Perry Bacon

Can This Man Save Harvard? To fend off illiberalism from the White House, the university’s president also has to confront illiberalism on campus.

This piece. I am not sure if the president of Harvard actually agrees with Trump on much, but I am fairly certain the author of this piece (and his employer) think colleges are overly left-wing.

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

Texas Republicans: It’s About Power, Yes—but Also Their Radical Agenda Of course this gerrymandering plan is about keeping power. But it’s about keeping power to a specific end: to pass laws people hate and block ones they want.

Gerrymandering has gone on for a long time. Yes, sometimes Democrats do it too. But what's happening in Texas, in the United States of 2025, shouldn't be dismissed as partisanship, "both sides do it," etc. An authoritarian president personally ordered a gerrymander. newrepublic.com/article/1988...

Harvard democracy professors argue gerrymandering and other changes to electoral rules are part of the playbook of authoritarian leaders.

newrepublic.com/article/1988...

Text describes the radicalism of Republicans' move to gerrymander the state's congressional districts.

newrepublic.com/article/1988...

In many ways, a eulogy regarding the change in the Washington Post from a top investigate paper to Bezos's own mouthpiece is representative of Trump's second term

I wish I had said independent journalists working outside of traditional news organizations. That's what I mean.

I am excited that we are working together again!

Excellent read. Many of these institutions aren’t caving, they’re in full agreement with Trumpism.

I agree. You are correct. Thanks for reading till the end!

Thanks.

Why So Many Key Institutions Have Folded Rather Than Challenge Trump Yes, they’re under pressure. But maybe a lot of these leaders kinda like what Trump’s doing. Just remember: They were defeated once before.

Related -- I'm glad to see @perrybaconjr.bsky.social making this point. open.substack.com/pub/newrepub...

newrepublic.com/article/1987...

This is very important:

Many institutions like universities & corporations bending the knee to Trump aren't just otherwise independent organizations forced to comply.

Rather, Trump's actions offer their management & owners an *opportunity* to do the Trumpist things they already wanted to do.

newrepublic.com/article/1987...

Many institutions are complying with Trump not out of fear because they agree with him.

newrepublic.com/article/1987...

Why So Many Key Institutions Have Folded Rather Than Challenge Trump Yes, they’re under pressure. But maybe a lot of these leaders kinda like what Trump’s doing. Just remember: They were defeated once before.

In my first TNR piece, I explained why so many key institutions, including my former employer, The Washington Post, aren't as anti-Trump now as they were from 2017-2020. It's a story of self-interest, institutional change and frustration with movements on the left. newrepublic.com/article/1987...

That's why it was such a bad idea for the left to stand around staring as the right waged a multi-decade war on sources of public reason: science, journalism, & academia. Without trusted institutions to defend reason & decency, it's just a war of all against all, & assholes will always win that war.

The primary real consequence being accepting that some important jobs and institutions could no longer be monopolized.

Once some people realized that the slogans had real-world bottom-line implications, things looked different to them, and those processes you pointed to kicked in.

Yes. Well said.

And I'm repeating myself, but I think we saw the same thing happen in a global context, which explains why trade and aid as instruments to redistribute wealth, and multilateralism as a platform to redistribute power, are both on the chopping block.

Congratulations to the Harpers Letter signatories, many who were PROFESSORS AT ACTUAL UNIVERSITIES, lol.

Sorry, you're endorsing a deal with President Donald Trump and his Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, that's going to promote "merit-based admissions and hiring"?

definitive evidence that the deal is terrible

The whole theoretical purpose for the Haberman-style access journalism approach is so you have deep sources at a time like this.

Instead, the NYT is getting publicly throttled by its main competitor and has ZERO meaningful Epstein scoops to show for it. Wild.

www.wsj.com/politics/jus...

Feds Axed Grants Across Red, Blue States, Report Finds The Center for American Progress says the Trump administration has targeted for termination more than 4,000 grants across over 600 institutions. Adjusting for statewide enrollment, South Dakota is hit...

The assault on higher education is not just about coastal elite schools. "Federal agencies terminated or were attempting to terminate more than 4,000 grants across over 600 institutions. These grants are worth between $6.9 billion and $8.2 billion combined." www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

How Trump has supercharged the immigration crackdown - in data Revealed: Guardian analysis provides a detailed picture of surging arrests and a detention system that’s stretched beyond capacity

Really critical data journalism here from @theguardian.com, showing just how much more draconian U.S. immigration policies have become since Trump entered office and really since Stephen Miller started pushing DHS super-hard to up the numbers. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Well said.

He has a very slim chance of being elected president and almost no chance of being elected senator. Candidates in FEDERAL ELECTIONS these days just can't win races in states where the other party is dominant.

Stephen Colbert’s Cancellation Is Exactly What It Looks Like Mock a Trump bribe on Monday, get canceled by Thursday. The Late Show’s death reveals how billionaires and presidents are reshaping American media.

"The message couldn’t be clearer: Cross Trump, lose your platform. It doesn’t matter if you’re Stephen Colbert with a decade of success at CBS. It doesn’t matter if you’re hosting a beloved franchise that’s been on air for over 30 years," writes @parkermolloy.com. newrepublic.com/article/1981...