@ansleyskipper.bsky.social
Writing @protectdemocracy.org. Fmr comms @accountablegop.bsky.social + Kaine for Virginia. Bylines @ The Bulwark, Tennessean.
Authoritarians have long used international sports to promote their own supposed “strength.” Ours may even try to claim gold medals for himself.
But history shows we can boo him while still cheering on our athletes. My latest with @michaelangeloni.bsky.com
www.thebulwark.com/p/lets-not-s...
Weekly Trump’s elections Chimera The plan to subvert 2026 is already underway
State and local officials, Congress, and the public have the power to defeat the 3-headed monster coming for our elections. Here’s how we can stop the administration’s election interference plan: https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/trumps-elections-chimera
06.02.2026 21:18 — 👍 29 🔁 15 💬 0 📌 0
"How does one cheer for Team USA’s premier athletes when America is in the grips of an authoritarian attempting to entrench himself in power?"
Protect Democracy’s @jonsteinman.bsky.social and @michaelangeloni.bsky.social for
@thebulwark.com ahead of tonight’s Winter Olympics opening ceremonies.
Trump is forcing Americans to think like dissidents. This is largely new for us.
07.02.2026 03:30 — 👍 213 🔁 39 💬 5 📌 2
Don’t be fooled.
The policy architecture that the administration has built to exploit immigration concerns, deploy federal agents, sideline critics, and tilt the electoral playing field in its favor is still fully intact. Especially in Minnesota.
From me. www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/personnel-...
What does ICE have to do w/ the midterms?
Trump wants to treat dissenters like terrorists. They did it to Renee Good. This is the environment shaping the midterms.
If we don't keep our free speech now, we won't have free elections later.
From me. www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/free-speec...
oh it's going to be a Recession recession
18.01.2026 22:56 — 👍 16925 🔁 3448 💬 330 📌 481i think this MLK day the thing to focus on is the strategic focus and tactical brilliance of the civil rights movement and the way it was laser focused on a set of achievable goals
19.01.2026 15:05 — 👍 17509 🔁 3428 💬 203 📌 151
From a clergy member friend of a friend. It is hard to believe that this is happening in America. What a moral outrage.
16.01.2026 15:25 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
What does the Insurrection Act do and *not* do? @amandacarpenter.bsky.social and @rlullo.bsky.social cover what you need to know:
15.01.2026 15:08 — 👍 63 🔁 43 💬 2 📌 1When I was coming of age, the American Left was for human rights in three countries, primarily (and almost exclusively): Chile, the Philippines, and South Africa. Today, the American Right has Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran. Great. But blessed are those who favor human rights for all.
16.01.2026 12:49 — 👍 11 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
NEW from Stephen Richer: @colorado.gov, do NOT pardon Tina Peters
www.thebulwark.com/p/governor-p...
Maybe not an accident that these are the two states rushing quickest to pass a universal constitutional remedies act protectdemocracy.org/work/univers...
15.01.2026 19:11 — 👍 7 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
My piece on a wave of proposals at state & federal level (@chrismurphyct.bsky.social, @governor.ny.gov, @crow.house.gov, @scottwiener.bsky.social) that all do the same thing: simply empower Americans to enforce the rights they are already supposed to have. www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/a-grand-un...
15.01.2026 16:54 — 👍 6 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 0
Here's why "Clemency for Tina Peters endangers us all" by me and my colleague @protectdemocracy.org, just published in the @denverpost.com. LSS: "Acquiescence today only invites future harassment" @colorado.gov www.denverpost.com/2026/01/15/t...
16.01.2026 03:51 — 👍 82 🔁 37 💬 5 📌 5
15.01.2026 16:08 — 👍 8408 🔁 2348 💬 2674 📌 1566
Infographic titled 'Autocracy is bad economics,' highlighting inflation peaks in Turkey at 85% in October 2022, in Argentina at 292% in April 2024, and in Venezuela at 2,700,000 in January 2019. Citations include the Turkish Statistical Institute, National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC), and Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Trump is trying to take over the Fed and other independent policymaking institutions, following in the footsteps other autocrats around the world. But the consequences have been disastrous for the average citizen. Read more in our briefing, "We can’t afford autocracy" https://protdem.org/4byMD5g
15.01.2026 21:08 — 👍 39 🔁 25 💬 2 📌 1
We can’t afford autocracy Americans will pay the price for Trump’s assault on the Fed
History has shown that autocrats wreck economies by destroying independent economic policymaking, writes @ansleyskipper.bsky.social. Now, in going after Fed chair Jerome Powell, Trump threatens to take the U.S. down that same road to ruin. https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/we-cant-afford-autocracy
14.01.2026 02:20 — 👍 55 🔁 16 💬 2 📌 1The “prosecute the former regime at every level” candidate has my vote in 2028.
07.01.2026 20:26 — 👍 86928 🔁 21356 💬 1615 📌 1507
Make it viral.
08.01.2026 03:22 — 👍 47662 🔁 21413 💬 361 📌 529Good journalism under authoritarianism:
1. stay away from “debate“ and “controversy”
2. don’t treat “official said x“ as a story in itself
3. call obvious lies what they are (or avoid them altogether)
4. center facts, not assertions
How our democracy survived 2025 Looking back at Year 1 of Trump 2.0
This year our country and We, the People, have faced numerous trials and tribulations that will each serve as lessons for the years ahead. Read @ansleyskipper.bsky.social's recap of the 11 of the most important moments of 2025 here: https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/how-our-democracy-survived-2025
I wrote about this dynamic back in July and, honestly, politicizing the DOJ has blown up in Trump's face even more than I anticipated: www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/maga-disco...
23.12.2025 18:01 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
As it turns out, when you turn a well-respected law enforcement agency into a personal goon squad, *everyone* quickly stops believing their claims. Who knew?
23.12.2025 18:00 — 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 1
Want to learn more about how proportional representation is the simple and achievable solution? @ansleyskipper.bsky.social and Drew Penrose explain how we can make gerrymandering disappear: www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/how-to-end...
19.12.2025 15:11 — 👍 18 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 0
ICE & Border Patrol are targeting legal immigrants who are complying with their obligations to authorities. The repercussions will be felt by all of us, writes @ansleyskipper.bsky.social. Rather than instituting a new regime of "law and order," this strategy only serves to incentivize law-breaking.
21.11.2025 16:00 — 👍 30 🔁 11 💬 1 📌 1
Concerns about lawlessness and disorder are why we have the legal immigration process — and why we have laws in the first place. Now, immigration enforcement is targeting people who follow the law. It will make all of us less safe, writes @ansleyskipper.bsky.social for @thebulwark.com
20.11.2025 16:00 — 👍 38 🔁 11 💬 0 📌 0
Immigration law is extremely complicated. And it’s all the more confusing when the people enforcing the law seem to be targeting immigrants who have every reason to think they are doing everything right. www.thebulwark.com/p/arrested-f...
19.11.2025 03:30 — 👍 272 🔁 80 💬 7 📌 4
"Whether this is a conscious strategy on the part of the Trump administration or not, the signal is being sent that following the law will put you in harm’s way." - @ansleyskipper.bsky.social in @thebulwark.com
www.thebulwark.com/p/arrested-f...
For decades, most Americans—Republicans and Democrats alike—professed to support an immigration system that encouraged and rewarded people who followed the rules. Now we're punishing immigrants for following the rules.
@ansleyskipper.bsky.social on ICE: www.thebulwark.com/p/arrested-f...
