Julia Azari

In the past, sometimes presidents have said it’s just a military operation or limited airstrikes to skirt Congress. Trump has unilaterally launched major combat operations, declaring war with the goal of regime change. A major violation of the U.S. Constitution, also illegal under international law

-Zero Congressional consultation or approval.
-Zero preparation of public for need/consequences of war.
-Zero evidence of thought about "OK, what might the other side do?" Next month. Next year.
-Zero mention of anti-nuke agreement Trump voided, or Trump claim last year that nukes "obliterated."

Read an expert, not hot takes 👇

i am actively trying to indoctrinate everyone into "have your parents' banking info handy in case you end up having to use power of attorney unexpectedly"

we actually have a lounge! it's named for a colleague who died suddenly in the 1990s. faculty do radical things like warm up their lunches and have conversations about classes, research and lately a lot of aging parent stuff. students are welcome to join and some of them do.

SO MUCH THIS. WE ARE JUST PEOPLE TRYING TO DO A JOB PLEASE STOP SCAPEGOATING US

greg.

The State of the Union as 1970s Variety Show For Trump, it's all about the special guest stars

New at Tusk: modern presidents use State of the Union guests to sell the speech. For Trump, the guests *are* the speech

These are “low enrollment” majors but the classes are regularly at capacity. They changed the funding structure a few years ago here, switching the allocation from course enrollments to majors then blamed these departments for a structural, top-down change. This is entirely a political choice.

I briefly had the sarcastic thought “I hope the ‘just asking questions’ losers who greased the wheels for this are happy” but in sincerity I hope they never feel happiness!

It's ironic that these people hate academia so much because this is a total academic move

Ha. Got a Czech Pilsner going

that part of you that has to smell the rotten milk in the back of the fridge wants to JOIN US. I'll be in glasses, no makeup, and a sweatshirt: there are no rules anymore

i let @smotus.bsky.social convince me to pivot to video

Trump Angered by Fresh Slide in Polls as Even Fox Admits He’s Tanking As Trump rambles bizarrely about “fake” surveys amid some really bad polling news, a political scientist explains how his flouting of the Constitution is directly linked to his cratering public suppor...

Trump cratering in new polls:

CNN
Approval: 36-63
Among working class: 41-58
Independents: 26-73 (!!)

WAPO
Approval: 39-60
On immigration: 40-58
Tariffs: 34-64

On the pod, @juliaazari.bsky.social and I dig into how his abuses of power are backfiring badly for him:
newrepublic.com/article/2069...

Sometimes I wonder what my motivation is at this stage in my career. And it's this. Making sure small-minded men die mad about my inclusion. And propping the door open for as many smart and kind people as I can.

The conflict between the higher profile GOP women like Mace, Boebert, MTG, Stefanik, Luna and GOP house leadership has been under discussed

welp, signed up for this and then promptly forgot to join the call! thinking about using the report next week in class

thank you!

I don’t think my students want this, but its existence will help more of them and more of our administrators argue that education is transactional and hollow

if my work email is down i can just go home and knit in front of the TV, right?

Teaching and learning are based on trust. I trust that my students want to learn and are doing their best. They trust that I want them to succeed and will do what I can to help them. Everything about AI undermines that trust.

Due to inclement weather, tonight's Backlash Presidents book talk with @juliaazari.bsky.social has been postponed. An amended date will be available on our website in the coming weeks.

you can keep saying "inevitability" to me but i will not accept it

The Constitution made the American presidency. Trump has rejected that tradition The thing about a Constitutional order is that you're either in or out

I tried to break down the specifics of Trump's unconstitutional presidency.
open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...

Letting traitors back into the Congress was an epoch-defining error. We're all still living in the world it created

A photo of an ice cream machine with a sign reading, "Anything is possible with ice cream." Beneath that is a hand lettered sign reading, "No ice cream".

2026 basically

Not so far but I would love to!

This is going to be rescheduled because of the impending east coast snow storm! Stay tuned for a new date!

Even I did not think leaders mattered THIS MUCH