Matt Bai

Democrats Are Divorcing Bill Clinton Democrats are finally divorcing Bill Clinton, with party lawmakers voting to force his testimony as part of the GOP's farcical Epstein investigation.

“Years of tortured rationalization had created, in the end, a party of hypocrites.”


@mattbaidc.bsky.social writes about Democrats’ decades-long relationship with Bill Clinton, and why they’re finally filing for divorce
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Democrats Are Divorcing Bill Clinton Democrats are finally divorcing Bill Clinton, with party lawmakers voting to force his testimony as part of the GOP's farcical Epstein investigation.

My latest Rolling Stone column, on Bill Clinton and the left.
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

How a forgotten Norman Mailer story explains why the president needs to own the Arctic wilderness, and so much more.

Commentary by @mattbaidc.bsky.social: bit.ly/4qYrpmn

From Bruce Springsteen on Minneapolis to CSNY on Kent State — a History of Instant Protest Songs We look back at rapid-response songs -- from Woody Guthrie and Nina Simone to Bruce Springsteen's quick turnaround on 'Streets of Minneapolis'

Timely new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

@mattbaidc.bsky.social explores how Trump’s Arctic strategy mirrors Norman Mailer’s ‘Why Are We in Vietnam?’

"Greenland is Trump’s feral grizzly, and it must be subdued" to reestablish a "natural order" of white male dominance.

Commentary: bit.ly/4qYrpmn

How a forgotten Norman Mailer story explains why the president needs to own the Arctic wilderness, and so much more.

Commentary by @mattbaidc.bsky.social: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Trump's Greenland Strategy: Manifest Masculinity Donald Trump's push for Greenland can be understood in part by looking to the forgotten Norman Mailer novel "Why Are We in Vietnam?"

READ @mattbaidc.bsky.social on Why We Are in Greenland
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Many thanks! (Still like that one.)

Trump's 'Year Zero' Is Over. Now Comes the Reckoning TK

READ @mattbaidc.bsky.social debut in RS: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Trump's 'Year Zero' Is Over. Now Comes the Reckoning TK

My first @rollingstone.com column is now live! Thanks for reading and reposting, and please consider subscribing if you don’t already. (Piece also available on Apple News.)

www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Thank you, Tom! Much appreciated.

Wow, that Google AI is pretty good.

20-odd years ago, I was fired from my dream job at Rolling Stone before I could publish anything. So let's try this again! Thanks to all who read me in the Post these past 6 years - hope you'll follow the next chapter.

Opinion | Be afraid, Republicans. Be very afraid. Democrats don’t agree on their message or who should deliver it. They won everywhere anyway.

"Trump and his acolytes in Congress can live under a delusion of their massive popularity and stride around like Caesar and his guards, but voters who get to decide these things are largely repulsed," @mattbaidc.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/3JkGRZz

Opinion | Trump’s immigration tactics repel voters. Can Democrats attract them? If their plan is just to rely on Trump’s overreach, then they’ll be repeating Biden’s mistakes.

"It’s a rare glimpse of bluer skies for Democrats since last year’s presidential election," @mattbaidc.bsky.social writes.

"But if their plan on immigration is to rely on Trump’s overreach, then they’ll be making the same mistake they made at the start of the Biden administration."

Opinion | The shutdown is only proving Trump’s point The president argues that the federal bureaucracy is useless. Shutdowns tend to reinforce that view.

"As much as you insist that the shutdown is about delivering health insurance to ordinary Americans, that gets lost in the noise," @mattbaidc.bsky.social writes.
https://wapo.st/4o67zUo

Opinion | The real enemy of democracy sneaked up on me I used to be a cautious optimist, but social media has changed our politics for the worse.

"Rarely has the corrosion of social media been so plainly exposed as it has been since last week, after the horrific killing of Charlie Kirk."

The latest from @mattbaidc.bsky.social:

Opinion | Is Trump an autocrat, or does he just play one on TV? Here’s why I am so bothered by the giant banners of Trump’s face on government buildings.

"I can’t stop thinking about the giant banners of Trump that keep appearing on the front of our national buildings," @mattbaidc.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/3Vrj5NX

Opinion | What the Smithsonian taught me about Trumpism Trying to sanitize the American story is the antithesis of what makes the country exceptional.

"That we have often failed to apply freedoms equally — and can acknowledge that fact — isn’t an indictment of America, as Trump believes it to be; it is the story of Americans striving toward enlightenment," @mattbaidc.bsky.social writes.
https://wapo.st/4oTa65v

Opinion | Our institutions aren’t failing. We are. It is the American people who must hold the president accountable, and we’re failing spectacularly.

"As long as Trump is seen by a healthy plurality as the flawed but tolerable instrument of their anti-elite, anti-government rage, then we shouldn’t expect other institutions to keep him in check," @mattbaidc.bsky.social writes.

"That’s not their brief. It’s ours."

Opinion | Does Kamala Harris really scare anybody? After skipping the California governor’s race, she should make the same call on the presidency.

Kamala Harris made the right decision to skip the governor’s race, because she clearly wasn’t dying to do the job, @mattbaidc.bsky.social writes.

"She should make the same call on the presidency — even if that’s the job she wants."

Opinion | Trump wants you to have your choice of Cokes — and not much else Mexican Coke, now made in America. But the rest of his agenda is taking us in the opposite direction.

"In keeping with his generally nostalgic worldview, Trump seems to harbor the ideal of a country that produces most of its own goods, and mostly for its own citizens."

The latest from @mattbaidc.bsky.social: wapo.st/4o18Lcx

Opinion | Democrats have only one escape route Unifying behind platitudes isn’t the way out of irrelevance. Making voters choose is.

The last time Democrats went through an existential crisis over how to rebrand themselves, the main agitators were outsiders with little or no governing experience, @mattbaidc.bsky.social writes.

"Now, a similar upheaval is underway." wapo.st/3TJEUY1

Opinion | CVS was so worried about shoplifting that it stole its own soul My local pharmacy’s products are now encased in glass, and the whole thing makes me very nervous.

"CVS and other pharmacies have been struggling to contain a rise in thefts by gangs of fast-moving thieves," @mattbaidc.bsky.social writes.

"Unfortunately for CVS, the solution might be worse for business than the organized shoplifting."

Opinion | This tax testifies to the utter corruption of conservative thought Congress is coming for your EV — and what’s left of conservatism.

"My issue here really has nothing to do with whether EV owners should pay more to use the roads," @mattbaidc.bsky.social writes. "It’s entirely about how they’re being asked to pay." wapo.st/3G4F4pz

Opinion | This tax testifies to the utter corruption of conservative thought Congress is coming for your EV — and what’s left of conservatism.

“If you’re looking for a party to check the expansion of federal taxing power into new and previously unimagined terrain, you’ve come to the wrong city.”
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | Trump is doing Democrats a favor by elevating Newsom The Democrats will be stronger if their opposition to Trump comes from outside Washington.

“By sending troops into California and challenging the sovereignty of states, Trump seems poised to do for Democrats what they can’t do for themselves, which is to provide a national hearing for a pretty deep bench of governors.”
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Thanks. And actually I never post on X, other than to share the column, same as I do here. Not sure why you have that impression.

Opinion | Washington didn’t wreck DOGE. Elon Musk did. He failed not because his ambitions were too grand, but because they were so pathetically small.

“You’re supposed to be this great, visionary, hyperloopy guy, and this is all you’ve got? A re-org plan? The Cat in the Hat arrived with more sophisticated tricks.”
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | In Springsteen’s protest, a fitting Memorial Day plea His lyrics echo a nation’s slow descent from hope to distrust — and hint at redemption.

"No longer is Springsteen lamenting that long walk home to the America we used to know," @mattbaidc.bsky.social writes.

"Now, he’s begging us to turn around and take it."