Profile avatar
danigilbert.bsky.social
Assistant professor of political science at Northwestern, studying hostage taking in international security. Director with Bridging the Gap, contributor to Good Authority. She/her. Hiking, biking, mostly plants šŸŒ± #COYS
236 posts 3,281 followers 1,690 following
Prolific Poster

Adam Boehler, who oversaw unprecedented direct negotiations with Hamas on behalf of President Trump, withdrew his nomination as special presidential envoy for hostages affairs. My report on @axios.com www.axios.com/2025/03/15/a...

I really don't think this news has made sufficient shock waves. Dr Katherine Calvin, NASA Chief Scientist Trump-Musk just fired, is the highest ranking American on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC. She is co-chair of Working Group 3 on mitigation. This is a climate attack.

If you went to, work at, or (hope to) send your kids to university in the US, now is the time to do something, before higher ed is destroyed. Use your influence as an alum, parent, faculty to push your institutions to stand together against this onslaught. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

šŸšØ Calling all alumni of Bridging the Gap programmingā€¦ Check your email! Weā€™ve just sent you a survey, and weā€™d love your input. Let @bridgingthegap.bsky.social know if you didnā€™t receive it, and feel free to ask @miweintraub83.bsky.social & me any questions. Thanks so much in advance!!

New, from me: you were told that the threats to free speech came from wokeness. Some compared it to Maoist China. Now we are witnessing government power being used to silence dissent and censor ideas. Now we know what real society-wide chilling effects look like. šŸ§µ open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...

Tottenham till they kill me #COYS

The @nytimes.com & @haaretzcom.bsky.social reporting whatā€™s long been clear: the IDF is responsible for more hostage deaths than hostage recoveries. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/w...

Excited to share that my paper on citizen-to-citizen persuasion, co-authored with Carlos Rueda-CaĆ±Ć²n and @tjryan02.bsky.social, was just accepted at the Journal of Politics @thejop.bsky.social . Link: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... šŸ§µ

Tottenham till they kill me #COYS

Icymi: in December, I wrote on @goodauth.bsky.social about what to expect from hostage recovery policy in Trumpā€™s second term: goodauthority.org/news/us-host...

1/No one should breath easier because of auto exemption in US/Mexico/Canada tariffs. The damage to US credibility is already done. And they generate huge incentive for corruption as auto companies are over a barrel to maintain these carve outs. www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

Icymi: in December, I wrote on @goodauth.bsky.social about what to expect from hostage recovery policy in Trumpā€™s second term: goodauthority.org/news/us-host...

BREAKING: Trump tells Hamas in a new public ultimatum that he will greenlight additional Israeli military strikes on Gaza unless the group releases its remaining hostages

Every time a career lawyer is pushed out, you can assume they were told to do something illegal.

In an extraordinary display of public support, heads of state, heads of government, and foreign ministers from all over Europe and Canada are posting in support of Ukraine in response to the Oval Office meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy, and Vance.

Zelenskyy showed more courage and intestinal fortitude today than the entire Republican Party since 2016. It's shocking to see someone refuse to bend the knee and become a supplicant.

Happening right in front of us

Huge congrats to the new cohort of @goodauth.bsky.social fellows!! Welcome aboard! šŸŽ‰

We looking forward to connecting with many of you at ISA in Chicago in a few days! Please join us at the BTG reception Monday 8:00-9:00pm in the Hilton's Waldorf Room. Safe travels to those attending!

@anjalikdayal.bsky.social and I discuss the seismic moment at the United Nations this week. It's hard to convey how incredibly upending this week has been at the United Nations. But we try! www.globaldispatches.org/p/seismic-sh...

ISA friends: come to the @bridgingthegap.bsky.social reception!! šŸ‘‡šŸ‘‡

Alumni Spotlight! We love celebrating our alumniā€™s achievements! Whether you're publishing research, launching a project, or reaching a career milestone, we want to share your success. Tag us or message us your accomplishmentsā€”weā€™ll highlight them on our page!

Genuine Q for civ-mil folks: how do you reconcile civilian control of military/the president's right to choose team/"the right to be wrong", vs. avoiding hyper-politicizing the military (much less asking it to do abhorrent things)? Really asking since civ-mil folks have been eloquent on both points.

purges...

Norms & duct tape, folks. For decades, these were the only things preventing the president from acting like a Mad King or a fascist. We are learning that, in the absence of two pro-democracy parties, our laws, institutions, & the Constitution are not fit for purpose, & weā€™re all out of norms & tape.

One thing we know for sure is that the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff definitely got hired because of the color of his skin.

Pay attention to this. Replacing JAGs with loyalists enables whatever orders Trump and Hegseth issue to be interpreted as lawful.

This is very, very bad. Am working on a write-up, but letā€™s just say that firing military leaders for blatantly political reasons is wildly inappropriate; firing all the too lawyers is ominous; firing them all at the same time is a terrifying five-alarm fire

šŸšØ Trump's appointment for chairman of the joint chiefs, Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, apparently impressed him in 2018 when he wore a MAGA hat (against military regulations), and told him, "I love you, sir... I'll kill for you, sir." Purge and install loyalists... www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/u...

today in breaking laws no matter how obscure, ladies and gentlemen, the Goldwater-Nichols Act

Firing all the JAGs is very very bad

Firing all of the JAGs (Judge Advocates General)ā€”the top lawyers in each service branchā€”is just as bad as, if not worse than, firing (most of) the Joint Chiefs.

FOLLOWUP: SECDEF Hegseth also firing the CNO, the USAF Vice-Chief, and somewhat unusually and ominously to do in the same breath, the senior JAGs of the Army, Navy, and USAF

oh hell

I wrote today about Trump's declining popularity, why it matters, and related points. Plus the week's links, with @profsaunders.bsky.social @dandrezner.bsky.social @donmoyn.bsky.social @danigilbert.bsky.social @himself.bsky.social @normornstein.bsky.social and many more.

Anecdotal European stuff: I have spoken to a few Italians about the US ā€œsituationā€ lately and all are pretty much asking themselves the same question: where are the American opposition leaders? Where are Obama, Harris, Biden? Their absence is as horrifying as the acts of the current administration.

True that the silence of establishment (much less progressive) opposition leaders in a moment like this is truly exceptional in comparative context. Perhaps a function of the still-powerful yet misplaced sense of American exceptionalism that still dominates elite circles.

I am keeping a diary of daily events, as they unfold open.substack.com/pub/adamprze... It is available to everyone. I am new to Substack, so please let me know if something is wrong with the link or the file.

Trump just blamed Ukraine outright for Russiaā€™s invasion. ā€˜You shoulda never started it,ā€™ he said. What a lie, a Russian lieā€”from the President of the US.

Some personal news, as they say. Honored to be joining (in the fall) this incredible editorial team of Alex Downes @pstaniland.bsky.social @carsonaust.bsky.social @proftalmadge.bsky.social for the Cornell Studies in Security Affairs series. Join us for a panel @isanet.bsky.social in Chicago!

What are the politics behind Marc Fogelā€™s release from a Russian prison? @danigilbert.bsky.social breaks down how the Trump administrationā€™s negotiations with Russia may signal a bigger shift in U.S. policy. Read the latest: goodauthority.org/news/politic...