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Chris Edelson

@chrisedelson.bsky.social
2.6K followers 840 following 3.7K posts

Lecturer @umassamherst.bsky.social US presidential power & authoritarian dangers; speaking only for me. New book on emergency presidential power March 2026: www.rienner.com/title/Above_the_Law…

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Lydia Sigismondi, Ph.D. @sigismonday.bsky.social · 6h
Every man on the political left should be reading about rape, power, and sexual violence from female scholars right now. Even if you think you’re “one of the good ones.” To be a good man today is to recognize that something is deeply wrong with other men and then TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT
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Spooky Back From The Dead Lazarus @jlazarus.bsky.social · 4h
Why is it not a bigger story that our president not only regularly spouts easily-disproven lies ("I settled eight wars") but also regularly claims outrageous feats of fancy that should land him in a mental institution (I stopped the total obliteration of the world")?
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 5h
This is the beating heart of our current situation-not constitutional crisis, but constitutional failure. The president believes he can do what he wants. He reasonably believes this bc the S Ct & Rs in Congress have told him so. Whether he fully succeeds in shooting the moon remains to be seen.
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Kate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 5h
Trump: "Today is Vladimir Putin's birthday. I'm sure you're going to celebrate it. Are you going to celebrate his birthday? I have a call set up." What the hell is wrong with you?! Celebrate? You sure? The birthday of a butcher responsible for murdering 25 people in Ukraine today?
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 5h
Pennsylvania voters seem to see Fetterman as a Republican.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 6h
A constitutional order that cannot remove a chief executive at this point is not worth saving. We need massive, wholesale, fundamental institutional reform.
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 6h
There have been some roadblocks-e.g. S Ct decisions on tariffs & domestic deployment of the military-but no meaningful accountability. Can't even call these decisions a slap on the wrist as trump was not punished. He was stopped, though, on these 2 points, and I hope he can be stopped again. 2/2
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 6h
This is a central argument I make in my book-the S Ct's hallucinated immunity decision, combined with congressional abdication by Republicans, led trump to reasonably conclude he can do as he likes w/out regard to the law. Remains to be seen just how far this goes 1/2 www.rienner.com/title/Above_...
rienner.com
Lynne Rienner Publishers | Above the Law The Evolution of Emergency Presidential Power
Lynne Rienner Publishers, celebrating 35 years of independent publishing, is known for its cutting-edge, high quality scholarly and academic books and journals in politics, social sciences, and the hu...
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Senator Ron Wyden @wyden.senate.gov · 10h
The Trump administration will start selecting lawyers for unaccompanied minors. Meaning the judges work for Donald Trump, the prosecutors work for Trump, and now the attorneys representing children will work for Trump. This is a rigged system that will result in more untold horrors for these kids.
cnn.com
Inside the Texas courtroom where toddlers face immigration judges | CNN Politics
Migrant children as young as 2 are showing up at immigration courts nationwide, many without attorneys, to try make their case to stay in the US and avoid deportation.
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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 9h
Corruption of this kind is why the Democrats need to freeze or cut back US defense spending of they take control of Congress. If you actually care about US security, funding this is destructive.
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The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social · 11h
12. That majorities are losing faith in Donald Trump is one thing. That they are getting increasingly angry in reaction to his continued lying is another. The rage is building such that the backlash may not be limited to him but also include the political project that brought him.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 19h
Imagine if the national media covered American politics through the lens of which party actually competently staffed & governed the country when it was in power, instead of covering it as horse races, theater, & grading on a curve for the One Special Boy & the far right authoritarian party.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 06/10/2026
7/ Among the most jarring trends we found: 36 U.S. citizens were not allowed to contact their family or a lawyer.
36 U.S. citizens held for at least a day without being able to contact a lawyer or their family.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 06/10/2026
3/ 100+ Americans have been held after agents questioned their citizenship. Nearly all of them were people of color. They say they were profiled — detained because of their skin color, accents or jobs. “ICE isn’t looking for criminals. They’re looking for Latinos,” one said.
100+ U.S. citizens held after agents questioned their citizenship
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 06/10/2026
The government *still* isn’t tracking how often immigration agents detain U.S. citizens. We are. 500+ Americans have been handcuffed, held at gunpoint or held against their will in Trump’s second term. Our tally is almost certainly an undercount. THREAD (content warning: violence) ⬇️
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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This may be the first time U.S. forces have retreated in Europe during a major conflict. Not before the Nazis. Not before the Soviets. Not before Al Qaeda. Not until the Trump administration.
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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Saying he'd be cool with Iran nuking my home city is pretty bad but not quite as bad as when Hillary said some trump supporters were deplorable so I can see why the media turned the latter into a major scandal and not the former
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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I don’t really care what they call the hearings, but I hope they run hearings 24/7. If they don’t, they’ve failed.
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Patrick De Klotz @patdeklotz.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
“A humanitarian calamity is unfolding. There is no food, no safety and no escape.” Trapped in a Kill Zone, a Ukrainian City Is Beginning to Starve www.nytimes.com/2026/10/05/w...
nytimes.com
Trapped in a Kill Zone, a Ukrainian City Is Beginning to Starve (Gift Article)
Evacuation is almost impossible and food is running out in Russian-occupied Oleshky, a city menaced by mines and drones.
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"Just get out and vote,” Trump told a weekend crowd in Ohio. “If you do that, we’re going to win and we’re going to win big. And we’re going to shove it up their ass.” www.cnn.com/2026/10/05/p...
cnn.com
‘A five-alarm fire’ confronts President Trump in red-state October blitz | CNN Politics
The midterm elections were just two days away the last time a sitting president visited Grand Island, the fourth-largest city in the middle of one of the nation’s most reliably Republican states.
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Anna Lind-Guzik @alindguzik.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Hard to think of anything less abstract and more materially consequential than being pregnant
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"Over and over they would say to me that night that this “shouldn’t be what America is.” They kept talking about how ICE had turned America into a place of fear."
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Unprecedented corruption, happening every day, right in front of us. A constitutional order that cannot end & severely punish this is not really worth saving. We need massive institutional reform.
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I moved out of DC after the 2024 election. Lived there for most of the previous 30 years, had great memories from living there as a kid. Had to go back for work in fall 2025--felt like visiting an occupied city.
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Stephanie Mencimer @smencimer.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
One teen told ICE officers he lived with his dad down the block, but that his dad was deaf. They didn’t try to contact the father before deeming the boy “unaccompanied” and detaining him. “They’re kidnapping people’s kids,” a former Biden official told us. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
“You kidnapped my son”
ICE is now separating children from their parents and deeming them “unaccompanied.”
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
trump's threats are hardly guaranteed to succeed--or even to be put into action--but are part of a broader picture: trump is using contrived/phony emergencies in an effort to consolidate the kind of power asserted by 17th C. British monarchs. He can be stopped & there is no guarantee he succeed 2/2
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A paperback edition of my book Above the Law? The Evolution of Emergency Presidential Power is available for pre-order. Understanding the development of emergency power is relevant (unfortunately) to trump's threats against the upcoming elections: www.amazon.com/Above-Law-Ev...
amazon.com
Above the Law?: The Evolution of Emergency Presidential Power: Edelson, Chris: 9798896163749: Amazon.com: Books
Above the Law?: The Evolution of Emergency Presidential Power [Edelson, Chris] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Above the Law?: The Evolution of Emergency Presidential Power
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Patrick De Klotz @patdeklotz.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I am so deeply horrified - and angry - about what we have become.
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Mr. Dan Zak @mrdanzak.com · 04/10/2026
A Haitian man legally immigrated to Ohio, then was given an ankle monitor bc Trump withdrew his status. He threw himself in front of truck. The trucker, who voted for Trump, is haunted. “Pierre was doing what he was supposed to do. We did not do right by him.” www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
theatlantic.com
A Reckoning in Springfield
A truck driver out on his route confronts what the country has become.
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
source: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
lawfaremedia.org
The Insurrection Act Is No Exception to the Troops-at-Polls Ban
Congress restricted military deployments to election sites, even when a broader deployment authority might otherwise apply.
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
show up for what? trump & trumpies have been using contrived emergencies in an effort to consolidate power & reject legal limits on power. There is no emergency. Even if there was an emergency, sending armed agents to voting sites would only be legal if necessary to repel "armed enemies of US" 1/2
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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Somehow we’ve survived 250 years with the military not being called in to oversee elections.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Could do without another "The Man in the High Castle" reboot if I'm being honest
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
again, even when one accepts the incoherent trump v. US immunity decision on its own terms, far from clear trump has immunity here. Why is this an "official act"? How does it involve "core constitutional duties"? Also, of course, it is grounds for impeachment (part of a long but necessary list)
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Again, <only Republicans> ever get to talk like this. If a single municipal level Democrat ever did, it would be a national outrage &spark a wave of “civility” discourse, & op-eds about how Dems must Respect Real Folkz & talk across difference. Democracy is incompatible with this double standard.
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Sven-Erik Volberg @volberg.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
AfD Youth is posting about unification of German people. Belive them, when they say who they are. Not far right, not nazi like but actually exactly like nazis. P.S And yes, they are Putins favorite party in Germany
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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Free weekend update is out. Russia has a strategy for this winter--massive war crimes to make Ukraine unlivable. We need to speak the truth on that. One reason they need to do this is that they are struggling in other parts of the war--see Vivaldi. phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-up...
phillipspobrien.substack.com
Weekend Update #205: Russia’s Strategy In Two Words: “War Crimes”
Operation Vivaldi, Even More Robots; The Trump-Putin Quid Pro Quo
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
It will make your head hurt trying to think about this, but I think it is worth thinking through exactly how far the invented mantle of immunity created in trump v. US goes. Certainly--as even the Ct acknowledged--it does *not* provide absolute immunity for all acts. 2/2
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The S Ct immunity decision is incoherent and comes from the land of make-believe, but even when one attempts to apply it on its own terms, not sure trump has immunity here. Can it be an "official act" when the president has no authority to act? How can this involve "core constitutional duties" 1/2
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David Ryan Miller @davidryanmiller.com · 04/10/2026
This is incredibly vile, they are gloating over terrorizing a group of people on the basis of their ethnicity "Never again" means "never again for anyone" www.statenews.org/section/the-...
statenews.org
A month after TPS ends for Haiti, immigration enforcement surges in Springfield
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has increased arrests and required ankle monitors for many Haitian residents in Springfield.
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Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
After 10 years of cravenly and fraudulently presenting the Know-Nothing Nazified Republican Party as one of two sane, understandable choices, major news organizations are not able to report the obvious, which is that U.S. voters seem to be increasingly coming to their senses. Epic, epic fail.
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
once again, feels like living in Roth's The Plot Against America, which was hard to read as a novel and much, much harder to experience as something closely tracking reality
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Angie Nixon @angieforfl.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Folks have insulted:  My Southern drawl.  My loc’d hair.  My clothes.  My shoes.  My intelligence.  I’ve been called a ghetto Black b!t€h. Now @JDVance says I don’t belong and should leave the very country my ancestors helped build. This is a lot y’all. It is. #AngieForFlorida
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Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Trump’s TIME interview should have been treated about like Biden’s debate performance. That it mostly wasn’t says a lot about the media’s ongoing normalization of Trump’s cognitive downward spiral.
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
GOP ads right now are all about attacking trans people. Over, and over, and over. I was a gay teen in 2004 watching the Bush campaign try to win on attacking gay marriage, but the resort to this hate drive in campaign ads feels so dialed up now. I can’t imagine being an lgbt kid watching tv today.
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Dr. Michelle A. Rodrigues 🐒 @marspidermonkey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Ugghh. This is exactly why we need healthy people vaccinated. It’s how we protect the most vulnerable. And these days we throw vulnerable people straight under the bus.
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David Ryan Miller @davidryanmiller.com · 03/10/2026
Trump II is about many things, but one of the major recurring themes is that Donald Trump is intent on using his office--a public trust--to enrich himself and his allies Rank corruption beneath the office of the presidency and clear grounds for impeachment, conviction, and removal
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stevelevitsky.bsky.social @stevelevitsky.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Lucan Way and I have been writing about competitive authoritarianism for more than 25 years. We never thought we'd write this piece. www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/com...
journalofdemocracy.org
Competitive Authoritarianism in America | Journal of Democracy
The United States has slid into competitive authoritarianism. The slide has been modest and remains reversible—but it is real. Even after Donald Trump, American democracy will remain fragile.
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The UnPopulist @theunpopulist.net · 01/10/2026
"It's been breathtaking to watch Indian Americans like me go from being a model minority to a reviled minority almost overnight." — @shikhadalmia.bsky.social
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Chris Edelson @chrisedelson.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
trump used to swagger around a lot, preen his feathers and smugly explain that, unlike those other fools in office, he would never announce his intentions to the enemy ahead of time. He was wrong about what they did, and also of course wrong about what he would do.
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