Showing Their Buts: the False Compassion of the Concerned
“Compassion is important, but,” a beautiful turn of phrase that calls to mind the immortal words of the great leader Eddard Stark. Everything before the word "but" is horseshit.
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Article II as Suicide Pact
Justice Robert Jackson's fear that "doctrinaire logic" could turn the Constitution into a "suicide pact" was warranted, but the Bill of Rights is not the problem.
Unfit to Be the Ruler of a Free People: The Anti-American Presidency of Donald Trump
The Trump administration is an affront to everything good that America has become and everything America has ever sought to be.
Two Paths to Immortality: Some Civic Religion for Nonbelievers
Reactionary immortality projects explain a lot about American political culture—above all why and how we Americans choose to panic.
The Grift Society
Where neoliberalism required at least the performance of adherence to impersonal rules, the grift economy revels in the scam of it all.
Inherent Vice: Can America Come Back From Who We’ve Become?
At the richest moment in world history, in an unparalleled time of comforts and luxuries, we have elected self-harm and self-pity.
What Does “Defending the Constitution” Really Mean?
Does the oath of office I swore as an attorney for the trial court permit or even require me to defend the Constitution by force, if it is threatened by an illegitimate and authoritarian government?
What Congo’s Mobutu Sese Seko Teaches Us About Trumpism
Mobutu and Trump both rule by normalizing corruption, not just to enrich themselves but also to cement their own power.
The Red State Religious Narrative
Southern democracy, like every other aspect of Southern society, was shaped by the political and economic needs of the slaveholding planter class and is maintained by the MAGA movement via shame and projection.
The Present Crisis and the End of the Long '90s
The constitutional settlement that governed America from the end of the Volcker Shock in 1982 to the re-election of Donald Trump in 2024 encompassed three profound domains: politics, economics, and culture.
Trump Can't Both Deport Millions and Increase the Population
No serious person believes it’s possible to both decrease and increase the US population at the same time.
Trump ‘Alarmists’ Were Right. We Should Say So.
Commentators who got it wrong wouldn’t listen, won’t learn, and can’t lead.