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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 10h

It makes sense for Dems to start building the case against Rubio. He's the front-runner for the Republican nomination. Vance will be seen as too much more-Trump+lacks skills. Assuming big D wins this year, the 2028 R contest will probably be Rubio and 1-4 candidates/factions we can't now foresee

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 12h

It is remarkable how many Dems in competitive races are not doing the squishy bipartisanship tapioca routine and are instead just letting rip with these guys are a bunch of evil goddamned nazis who want to take all your rights and are also corrupt as fuck. It’s reading the room, I suppose.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

In a way, it's useful to be reminded that Hastert's abuses became known b/c the W Bush-era FBI noticed he was "violating banking laws." Is there any chance that if Kash Patel's FBI spotted Mike Johnson or another Trump loyalist rep making fishy transactions that they would follow that lead?

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

In two years we've gone from a standard where the President's budget proposal was a set of suggestions Congress would ignore to where Congressional appropriations are now a set of suggestions the President ignores.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The real absurdity of Huckabee Sanders re-upping old welfare tropes is that welfare (TANF) barely exists, especially in Southern states. There were 729 families on TANF in Arkansas last year and by definition, no childless young men. Less than 2% of the families in poverty in AK are on TANF.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This is a fascinating observation.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I guess I'm going to see every possible pun on my last name today. That's OK--it was worth it.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

When they get back in power, Democrats need to go all-in on higher education. We need a campaign of reinvestment in public universities across the country that makes the Morrill Land-Grant Act look like nothing by comparison *and* a GI Bill of Rights-style program of tuition grants.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Everyone hates incrementalism until it's time to actually design and implement a new program.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The election campaigns worth investing in, as a normal donor, are the ones you hadn't thought about before yesterday. NC leg, for example. That's a general rule, but especially this year as the "leans D" line moves quickly. But all those Ds will have *enough* money.

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Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

years ago, my colleague Steve Teles and @mschmitt9.bsky.social wrote what I think is still the definitive piece on how to think about this - hewlett.org/wp-content/u...

hewlett.org

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James Goodwin @jamesgoodwin.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

One of the reasons Trump is doubling down on AI is it has become essential to his administration's campaign to weaponize the administrative state. www.csmonitor.com/Environment/...

csmonitor.com

The EPA may deploy AI to regulate toxic chemicals. It’s not telling the public.

Federal law requires U.S. government agencies to disclose how they’re using AI tools in their work. But in the case of the EPA, this doesn’t appear to be…

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G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 17/09/2026

notice how these people who were formerly all-in on the mythical power of ideological moderation have changed their tack and entire organizational orientation after discovering the wisdom of the ancients that most voters are not ideological at all. now it’s all about “heterodoxy.”

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Everyone's dunking on the disenfranchised Vineyard summer-er, but I'm struggling with the idea that people who hate Bill de Blasio, Eric Adams and Zohran Mamdani with equal passion would be voting in the Democratic primary in the first place. If you hate most Democrats, there's a party for you...

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

As polls continue to show a big midterm advantage for Dems, reupping my piece about why some midterms just change the numbers, while others have had more transformational effects on the winning party and on politics generally. markschmitt.substack.com/p/making-mid...

markschmitt.substack.com

Making Midterms Matter

Most backlash elections change the numbers. A few have more lasting consequences.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Something about the way VandeHei talks about the AI threat here reminds me of the way people like him talked about "the deficit" or "the debt" in the Obama era--a huge abstract thing that all *serious* people must focus on, to the exclusion of any democratic debate about other priorities.

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Mitchell Epner @mitchellepner.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

In the Fall of 1992, I learned one of the fundamental laws of the universe: Not enough bad things can happen to Ted Cruz.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I found this guide to the political and ideological factions around AI extremely useful and accessible (from the perspective of an outsider without fixed views).

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I riffed on Krugman's dig at Obama and the legacy of the moderate and liberal Republicans (there were two types) years ago in a review of Geoff Kabaservice's excellent book on the topic: newrepublic.com/article/1005...

newrepublic.com

Ancient History

Geoffrey Kabaservice’s new book, a history of the moderate and liberal wings of the Republican Party since the 1950s, is a wonderful reminder of what

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

From my outsider perspective I'd have some nitpicks, but the essentials are correct and important. "Like any democracy, the composition and leadership of these bodies are determined by whomever shows up." That's the deep, serious, for-real democracy we've built and is under threat now.

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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

When I and others talk about parties being *permeable* - this is exactly what we're talking about. "I started with a Google search... I was elected to Post Seat Holder by a voice vote of everyone in the room at my third business meeting."

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

There was some discussion of state parties in the conference that we hosted @newamerica last fall on how to build healthier parties, existing and new: www.newamerica.org/insights/a-b...

newamerica.org

A Blueprint for Healthier Political Parties

To rebuild U.S. political parties, leaders must focus on local organizations, talent, fundraising, and competition.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

This is such a great article and reminder that "the Democratic Party" is not some distant room where Schumer and Jeffries hand down directives. It's millions of people, in and out of the formal structures of the party. But state parties vary widely, and there's a lot to be learned in the variation.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Especially as broadcast ads become less significant, the difference between politicians who avoid many of their constituents (Comer and other GOP, but also Fetterman, Haley Stevens in her walk-away videos) and those who will go anywhere, talk to anyone, and can take tough questions will become key.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Back in the blog era, I used to joke (because it was true) that conservative bloggers had one thing that progressives lacked: clients.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

That question gives those polled just one piece of information about a person with very low name recognition. (Another poll showed 80% say they haven't heard of Piker.) Anyway, serious people don't take Mark Penn polls seriously.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

The "Harvard poll" here is the Harvard (CAPS)-Harris poll, which is Mark Penn. (He rented one name and bought the other.) It's crap, exemplified by the question, “Do you think that the Democratic Party should embrace or reject people like Hasan Piker who have said things like America deserved 9/11?”

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

For elected Dems, they feel that their obligation is to show how they can improve people's lives, not just critique the other party. That's a good impulse! It's not always wrong. But it is wrong for this moment. And it gets them caught in these narrative jumbles where they say two things at once.

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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

So many of these writers, entire sections, and at times outlets are not engaged in serious writing or thinking. "The Case for Reparations" and "The 1619 Project" remain excellent works of journalism. I am not sure either would have been published today in the outlets where they appeared.

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New America @newamerica.org · 24/08/2026

The U.S. has one of the widest age gaps between legislators and the people they represent in the world. New America's Oscar Pocasangre breaks down America's gerontocracy means for democracy. 🗞️ Read the @protectdemocracy.org + New America report: go.newamerica.org/age-divide-geront…

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I'm cranking the Substack back up this week. New post on why some midterms just shift the numbers in Congress, and others have lasting consequences, and the model for Dems to do more than just win numerical majorities. markschmitt.substack.com/p/making-mid...

markschmitt.substack.com

Making Midterms Matter

Most backlash elections change the numbers. A few have more lasting consequences.

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

It's a bad system, perhaps the only idea genuinely and unambiguously worse than traditional FPTP and party primaries. I'm an electoral reform nerd and I would vote against it. California's very likely to repeal it soon, it's been such a complete failure.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Also notable that both the NYT and the Bulwark dropped plans to publish it after a mean letter from @marcelias.bsky.social. Every Dem should have an interest in shutting down this industry, and getting $ and message back in the hands of candidates and the party, rather than scamming gullible seniors

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

An essential post by @adambonica.bsky.social, who brings academic rigor to the question we all wonder about who those ridiculous spam PAC texts work on, and why it matters. It never ceases to upset me that the largest org working on money in politics now, End Citizens United, is a notorious spam PAC

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Apparently not. Why not just say, "Sorry, I don't know enough about that topic"? And it's one thing like that after another--literal microagressions: Small things that can be annoying (he probably was asked to plan the MLK event just because he's Black) but that seem inconsequential.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

then he's on an academic committee that recommends hiring a professor he doesn't consider qualified, and...she doesn't get hired. It's not clear that he even registered his opposition. He's asked to help plan an MLK ceremony and is offended because he has no expertise on MLK. Does he turn it down?

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Something I haven't seen noted about the TAH article is that *nothing happens*. He gets an email accusing a white student of "lynching" a Black roommate by threatening to call police, and...that's it. He never hears another thing about it, doesn't look into it, isn't sure if the college investigated

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Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

In my view, the DSA passed an important test in Wisconsin: can you lose really close election & immediately keep your eye on the ball by joining the Dem coalition for the general?

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

You don't need AI to pretend you've read James Fenimore Cooper:

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

If Mitch McConnell is actually able to show up in the Senate in three months, GOP might be able to cause a lot of harm in the lame-duck session.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I strongly agree. I'm convinced that Liz Cheney had no effect on the election outcome b/c most non-political people really don't know who Liz Cheney is, and the whole Bush-Cheney admin is lost in fog. Maybe time Harris spent with Cheney could have been better used elsewhere, but that's a minor point

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

We're hosting a terrific virtual event this evening @politicalreform.newamerica.org, on younger voters--looking at both successful organizing to ensure young people are registered and vote, and also the structural changes that would break the gerontocracy: www.newamerica.org/events/the-n...

newamerica.org

The Next Generation of Voters

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Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I remember seeing someone (very reasonably) complaining here a few days ago that there seems to be next to no visible thinking on left and center about how to join the dots on administration and democracy. This is the beginnings of an answer to that complaint donmoynihan.substack.com/p/rebuilding...

donmoynihan.substack.com

Rebuilding Democracy Requires Rebalancing Power

What does a power-shifting agenda look like?

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Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Chris Hayes was good on this in a conversation with Ezra Klein before Mamdani was elected - www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/o... - the whole discussion is good on the experimentation/attention dynamic.

I think it’s the most important question in some ways. One thing I would say is, I like experimentation and new ideas.

When he was asked about the public groceries — I think it’s in “The Bulwark Podcast” — he says: We’ll try it, and if it doesn’t work, c’est la vie.

I love that answer. Politicians never give that answer. The person who really most embodied that spirit is F.D.R.

If you go back and read about the first hundred days, they’re just trying a lot. We now think about F.D.R. as this colossus who remade the relationship between the citizen and the federal government. A lot of that stuff did not work — like, fully failed. A lot of the interventions failed.

They did a lot of clunky stuff. It was a totally different time. He had these enormous mandates, and it was a crisis.

I like the idea of experimentation and these ideas coming from outside of the consensus around sensible policy. The test for it is: Can you deliver?

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

With the caveat that it's 30 years old, I still can't hear the words "Manhattan Institute" without thinking about the illustration they chose for an article by Heather Mac Donald:

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Tuberville: "I was on the HELP Committee when COVID first hit." Tuberville entered the Senate in 2021, a year after COVID hit.

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Mark Schmitt @mschmitt9.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

consider the length of time it took to nudge private-sector stores to open in those neighborhoods (several years in DC) and whether they stayed. I don't know the answer, but wouldn't be surprised if the public option were cheaper, more efficient, faster.

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