Orbán rode to power on resentment over the economic stagnation that developed under center-left governments. But he leaves office with Hungarians facing falling wages and higher inflation than similar countries are experiencing. Orbán’s sectarianism and intolerance have sparked neither a religious revival nor a fertility bump; Hungary’s population is shrinking and has become more irreligious, even as Orbán has demonized LGBTQ people, “Muslim invaders,” and Jews. Orbánism, in short, did not make Hungarians more rich, Christian, or free—unless you happened to be one of Orbán’s buddies, in which case you may have gotten rich. As most Hungarians felt their economic circumstances worsen, Orbán provided them with relatively powerless targets to hate.

Orban made grand appeals to “Christianity” and “Western Civilization,” but his “illiberal democracy” was just a scam, a way to make him and his buddies rich while subjecting Hungarians to stagnation and robbing them of their freedom. Sound familiar? (Gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

If this actually happens, it may rank as the single most corrupt act in the history of American politics. I cannot believe this is even under discussion.

An mRNA treatment for PANCREATIC CANCER was in trials, among many other uses. Choosing to end this research is choosing to sentence millions to an early, painful death

The result has been something like an inverse caricature of Republican complaints about diversity, equity, and inclusion, a system in which the incompetent rise not because of their abilities but because of their sycophancy. Authoritarian regimes behave as the Trump administration is behaving—optimizing for political loyalty rather than competence. Merit, in short, has little to do with it. Hegseth is a prime example. Deeply unqualified for the job and convinced that brutality provides an easy path to victory, he has led the United States to the verge of a strategic defeat with a weaker adversary in Iran. The current cease-fire leaves Iran with a more hard-line government than before, one in total control of a shipping lane crucial to the world economy. The Islamic Republic is arguably in a stronger position today than it was when the war started, and probably in a stronger position than it was before Trump, in his first term, scrapped the Obama-era nuclear deal. On Sunday, Trump posted on his social network a refrain that he and his toadies seem to think is insightful: “If you import The Third World, you become The Third World!” This archaic social Darwinism is the ideological mortar of the Trump project. It fuses Hegseth’s disdain for diversity in the military’s senior leadership and valorization of brutality with the administration’s attack on birthright citizenship and its deployment of federal agents to occupy American cities. It is a worldview that would assume an easy victory against a country like Iran, especially with America’s new, “unwoke” military. Bigotry isn’t just inefficient, as the U.S. military discovered in the 1940s. It also makes you stupid.

Wrote about how Hegseth’s effort to resegregate the upper ranks of the US military ties into the larger MAGA project to restore hierarchies of race and gender: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Rufo is also coming to UW Madison, hosted the Thompson Center by the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy. CROWE with just an eagle-eyed focus on the Wisconsin economy.

This is not lets-propose-this-and-see-what-Congress-says. Their plan is more like USAID: eliminate before Congress can weigh in.

Motivated to share our PCAST report on the value of the social and behavioral sciences. Sigh…
www.erichorvitz.com/pcastreports...

‘Proactively fall in line:’ Holocaust Memorial Museum quietly changed content after Trump returned to office Two former employees said they believed the museum was altering its content preemptively to avoid unwanted negative attention from the Trump administration.

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum under the Trump administration has deleted its teaching materials about links between Nazi racism and the Jim Crow laws: www.politico.com/news/2026/04...

Pam Bondi Wanted a Graceful Exit. But Trump Wanted Her Gone.

It says a lot about where we are that one can read the entire @nytimes.com story on the firing of the Attorney General of the United States without a *single* reference to that officer's duty to uphold the Constitution—which might just sometimes make it just a little hard to do the boss's bidding:

Millions used a research website to test their biases. Now the funding has dried up Two local researchers explain why the site matters to their work, and the field of social psychology.

The targeted defunding of science on diversity, equity, & inclusion means that we'll all know less about the world outside our window. @alanyhyu.bsky.social reports on what that looks like at the science nonprofit, Project Implicit (@projectimplicit.bsky.social)

whyy.org/articles/soc...

I hope this is driving home to folks that anti-DEI/anti-woke are functioning mostly as a way to make racism more palatable by framing it as a kind of defensive reaction to an imagined unfairness.

OpenAI acquires popular tech podcast TBPN OpenAI did not disclose the terms of the deal but said TBPN will be housed within its strategy organization.

Today in billionaires buying the media outlets that cover them:

www.cnbc.com/2026/04/02/o...

So why was this case brought before the Court at all? For the same reason that Cowan’s racist invocation of “yellow peril” has survived to the present day, repeated in modern form by both the president and his solicitor general. Before the Civil War, America was a white man’s government. The Reconstruction Amendments were supposed to change that, to prevent not just the existence of masters and slaves but master classes and slave classes. Trump and those around him would like to change it all back. It is hardly surprising, then, that they would revive the same arguments against birthright citizenship that the framers heard in the 1860s.

John Calhoun said the U.S. was a "white man's government." John Bingham, one of the authors of the 14th Amendment, said that this was a "horrid blasphemy." The birthright citizenship case is ultimately about which America we are going to be. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Medical Examiner Rules That a Rohingya Refugee’s Death Was a Homicide

The medical examiner in Buffalo has ruled that the death of a nearly blind man left alone by Border Patrol agents on a frigid night was a homicide, a finding that could lead to criminal charges.

Trump Officials Try to Fight Foreign Disinformation They Once Dismissed

After spending the last year dismantling every program, office, and tool the US had to identify and counter foreign propaganda and disinfo, suddenly the administration has discovered the need to…identify and counter foreign propaganda and disinfo…

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/b...

My personal favorite part of the interview is when Caldwell glosses his opposition to the Civil Rights Act by claiming he’s worried about “freedom of assembly.”

He doesn’t mention that he means the segregationist freedom to ensure Black folks are barred from public life. So cowardly.

Tracking Trump’s Efforts to Reshape Cultural Institutions

A good interview with Jennifer Schuessler of the Times.

It would be even better if it discussed how much Trump's "vision of American history" and his 1776 Commission were reactions to the 1619 Project and the events of summer 2020.

Preach, @governorwalz.mn.gov!

What a ‘Spiral of Silence’ Can Do to a Democracy <blockquote><br /><strong><em>Protests show people they are not alone in caring about an issue.</em></strong></blockquote><br /><p><dropcap>...

Updated link: www.rsn.org/001/what-a-s...

What a ‘Spiral of Silence’ Can Do to a Democracy Protests show people they are not alone in caring about an issue.

“The fact that organized protest can break the spiral of silence, and correct our impressions of what other Americans think, is one of the most immediate and important values of protesting in the first place. Scientists have [shown] protests update our impressions of what other citizens believe.”

Wow …

Scientists are fighting for the future of biomedical research in America right now. So please don’t tell me how sitting down with the architects of the destruction of a decades-old legacy of research in the United States is a good idea.

Remember when his Sieg Heil was just a gesture of heartfelt joy?

‘Harry Potter’ Series Star Paapa Essiedu Says He’s Received Death Threats for Snape Casting Paapa Essiedu has revealed he’s faced racist death threats after being cast as Professor Severus Snape in HBO‘s upcoming Harry Potty television series.

Paapa Essiedu has revealed he’s faced racist death threats after being cast as Professor Severus Snape in HBO‘s upcoming Harry Potty television series.

Trump: I’m going to put ICE in the airports, where they will target and arrest all the illegals, especially Somalis, because I hate the Democrats

Headlines: Trump puts ICE officers in airports to ease long lines, provide relief for weary travelers

Just a year ago, we heard reducing the deficit was so important Elon Musk had to fire as many scientists, forest rangers and Black women on the government’s payroll that he could find.

Now? 🤷🏾‍♂️

A university’s “content neutral” signage policies are irrelevant to the fact that the historical and current actions of universities privilege some identities and experiences over others. None of those actions are content neutral.

‘Trump is aiming for dictatorship’. That’s the verdict of the world’s most credible democracy watchdog | Martin Gelin Sweden’s V-Dem Institute warns that the US is no longer a liberal democracy. And autocracy is creeping across Europe too, says writer Martin Gelin

Not really a surprise, but the V-Dem annual report for 2026 makes it official: US no longer a liberal democracy and heading for dictatorship: www.theguardian.com/...
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Trump Admin Drops the Olive Branch from U.S. Seal on New Dime Coins, Keeps the Arrows A new dime coin entering circulation in 2026 is sparking conversation after eagle-eyed Americans noticed a small but significant detail in its design

I had assumed the headline was a joke. But no.

people.com/new-dime-coi...

Trump administration underestimated Iran war’s impact on Strait of Hormuz | CNN Politics The Pentagon and National Security Council significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to US military strikes while planning the ongoing operation, accord...

"Top Trump officials acknowledged to lawmakers during recent classified briefings that they did not plan for the possibility of Iran closing the strait in response to strikes."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
www.cnn.com/2026/03/12/p...