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Jen Rubin

@jenrubin.bsky.social
321K followers 892 following 4.7K posts

Editor-in-chief of The Contrarian, Premier League and tennis fan, dog and art lover, democracy defender, and pro-Oxford comma. Book and travel recommendations welcomed.

PostsRepliesMedia
Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 48m
Trump economy still stinks: U.S. nonfarm payrolls increase by 29,000 in September, less than expected; unemployment rises to 4.2% www.cnbc.com/2026/10/02/j...
cnbc.com
Labor market faltered in September as jobs increased by just 29,000, unemployment rate rose to 4.2%
Nonfarm payrolls were expected to increase by 84,000 in September while the unemployment rate held at 4.1%.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 51m
Trump wound up unleashing DC civic pride in the arts:
open.substack.com
Undaunted Arts in D.C.
🚨32 Days to the Midterms🚨
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 52m
In response to the mad, boorish, wanna-be king, repeated, public displays of affection for the Kennedy Center have erupted.
open.substack.com
Undaunted Arts in D.C.
🚨32 Days to the Midterms🚨
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Reposted by Jen Rubin
Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 13h
El-Sayed responds to JD Vance clip: Low T JD. It's always funny, man. He just brings the energy down every time you hear him talk.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 11h
Gov Hochul seems to have followed this sound advice from @mimirocah1.bsky.social
ms.now
Opinion | How the Tompkins County DA set itself up for failure in the Cornell rape case
It appears the Tompkins County district attorney’s office failed to properly follow up with standard practices for cases involving sexual assault allegations when the initial complaint was made in 202...
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 15h
We Keep Failing Women... brilliant, timely and infuriating open.substack.com/pub/contrari...
open.substack.com
We Keep Failing Women
It is the badge of a degraded democracy that certain men will not be held to account.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 15h
CBS showed it will be handmaiden on behalf of its MAGA patrons. But plenty of execs, editors, and journalists at other outlets are looking to recover their audiences and their integrity. Improving their coverage by offering guidelines supported by engaged news consumers can only help.
open.substack.com
You Can Help Improve Legacy Media
🚨33 Days to the Midterms🚨
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 15h
What we lose when the legacy media gameifies politics:
open.substack.com
You Can Help Improve Legacy Media
🚨33 Days to the Midterms🚨
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 17h
This would be easier: Don’t put Donald Trump and Any World Leader in a room together www.economist.com/leaders/2026...
economist.com
Don’t put Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un in a room together
A summit between the two “friends” could go horribly wrong
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 17h
and everyone who voted to confirm this moron is unfit as well... what did they think was going to happen? Looking at you, Sens. Susan Collins, Dan Sullivan, Jon Husted, Tom Cotton, Roger Marshall, Pete Ricketts, Mike Rounds, Shelley Moore Capito
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 17h
we❤️🫎
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 17h
superb judge. this is how you get to the truth
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 17h
quick catch up on last stunningly terrible MAGA polling numbers including latest from AP:
open.substack.com
Hegseth’s Dangerous Gibberish
Plus, Trump’s convention backfires, and he is losing, well, just about everyone.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 17h
In a laughable display of sophomoric puffery, childish chest-thumping and just plain weirdness Hegseth underscored his utter cluelessness about what made the U.S. military an unparalleled fighting force. hard to believe he apparently prepares in advance such idiotic phrases ...
open.substack.com
Hegseth’s Dangerous Gibberish
Plus, Trump’s convention backfires, and he is losing, well, just about everyone.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 17h
YES! “Should you see Chief Justice John Roberts …consider letting him know exactly what you think of him and his illegitimate, ultraconservative court,” she wrote. “Yell, boo, whisper, weep audibly, give him the thumbs down or the finger, hand him a note, refuse to serve him.”
nytimes.com
John Roberts Retreated to His Island. Supreme Court Critics Found Him.
After decades of potlucks and paddle-boarding on Maine’s midcoast, rising anger and protests have left the Supreme Court’s chief justice more isolated than ever.
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Reposted by Jen Rubin
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 19h
Signs you might really have crossed a line: The torture guy is suggesting a firing squad as a more humane alternative
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
shame on junior officers for applauding his claptrap, and for their bosses not giving them appropriate instructions in advance www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/u...
nytimes.com
In Speech, Hegseth Targets Diversity, Transgender People, Reporters and Iran
The defense secretary returned to culture-war themes and used coarse and offensive terms to describe people he believes have no place in the military.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Folks, grown up Democrats are showing leadership. Watch our space at @contrariannews.org for AI ideas/policy/leadership
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
An imbecile. Trump might fire him to deprive us of the joy of impeaching him.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Criminal contempt inquiry looms. The en banc D.C. Circuit seemed poised to allow a full inquiry into who was responsible for defying Judge Boasberg’s order to turn around planes with deportees headed for El Salvador. The Trump regime is trembling at prospect higher-ups will be held accountable
open.substack.com
Sen. Schmitt’s Unparalleled Buffoonery
And a polling apocalypse for the GOP.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
a bad faith conspiracy nut blows himself up:
open.substack.com
Sen. Schmitt’s Unparalleled Buffoonery
And a polling apocalypse for the GOP.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A serious, forward leaning piece from a top 2028 contender on AI- EXCLUSIVE to @contrariannews.org
open.substack.com
March Us Toward the Summit, Not the Chasm
By Governor JB Pritzker
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Susan Rice: this is what an informed, highly intelligent veteran of govt sounds like on AI, China and Iran... one day such people could return to govt. open.substack.com/pub/contrari...
open.substack.com
What Do Dictators and Rogue AI Have in Common? Trump's Overwhelming Love
Ambassador Susan Rice warns that unregulated AI will kill civilians and arm hostile parties.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Paid for by the U.S. Government... well, we did. We fixed it. open.substack.com/pub/contrari...
open.substack.com
Paid for by the U.S. Government
Trump’s taxpayer-sponsored ad doesn’t paint the full picture of his presidency, so we made some improvements
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
How the Word Is Passed is one of the great books of our time so looking forward to this!
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Given all this more Trump ads would be a big boost for Democrats!
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
amazing QUinnipiac: not only 12pts lead in generic but: Democrats lead on all major issues: (health care 55-31%; cost of living 49-36%; international conflicts 48-40%; the economy 48-42%; immigration [!] 47-42%; corruption in government 45-33%; AI 42-29%) poll.qu.edu/poll-release...
poll.qu.edu
Generic Ballot For Control Of U.S. House: Dems 51%, GOP 39%, Dem Party Ahead On Key Issues, Boosted By Independents, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; 71% Prefer Candidates Who Support St...
"A warning light flashing red for the GOP scrambling to stay in power. From the economy to international conflicts to AI, independent voters are siding with Democrats, even though a vast majority of t...
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
they can smell the stench of loserdom
open.substack.com
Dismal Polls for Republicans — And No Wonder
Even some ‘Front-Row Joes’ are abandoning the weak president.
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Reposted by Jen Rubin
MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 28/09/2026
Former DOJ pardon attorney Liz Oyer on the Trump DOJ: They’re just making stuff up as they go along to try to defend the president’s indefensible decisions after the fact.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Watch the returns on November 3. The worse they are for Republicans, the less the “heir apparent” talk will make sense. Maybe that is why Vance seems so personally desperate .. It’s his own political career that is hanging by a thread. And, as of today, it looks ready to snap.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Regardless of who they find and what ideology they adopt to assuage their resentment, Rs in 2028 may have little patience for someone who carries the stench of Trump’s detested war, his economic meltdown, his serial failed initiatives, and, most profoundly, the political calamity he provoked in 2026
open.substack.com
Words & Phrases: ‘Heir Apparent’ or Ballot Box Poison?
🚨 35 Days to the Midterms 🚨
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
ok, it they insist!!
open.substack.com
Words & Phrases: ‘Heir Apparent’ or Ballot Box Poison?
🚨 35 Days to the Midterms 🚨
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Reposted by Jen Rubin
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"Fuck that." "I'm Sherrod Brown and I approve of this message."
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Josh Turek responds to the belated steel mill promise: open.substack.com/pub/contrari...
open.substack.com
Iowa Is ‘Uniquely Hurting.’ This Senate Candidate Is Ready to Bring the Cure
Iowa made a big swing to the right in 2016. Will it swing back in 2026?
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
utterly gripping, horrifying... there were no right or even easy answers www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
theatlantic.com
How Biden Averted a War With Iran
In April 2024, the U.S. military helped avoid a wider conflict in the Middle East by working with Israel to defeat an Iranian missile attack.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Heroine, definitely
nytimes.com
Heroine or Public Enemy? The Israeli Blocking Much of Netanyahu’s Agenda.
Gali Baharav-Miara, Israel’s first female attorney general, has stopped many of the government’s efforts to remove constraints on its power.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
what does he have to do to get fired?? this is what happens when croynism controls
nytimes.com
Embarrassing Breach at F.B.I. Fuels Fears of Harm to Its Employees
In an internal memo, the F.B.I. said it believed the hackers may have stolen sensitive information on all of its employees.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Even John Thune knows it's a terrible idea: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
GOP Leader Thune Says Taxpayers Shouldn’t Pay for Trump TV Ads
Senate Republican Leader John Thune said taxpayers shouldn’t be footing the bill for video advertisements lauding President Donald Trump that the administration has called “presidential public service...
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It's illegal... and an hilariously awful ad
open.substack.com
Trump Goes Full-Orwell
The administration’s propaganda hype-ads are an abuse of power.
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Reposted by Jen Rubin
The Contrarian @contrariannews.org · 28/09/2026
“When the Trump Administration converts taxpayer money to use for partisan hype-pieces, it not only affronts the law, but it inevitably leads to the diversion of taxpayer funds from important government programs that support the American public.” More on Trump’s corrupt propaganda campaign ⬇️
contrariannews.org
Trump Goes Full-Orwell
The administration’s propaganda hype-ads are an abuse of power.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
BINGO:
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
WOW
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The always “concerned” Maine Republican voted to confirm Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought knowing his views on rescission. Now she whines when he again acts lawlessly. “White House orders over $800M in funds rescinded; Collins calls it ‘clear violation’ of law.”
open.substack.com
The Supreme Court Gets It Half Right
The White House press corps caves, and Trump’s horror show continues.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Morally spineless and professionally foolish, the WH pool capitulated and returned with CNN still excluded. Given how inept Trump are lackeys like Blanche (the AG in the business of vouching for suppression?!?)in defending exclusion of press on phony national security grounds, no reason to relent.
open.substack.com
The Supreme Court Gets It Half Right
The White House press corps caves, and Trump’s horror show continues.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The WH press corps never learns
open.substack.com
The Supreme Court Gets It Half Right
The White House press corps caves, and Trump’s horror show continues.
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Can't wait!!
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If Democratic candidates identifying as progressive Christians win in November, they will help sustain a Democratic blue wave but also, and more important, reaffirm the ideals of a country founded by religious dissenters and renegades who suffered from repressive established religion.
open.substack.com
A Defining Moment of Religious Pluralism
🚨 36 Days to the Midterms 🚨
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
defeat of white Christian nationalism at the hands of a diverse political electorate that includes millions of faithful Christians would be transformative for Democrats, democracy, and American Christianity. What a fitting rebuke to white Christian nationalism that would be.
open.substack.com
A Defining Moment of Religious Pluralism
🚨 36 Days to the Midterms 🚨
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Progressive Christians find their voice
open.substack.com
A Defining Moment of Religious Pluralism
🚨 36 Days to the Midterms 🚨
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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
@usapolling.bsky.social
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