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David Dagan

@daviddagan.bsky.social
961 followers 287 following 300 posts

Director of editorial and academic affairs at Niskanen Center. Read Hypertext: hypertext.niskanencenter.org. Read The Liberal Fortress: daviddagan.substack.com. Book: amzn.to/29rrt90.

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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Trump wants our 250th to be a celebration of his monarchy. And appropriately, he’s getting pushback. But just as critical, there is also quiet resistance: From Americans who keep their heads downs, ignore the noise, and just do the work of democracy. hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/residual-r...
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
This is exactly the insight the Founders were groping toward and Van Buren ultimately articulated as the first modern parties emerged in the United States.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
The anti-monopoly folks have ironically consolidated two distinct strands of American political thought and claimed exclusive title to them. One is hostility to artificial privileges; the other is vigilance against corruption. 1/5
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
The old system of federal funding to nonprofits is not coming back from Trump’s hatchet job, says Daniel Stid. Notably, it was coming under withering critique not just from the right, but also from the left for quite a while now. 1/1 hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/for-nonpro...
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Running a nonprofit? I have good news - you can expense a meal at Chez Panisse. Because, says Eboo Patel, the restaurant is a perfect model for how to run your org. hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/the-alice-...
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
An unpopular president is making more absurd power grabs like the "weaponization" fund. Civil society may feel obliged to speak out. But Greg Berman says nonprofits should think long and hard. hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/nonprofits... 1/3
hypertext.niskanencenter.org
Nonprofits should resist politicization first
Public trust is their most precious commodity, and politics erodes it.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Much of the nonprofit sector is reeling from indiscriminate disruptions to the federal funds that support so many of its organizations. But there's a deeper problem below the sabotage. Nonprofits at large are less trusted than business. So how should they navigate this moment?
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
The future we feared is already here, but we can still change it. @gabemenchaca.bsky.social explains what the Anthropic mess tells us about contracting in the age of AI; browse around for all of our essays on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/hegseths-w...
hypertext.niskanencenter.org
Hegseth’s war on Anthropic is the wrong answer to the right question
The government is too reliant on private software vendors for core mission work and AI will make this much worse. Forcing companies to work at gunpoint won’t fix things.
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The Niskanen Center @niskanencenter.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
To what extent was the U.S. already in crisis before the rise in populism we've seen over the past few years? It's a serious debate among defenders of the liberal-democratic order. Recent responses to Brink Lindsey's new book have brought it to the forefront. ⬇️
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The Niskanen Center @niskanencenter.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Can we create a digital economy that strengthens democracy instead of eroding it? This week in Hypertext ⤵️
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Incredible courage from these witnesses, whose fear of retaliatory or preemptive violence is 100% justified.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
The logic of the escalating violence & rhetoric is to force max number of R's and nonattentive folks into the pro-paramilitary corner because they either like what they see or just believe the lies, and/or to set off a confrontation w/ local/state authorities that provides pretext for worse. 1/2
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
But if you listen to Goldsmith and Bauer today, it becomes clear just how much of an own goal this will be. He is in a loss-overreach spiral that will badly wound us but exposes the limits of his power, and thereby degrades it.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
The demagogic response to the ICE killing is the domestic side of Stephen Millerism. This administration cannot recognize the category of “victim” in regard to its policies or the agents carrying them out; any victim must be immediately converted into an enemy. 1/4
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
I am thankful for the heroes of Jan. 6 and all who worked so hard for accountability. Their America will outlast the mob and its leader.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Domestically, this may prove Trump's biggest blunder. How will MAGA isolationists take his plans to occupy Venezuela? A cowardly Congress refused to pass a law that would have prevented this intervention, but if Venezuela's new leader refuses to play ball, will they support a bloodbath? 1/3
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Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Statement from Cato VP Clark Neily: Courts probably won't rule against the rendition. Yet Trump has chosen to bypass the constitutional provisions designed to cabin the president's powers in using force against other countries. And an indictment does not supply him with those powers.
Statement on Trump's Venezuela action by Cato Vice President for Legal Studies Clark Neily: 
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As a legal matter, any challenge by Nicolas Maduro to his capture last night and subsequent rendition to the United States would run headlong into precedents involving the prosecution of Manuel Noriega in the 1990s. Courts have already upheld the unilateral seizure, prosecution, and conviction of a foreign leader under materially similar circumstances, and given longstanding judicial deference in foreign-affairs cases, judges are unlikely to distinguish that line of authority in Maduro's case.
That conclusion, however, should not obscure the deeper constitutional concern here, which is profound. The Constitution deliberately assigns to Congress—not the President—the power to decide when the United States will initiate hostilities against foreign sovereigns. That assignment includes the power to declare war and the related authority to issue letters of marque and reprisal to private entities, both of which reflect a constitutional judgment that decisions risking international conflict, retaliation, and escalation should not rest with a single executive actor.
When a President unilaterally deploys military force abroad to seize a foreign head of state—effectively collapsing war powers, foreign relations, and criminal law enforcement into a single executive decision—the constitutional safeguards designed to cabin the use of force against other countries are bypassed entirely. That concern is not cured by the existence of a valid indictment. An indictment may (or may not) explain why a President wishes to act, but it cannot supply the constitutional authority to do so through military force without meaningful congressional engagement, let alone authorization.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
The guy who ran against the Iraq War is offering us Iraq on steroids. The congressional abdication. The thin pretext. The myopia about the potential for a bloodbath. All caricatures of 23 years ago. And the caricature of 2003 - the oil play - is now real.
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The Niskanen Center @niskanencenter.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Earlier this month, Ross Douthat argued that “the liberal order can’t heal itself.” The next day, @jvl.bsky.social told liberals to stop the masochism. But the answer is neither despair nor restoration, but a liberal reconstruction. hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/lets-bake-...
hypertext.niskanencenter.org
Let’s bake the liberal sourdough
Yes, Jonathan V. Last, liberalism needs to revisit its recipe. No, Ross Douthat, we should not give up on the starter.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Examining how our elite went wrong is not masochism and New Right flirtation. The question is precisely how our leadership class wound up allowing these people anywhere close to power, and caving repeatedly to the predations of the Trump administration in recent months. 1/2
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
Joining the Black Friday Amazon boycott this weekend led me to rediscover @kanopy.com! Double-win! @awscloud.bsky.social
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
You don't have to be a genius to understand why DOGE was a disaster. But even serious people can get government reform badly wrong. To do it right, we need to study the pitfalls - and I'm jazzed about this Hypertext issue doing just that.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
Read the whole thing!
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
ABC has joined the slackjaw club, dismayed at being called on its proclaimed principles, incapable of retort. It joins law firms, broadcasters, and Fortune 500 corporations that have all been exposed as suffering from an advanced stage of moral rot. Trump sensed that spinelessness and pushed. 1/2
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
One of the most baffling points in the @ezraklein.bsky.social piece on Kirk: "We can live with losing an election because we believe in the promise of the next election." But Kirk didn't! And yet Ezra concludes: "We were on the same side on the continued possibility of American politics."
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
I mourn Kirk's killing. I admire his charisma, organizing genius, & commitment to debate. THAT was right about his way. I also believe he used his talents to promote lies that damaged our democracy and bigotry that divides us. THAT was wrong about his way. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
No, Charlie Kirk was not practicing politics the right way
His assassination deserves full condemnation; his full impact should not be sidestepped.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
It can be a trap if you make it a trap. It's a gift if you make it a gift. The line is: We have a big crime problem and we'd love more cops to help solve it. But Trump is cutting money for cops and sending troops because he isn't coming after criminals - he's coming after democracy.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Big new paper from Steve Teles @niskanencenter.bsky.social today niskanencenter.org/abundance-va.... Steve outlines six types of “abundance” thinking he predicts will shape US politics. As in the Progressive Era, broad principles will attach to distinct cultural and political economic projects.
niskanencenter.org
Varieties of Abundance - Niskanen Center
We will know that abundance has succeeded when there is a proliferation of “abundances,” different governing projects attached to previously existing ideologies, interests, and parties.
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
This is getting very bad: *FBI raids top Trump critic's home *Trump loyalist gins up "mortgage fraud" pretexts for DOJ probes of Schiff, Letitia James, Lisa Cook *Bannon says ICE will monitor 2026 voting *DHS memo vows LA operations "for years to come" New from me: newrepublic.com/article/1994...
newrepublic.com
Trump’s FBI Raid of John Bolton’s Home Looks Like a “Five Alarm Fire”
Thus far little is known about Friday’s law enforcement action against a top Trump critic. But we’re seeing an escalation of authoritarian power on many fronts that has grown unmistakable.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
I spent a lot of time trying to level-set on how we reached the point of starvation in Gaza. First of several posts: daviddagan.substack.com/p/why-are-ga...
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David J. Bier @davidjbier.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Some racial profiling was happening from the start, but the operation was supercharged in mid-May when the White House ordered ICE to stop using warrants, targeted operations, and just "go out on the streets" and arrest people. These arrests shot from 500/week to 1,500/week
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
The BLS firing is one of Trump's most chilling moves yet. He is demanding that we be lied to about the most material facts of most Americans' lives - how they earn a living. And it will come at the expense of that living, because it destroys the foundations for investing in the United States.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 24/07/2025
I want to enthusiastically endorse this piece from @cselmendorf.bsky.social & @profschleich.bsky.social. Thus far YIMBY has been almost entirely focused on More Housing, but ultimately, if you want people to accept density, you have to make it *nice*, and that means more than just housing.
hypertext.niskanencenter.org
YIMBYism started as a single-issue movement. It's time to think bigger.
New research shows that voters who like cities back denser housing. To make cities more likeable, YIMBYs need to act more like a party.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
The great @henrymjtonks.bsky.social cranked up his time machine and came up with really critical lessons for Democrats. But not only Democrats. 1/2 hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/lessons-fr...
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
As @mattyglesias.bsky.social notes today, certain interest groups certainly built the polarization machine deliberately, but @jmcrosson.bsky.social wrote this great piece for us about how many just got sucked into it, even as single-issue orgs. 1/2 hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/when-lobby...
hypertext.niskanencenter.org
When lobbyists have to pick a side
Partisan polarization has sucked in the special interests that long kept Congress pragmatic.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
YIMBYism needs to become more party-like, @cselmendorf.bsky.social and David Schleicher argue in today's Hypertext. Here's why. Shoutout to @dbroockman.bsky.social & @jkalla.bsky.social.
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The Niskanen Center @niskanencenter.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Hypertext—Niskanen’s intellectual journal—is turning two! We launched it to tackle one big question: How do we make America’s institutions work for the 21st century? Now we’re sharpening that mission 🧵
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
The "TACO" shorthand for thinking about Trump is not just annoying as an acronym - I also think it misreads the moment. I think it grows out of confusion that comes with being in what I'm thinking of as The Warp Zone.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Iraq and Afghanistan from the beginning were conceived as regime-change invasions involving ground troops. A war goal of destroying Fordow aerially is limited and (I think!) achievable. Whether we should do it hinges on nonpublic intel IMO - but that's the question on the table.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
MAGA's Massive Ordnance Penetrator - thoughts on the American crisis meeting war in the Middle East. daviddagan.substack.com/p/magas-mass...
daviddagan.substack.com
MAGA's Massive Ordnance Penetrator
Donald Trump's coalition and contradictory worldview faces the Iranian moment as Congress ducks its responsibility. What would a reasonable president do?
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Early in the war that began on Oct. 7, a friend said to me: “It’s like Covid, but with bombs.” That's more true than ever now that the fight is directly with Iran. But Israelis know why they are going through this. daviddagan.substack.com/p/what-israe...
daviddagan.substack.com
What Israelis are going through - and why
Like Ukraine, Israel is first in a bully's line of fire - but certainly not last.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
My latest Israel-Gaza post - taking seriously the problem of Hamas diverting aid, and condemning the prolonged blockade that has driven Gazans to the brink. daviddagan.substack.com/p/the-blocka...
daviddagan.substack.com
The blockade was a disaster
Hamas militarizes the aid. Blocking it for so long was still wrong.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
The Trump administration caved on the Abrego Garcia case because the courts did not cower. Now they are using their politicized DOJ to save face with hyperbolic criminal charges. This is at once a big win for the rule of law and a reminder of the danger we still face.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
The travel ban for the administration is a convenient distraction from reconciliation and infighting, but still worth reflecting on. It's a measure of how far we've fallen that in Trump II, this wouldn't even make a top 10 list of abuses.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
I think the smart version of this is not "too much constraint" but "the wrong constraint in the wrong places." But it's hard to be schematic about what those wrong places are - as the well-taken critique of Marc's schema higher in Sam's thread indicates.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
This seems to be getting more traction over at The Bad Place but it really needs to resonate here. The usual story we tell about primaries being the source of our woes has looked deeply flawed for a while: Primary voters are not more "extreme" as a general matter. 1/2
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The Niskanen Center @niskanencenter.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
"No president in living memory has attacked the sources of American strength and dynamism in the way that Trump already has done." www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | ‘I Even Believe He Is Destroying the American Presidency’
Trump’s wanton attacks on institutions and individuals have a specific purpose.
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Today on Hypertext: the long history of American YIMBYism, and what we can learn from it. hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/yimbyism-i...
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David Dagan @daviddagan.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
My latest thoughts on the depressing Israel-Gaza situation - hard to put into a social media post, and titled "It's still complicated." daviddagan.substack.com/p/its-still-...
daviddagan.substack.com
It's still complicated, part I
Why I think more Gaza fighting was probably inevitable - but Israel went about it the wrong way
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