Assistant to the Professor

@darinself.bsky.social

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Assistant Professor of Political Science -- Researching democratization, autocratic regime durability, the military, and political parties. Unsure of what to post on BlueSky when its cloudy outside.

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Assistant to the Professor

Personnel is policy — particularly when your campaign assiduously avoids policy and your past and your future personnel is publicly endorsing robust policy proposals. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Analysis | The impossibility of separating Trump from Project 2025www.washingtonpost.com The Heritage Foundation’s playbook isn’t the campaign’s. But Trump’s relegation of policy to staff makes the document an important preview of a second term.

Well that sure seems credible

The 2024 Republican convention platform that aides to Donald Trump have drafted stops short of explicitly calling for a constitutional amendment to give embryos or fetuses constitutional rights and does not call for any national bans on abortion, confirming the concerns of antiabortion activists.

Trump proposes scaled-back platform that softens language on abortion, same-sex marriagewww.washingtonpost.com The draft was circulated Monday among members of the 2024 Republican convention platform committee. It will be discussed and voted on later this week.

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Assistant to the Professor

It’s amazing the extent to which our billionaire tech bro overlords are just telling us out loud that they are rooting for fascism. Makes me slightly nostalgic for the days when American plutocrats plotted against democracy in secret.

I know lots of people are posting UK/France comparisons about defeating right-wing autocrats but a better comp is Poland/France. The best way to defeat that form of authoritarianism is through a liberal-left coalition that coordinates and does not undermine each other.

Reply to

Seth Masket

Running downstairs after pushing them? Must show vigor!

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Assistant to the Professor

NYT: New evidence shows the Trump campaign was raping everyone in sight, and illegally concealing the settlement payments. For the good of the country, Biden must drop out

Seems bad

Former Trump Staffer Reveals New Texts Alleging More Secret Payoffs and Settlementswww.mediaite.com A former staffer on Trump's 2016 campaign revealed texts claiming that the former president's 2020 campaign "settled multiple" sexual harassment lawsuits.

I still don't think Macron's gambit was necessary. Centrist liberals need to focus on improving public goods provision and the state rather than relying on these types of tactics to stop the far right.

BREAKING NEWS: Voters turned out in numbers not seen in decades to stop the far-right National Rally from taking power in the French National Assembly. Polls predicted a first-place finish for National Rally, which instead came in third in initial results as polling stations closed.

Projections in France's election show voters rejecting the far rightwww.npr.org Voters turned out in numbers not seen in decades to stop the far-right National Rally from taking power in the French National Assembly. Polls predicted a first-place finish for National Rally, which ...

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Assistant to the Professor

Look how fun shutting down fascists is. I want this for us, too

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Assistant to the Professor

Reply to

Judah Grunstein

Macron can take some satisfaction in the fact that the far right was turned back, and also in the much better than expected results for his centrist coalition. But he needed the help of the same left he was demonizing a week ago, and has asked too much too often of people that truly despise him.

Yuge

JUST IN: Polls closed in France. Exit polls show surprise: —Left coalition (New Popular Front) projected first. (!) —Far-right (RN) has lost its bid to take power. Anti-RN front appears to have worked very well. —No bloc close to majority. Follow this 🧵 for results and more:

I honestly don't know what trading out Biden for Harris would do w/re to the outcome of the election, but I do know the GOP would go way overboard on the overt racism/sexism because the constraints that would have stopped that were pushed out by Trump.

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Assistant to the Professor

If for any reason Joe Biden can't complete a 2nd term, we know who will take over. Her name is Kamala Harris and America already voted for her once. If Donald Trump can't complete a 2nd term, we have no idea who will take over because he TRIED TO HAVE HIS LAST VP MURDERED.

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Assistant to the Professor

genuinely hopeful sign that every big name GOP garbage monster is frantically trying to distance themselves from Project Say The Quiet Part Loud In an Easily-Digestible Bullet Point Format About Which There Can Be No Confusion. this means we should all absolutely continue never shutting up about it

Reply to

Erin Cikanek

DUTCH DISEASE

DUTCH ROLL

DUTCH TREAT

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Assistant to the Professor

The crypto billionaire who backed Dean Phillips is the best quote from a nervous donor they could find?!

whelp, guess the big interview didn't give them what they wanted since the goalposts have now moved to "can he win over crypto investors with inexplicable politics" www.cnbc.com/2024/07/06/b...

Reply to

Bethany Albertson

Least deserving team

Them: The media's killing us on Biden's age! Also them: We should probably not use this system to curate videos of Biden and his surrogates to then have people share with friends and bypass the NYTimes editorial board.

I find it mildly annoying as someone who studies party organizations that the Democratic Party has a direct to you messaging system available to them that could bypass the media, and all they use it for is to spam people for donations.

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Assistant to the Professor

Trump said “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it.” But Project 2025 is run by Trump's closest aides, raising concerns about cognitive fitness for a candidate who seems unable to recall those around him. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/troubling-...

Troubling Signs of Cognitive Decline as Trump Struggles to Recognize Closest Aidesdonmoynihan.substack.com "I know nothing about Project 2025" statement triggers new concerns about his fitness to serve

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"RETRUTH IF YOU WANT TELEVISED MILITARY TRIBUNALS" is, to me, a deranged and instantly disqualifying thing for a presidential candidate to say, but on the other hand joe biden looks and sounds very old

In the exact same nine day period that Biden and his White House and campaign have been flailing, Trump has offered voters a window into his own mental state and vision for term 2 It’s not great! www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

QAnon Memes, F-Bombs, and Tribunals: As Biden Faltered, Trump Amped Up the Crazywww.rollingstone.com Trump quietly had his own week from hell while the media was hounding Biden

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Assistant to the Professor

Read this whole piece. The idea that the press is chomping at the bit to portray Biden in decline and Trump ascendant is morally bankrupt and dangerous

QAnon Memes, F-Bombs, and Tribunals: As Biden Faltered, Trump Amped Up the Crazywww.rollingstone.com Trump quietly had his own week from hell while the media was hounding Biden

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Assistant to the Professor

if stealing classified docs and lying about it while no longer in office is an "official act", we are well and truly cooked

NEW: Judge Cannon pauses some deadlines in the classified-docs case to allow for further briefing on effects of SCOTUS immunity ruling

I'm really getting spoiled with the local German experience by just sitting on a delayed train

Ok Germany, stop, I'm blushing

🎵checking out castles on the hills🎵

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Assistant to the Professor

I just want to save this series of tweets for posterity. Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to go back over what’s going on here when tempers have cooled.

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Assistant to the Professor

This chart communicates pretty effectively why it's taking a while for the last 18 months of good solid economic conditions to fully take hold in people's minds— because look at the three years of chaos before that. www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07...

Reply to

Mark Shore

Didn't see that. All that I saw was Taylor put his arms to the side as if to say Cucarella was pulling in his arms

Reply to

Bethany Albertson

How Kroos made it to the 80th before a yellow is a mystery