Brendan Nyhan's avatar

Brendan Nyhan

@brendannyhan.bsky.social

10522 followers 2154 following 2087 posts

Dartmouth political scientist and Bright Line Watch co-director. Previously Upshot NYT / CJR contributor, Spinsanity co-founder, All the President's Spin co-author.

sites.dartmouth.edu/nyhan/
brightlinewatch.org

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Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

Kevin Collins's avatar Kevin Collins @kwcollins.bsky.social
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Weird* how he didn’t call for such punishment for those who violently stormed the seat of American government to try to stop the Constitutionally mandated transfer of power after a free and fair election *weird, but not surprising

6 replies 14 reposts 59 likes

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Kevin Collins's avatar Kevin Collins @kwcollins.bsky.social
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This — Project 2025, the Supreme Court’s legalistic usurpation of power, and Trump’s current rhetoric on the campaign trail — can only be understood as an attack on our Constitutional government itself, less violent means than those used in Jan 6 but no less threatening to our democratic republic

1 replies 17 reposts 30 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Has anyone tried the wallet inspector line on Musk yet? Joking/not joking.

1 replies 1 reposts 26 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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What would you say if you saw it in another country?

5 replies 19 reposts 105 likes

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Asawin Suebsaeng's avatar Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social
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For most of its history, America hasn’t been a democracy, by any meaningful definition of the term! This isn’t some It Can’t Happen Here shit, in a way, it’s already happened. It just may not have directly affected you.

12 replies 92 reposts 525 likes

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Daniel Drezner's avatar Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social
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I’m sorry, what?! Have folks memory-holed the coverage of Trump’s first term? This came up!

7 replies 24 reposts 103 likes

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Avishay Ben-Sasson-Gordis's avatar Avishay Ben-Sasson-Gordis @avishaybsg.bsky.social
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The fact that only the president enjoys complete immunity, and that he also has the power of pardon is part of what is so terrifying about the ruling. It means that those beneath him are entirely at his good graces and arbitrary will. It's a power machine, not a check on his power.

4 replies 28 reposts 105 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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What kind of illiberal lunacy is this? www.theguardian.com/politics/art...

Think of who you don't want in power. Now imagine them enforcing this law.

A society without misinformation is inherently unfree (and impossible).

1 replies 4 reposts 20 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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I don't understand this point. Trump can just pardon them.

37 replies 28 reposts 218 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Some ex-DOJ officials who worked for Trump fear the Supreme Court just made it easy for him to use the DOJ to attack foes
“It sets him up to do the things he has said, to investigate people and send them to jail,” said one ex-official.
www.nbcnews.com/investigatio...

1 replies 14 reposts 89 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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"Trump v. Anderson’s holding lacked any real basis in text and history and also is at odds with the basic structure of the Electoral College" "The court’s reasoning [on immunity] went well beyond any specific part of the Constitution or any determinate constitutional tradition"

0 replies 4 reposts 16 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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What would you say if you saw it in another country?

4 replies 10 reposts 39 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Official act! He took them while in office - is it a crime here?

3 replies 8 reposts 54 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Democrats: The way Republicans blame uncomfortable realities on media bias is pathological and undermines their ability to grapple with hard truths. Also (many) Democrats: The Joe Biden stories are the media's fault! The NYT is biased against him! etc etc etc

12 replies 6 reposts 46 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Extremely frustrating to hear legal experts analyzing the SCOTUS ruling on immunity like just another case - it's an inherently normalizing act. People need to stop playing constitutional Calvinball and treat them like political actors.

17 replies 170 reposts 797 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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What I'm thinking about today 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

1 replies 20 reposts 91 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Refreshing myself on the end of season one of House of the Dragon after the first debate is ... something

2 replies 0 reposts 10 likes

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Kevin M. Kruse's avatar Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social
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Mitch McConnell offers an object lesson for all the Republicans who think they can tame this tiger -- even if you do everything in your power to advance Trump's agenda and sabotage two different impeachment trials that would remove him, the Felon Messiah King will still demand your head.

24 replies 177 reposts 722 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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"over the past 20 years, the Republican-nominated Supreme Court justices who have now given Trump and other presidents a significant measure of immunity from criminal prosecution for their official acts assured Americans that nobody — not even a president — was 'above the law.'"

2 replies 11 reposts 24 likes

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Timothy Ryan's avatar Timothy Ryan @tjryan02.bsky.social
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I've seen surprisingly little coverage on the fact that, if I understand right, all jousting over an open nomination needs to be done two weeks *before* the convention starts. That, or Dems give up on Ohio (and throw Sen Brown under bus). Am I missing something?

www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/u...

4 replies 2 reposts 10 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Ohio's written off I'm sure, but symbolically bad and definitely bad for Brown

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

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Bethany Albertson's avatar Bethany Albertson @albertsonb2.bsky.social
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Either the Democrats will run Biden, or he'll say he can't continue the campaign and Democrats will run Harris. Either is newsworthy, but neither is nearly as radical as running a pro-insurrection convicted felon with legal immunity he's eager to use.

17 replies 297 reposts 1114 likes

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Dan Murphy's avatar Dan Murphy @bungdan.bsky.social
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Presidential candidate who the far-right members of the Supreme Court just placed above the law tells voters how he will exercise his new powers.

29 replies 230 reposts 572 likes

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Jonathan Ladd's avatar Jonathan Ladd @jonmladd.bsky.social
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One thing you can't say about the 6 justice majority is that they can't imagine or think a hypothetical parade of horribles won't happen. That's not this case. The wolf is at the door. The litigant in this case is the person who already was president, attempted a coup and is a career criminal.

4 replies 15 reposts 57 likes

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Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Lots of bizarro world denialism on here about how concerning Biden's state and behavior were. "74 percent of voters view him as too old for the job, up five percentage points since the debate." www.nytimes.com/2024/07/03/u... 74%! 59% among Democrats!

5 replies 4 reposts 23 likes

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Jacob T. Levy's avatar Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social
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While DOJ independence was already a dead letter for purposes of a second Trump term since Attorney General E. Trump or J. Turley or whoever will have been chosen expressly because he's willing to take orders, also worth noting that Roberts blessed POTUS telling AG whom to prosecute.

3 replies 46 reposts 204 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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"Essentially, the​ Court ​in Trump v. United States ​is declaring the Constitution itself unconstitutional​.​​ Instead of properly starting with the Constitution’s text and structure, the ​​Court has ended up repealing them​​."

1 replies 13 reposts 48 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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I have more confidence in the Secret Service than I think Josh does. I'm honestly not sure most potential assassins are clued in to the rules of presidential succession. And in general, how you weight it depends on what you think the effect of a Harris-Biden switch is.

2 replies 0 reposts 3 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Shouldn't Democrats be pushing Biden to not only step aside from the nomination race but to resign and make Harris POTUS? Helps avoid a messy succession battle and raises her standing/status. (Messy part is getting a VP confirmed; otherwise Johnson is second in line, but you live with it.)

19 replies 0 reposts 15 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Reminder that even if Democrats drag Biden or someone else over the finish line, the threats to democracy will still remain. One party winning every time is not a plan (nor a democracy). And the president will still have the power to commit crimes with impunity even if the next one doesn't use it.

7 replies 24 reposts 99 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Reminder that even if Democrats drag Biden or someone else over the finish line, the threats to democracy will still remain. One party winning every time is not a plan (nor a democracy). And the president will still have the power to commit crimes with impunity even if the next one doesn't use it.

1 replies 6 reposts 36 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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A world where the President can murder their enemies with impunity, direct the DOJ and FBI not to investigate the crimes, and pardon anyone who participates is not a free society www.politico.com/news/2024/07...

5 replies 46 reposts 159 likes

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Don Moynihan's avatar Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social
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You can have concerns about Biden's age, but still be absolutely appalled about editorial choices that convey the issue as more important than the Supreme Court offering a pre-emptive thumbs up to a criminal presidency

17 replies 221 reposts 889 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Reminder that POTUS can direct the DOJ not to prosecute the trigger puller and, failing that, pardon anyone who carries out his order and still faces federal charges. Utterly lawless.

12 replies 33 reposts 127 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Category error watch. People keep assuming legal proceduralism will apply in an authoritarian state.

29 replies 117 reposts 659 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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What would you say if you saw it in another country?

14 replies 42 reposts 205 likes

Brendan Nyhan's avatar Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social
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Two things can be true: 1. The mental acuity of the person with the nuclear codes is a BIG deal. The media should report on it. Full stop. 2. The threat to democracy is also real and the overall balance of coverage must take that context into account.

3 replies 13 reposts 59 likes