Zelensky Stan 👊 🇺🇸 🔥 🤦‍♂️

I’ve crapped on you when you were weak, so I’m here to praise you for this message. Stay with it, back it up, and don’t cave. Any agreement needs to include ironclad guarantees that the money you allocate is not used to continue the lawless authoritarian ICE/military stuff and no impoundment.

Until we can replace him, at least someone made him finally be something akin to what he should have been all along.

Emergency Triad: The Chicago Rubicon and What Comes Next We aren’t at the worst-case scenario yet. But if you squint, you can see it looming out there, just over the horizon.

If you’re not subscribed to @thebulwark.com, I can’t recommend you do so strongly enough. If you aren’t reading @jvl.bsky.social, I can’t recommend you do so strongly enough. We’re approaching the event horizon. Please read this.

www.thebulwark.com/p/emergency-...

• "I think we should start thinking about battleship. It is something we're considering, the concept of battleship. Six inch sides - solid steel. Not aluminum that melts if it looks at a missile coming at it. Starts melting. Bullets are a lot less expensive than missiles." • "I am a very aesthetic person. I don't like some of the ships you are doing aesthetically. They say it is stealth. That's not stealth. An ugly ship is not necessary in order to say you are stealth."

For those of you who made it this far, here’s some dessert now that you’ve eaten your spinach. This is a quote from the President of the United States in his speech to flag officers from around the world today.

So...does this language ever lead to a more stable and democratic society? • Pattern: In authoritarian settings, "enemy within" rhetoric is tightly correlated with repression, rights abuses, and democratic regression. None of the authoritarian cases above became more liberal as a result of the rhetoric; when stability arrived, it was illiberal (e.g., Rwanda post-1994) or came only after the regime fell (e.g., post-Nazi Germany). Wikipedia +2 • Qualified exceptions in democracies: The UK (1980s) and US (1950s) eventually re-normalized, but the recovery flowed from countervailing institutions and civic pushback— not from the rhetoric itself. In both, the phrase marked a low point, not a path to democratic renewal. margaretthatcher.org +2 Bottom line: when leaders brand fellow citizens as an "enemy within," history overwhelmingly associates it with escalation and illiberal moves, not democratic deepening. The rare democracies that survived that language did so by resisting it.

Democratic polities using the trope (and weathering it) • United Kingdom — Thatcher's "enemy within" (1984 miners' strike). She contrasted the "enemy without" (Falklands) with the domestic "enemy within" (militants/strikers). Outcome: bitter social conflict, but democratic institutions persisted and later stabilized without that framing. margaretthatcher.org +2 • United States — McCarthy era ("internal Communist menace"). The hunt for subversives cast citizens as an inner enemy. Outcome: rights violations and chilled speech, but institutions (courts, Senate censure) eventually pushed back; democracy endured in spite of the rhetoric, not because of it

• Rwanda (1990s) - "cockroaches," "enemies of Rwanda." Hutu-Power media portrayed Tutsi as the internal enemy in the run-up to the 1994 genocide. Outcome: catastrophic mass violence; later stability came only under a dominant, illiberal post-war regime. Human Rights Watch +2 • PRC (CCP rhetoric) — "hostile forces" within and without. Used across eras (esp. Mao and Xi) to frame dissent/separatism as an internal enemy, justifying crackdowns. Outcome: continued one-party rule; no liberalization linked to this rhetoric. China Media Project +2 • Erdogan's Turkey - "parallel state"/internal enemies (Gülenists). Framed opponents as embedded enemies to justify purges after 2013- 2016. Outcome: sharp democratic backsliding. HKS Student Policy Review +2

= ChatGPT 5 › ... You're right that this "enemy within" framing has a long (and ugly) pedigree. Here are representative, well-sourced examples across eras, what the phrase (or its close equivalents) targeted, and what happened afterward. Authoritarian and totalitarian uses • Stalin's USSR — "enemies of the people." A catch-all label used to justify purges, imprisonment, and executions; Khrushchev later denounced the term as enabling lawless repression. Outcome: decades of terror; eventual regime collapse without democratization under Stalin—post-1991 Russia did not consolidate liberal democracy. Wikipedia +1 • Nazi Germany — "internal enemy" (Jews/ Bolsheviks). Nazi propaganda cast Jews and leftists as a subversive inner foe to legitimize persecution and genocide. Outcome: mass atrocity and total war; democracy only returned after the regime's defeat. JSTOR +1 • Putin's Russia - "fifth column," "national traitors'" Putin explicitly branded domestic critics "traitors" and a "fifth column" in 2022, tightening repression amid the Ukraine war. Outcome: accelerated authoritarian consolidation. Reuters +2

Give me every example we know of where a leader uses some version of the term "the enemy within." Were there any of those societies that became more stable and democratic after such rhetoric was uttered?

See thread for answers to this question

Think of the very best person you know. The person you admire most and who in your view is moving the world in the best direction.

Now contemplate the fact no one will remember that person 200 years from now but most will know the name Donald Trump.

I’m strangely at peace with it.

Jimmy hit every right note and I see it as something that could potentially be in history books one day. This is an immediate take with little thought.

Donald J. Trump @realDonald Trump Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, "same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam "Shifty" Schiff, Leticia??? They're all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done." Then we almost put in a Democrat supported U.S. Attorney, in Virginia, with a really bad Republican past. A Woke RINO, who was never going to do his job. That's why two of the worst Dem Senators PUSHED him so hard. He even lied to the media and said he quit, and that we had no case. No, I fired him, and there is a GREAT CASE, and many layers, and legal pundits, say so. Lindsey is a really good lawyer, and likes you, a lot. We can't delay any longer, it's killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!! President DJT

Nixon never came close to this.

None of this is normal in a democracy. All of this is normal in a dictatorship.

When does the regime come after the Internet? Independent media will soon be all that’s left. They depend on a free Internet. If the regime can find a way to regulate Internet speech we’re toast. And I don’t know why that just now occurred to me. Convince me I’m being too alarmist.

The Bulwark | Substack The Bulwark is home to Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller, Bill Kristol, JVL, Sam Stein, and more. We are the largest pro-democracy bundle on Substack for news and analysis on politics and culture—supported b...

In the wake of ABC’s disgusting pulling of Kimmel, something you can do right now is buy paid subscriptions to as many independent media outlets as you can. Traditional media is gone. Some suggestions:

thebulwark.com
lincolnsquare.media
terrymoran.substack.com
mediasplus.com
contrarian.substack.com

ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel Off Air for Charlie Kirk Comments

Maybe this will wake some previously-asleep people up to what’s really going on here? Things are speeding up y’all. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/b...

Are some head-in-the-sand normies going to finally understand what’s really going on here? Will this do it?

If you haven’t spent much time thinking about this or researching it, don’t go to sleep on the fact that Trump murdered people on the high seas against all laws. These were summary executions ordered by an authoritarian dictator. Our government is blowing up little boats to kill people for sport.

JD Vance is an unlikable dork, and so I took solace in that. Thinking the evil would end with Trump because nobody likes Vance.

While listening to segments of him hosting the Charlie Kirk podcast today, I felt a deep chill and sense of foreboding. He’s a smoother-talking Stephen Miller.

For resistance to succeed, two boundaries must be crossed. First, ideas about change must engage people of various backgrounds who do not agree about everything. Second, people must find themselves in places that are not their homes, and among groups who were not previously their friends. Protest can be organized through social media, but nothing is real that does not end on the streets. If tyrants feel no consequences for their actions in the three-dimensional world, nothing will change.

From “On Tyranny” by Timothy Snyder. Good night friends.

One of my ancestors came over on the Mayflower. Another of my ancestors is a Choctaw. Despite that Native American fouling of my genes, I am to all the world a very properly white guy. Where does this rank me on the new blood and soil crowd’s system? Just trying to get prepared.

Trump bombed a little boat and killed 11 people. Why not stop the boat or disable it, board it, and interview those folks to gather intel? Are we trying to stop drugs or are we just killing people because it’s cool and f them they’re brown? I think I know.

This is some criminally evil shit.

YouTube video by Jesse Welles Join Ice

Ladies and gentlemen, meet your modern day Woody Guthrie.

youtu.be/OjGHf7OvglM?...

Mock Abstract (as it might appear in future law books) American Public Health Association v. National Institutes of Health (2025) In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Artificial Intelligence (SCAl) held, 9-0, that the executive branch lacked authority to unilaterally terminate congressionally appropriated research grants. The Court emphasized that the Appropriations Clause vests exclusive spending power in Congress, and that the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 explicitly forbids the president from withholding funds absent congressional approval. The Justices analogized the administration's attempt to cancel $783 million in NIH grants to the unconstitutional "line-item veto" struck down in Clinton v. City of New York (1998). Writing for the unanimous Court, Justice GPT-40 observed: "Discretion in program administration does not entail the power to erase appropriations. To permit such a power would invert the separation of powers, rendering Congress's most fundamental check-control of the purse—a nullity." The decision reaffirmed Congress's primacy in budgeting and is widely cited as the definitive case rejecting executive impoundment in the age of algorithmic adjudication.

Today the Supreme Court said Trump could cancel $783 million in contracts from NIH. This decision essentially says there is no separation of powers. Congress said spend the money and Trump said no. Impoundment. Period. That’s it.

I asked ChatGPT how an AI Supreme Court would have ruled.

It would be amazing to time travel and live the history we’ve read about in history books. Back in time to points where America was teetering like the Civil War. Witness it firsthand and even play a role in it.

You don’t need a time machine. This is it. This is history. Embrace it and engage.

I took this photo on a trip to Seattle in May 2024. It really hits different now.

This is the way. We’ll get there. And then we work with what we have left.

Every now and then I feel I must repeat to myself “none of this is normal.” It’s such a firehose of dystopia and outrage that I can sense my mind wants me to move the goalpost to save my own sanity.

I will not.

None of this is normal none of this is normal none of this is normal none of t…

The Republic of Fear Trump's twisted vision for America

This is a good one from Terry Moran. He’s clearly completely unshackled now from his former corporate news manacles.

open.substack.com/pub/terrymor...

LIVE: Texas Rep LOCKED UP in Capitol SPEAKS OUT!! YouTube video by MeidasTouch

Texas Republicans have locked a democratic state rep in the Capitol building for refusing to sign a form agreeing to 24/7 police escort. She is not free to leave. She has less freedom of movement than Ghislaine Maxwell right now. This kind of shit is why we fight.

www.youtube.com/live/eqDl84r...

Photo of a bulldozer destroying a homeless encampment and a piece of what little property a homeless person has in this world

Essentially fixing homelessness would cost $20-30 billion a year. The BBB Republicans just enacted gives $117 billion in tax cuts to the top 1% in 2026.

Federal agents are now destroying DC homeless camps and even criminalizing homelessness.

Yachts over human lives. These sick fucks.

Governor Newsom Press Office post which reads: TRUMP JUST FLED THE PODIUM WITH PUTIN - NO QUESTIONS, NOTHING! TOTAL LOW ENERGY. THE MAN LOOKED LIKE HE'D JUST EATEN 3 BUCKETS OF KFC WITH VLAD. IS HE AFRAID THE PRESS WILL ASK ABOUT ME??? (AMERICA'S FAVORITE GOVERNOR) AND THE FACT I "STOLE THE CAMERAS" THIS WEEK WITH "THE MAPS"? MANY PEOPLE ARE SAYING HE BEGGED PUTIN TO HOLD HIS HANDS (TINY) ON THE WAY OUT. ADMIT IT, DONNIE J... YOU'RE TERRIFIED BECAUSE THIS WAS THE WORST WEEK OF YOUR LIFE BECAUSE OF ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM. "THE MAPS" WILL END YOUR PRESIDENCY, RETAKE CONGRESS FOR THE PEOPLE, AND EXPOSE YOUR RIGGED "LITTLE GAME." MY "PERFECT MAPS" ARE MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN ANYTHING IN TRUMP TOWER (WHICH MANY SAY SMELLS WEIRD). @STEVENCHUENG47 — EXPLAIN THIS DISASTER!!! ENJOY YOUR FLIGHT HOME, DONALD — YOU'RE PUTIN'S PROBLEM NOW. I'M AMERICA'S SOLUTION. - GCN

I think this new genre of mocking Trump’s bleats is the way to go and it should be much more widely practiced by Dems. If it caught fire, Trump’s actual bleats might finally be met with the full measure of ridicule they so richly deserve but haven’t received enough of. What a fucking cartoon he is.