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Maximillian Potter

@maxpotter.bsky.social
4.9K followers 1.5K following 4.1K posts

Writer-editor @protectdemocracy.org Contributing Editor @vanityfair.com NYT & WSJ Best Wine Book: “Shadows in the Vineyard” amzn.to/2H5ikFW Ghost in some memoirs. Facts are facts. My opinions are my own. linktr.ee/maximillianpotter

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 13h
A smugness of political establishment elites was part of a real problem that made Trump possible, in some instances, enabled him. And if the GOP loses big and then loses big again in 28, and the smugness of the system of establishment elites becomes more smug … what have we learned?
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 15h
So it’s a war after all?
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 15h
This is how you do it.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 16h
“You could check that out. If that’s what we’re talking about.” A) I will be vigilant for moments in my life when I can respond with these exact two sentences. B) This is the testimony-response version of “Oh, bless your heart.”
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 19h
For what it’s worth, I also no longer believe in the Easter Bunny.
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Stephanie Farr @farfarraway.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Proud to work at the @inquirer.com, where today our entire five-page Opinion section is about the many ways Trump’s White House has become a house of corruption. The Inquirer is keeping Freedom of the Press alive in the city where it was founded. But that’s not all! 🧵
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Reading the facts here … it’s surreal how real the “the existential risks to humanity” are.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Andy Dalton is exactly the dude who comes in to throw a pick on goal line.
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Elizabeth Hernandez @lizzy-hernandez.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
New: @sethklamann.bsky.social and I talked w/ current & former detainees at Aurora's GEO immigration detention center & reviewed 911 calls to write about what it's really like inside Colorado's only immigrant detention facility. "There is no mercy here." www.denverpost.com/2026/09/27/c...
denverpost.com
Pepper spray, health crises and rotten food: Inside Colorado’s only immigrant detention center
In interviews with The Denver Post, current and former detainees described frequent fights and feelings of hopelessness. They say they’re often served inedible or rotten food that frequently gives the...
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Danielle Kurtzleben @titonka.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The masculinity politics beat continues to be very necessary. goodauthority.substack.com/p/republican...
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Less Tate Brothers-Clavicular-Fuentes more highlighting of examples of men being decent humans. Let’s model and encourage … decency and thinking and doing beyond yourself. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/r...
nytimes.com
Christian Bale Built a Foster Care Village in the California Desert (Gift Article)
The actor has been working for almost two decades to build a foster care nonprofit outside Los Angeles.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Yes. And evergreen for almost a decade.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Anger is the emotion that drives change. Peacefully harnessed is the thing. Just ask Maya Angelou. Trump has owned anger. His opponents have tried to be “above it.” Anger is energy; it can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be transformed. First Law of Thermodynamics also…politics.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
— Hannah Arendt, Origins of Totalitarianism
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The 80s.a Good time for pop music. youtu.be/VhVPU1Brmos?...
youtu.be
ABC - The Look Of Love (1982) • TopPop
YouTube video by TopPop
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The great Jane Mayer’s 2020 NYer profile of Mitch McConnell endures for me as one of the best, most thoroughly reported profiles ever and also journalism that continues to provide relevant context for our current challenges. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
newyorker.com
How Mitch McConnell Became Trump’s Enabler-in-Chief
The Senate Majority Leader’s refusal to rein in the President is looking riskier than ever.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Whoever invented the pause-and-pour feature that enables you to get a cup mid-brew…deserved a raise or a Nobel Prize.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In this moment of oligarch-authoritarian concentration of power, consolidation of wealth, conflicts of interest and censorship — there are things we can do, like support the pursuit of truth whenever possible.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
And what do we think happens moving forward after Paramount-WB merger? Starting to feel like maybe about 2 dozen billionaire dudes—and all dudes—will own most all entertainment & media; and will control a whole lot of info and nation’s wealth/paychecks. 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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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
There seems to be a theme. There’s an emotion driving all of this. The same emotion that has been a part of driving most if not all political and cultural change. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
washingtonpost.com
Antiestablishment anger is raging, and 4 other takeaways from primary season
Six months of elections offer pointed insights into how voters feel heading into the November midterms.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
You don’t say. www.nbcnews.com/politics/202...
nbcnews.com
Democratic anger at their own party fuels 2026 primaries
With the party's image at record lows and declining even among Democratic voters, candidates for Senate see an opening to win by positioning themselves against leaders.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I don’t know, but man, it feels like Lasso finds its soul in episode 8. “Follow the Anger.” Whats different? The writers This one written by Jamie Lee, Brett Goldstein, with Dylan Marron also credited. First ep of this season they’ve written. But they are big part of the magic of previous seasons.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
“… this propaganda is not just offensive and anti-American. It’s also illegal and potentially punishable by jail time. Spending taxpayer money on propaganda is illegal” www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/trump-tv-i...
ifyoucankeepit.org
Trump TV is propaganda — and a crime
The “Anti-Publicity & Propaganda Rider,” explained
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A gentler framing of the “double haters.” … Follow the money…and the anger.
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Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · 23/09/2026
A federal judge on Wednesday said she’ll hear high-stakes oral arguments next week in the controversial “Broadview Six” case against a group of immigration protesters.
chicagotribune.com
Judge sets high-stakes arguments in ‘Broadview Six’ sanctions request for Oct. 1
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Hey, anybody think it would be a good idea for Musk (and a “syndicate”) to basically have an ownership stake in CNN and CBS News and a shit-ton of production companies that have development deals with Paramount-Warner Bros?
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 23/09/2026
NEW: ProPublica revealed that the FBI was circling Sen. Collins over a defense contractor’s donations — until Trump gutted the unit in charge. Collins has since mustered a defense with a series of incorrect and misleading claims.
propublica.org
ProPublica Debunks Susan Collins’ Claims About FBI Anti-Corruption Probe
ProPublica revealed that the FBI was circling Sen. Collins over a defense contractor’s donations — until President Trump gutted the unit in charge. Collins has since mustered a defense with a series o...
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
So exhausting.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I can’t believe this shit is real. Just know, *know*, that someone is going to write a book about this moment in America and title it: “Super Intelligence”
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
You ever one those moments where you can’t find your eyeglasses because they are in your shirt pocket? … Me neither. Never.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Just gonna note his use of first person here: I. Not We. Not America. Not US service members. Nothing about Congress. I.
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NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
David Sacks’ support of both Russian fascist warmongering and unregulated AI brings a welcome consistency to West Wing apocalyptics.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
INSANE. #GoBirds
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
“Watson, 40, graduated from the Air Force Academy and has served for 17 years. … He attracted national attention in July when he stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in his service uniform and called for the impeachment of Trump and Vice President JD Vance.”
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Come together and stand together or you’re next. So many in power have been rationalizing away their responsibility and the need to stand up for others, and consequently surrendering more and more until it comes for them.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
It feels like the sources here who say Trump is acknowledging some responsibility for the GOP’s terrible polling are trying to con their own congressional Rs. The real Trump is this guy: “It’s a very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done,” he said. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
washingtonpost.com
Behind Trump’s public confidence, his private view of midterms is sobering
In private, the president has been hearing blunt news from advisers about the GOP’s poor chances in the midterms and has accepted that some of the problem is of his making.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Same guy who asked contestants to drink a glass of donkey semen and a glass of donkey urine. So, you know—whatever. www.huffpost.com/entry/fear-f...
huffpost.com
Did NBC Finally Draw The Line With 'Fear Factor'?
Did NBC Finally Draw The Line With 'Fear Factor'?
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Here’s an example of what’s hurting Ted Lasso from a storytelling perspective in season 4: It took 7 fucking episodes to get to the backstory/or even just story of Faye Marsay’s Lizzie Davis and her life as a pro-footballer mom. That’s why we care about this team. 7 episodes to get there.
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
A mostly invisible force shaping politics in the Trump era—esp since 2025—is his ability to summon threats of violence & death against his opponents to such a degree it's become a material factor in political actors' decision making. I think a good term for this is "stochastic brownshirtism."
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The call went like this: “Dad, did you see what he did? Dad, what should I do? Would you call him?”
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Meanwhile, this asswipe.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Also: Voice. This guy has a Voice that comes from a smart heart and wise soul. You cannot fake it. He ain’t smug. There’s no faux humility. He isn’t the slightest bit insecure about being who he is. In a world soaked with frauds, man, I miss this cat.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Guy has always had a knack for cutting through the shit to the chase, speaking human to human. Like, wait, let’s just, for perspective consider … yes. Exactly.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It’s just a given that when you want to persuade someone you talk AT them because you of course know best. I mean, that’s always been effective. Just a given. Tis the season.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
That’s the spirit. You can always spot the go-getters.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
If someone says the president is out of his mind and the president himself says he is a “stable genius” it is the journalist’s job to look at the relentless downpour of lunacy and note that he is off his rocker.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
My Gen Z kid just called the wishbone offense “old-time” football and that it made no sense. So I hung up on him.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Disarray. How does it go? Something something in disarray. www.washingtonsun.com/congress/hou...
washingtonsun.com
House Republican Meeting Turns Into Shouting Match: ‘This Is Fucking War!’
Speaker Mike Johnson summoned top GOP members to discuss suspending the gas tax, but the session got ugly and personal.
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Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Brendan Smialowski of AFP snapped this picture tonight of President Trump, after Air Force One landed at Joint Base Andrews, viewing a plan to demolish the Kennedy Center.
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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Hollywood has a lot at stake in the midterms — like a whole lot of what gets greenlit and released.
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