HT: Peter Parides:
Bernie Sanders
OK, I’ll play the Bernie Sanders meme game
HT: Nate McAlister
Joe Biden is the 46th President of the United States
It’s official. The Trump presidency is over. The Biden presidency is here. Here are a few thoughts, with the help of my Twitter feed, on today’s inauguration ceremony: I began the day with a reminder. It’s been a long four […]
Night two (Tuesday) at the DNC convention
Here are some of my tweets from last night with additional context. My twitter followers seemed to be split 50-50 on this take: Obama could not get away w/his 2004 national unity speech today. After night 1 of #DNC2020, it […]
What the real socialists are saying about Sanders, AOC, and Black Lives Matter
I want to highlight again something I mentioned briefly in this post. What do real socialists say about Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and others on the left-wing of the Democratic Party who are frightening America conservatives and white evangelicals […]
The Anti-Populists
Thomas Frank‘s recent piece at Harper’s, an excerpt from his forthcoming book, argues that we do not understand the meaning of populism in the age of Trump. The president is not a populist–at least in the historic sense of the […]
It’s Time for Bernie to Drop Out
Bernie Sanders made a nice run. He has secured his place in American history for the way he has pushed the Democratic Party to the left. I fully expect many of his policy ideas will one day become a reality, […]
Assessing Last Night’s Democratic Debate
Over at The New York Times, an impressive group of commentators and intellectuals evaluate last night debate—perhaps the last–between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. The group includes Gail Collins, Nicole Hemmer, Michelle Goldberg, Wajahat Ali, Peter Wehner, Jamelle Bouie, and […]
Ron Brownstein on the Democratic Primary: “It’s Over”
Here is the veteran political writer at The Atlantic: After two insurgent campaigns that rattled American politics, Bernie Sanders’s dream of becoming the Democratic presidential nominee is effectively over. Tapping an enormous wave of grassroots energy in both bids for the […]
Thinking Historically About Bernie’s Socialism
Stanford historian Richard White argues that Sanders best represents the Gilded Age socialists of the late 19th-century. Here is a taste of his piece at The New York Times: The socialists Mr. Sanders most resembles were Gilded Age intellectuals, reformers, union […]
Michael Walzer: “Sanders is alone with his excited followers”
Michael Walzer is a public intellectual, co-editor of Dissent, and a life-long democratic socialist. Over at Tablet, he offers his take on Bernie Sanders: What should lifelong democratic socialists and social democrats, like me, think about Bernie Sanders, the democratic socialist? He […]
What Bernie Sanders Might Learn from Jesse Jackson
Here is Georgetown University historian Michael Kazin at The Washington Post: It was the 1988 election and the insurgent candidacy of Jesse Jackson that provides insights into the current fight and why Sanders’s campaign has captured such passionate support, particularly among […]
Does Bernie Sanders Still Want to Challenge the Rules of the Democratic Convention?
Joe Biden had a big night on Super Tuesday. He now has the delegate lead. It is likely that he will still have the delegate lead when the 2020 Democratic National Convention begins on July 13th in Milwaukee. Here are […]
Is Bernie Sanders Really a Socialist?
Over at The New Yorker, Isaac Chotiner interviews Georgetown University historian and Dissent editor Michael Kazin. Here is a taste: Bernie Sanders likes to say that his proposals aren’t very radical if you take a long view of American history. Do you agree with […]
How Socialism Became Un-American
It was the Ad Council. Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy of Miami University explains at The Conversation: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4FmHsniTGg&w=560&h=315]
Biden Wins South Carolina. What Does it Mean?
The networks are telling us that Joe Biden has won South Carolina. There is also a chance Biden will be the overall delegate front-runner in the Democratic race for the nomination after the votes are counted. We now move to […]
Carlos Eire: “Castro’s literacy campaign and authoritarianism go hand in hand”
Bernie Sanders has taken some heat for praising the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s literacy program. Watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeYCIfmeW70&w=560&h=315] Carlos Eire, author of one of the best books I have read in the last decade, Waiting for Snow in Havana, […]
Just to be Clear, the Man With the Ball in This Picture is Not Running for President
Some people are confused.
Christian Dominionism at CPAC
Charlie Kirk is the twenty-six-year-old founder of a Turning Point USA, a pro-Trump non-profit organization active on college campuses. He is also the co-founder of Liberty University’s Falkirk Center. (You can read our posts on the Falkirk Center here). Here […]
I’ve Seen this Before
Washington Post headline, November 13, 2015: “Time for GOP Panic? Establishment Worried Carson or Trump Might Win.” (Also The Hill). Politico headline, February 23, 2020: “Sanders Sends Democratic Establishment into Panic Mode.”