Steven L. Taylor

Translation: he knows his party is going to lose big.

The powerful executives who cozied up to Trump didn't oops accidentally forget about pendulum swings. They either: 1) Like the fascism 2) Calculated it was here to stay, so going along was savvy 3) Saw no real downside, no consequences when the pendulum swung Crucial to show them 3 was a mistake

Brazil was of two huge election results today—alongside the defeat of the nationalist, authoritarian leader of Serbia: "the slate of candidates selected by protesting students had won at least 135 seats in Serbia’s 250-member legislature" www.nytimes.com/2026/10/25/w...

One benefit of holding leaders accountable for crimes is that if Flávio Bolsonaro tries to overturn this election, he knows exactly where he’d end up. In prison, next to his father.

He's been making everything so ugly for so long it's easy to forget that we don't have to be like this as a nation. But we don't have to be like this.

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Stupid is as stupid does, I guess. outsidethebeltway.com/a-note-on-th...

outsidethebeltway.com/some-good-ne...

This is all depressingly true. I started to make a list and it is so very terrible.

Call me crazy, but telling people what to do is coercive on some level (or just plain infanitilizing).

That’s what you call poor debate prep, because who could have seen that question coming? And “my wife does the shopping” is quite the answer.

The only thing dumber than building a triumphal arch is building a triumphal arch while you are losing a war. Dumbest timeline, indeed.

"Power clarifies. Unless, of course, it is power without accountability. Power unchecked yields a different kind of stupidity: 'Your life is just a series of your own preferences. In terms of cognitive impairment it’s probably like being kicked in the head by a horse every day.'"

Who’s gonna tell him…?

Wherein I attempt to address the question of whether the system was working fine until Trump, or whether the system had inherent problems. outsidethebeltway.com/but-didnt-th...

Really not the most important thing here—that'd be the egregious racism and abuse of power—but the state with the most Mercedes sales is CA, and highest luxury cars per capital are NJ and CT. Lies within lies. A whole party geared around lying and trying to make everyone else live inside their lie.

Exactly 10 years ago today: Hillary Clinton said Vladimir Putin would rather have "a puppet as president of the United States.” She absolutely nailed it. 🔨

"When does a party even get to really govern? The answer is: almost never. Even holding a trifecta is not enough; to have enough votes to actually pass legislation requires 60 seats in the Senate alongside a majority in the House. This almost never happens." outsidethebeltway.com/the-messy-na...

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The new math is just crazy! Is it Common Core?

Musk's "flying car" is just Evel Knievel with money and a development team. Forget the ramp: jump Snake River Canyon if you want to impress me. (Kids, ask your parents.)

"I am simply noting that by no metric does 50%+1 of the public actually want what we've got, and yet we have it. If that is a true statement, and I am prepared to defend it, then where is the real blame?Is it "the voters" or is it the structure of the system?" outsidethebeltway.com/whom-to-blam...

Authoritarian regime grabs electronic communication devices of prominent opposition member. Since it’s highly unlikely there is anything on her phone about immigration paperwork from 30 years ago we can assume this just became a fishing expedition.

John Ossoff comes off as radical and deeply refreshing when all he does is dispassionately and accurately recount what his opponent says and does. This should be neither radical nor refreshing.

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@sltaylor.bsky.social is clear eyed that the US system doesn't work—and has never worked—in the separation of powers way we were taught. Juan Linz, not Madison, was right—presidentialism is perilous In '27 & '29 we can't return to a republic that never was. We need fundamental constitutional reform

Linguistic/polisci pet peeve: we don’t want “term limits” for SCOTUS, we want “fixed terms.” They are already limited to one term for all practical purposes: they just get it for life. What we want is a fixed term of some specific number of years.

This can’t be said enough.

Been giving it a lot of thought and my favorite Marvel movie of all time is "How Many Spider-men Can Fit In A Jamba Juice" youtu.be/U5MYa4tyMeU?...

Today's essay by @sltaylor.bsky.social makes a good companion to @jamellebouie.net's column on how Senate Democrats will need to steel themselves to use what tools they have without giving in to delusions of bipartisanship. Both focus on specifics www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/o...

I have a new piece at @liberalcurrents.com

David Brooks' latest piece in @theatlantic.com did not hit me well. outsidethebeltway.com/brooks-and-m...

Heh.

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Dragging yourself to a voting booth to support some candidate with a better tax or energy policy? That's a chore. An obligation, like jury duty. Dragging yourself there to support a guy who just told Mike Collins all the things you wish you could say to his face? _Now_ it's fun.

outsidethebeltway.com/a-photo-for-...

Nationalism is always a story that seems to be about the past, but is justifying the present moment.