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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
jkw71.bsky.social @jkw71.bsky.social · 7h
newrepublic.com/article/2163... 👇🏼💯Repeating my support for this excellent piece by @perrybaconjr.bsky.social because after reading the whole thing (honestly, just the headline and sub-head were enough for me to begin with) the points about CA establishment pols being socially liberal, but
newrepublic.com
Why Does Gavin Newsom Keep Helping the Oligarchs?
In opposing the California wealth tax and helping push through the Paramount–Warner Bros. merger, the governor is doing the bidding of billionaires.
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Reposted by Perry Bacon
Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 12/10/2026
"This year Gavin Newsom has shown that he would be a billionaire-friendly president. Which means he shouldn’t be president at all."
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Full Federal Fascism... as I said on here a couple of days ago, whatever lines people have been waiting for to be crossed, there are no lines.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Can we be honest that so called 'wokeness' meant Black people demanding full social personhood and refusing to be silent about getting murdered/harmed by the state? So yes, that is more threatening to many in this country than is fascism. I think that's been clear.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
The article just says they are not economic populists. (Which I think is obvious). But are you saying Pelosi and Harris support the wealth tax?
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Gillian (Jill) @youdontknowjill.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
The number of people who read the headline and apparently thought "Oh, that's a question that Perry obviously wants me to answer" is way too goddamn high. The article is excellent and maybe don't get too stuck on the headline, folks.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
newrepublic.com/article/2163...
newrepublic.com
Why Does Gavin Newsom Keep Helping the Oligarchs?
In opposing the California wealth tax and helping push through the Paramount–Warner Bros. merger, the governor is doing the bidding of billionaires.
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Reposted by Perry Bacon
Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
The people who told you that Democrats must Only Talk about Kitchen Table Issues and not the Authoritarianism were deeply unserious (not least because this is a false dichotomy) & we should benchmark this when they give advice now & in 2028.
11/18/24 post: pundits and Dem hopefuls insisting Dems must talk only about kitchen table issues
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
"If Democrats fall short of these projections, even if they win 229 House seats and 50 in the Senate, I am quite confident the mainstream media will revert to its preferred approach to covering politics: centrism/false equivalence/balance/both sides/'independence.” newrepublic.com/article/2162...
newrepublic.com
Are the Blue Wave Polls Too Good to Be True?
If Democrats don’t win by as much as the polls suggest, many liberals will be disappointed and the media will downplay the anti-Trump wave.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"DSA and other progressive orgs appear to have figured out how to combine progressive policy stances, national fundraising networks, and 'we are the real Democrats' messaging." excellent @nberlat.bsky.social piece. www.everythingishorrible.net/p/progressiv...
everythingishorrible.net
Progressives Are Winning
Everything is still horrible. But there are hopeful signs.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"Many Democrats hate the idea of fighting fascism and challenging power; so does a lot of the news media, so do many universities and other institutions. Progressive change remains a slog. But that slog looks more possible now than it has in a while." www.everythingishorrible.net/p/progressiv...
open.substack.com
Progressives Are Winning
Everything is still horrible. But there are hopeful signs.
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Reposted by Perry Bacon
leemarvinoswald.bsky.social @leemarvinoswald.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
“The overall product is a factually accurate portrayal of American politics that misses the big story: The Republican Party is a far-right entity at war with democracy; the Democrats are a normal party in a liberal democracy.”
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Robert Edwards @robertsedwards.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
@perrybaconjr.bsky.social's important piece in @newrepublic.com, in which he takes The New York Times to task for its fundamental failure in our current political moment.
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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Aaron Huertas @aaronhuertas.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
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 · 03/10/2026
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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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Good feedback on the head and we adjusted. The rest of the piece captures that distinction.
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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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Reposted by Perry Bacon
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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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I am not at all suggesting Dems in red/purple states need to take left wing positions on all issues. I would just prefer they stop labeling any issue on which they don't want to take a liberal position as "cultural" (so trivial, irrelevant, social, silly, not important.)
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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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