My latest Substack is out! This week, I make the case that the killings in Minnesota make it clear that there is no longer a "risk free" way to express dissent, and that we must find the courage to do so anyway.
Link here: controlaltdemocracy.substack.com/p/only-our-c...
Posts by James Slattery
My latest Substack is out! I examine how economic failure in Russia in the 90s fatally damaged democracy in that country -- and how the same thing has unfolded in America in recent decades. Please read and share if this sounds like your jam! Link: open.substack.com/pub/controla...
Haha yes, I have a similar version but worse because I read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and it caused that axis to go all the way back 2000 years to near the beginning of anno domini
How about we shut down the government for this very popular and specific goal and then, hear me out, we hold out for like a month and a half and then, ok this part is important, after a watershed election where we ran the table, ONLY THEN, fold and don't get the one thing we said we wanted.
My latest Substack is out! Here I try to diagnose the malaise that has afflicted the anti-Trump resistance this time around, and how we can overcome it. I think it boils down to residual heartbreak over Trump winning a 2nd term, and a deep crisis of faith in ourselves, our values, and our leaders.
My favorite part of Austin No Kings is this balloon of Elon Musk doing his Nazi salute
My second Substack post is out! Here I introduce the main topic for the series over the next few months: lessons we can learn from Alexei Navalny and the Russian democratic opposition movement as we confront an authoritarian administration here at home.
If this piece and project speak to you, please subscribe and share with others you think need this now, too.
open.substack.com/pub/controla...
His book Patriot has a lot to say about how to think and feel and act when you live in a democracy that is actively backsliding into authoritarianism -- things that I think people really need to hear and will make the path ahead clearer and more hopeful. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/689896...
The series will initially focus initially on the life and work of Alexei Navalny -- the leader of the Russian opposition movement who wrote a revelatory memoir while imprisoned in a gulag above the Arctic Circle.
I’ve been spending the months since the election asking myself and others what comes next. I came to realize that we have a lot we can learn from movements overseas, and that we need to make common cause with all those fighting for democracy wherever they may be.
Hello friends! I'm excited to announce that I launched a new Substack last week. As we fight to save American democracy, we'll be exploring what we can learn from those who have been fighting similar authoritarian regimes overseas.
Why not just save time and add Iran directly to the signal chat lmao
Not a coincidence that Trump “is the most dominant figure on the world stage” and the world is experiencing a level of upheaval it hasn’t in generations.
The Speaker of the House calls for violence against an elected official of the opposition party, and it somehow is second tier news. Unreal.
Honestly this is the kind of courage and defiance that we have been sorely lacking the last six months. Dems should do more of this, and stop being scared and poll testing things to death
“Too many Democrats were lying to themselves. The ‘original sin’ that party leaders now need to grapple with is their tendency toward groupthink, inertia and an extreme and wildly counterproductive risk aversion.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/o...
Donald Trump knows better than most that nothing is ever “free.” They’re buying influence, obviously.
This obviously isn’t a quote from Ben Franklin. “Bad guy” is a term that originated in the 20th Century and is associated with the pop culture of that era, not the 1700s
God he’s such an idiot. Yeah, why would a nuclear war in a region with billions of people have any impact on America?
This is what happens when you apply a Silicon Valley mindset — “break things and see what happens” — to government.
People will die unnecessarily during this Admin because Elon Musk was allowed to run the government.
Parolin: STOP THE COUNT
Wow, who knew that "Drain the Swamp" really means that Trump will pardon criminals if they give enough money to his friends and allies.
If the economy contracted in the first quarter of any Democrat’s presidency, as it did with Trump’s, the Republicans would be yelling about it every day until kingdom come — and they wouldn’t get bogged down in “but some of it was a surge in imports”
Honestly, if Dems aren’t reminding the public every single day for the rest of his presidency that Trump openly admitted that your kids will have fewer toys this Christmas because of his policies — then they should dissolve as a party and go on to do other things.
Wild how all those “constitutional conservatives” have disappeared now that Trump is in power. They would’ve roasted Obama or Biden alive if he’d said something like this.
I had to check and…this is real. There are literally no limits to how far Lindsey Graham will debase himself
You know things are bad for Trump when even Texas business turns against him
The smug look of triumph on this evil asshole’s face
That’s wild! I remember watching it on TV and people having all kinds of crazy feelings about it, both pro and con