Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 10hA post about a friend. rickperlstein.substack.com/p/make-a-mor...rickperlstein.substack.comMake a Moral Wilderness Bloom...and help out a friend of mine in need. 172
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 12/10/2026Is it really possible to translate 2,000 year old poetry like this? Like: how can this not just be considered an original poem, inspired by, and shaped like, another in Latin? 9110
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 12/10/2026After the crap that David Brooks wrote on the cusp of the Iraq War, no one should have published him anywhere again. Instead, it earned him a New York Times column. 19312
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 11/10/2026Spend 10,000 hours with these, you'll turn you into a me. 8320
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 08/10/2026As a historian, I learn with my fingers, typing the most important words in what I read into notes as a way to literally embody the information. To tell an "AI" to answer a question, then proceed according to what it outputs, is the opposite: the lobotomization of thought. 68018
Reposted by Rick Perlsteinmtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 08/10/2026The "SI" thing is was intended to provoke this exact sort of sniveling response from the courtiers, to train the oligarchs to humiliate themselves for Trump so they'll do it again later when it really matters. 1203075539
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 08/10/2026I'm sorry, this is the sexiest picture I've ever seen. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/07/o...nytimes.comMargaret Hamilton, Whose Software Guided the Apollo Missions, Has DiedMargaret Hamilton, the first female programmer hired to work on the space project at M.I.T., was 90. 2858
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 07/10/2026Quite the bolt from the blue, this whole MAGA "takeover" of the Republican Party.... 3438
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 06/10/2026A classic from the not-so-dearly departed Jim Bakker... www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UUm...youtube.comRWW News: Reagan, 1979: We Could See ArmageddonYouTube video by Right Wing Watch 3276
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 06/10/2026A Democrat got drunk once. A Republican made his fortune swindling sick people. We report, you decide. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/05/u...nytimes.comThe Campaign for Ohio’s Next Governor May Be the Ugliest in the CountryThe candidates for Ohio governor have significant policy differences, but the campaign ads have been strikingly personal, with exaggerated portrayals of one candidate as a con artist and the other as ... 829372
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Remembering Denny Hastert. rickperlstein.substack.com/p/politics-i...rickperlstein.substack.comPolitics is Teaching... so let's connect some Three Dots. 0205
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 04/10/2026A Hasidic Jew, with the sidecurls, hat, and everything, is being deported. For the alleged crime of antisemitism. For peacefully protesting Israel. Where he is a citizen; and to which he is being deported. 611540
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 02/10/2026University of Michigan today. The most tipping-point image I've seen to exemplify our fascist descent. And the surrender was won with the weapon of false antisemitism charges against people protesting genocide--making administrations complicit in genocide. A moral nadir. This is how republics die. 46015
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Very important observations here. Important stuff to mentally assimilate if you think that Democrats getting many more votes than Republicans in November is the whole ballgame. 34716
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Can these videos possibly be real? www.facebook.com/share/r/1FCK...facebook.com 720
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Wrong platform. Subscribe here! www.patreon.com/franklin17/p...patreon.comA Year After Operation Midway Blitz | Frank The TurtleThis is 22-year-old Sakariye Abdi Mohamed, an asylum seeker from Somalia. He’s currently being held at Guantanamo Bay by the Trump administr 150
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 24/09/2026One of my favorite front-line reporters on the fascist assault wants to cover the planned action tomorrow at the Broadview ICE facility but can only afford to do so if she gets ten more Substack subscribers. Hasten thither! substack.com/@noturtlesou...substack.comAmanda Moore | Substack 36917
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Hope no one tells him about what's going on in the FBI... 6688
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Some serious Woodward and Bernstein energy... www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/n...nytimes.comMamdani Aides Give City Council Little Insight Into Influencer EffortAt a New York City Council hearing, frustration grew as Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s representatives were unable to answer questions about the mayor’s use of influencers. 3152
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 24/09/2026I am so there for Kash under the lights at this Senate hearing. You thought the bestiality was a good? www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...nbcnews.comFBI investigating hacking group’s claim of massive breach of agent infoShinyHunters, a cyber-extortion outfit, said it hacked into the FBI’s jobs portal and used that access to steal a major tranche of sensitive files. 3312
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Spending these days fact-checking and endnoting, I've been Googling at industrial scale, which has given my a brain-melting lesson in how fucked we are as a civilization. In today's installment, a quote from Geo W. Bush's 2nd inaugural in 2005 is depicted—why not?—as one from Obama's in 2013. 920453
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 21/09/2026A financial death star was assembled by the "rules based international order" to pin outlaw states, with the U.S. at the controls. Now it is being deployed by the outlaw running the U.S., against the "rules based international order." Aimé Césaire's imperial boomerang. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...wsj.comExclusive | Trump Ramps Up Bid to Dismantle International Criminal CourtThe U.S. administration is preparing sweeping sanctions that would cut the court off from much of the global financial system. 36118
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 19/09/2026We're staking our economy on forcing a technology down people's throats that outputs misinformation as a matter of course. Someone asked me about my interview with Gil Duran. This is happened when I googled our names together. I have not interviewed Gil Duran. This path: civilizational death. 1214156
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 19/09/2026If you don't mind, I'm going to do a little political organizing here. If this gets to, say, ten million hearts, the message could have a discernible effect on defeating fascism before it devours us. Pls forward. 49427
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Laboratory evidence: the gender attitudes of the typical Texas third-grade middle-class male in 1964 are identical to those of the people controlling the Republican Party and White House. More at 11. rickperlstein.substack.com/p/greatest-h...rickperlstein.substack.comGreatest Hits, Vol. IIIRead it for the pictures. 1171
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Disappointingly lawyerly: "Not all of the undisclosed deaths are directly tied to the conflict but have involved U.S. personnel who were in the Middle East amid ongoing hostilities, this person said." What are they trying to say, what can't they say, etc.? www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...washingtonpost.comMore U.S. troops have died amid Iran war than Pentagon has disclosed publiclyOfficials who spoke with The Post expressed frustration that the additional loss of life in the Middle East is not reflected in the Defense Department’s casualty database. 6347
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Suspicious. Sheriff shuts down program compensating damages to small businesses from last year's fascist invasion, claiming overwhelming fraud, but... www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...cbsnews.comScammers target Hennepin County fund meant to aid businesses impacted by ICE surgeData shows small businesses lost hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue during Operation Metro Surge. A Hennepin County program launched to help them ended up shutting down. Nearly half of the app... 2297
Reposted by Rick Perlstein🇨🇦 thimbles.bsky.social 🇨🇦 @thimbles.bsky.social · 16/09/2026So I jumped into this documentary on Netflix expecting stories of movies from the 70's. www.netflix.com/us/title/819... Got a ton of informative social commentary on US society from folks ranging from Seth Rogen to @jamesrisen.bsky.social to @rickperlstein.bsky.social. Take an hourish and watch.netflix.comWatch Breakdown: 1975 | Netflix Official SiteAmerica, 1975. An era of social and political upheaval inspires a wave of groundbreaking movies in this documentary from Oscar winner Morgan Neville. 0112
Reposted by Rick PerlsteinDerrell Durrett @derrelldurrett.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Try reading this from @rickperlstein.bsky.social. Nearly did a spit-take when I got to Newt Gingrich complaining that Megan Kelly was "fascinated with sex and [doesn't] care about public policy" because she pointed out Trump's history as a serial predator. rickperlstein.substack.com/p/greatest-h...rickperlstein.substack.comGreatest Hits, Vol. IIRise and Fall of American Civilization edition 0121
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 14/09/2026More fun with "AI." I Googled a famous quote from the guy who, for saying this, Rahm Emanuel sent a dead fish, and got this output back. 2211
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 14/09/2026At a certain point, people are going to look back on garden-variety 2026 right-wing discourse and describe it like we currently describe Holocaust denial. (Excepting the possibility humans become extinct first.) 415025
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Amazing discovery for fans of the cat who made the ARP Odyssey monosynth his Stradivarius, George Duke. www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6jk...youtube.comFLORA PURIM WITH FRIENDS / LIVE AT TERMINAL ISLAND FEDERAL PRISON 1975YouTube video by Chiidang's RIM (Rare Live Music) 5266
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 12/09/2026So fascinating. Who'da thunk. The WSJ serves the plutocracy what they need to know on the news page, and the proaganda line on the op-ed page. News coverage means: DSA is a real-deal contender for power. A blessed event for the prospects of liberty, no matter the all-too-human flaws of some of DSA. 2399
Reposted by Rick PerlsteinKat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Thinking about how a girl at Christian summer camp asked me if my dad was in Al Qaeda and I got in trouble for asking if her dad was a Klansman bc “her question was understandable” 620292424951
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Gramps is doing endnotes. Gather around the Victoria, kids, and I'll tell you a story of a time when, if you typed a string of words at a website called Google and enclosed them inside quotation marks, it obedient coughed up every time those words appeared together on the Internet, without comment. 48314
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Literally happened the first fucking day of his administration. Remember "alternative facts"? 4554
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Almost always, terrorists think their propaganda of the deed will inspire the masses to join their crusade. That fallacy was the theme of a novel a lot of smart people read and discussed after 9/11, Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent." 44714
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 11/09/2026For Substack subscribers, I've posted pages from a chapter called "The 9/11 Lobotomy" from my forthcoming book, THE INFERNAL TRIANGLE: HOW AMERICA GOT THIS WAY. rickperlstein.substack.com/p/the-911-lo...rickperlstein.substack.comThe 9/11 LobotomyTwenty-five years later, four pages from my forthcoming book. 1315
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Sheesh. The bots aren't "asking" about anything. They are pattern-repeaters, so output grammatical sentences that repeat what every AI in every science fiction story does, ever. Talk about machines like they are people, and you do the tech bros' propaganda work for them. 1527
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Another Steinem point: the kind of self-esteem promotion she ("Revolution fool Within"), and Oprah, did, is potentially FANTASTIC for the left. Making people non-neurotic makes them ready to entertain values-- 4321
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 10/09/2026The dumbest part of lefty purity around a figure like Steinem is not grasping that people liberated from authoritarian thinking and families, by liberals like Steinem or liberalism generally, are OPPPRTUNITIES for the left. "You like that? Have you heard about this?" Etc. Not complicated. 1558
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Many gifts I have received this Birthday Week, but the best came from the Universe. A new recording of one of my musical heroes, one whom, if you know, you know...has only ever been recorded with his own bands maybe a half dozen times, and never during this period. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jGn...youtube.comLyle Mays Trio/EJ's, Atlanta, GA 1981.8.22.YouTube video by Chiidang's RIM (Rare Live Music) 1192
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 07/09/2026In 1955, only 2% in a Gallop poll strongly disapproved of J. Edgar Hoover. A man who ran quite nearly a fascist enterprise was the most trusted man in America. It's remarkable it took so long to get one in the White House. share.google/m4TNObQqZOWZ...share.googleDeborah Friedell · Something on Everyone: Hoover’s SecretsJ. Edgar Hoover liked to say he didn’t hire policemen but investigators. Agents were university graduates, only to be... 45515
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Read it. She cracked open everyday oppression in a way none of her critics who fault her for not being a Marxist, or theorizing there world precisely as they do, ever came close. archive.org/details/lett...archive.orgLetters to Ms., 1972-1987xix, 264 pages ; 25 cm 1306
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Yeah, pleeeeeeez tell me more about how Gloria Steinem was a crypto-neoliberal CIA cutout... 2298