Newsletter
With everyone talking about the Florida Department of Education’s new standards on African American history — focusing on its bizarre and inaccurate claims on slavery — I thought I’d take a look at the full document to see how representative that part is of the larger quality. Some of the
Newsletter
A few days ago, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene warned the right-wing crowd at the Turning Point USA conference that President Joe Biden “is actually finishing what FDR started, that LBJ expanded on,” singling out “programs to address education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, transportation, Medicare, Medicaid, labor unions” and
Newsletter
There’s a recurring complaint from centrists that, yes, yes, of course, racism is bad, but if you make too big a fuss about it, it’s only going to spark resentment from whites and undermine the cause. (See a recent version of this here.) This was a common refrain
Newsletter
Today marks the anniversary of Jimmy Carter’s deeply unpopular “Malaise speech,” which actually was not deeply unpopular and actually never used the word “malaise.” In the late 1970s, the United States was reeling from crises on several fronts, ranging from economic “stagflation” (a new term coined to describe the
Newsletter
Last night on CNN, Sen. Tommy Tuberville once again refused to denounce white nationalism, insisting that white nationalists are not, in fact, racist and that such a characterization is merely “some people’s opinion.” This is a line that Republicans in the Trump era have made themselves walk. They agree,
Newsletter
As we hit the one-month mark for Campaign Trails, I wanted to send along a quick celebratory update (and, as promised, some Sarge pictures too). First and foremost, thanks to everyone who’s subscribed to the newsletter so far. We’ve gotten off to a great start, as you can
Newsletter
For the last two days, Senator Josh Hawley has been busy stepping on one rake after another, trying to find some quotation from the founding generation that supports a Christian nationalist vision of America. First, he tweeted out a completely fake quote from Patrick Henry, which as Seth Cotlar noted,
Newsletter
One of the things I like about Substack is I actually get to write my own headlines. This title is what I wanted to call this piece I did for Washington Post a while back, but I was tragically overruled. In that piece, I talk briefly about Nixon’s campaign
Newsletter
Today is the anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which means we’re guaranteed to see plenty of social media posts about how A Higher Percentage of Republicans Voted for the Civil Rights Act.™ Consider this post a handy pre-buttal for your convenient use if
Newsletter
After yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling striking down affirmative action programs, conservative politicians and pundits predictably resorted to trotting out The Only Martin Luther King Jr Quote They Know.™ And as you might expect, the trollier corners of the right were especially trolly: All right, let’s dig in. Despite
Newsletter
With today’s stunning decision outlawing race-conscious affirmative action policies at universities, Chief Justice John Roberts has completed a long conservative crusade. Sweeping aside the historical evidence that shows the Constitution has never been “colorblind” and that affirmative action programs were intended and have been proven to work, as the
Newsletter
I just read this brilliant opinion — technically a ruling about the gun rights of felons, but really a broadside against the abomination of judicial “originalism” — and only at the end noticed that it comes from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. (Wait, wait, I promise