"Musk paid Trump $250 million to be allowed to work as Robber Baron to insure that his companies get special treatment from the government funding offices. Musk is now trying to do the same thing in England and Germany"
"what is likely to happen on tariffs. You might think that it’s obvious that Trump’s announced plans, or concepts of plans, are unworkable. But it’s probably not obvious to Trump — and who’s going to tell him?"
"the state needs to start acting less like a corporation maximizing value for a select few shareholders and more like an institution designed to serve the interests of a broader community"
"the 2024 election wasn’t a victory for populism or actually any kind of “ism.” What it did, instead, was deliver the levers of power into the hands of people who can be bought"
"In the face of accelerated species extinction, biospheric disruptions, disastrous geographic alterations and the human political and economic chaos resulting from it, we have lacked substantive action"
"If there is any comfort to be felt in these trying times, it's that there are reasonable people witnessing the same catastrophes alongside us. Not everyone has lost their minds, just too many"
"You might have imagined that the world’s richest man could have a couple of fact-checkers on retainer to help ensure that he isn’t making clearly stupid assertions. But no"
"we voted for it so collectively we deserve the resulting savage economic inequality, loss of public services, the climate disruptions, the gun violence, the spreading ugliness both physical and moral"
"At some point the public will realize that most politicians railing against elites actually are elites in every sense that matters and start to hold them accountable for their failure to deliver on their promises"
"We honor the process even when we dislike the outcome. The drive to quickly get what we want, even at the cost of bypassing procedures and undermining institutions, is deeply dangerous"
"in the current two-party structure, where both parties are dominated by billionaires and corporations, there isn’t an actual place for working-class identity"
"for the most part they pay no attention to the train roaring down the tunnel at them and write us off as climate alarmists. Denial is a terrific strategy - until it isn't"
"expectation is that the harm done by the Trump administration to American climate policy will come more from international trade policies than actual administrative law and legislative changes"