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The UnPopulist @theunpopulist.net · 30/09/2026

One telling subplot of how senators (unlike J6ers or Trump or literally anyone else) are obsessed with this phone records subpoena is it never even occurs to them there is an actual broader policy debate re: privacy and how this process works. It’s just about how they’re special so how dare you.

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Reposted by Andy Craig

The image of dominance is not the same as dominance. @jamellebouie.net explains how authoritarian spectacle works—and why puncturing the image matters. From LibCon2026. #LibCon2026

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Smith chose to stay away from Willis because he's smart and she's an idiot. He was managing the unusually sensitive optics. But it's not a rule. There's nothing wrong as such with state and federal prosecutors talking to each other about related cases. It wouldn't be scandalous even if he had.

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I have a new example to use next time I need to do my rant about how signature matching is woo-woo pseudoscience that has no good place in how we run elections.

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Fun fact: In his diary for Sep 9, 1776, John Adams spent only a single sentence, with no particular enthusiasm, noting Congress had officially adopted the name "United States." He then spent a thousand words recounting his argument with Ben Franklin about whether to close the bedroom window at night

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America Can Pull Back From the Slippery Slope to Rome

People comparing American politics to Roman precedents is as old as the United States, to the point of it being a pop culture cliche. But I wanted to make a somewhat different point with it. 1/

theunpopulist.net

The decline of the rule of law and our republic is not inevitable

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Fun fact in TX Sen: a few years ago TX abolished straight-ticket voting. Rs wanted that, Dems and esp. minorities used it more. But now it hurts Paxton. There's no simply marking the "Republican" box, you have to mark his name in that race. Not great if you're on the losing end of ticket splitters.

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Not just impeachable. Impeachment, both pres. and agency heads, is the only option. It's impeachment or nothing. Courts won't stop it. Other tools are impotent. Put them on trial the only way you can. Even if you can't get 2/3, use process as punishment. Make it miserable and costly. It can be done.

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One, this hilariously outs who all got the talking points in advance and how blatantly they parrot those. Two, Schmitt really thought today he'd launch himself to the VP nomination and with that a decent shot at the presidency down the line. Instead this is the only thing he'll be remembered for.

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The Schmitt thing is onion layers of dumb. Even if Smith had gone to a game in Atlanta it's still an insane leap from that to he was secretly meeting Willis. And chose to use a basketball game as an elaborate cover? Talking to Willis wouldn't necessarily be improper anyway!

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Aside from toeing the party line, these senators really hate Jack Smith because they're viscerally opposed to the idea of prosecuting politicians. They are committed to their own elite impunity above and beyond whatever they think of Trump. Thus their obsession with the phone records non-issue.

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Reposted by Andy Craig

Center for Ballot Freedom @centerforballotfreedom.org · 29/09/2026

If Americans want an alternative to the two-party doom loop, fusion voting is one of the most promising solutions on the table. @andycraig.bsky.social @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/ripple/2026/...

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

"Trump [may] belong [to] the era of Marius and Sulla, the men who brought force and corruption into Roman politics on a scale nobody had yet seen...If America ends up an autocracy, Trump will not be its culmination but something closer to its forerunner." open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...

open.substack.com

America Can Pull Back From the Slippery Slope to Rome

The decline of the rule of law and our republic is not inevitable

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America Can Pull Back From the Slippery Slope to Rome

Wherein I do the thing and think about Rome. In particular, why the lesser-known decades preceding the terminal crisis of the republic are salient for understanding where we are now. "If America ends up an autocracy, Trump will not be its culmination but something closer to its forerunner."

theunpopulist.net

The decline of the rule of law and our republic is not inevitable

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Reposted by Andy Craig

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Many thanks to @theunpopulist.net for reposting my piece on Stephen Miller’s Office of Remigration, which really needs more attention. This agency announces right in its name that white nationalism is the basis for US immigration policy: www.theunpopulist.net/p/stephen-mi...

theunpopulist.net

Stephen Miller Is Paying Monstrous Dictators to Admit Expelled Immigrants

A Democratic Congress needs to urgently investigate this abuse of taxpayer dollars that were actually meant for refugees

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Local governments and law enforcement are creatures of the state and states should treat them as such.

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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

We could also just let them freely sell their water rights, which effectively isn't allowed. Same result: growing cheap alfalfa stops making sense when someone will pay several times more for the water. Let them have their windfall if that's what it takes. It's literally cheaper to buy them off.

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Reposted by Andy Craig

You wouldn't know it from reading the headlines, but the president's downward mental health spiral is the biggest story in America right now We won't salvage democracy unless the media and pols start speaking the truth about Trump's damaged mind My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/trum...

inquirer.com

We need to find the words for Trump’s madness before things blow up | Will Bunch

The media and politicians haven’t pinned down anything resembling a suitable description for a president’s downward spiral or the looming battle for U.S. democracy.

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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 28/09/2026

In which one of the nation's most prominent opinion writers, a man frequently published in the most influential national outlets, wails about being on the weaker side of a supposed power imbalance with a professor of medieval history at a regional public university. Talk about victim culture.

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Reposted by Andy Craig

You gotta read these things to Ashokan Farewell

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

She's much likelier to win Senate, but also not running for president pulls the field to the left more than running would. Running means she has the leftmost lane locked up and everyone else is competing over the rest. Not running means those votes are up for grabs, they're worth trying to get.

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Doing this but for radio playlists and music charts.

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This argument was dumb 20 years ago and it's a delusional fantasy at this point.

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

lol the Jackson billionaires will shut this down so fast, the distancing comments from the administration in this article make it pretty clear they already have

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Cage @ridiculouscage.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

"why would I deceive you?"

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A reminder that lots of states allow same-day registration and it works perfectly fine and would make this kind of insanity moot. Congress can and should mandate it nationwide.

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Center for Ballot Freedom @centerforballotfreedom.org · 24/09/2026

In broad terms, reform ideas in the US break down into anti-party (or party weakening) and pro-party (i.e. multi-party). Anti-party reforms have superficial appeal but frankly don't work. Pro-party reforms aim to produce more coherent and more legible choices on the ballot, which is what does work.

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Reposted by Andy Craig

The fix isn't fewer parties. It's better ones—more of them, competing and bargaining through fusion voting and proportional representation. That's the coalition-built system we actually need. Read more on our Substack: centerforballotfreedom.substack.com/p/independen...

centerforballotfreedom.substack.com

Independents’ Day?

It’s no secret that the two-party system in America no longer enjoys a place of honor and respect in our society.

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Center for Ballot Freedom @centerforballotfreedom.org · 24/09/2026

BUT while only 22% of Americans think the two parties represent them well enough, 57% want MORE parties, not fewer. 75%+ still say party labels are useful. People aren't anti-party—they want cues for who stands for what. Independents just leave voters guessing. news.gallup.com/poll/329639/...

news.gallup.com

Support for Third U.S. Political Party at High Point

Sixty-two percent of U.S. adults believe a third political party is needed, the highest in Gallup's trend by one percentage point.

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New York Times Opinion @nytopinion.nytimes.com · 26/09/2026

“To the extent that the court has put the brakes on the president’s assertions of executive power, it is arguably cleaning up its own mess,” our columnist Jamelle Bouie writes.

nyti.ms

Opinion | Why Does Trump Think He Can Act Like a King?

The Supreme Court has had a lot to do with it.

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Spreadsheet enjoyer 🇨🇦🇪🇺 @bluser12.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

We should try having some group of people who get to vote on approving agency heads like OMB director.

Sen. Susan Collins

@SenatorCollins
Without warning or consultation, Congress just received an $810 million package of pocket rescissions from the Administration. This is the most recent attempt by this Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to undermine Congress’s Constitutional power of the purse.

This move shows that OMB intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed into law.

Not only is the delay itself an impoundment that was not reported to Congress, but also it is a usurpation of Congress’s appropriations powers. OMB is an agency of the executive branch. It does not get to decide which programs are worth funding.

The independent Government Accountability Office has concluded that pocket rescissions are unlawful and not permitted by the Impoundment Control Act. Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.

I will work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions.

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I can’t believe we’re still doing this

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