@davidkusnet.bsky.social
Was chief speechwriter for President Bill Clinton. Author: Love the Work, Hate the Job; Speaking American. Co-author: America Needs a Raise; To Build New York:100 Years of Infrastructure. Posts are my own.
Says enterprise that laid off 1/3 of its staff.
16.02.2026 21:49 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
On Presidents' Day: From Lincoln onward, presidents' best speeches have been concise -- one or two-syllable words, short sentences. But there's a difference between being plainspoken (Speaking American) and crude (talking trash). #PresidentsDay
16.02.2026 12:48 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The history of the Garland Fund shows the potential role philanthropy can play in moments of rising authoritarianism—and the tensions inherent in that role.
dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
It's time to curtail the president's pardon power, @davidoatkins.bsky.social argues.
washingtonmonthly.com/2026/02/05/i...
After making history as the first Southern autoworkers outside the Big Three to join the UAW, the 3,200 workers at VW Chattanooga have won a tentative agreement that provides 20 percent across-the-board wage increases, affordable health care, real job security, and more.
🔗 uaw.org/uaw-reaches-...
"Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." -- A. J. Liebling
www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...
Nathaniel Pearlman's Great Battlefield Podcast features in-depth interviews with progressive political activists. I had a great time discussing speechwriting, economic populism, and the labor movement.
greatbattlefield.com/episode/auth...
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/u...
Spending power varies across income groups, but every consumer has a degree of agency over when and where to spend. This week, I dug into the evidence behind economic boycotts in this week's Substack: hboushey.substack.com/p/boycott-ec...
30.01.2026 22:44 — 👍 15 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 1
The FBI raid on the Fulton County, Georgia elections office is about more than Trump’s 2020 election obsession. It’s a dangerous portent of how he may interfere with the 2026 election. It’s another example of his regime change ambitions I wrote about this weekend.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/o...
I’ve found myself coming back to this again and again over the past few days. The moment around 0:35—when the crowd falls into rhythm with the band, chanting “The people united will never be defeated”—is genuinely beautiful. They are at the site where Alex Pretti was murdered.
Solidarity, friends.
I’m a critic of Trump’s tariff policies, but let’s be clear: not all tariffs are bad. At $1/lb, the aluminum in your 6-pack costs $0.18—not a factor in consumer decisions. The tradeoff: shuttered US aluminum smelters can achieve financial viability in the face of subsidized foreign producers…. 1/3
29.01.2026 13:40 — 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0Can you imagine what would happen if Chinese authorities tried to enter the US embassy in Beijing or one of the several consulates?
Remember when the US consulate in Chengdu gave sanctuary to a Chinese fugitive (a corrupt police chief) in 2012?
The Black Jobs Deficit Cost Black America $87 Billion in 2025. In 2025, Black America needed about 1.8 million more people working to have the same employment rates (employment-to-population ratios) as White America. Details here: cepr.net/publications...
28.01.2026 13:56 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Unmarried women are the majority of women in our country — and one of the most reliable Democratic voting blocs. So why do campaigns keep overlooking them? In my latest Substack, I dig into the data: open.substack.com/pub/pagegard...
27.01.2026 19:48 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
⏰ TOMORROW NIGHT!
Join long-time member of the labor movement, EPI Senior State Policy Strategist, and author @dskamper.bsky.social for a virtual conversation about his latest book Who's Got The Power? The Resurgence of the American Union. ✊
Wednesday, January 28
5:30-6:30p
FREE
Register now!
As did Winston Churchill, Harold Macmillan & JFK, Canadian PM Mark Carney delivered a speech that defined an era. In the AI Age, speeches still matter.
27.01.2026 15:06 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
"Believe our lies, not your eyes."
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/us...
ICE officers fired multiple shots and killed an American who was on the ground.
It has become a rogue, militarized police in our communities.
Democrats can't vote for Laken Riley or tripled ICE budgets and pretend to be an opposition party.
Tear it down & build a new agency.
"Believe our lies, not your eyes."
24.01.2026 23:30 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
On January 20, remembering an inaugural address that was intended to be brief, unifying & inspirational. Bill Clinton: "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America."
www.nytimes.com/1993/01/19/u...
The Iranian regime's mass shooting of unarmed protestors is horrifying & a gross violation of human rights. They are striking teenagers & ordinary families. They also have shut down communication platforms. The world needs to speak out against this barbarity and call for it to stop.
13.01.2026 18:04 — 👍 533 🔁 155 💬 81 📌 12Manufacturing is effectively in a recession, losing jobs every month since April, for a total loss of 72,000 jobs.
Since April, essentially all private sector job gains have been in health care: health care added 306,000 jobs over that period, while the private sector overall added just 300,000.
Not many similarities between William Howard Taft & Marco Rubio. But Taft was the only President who had administered a conquered country.
05.01.2026 20:45 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Trump's critique of the Iraq war was we should have "take(n) the oil."
www.brookings.edu/articles/tru...
Good jobs at home, no dumb wars, and accountability.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
For all the angst about Mamdani, Gene Debs was in the American tradition when he asked how to preserve dignity & democracy amidst concentrated wealth, corporate power & corrupt politics. Explained this in Weekly Standard.
Fhttps://www.washingtonexaminer.com/magazine/221281/getting-a-leftist-right/
As Colin Powell & Pottery Barn warned us, "You break it, you buy it."
03.01.2026 15:10 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Philly!
03.01.2026 02:18 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0“... replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” __ Zohran Mandami
"Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference." -- FDR
