Jan-Werner Mueller

Billionaires Are Swaying Elections in All Corners of America

“The Times analysis found 300 billionaires and their families donated more than $3 billion—19% of all contributions—in federal elections in 2024. The billionaire families gave an average total of $10 million each in 2024, roughly equal to what 100,000 typical political donors gave, combined.“ Gift:

Russia’s Pavilion at the Venice Biennale Is Set to Reopen This Year, But Officials Say It Isn’t a ‘Return’ “Russia never left the Venice Biennale… since we have not gone anywhere, we are not ‘returning,'" Mikhail Shvydkoy said.

'When asked if he expects people to protest Russia’s decision to reopen its pavilion, Shvydkoy said that “any form of provocation against Russian cultural figures in the Venice Biennale is possible, but I hope that common sense will prevail.”'

Might it be common sense to protest?

Regelvorschlag zum Buchkauf in Deutschland:

Nichts mit Bild des Autors/der Autorin auf dem Cover.

Nichts mit „Wir“ im Titel oder Untertitel.

Vielleicht verpasst man mal etwas Wichtiges. Im Regelfall nicht.

Putin's GRU-linked Election Fixers Are Already in Budapest to Help Orbán - VSquare.org Moscow has dispatched a team to Budapest to interfere in Hungary's April 2026 parliamentary elections, VSquare has learned from multiple European national security sources. The operation, overseen by Putin confidant Sergei Kiriyenko, is designed to keep Viktor Orbán in power — and follows the same blueprint Russia used in Moldova.

💥Moscow has sent a team to interfere in Hungary's April 2026 elections, VSquare has learned from multiple European national security sources. The US has also shared intelligence with allies on the task force overseen by Sergei Kiriyenko.

This thread as a single page: skywriter.blue/@profsaunder...

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About a year ago, Trump lectured Ukraine’s president that he had no cards.

Today, it seems, the US is begging Ukraine for interceptor drones.

About a year ago, Trump lectured Ukraine’s president that he had no cards.

Today, it seems, the US is begging Ukraine for interceptor drones.

Pickard always excellent:

When it comes to ending elite impunity, the US could learn from the UK | Jan-Werner Müller British institutions can keep politicians somewhat in check. But in the US, shamelessness has become contagious

Just generally an age of shamelessness? Or has the US lost the institutions that are supposed to enforce shame sanctions?

The coaches get it.

coachesforcampusfreedom.org

Napoleon III always had competitive bids for staging his cult of personality.

"For all the things one might say about the Tories, they remain a halfway functioning political party. The same is not true for the personality cult that was on display at Trump’s State of the Union address. North Korean levels of adulation... one was looking at a fan club..."

When it comes to ending elite impunity, the US could learn from the UK | Jan-Werner Müller British institutions can keep politicians somewhat in check. But in the US, shamelessness has become contagious

Just generally an age of shamelessness? Or has the US lost the institutions that are supposed to enforce shame sanctions?

Trump and Hegseth have everything figured out. We got strategic geniuses running this operation.

When it comes to ending elite impunity, the US could learn from the UK | Jan-Werner Müller British institutions can keep politicians somewhat in check. But in the US, shamelessness has become contagious

What and who enables elite impunity in the United States? and what explains the shamelessness?

Opinion | The Shields Are Down, Mr. President

"In Trump’s first term, sacrificing cabinet members meant firing them, or pushing them to resign. In the second term, it means keeping them in the job for as long as those shields retain even marginal power."

STANDARD: Sie fordern in Ihrem Buch, man solle auf die Wählerinnen und Wähler populistischer Parteien zuzugehen. Sie als autoritäre Deppen abzukanzeln, sei der falsche Weg. Baberowski: Es führt kein Weg daran vorbei, mit jenen zu streiten, die sich abwenden, weil man sie sonst dauerhaft aus dem politischen Prozess drängt. Die meisten Bürger wählen populistische Parteien nicht, weil ihnen die politischen Programme dieser Gruppen gefallen, oder weil sie sich von ihnen versprechen, die gute alte Zeit zurückzubringen. Die gute alte Zeit ist unwiederbringlich verloren. Es geht den Wählerinnen und Wählern der Populisten vielmehr darum, gehört zu werden, eine Stimme zu haben, die zählt und etwas bewirkt. Manchen würde es wahrscheinlich schon genügen, wenn man Ihnen zuhörte, wenn man sich für ihre Nöte interessierte. Letztlich geht es um Anerkennung, um Respekt und Würde.

Baberowski: Ja, es ist die Aussichtslosigkeit, die Perspektivlosigkeit, die Menschen wütend macht. Von den traditionellen Parteien, vor allem von den einst mächtigen Sozialdemokraten, fühlen sie sich nicht mehr vertreten. Die Eliten geben ihnen das Gefühl, dass es unerheblich ist, was sie denken, dass ihre Meinung nicht zählt. Man mag sich vielleicht von seinesgleichen belehren und maßregeln lassen, aber nicht von jenen, die vom Leben der kleinen Leute nichts verstehen.

STANDARD: Populistische Bewegungen, behaupten Sie in Ihrem Buch, tauchen immer wieder auf im Laufe der Demokratiegeschichte. Ist Populismus so etwas wie der Schatten der Demokratie? Baberowski: Ja. Immer dann, wenn die Repräsentanten nicht leisten, was sie versprochen haben, bricht die Stunde der Populisten an. Aus der Sicht des Historikers ist das nun nichts, worüber man sich wundern muss: In guten Jahren haben Populisten wenig Zulauf, in schlechteren Jahren mehr. Solche Konjunkturen hat es immer schon gegeben, man sollte ihnen mit Gelassenheit begegnen.

Baberowski: In der Demokratie wurde immer schon gepöbelt und geschimpft. Demokratie ist immer auch Protest, der laut und schrill ist, von links wie von rechts. Demokratie lebt nicht allein vom Argument, sondern auch von den Leidenschaften, die Demagogen zu entfachen versuchen. In historischer Perspektive ist das, was jetzt geschieht, nichts Neues. Populistische Erregungsbewegungen hat es immer schon gegeben. Deshalb sollte man den Empörungswellen, die Europa gerade heimsuchen, mit Gelassenheit begegnen. Sie werden auch wieder verebben.

Schwindelerregendes "Populisten-Versteher"-Interview, in dem Rechtsextremismus und Populismus synonym verwendet werden, rechtsextreme Politik verharmlost wird, und kein Wort über Rassismus, der rechte Parteien antreibt, stattdessen viele Statements basierend auf Meinung statt empirischer Forschung.

Celebration, Florida.

The architecture of buildings with directly political functions: dignified, but not glorified?
#StreetPalaceSquare

Reform and Tories report ‘family voting’ allegations to watchdog Nigel Farage says his party was victim of ‘cheating’ in Gorton and Denton byelection, although Manchester council says no issues reported

The predictable response by far-right candidates losing at the polls:

People other than "the real people" voted; someone cheated; we were robbed; etc. etc.

The High Cost of Trump’s Amateur Diplomats Jan-Werner Mueller surveys the damage from the Trump administration’s gutting of US diplomatic capacity and expertise.

Another victory for these savvy negotiators.

Reform and Tories report ‘family voting’ allegations to watchdog Nigel Farage says his party was victim of ‘cheating’ in Gorton and Denton byelection, although Manchester council says no issues reported

The predictable response by far-right candidates losing at the polls:

People other than "the real people" voted; someone cheated; we were robbed; etc. etc.

The architecture of buildings with directly political functions: dignified, but not glorified?
#StreetPalaceSquare

'"These sections on the walls in the stairwell hold the voices of that night - and we will not let them be erased, silenced, or this tragedy be sanitised," said Karim Khalloufi, who lost his sister in the fire.'

Australians roll down lawns of Parliament House to protest against fence Australians gather to roll down the lawns of Parliament House in protest against a security fence.

'"This simple fun action embodies a very simple yet powerful symbol of democracy. That the citizens can walk up and over their elected government."'

Rod Dreher Thinks the Enlightenment Was a Mistake The influential author derides secularism and the modern world. Conservatives—including the vice president—are joining him on a march back to the Middle Ages.

'“The politics came to him more than the other way around,” Sullivan said, suggesting that Dreher was radicalized by his opposition to the trans-rights movement, Black Lives Matter, and other progressive causes.'

The poor folks on the far right never have political agency.

When Isaiah Berlin wrote “what is interesting is to read the enemy, because the enemy penetrates the defences,” he meant studying Maistre and Sorel, not that every racist blogger had to be debated in the Sheldonian.