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Ian Bassin

@ianbassin.bsky.social
139K followers 1.5K following 967 posts

Founder and Executive Director @protectdemocracy.org. Former Associate White House Counsel. Tweets my own.

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Reposted by Ian Bassin
Protect Democracy @protectdemocracy.org · 06/10/2026
California could be our sharpest test when it comes to bad-faith attacks on election results. The good news: the Golden State is ready. @ianbassin.bsky.social and Ben Gips outline the work Protect Democracy and partners have supported to protect CA's elections. via @democracyproject.bsky.social
democracyproject.org
Going to California
A broad range of views on democracy to help break the stalemate caused by partisan conflict.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
We @protectdemocracy.org have been working with allies across the country to help ensure a free and fair election. Ben Gips and I recount our efforts in California @democracyproject.bsky.social, where attention could be focused in November. democracyproject.org/posts/going-...
democracyproject.org
Going to California
A broad range of views on democracy to help break the stalemate caused by partisan conflict.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This perfectly encapsulates what seems to be happening in politics, something many of us have waited for for years: people who were seemingly brainwashed by a Trump cult coming out of it. Listen here to a Trump superfan in her own words: www.politico.com/newsletters/...
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29/09/2026
Jack Smith: "Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation ... rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 election, he engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power"
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Congratulations to this year’s @macfound.org fellows! www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/a...
nytimes.com
MacArthur Foundation Announces 2026 ‘Genius Grant’ Winners
The 20 fellowship recipients across the arts, humanities and sciences will each receive an $800,000, no-strings-attached stipend for their work.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
BREAKING: Federal Court blocks Trump Admin attempt to misuse homeland security funds to force states to bend to its efforts to interfere in local election processes. Big win for our clients, partners, and American voters. @protectdemocracy.org
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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
We’re not only in the midst of a political crisis, we’re also in a spiritual crisis, explains @ianbassin.bsky.social of Protect Democracy, who joins Charting The Way Forward to talk election protection & reclaiming our future 📺 www.youtube.com/watch?v=km19... 🍎 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
youtube.com
This is a Spiritual Crisis (Ft. Ian Bassin)
YouTube video by Way to Win Action Fund
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
One of the most powerful essays you’ll read this year, from Nikole Hannah-Jones www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/m...
nytimes.com
In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?
A decade ago, I made a decision about my daughter’s education that I hoped would challenge New York City’s separate and unequal school system. Now 16, she thinks I made the wrong choice.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
It appears Donald Trump has endorsed ranked choice voting.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Ways to block the sweetheart deal/Paramount merger: JOIN A RALLY NEAR YOU: Oakland Sunday, Sept 20, 5PM PT outside CA AG Bonta’s office: www.mobilize.us/notabovethel... NYC- outside NY AG James’ office: www.mobilize.us/notabovethel... LA: www.mobilize.us/notabovethel... Sign the petition as well:
mobilize.us
Block the Merger: Don't Settle with Paramount! · Not Above the Law
Join us to rally outside of the California Attorney General's Oakland office! We need Attorney General Rob Bonta to stand strong against a Paramount-Warner Brothers Merger. A core principle behind a...
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This is exactly the kind of careful, ethical person who should be in charge of dangerous world-altering technology. OpenAI’s premise that only they can do this safely is clearly in good hands. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/17/t...
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Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
If I were still in the wh press pool, it would be such a no brainer (tho it’s not like I ever was granted decision making power): no one go until this is lifted and if you do, you are no longer a member of the WHCA
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Can you imagine the goverment response if this many pharmaceutical companies experimenting with potentially deadly viruses let them leak out of their “secure” biolabs? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/t...
nytimes.com
Gemini AI Hacked Three Companies in a Testing Breakout, Google Says
A third-party test company inadvertently gave internet access to Google’s Gemini and other artificial intelligence models during cybersecurity testing.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This is a stunning article, featuring interviews with sitting federal judges, including stalwart conservatives, warning that the Trump Admin's actions in Minnesota “created a grave threat to the rule of law.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/17/u...
nytimes.com
Trump’s Minnesota Surge Threatened Democracy, Judge Warns
In a rare interview, Patrick Schiltz, who served as the federal court’s chief judge last winter, called the administration’s actions “a grave threat to the rule of law.”
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
@garymarcus.bsky.social with an update on our lawsuit to get the White House to reveal its secret AI regulatory framework garymarcus.substack.com/p/breaking-s...
garymarcus.substack.com
BREAKING: Secret US AI evaluation framework has been partly revealed
Very partly
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Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
SCOTUS needs an amicus brief on this as they consider whether to transfer control of our elections into his hands 🙄
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Omg. When you’ve lost Joe DiGenova….
diGenova just told me by phone when I asked about his abrupt exit:
"If you want indictments where there's no evidence, you have an ethical problem"
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
This pairing in my feed really drove home our moment in history.
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Senator Chris Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov · 09/09/2026
Anyone still denying the risks posed by unregulated AI should read this thread.

It’s time to pump the brakes & take action NOW. We need:
- Mandatory safeguards
- A comprehensive testing regime
- Urgent dialogue with China, before & during President Xi's visit to DC this month
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Two Nations. Two Democracies at Stake. Thomas Friedman on the coming elections and the stakes. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/08/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Democracy Is on the Ballot in Both America’s and Israel’s Elections
Israel and the United States each hold elections one week apart in the fall. The fate of their democracies lies in the balance.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Just a giant gang of grifters using our government to line their pockets.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Happy Labor Day. As @jenrubin.bsky.social writes at @contrariannews.org, a key phase in the movement to not just reclaim but reimagine our democracy goes into high gear starting now: www.contrariannews.org/p/labor-day-...
contrariannews.org
Labor Day Is More Essential Than Ever
57 Days to the Midterms
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Reposted by Ian Bassin
Protect Democracy @protectdemocracy.org · 01/09/2026
We sued to block the Trump admin from compiling sensitive data of millions of Americans into so-called State Citizenship Lists & pressuring states to use them. It violates laws meant to protect privacy, threatens voting rights, & usurps states’ constitutional election authority. protdem.org/3UuGVeh
LAWSUIT FILED
Judge Blocks Trump’s Illegal Mass Layoffs
Groups Sue to Block Illegal Voter Data Misuse
Protect Democracy, allies challenge error-prone administration database threatening privacy and risking election chaosWithout any legal authority to do so, the Trump Administration is pressuring states to make rapid changes to their voter rolls based on an error-ridden database on a dangerously compressed timeline. This is a transparent attempt to create chaos and confusion ahead of the midterms, masquerading as an election security measure.
jules torti
counsel
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The country feels like a giant Jenga game right now. Where Trump keeps pushing out important pieces and at some point the whole thing’s gonna come crashing down. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/u...
nytimes.com
Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll Resigns as U.S. Military Grapples With Two Wars
The resignation of Daniel P. Driscoll, the secretary of the Army, had been expected but comes at a tumultuous time for the service.
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Senator Ron Wyden @wyden.senate.gov · 28/08/2026
A Trump official diverted firefighting resources to a fire on his private ranch. He got 9 aircraft for the 7-acre fire while the 90,000 acre Grasshopper fire in Oregon got about the same. These guys kneecapped wildfire prevention and now they’re diverting what few resources remain for personal gain.
theguardian.com
Trump official faces inquiry over claims he diverted wildfire resources to his own property
Exclusive: Michael Boren, a senior official overseeing the US Forest Service, is accused by Democratic senators of ‘inappropriate interference’
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Protect Democracy @protectdemocracy.org · 27/08/2026
The CA Legislature just passed the #NoKingsAct, heading to Gov. Newsom. If signed, residents gain the right to sue federal agents like ICE for violating their constitutional rights—making CA the 5th state to offer the right, reaching +70M Americans. Cameron Kistler, who testified in support:
protectdemocracy.org
Protect Democracy applauds California legislature's passage of the No Kings Act
If signed by the Governor, California would become the fifth state this year to let residents sue ICE, Border Patrol, and other federal agents for constitutional violations.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Did you know that depriving people of the right to vote has been a legal violation since at least 1703 in common law England? @protectdemocracy.org's Cameron Kistler explains why that matters for how the courts are handling disenfranchisement schemes today: electionlawblog.org/2026/cameron...
electionlawblog.org
Cameron Kistler: "Hog Barns and Ballot Boxes: The Disenfranchisement Tort the 8th Circuit Missed in Minnesota Voters Alliance" #ELB
The following is a guest post by Cameron Kistler of Protect Democracy United: The Eighth Circuit has held that a state may criminalize lies used to gain access to a hog barn, because the First Amendme...
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Hopefully we are learning that you can’t expect to just bully everyone in the world — via tariffs, or sanctions, or missiles — into bowing to you. The world is more complicated and multi-polar than that. Trump is teaching us that lesson the hard way. I pray we survive learning it.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
In 1914 in a small rural theater in France, moviegoers booed vigorously when Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany appeared on screen in a newsreel. Stefan Zweig wrote that seeing regular people so angry about a foreign head of state signaled to him the conflicts to come.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Trump’s threat to sue @americanprogress.bsky.org is both the flailing of a weak and cowardly leader and a dangerous attack on the First Amendment. Make it backfire. Share their report and donate to them. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Threatens Defamation Suit Over National Guard Report, Aiming to Intimidate a Critic
It was the latest example of President Trump’s bid to use the legal system against those who voice unflattering facts and opinions generally protected by the First Amendment.
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Protect Democracy @protectdemocracy.org · 13/08/2026
@ruthgreenwood.bsky.social is 1 of 500+ scholars urging Congress to adopt proportional representation. After a career fighting gerrymandering, her conclusion is clear: it’s time for systemic change. We’re proud to back her & fellow scholars in their push for change. Her latest for @bostonglobe.com
protdem.org
Gerrymandering won. It’s time to change the rules. - The Boston Globe
The Supreme Court has closed off nearly every legal avenue for challenging partisan gerrymandering. The answer isn’t better maps. It’s proportional representation.
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Elizabeth Picciuto @epicciuto.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
breaking: sometimes the left wins and sometimes the centrists wins: stunning new evidence that voters use more than one criterion to judge candidates
nytimes.com
Hong’s Defeat in Wisconsin Shows the Limits of the Progressive Movement
Francesca Hong’s defeat in the Democratic primary for governor defied expectations and may have shown the democratic socialist wave cannot reach beyond urban centers.
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Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
3/ And here's another study on how grand jurors and district courts are increasingly rejecting the Justice Department's attempted indictments in weaponized cases: www.justsecurity.org/146665/court...
justsecurity.org
Judges and Grand Juries Reject Trump's Efforts to Investigate
A detailed record of federal courts and grand juries rejecting the Trump administration’s use of subpoenas, search warrants, and indictments.
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Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
2/ Here is the regularly updated Presumption of Regularity study published at @justsecurity.org: www.justsecurity.org/120547/presu...
justsecurity.org
The “Presumption of Regularity” in Trump Administration Litigation (4th edition)
Definitive, most comprehensive study of court cases involving Trump administration and the basis for courts no longer giving a "presumption of regularity."
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Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I appreciate John Oliver @lastweektonight.com referencing our research on the 'Presumption of Regularity.'⬇️ We document all of the federal judges findings of Justice Dept dishonesty. John Oliver quite brilliantly connects this to what grand jurors are doing and can do in their civic duty. 1/🧵
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Joined @raushenbush.bsky.social to talk about the midterms and our power to help ensure they are free and fair. www.interfaithalliance.org/post/protect....
google.com
Protect Democracy’s Ian Bassin: Freedom Is Still Up to Us
The coming election will define the future of our democracy. An expert shares warnings and winning strategies in a moment when we really must get it right.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Yet again, if our adversaries had actually installed a puppet president they couldn’t have done better. The U.S. Is Burning Through Weapons in Iran. Russia and China Are Taking Note. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/08/u...
nytimes.com
The U.S. Is Burning Through Weapons in Iran. Russia and China Are Taking Note.
The Iran war has depleted U.S. weapons stockpiles, resulting in a significant erosion of firepower. A more drawn-out Iran conflict benefits Moscow and Beijing, some analysts say.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Todd Blanche won nomination and confirmation by showing his willingness to corrupt the Justice Department to be Donald Trump’s personal sword and shield. I still think the American people will prove too strong a match for this corruption in the end, but if our democracy is to die, this is how.
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Zeteo @zeteo.com · 07/08/2026
How Trump Is Turning the U.S. Intel Community Into an Election-Rigging Machine In part 4 of Zeteo’s ‘Start the Steal’ series, we detail how Trump is weaponizing America’s top spies and intelligence agencies to strangle American democracy. Read: zeteo.com/p/how-trump-...
zeteo.com
How Trump Is Turning the U.S. Intel Community Into an Election-Rigging Machine
In part 4 of Zeteo’s ‘Start the Steal’ series, we detail how Trump is weaponizing America’s top spies and intelligence agencies to strangle American democracy.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Biden made the right decision with problematic execution pulling out of Afghanistan and he was savaged for it daily. Trump makes one of the worst strategic decisions in U.S. history with catastrophic consequences and somehow the reaction seems milder. Am I wrong about that?
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Ami Fields-Meyer @fieldsmeyer.com · 05/08/2026
I’m sure this will be a v popular take (lol) but the viciousness directed today at Stevens/supporters (see comments) show a mvmt that doesn’t appreciate what it takes to get out of authoritarianism. You don’t reverse backsliding w/o an awkward coalition. Stop shaming her supporters & try to win them
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Has there been a bigger and faster and more total strategic failure in American history than Trump’s decision to attack Iran?
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David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
The founders are calling. They suggest you read the damn Constitution.
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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 04/08/2026
You could grow a spine and do your damn jobs.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
The Republicans have already shown themselves to care not at all for our Constitution. There’s apparently no bottom to this if they confirm Blanche, who has weaponized the Justice Dept to be a personal legal arm for Donald Trump, protecting his wealth and lawbreaking and persecuting his opponents.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Fire Cashman. His time has passed.
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Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Really been amazing throughout the process how “should the attorney general be a former personal attorney to the president who has overseen a bunch of failed political prosecutions” just does not matter at all to the entire GOP caucus.
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
One of the most important pieces you’ll ever read, from @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social The War That Could Swallow the World www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The War That Could Swallow the World
Whatever is happening in Iran, it isn’t working.
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Lawfare @lawfaremedia.org · 02/08/2026
Lawfare's reporters, like @rparloff.bsky.social, @annabower.bsky.social, and @mollyroberts.bsky.social, show up to the hearings, from Anthropic v. DOD to NPR v. Trump, to bring you minute-by-minute detail of what happened. That work isn't free. Help fund it: www.lawfaremedia.org/about/support
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Ian Bassin @ianbassin.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
If there was a book of Greek Myths about this era, the story of Brad Karp and Paul Weiss would be in it. Unsatisfied with being an unbelievably wealthy top law firm, it sought more, and Karp destroyed his reputation, firm, and career in the process. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/u...
nytimes.com
How a Top Law Firm Went From Standing Up to Trump to Bending the Knee
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