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Jeff Tulis

@jktulis.bsky.social

Professor of Government Emeritus @UTAustin; sculler; loon counter. Essays: in The Bulwark, Atlantic, WaPo, Public Seminar. Books: Legacies of Losing in American Politics; The Rhetorical Presidency, -in progress, Constitutional Thinking In Trouble

1,116 Followers  |  435 Following  |  43 Posts  |  Joined: 14.11.2024  |  2.0488

Latest posts by jktulis.bsky.social on Bluesky

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The Case for the Forever Shutdown Senate Democrats actually allowing the GOP to stop funding the government is only the first step. Now they have to make the case that Trump’s government is illegitimate.

Urgent and Compelling

newrepublic.com/article/2014...

09.10.2025 20:57 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Yale Center for Civic Thought Hosts Constitution Day Forum | Institution for Social and Policy Studies

isps.yale.edu/news/blog/20...

27.09.2025 02:18 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Five Ways to Fight Trump's Fascism
Robert Reich Five Ways to Fight Trump's Fascism

People are constantly asking me β€” what can I do? Here are five, practical next steps you can take to make a difference. https://youtu.be/8W-lVRQQGtI?feature=shared

21.09.2025 16:01 β€” πŸ‘ 1863    πŸ” 921    πŸ’¬ 53    πŸ“Œ 57
Post image Post image

This @washingtonpost.com editorial doesn’t make it past the second paragraph without a glaring (and telling) factual error.

President Washington didn’t create the War Department in 1789; *Congress* did:

www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/...

06.09.2025 02:31 β€” πŸ‘ 12010    πŸ” 3042    πŸ’¬ 358    πŸ“Œ 188
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Ungoverning America The logic behind Trump’s assault on the administrative state.

Exceptionally well done and important. Trump is not thinking big, he is thinking bad. He is not changing governing policy, he is destroying governing capacity.

www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

05.09.2025 17:56 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Armed troops in US streets? For many, Trump makes that seem normal. Armed troops patrol streets in the nation’s capital, and many residents shrug their shoulders. President Trump’s ability to normalize such dramatic actions is at play – but isn’t the end of the story.

β€œTrump is different from other authoritarian leaders. Most don’t want to appear authoritarian. This is a government that is advertising its authoritarianism,” says Steven Levitsky.

www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...

04.09.2025 15:33 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

β€œHe said, β€˜We’ll notify next of kin if she dies.’ And at that moment, I knew that I was no longer dealing with humans.”

β€œI knew I was dealing with someone that is sick in the head, and this was the person who made the decision to incarcerate her, Rosa said.”

24.08.2025 20:06 β€” πŸ‘ 40    πŸ” 15    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Following Trump’s pardons, a variety of Jan. 6 rioters convicted of additional crimes With his Jan. 6 pardons, Donald Trump let a bunch of criminals back out onto American streets. Some of them ended up behind bars again.
21.07.2025 14:15 β€” πŸ‘ 27    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 1

Am the official loon counter, for Audubon, for my Maine lake -- and the yearly count was yesterday!

21.07.2025 01:36 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

You posted the answer. But I knew this and was feeling proud to say so!

21.07.2025 00:33 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Wow!!! This is so great and so deserved.

18.07.2025 21:51 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Passage from
 Justice Sotomayor’s dissent in TRUMP v CASA.” p. 56 of decision.

Passage from Justice Sotomayor’s dissent in TRUMP v CASA.” p. 56 of decision.

This is the key point in Sotomayor’s dissent in the majority decision in Trump v CASA:
β€œNo right is safe in the new legal regime the Court creates.”

27.06.2025 15:40 β€” πŸ‘ 148    πŸ” 66    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 7

Headline at left, from 'Independent' in UK.

Headline at right, from "most prestigious" news org in US.

-Hard to believe they're about same event.
-All too easy to believe that NYT again went with sane-washing.

25.05.2025 15:45 β€” πŸ‘ 621    πŸ” 203    πŸ’¬ 27    πŸ“Œ 10
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There Is No Piecing Back Our Badly Shattered Constitutional Order We are past the point of crisis and have entered an era when our political disputes will be settled by the raw exercise of power, not the law

"America has been flung into a constitutional crisis in the most massive and fundamental way imaginable, ruled by a regime which is not merely doing unconstitutional things but is anti-constitutional at its very core."

www.theunpopulist.net/p/there-is-n...

25.05.2025 12:47 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Opinion | We Study Fascism. And We’re Leaving the U.S.

This deserves your attention and wide circulation to break through normalization.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/o...

14.05.2025 13:22 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Boulder kept my dad alive. So did the government My father never quite understood how I could live in New York City. He always preferred Montana, open rather than dense, prairie rather than concrete. Great Falls was his birthplace,

Great and beautiful essay

28.04.2025 13:52 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
Normalizing Trump
YouTube video by Dartmouth Normalizing Trump

Recently gave this talk at Dartmouth.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F2i...

02.05.2025 15:36 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Compelling, important and vital.

21.04.2025 11:39 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Compelling, important and vital. Thanks Steve Vladeck.

21.04.2025 11:38 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Hey NBC and Seth Meyers, y’all need to book the largest possible venue in D.C. on April 26th and do a competing fundraiser and comedy show that actually celebrates the First Amendment. Televise it. Make Amber Ruffin the central act. Send a message that free speech is non-negotiable.

30.03.2025 02:47 β€” πŸ‘ 19225    πŸ” 4307    πŸ’¬ 209    πŸ“Œ 404

The asshole who talked about putting USAID "into the woodchipper," and childishly grinned when prancing around with his chainsaw, is now having hurt feelings because Tim Walz made fun of him.

Even Trump is going to recognize pretty soon that this is a "brand-image minus" for him.

29.03.2025 21:17 β€” πŸ‘ 2734    πŸ” 475    πŸ’¬ 178    πŸ“Œ 25
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The Cost of the Government’s Attack on Columbia American universities have given the country prosperity and security. The Trump administration’s attack on academic freedom endangers all of that.

Fear is paralyzing university presidents. Proud to see Chris Eisgruber step up. We all need to step up.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

19.03.2025 22:06 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Making some good trouble in Vermont

01.03.2025 21:13 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Political science statement.pdf

More than one thousand political scientists, whose personal views span the partisan political spectrum, have signed this petition describing what is perilous and anti-constitutional about the current political moment in the United States.

drive.google.com/file/d/1lGk2...

22.02.2025 19:10 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Defending the Gulf of Mexico From Trump's Totalitarianism | Common Dreams How serious is Trump’s Orwellian effort? Can it really succeed in reshaping public discourse? We can hope not. But can we be sure?

Sometimes small things can reveal big and important transformations. Insightful, as usual, from Jeffrey Isaac.

www.commondreams.org/opinion/gulf...

17.02.2025 17:23 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Vance Says β€˜Judges Aren’t Allowed to Control’ Trump’s β€˜Legitimate Power’ The declaration by the vice president came as court orders have temporarily blocked parts of the Trump administration’s agenda.

We all need to start using the word "coup." They're well past the point where Hitler starts dictates his Enabling Act. I talk to Very Serious People who actually believe courts telling Trump that they he is breaking the law will stop this. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/09/u...

09.02.2025 23:36 β€” πŸ‘ 890    πŸ” 298    πŸ’¬ 31    πŸ“Œ 25
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Trump did a Friday Night Massacre, firing 15 inspectors general, completely ignoring the law that prevents him from doing this, essentially asserting monarchical authority over the government. Total contempt for democracy. Here is how the Times is covering it

25.01.2025 18:45 β€” πŸ‘ 1050    πŸ” 295    πŸ’¬ 36    πŸ“Œ 11

Excellent analysis of Trump's dangerous rhetorical instinct.

22.01.2025 16:21 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Trump now has his brownshirts.

21.01.2025 01:48 β€” πŸ‘ 993    πŸ” 155    πŸ’¬ 31    πŸ“Œ 4
HOPE in Spite of Trump | Robert Reich
YouTube video by Robert Reich HOPE in Spite of Trump | Robert Reich

If you’re feeling despair today, I understand.

But Trump’s second term will expose a reality that's been hidden from many Americans: the raw, stinking power of the American oligarchy.

I’m hopeful that America will see this reality for what it is and respond to it. youtu.be/bepjl3orz1A?...

20.01.2025 14:20 β€” πŸ‘ 5445    πŸ” 985    πŸ’¬ 279    πŸ“Œ 66

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