Melissa Ryan

New from me: After the election, hold the fascist assholes accountable, but Americans deserve so much more than that. We gotta eat bread, and we deserve roses.

Judiciary Committee should have put a joke about the Cheesecake Factory in the document. Then maybe it would get more coverage.

Judiciary Committee should have put a joke about the Cheesecake Factory in the document. Then maybe it would get more coverage.

Best explanation so far

The only reason anyone is talking about Marissa Mayer or Dazzle is that her marketing team understands how to deploy rage bait, and most of the Internet still can't spot it in the wild.

After a stunning election victory for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil, U.S. right-wingers are falling back on an old favorite: baseless claims that the contest was rigged. www.ms.now/news/flavio-...

hm. lula succeeded by out-shouting the right and not begging for the press to do the lift for him and his supporters? wow, wonder who has been saying something like that in america for almost 20 years?

Another great piece from Melissa. And solid grounds for a rewatch of the Bread and Roses scene from Pride.

Today is a good day for lovers of democracy and haters of fascist assholes.

New tonight from @andrewperez.bsky.social and me for @zeteo.com zeteo.com/p/venues-sta...

Hearing reports of discarded ballots? Concerns about WA State National Guard deploying to protect elections? Allegations of ballot harvesting in Minnesota? Investigations of non-citizen registration in AZ? Check out our latest rumor rundown to learn more: uwcip.substack.com/p/election-r...

Well, Patreon members just got tomorrow's newsletter a day early because I'm clearly still not awake today. (More coffee is clearly needed.) I'm just gonna call it exclusive early access.

If that ad is still living rent-free in your head as you wonder, "What the hell were they thinking?" this edition of my newsletter is for you. Because I have a theory. www.altrightdelete.news/p/was-this-a...

Have you seen this? Different but complementary thesis: Vivek et al are panicked that the bottom is falling out entirely and the ad is purely targeted at shoring up the rabid base, who are at serious risk of abandoning him and undervoting (or even worse, staying home) bsky.app/profile/meli...

This is pretty convincing—& if true, means Vivek et al are even *more* panicked than we thought: this is base-shoring GOTV. Which means they think w/o something like this, the bottom of their base vote is absolutely about to fall out by staying home (which would also suck Husted down in its vortex)

"Estrangement is a recurring theme in MAGA online spaces. Many, if not most, of Trump’s biggest fans have been cut off by family and friends. Ostensibly over political differences, but it’s always deeper than that. QAnon, vaccinations, hateful views..."

I think her hypothesis is right. He’s trying to get the most extreme of MAGA, but the most extreme of MAGA would never ever vote for him because he’s a brown man. Which they have said to his face. He’s such a fool.

Speaking of desperation.

Melissa has been an incredibly consistent chronicler of the extremist right wing. This is a great take.

The theory seems solid to me!

This seems right, they are trying to control where the ad is talked about virally but it's jumped the shark.

This from @melissaryan.bsky.social seems like a solid theory about what the Ramaswamy campaign thinks it's doing here.

AI billionaires are trying to buy elections... but when voters know who's pushing ads, it backfires. One of the most important things we can all do right now is make sure our friends and family know which candidates are being backed by freaks like Musk and Andreessen www.inc.com/sam-blum/ai-...

Y'all I don't even know how to describe today. It was heavy. The literal high point was learning I'd need a month of radiation and all about the fun side effects. I'm still here and I will be OK. But life is a lot right now. Life has been a lot for a while. And I'm exhausted.

Oh. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/21/t...

Temu Dr. Evil is so exhausting.

You. Truly. Love. To. See. It.

The midterm election polling is bonkers. I keep expecting it to tighten, and the opposite keeps happening. substack.com/inbox/post/2...

If you need a refresher on everything wrong with Joel Kaplan, now is the perfect time to read Careless People. www.goodreads.com/en/book/show...

Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

One day, I want to live in a country where the last several weeks of any election cycle don't feel simply like a Battle Royale for billionaires. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/10...

Huge follow-up reporting to my scoop: The Guardian confirmed America Next—the conservative nonprofit founded by Bobby Jindal that was offering students $ to disrupt El-Sayed events—paid a firm registered to Tommy Teepell’s dad Timmy $250k for “canvassing and influencer marketing” against El-Sayed.

"If Democrats win Congress this November, they should use their investigative powers to scrutinize Musk’s companies, question his relationships to foreign governments and ensure his compliance with federal law." We couldn't agree more, @jamellebouie.net 🔥🔥🤘🤘 www.nytimes.com/2026/10/17/o...

“You have Silicon Valley billionaires who are spending millions of dollars to do anything Donald Trump wants. In exchange they’re getting to set the regulations for their own industry." Love to see local press starting to pick up Musk's meddling 🙌 ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/10/19/e...

Today is The Downballot's 23rd anniversary, so we're celebrating with a special 23% off sale! Unlock premium content and awesome perks 𝙥𝙡𝙪𝙨 support our unique work at a steep discount off our normal rates. Click below to take advantage—the offer is good for just one week!

When you have enough sense to realize that the ship is about to sink. people.com/christiane-a...

New from me: I'm so sick of the Broligarchy, the world they want to force upon the rest of us, and the millions they waste on that goal. On election day, let's tell them all to go to hell. www.altrightdelete.news/p/f-the-brol...

this is hilarious - I appreciate this answering all my questions about the weight of corruption in the Trump administration. unwavering Loyalty and corrupt over professionally corrupt