Sasha Abramsky

There is no long-term strategy here; and since this clearly won't be an in-and-quickly-out operation, that means there is a ll the potential for a bloody quagmire.

See the Guardian's Simon Tisdall and his analysis of what this means.https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/28/donald-trump-bombs-iran-war-middle-east

With no congressional input, no real effort to rationalize a massive military intervention to the US people, and with negotiations ongoing, Trump took the US into a major war overnight. This isn't a necessary or a rational war. It's a calamitous intervention designed to feed the ego of one man.

For 108 Minutes, Trump Gave a Tedious Mussolini Impersonation It was most mendacious State of the Union in US history. It was also the longest.

Trump's State of the Union was incredibly long and incredibly mendacious. My take on the sundowning "president's" words, in my latest Authoritarian Watch column. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

The Trump/Republican Crackup Has Begun February 17, 2026 - Sasha Abramsky backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

We spoke with @sashaabramsky.bsky.social about his latest book American Carnage: How Trump, Musk and DOGE Butchered the US Government and as well as his article at @thenation.com, “The Republican Crack-Up Has Begun.” soundcloud.com/user-8304426...

With New Policy, DHS Sets Its Sights on Incarcerating Up to 100,000 Refugees “This is probably one of the most unprecedented memos — introduced to impose trauma on refugees,” an organizer said.

New DHS policy is to arrest and indefinitely detain refugees who have been in country more than a year and don't have green cards -- even though Trump administration is slow-walking their applications for those Green Cards. My Truthout column explores what this means. truthout.org/articles/wit...

Kash Patel goes viral for hockey celebration | CNN Politics FBI Director Kash Patel celebrated with the US men’s hockey team in Milan after their historic gold medal win over Canada on Sunday. Video shows Patel drinking a beer and getting draped in a gold meda...

Nothing like promoting a drunken Frat Boy to head the world's most powerful law enforcement agency. What I love about the Trump 2.0 guys is how consistently they show class and decorum and sense of the dignity of high office when they are in public settings...(Not)
www.cnn.com/2026/02/23/p...

Many thanks for this note -- and my sympathies to you for being RIF'ed. If you have stories you want to share, do send men a chat message. And please circulate this book as far and wide as possible.

% of US population lacking health coverage: roughly 9 percent. Percentage of Danes lacking health coverage: 0. Number of Americans slated to lose health care coverage in 2026 as ACA subsidies end: 4.8 million. Number of Danes slated to lose healthcare coverage: 0.
Which country needs a medical ship?

Now there's an idea... Last I looked it is one of the poorest states in the Union, with nearly 10% of population, and more than 4% of children, having no access to health insurance.

Thank you to the wonderful team at OpCit Books, in Santa Fe, NM, for hosting a discussion of my book American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government. It was a joy to meet you all and to see you incredible bookshop.

Or as much sense as making it all-but-impossible for refugees to get Green Cards in a timely manner and then declaring that refugees without Green Cards are now subject to arrest and indefinite detention. Stupid is as stupid does: there's an awful lot of stupid going around Trumplandia these days.

Or at least as much sense as imposing a global 15% tariff in a fit of pique against a Supreme Court (three of whose members are Trump appointees) that has ruled Trump's tariff regimen to be unconstitutional...

So, just to clarify: the president who presided over the end of ACA subsidies in the US, impacting tens of millions of people, is sending a hospital ship to Greenland to take care of all the people left without healthcare in a system with universal health care coverage... That makes sense!

Interview I did on the Richard Eeds show, in New Mexico, on my book American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government... Do come hear me present on the book at OpCit in Santa Fe this Saturday at 2pm.

santafe.com/podcast/rich...

Trump admin is pulling supercomputers out of key weather research center | CNN A leading American research lab is slated to lose its critical supercomputing facility, according to a letter released Thursday by the National Science Foundation.

How insanely stupid is this?!
www.cnn.com/2026/02/13/w...

American carnage: the billionaire assault on us YouTube video by Jacobin

My Jacobin Show podcast conversation on American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government. It starts at 14.30 minutes in.
www.youtube.com/live/mEbRE9S...

The Republican Crack-Up Has Begun Even conservatives are fleeing the GOP as more and more Americans turn against Trump’s authoritarian project.

MAGA is running into powerful headwinds. My latest Authoritarian Watch column details the pushback against Trump now showing up both at the grassroots level and, belatedly, inside the halls of power. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Bezos Casts Democracy Into The Dark Billionaire's boot-lickery includes hobbling The Washington Post

Jeff Bezos took it upon himself to neuter the Washington Post this past week. My Santa Fe Reporter column explores the implications of a declining independent media landscape at a time of rising authoritarian governance. sfreporter.com/columns/lett...

WCPT 820 Interview: Sasha Abramsky - Joan Esposito: Live, Local & Progressive Joan Esposito is joined by Sasha Abramsky, freelance journalist and author; his new book is “American Carnage: How Trump, Musk and DOGE Butchered the U.S. Government.” Catch "Joan Esposito: Live, Loc...

Interviewed by Joan Esposito on WCPT820, in Chicago. about American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government. @wcpt820am.bsky.social
omny.fm/shows/joan-e...

WCPT 820 Interview: Sasha Abramsky - Driving It Home with Patti Vasquez Patti Vasquez and guest co-host Dan Schaefer are joined by Sasha Abramsky, freelance journalist and author; his new book is "American Carnage: How Trump, Musk and DOGE Butchered the U.S. Government." ...

It was a joy to be a guest on Patti Vasquez's radio show on WCPT 820 - Chicago's Progressive Talk, in Chicago. @ WCPT820 @heartlandsignal.bsky.social
omny.fm/shows/drivin...

Thanks to New Lines Magazine, and its excellent politics editor Danny Postel, and to Nighthawk bar in Chicago, for hosting me today for a discussion of American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government. Another standing room only crowd; great questions; lots of enthusiasm.

Author @sashaabramsky.bsky.social joined @johnfugelsang.bsky.social to discuss his new book, “American Carnage: How Trump, Musk and DOGE Butchered the U.S. Government.”

Thanks Gretchen, and hope you read my book American Carnage.

Many thanks John. Hope you find my book of interest as well.

Trump’s Dictatorial Mania Is Increasing—but So Is the Public’s Fury Trump is retreating into a fantasy world in which he remains an all-conquering strongman. Yet the American people are rejecting him over and over again.

As Trump's dictatorial, narcissistic personality carves its swathe of destruction, my latest Authoritarian Watch column for the Nation explores what all of this means. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Interview I did yesterday on The Authoritarian Playbook radio show, with Rose Aguilar.
exchange.prx.org/pieces/60632...

The Authoritarian Playbook: "American Carnage" exposes DOGE's damage In "American Carnage," The Nation’s Sasha Abramsky follows the stories of eleven of the over 300,000 federal workers who lost their jobs because of Trump, Musk, and DOGE.

KALW interview I did today on American Carnage and on the state of politics in America right now.
www.kalw.org/show/your-ca...

The week’s bestselling books, Feb. 8 The Southern California Independent Bookstore Bestsellers list for Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, including hardcover and paperback fiction and nonfiction.

My book American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government, is listed by the LA Times as number 8 on the non-fiction southern California bestseller list.
www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

Do you think just maybe that thin-skinned Trump decided to shut down Kennedy Center for two years because audiences and performers alike were boycotting the Trumpified cultural institution? Turns out when a would-be-dictator plasters his name on a beloved institution, the public blows raspberries.