Francis Wilkinson

@franciswilkinson.bsky.social

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Political Columnist, Bloomberg.

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Francis Wilkinson

'Sometimes things don't go, after all, from bad to worse' Thinking a lot about this poem today.

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Francis Wilkinson

NYT coverage: Let’s take some stigma away from felons and apply it to the elderly

The NYT's Trump coverage today

Three things are real: Biden’s issues are concerning. Democrats are concerned. The elite press continues to fail. You don’t have to pick just one.

Hey, poli scientists. If Dems succeed in (1) self-organizing to remove successful, all-but-nominated incumbent and (2) coalescing around veep, isn’t that evidence of an effective, resilient party? It’s only been week since debate horror supplanted SOTU impressions. @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social

“The court is not corrupt except in a few cases in which it is” is not a great argument. The unstated thesis is that the court’s right wing has been captured by Fox News — the justices are MAGA-addled. www.nytimes.com/2024/07/05/o...

Opinion | A Principled Supreme Court, Unnerved by Trumpwww.nytimes.com Most of the court’s decisions were principled and sound — most, but unfortunately not all.

The observers challenged absentee ballots for a variety of reasons, including noticing a scratch on the ballot. Most were from outside of Milwaukee County and registered either as a “concerned citizen,” with the Republican Party …... electionlawblog.org?p=144267

Wisconsin: "Police in Glendale remove election observers for being disruptive while objecting to ballots" #ELBelectionlawblog.org Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Election observers showed up at several polling locations in the Milwaukee area Tuesday, and two of them were removed by police in Glendale for being disruptive while objec...

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Francis Wilkinson

One twist of last week is politically savvy Dem insiders—including Biden’s closest advisors—believed POTUS was aging but capable of a winning debate performance while low information voters repeatedly said he’s too old. So, oddly, it was elites who were actually ill-informed and caught by surprise.

Orient yourself toward the truth and hold fast. We are in a blizzard. Here’s something to grasp.

I wrote patriotically today. danieldrezner.substack.com/p/a-republic...

"A Republic If You Can Keep It"danieldrezner.substack.com Some Independence Day thoughts about some very un-American ideas.

“America needs a leader who can inspire the fire brigade to counter the arsonists. The US has a democratic majority, but it is latent. If Biden cannot persuade that majority to act in defense of its interests and its future, he is failing his one great task.” www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Biden Is Failing as Persuader-in-Chiefwww.bloomberg.com America needs a leader who can inspire supporters of democracy to action.

There is nothing under the sun that is not truly about Sen Joseph Manchin III. “Eventually, Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, Mr. Schumer and other Democrats intervened, and Mr. Manchin canceled his television appearances.” www.nytimes.com/2024/07/03/u...

Biden Told Ally That He Is Weighing Whether to Continue in the Racewww.nytimes.com The president’s conversation is the first indication that he is seriously considering whether he can recover after a devastating performance on the debate stage in Atlanta. A White House official said...

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Francis Wilkinson

Bill Clinton must feel like a real schmuck for doing that plea bargain

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Francis Wilkinson

Upending the Constitution: My new one, on how Roberts et al. are dismantling the Republic. goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/upending-t...

SCOTUS fall term opens Oct 7. (Yes.) if you wanted to energize people to vote to save democracy a few weeks later, you might stage a massive march for on the court that day.

Hard to believe conservatives have opted to blow up all the covenants in an effort to save their America from …Joe Biden. So, one more time, Thanks, Obama.

That Roberts himself wrote the court’s most flagrantly anti democratic ruling really does feel like a Scooby Doo reveal when the mask comes off the culprit.

It is not just a grant of immunity for past crimes, but an enthusiastic endorsement of the ones he will commit if given the chance. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

The Supreme Court Puts Trump Above the Lawwww.theatlantic.com And gives him permission for a despotic second term.

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Francis Wilkinson

Well, it’s true that it’s all officially an act, anyway.

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Francis Wilkinson

Absolutely wild that the court accuses the dissent of "fearmongering" with "extreme hypotheticals" when the actual basis for the indictment is a coup attempt that led to an attack on the capitol

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Francis Wilkinson

Also in the Trump immunity decision today, Justice Thomas effectively sends a note to Judge Aileen Cannon's chambers to let her know how she should dispose of the classified documents case, which is based on *post-presidential* conduct by Trump.

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Francis Wilkinson

Reply to

Julia Azari

i keep re-reading this to make sure i didn't hallucinate

The distinction between immune “official acts” and criminally liable unofficial acts will be clear-cut in practice. The first type will be those committed by Republicans. The second type will define acts committed by Democrats.

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Francis Wilkinson

Reply to

Jonathan Bernstein

The real choices at this point are Biden run or Biden resigns. If he's really lost it, he should quit! And those who presumably know this should be making sure it happens. If he's just sometimes bad on TV...yeah, way too late to solve that problem, and Dems just have to hope it doesn't cost them.

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Francis Wilkinson

Reply to

Seth Masket

The asymmetry of the media ecosystem is really notable here. The “left” is filled with writers who will call upon Biden to resign for seeming frail; there are zero “right” commentators calling upon Trump to step down for refusing to accept the election’s outcome

Kinda amazing that Trump’s malignant narcissism has not yet had catastrophic consequences for GOP. Yet the more routine sort — of Biden and Ginsburg — has put Dems in a difficult bind.

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Francis Wilkinson

well would you look at that

BREAKING: Bolivian general who appeared to lead a failed coup is arrested after an attorney general opened an investigation against him.

Military flees Bolivia government palace after coup attempt failsapnews.com Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia's government palace Wednesday as President Luis Arce said the country faced an attempted coup.

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Francis Wilkinson

www.politico.com/blogs/media/...

Re-upping in light of recent coordinated attacks on democratic self-governance.

Chief Justice John Roberts’ court has been using law to destabilize American society as surely as the Republican Party has been using lies to destabilize American elections. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Supreme Court’s Bump Stock Ruling Reflects Its MAGA Agendawww.bloomberg.com How else do you explain a decision that says devices that enable semiautomatic rifles to be turned into copycat machine guns are okay?

I’m going to stop calling it “the Roberts Court.” It is more precise to call it “the ‘grasps for power’ court.”

Kagan is reading from her dissent. Here's a key part:

“The long twilight struggle for democracy” has an entirely different meaning than it once did.

At 9:51 Biden delivers a punch that connected. 50 mins too late