For 15 years, I’ve been studying 1960s civil rights protests with particular attention to how nonviolent and violent actions by activists & police influence media, elites, public opinion & voters. I'm thrilled some of that work was published last week. 1/ https://t.co/zzvvPTcgoP

Musk: Reality is probably a simulation Also Musk: Race is definitely real

@nytimes For a deeper dive into “plutopopulism” and recent Republican gains among the working-class, see this thread:

@nytimes Trump ran as a populist but has governed as a plutocrat. The coalition that lifted him—including new small donors—appears to be voting with their feet, and their ballots. As Malcolm X said, “the chickens are coming home to roost.” “Plutopopulism” →

Today @nytimes.com is reporting, in addition to previous tax cuts, “The Treasury Department and IRS are issuing rules that provide hundreds of billions of dollars in tax relief to big companies and the ultrarich.” https://t.co/OCIhcSCRPe Gift link:

But governing is different from campaigning. Once in office, Trump led more as plutocrat than populist. “One Big Beautiful Bill” paired multi-trillion dollar tax cuts benefiting wealthy and corporations with reduced benefits for working-class programs. 3/

In our data—108 million homeowner-voters linked to campaign donations—we find Trump underperformed with wealthy in 2016 but, by 2020, mobilized a mass of non-wealthy donors. Bottom 90% nearly matched top 10% of dollars. He built something new. 2/ https://t.co/aFY31KxZto

No AI. No shortcuts. Just hand-drawn adventure. Step into a world made by humans — wishlist on Steam now!

Earlier this year, we showed Trump built a remarkable “plutopopulist” coalition in his campaigns, drawing money from both wealthy elites and a surge of small donors. With Tuesday’s elections, though, that coalition seems to be fraying. What happened? 1/ https://t.co/aFY31KxZto

July 2020…

“Texas Dems lost. But they drew attention to GOP efforts to put a thumb on the scale, and demonstrated a key tactic for galvanizing their party. They lost, but they lost loudly. Losing loudly has been a crucial feature of successful political movements 🎁

Trump’s policy of mass deportations is imposing huge costs on individuals, families and communities but the steady drumbeat of shocking stories is taking a toll on his popularity. On formerly winning issues like immigration, he’s now underwater.

Another similarity between past and present is the media’s taste for what’s visual. ICE raid videos have potential to punch through our fragmented media landscape like George Holliday’s footage of LAPD beating Rodney King, or Darnella Frazier’s recording of George Floyd’s murder.

Though there are many differences between past and present, the parallels are still striking. ICE raids caught on camera echo the dynamics of the 1960s: state agents as lawless aggressors, ordinary people (landscapers, car washers, grad students) as sympathetic victims.

One central lesson of 1960s civil rights protests is that activists can “dramatize injustice” through strategic narrative construction, essentially creating compelling stories in the media with clear heroes and villains. More in this thread:

Though there are many differences between past and present, the parallels are still striking. ICE raids caught on camera echo the dynamics of the 1960s: state agents as lawless aggressors, ordinary people (landscapers, car washers, grad students) as sympathetic victims.

Really enjoyed talking with @chrislhayes about how protests can shape public opinion. He also invited me to share a bit of my personal story which helps put the research in context — Youtube https://t.co/gcr1CdXfJW — Apple https://t.co/Ogkfxo4u5Y — Spotify

UC Berkeley is hiring an Assistant Professor this fall, with a preference for candidates in International Relations, American Politics, or Public Law. I am on the committee and glad to answer questions. Please apply! Link in next post.

In July of 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered one of the greatest speeches in US history. Today it’s often presented in abridged form, though, and skips what seems like a long-winded introduction. If you read the intro closely, however, there’s an ingenious structure. THREAD👇🏽

Base models are great for demos, but production needs something better. Today, we’re launching post-training by Nebius Token Factory. Fine-tune frontier open-source LLMs, optimize them and deploy instantly. This is how open-source finally becomes production-grade. 👇

One way to understand this bill? The top 0.1% donate up to 15x more than the bottom 90%.

Also see:

One way to understand this bill? The top 0.1% donate up to 15x more than the bottom 90%.