R. Daniel Kelemen

Utterly unacceptable in a democracy. In a sane world, House Republicans would be drafting impeachment articles today and Senate Republicans would be preparing for a trial to convict and remove him from office

You are of course correct

A national shanda that should shame & embarrass every American, especially those Republicans in Congress who claim to be deeply concerned about American power, hegemony, & national security issues #SlavaUkraini 🇺🇦

💥Viktor Orbán had what no one else before: a lasting supermajority in parliament and—thanks to EU funds—more money to develop Hungary than at any time in a century.

The result after 16 years: a failing economy and disastrous public services.

🎬 Direkt36's new documentary, The Trap, is out soon!

it has been clear for months

excellent summary of where we are now - BUT analysis by Political Capital shows that Orban could win back his 2/3rds constitutional majority with 45% of the vote while Magyar would have to win 55% of the vote to get a simple majority. See my analysis here www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/how...

That's the literal opposite of what happened. Orwell is yelling from his grave, "Even Big Brother had more subtlety."

Emmanuel Macron’s softly-softly approach to Donald Trump is over, it appears. As you'll see below, the Elysée Palace has published a gif of Trump  labelled with one of the US president’s own favourite slurs: “Fake news”.
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For Europe’s far right, Trump has become a liability The U.S. president’s threats over Greenland have spurred national leaders to distance themselves from a figure they once praised.

Who would’ve thought that threatening to annex a European country’s sovereign territory wouldn’t go down well with nationalist European parties.

Good luck with the ”civilisational agenda”

Parliament says Commission’s ‘Democracy Shield’ against disinformation too weak Russian interference and Big Tech pose ‘dangerous cocktail’, rapporteur warns

Parliament says Commission’s ‘Democracy Shield’ against disinformation too weak

I cannot tell you how absolutely infuriatingly this stuff comes across to Europeans.

When we say America is no longer a reliable ally, it goes considerably deeper than Donald Trump himself. This kind of complacent, condescending shit is a *huge* part of it.

The transatlantic alliance is being questioned. We do not want to speculate or escalate. We want to communicate with our U.S. partners, but we must be clear: any threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our member states is simply unacceptable.

This is so embarrassing. Impeach him, for the love of God

More than 200,000 Danish citizens have signed a petition to buy California as a response to Trump’s attempt to take Greenland.

They say they will provide Californians with “rule of law, universal health care, fact-based politics, and a lifetime supply of Danish pastries.”

ICE has escalated from
Arresting undocumented migrants with criminal records to
Arresting undocumented migrants without criminal records to
Arresting legal migrants to
Arresting US citizens who 'look' like migrants to
Arresting US citizens protesting ICE to
Arresting random bystanders.
Who's next?

It follows that Trump leaked the most market-moving economic numbers that exist.

I have no idea how illegal this is, or if the law even matters any more.

But I do know this: It's unprecedented. No White House has ever before leaked such important market-moving numbers. No serious country does this

Paper reflects years of work/engagement with toolbox, relies on multiple docs secured via access requests, and of course excellent work of colleagues such @rdanielkelemen.bsky.social @kimlanelaw.bsky.social @tommasopavone.bsky.social @petrabard.bsky.social @profkochenov.bsky.social to name but a few

Paper now available here democracyinstitute.ceu.edu/articles/lau...
For those of you familiar with the EU's rule of law toolbox, you can go straight to the section offering concrete/multiple examples of timid use, misuse and non-use of the main EU prevention/monitoring & response/enforcement tools

Von der Leyen says the return of the Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia must be a "crucial element" in any plan.

"Of all the horrors unleashed by Russia's war, none cuts deeper than this. Tens of thousands of boys and girls remain trapped in Russia. Frightened and longing for their loved ones."

Yes- @profpech.bsky.social & @onethuthree.bsky.social - earlier Weber tried to work with the far right inside EPP, now he tries to work with the right as partners to EPP. He is consistent in always being willing to work with the far right

Old enough to remember Weber sacrificing EPP values *for years* before being forced to confront Orban’s EPP membership and only earlier this week, he was lecturing us on importance of rule of law and EU values more generally…

www.euronews.com/2019/03/08/e...

@rdanielkelemen.bsky.social

Italian Pasta Is Poised to Disappear From American Grocery Shelves The Trump administration is set to impose duties of 107% on Italian pasta imports, among most punitive of the tariffs it has levied.

Not only is Trump making war on the past, but now he is making war on the pasta.
www.wsj.com/world/europe...

That is quite rich coming from Weber who wrote so many years blocked any action against Orban. Better late than never I suppose

Ironic, then, that Weber for years was a crucial and enthusiastic supporter of the biggest Brussels basher in any national capital- Viktor Orban

Some of us predicted this outcome from the very launch of this EU rule of law reporting tool. See eg @rdanielkelemen.bsky.social writing in 2020 eulawlive.com/op-ed-you-ca...

Ukraine is showing "remarkable commitment" to joining the EU, but must reverse recent negative trends in the fight against corruption and accelerate rule of law reforms, the European Commission said in a draft text seen by Reuters on Monday.

Democrats are more enthusiastic about the midterms as Trump’s approval hits second-term low, CNN poll finds | CNN Politics One year out from the midterm elections, the Democratic Party holds a sizable enthusiasm advantage as views of President Donald Trump dip further into negative territory, according to a new CNN poll c...

CNN/SSRS poll

Generic ballot
🔵Democratic 47%
🔴 Republican 42%

Trump approval
Disapprove 63%
Approve 37%

10/27-10/30

www.cnn.com/2025/11/03/p...