Shay O’Reilly

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...

Absolutely demonic technology.

this book overall is a pretty good review of European social democracy's rise and ideology -- and, in its last chapters, the obvious roots of its decline.

The loss of a vibrant, organic connection between democratic revisionism and the postwar order was partially a result of generational change on the left. By the war’s end, many of the socialist movement’s pioneering activists and intellectuals had either died or emigrated from Europe. As leftist parties reori- ented themselves toward gaining political support and power, meanwhile, they naturally selected as leaders technocrats and managers rather than intellectu- als and activists – people comfortable with, and good at, the ordinary politics of ordinary times. These new leaders often presided over unprecedented power and political success, but they lacked the old-timers’ hunger, creative spark, and theoretical sophistication. As a result, by the last decades of the twentieth cen- tury, the democratic left had largely become estranged from social democracy’s original rationale and goals, clinging only to the specific policy measures that their predecessors had advocated decades before. Few recognized that these policies, while crucial achievements in their day, had originally been viewed as only a means to larger ends, and fewer still tended enough of the movement’s original fires to be able to forge innovative responses to contemporary chal- lenges. This left them vulnerable to other political forces offering seemingly better solutions to pressing problems.

Sheri Berman, "The Primacy of Politics"

yeah i went to a magnet academic school and for me the main benefit was "no longer being intensively bullied for my gender expression," which... could have happened in a normal high school.

Liberal elites are often so convinced their own beliefs are unrepresentative of The Masses that they reflexively want to make concessions to illiberal policies that are, actually, not at all popular among The Masses

Many Jewish Voters Back Mamdani. And Many Agree With Him on Gaza.

This piece is generally good but none of the people freaking out about Zohran have actually ever said what, specifically, they think he would do. The guy calling him a Karl Lueger is pretty outrageous and should probably get some clarifying questions.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/n...

📽️ WATCH: “The U.S. sent us to El Salvador so that El Salvador could do the dirty work that the U.S. couldn’t.”

Hear from Juan José Ramos Ramos, Andry Omar Blanco Bonilla and Wilmer José Vega Sandia — three of 230+ Venezuelan men the Trump administration sent to CECOT — in their own words:

Constantly pointing out that the regime is corrupt doesn't do anything. You have to tell people what you plan to do about said corruption. But again, there's no opposition party so we're left with simple narration.

The % of families with kids under 18 who have same-sex parents is about 5x higher in the US than in Germany, and the amount of (good-natured) surprise we have gotten as a family of gay dads *in Berlin* has been quite surprising to me.

We welcomed two new members, prayed over a family about to welcome a new baby, and received a gift of sixty new hymnals! Also the sermon was 🔥, all about how the law is that hoarding treasure to guard against anxiety and death is folly and sin, but the gospel is that God’s grace is sufficient

you may know this but a key feature of NYC DSA is that for their cadre candidates they run the elections "in house." candidates may hire contractors for specific tasks, but having a deal with a campaigns consulting firm essentially precludes endorsement.

Donor List Suggests Scale of Trump’s Pay-for-Access Operation

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/u...

Not quite! More interested in global skills transfers, e.g. hearing from Global South partners that they don’t only want solar installer jobs but also engineering and physics professions for tech innovation and development — or, similarly, a lack of *bureaucratic* capacity for just transitions.

Who are the best thinkers these days on *white collar* global upskilling for the energy transition? #EnergySky

a lot of my annoyance here comes from the fact that this is a *waste of time for everyone involved*. this specific mess is at the stupid nexus of the US insurance system with employment, as it all started when my previous employer did not cancel my COBRA because they fucked up their mass layoffs.

Oh and specifically we needed a plan that used a copay system for visits instead of having to pay full price until deductible is met. At the time my employer did not offer a cheaper one that juggled the copays / coinsurance / deductible in a better way for us.

this is the cost of a family plan, which we had to get through my work because my husband works part-time. The terms were bad because it was via JustWorks, which despite serving as a very large benefits provider has terrible terms compared to my previous employer.

I am currently paying €413 per month. My employer also pays €413 per month.

yeah I love to spend time on the phone with a hospital and two different insurance companies that all disagree about whether I have healthcare coverage. I was at the time paying $1200 per month.

having to spend hours dealing with an 18 month old medical services bill from the US after getting all set up with medical care here in Germany is a remarkable reminder of how inhumane and impractical the US medical system remains.

Zohran didn't win by relying on standard turnout patterns. We had to fundamentally transform the Democratic electorate.

I was part of a group of NYC-DSA members that applied lessons from our previous campaigns to design the “universe” of voters to talk to. Here's how we won 🧵

if you think Hamas wants a pyrrhic moral victory destroying Israel’s global reputation forever by tempting it into genocide (a reasonable assertion!) you should probably pressure Israel not to commit genocide.

“Hamas wants Palestinians to starve”

ok so then the government ostensibly opposed to Hamas, the one that actually controls the flow of aid into Gaza, should do the opposite right?

The left party posted signs at the recycling areas of our apartment complex about how a new health center was opening in the neighborhood after a successful campaign to preserve health services. Included details on doctor staffing levels at the nearby clinic, too. 🥹

New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

Now That They’re Free, Venezuelan Men Want the World to Know What They Endured in CECOT Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration say they endured months of physical and mental abuse inside a Salvadoran prison. Though happy to be home, they say the fact that they were released ...

My colleagues @perla-trevizo.bsky.social @melissa-sanchez.bsky.social @micarosenberg.bsky.social
at @propublica.org (a “liberal rag hellbent on defending violent criminal illegal aliens”) with another haunting installment of their series on men deported to CECOT: www.propublica.org/article/vene...

Europe Wants More U.S. Gas Than Exists | OilPrice.com Despite record LNG exports and several projects under construction, the U.S. lacks the short-term infrastructure to meet the massive increase in demand.

Oilprice is running the headline "Europe Wants More US Gas Than Exists", which is pure industry propaganda. Europe neither wants nor can use that much US LNG, but nevertheless the "deal" is being painted as a win both for the fossil fuel industry and for the Trump administration.

The thing that Pete Buttigieg absolutely knows, because he has been trained by fifteen different media consultants in a secluded mountain monastery, is that whatever else you say, saying the thing about sports and “serious fairness issues” *will* eat up all the headlines.

Us! It was more expensive than some of the RS units we could see & when we walked by the building it already had water damage on the facade before it even opened. We didn’t go for it.

We actually won twice - the time before that, we had just moved out of the neighborhood zone so lost eligibility 😭