Matty Wilder

Everything wrong with political journalism in one graf. This is not a policy proposal that exists but that doesn’t matter, what matters is that someone “won” by asking it bsky.app/profile/larr...

Democrats Have to Get Out of a Normal Democracy Mindset By folding in the government shutdown in exchange for virtually nothing, eight Democratic senators aid Trump's authoritarian takeover rather than oppose it

I wrote about the "Appeasement Eight" Senate Democrats getting the party to fold to Trump in the government shutdown, and why it shows that pro-democracy Americans badly need a real opposition party, full of leaders who recognize the United States isn't a normal rule of law democracy anymore.

DAVIS, KIM V. ERMOLD, DAVID, ET AL. The motion of Foundation for Moral Law for leave to file a brief as amicus curiae out of time is denied. The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.

New: The Supreme Court DENIES Kim Davis' request to overturn Obergefell, the marriage equality decision. No noted dissents. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

Unfortunately still true bsky.app/profile/adam...

look I know being an engaged citizen IS the work of democracy but it is also the work of elected officials not to create situations where everyone has to be mobilized all the time to prevent them from allowing some kind of Dickensian horror on a Sunday night while you're in between loads of laundry

The depth of the shame of a country this wealthy and abundant allowing its people to go hungry is impossible to measure. The fact that a handful of people could fix this by paying their fair share of taxes while still remaining obscenely wealthy makes it even worse.

7 Things the No Kings Protests Accomplished The political emergency isn't over, of course, but who thought it would be. Here are seven things this weekend's protests accomplished.

What, if anything, did the No Kings protests accomplish?

I've seen that pop up in everything from genuine inquiry to sneering dismissal. For anyone asking or facing that question, here's an answer.

Everything isn't all fixed, of course. But the protests accomplished at least these seven things:

Opinion | Trump Posted a Video of Himself Dumping Excrement on Our Cities. It’s a Glimpse of His Deepest Drives.

"The dominant aesthetic of the administration comes not from antiquity but from A.I. slop, the tackier and more juvenile the better."

Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest. There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day. What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid. It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.

www.wweek.com/culture/2025...

if you’ve ever watched the apprentice, that’s the world without arts or humanities degrees

the thing about the “official antifa” citation is that it is just definitive evidence that she’s a stone cold dumbass

Let it never again be said that a woman with no real reporting experience who fell for a Twitter account called "Official Antifa" cannot be the head of a huge news organization

I think it’s very interesting how emphatically these conversations are about inevitability—it’s time, it’s happening, like it or not, and in particular, a sense of: “You have to.”

When it comes to treating an AI product as a person, I assure you that I do not have to. And you do not have to.

I love that there are millions of Americans over the age of forty who can be manipulated like 3rd graders in 1996 by deploying “that’s gay” in euphemism and that’s enough to make them think something is bad bsky.app/profile/atru...

separate from everything, the idea that 2020 was a squeaker but 2024 represents a historical mandate will simply be the death of me

The people calling for a cool down of public and political rhetoric just spent a week honoring their hate speech hero by threatening those with whom they disagree.

How Can We Live Together? - Boston Review Ezra Klein is wrong: shame is essential.

"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply."

me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually

www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

It's very easy after a shooting for authorities to say "we're looking into it and will keep you informed" and wildly irresponsible to make confident declarations and level accusations when they don't know.

A conscious choice to stoke division, and try to use violent incidents for their own ends.

Same, Annie 🍂

Trump’s Ouster of Jimmy Kimmel Is Much Worse than You Think It Is Anna Gomez, the FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, tells TNR that her boss’ move violates both the First Amendment and the Communications Act. Democrats must extract consequences.

NEWS --> Anna Gomez, the lone Dem on the FCC, tells me the Trump admin's pressure to oust Jimmy Kimmel may be unlawful as well as unconstitutional. FCC chair Brendan Carr may be committing censorship in violation of federal law.

That and much more in my new piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2006...

The Emmys Speech That Captured the Hollywood Slog One of the night’s most unexpected winners made a case for sticking with it.

“While thanking his colleagues onstage, Hiller noted that with Somebody Somewhere, the writers had put together ‘a show about connecting and love in this time when compassion is seen as a weakness.’ He lingered on the last word, letting it hover for a beat in the room.”

Couldn’t love this win more

8 takeaways from a so-so Emmys night The Studio, The Pitt and Adolescence took home top prizes on Sunday. And while the wins were deserving, the telecast was meh. Here are a few takeaways from a night that was a real mixed bag.

“But along with its creator and star, Bridget Everett, Somebody Somewhere's beating heart was Hiller, whose work as Joel was indelible, unforgettable and utterly unique. It is exactly the kind of performance that should win and very rarely does, and the win is cause for celebration.”

the person behind this unhinged, anti-factual editorial is set to decide coverage at one of the nation’s major news networks

You can write this only if, by virtue of your income, identity, or both, you are utterly removed from the consequences of politics. To pretend that the racist, misogynistic, anti-gay vileness that Kirk spent his life spreading is secondary to the fact that he spread it "the right way" is appalling.

Explicit calls for violence, even war on many Americans, is very bad. Even worse since they have no idea who killed Kirk or why.

But if you’re not familiar with these prominent right-wing figures, they regularly advocate violence and repression against the broadly defined Left, often based on lies.

No people on the planet will ever be AI. This is Orwellian bullshit. Zero people will ever be AI. This is no different from saying half the people in the country are television characters. Do not let anybody convince you that you don’t know the difference between a human being and a machine.

Thrilled to see growing consensus that Dems must step up in the Continuing Resolution fight. Key to doing so? Refuse to frame this as "shutting down government." Instead, call it what it is - refusing to be an accomplice to turning the government into a weapon against the American people.

Democrats don't seem to get that Trump's been destroying our government, shutting it down every day, killing programs, clawing money back that Congress appropriated.

Why on earth would they "fund" a continuation of that? Their simple argument should be Trump has already shut down the government.

i cannot overstate how extraordinary it is for federal civil servants to do this

I have been saying the same thing for months