Dante Scala

Opinion | You Beat Trumpism by Banding Together. It’s as Hard and as Simple as That.

"It wanted to signal strength. Instead, it’s revealing its weakness. The administration’s need to break the academy is forcing it to make a desperately risky gamble." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...

The percentage of Americans who say Trump has definitely or probably improperly used his office to punish those who say things he does not like, per new Pew Research Center survey:

Overall: 66%
Republican: 42%
Independent: 66%
Democrat: 90%

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

Every single other governor should be saying the same.

This was not a sample of academics.

The 2024 @electionstudies.bsky.social has the share of "pure independents" in the US at its lowest level since 1952 (7%)

The Volunteers Tracking ICE in Los Angeles How a small group of activists dubbed the “Peace Patrol” stymie the deployment of federal agents in California.

New Yorker profile of a small group of Los Angeles activists ("Peace Patrol") who videorecord ICE vehicles entering and exiting around Terminal Island at the city's port where the agency has a complex. /1

Mike Johnson is the elected leader of the House of Representatives but he wouldn't have the job nor can he pass significant bills without Trump's help swaying HFC-types.

It's not a recipe for tight constitutional constraints when the leader of a rival institution is too weak to perform his job.

Emergency Triad: The Chicago Rubicon and What Comes Next We aren’t at the worst-case scenario yet. But if you squint, you can see it looming out there, just over the horizon.

"This is where we’ve been headed since Jan. 6.

The man who fomented an actual insurrection will invent a fantasy insurrection to justify overturning the rule of law & deploying the military against civilians.

The thing about Rubicons is they can’t be uncrossed."

www.thebulwark.com/p/emergency-...

My piece on the right to videotape ICE should be out tomorrow.

one thing worth noting: the total number of National Guard troops deployable to Chicago is 700 (400 from TX, 300 from IL). that is compared to about 2000 in DC and 4,700 in LA at the height of both deployments.

YouTube video by New York Post What is the Insurrection Act? And Will Trump Invoke it? We Asked an Expert

And now for something completely different: 5 minutes of me being interviewed by the New York Post on the Insurrection Act and whether Trump will invoke it.

Um, ICE just coldly shot an unarmed PRIEST in the head w a pepper ball when he (and everyone around him) clearly posed no threat.

For the crime of … complaining about government policy.

Core 1A speech.

With cameras rolling, they’re sniping priests for sport.

There is increasing political polarization in colleges' student bodies. Both liberal & conservative students prefer institutions with more like-minded peers and are willing to pay thousands of dollars more to avoid students from the other side
edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1280

Some thoughtful recent work on measuring support for political violence from @gelliottmorris.com, Nate Cohn, @lilymasonphd.bsky.social and @nathankalmoe.bsky.social

www.gelliottmorris.com/p/most-polls...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u...
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/9blbj...

All the Bright Lines Behind Us There is still time to act before the darkness fully overtakes us.

My latest: Experts’ rating of U.S. as a democracy in newest Bright Line Watch Survey fell from 67 out of 100 before the 2024 election to 55 in Feb and to 54 in Sep. Experts also now project that the U.S. democracy rating will drop further to 47 by 2027.
www.whitetoolong.net/p/all-the-br...

Line chart showing how public opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court has changed in recent decades, both among Americans overall and among Republicans and Democrats. The chart is based on Pew Research Center surveys of U.S. adults.

The US Supreme Court returns today for its new term, two decades after John Roberts became chief justice. As this chart shows, public views of the court are much more negative – and far more politically divided – than 20 years ago. www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

Per the NYT average, Trump's polling has gone from +9 at inauguration to -11 (pretty stably for the last two weeks), a swing of 20 points. It's basically the same drop as Biden suffered over the same time frame, which included what was regarded as his disastrous collapse bc of the Afghan withdrawal.

Excellent overview

Your Cheat Sheet to the 2025 General Elections - Bolts Four contests have come to largely define the 2025 elections: the elections to lead New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City, plus California’s redistricting measure. But there’s so much else... Read M...

NEW: November general elections are around the corner, so it’s time to launch my cheat sheet of what’s on the ballot this fall!

I guide you thru the *185* elections I'm watching, & why: lawmakers, governors, judges, DAs, mayors, school boards, & dozens of ballot measures.

Explore, share, save:

The great @kschake.bsky.social does not mince words about what Trump and Hegseth did yesterday in that packed auditorium.

The full report brightlinewatch.org/violence-red...

Experts now rate the U.S. as a "mixed" or "illiberal" democracy Experts say political violence, Trump's attacks against non-partisan agencies and institutions, and partisan gerrymandering are their top concerns

A new report from Bright Line Watch finds experts now rate the U.S. as a "mixed" or "illiberal" democracy. The rating is dragged down by Trump's attacks on institutions, a weak legislature, political violence, and partisan gerrymandering www.gelliottmorris.com/p/experts-no...

Excerpt: Calling Stephen Miller's rhetoric "dangerous," Bader told The Free Press, “If an organization feels strongly about abortion or perceived income inequality, I may disagree with their motivations, but the way we battle it out is in civil society.” /2

Anyone who threatens the nonprofit status of law-abiding organizations “narrows the important boundary between citizen and state,” Bader said... "The whole conversation needs to tone down,” Bader said. “I think it’s going to come back to haunt us.” /3

Good to see Lawson Bader of Donors Trust, an important figure in conservative philanthropy, standing up for the right of Open Society, Ford and other liberal foundations not to be targeted for investigation and harassment when there is no actual evidence of illegality against them.

With More Scrutiny, the Trump DOJ Indictment of Comey Gets Worse | National Review There is no provable false-statements case against the former FBI director.

“.. so ill-conceived that the longer one analyzes it, the worse it gets.

“.. fails to fulfill an indictment’s constitutional purpose; .. to put the defendant on notice of what the government alleges he has done to violate the law.”

@nationalreview.bsky.social
www.nationalreview.com/2025/09/with...

Trajectory of Power: The Rise of the Strongman Presidency by Terry M. Moe and William G. Howell

Terry M. Moe and William G. Howell

Next week, on October 6th at 6:00 pm EDT, please join the University of New England in welcoming William G. Howell for a conversation with @rudalev.bsky.social regarding his book with Terry M. Moe, Trajectory of Power. Learn more about this in-person event here: www.une.edu/events/2025/....

Trump Approval Tracker:

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Shorter JD Vance: You are not allowed to criticize ICE.

Goes along with shorter Pete Hegseth: You are not allowed to criticize the military's action at Wounded Knee.

And shorter Donald Trump: You are not allowed to criticize me.

It's full-on authoritarianism, all the way down.