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Perry Bacon

@perrybaconjr.bsky.social
83K followers 856 following 1.8K posts

Government and policy writer. Views are my own. pbacon@tnr.com

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Reposted by Perry Bacon
Aaron Huertas @aaronhuertas.bsky.social · 2h
Excellent to see this case made in another outlet policymakers and campaigners read. I’d add that I think a lot of the NYT’s influence among Dems comes from donors, not necessarily rank and file supporters.
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Victor Pickard @victorpickard.bsky.social · 22h
Spot-on piece by @perrybaconjr.bsky.social. NYT's sensibilities are out of sync with leftward-moving political landscape and current crises. Perry notes,"We need changes on the scale of Reconstruction and the New Deal," not those prescribed by NYT moderate liberalism. newrepublic.com/article/2160...
newrepublic.com
Liberals Must Fight The New York Times’ Monopoly Too
The paper’s editorial vision is out of step with the robust liberalism needed today.
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Leah Greenberg ❌👑 @leahgreenberg.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
He’s so close to getting it
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wayne @rodinal.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Got introduced to Perry Bacon's work in his 538 days and this dude really locks the hell in. One of my favorite working politics writers.
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Julie Carson @juhlery.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is really good. Temperament-wise it’s ‘calm,’ while being blunt at the same time about what these times need.
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Joel Lesko @sunshowerlearning.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Thank you, Perry. So important. "The problem is the paper’s coverage approach combined with its huge influence on Democrats and liberals." Bingo: Correct way to practice politics in 26 is to read NYT but remember that much of the essential news to save our democracy has been fit to print elsewhere.
The Times has the right to cover America in 2026 this way. And there is nothing inherently wrong with centrist, nonideological media, or coverage that doesn’t use blunt language to describe today’s Republican Party. The problem is the paper’s coverage approach combined with its huge influence on Democrats and liberals. The mistakes that Democrats have made in fighting the MAGA right have been numerous and deeply costly: believing that Trump won in 2016 largely because of economy anxiety, trusting that Joe Biden’s conciliatory approach would bring politics back to normal, refusing to push Biden to stop fully supporting Israel’s war in Gaza, spending much of last year not fighting hard against Trump’s destruction of federal agencies and radical immigration policies. 

In my view, the Times helped lead Democrats to all of those fateful decisions. The paper’s coverage hints that the Republican Party is reasonable and parts of the Democratic Party base are unreasonable. That approach pushes Democrats away from the reality: The MAGA right must be defeated, not negotiated with.
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rm [-r] lininger @0xdaeda1a.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is really good. “The correct way to practice politics in 2026 is to read The New York Times but remember that much of the essential news to save our democracy has been fit to print elsewhere.”
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Sarah Posner @sarahposner.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is such a good, clear-headed, impeccably argued, essential piece.
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Shawn "Smith" Peirce @silversmith1.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
One million percent correct, @perrybaconjr.bsky.social. Well written well said. - - - The Left Must Fight The New York Times’ Monopoly Too newrepublic.com/article/2160... via @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com
The Left Must Fight The New York Times’ Monopoly Too
The paper’s editorial vision is out of step with the robust liberalism needed today.
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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hear! Hear! I read the Times. I'm glad the Times exists. If the Times were an object, I'd sometimes want to throw it out the window, but this impulse would be less strong or frequent if we had alternatives to the Times that mattered as much as the Times.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"But the problem isn’t that lots of people read the Times. The problem is that lots of liberal activists and elites are having their perspectives shaped by the Times in 2026."
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"For America to right itself, we need changes on the scale of Reconstruction and the New Deal. And I worry that’s not going to happen if Democrats and the broader anti-Trump left are taking their cues about what’s necessary and politically possible from the Times." newrepublic.com/article/2160...
newrepublic.com
The Left Must Fight The New York Times’ Monopoly Too
The paper’s editorial vision is out of step with the robust liberalism needed today.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"A liberalism that forcefully confronts authoritarianism, oligarchy, climate change, and the numerous other enormous challenges that we face will almost certainly be one that is less attuned to the views of America's most influential paper." newrepublic.com/article/2160...
newrepublic.com
The Left Must Fight The New York Times’ Monopoly Too
The paper’s editorial vision is out of step with the robust liberalism needed today.
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A random tech person @greentechperson.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Excellently written argument about what democrat politicians miss when they avoid talking about 'culture war' issues. Could equally apply to the current UK Labour party.
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Sylvia Chi 齊思涵 @sylviachi.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
"The reality is that there are no silly culture wars happening in America. There are equality wars and justice wars and fairness wars. Democrats should try to win those wars—and the elections that involve them." 💯
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Rob Priest @rdpriest.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A frontal engagement with the politics of who gets to label what as 'culture', 'cultural issues' and 'culture wars', why, and with what effects.
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David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Interesting that both reactionary centrists and some of the more doctrinaire socialists have found themselves in the same place on the so-called (and entirely misnamed) "culture war". Facile economism really is an impediment to serious analytical and political thinking.
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Gillian (Jill) @youdontknowjill.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
All of this. Well said, @perrybaconjr.bsky.social.
newrepublic.com
Why Democrats Should Stop Using the Phrase “Culture Wars”
Texas’s Gina Hinojosa and others slamming the party for focusing too much on so-called cultural issues are pushing a flawed electoral and policy strategy.
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Big John @dcbigjohn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This great @perrybaconjr.bsky.social piece also gets at a within our industry. Outlets act as if eliminating human rights protections or stripping Black people of political representation are "culture" issues, which are treated as less important than "kitchen table" newrepublic.com/article/2159...
newrepublic.com
Why Democrats Should Stop Using the Phrase “Culture Wars”
Texas’s Gina Hinojosa and others slamming the party for focusing too much on so-called cultural issues are pushing a flawed electoral and policy strategy.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"Economic issues not cultural wars' produces a party that both loses elections and abandons moral causes and vulnerable people. That’s not a theoretical argument—it’s the story of the Democratic Party of my entire adulthood." newrepublic.com/article/2159...
newrepublic.com
Why Democrats Should Stop Using the Phrase “Culture Wars”
Texas’s Gina Hinojosa and others slamming the party for focusing too much on so-called cultural issues are pushing a flawed electoral and policy strategy.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"Labeling a whole suite of matters as 'cultural' provides the pretext to ignore or even adopt Republican positions on them. And what’s exactly what Democratic politicians are doing." newrepublic.com/article/2159...
newrepublic.com
Why Democrats Should Stop Using the Phrase “Culture Wars”
Texas’s Gina Hinojosa and others slamming the party for focusing too much on so-called cultural issues are pushing a flawed electoral and policy strategy.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"The idea that you can easily separate 'economic' and 'cultural' issues is nonsense. It’s very expensive for transgender Americans to move to blue states so they can live freely. It’s harder to buy a house in a neighborhood with rising home values if you are Black." newrepublic.com/article/2159...
newrepublic.com
Why Democrats Should Stop Using the Phrase “Culture Wars”
Texas’s Gina Hinojosa and others slamming the party for focusing too much on so-called cultural issues are pushing a flawed electoral and policy strategy.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"What gets lumped into 'cultural issues' these days includes higher education, immigration, racism, transgender rights, policing, abortion, sexism, religion, voting rights, and numerous other matters. Labeling those issues as 'cultural' or 'social' trivializes them." newrepublic.com/article/2159...
newrepublic.com
Why Democrats Should Stop Using the Phrase “Culture Wars”
Texas’s Gina Hinojosa and others slamming the party for focusing too much on so-called cultural issues are pushing a flawed electoral and policy strategy.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"The 'economic issues not culture wars' frame adopted by much of the Democratic Party is entirely wrongheaded. It’s an example of intellectual dishonesty, moral cowardice, historical inaccuracy, and flawed electoral politics all wrapped together." newrepublic.com/article/2159...
newrepublic.com
Why Democrats Should Stop Using the Phrase “Culture Wars”
Texas’s Gina Hinojosa and others slamming the party for focusing too much on so-called cultural issues are pushing a flawed electoral and policy strategy.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"The news outlets purged as a result—the Washington Post, CBS, CNN, and surely more to come—are, from the perspectives of the oligarchy, a fringe benefit. They don’t have to worry about the pesky writers attacking them so much any more, either." www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-free-a...
hamiltonnolan.com
The Free and Unfree Press
Journalism, and its adversaries.
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Lily Geismer @lilygeismer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Really enjoyed the chance to talk with Perry Bacon about the professional class and the Democrats
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"Something that many people who work in the press do not like to acknowledge is that the press is a participant in a fight—an ideological, political, power struggle against entrenched power itself." As usual, excellent from @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-free-a...
hamiltonnolan.com
The Free and Unfree Press
Journalism, and its adversaries.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"When Bret Stephens uses his very large platform to blast the National Book Awards as “DEI”, he is de facto attempting to alert an authoritarian government of internal enemies," writes @nberlat.bsky.social. www.everythingishorrible.net/p/bret-steph...
everythingishorrible.net
Bret Stephens Throws Red Meat To The Fascists
His attack on the National Book Awards is a bat signal for the worst people.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"He knows what it means to attack the National Book Awards in this way, just as he would know what it meant to call an organization Communist in the middle of HUAC’s investigations," writes @nberlat.bsky.social. www.everythingishorrible.net/p/bret-steph...
everythingishorrible.net
Bret Stephens Throws Red Meat To The Fascists
His attack on the National Book Awards is a bat signal for the worst people.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
That was my first piece after leaving the Post because Bezos agreed with Trump about "wokeness" (and wealth taxes and any real regulation of big companies). newrepublic.com/article/1987...
newrepublic.com
Why So Many Key Institutions Have Folded Rather Than Challenge Trump
Yes, they’re under pressure. But maybe a lot of these leaders kinda like what Trump’s doing. Just remember: Trump was defeated once before.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"It is perfectly honest to say, 'I chose a private school because I want the best for my kid, but it is also true that private schools are bad for society and do more to reproduce inequality than to remedy it." Great @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social piece. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/private-sc...
hamiltonnolan.com
Private Schools Are Bad for Society
The starting point for any honest discussion.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Great conversation with historian Lily Geismer (@lilygeismer.bsky.social) about the Democratic Party of today and how it's similar and different from the Clinton and Obama-led versions. newrepublic.com/article/2156...
newrepublic.com
Transcript: Are Dems Still A “Professional Class” Party?
Author Lily Geismer says that Democrats are caught between being a more populist party and one dominated a technocratic, lawyerly mindset.
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shauna @goldengateblond.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
among other things, this is disqualifying for his inevitable potus run. if you won’t stand up to the billionaires and you can’t tell when they’re lying (which is always), you’re no better than what we have now.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Two of America’s best writers with deep, brilliant, and heartfelt pieces today. Make sure you read this one too. (Along with Nikole’s). And subscribe! Soraya is one of those writers whose pieces always make me think and look at things in new ways.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
People are actually pressured not to develop political imagination in this country. You are called naive, idealistic, not with it, at best.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
They are obsessed with Piker because they believe they can successfully deplatform him. They don't think that they can defeat fascists. Hope that helps.
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Aaron Huertas @aaronhuertas.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
If they win or if they lose it will be impossible to say if it was because of ads like this, but at their heart, these tactics are simply immoral and the illusion of triangulating your way to victory is corrupting to the soul.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
"Socialism is not about delivering a nice policy agenda that makes a capitalist economy work more effectively. Socialism is about shifting power from capital to labour – with policies a means to this end." Excellent @graceblakeley.substack.com piece. graceblakeley.substack.com/p/how-to-fix...
graceblakeley.substack.com
How to Fix a Broken British Economy
Andy Burnham has correctly diagnosed the problem – the country is run in the private rather than the public interest. Here’s what he must do if he really wants to end the blight of neoliberalism.
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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The most important task of democrats is not to change the minds of far-rightists — they are a minority and hard to change. The most important task of democrats is to change the minds of people who believe “the left” or “the establishment” are worse than the far right.
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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
yeah; the devil has plenty of advocates. you don't need to be one free of charge.
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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 16/09/2026
It's important to remind readers that while there are a few anti-trans dems, many are doing great work. Spanberger in VA did not flinch at anti-trans attacks. Now, she just ended Governor Youngkin's infamous rule that would ban trans students from bathrooms. Subscribe to support our journalism.
erininthemorning.com
VA Gov. Spanberger Kills Youngkin-Era Rule That Would Have Banned Trans Students From Bathrooms
“Spanberger showed how Democrats win amidst Republican attacks.”
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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
this is what the segments would look like on a left-wing fox news right now - should trump be impeached over gas prices? - a count of the number of times he said the strait was opened - hegseths obsession with erect penis and hairless bodies - another gas price segment - silly animals
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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
msnow is currently doing a segment about hasan piker being a problem for dems
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Matt Ford @mford.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The NCAA became a multi-billion dollar industry by breaking federal antitrust laws. Congress shouldn’t turn back the clock to a more exploitative era.
newrepublic.com
Congress Is Trying to Rip Away College Athletes’ Hard-Earned Money
The Protect College Sports Act will only protect the NCAA’s billions. It deserves to go down in flames.
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Benjamin Balthaser @blbalthaser.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
In claiming the left needs to embrace economic issues and appeal to conservative values of patriotism and the family, the report does not embrace class politics over culture wars, it just embraces one side of the war over another
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Benjamin Balthaser @blbalthaser.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Not only is this boycott an attempt to bring accountability to the architects of the genocide in Gaza, it also reveals how much we take for granted the cozy relationships among think tanks, Ivy Leagues, & boardrooms w the imperial planners of mass murder www.democracynow.org/2026/9/18/he...
"Drop the Genocide 20":
Progressives Target Biden Admin Officials Who Aided Israel's Assault on Gaza
HEADLINE SEP 18, 2026
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
"The very thesis of the report, that there are 'dials' a candidate can turn to win an election, is fundamentally flawed." powermapmag.substack.com/p/why-does-j...
powermapmag.substack.com
Why Does Jacobin Sound Like Third Way?
We can do better than this.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
newrepublic.com/article/2120...
newrepublic.com
Transcript: How Black Mediamakers Are Retelling America’s Story
Author Sarah J. Jackson says that Black writers, filmmakers, and other creators offer a “second sight” on America that pushes the country in the right direction.
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Aaron Huertas @aaronhuertas.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This is an excellent conversation. Good on @perrybaconjr.bsky.social and the @newrepublic.com for engaging a trans journalist on this topic. @evanurquhart.bsky.social's point here is so under-appreciated. You have to message what you believe, not what you think some imagined subgroup wants to hear.
So I think what a Democrat signals when they shift on this very low salience issue that no one cares about is, I don’t really believe anything. I’m just trying to say whatever I think will win your vote. I’m wishy-washy. I’m not really a fighter. I think that’s kind of the risk that they take, in terms of playing into some of these other stereotypes of Democrats.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I would simply ask people to reflect on why the term "identity politics" has been so pathologized. Also to learn from the people who actually coined it.
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