iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Achtung an #USA / #Trump Interessierte: Am 30.0. diskutieren Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, Christian Lammert, Julia Simon und ich über die Bedeutung der US-Zwischenwahlen im November für die Zukunft der US-amerikanischen #Demokratie. 📆 30.9.2026, 10:00-11:30 Uhr, online Weitere Infos und Anmeldung:

Will Ferrell: Can I Please Have Your Attention

ALT: Will Ferrell: Can I Please Have Your Attention

396

Frank A. Stengel @frankstengel.com · 15/09/2026

This reminds me of something but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Trump's new Space Force uniform, which very much looks like Starship Troopers meets the Empire from Star Wars meets, well, the SS.

3182

Ich freue mich sehr, diese Fragen mit ausgewiesenen Expert*innen im Rahmen der @dvpw.bsky.social -Reihe "Politikwissenshaft im Gespräch" diskutieren zu können. Bitte gerne teilen. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

Eric Cartman: Sharing Is Caring Kyle

Alt: Eric Cartman: Sharing Is Caring Kyle

020

(oder nicht), wie viel davon nur "Trump being Trump" ist oder eine neue qualitative Dimension erreicht hat, wie ernst die Lage ist und was das für Deutschland und Europa bedeutet, ist herzlich eingeladen teilzunehmen.

Jack Black & Rebecca: I'll Be Waiting

Alt: Jack Black & Rebecca: I'll Be Waiting

Wer sich angesichts der sich nahezu täglich überschlagenden Ereignisse jenseits des Atlantiks fragt, wie Medienberichte über Korruption, Gesetzesbrüche und Angriffe auf Demokratie und Rechtsstaat unter Trump 2.0 einzuordnen sind, inwieweit die Ereignisse der letzten zwei Jahre qualitativ neu sind

Man panicking, breathing into a paper bag

Alt: Sheldon panicking, breathing into a paper bag

Will Ferrell: Can I Please Have Your Attention

ALT: Will Ferrell: Can I Please Have Your Attention

396

Frank A. Stengel @frankstengel.com · 19/08/2026

What is going on with the #ICE concentration camps (I am deliberately using that term) is truly sickening. Any democratic government needs to call the #Trump administration out for these human-rights violations.

thenation.com

One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention

My husband, son, and I have been locked up for months—despite being permanent residents with no criminal record. It is an unendurable, unending nightmare.

2101

Reposted by Frank A. Stengel

Olivia of Troye @oliviaoftroye.com · 08/08/2026

Criticize ICE online, and the federal government may build a dossier on you. One Reddit user has faced six months of investigation, two subpoenas, and a grand jury. No charges have been filed. I worked at DHS. THIS. ISN’T. NORMAL. It’s one of five stories you should know.

livingitwitholiviatroye.com

Saturday Covfefe: The Government Would Like a Word About Your Post

Federal dossiers, institutional fear, and five stories getting buried beneath the next outrage.

12285116

Reposted by Frank A. Stengel

Elizabeth Nolan Brown @enbrown.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

AI-written police reports! What could go wrong? www.techdirt.com/2026/07/30/a... (Reports about cops morphing into frogs, for one thing)

39824

Reposted by Frank A. Stengel

Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

1. This New York Post cover: “Thousands of 9/11 families demand Mamdani be banned from 25th-Anniversary” is a brazen lie. How do I know? I interviewed the organizer of the petition.

856163924764

Frank A. Stengel @frankstengel.com · 25/07/2026

Ngl, I'm gonna be very disappointed if they didn't deepfake @carlomasala1.bsky.social|s voice for this.

060

Frank A. Stengel @frankstengel.com · 22/07/2026

Canada's multicultural identity all worked against Leitch's populist bid. This shows that PRR templates don't necessarily travel easily,ndepending on the context. The failure of Leitch's campaign tells us a lot about what makes Canadian political #culture distinctive—

130

Frank A. Stengel @frankstengel.com · 22/07/2026

screening immigrants for "Canadian values" , criticising "political correctness," and positioning herself as an outsider. Budd reveals the limits of this strategy in the Canadian context. The absence of a strong "people vs. elite" #narrative, #gender dynamics, and

Frank A. Stengel @frankstengel.com · 22/07/2026

#Canada is often seen as somewhat immune to the populist radical right (PRR). Chapter 7 by Brian Budd examines that assumption through the case of Kellie Leitch's 2016–17 Conservative leadership campaign, which tried to import the PRR playbook into Canada —

A Poststructuralist Discourse Theory of Global Politics

at first glance, it has deeper roots in US political history. That is a big part of what made his campaigns resonate with a broad audience. For a more detailed discussion of sedimented practices in US foreign policy, also check out Dirk's book.

link.springer.com

This book develops a discourse theory of crisis and change in global politics. Crisis is conceptualized as structural dislocation, resting on difference and incompleteness. Change is seen as the cont...

010

Analyzing Trump's campaign speeches, we show how Trump mobilized longstanding American traditions — exceptionalism, unilateralism, protectionism — rather than inventing something entirely new. Thus, even though Trump's foreign policy might seem radically different from his predecessors

The chapter borrows the concept of "sedimented practices" from #EssexSchool #disocurse theory, understood as historical patterns of social action (including speech) that become so entrenched they appear as common sense. These invisible foundations shape what's politically thinkable.

100

In chapter 6 Dirk Nabers and I focus on US foreign policy under Trump. We ask to what extent Trump's foreign policy is a radical break from or draws on established traditions of US foreign policy. #TrumpForeignPolicy #USPolitics #Populism

The Onion @theonion.com · 29/06/2026

Reposted by Frank A. Stengel

White House Mocks Paltry Attendance At Democrats’ Great American State Fair theonion.com/white-house-mocks-palt…

321777181

Frank A. Stengel @frankstengel.com · 01/07/2026

Essex School discourse theory, meta-theoretical discussions or ways to do discourse analysis, this might be worth checking out. #discourse #Germany #Bundeswehr #Afghanistan #EssexSchool #Laclau #Mouffe #discourseanalysis #qualitativemethods #ontology #epistemology

010

Frank A. Stengel @frankstengel.com · 01/07/2026

Wie schön aber, dass die SZ auch hier konsequent weiter Rechtsradikale bzw. -extremisten als "Populusten" verharmlost. Aber die Presse hat ja nichts damit zu tun, dass solche Akteure zunehmend salonfähig geworden sind, insofern muss man auch keine anstrengende Selbstreflexion betreiben.

0133

Using #Trump as an illustrative case, this chapter gives IR scholars and security studies researchers essential tools to decode how (some) populists construct their worldview. #ontologicalsecurity #Trumpism #emotions

Security narratives are central to this process. The framework brings together collective #narcissism, #emotionalization, and blame attribution. Populists succeed by making voters feel their national #identity is under #threat — and pointing to #elites and "alien Others" as the culprits.

populist security narratives. 👇 #Populism #SecurityStudies #PoliticalPsychology #narratives Löfflmann argues that populism is fundamentally a communicative logic: it works by stoking ontological insecurity — threatening people's sense of a stable, coherent sense of self and community.