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Timothy Messer-Kruse

@profmk.bsky.social
2.4K followers 996 following 443 posts

Professor of Cultural Studies at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Eclectic debunker of cherished American myths. Currently working on a comprehensive history of civics education. blogs.bgsu.edu/tmesser

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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
In 2024 my essay in the Chronicle ("Where Will the Right-Wing War on Curricula Go Next?") suggested universities respond to state civics mandates by merging them with cultural diversity requirements. My alma mater, the University of Wisconsin, did just that. badgerherald.com/news/campus/...
badgerherald.com
Civics & Perspectives requirement replaces Ethnic Studies, what changed?
Ethnic Studies has officially been replaced by Civics & Perspectives as a Core General Education Requirement at the University of Wisconsin, according to core GenEd requirements, but what does that en...
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Still got it…
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Here is the direct link to my interview about SB 461, GOP censorship and my textbook Unpatriotic Civics on WXVU Cincinnati Edition yesterday. www.wvxu.org/show/cincinn...
wvxu.org
Understanding 'Unpatriotic Civics,' a new book designed to fulfill Ohio's collegiate civics requirement
It’s been a year since Ohio’s Senate Bill 1 became law to crack down on what conservatives view as liberal bias at the state’s public universities.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Noon to 1 pm today. www.wvxu.org/show/cincinn...
wvxu.org
Understanding 'Unpatriotic Civics,' a new book designed to fulfill Ohio's collegiate civics requirement
It’s been a year since Ohio’s Senate Bill 1 became law to crack down on what conservatives view as liberal bias at the state’s public universities.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
My interview on Cincinnati Edition (WVXU-NPR) airs tomorrow (Tues. 9/8) from noon to 1. It will be archived at the link below. I discuss my controversial civics textbook, Unpatriotic Civics, and the Ohio GOP's efforts to ban it from classrooms with SB 461. #sb461 www.wvxu.org/cincinnati-e...
wvxu.org
Cincinnati Edition
Airing every weekday, Cincinnati Edition and its guests bring you all the new and noteworthy reporting with a focus on the entire Tri-State.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
GOP's plan to increase 'intellectual diversity' is to censor those views it doesn't like. My op-ed on Ohio's new bill to create a "civics board" that will operate like Soviet apparatchiks. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/09/02/n... @ohiocapitaljournal.com
ohiocapitaljournal.com
New Ohio Senate bill would legislate higher ed viewpoints, further power of S.B. 1 • Ohio Capital Journal
Commentary: Ohioans who care about the quality and independence of their universities and colleges might want to pay attention to Ohio S.B. 461 this fall.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Ohio Sen. Cirino and Sen. Pres. Fortney, slam my textbook UNPATRIOTIC CIVICS and discuss how they are going to ban it from all university civics courses. This is their idea of "expanding intellectual diversity". Please share! Full video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD_P...
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Ohio Sen. Cirino explains college students like socialism because of their Marxist Profs and they "coddled at the university" and "don’t understand the costs of any of the benefits that they’re getting". “The President’s Podcast”, Ohio GOP, YouTube, Aug. 19, 2026.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Here is my latest on MAGA’s crusade to make us all dumber. share.google/YwlZRosjK3cF...
share.google
Law’s misspelling reveals a deeper truth
While stating that everything taught should be “historically and factually accurate” Idaho’s new civics law misspells the name of Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas. There is a deeper historica…
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Its an honor to be attacked by the National Association of Scholars. Their version of "scholarship" is to ban anything outside of their rightwing views. Dent couldn't find anything untrue in my book so all he does is whine that I don't celebrate the USA enough. mindingthecampus.org/2026/07/27/s...
mindingthecampus.org
SB 1 Can't Stop Classroom Indoctrination — Minding The Campus
The 2025 Advance Ohio Higher Education Act (SB1) mandates an American civics course for all undergraduates in public colleges and universities and requires reading several historic documents for this ...
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
First journalistic notice of my newest text: Unpatriotic Civics. Not a friendly mention but according to PT Barnum… www.cleveland.com/opinion/2026...
cleveland.com
How to get teaching civics right in Ohio
Ohio Senate Bill 461 to convert the civics centers at the University of Toledo and OSU into separate schools would add a tidal wave of momentum to a movement the nation needs, writes guest columnist M...
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
youtu.be/M97_4pOcW34
youtu.be
Messer-Kruse talks about his book, The Patriots' Dilemma
YouTube video by Tim Messerkruse
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
My unironic clothing choice for the day.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Everyone is welcome to join me tomorrow and discuss my alternative and unique interpretation of early abolitionism.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Civics boosters misquote the Founders: "Washington was more specific about the role of civic instruction in the nation’s long-term viability: A primary object should be the education or our youth in the science of government..." What he really said was: 1/2 www.educationnext.org/250-reasons-...
educationnext.org
250 Reasons This Is the Time for a Renaissance in Civic Education
Virginia embraced an effort to renew students’ patriotic zeal that could be a blueprint for other states
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Deja Vu: "The term 'civics' has come into much disrepute...and no wonder when one thinks of the dry-as-dust stuff that has so long masqueraded under that name...The pupil has been lucky [to] escape penal servitude for one awful winter, while he memorized the federal constitution." (Arthur Dunn 1907)
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Here we go again. Readers Digest explains why we have an electoral college without class, without mentioning the Founders intent to preserve estates from the poor. Madison said the Senate should “represent the wealth of the nation” for crying out loud. www.rd.com/article/why-...
rd.com
Why Did the Founders Create the Electoral College—And Why Do We Still Have It?
It’s a defining feature of our constitutional republic, not to mention a confusing and highly controversial one. Here’s what to know.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
NBC News silent on the most significant finding in its own survey: that a whopping 69% of respondents "strongly agree" that in the US "wealthy people can often avoid consequences that ordinary people would face for the same actions." Instead spooning out civics propaganda. tinyurl.com/2zpepcb7
screenshot of raw survey data
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
I haven’t posted about AI even though I’ve been actively trying to figure out the edges of its usefulness for qualitative research. I’ve built some powerful applications that involve searching large archives of text conceptually. Calling current LLMs ‘word predictors’ is wildly inaccurate.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Conservatives claim to believe in meritocracy and responsibility but when they fail their powerful buddies always bail them out. University of Iowa's struggling Center for Intellectual Freedom faces required expansion due to law www.yahoo.com/news/politic... via @@YahooNews
yahoo.com
University of Iowa's struggling Center for Intellectual Freedom faces required expansion due to law
The Iowa Board of Regents is trying to figure out how the University of Iowa's struggling Center for Intellectual Freedom will be able to handle a new state law requiring all students to take two clas...
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
share.google/bcTGrNA0vmxY...
share.google
Drawing the line against autocracy
At stake is more than educational policy. What is being contested is whether education will nurture critically engaged citizens capable of resistance, or produce subjects trained for adaptation, silen...
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
To conservatives trying to take over higher ed with a Trojan Horse of civics. Stop claiming the Founders supported your agenda. Civics as a concept was not widespread till the 1820s. The term ‘civics’ was not coined till 1885. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Nothing quite like race day with my champion girl.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Reading early 19c pamphlets debating whether Catholic immigrants should be afforded due process and ran across this verse no Christian nationalist ever quotes: LEV. 24:22. YE SHALL HAVE ONE MANNER OF LAW, AS WELL FOR THE STRANGER, AS FOR ONE OF YOUR OWN COUNTRY: FOR I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
We've arrived at the bread and circuses stage of imperial decline. But these geniuses have left out the bread part...
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
What began as a review of Wood's well-written and deeply researched book turned into a wider critique of the pervasive hagiography of 18c abolitionist studies. It has long confused antislavery and anti-racism and been blind to its pervasive white supremacy. networks.h-net.org/group/review...
networks.h-net.org
Messer-Kruse on Wood, 'Let the Oppressed Go Free: Abolitionism in Colonial and Revolutionary America' | H-Net
Wood, Nicholas P.. Let the Oppressed Go Free: Abolitionism in Colonial and Revolutionary America. : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025. 371 pp. $45.00 (cloth), ISBN 9781512828320. Reviewed by Timo...
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
"it is always the case that the weaker people seek equality and justice, while the stronger don't give these things a thought." -Aristotle
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Expanding Congress will repair much of the damage the Court has done this year. My latest: www.counterpunch.org/2026/05/15/t...
counterpunch.org
The Founders' Fix: How Expanding Congress Could Save Minority Voting Rights
The dismantling of the Voting Rights Act begun by the Supreme Court in the case of Shelby County v. Holder in 2013 was completed this last month by Louisiana v. Callais. Callais has raised the legal b...
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
I’d laugh if this wasn’t so spot on! www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/wer...
mcsweeneys.net
We’re Diversifying the University by Hiring More Crackpots
“For too long, the university has ignored the wisdom of the donor class and hired based on academic excellence. Regrettably, this has led to the underreprese...
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
This needs to be considered by every uni jumping on the AI train.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
All Pluto Press Books are 50% off in celebration of May Day (till May 14). This includes Patriots' Dilemma... www.plutobooks.com/product/the-...
plutobooks.com
The Patriots' Dilemma - Pluto Press
A provocative interpretation of early US history arguing that abolitionism among the founders was motivated by white racism
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Here is my analysis of the latest crop of MAGA laws designed to force teachers to teach 'patriotic history' or in the technical language of academia, 'crap'. (no paywall...) www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/19/h...
counterpunch.org
GOP School Censorship 2.0
A sure sign of spring is the dropping of new GOP bills regulating what is taught in schools. This year’s legal seedlings are trending toward more sweeping
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
My latest roundup of batty MAGA laws censoring and mandating their version of “truth in history”: share.google/Xsgta2oS03iQ...
share.google
GOP School Censorship 2.0
A sure sign of spring is the dropping of new GOP bills regulating what is taught in schools. This year’s legal seedlings are trending toward more sweeping
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
My latest essay in the Chronicle Review. www.chronicle.com/article/civi...
chronicle.com
Civics Is a Cause, Not an Academic Discipline
Before it was trendy on the right, it was trendy on the left — and always incoherent.
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Reposted by Timothy Messer-Kruse
The Onion @theonion.com · 08/04/2026
Usha Vance Catches Husband Measuring Her Skull Again
Usha Vance Catches Husband Measuring Her Skull Again
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
The sponsors of my debate last month are releasing short clips highlighting some key moments. Here is their latest edit: www.youtube.com/shorts/PhvNu...
youtube.com
Timothy Messer-Kruse at our Campus Liberty Tour!
YouTube video by Steamboat Institute
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
“The latest ​round brings Starcloud's total funding to $200 million, with ​the…company having raised $34 million…from investors including Andreessen…and In-Q-Tel, the Central ​Intelligence Agency's venture capital firm.” Wait, the CIA is a venture capitalist? What? www.reuters.com/business/ret...
reuters.com
Starcloud reaches $1.1 billion valuation as AI space race heats up
Orbital compute infrastructure startup Starcloud has raised $170 million at a $1.1 billion ‌valuation, as companies including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin race to move power-hungry A...
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
A clip from my debate last week where I discuss the inherent and disguised ideology of civics. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uyq...
youtube.com
"When they're told that government works in a certain way...."
YouTube video by Steamboat Institute
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Thursdays' great civics debate ranged across political science, social theory, history, and constitutionalism. My opponent, Josh Dunn is a true scholar and a nice guy. But I quibble with Josh being declared the winner, as I pulled more undecideds to my view. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpbQ...
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Son of a pharma researcher and an engineer who went to private prep school and then Harvard and Yale wants to close public colleges to pay for a tax cut. Did I get that right? www.dispatch.com/story/news/p...
dispatch.com
Vivek Ramaswamy wants to consolidate Ohio universities. 'We have too many'
Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican running for governor, floated the idea of consolidating Ohio universities to pay for eliminating the state's income tax.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
One day away from my big debate with Josh Dunn. If you haven't considered the case against civics education, you might want to tune in. Thurs. 6 pm PT. This debate will also be livestreamed and archived on YouTube. Here is the link to the livestream: www.youtube.com/live/4l0r2sX...
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
jacobin.com/2026/03/teac...
jacobin.com
MAGA’s War on Teaching Goes Full Conspiracy Theory
What were once considered the ravings of tinfoil-hat conspiracy junkies are now par for the course for the Trumpian right and its analysis of the state of public education.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Article I, Section 8, Clause 11: [The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; . . .
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
“The university has always been a politicized environment," said Timothy Messer-Kruse…a vocal critic of schools of civic thought. "But what this movement is doing is using the law to advance a political ideology, which is contrary to core conservative and American values…” tinyurl.com/dv26z3hx
tinyurl.com
These Schools Want Civil Discourse on Campus. Even That Is Up for Dispute.
New programs aimed at reforming campus culture have drawn scrutiny from skeptical professors, administrators and students who see them as a conservative takeover.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Beyond the gleeful assault on church-state separation, the open racism and misogyny, is the disturbing celebration of those who were traitors to their oath and the Constitution, which is what "Paleo Confederate" is. This is normalizing treason to the republic. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
washingtonpost.com
Hegseth invited Christian nationalist Doug Wilson to preach at Pentagon
The self-described “paleo-Confederate” has argued that wives should submit to their husbands, women should be denied the vote and Christian enslavers were on “firm scriptural ground.”
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Reposted by Timothy Messer-Kruse
The Rooster @rooster.info · 16/02/2026
The other Ohio State nutty professor, exposed: Yale Law-educated Christopher Green tried to claim that I “assaulted him” after he blocked my attempt to board a public elevator. These are Ohio State’s apparent thought leaders.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
If you are an educator considering adopting a legally compliant but uncompromising textbook for your civics course, dm me and I will send you a review copy. Also, for all course adoptions I'm making myself available via zoom for class Q&A.
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
bgfalconmedia.com/176826/lifes...
bgfalconmedia.com
BGSU professor’s new book challenges a patriotic narrative
Timothy Messer-Kruse, a Bowling Green State University (BGSU) professor, recently published a civics textbook designed to meet Ohio’s Department of Higher Education’s new requirements. These new requi...
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Timothy Messer-Kruse @profmk.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
When the mask comes off the "civil discourse" rhetoric. www.wosu.org/politics-gov...
wosu.org
Ohio State Chase Center professor placed on administrative leave after assaulting cameraman
The Ohio political blog, The Rooster, published video showing Chase Center Assistant Professor Luke Perez hitting a cameraman and then throwing him to the ground.
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