Paul Waldman

The rank bigotry and ignorance, of course, but also it's quite something to see the world's most talentless nepo baby failson saying somebody else isn't accomplished enough

It’s just so appalling and enraging how casual and commonplace this has become. I’m out of words.

This will go down as one of the most incredible screwups in recent campaign history, and it happened because brain-fried Republicans like Ramaswamy can't imagine that voters don't actually want politicians to be gigantic assholes. My latest at Public Notice: www.publicnotice.co/p/vivek-rama...

Kind of remarkable how JD Vance gave El-Sayed such a perfect opening to weaponize Michiganders' contempt for Ohio, over and over again

This happens so, so often: Any silly thing said by some random lefty anywhere becomes "Every Democratic candidate says this" even though no Democratic candidate ever said it.

Amazing how the Attorney General doesn't even pretend the job of the Justice Department is to enforce the law, it's just literally "If voters are confused and our party loses, that gives us a sad and it means the full force of the federal government must be brought to bear to undo the election"

Some of the things that happen these days are like big broad plot points in a bad novel about the apocalypse, but some of the things that happen these days are like fine-grained vignettes in a good novel about the apocalypse

One of the most effective things Obama could do for the party is let it rip like this all year long. He's so good, but he saves it for rallies a few weeks before elections like it's a severely-limited resource and that's just not how the modern communications environment has evolved.

That's not where this will end. On his last day in office, Trump is going to issue a blanket pardon for EVERY POLITICAL APPOINTEE IN THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH for all crimes committed between January 20, 2025 and January 20, 2029. Mark my words.

Even the Democratic establishment is on board for serious Supreme Court reform; the days of "Maybe someday, but not now" need to be put behind us. My latest at MS NOW: www.ms.now/opinion/supr...

Republicans really firing on all cylinders in this campaign www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Does @chuckwendig.bsky.social know about this

So strange that Russia is trying to help Republicans in this election, it's almost as though they know one party is on their side and the other isn't www.nytimes.com/2026/10/22/u...

Bay of Pigs 2 trailer just dropped

‼️On Today's @msignorile.bsky.social Show‼️ Author Azadeh Moaveni @sjdemas.bsky.social of @lincolnsquare.media @paulwaldman.bsky.social of The Cross Section 🔊Listen Here: Signorile.com 📞Join the Conversation (866) 997-4748

Friday PN pod! With me and @atrupar.com paulwaldman.substack.com/p/trumps-inc...

Going live with @paulwaldman.bsky.social at 1pm Eastern to discuss Trump's increasingly tired, weird, and ineffectual rallies, and why Barack Obama hitting the campaign trail for Democrats over the next 10 days is still a big deal politically Tune in:

It's not about whether you're corrupt; you're expected to be corrupt. But you can't forget to kick up to the boss. If he's not getting his taste, that's when you're in trouble. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/22/u...

"This is the story again and again as Trump tours the redder parts of the country: The venues are smaller, the crowds are less excited, and the man at the podium is weirder." Good @paulwaldman.bsky.social piece at @atrupar.com's place (thx for citing Mahoning!) www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-rall...

For years what protected the USPS from antigovernment Republicans screwing with it too much was the fact that Republicans from rural areas would step up and say "Hey, the Postal Service is vital for our constituents." But when forced to choose between Trump and their own people, guess who they pick.

US garment workers helped pioneer multi-ethnic labor unions, which united people across racial, religious, gender, linguistic, and cultural divides. Also native-born citizens and immigrants. I think about that sometimes when I see people suggest such divides are unbridgeable.

As a Gen Xer for a while I contemplated writing a book about us called "The Worst Generation" but then I was, like, whatever

Smaller venues, empty seats, bored crowds, and a sleepy, confused headliner. The Trump rally is the defining political event of our era, repeated hundreds of times in all its grotesque glory, and now it's limping to an end. My latest at Public Notice: www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-rall...?

Yesterday I was walking on a local campus and walked by a student basketball player who reached out and gave me a surprise fist-bump. I guess he just goes around fist-bumping middle-aged guys so they feel cool and youthful. I hereby nominate this kid for the Nobel Peace Prize, he is my new hero.

Over 6 yrs ago - when few of us (looking at you @jamisonfoser.bsky.social @liptonlubet.bsky.social @danpfeiffer.bsky.social @jeremyaparis.bsky.social & few others) started pushing to expand and rebalance Roberts MAGA #SCOTUS - there weren't a lot of takers. Here we are. Better late than never. LFG.

JD fake laughs for a bit, then: "We all know that that people who haven't washed their hair in three months, they vote for Democrats, not Republicans!" Ah yes, that well known hair-care-as-ideological-correlate stereotype we all find so amusing. He's just not good at this.

Wow. One thing this brings to mind: Traficant was a kind of rumpled proto-Trump. His whole thing was "Am I a crook? Sure. But I'm a crook FOR YOU. And also, just a crook But you know you love me!" And the stuff he got away with was incredible.

a personal thank you to all of you joining in

The nice thing about having a newsletter is that when I say to editors "How about I write 1,600 words on how Trump's obsession with Jon Husted's ass is rooted in the fascist worship of the desexualized male body?" and they say no, I still get to write it. paulwaldman.substack.com/p/trumps-lus...

Everything is gender, but Trump’s worship of hunky dudes isn’t erotic. It’s the anti-eroticism of fascism. paulwaldman.substack.com/p/trumps-lus...

"...a person familiar with the situation said Musk talked to multiple senior administration officials, including with Trump, before imposing the new speed cap" If that's accurate, it means BOTH Musk and Trump lied about this. www.wsj.com/world/ukrain...

This is exactly the kind of ad I've been begging Dems to run. "Republicans are perverts who want to do genital inspections on middle school girls" is not only a great message, it's the truth!

Texas is only 37% non-Hispanic white, the 5th-lowest proportion of any state. Texas Republicans have gone all-in on racism this election, and it might work in the short term. Or maybe not. But it is definitely a bad strategy for the longer term as their state gets more diverse literally by the day.

The golf course fight is just the latest example of Trump acting like the law doesn't apply to him, and DoJ lawyers just lying to judges. When Dems have power, everyone involved has to be investigated, sanctioned, and potentially disbarred. My latest at MS NOW: www.ms.now/opinion/trum...

It's more of a Shelbyville idea

No one needs to listen to James Carville about anything. But I'll keep saying this until I'm blue in the face: It's not the lefties who hold Democrats hostage in Congress, IT'S THE MODERATES. Bernie Sanders never killed a Democratic bill he didn't like. You know who did? Joe Manchin. Many times.

1. Dem leads by 5 in polls 2. Republicans drop $20 million on ads saying Dem wants Draymond Green to play on a middle school girls basketball team and punch your daughter in the face 3. Dem leads by 6 in polls 4. Moderate Dems: "But a 3-time Trump voter said in a focus group this was important!"

Republican candidates dread having Trump come to campaign with them, even if they can’t say no to him. Meanwhile, Barack Obama remains hugely popular. paulwaldman.substack.com/p/everybody-...

The most remarkable thing is that Jan Crawford, chief legal correspondent for CBS News, thought that El-Sayed explaining the importance of freedom of religion in the Constitution *proved Tommy's point*, which was that El-Sayed is a terrorist sympathizer. Because he believes in THE CONSTITUTION

ABC/Ipsos poll finds Americans trust Democrats on "transgender issues" by nine points

Hearing from my sources that this "over the top" tweet from Jan Crawford is being discussed internally at CBS. At the same time, as those same sources noted, "Jan is protected by Bari" and has been a very vocal acolyte of Weiss. "She just can't help herself," one network insider said.

Dreadful journalism. Bash wants to get him to criticize Trump but ignores it when Rogers drops a despicable slander - "He has a long history of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood" "Split b/t Trump and GOP candidates" is a story they'll pursue. "Republicans are stone-cold bigots" isn't, but it's true

1,000 years from now, teachers will struggle to explain to their students how at this time in history, we found literally the most despicable human being in America and made him the most powerful person in the world

How's this for a signal of how things are going: in a Texas CD Trump won in 2024, the Republican candidate is so terrified of being associated with Trump that when the Dem put up a billboard of the two of them together, the R sent a cease-and-desist letter: www.washingtonsun.com/campaigns/so...

At 16 I worked one shift at a Haagen-Dazs. When I got there, the manager and two suits were yelling at a crying girl sitting in a chair, threatening her with jail because she gave her mom a free cone. I got home, called them and said I couldn't work for people who treated their employees that way.