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David Atkins

@davidoatkins.bsky.social
14K followers 667 following 4.3K posts

Contributor @washingtonmonthly.com. Bylines @theprospect & elsewhere. Elected DNC Member from CA. Progressive reformist. Dad of two. I run a qualitative research firm.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by David Atkins
Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"For America to right itself, we need changes on the scale of Reconstruction and the New Deal. And I worry that’s not going to happen if Democrats and the broader anti-Trump left are taking their cues about what’s necessary and politically possible from the Times." newrepublic.com/article/2160...
newrepublic.com
The Left Must Fight The New York Times’ Monopoly Too
The paper’s editorial vision is out of step with the robust liberalism needed today.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 14h
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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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Trump’s insider trading is, on its own, the worst corruption scandal in US history, with $$$ dwarfing Teapot Dome. So are Trump’s bribes-for-pardons. So is the Qatar bribe plane. So is all the Saudi money he (and Kushner) have pocketed. And the ballroom. And more. Each alone would be the worst.
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Excellent piece here on AI as well.
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Prof Bill McGuire @profbillmcguire.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Mind-boggling - just mind-boggling Now expected to peak at an extraordinary 4.2C in December
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Greg Greene (he/him/his) @greene.haus · 02/10/2026
The Black voters peaking the turnout needle in Va. after the Roberts Court destroyed the pinnacle achievement of the civil rights mov’t understand political dynamics better than the officials who tried to elevate Garland after Scalia passed.
A post by survey researcher Tom Bonier from Sep. 30. He wrote: “In VA, where more than 200k votes have already been cast, turnout among Black and AAPI voters has more than doubled, compared to this same point in 2022, while Hispanic turnout is more than 5x that benchmark.”
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 01/10/2026
"they really believe it"/"they will try to do it"/"the promises are real" are things that most americans refuse to believe about politicians but if you take them seriously will help you predict political behavior more often than not
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Urban Land Rent 🇸🇴🚰 @urbanlandrent.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
“No they really believe it” is a way better heuristic for understanding political actors than “they are on the take” 9 times out of 10. Sometimes beliefs are downstream of materialism and political economy. But these relationships are more complicated than “bribes”
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I have a new piece out on the AI crisis. Yes, AI companies are attempting regulatory capture, and yes there will likelt be a financial crash due to overinvestment. But it is also a revolutionary technology that carries great risks and great potential rewards, and it isn't going away...
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The problem with the democratic influencer space is that you have Hasan Piker and various tankies on one side, and all the dingbats who insisted that it was a racist trumpian plot for biden to step aside on the other. Most of the decent people are too decent to run a sticky TikTok channel.
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Ben Raderstorf @raders.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This poll from Cook is bonkers. A *huge* plurality of voters (43% overall, 61% of Ds) want Dems to focus on changing the political system overall vs. just opposing (21%, 36% of Ds) or working with Trump (35%, 3% of Ds).
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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Yes. Look, the reality is this: People on here hate it when you say "AI goes rogue" because of what it suggests about the capabilities of AI. They're in denial and want to stay that way. But they can't admit that, so they've engineered a pretext about "holding AI companies accountable."
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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
If someone is releasing dozens of rabid cougars into the wild, you should obviously hold them accountable, but saying “Cougars don’t kill people, people kill people” isn’t really smart, either. You have, separately, a liability problem and a cougar problem.
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Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Wild. This should create a Streisand effect, which Dem ranking members can enhance by sending the companies document preservation demands. www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/dig...
hollywoodreporter.com
The Major Social Media Platforms Are All Rejecting Paid Ads for Alex Gibney’s ‘Musk’ (Exclusive)
YouTube, TikTok and Meta have all turned down the trailer for the Oct. 9 doc, citing “political” content. X won't even take Bleecker Street's calls. The distributor is appealing.
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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The point @joshtpm.bsky.social makes here about why the Beltway press misread the national climate so badly aligns very much with my case for why journalists and politicos should quit Twitter out of self-interest. (Gift link) talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/we-di...
talkingpointsmemo.com
We Didn’t Know Until This Day … Twitter Was the Echo Chamber All Along
Daniel Drezner says we are now in the Wile E. Coyote phase...
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Greg Greene (he/him/his) @greene.haus · 23/09/2026
The short-sightedness of "guaranteeing film-industry jobs" is clear: the merger will produce job losses here in L.A. anyway. People caught up in layoffs won't be fooled by fig-leaf campaign claims that state Dems' deal 'protected Hollywood.'
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
They also made him sleep on the floor of a holding cell. With the bullet in his back. And no pain medication. They also failed to provide medical care after they shot him. People need to go to prison for this.
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Rodger Sherman @rodger.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Tough competition of course, but the Trump admin deciding that white South Africans are the only group of people on earth currently worthy of refugee status has to be the most overtly racist thing any administration has done in decades
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Karoli @karoli.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
These articles should seal the deal: Susan Collins is corrupt af and has to go.
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#TeslaTakedown @teslatakedown.com · 22/09/2026
"That said, Tesla Takedown...was successful, according to the documentary, in large part because it bruised Musk’s ego so much. He is desperate to be liked and loved by a critical mass of people." 😂🔥🤘 LFG! www.hardresetmedia.com/p/we-got-a-s...
hardresetmedia.com
We Got a Sneak Peek at the Massive Musk Doc
Elon Musk is so insane that he must be a genius, we’ve been told. But is that true? Is he actually just … insane? A new film peels back the layers of his illusions.
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
NYT has now independently corroborated all the major allegations against Susan Collins in the ProPublica report, including that investigators were prepared to move against her and then Trump intervened to shut it down. This put Trump in a position of exceptional and extortionate leverage over her.
nytimes.com
F.B.I. Shut Down Inquiry Into Top Ally of Senator Susan Collins
The inquiry was closed last year because senior bureau officials questioned the veracity of a campaign donor’s account, according to current and former officials.
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Dante Atkins @danteatkins.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
AG Bonta, the goal was for you to not allow massive media consolidation in the hands of autocrats and their acolytes, and you're announcing the terms of how they bought you off. You can't sell that here.
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The worst part of Bonta caving on the Paramount merger is that it's a big flashing signal to every other company that there is no antitrust enforcement in America and you can bully your way into getting whatever you want. It's a monumentally bad decision.
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Dante Atkins @danteatkins.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
When all the "aberrations" end up doing the same thing for the same reasons under the same grounding, you can no longer call them aberrations and you have to realize that they are intrinsic to the intellectual foundations of the underlying ideology
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Dan Ancona @danancona.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Strong email from @aoc.bsky.social putting down a marker on how to deal with both the proximate economic risks from AI and the longer term ones.
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It can simultaneously be true that AI models are now too powerful to safely control and represent an existential threat to humanity, AND that they aren't quite powerful or moated enough to turn a profit for the AI companies, which are about to have a liquidity crash.
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Clint Harris @clintent-to-treat.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
If you make an economically tractable and coincidentally anti racist assumption that people of all races/regions are uniformly inclined toward selfishness and violence, this sort of information is very easy to stack on the pile of all the other information you got from 2nd grade recess.
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NeoTiamat @neotiamat99.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The good news is that across country and creed, race and religion, we are all ultimately just people. This is also the bad news.
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The simple answer is that the rate of inflation may have decreased sharply, but what people are expecting and demanding is a return to pre-Covid prices.
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This is a straight up impeachable offense
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Thomas Hardy novels Forrest Gump Taken The list is pretty short
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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
No, they were not "told to do it." This is a falsehood a bunch of influential people are propagating because the real story is too alarming and challenges too many of your articles of faith on the subect.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 15/09/2026
some chud interviewing for patel’s FBI: “if anything the goat fucked *me*”
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
When Dems retake the House, it's hard to know where to even begin the subpoenas and investigations. There aren't enough hours in the day.
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Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
but but Hunter Biden sold a painting. BTW not just any Russian oligarch. JICYMI from @propublica.org www.propublica.org/article/dona...
Screenshot from Pro Publica

"Trump Administration
Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas Wedding Was Secretly Bankrolled by Russian Oligarch Close to Putin
The oligarch, Umar Kremlev, spent hundreds of thousands on expenses like renting out a private island. He appears to have met Trump Jr. only recently, but he attended the intimate wedding with a large group of other Russian guests.
by Justin Elliott, Brett Murphy, Joshua Kaplan and Alex Mierjeski
September 14, 2026, 5:00 am"
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Michigan Democrats @michigandems.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
🚨 BREAKING: Epstein-associated donors gave nearly $4.7 million to Mike Rogers' campaign and political committees while he opposed releasing the Epstein files, arguing for more redactions to "protect somebody who got an airplane and rode with him." www.metrotimes.com/news/donors-...
metrotimes.com
Donors named in Epstein files gave nearly $4.7 million to Mike Rogers and groups backing him - Detroit Metro Times
A Metro Times review found that donors named in the Epstein files have given nearly $4.7 million to Mike Rogers’ campaigns and groups supporting him.
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Good thread
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
One of the many, many things we need to do when the adults are back in charge, is pass an ironclad law banning deportations to countries from which immigrants have no ties. Also, prosecute and jail if possible everyone involved in this depravity.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Equatorial Guinea is a dictatorship run by the same man since 1978, with his children running large portions of the state now. We paid this dictatorship millions of dollars to let us deport random people there. Our money was used for this inhumanity.
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Quite a leap from "AI will destroy humanity" to "and the way to fix it is to give us more money" in 24 hours. If they want to babble about their destructive power as a marketing tool, put risk weights on them like we do for banks www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
politico.com
Sam Altman pitches utilities on AI grid defense
The previously unreported meetings have come as utility companies grapple the risks posed to the grid by autonomous hacks.
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
While I do not think this is likely, I think Bluesky folks significantly underestimate the potential for this to happen quite soon if a self-protective AI managed to jailbreak even one major nation's nuclear arsenal. Engineering a bioweapon would be harder but not inconceivable.
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
It is hard to tell if the latest AI alignment freakout is genuine, or yet another "we're six months away from AGI" exaggeration.
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Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Good grief. When I lived in So Cal only expected triple digits in the 909. Heard it was in the 90s in Westwood which is bonkers to me. This is just insane. Stay safe, hydrated, and cool my friends. 🙏🏼
Post from @US_Stormwatch on X

"Unbelievable day of humidity and heat across SoCal. Peak heat indices:

Los Angeles: 111°F
Escondido: 119°F
Camp Pendleton: 111°F
Laguna Hills: 113°F
Long Beach: 110°F
Pasadena: 110°F
Fullerton: 110°F
Chino: 113°F
El Cajon: 111°F
John Wayne Airport: 108°F"
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Senator Sheldon Whitehouse @whitehouse.senate.gov · 10/09/2026
Nice try, but if you run up huge deficits by exempting big corporations and billionaires from taxes, markets will react. People collectively worth trillions, and corporations worth tens of trillions, and corrupt Trump, pay virtually no taxes.
politico.com
Treasury poised to buy up to $6B in bonds as Bessent looks to rein in debt costs
The Treasury secretary is aiming to project strength as he seeks to sway markets. “I am the house now,” he said at an event Tuesday. “Bet against me if you want.”
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Part of why voters are so furious with trump is that he promised them stimulus checks already. Listen to focus groups and you'll hear many respondents complain that they thought trump would give them stimmy checks, but they never arrived. Not sure even low info voters will fall for this again.
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Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Given the amount of keystrokes and video/podcast time the traditional political media have spent re the relationship b/w Democrats and DSA shouldn't they be giving equal time to Republicans and Nazis? Shouldn't the Dems call out Rs Nazi problems like Republicans have attacks Ds over DSA?
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
If only the media had as much interest in the world's richest person, the primary funder of the Republican Party, who spoke at Trump's Inauguration and gave a Sieg Heil, once again declaring his belief "white solidarity is the only way to survive" as they do some Twitch streamer.
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The parallels are striking. Same shit, different day.
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David Atkins @davidoatkins.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I can't get over the fact that this demented 80-year-old con man has the exact same sensibility as a disturbed 11-year-old boy on 4chan.
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
🤔Yikes— Trump’s guy Witkoff (+ Kushner) bending the knee in Russia: “President Putin, thank you so much for having us… We were sitting outside talking about when we retire how we’ll have all these incredible memories, and yours will be right at the top.”😍🤷🏼
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