Eric Zimmerman

The richest man on earth owns X.

The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok.

The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.

See the problem here?

In the oral argument in the immunity case, Trump's lawyer's answer to the question, "What would be the check on the President just using his officers to break the law?" was, "People will not follow illegal orders."

We're about to find out whether that's true.

Maga is fundamentally a populist white racism. The slogan "Make America Great Again" is more accurately described as "Make White America Greater." The fact that the tariff policy insisted on a 50% tariff only on steel and aluminum stems from the concentration of these groups in the Rust Belt.

The massive crackdown on illegal immigrants at the Hyundai-LG Energy Solutions joint venture plant in Georgia must be understood in this context. The scenes of our workers being chained and escorted away were reminiscent of the dragging of African slaves in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Department of Homeland Security boasted of "the largest single-site raid in history," and Immigration and Customs Enforcement even brazenly released footage of the raid, which was highly violating human rights, as if to boast of their "achievement."

Far-right whites may have secretly rejoiced. Even politicians like the Georgia governor and local lawmakers, who had been active in attracting factories, have shifted their stance and sympathized with their grievances. This is likely because it's difficult to ignore the anti-immigrant sentiment of native Americans. Like the McCarthyism that swept through American society in the 1950s, irrational madness dominates American society. The recent visa issue, which could have been resolved diplomatically with advance notice from an ally, is difficult to explain beyond political maneuvering. The fact that they mobilized helicopters and armored vehicles for show, as if they had been caught, is difficult to explain.

idk if you've seen this south korean editorial that ran a few days ago. google translate version scorched my eyebrows www.hani.co.kr/arti/opinion...

Sen. Ruben Gallego: "Ashli Babbitt was a traitor. She was a traitor to this country. She was part of a violent mob that tried to overthrow our democracy...She didn't die protecting our country. She died trying to turn it down...She wasn't a martyr. She was and is a traitor."

A piece of this I tried to capture is that, even if Trump and the MAGA media succeed in deflecting some of this from Trump, this document offers so much evidence that supports the *broader* framework of elite rot and corruption. All of that has to go somewhere. I fear it's not gonna go anywhere good

The way NATO breaks is Russia does something bad enough to a member that they ask for security assistance, then the US doesn’t help while the US president says it didn’t happen—or some other Russia-friendly BS—and that renders remaining commitments non-credible.

The Putin govt surely sees this too.

The Nation Cannot Afford Silent Generals Trump’s loyalty tests, purges, and domestic deployments demand a collective response from retired military leaders.

Why are the nation’s retired military leaders silent in the face of Trump’s abject politicization of the military?

Brian O’Neill on the need for the condemnation of Trump’s loyalty tests, purges, and domestic deployments

Trump officials restore Ronny Jackson’s military rank after Biden-era demotion “I was, and still am, a retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral,” Jackson said, suggesting the misconduct allegations upheld against him were politically motivated.

Trump officials have restored Ronny Jackson's military rank, after his Biden-era demotion from rear admiral to captain.

Democrats say they’re aghast

“The sacrosanct uniform code of military justice is now the uniform code of Trump,” former Rep. Jackie Speier told me. The code is “now meaningless.”

Triumph of the Insurrectionists The Trump administration is on a mission to turn the perpetrators of January 6 into heroes.

The Trump administration’s decision to grant military-funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt is the latest move to turn the perpetrators of one of America’s darkest days into heroes, @dgraham.bsky.social argues in The Atlantic Daily:

Big news: California, Oregon and Washington State just announced a joint "West Coast Health Alliance" to counter Trump/RFK destruction of our public health system.

As I argued last week (see below), this is becoming a new frontier in Dem Gov resistance to Trump.

Honoring Ashli Babbitt Dishonors the Military If there’s no difference between upholding the Constitution and attacking it, then there’s no honor in service.

"That is why I am infuriated that the Air Force plans to grant military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt. She did not die defending the Constitution. She died trying to overturn it."

Yes, there is a difference.

All the think pieces about “how did we get here” are superfluous when this video exists. A third of the country is this f’in guy. That’s how we got here.

Russia's reckoning is coming Beyond the bluster of his meeting with President Trump, Vladimir Putin is in trouble. Isolated, outmanoeuvred, and stalled on the battlefield, Russia is tottering financially and militarily, while Zel...

“Vladimir Putin is in trouble. Isolated, outmanoeuvred, and stalled on the battlefield, Russia is tottering financially and militarily, while Zelensky's Ukraine continues to hold the upper hand.” ⁦‪A good piece from ⁦‪@EngelsbergIdeas‬⁩
Engelsberg ideas.com/essays/russias-reckoning-is-coming/

Rather than being protectors of the status quo (as they run in 2024), democrats should be the party of "our institutions are broken and here's a set of reforms we propose: multi-member districts/PR, congress expansion, term limits for judges...."

We rely too much on assumed things in history, especially those with little or no evidence.

Literally just say you’ll legalize weed and won’t let congresspeople trade stocks. Literally just do that.

4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment In the past two years, without much notice, solar power has begun to truly transform the world’s energy system.

“California is so far using forty per cent less natural gas to generate electricity than it did in 2023, which is the single most hopeful statistic I’ve seen in four decades of writing about the climate crisis.”

www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...

Juneteenth: How cities are scaling back celebrations after Trump-era DEI rollbacks | CNN Despite Juneteenth’s status as a federal holiday, celebrations across the country are being scaled back or canceled, as organizers cite safety problems and mounting resistance to diversity, equity and...

The fact that so many people think celebrating the end of slavery in the US is “DEI” is actually clarifying of what they mean when they use DEI. amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/06/...

I'm Eileen Laubacher. A retired Rear Admiral and the Democrat running against Lauren Boebert. I know what sacrifice means and service looks like. Boebert doesn’t have a clue.

Can you help me get to 5k followers to show her we can do this?!

Honestly the most impressive part isn’t the actual strike, but 18 months of planing, sourcing FPVs and explosives, building the container launch pads and network all inside of Russia without anyone noticing or some official leaking it to the press.

Three years from now they'll claim Golden Dome is operational and the only person who will believe it is Trump, the guy with his finger on the button - who now thinks he's protected from nuclear retaliation.

/5 Similarly, focusing on this story the way some of the press is seems to be a case of both-sidesing and choosing simpler stories. The most important story in Germany 1933 was not whether Otto Wels was unfit to serve in 1932.

I just really need everybody to understand that everything that’s happening in and to the global economy now (and all the businesses and people in it) is the entirely predictable result of the intentional decisions of one guy who doesn’t understand how the global economy works.

Yeah, based on the Signal transcript, it’s not at all certain that Stephen Miller, who isn’t at all in the chain of command, wasn’t the final authorization for the first Yemen strike.

There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this. Try.

With Andor Season 2 dropping tomorrow, it's worth recalling that Season 1 contained the best bit of writing ever in Star Wars.

There will never be a moment when MAGAs suddenly realize they were wrong. The Confederates didn’t. Neither did the Nazis. They were beaten, but they still thought they were right. Someday, MAGA will be out of power, but they won’t be sorry. Our task is to destroy their power, not change their hearts

okay now that you all have gotten a taste of America's rational and predictable new trade policy, everyone who wants to build your new factories here just form an orderly line

There’s no way to 100% structurally design it, sure. But the US Constitution is an awful document and it’s not helped by the fact that elites are in awe of it.

Remember the Goolsbee Rule, which he calls the pathological irony of crisis: "if you lose your credibility, your statements begin to mean the opposite of what you say."
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/wit...

The American Age Is Over Emergency Triad: The United States commits imperial suicide.

"We have the government we deserve. The American age is over. And it ended because the American people were no longer worthy of it."