tomwhalen.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

I wrote about how Trump is destroying American democracy, along with eight crucial lessons about how to counteract it, drawing on my 14 years of studying brave pro-democracy opposition movements in authoritarian regimes across the globe. We’re in serious trouble, but there’s still hope.

submitted 4 days ago • 34 comments

Donald Trump was the first president in a century to preside over net jobs loss during his first term and unsurprisingly he's picking right up where he left off. Congrats, America.

submitted 4 days ago • 225 comments

The Supreme Court decision should have been 9-0. The fact it was 5-4 reveals how utterly compromised the bench is in favor of right-wing authoritarianism.

submitted 4 days ago • 698 comments

You don’t, in fact, gotta hand it to the authoritarian felon sex abuser who’s killing American democracy, wrecking the economy, and alienating 100% of our allies

submitted 5 days ago • 35 comments

One of our best security experts sums it up:

submitted 5 days ago • 80 comments

Steve Levitsky gives the canonical answer about whether defending democracy is the right answer electorally for Democrats - that can't be the question. Society has to defend democracy and the Constitution, or they could cease to exist. nymag.com/intelligence...

submitted 6 days ago • 24 comments

Just making sure everyone saw what the former Social Security Administrator told CNBC on Saturday...

submitted 7 days ago • 239 comments

Donald Trump has disgraced the United States of America in countless ways since he first entered political life ten years ago. But he had never disgraced the nation as badly as he did today. He has brought shame on this country to an extent I had never thought possible. And he has only just begun.

submitted 9 days ago • 2264 comments

In any other era, the Secretary of Defense threatening to invade an ally and one of our largest trade partners would be front page news for days. It’s not even the stupidest, most reckless thing this administration has done this afternoon. apple.news/AG-YEzrFtQlG...

submitted 9 days ago • 58 comments

“We may never know why Trump is so perversely loyal to Putin,” and “we don't know exactly why Musk went all in for Trump and Russia,” Garry Kasparov writes. “But the urgency of their actions I do understand, and it's a dire warning”:

submitted 9 days ago • 26 comments

“There is a growing fear now that Donald Trump is poised to take an American economy that was the envy of the world—strong and stable just months ago—and drive into the ground,” says @chrislhayes.bsky.social.

submitted 10 days ago • 102 comments

It’s a good thing Trump isn’t a Russian agent. Because imagine how differently he’d be behaving if he were one

submitted 11 days ago • 17 comments

We’re witnessing a Brexit-level instance of completely unnecessary economic destruction. A country that’s not hit by any shock, but simply chooses policy self-harm.

submitted 11 days ago • 156 comments

@theatlantic.com asked every GOP member of Congress two straightforward questions: Did Russia invade Ukraine? And is Putin a dictator? A few said yes; one responded with an interaction with a chatbot; most didn’t respond at all.

submitted 11 days ago • 22 comments

Truly incredible how Americans can go to the polls, choose a bunch of incompetent jerks to run the country, then immediately recognize "welp everything's gonna suck now." I dunno, maybe don't choose the incompetent jerks next time? Just sayin.

submitted 12 days ago • 152 comments

You know… Congress and the senate could always pass resolutions calling Russia the aggressor, supporting NATO and calling for a Ukraine victory. Just sayin…. Stop tweeting start forcing.

submitted 13 days ago • 371 comments

The United States just voted against a United Nations resolution condemning Russia for invading Ukraine. The US sided with Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and the Grand Ayatollah of Iran.

submitted 13 days ago • 832 comments

Gregg is a former Marine and Forest Service ranger. He's saved the lives of hikers dangling off a cliff or going through cardiac arrest, and he's bravely fought forest fires to save small rural towns. 100% of his salary is paid by WA state. Elon fired him. Share his story.

submitted 14 days ago • 581 comments

Get. Him. Out. Of. Our. Government.

submitted 15 days ago • 2870 comments

Blaming Ukraine for being brutally invaded by Russia. Putin is really getting his money’s worth.

submitted 19 days ago • 172 comments

The impending Trump sell-out of Ukraine has no basis in any genuine US interest. Pro-Trump foreign-policy "realism" (so called) is a corrupt exercise in confecting excuses for a disgrace and disaster based entirely on the shadowy and sinister Trump-Putin connection.

submitted 20 days ago • 42 comments

There wasn’t a groundswell of popular opinion to change this. It wasn’t a heartfelt issue. It’s a loyalty test, pure and simple: can I get you to say something silly to demonstrate your submission to my every whim? Apparently the answer, for many people, is yes.

submitted 23 days ago • 26 comments

This is what complete lack of self-awareness looks like.

submitted 27 days ago • 6 comments

This is as good a summary as any of Trump's approach to government: it's awful and I don't know anything about it

submitted 28 days ago • 55 comments

@raskin.house.gov: "Mexico said they were gonna put 10k troops on the border-- they already had 15k troops on the border! ... He just likes a lot of razzle dazzle and noise, but the leaders of the world are laughing at him. And we can recognize what a fraudulent pretense this whole thing was."

submitted 33 days ago • 578 comments

The international community is booing the US national anthem, the vast majority of fentanyl comes in via US citizens, and the Biden administration secured the same deal of 10,000 border troops in 2021 without plunging the country (and markets) into chaos. But sure, great work 👍

submitted 34 days ago • 383 comments

Canadian MP Charlie Angus: Our beloved Canada is under threat. The threat comes from the president of the US—a convicted felon and known predator. But the threat is also being driven by the hate algorithms of oligarchs like Elon Musk….

submitted 37 days ago • 1010 comments

Canadians booing the U.S. national anthem isn’t something I ever thought I’d see, but this is what happens when you let a psychopath criminal with isolationist and protectionist policies back into the White House.

submitted 36 days ago • 1170 comments

Compared with any other major country, the United States has been extremely fortunate in its two immediate neighbors, Canada and Mexico. Now, incredibly, it is declaring economic war on both of them. This is a war no one can win, and from which tens of millions will lose. This is insanity.

submitted 36 days ago • 193 comments

"Govt is important. We need it to regulate a whole range of things. When it fails in those functions, people die. That Trump is indifferent to his responsibilities & incompetent means we can expect more deadly accidents in every aspect of society regulated by the federal govt — which is all of them"

submitted 37 days ago • 124 comments

After initially encouraging FAA officials to resign, even after the crash, OPM now saying that they are not eligible for the offer. Gives you a sense of how serious these offers are. TChanged on a whim, whenever Trump discovers that federal employees do real work. wtop.com/national/202...

submitted 37 days ago • 24 comments

at public notice, wrote about how trump rushed to gut the FAA, and how his only response to tragedy is hate. www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-dca-...

submitted 38 days ago • 18 comments

The Tragic and the Vile Fair warning: Today’s newsletter will be snark-free, but loaded with disgust for our vile un-president and his gang of loathsome lickspittles. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

submitted 38 days ago • 33 comments

It’s very easy for authoritarian populists to break things. It’s very hard for them to govern. Democrats should demand they govern—and relentlessly skewer them when they don’t do so effectively, which is inevitable. That’s the way forward.

submitted 40 days ago • 5 comments

Dude. I'm Pissed. youtube.com/shorts/zBYoY...

submitted 43 days ago • 1891 comments

Congrats. You played yourself.

submitted 44 days ago • 490 comments

The Mump Oligarchy – A Glossary 1/10. Mump regime. Musk plus Trump. Mu...mp. The real centibillionaire and the fake rich person in the proper order.

submitted 71 days ago • 104 comments

What to call this thing that is coming to America in a month? The Mump Regime. snyder.substack.com/p/the-mump-r...

submitted 80 days ago • 61 comments