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Steve Campbell

@stevecampbell.bsky.social
1.2K followers 474 following 1K posts

19th century U.S. historian, author of The Bank War and the Partisan Press (Univ Press of Kansas 2019). tinyurl.com/35v4jnf2 NorCal native. Contingent faculty. Independent thinker. Loves maps. Typically comments on climate change, economics, and politics.

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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Mormon Democrats have always fascinated me. So Harry Reid and I guess there's another one running now. In fact, any highly religious Democrat is kind of interesting to me. White southern progressives are interesting. Like LBJ. I always wish we had more.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
If penalizing AI use in student writing comes with a whole raft of thorny issues, and it does, what, then, will *persuasively* discourage its use? I've been thinking about this a ton the last few years. There's the analogy of atrophy with your brain functioning as a muscle.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I just finished re-reading Amy Greenberg's A Wicked War. I really like this book. I don't think enough people put any sustained thought into the importance of the Mexican-American War. Reading the acknowledgments, I am envious of the tight-knit scholarly community in which she immersed herself...
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This is my church.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Are you freaking kidding me??!! Only 10%??!! Amid all the hand-wringing over gas prices? It is often said that America is irredeemably broken. I agree. But few people point to this specifically. What if we talked much more about this than identity?
Screenshot from USA Today story showing only 10% of car shoppers said they would consider buying a fully-electric model (EV), which Dr. Campbell believes is despicable, consumerist, unimaginative, and depressing. And idiotic.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Learn to work the saxophone / And I play just what I feel
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
So much of what AI offers us is *convenience.* And speed. But life isn't a competition for productivity. Or at least, it shouldn't be. I'm a strong critic of organized religion, but I've always considered myself a strongly moral person.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
There are two stories going on right now that are linked: 1. U.S. announces agreement to take greater control of Venezuelan oil 2. Hundreds are dead in Nepal after a collapsing glacier. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Trump announces new US oil agreement with Venezuela
US president says US will have ‘majority’ control of 65bn barrels of proven oil reserves
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Corrupt AF www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Samuel Alito gained up to $2.9m from oil and gas assets since joining supreme court, analysis shows
Critics argue US high court justice should recuse himself from upcoming fossil fuel firms’ climate accountability case
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Most people put too much emphasis on who is president when evaluating an economy. We refer to a "Bush economy" or "Obama economy." In reality, economies are complex, globalized, large, and shaped by thousands of decisions made by private actors over which presidents have no discretion.
Screenshot of recent jobs and unemployment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released August 7, 2026. Annotations in purple provided by Dr. Stephen W. Campbell
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Two of the most destructive myths ever: * They voted for Trump because of the economy * Working class voters don't care about climate change. They care about gas prices, the price of eggs, and putting food on the table
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Two examples I've seen recently showing the brutal realities of American history that should never be forgotten. 1. Watching Birth of a Nation (2016) on Nat Turner's rebellion. A slave in this film was refusing to eat and what they did to him to force him to eat was indescribable and horrific.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1-j... I absolutely LOVE this. I think it's the coolest thing ever. She bikes around NYC the way I've been biking around California towns since my UC Davis days.
youtube.com
We went on a bike ride with AOC
YouTube video by Streetsblog NYC
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Do you cover the Panic of 1819 in your class? I'm writing something on it for Johnny Fulfer. The topic is exciting!
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Let me make an analogy between our current times and Japanese internment. There is the obvious connection of racism and the violation of due process, but let me make another related analogy.
Image of two tables showing how the arguments of those who favored Japanese interment were flawed and contradicted evidence that some knew at the time, to say nothing of today.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
We gotta give a platform to @patsobkowski.com and lots of other folks to say how bad this is and how desperately we need a far-reaching package of Court reform. This corrupt, out-of-control body needs to be reined in. SCOTUS should not be final and only arbiter on checks and balances.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
I'd like some relatively rare primary sources on women's suffrage from about 1870 to 1920. I'm talking about a source you can't just Google but might find in something like an archive manuscript box. Who can help with this?
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
"I would have liked to have seen Montana."
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
The yield on the 10-year treasury in historical terms seems very odd. We seem to essentially be in a holding pattern for 3+ years and that's rare historically. OTOH the huge recession many of the left predicted still hasn't happened and it's worth thinking about why.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
I've long wanted to get into a long discussion with @mattyglesias.bsky.social on climate, fracking, and energy policy. I heard Matt recently on a panel (perhaps it was with @yaschamounk.skystack.xyz ?) Lots to say, but bottom line, decarbonization no longer requires any sacrifice from Americans.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Every once in a while you need to stop and take stock of the Big Picture. How do you that? By saving and documenting essential facts that took literally years to put together and by paying attention to those whose jobs it is to follow these things. #fourthofjuly #usa #ushistory
A bulleted list of quotes from eminent historians on the Trump presidency with quotes from David Blight, Sean Wilentz, Jon Meachem, etc. The list also includes various rankings of the Trump presidency. A list of essential facts on the topic of the Trump presidency, including insights from Trump's tax returns.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
For those of us whose top priority is climate, the sweltering heat during the Trumpy 4th of July celebration posses both real and symbolic significance for thinking about the country and what we do or do not do well. While the rest of the world moves forward on decarbonization, we go backwards.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
It's not that I couldn't come up with positives about the country. It's that for far too many people, patriotism seems to be some sort of requirement for upstanding citizenship or graduating from K-12. #FourthofJuly Uh, no. In a truly free society, loyalty is a matter of choice.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
I tried to warn you guys. No one listens. People just complain about gas prices with their HUGE trucks and SUVs that they don't need. Someone put me on an email chain of professors--yes, professors!--who are literally at overcome with joy at not having to pay parking tickets and I'm like. 🤦
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
The Uruk-hai were built to destroy Rohan. The current Supreme Court was built to destroy the New Deal and expansion of rights from the 1960s.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
We have been told ad nauseam that Trump happened because voters felt "left behind," particularly by "coastal elites" and "bad trade deals" like NAFTA. I just heard Ian Bremmer repeat this crap. It is utter nonsense. Here's at least one reason why (though there are many).
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Juneteenth celebrates the end of a system that was fundamental to the society, politics, and economy of the antebellum South, broke the original U.S. Constitution, and caused a civil war that killed approximately 1 million people. I'd like to share a few shocking details from my research.
Screenshot of a micofiche image showing how a male enslaver in South Carolina gifted several dozen enslaved persons to his daughter as a sort of wedding present. The originals are stored in the South Carolina Historical Society in Charleston.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Has Bari Weiss ever seen the movie The Insider? How does she feel that if she were a character in that movie, she would be siding with Big Tobacco?
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
This should have gotten more coverage. A major city with an important history will likely be under water by around 2100 or so. Hundreds of thousands of people will have to evacuate. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
‘Point of no return’: New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level, study finds
Louisiana’s cultural hotspot could be surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico before the end of this century, authors say
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
What are my favorite Congresses or congressional eras? * 1861--62 * 1865--68 * 1933--37 * 1965--73 * any Congress excluding the treasonous, racist, and knuckle-dragging South, like the ones ratifying the Reconstruction era amendments and the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Social media is filled with right-wing trolls. And even in the small number of circumstances that you happen to encounter real human beings, they act like trolls in real life, never showing the slightest interest in understanding how things work.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
I feel like almost everything today is a scam. The guy who dominates every news cycle for 10 years is a scam, his cultish supporters are a scam, Bitcoin is a scam, record stock market highs are a scam, John Roberts is a scam, Clarence Thomas is a scam, Bari Weiss is a scam, Jeff Bezos, and so on.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
It's really fun to hear Kara Swisher and Tim Miller go off on thin-skinned, self-centered oligarchs.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
A person who remembers without looking it up that Marx wrote about alienation is the very type of person who is most likely to find the current world deeply alienating.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
When you discuss a subject do you: 1. Start with a conclusion and find the evidence matches your pre-conceived biases? OR 2. Start with the evidence and let the evidence guide your conclusion, whether it's politically convenient or not?
Map of proposed electoral vote changes after the 2030 federal census
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
AI has now infected (or "shaped" to use another overused AI-suggested word) the way we leave quotes in media outlets. You know, the whole "it wasn't just about this. It was about this" cliché framing. Real people now talk this way.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
@hcrichardson.bsky.social said the GOP started lying to its voters about who benefits from the party's economic policies in the 1980s. I agree with Heather whole-heartedly. After watching Bianco and Hilton, the party STILL lies to its voters about climate, too. www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeHZ...
youtube.com
California Governor Candidates Debate Climate Change and Environmental Policies
YouTube video by KPIX | CBS NEWS BAY AREA
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
I've been saying for a while that this current Supreme Court under John Roberts is sympathetic to the ideas of John C. Calhoun, whether it wants to admit so or not.
political cartoon by Nick Anderson satirizing the racism of the Supreme Court by eviscerating the Voting Rights Act.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
calmatters.org/politics/202... I've seen a million of these types of stories and they're beyond infuriating. You feel deceived by Trump? WTF were you *thinking* when it truly mattered? And what can you do to atone for 2 and 1/2 more years of this?
calmatters.org
'They sold lies to us': California Latinos regret their Trump votes as costs soar
California Latinos backed Trump in 2024. But they also supported Proposition 50, the gerrymander that Democrats sold as a tool to fight the president.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
I could write this much better than Tony Romm at the NYT. I wouldn't both sides this crap when one side has never been borne out in over 40 years of trying. The problem is that when you report accurately, then the administration sues you or takes away your funding.
screenshot of one part of a NYT article by Tony Romm covering the national debt and its causes
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Canvas encountered un unknown virus, leading to a global outage. As the demands to reboot grew heated, one solution emerged: hand Canvas's defense systems over to a new company that promises to get rid of all viruses in perpetuity. The name of that company is SkyNet.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Vintage stamps. A '57 Chevy. Miles Davis on vinyl. Baseball cards. An original Gibson Les Paul. An old bottle of wine. All of these are examples of precious objects people collect as hobbies. Here is another version of those. It's fun to collect sources that few have seen.
Screenshot of letter from the South Carolina Historical Society in Charleston. The letter is dated April 19, 1845.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
For all you educators. Imagine you worked really hard to put together a presentation with first-rate, high quality research and verifiable facts. Then imagine that one-third to half of your students dismissed everything in your presentation as "fake" or propaganda because...
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
We may look back on liberalism, and the relative equality and middle-class prosperity under which it prevailed, as a temporary, mid-20th c. phenomenon that was sadly overtaken and conquered by the combined forces of accumulated wealth, xenophobia, and religious zealotry.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Ever gotten an ad to buy gold? Reverse mortgage? Amway? Junk mail? Supplements that promise to cure all your ailments? Congratulations, you understand Trumpism, MAGA, the GOP, and much of U.S. politics in the last 10 years.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
John Roberts is an incorrigible reactionary who loves the coal industry and despises the EPA. Keep in mind Roberts hates voting rights, labor unions, marriage equality, consistent limits on presidential power, campaign finance reform, etc. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...
nytimes.com
The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Fascinating conversation between @hcrichardson.bsky.social and @pkrugman.bsky.social . Among the topics discussed: * The dollar-based system of world trade and finance * The U.S. suffering from a classic "resource curse" and offering a backwards-looking future based on hydrocarbons compared...
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Californians for Energy Independence is a pro-pollution, climate denialist front group funded by Chevron and the Western States Petroleum Association. Like tobacco companies of yesteryear, the group fights regulations that promote the public good. Do not be misled.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
I suppose it makes sense why people look for optimism in even the darkest times. But we've still got Trump for nearly 3 years, until Jan 2029. His insane tweets dominate all of our news and the stock market's gyrations. We've had him for ten long years and almost 3 more.
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Steve Campbell @stevecampbell.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
The @thebulwark.com episode with @timmiller.bsky.social and @janecoaston.bsky.social was hilarious! I loved it! They're both such funny people. I started listening to Tim and many on his team a lot in the past 1-2 years, and I've loved Jane since her Vox days. She's so sarcastic!
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