Birch Smith

@birchsmith.bsky.social

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Posts

Philosophy PhD student, working on the role of social and political epistemology in the future of liberal democracy.

Read my public philosophy here: https://discoursemachine.beehiiv.com/

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Birch Smith

This means the discourse on Project 2025 is having an effect. Every media outlet should hammer this. Biden ads and other Democrat ads should flash highlights from Project 2025 with scary voice-overs.

Today in "Trump didn't write this, someone on his campaign staff did." I don't know if Kellyanne Conway is working for Trump these days but this feels more like her style, voice, and syntax than Trump or those posting on his behalf recently.

I think what I've landed on is basically: there's a worthwhile internal conversation to be had about whether Biden is capable of campaigning effectively, it would be bad to *lie* about his age or performance, but it's disgraceful that "old man is old" is wall-to-wall news over stuff like this.

In case you're curious where the Heritage Foundation's warning that we were in the midst of a "second American revolution" that would only remain "bloodless" if the left allowed it to be ran... page 20

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Birch Smith

I am going to keep resharing this because everyone needs to know about what the GOP will do if they win this election.

Heritage Foundation president celebrates Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling: "We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be" www.mediamatters.org/project-2025...

Heritage Foundation president celebrates Supreme Court immunity decision: "We are in the process of the second American Revolution"www.mediamatters.org

I walked out of an air conditioned building and my sunglasses immediately fogged up, if you wanna know how the weather in DC is going

Also I have to do a mea culpa because I failed to properly apply my greatest skill: I was insufficiently cynical to predict how bad the immunity decision turned out to be. I promise to be better next time. I'm already hard at work in the contempt gym developing an even worse opinion of some people.

It's ok for Presidents to do crimes now (as long as they use their core powers), and the Heritage Foundation sure knows what it wants to do with that. Plus, can we know what will actually move undecided voters? Listen, share, and subscribe to Discourse Machine. open.spotify.com/episode/1CBH...

SCOTUS Has a Blank Check, Writes Trump's Nameopen.spotify.com Listen to this episode from Discourse Machine on Spotify. This week, Birch and Dan discuss the fallout from Biden's debate performance and once again, terrible SCOTUS rulings. Join us for a rousing ta...

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Birch Smith

The public is not responding to the debate. They are responding to the irresponsible media coverage of the debate. We are back in “but her emails” territory and there is nothing reasonable people—and actual experts—can do about it. Extraordinarily frustrating and depressing.

My darker impulse: if we're going to switch to Harris (unlikely I think, but what do I know about internal party stuff) I think it's gotta be to go full prosecutor mode and just hammer Trump on the crimes and the democracy stuff. If the electorate won't respond to *that*, let them be damned.

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Birch Smith

what left and the right both understand is that we are approaching a moment of constitutional rupture. what the right understands and the left does not is that extraconstitutional violence is not some magic "i win" button. rather the rupture will proceed through the forms and orders of american law.

Heritage Foundation president celebrates Supreme Court immunity decision: "We are in the process of the second American Revolution"www.mediamatters.org

Co-sign

"politics would be interesting again" they shouldn't be

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Birch Smith

Gonna have to reform the curricula a bit. Conlaw is now part of American History. Soviet studies is run by the law school. Journalism is now a minor in sport studies. Computer science is run by the business school, contains no programming, and business majors are dualed with "creative fiction"

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Birch Smith

Honestly still in shock that the most crooked American President in history said "I need immunity" and the GOP Supreme Court said "well, it's nowhere in the constitution, but sure, why not? Whats the worst that could happen?"

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Birch Smith

We are faced with deranged right-wing extremists eager to violently bring about a reign of Christofascist terror, and while we can stop them, we need to start raising the alarm among every sane person we know.

These fuckers really thinking they're bringing about Revelations

Heritage Foundation president celebrates Supreme Court immunity decision: "We are in the process of the second American Revolution"www.mediamatters.org

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Birch Smith

A decision of surpassing recklessness in dangerous times, with @qjurecic.bsky.social: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/a-de...

A Decision of Surpassing Recklessness in Dangerous Timeswww.lawfaremedia.org The Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States would have been wrong and dangerous at any time. It’s uncommonly so with Trump poised to retake power.

it is undignified to take a victory lap it is undignified to take a victory lap it is undignified to take a victory lap it is undignified to take a victory lap it is undignified to take a victory lap it is undignified to take a victory lap it is undignifi discoursemachine.beehiiv.com/p/election-m...

CNN's new poll doesn't establish some failsafe alternative to Biden for Democrats. But it does run against the twin ideas that the debate itself doomed Biden and that Harris isn't a viable alternative. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Analysis | A new national poll turns post-debate conventional wisdom on its headwww.washingtonpost.com As always, though, we should be cautious about reading too much into one poll.

When an election matters so much that nothing mattersdiscoursemachine.beehiiv.com "Joe Biden is old" is table stakes.

Unchanged from last poll, you say? *I become somewhat more insufferable to my friends* discoursemachine.beehiiv.com/p/election-m...

This is unchanged from their last poll, for the record.

When an election matters so much that nothing mattersdiscoursemachine.beehiiv.com "Joe Biden is old" is table stakes.

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Birch Smith

along similar lines, has anyone actually explained *why* the seal team six hypo is ruled out by the majority opinion? all I've seen is right-leaning law profs mocking everyone who raises the issue. but nobody has explained why a president wouldn't be immune for assassinating a rival

Checking on prominent originalists on the other site, I can't find one who has criticized yesterday's anti-textualist immunity opinion. All have tweeted on other topics. Here are the reactions: Mocks dissent: Barnett Silence: Baude, Green, McGinnis, Rappaport, Sachs, Whittington

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Birch Smith

Right-wing legal talking heads are focusing on arguing that it is RIDICULOUS to say that a second-term Trump will be empowered by immunity to do horrific things, while carefully preparing to argue in seven months that it is RIGHT that Trump do horrific things which aren’t actually horrific anyway.

oh my GOD

People who really love (insert a great, policy-focused Dem governor here) have got to reckon with the fact that we are a very special Type Of Guy, and loads of voters living in PA have no real concrete idea who Whitmer is (vice versa for MI voters and Shapiro, etc).

super interesting to me that Harris doesn’t just do better than Biden here but does better than most of the floated alternatives www.cnn.com/2024/07/02/p...

CNN Poll: Most voters think Democrats have a better chance of keeping White House if Biden isn’t the nominee | CNN Politicswww.cnn.com Three-quarters of US voters say the Democratic Party would have a better shot at holding the presidency in 2024 with someone other than President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, according to a new...

My concern is not with Kamala, it's with an accumulation of silly stuff like "a local campaign office accidentally spent their lawn sign funds on lawn signs that had the wrong set of names" and "a low level incoming Harris/X staffer assumed an outgoing Biden/Harris staffer had done Y important task"

This, for now, is my basic position. Plus, maybe I'm too pessimistic but I am also unconvinced that the party as an institution is agile enough to swap candidates, bring in a new VP, and (re)form a functioning ground game without stepping on infinite rakes and lighting their pants on fire somehow.

Harris may poll better against Trump, but it doesn’t matter if Heritage can ensure she isn’t on the ballot in states where the filing deadline is passed.

I would also like to go on record that this is bad

for the record i think it's bad we're an elective (for now) monarchy

This is a great example of how bad the immunity decision is: Trump is trying to claim that, e.g., phone calls and *social media posts* are officials acts, and SCOTUS doesn't allow officials acts to be used as *evidence.* Impossible to overstate how lawless and disastrous that ruling was/will be.

NEW: Here is the Trump team's pre-motion letter on why, in their view, the Supreme Court's immunity decision means Judge Merchan should set aside the NY verdict (via Frank G. Runyeon, Law360) s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24...

I'll fess up to being one of the cautious sorts who was pretty uncomfortable with court packing or other norm-violating sorts of things, because it's hard to see where that cycle stops or what it can't justify. The recent SCOTUS decisions + this argument is probably the tipping point for me.

Hey its me! I'm in @liberalcurrents.com talking about why judicial review is essential to democracy and that's WHY we need to pack the Court

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Birch Smith

The Constitution says that in cases of impeachment, "the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law." It does not except the president. But what impeachable offenses aren't covered by the new doctrine of immunity?

Great piece (Jamelle's done it again)

i think we should see the Trump v. United States ruling as a group of Republican apparatchiks taking their opportunity to vindicate Nixon and write the unitary executive into the Constitution. www.nytimes.com/2024/07/02/o...

Opinion | Your Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card Is Ready, Sirwww.nytimes.com The Nixonian theory of presidential power is now enshrined as constitutional law.

discoursemachine.beehiiv.com/p/election-m...