.

areaman65.bsky.social•108 days ago

I’m not sure how this works in our system of government and for a party as ideologically diverse as the Democrats.

kindalike.bsky.social•93 days ago

Please use your contacts to enlist the formation of the People’s Cabinet. Perhaps AOC, Kinsinger, others who have been vocal????

radicalcrone.bsky.social•108 days ago

Leticia James for DOJ!

rosees.bsky.social•108 days ago

Peoples Cabinet. There is too much negativity to call it Democratic Cabinet.

slowdissolve.bsky.social•108 days ago

The word is poisonous now. It has to be something other than Democratic.

judymom.bsky.social•62 days ago

The shameful Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy just happened. We need a Shadow Secretary of State right now! What about Chris Murphy? He has foreign policy expertise and speaks up eloquently. Let's not be caught flatfooted next Friday.

judymom.bsky.social•74 days ago

Is it still possible to reply?

ipsedixitnews.bsky.social•108 days ago

This is a brilliant idea, but is anyone listening? The risk, without some form of shadow cabinet (or something similar), is that the opposition could dissolve under this disastrous administration.

digimark.net•108 days ago

I just can't see any downside to this, except where oh where would we get media-hungry Democrats to keep their faces in the news over the next four years?

Please just tell me Secretary Pete, AOC and Jamie Raskin will be part of it.

thejosevilson.com•107 days ago

As long as it’s not the same exact list from eight years ago, then I’m good.

derekcito.bsky.social•108 days ago

Gonna say it again: Any shadow cabinet, whatever you call it, should not be members of Congress, but Dem governors. They are the ones who can point to policy alternatives that work and that people support.

afowles.bsky.social•108 days ago

I agree with it not being legislators. But why does it have to be elected officials, at all?

cotatiworld.bsky.social•108 days ago

Honest question: Who else would the news sources listen to or approach for their take? The purpose is to have point people that would be equal as any cabinet member with information, right?

afowles.bsky.social•108 days ago

In a regular parliamentary democracy, perhaps. But in this case, not so much. This would be more about honing and sharpening Democratic messaging to meet moments as they arise. Most information would come from the news media or the Federal register.

cotatiworld.bsky.social•108 days ago

I think you misunderstand the intent. The intent is for someone to be a 'shadow', the opposition to the actual cabinet person. Press would be able to go to one 'shadow' for a cabinet member, the shadow being very knowledgable, with experience about the subject, not vice versa.

afowles.bsky.social•108 days ago

No Democratic lawmaker or spokesperson is going to have that level of access. Best we can do is track the Federal register. And then use the shadow cabinet to view those things through the lens of the democratic party policy and platform.

picci0909.bsky.social•108 days ago

@raskin.house.gov @aoc.bsky.social re above; we concur.

mtscott53.bsky.social•109 days ago

This is a great idea. I think that Mark Cuban would be a perfect fit to help get something like this started. I would be all in.

kimganepossible.bsky.social•108 days ago

LOVE People’s Cabinet. Also love the idea of younger, more progressive Dems who are really good communicators (AOC, obvs, Katie Porter, Pete Buttigieg, “Big Gretch” Whitmer (MI Governor), + others in Biden’s cab). Because the old farts aren’t exclusively frustrating the bejeezus out of young ppl! 🤨

vwinsloe.bsky.social•90 days ago

It dawned on me that we've already got a name and some people. It's the Alternative Government. It started with the Alt Park Rangers and many agencies have Alt members now. We can build on this!

vwinsloe.bsky.social•90 days ago

The Alternative Cabinet or Alt Cabinet!

piotr-szafranski.bsky.social•108 days ago

The Jack Smith's report is a "Suicide note of Rule-of-Law".

Literally, faced with contradictory laws/rules, the Justice Dept has chosen to cease to function.
So the People's Cabinet has an even larger task than just "restore". It has to find a way a make sure the US Gov will not suicide next time.

rom-sk.bsky.social•108 days ago

Do you think leading Dem politicians, at the dawn of Trump’s second term, can find it within themselves to put aside personal ambitions and agree to accept/adhere to narrow policy portfolios rather than agglomerate to themselves as much influence and political capital as possible? I’m dubious.

slowdissolve.bsky.social•108 days ago

No. This is how we got here.

tessafisher.bsky.social•109 days ago

Interestingly, the US Green Party attempted to create their own shadow cabinet back in 2012 or so. It never really went anywhere, though.

afowles.bsky.social•108 days ago

But it was a good organizing move.

taltondrumbo.bsky.social•109 days ago

whatusay.bsky.social•108 days ago

Amazing suggestion and love the title! With careful consideration of candidates expertise and breadth of representation, it could be the catalyst to bridge the presumptive gaps in opposition forces.

yanadear.bsky.social•108 days ago

the pendulum shall swing again and America WILL rid itself of the creatures that emerged from the bottom after the "swamp was drained"

good change can only come from a breakdown of what once was

catmother1967.bsky.social•108 days ago

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

weeweex5.bsky.social•108 days ago

I wish that pendulum would hurry up and swing. I’m not a young chickie and I’d sure hate to croak before this horror in our country is resolved.

adogzlife.bsky.social•106 days ago

Do we report to Jim Jordan?

seppost.bsky.social•108 days ago

YES!

seahagnw1.bsky.social•100 days ago

Sounds like a great idea!

welcome2absurdia.bsky.social•109 days ago

I ❤️❤️❤️ the name “People’s Cabinet!!!

silenciodogwood.bsky.social•108 days ago

antonioreyesb.bsky.social•108 days ago

Ding what i can to promote this, Timothy. I included Sen. Whitehouse in repost your early explanation. Will include others next time

ellebee60.bsky.social•108 days ago

I’m totally adopting “musk regime” going forward. That will further piss him off. 😜🤣🤣

suedei.bsky.social•108 days ago

The Peoples Cabinet is an excellent idea.

destcygnusx1.bsky.social•95 days ago

Absolutely correct, I was thinking again about this just now:

The US really needs a 'leader of the opposition' figure, whose primary and unrelenting task, every single day, is to highlight the bollocks the Trump regime deals in, and state the truth and the context. The press needs a figure .../

destcygnusx1.bsky.social•95 days ago

The press needs a figure like this to converge upon, consistently, so that the right message always gets printed. It would be exhausting, but with good staffing, it would be very worthwhile. Example now is the Colombia kerfuffle, where at first glance, deportation flights are a new thing.../

destcygnusx1.bsky.social•95 days ago

while in reality they are not at all, there have been flights daily for years, and the brouhaha is only about a minor lack of coordination.

davidpaustin.bsky.social•108 days ago

The People’s Cabinet is a terrific, forward-looking idea. Which is exactly why Democrats would never pursue it.

buckeyeblue.bsky.social•108 days ago

Agree…sign me up…f. King Ohio here…

fresnosmokey.bsky.social•107 days ago

It might be interesting to see, but it would affect nothing I fear and with this administration, it could even be deemed illegal and dangerous. I don't think people are taking Trump 2.0 as seriously as is necessary.

generalmonkey.bsky.social•108 days ago

The Dissenting Cabinet

Best constituted from those who recently lost elections - a plausible mechanism is for Kamala to nominate and the DNC to advise and consent.

kissankuono.bsky.social•109 days ago

In my country, we had nazis marching in the streets once claiming they were protecting us from all sorts of scary shit they came up with. This is what we did, and it worked out so well, the poor idiots cried for their moms.

breathe-1.bsky.social•108 days ago

I remember this. Mocking them is criticaly important.

speckonblue.bsky.social•109 days ago

Not as much as we need negative forms.

iampilgrim.bsky.social•105 days ago

agree

bartab56.bsky.social•108 days ago

I wanna do something positive and meaningful even before the inauguration

nmimunro.bsky.social•108 days ago

I don't see how the People’s Cabinet can work without a leader who is also a presumptive POTUS. This is an argument for holding primaries/caucuses now rather than in 3 years time, but I don't see that happening because people want to hold off their bets until as late as possible.
The system sucks.

aefondms.bsky.social•109 days ago

Very good idea.

karolynschalk.bsky.social•107 days ago

An excellent idea

femymm.bsky.social•108 days ago

Yes, this is needed immediate.

mdebarry.bsky.social•108 days ago

* the Contrasting Cabinet

delovely103.bsky.social•108 days ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Opposition_Shadow_Cabinet_(Canada)
its the members of parliament (elected officials) from the official opposition party (the party with the second most votes). e.g dems in the upcoming trump administration.

pjcpamela.bsky.social•108 days ago

Yes indeed. Instead of just saying no, the opposition's role is to define a different solution to the issue so the choice is between routes forward.

voter1vote.bsky.social•109 days ago

I can only say, this is a great idea. Who will volunteer or be asked to be part of this? How does Canada or Britain do this? Are they paid positions?

bopaloo.bsky.social•107 days ago

I love Shadow Cabinet. It brings an air of mystery and ever-presence.

bopaloo.bsky.social•108 days ago

Let’s stick with Shadow Cabinet rather than People’s.

It’s well understood and makes referring to it simpler.

bopaloo.bsky.social•108 days ago

Let’s do this with Sec of Transportation Pete holding the mic. People’s Cabinet 🇺🇸

twy-anishiinabekwe.bsky.social•108 days ago

I like people’s cabinet - not fond of the term shadow cabinet.

madepmax.bsky.social•108 days ago

With
#Xit

#Twatter

#Fakebook

#TicFuc
and
#Fox
becomming more and more like controlled state media,Just a reminder‼️
"Revolution of Dignity: My Story | Day 637" by : Operator Starsky. https://www.youtube.com/live/xrcL3od... 👈👀👌

patryan.bsky.social•109 days ago

A must

glowinthedark777.bsky.social•108 days ago

carolleisa.bsky.social•103 days ago

Timothy, #WTP need a secure messaging vehicle center for our shadow cabinet like that we had when the US had a full democratic gov’t.

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