The UnPopulist
@UnPopulistMag
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Defending liberal democracy against authoritarianism in the U.S. and around the world. Published by @ismapolicy .
Washington, DC
Joined May 2023
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The right-wing victimization complex isn’t merely wrong—it’s completely backwards. Trump’s allies weren’t even treated the same as everyone else—they were treated quite a bit better.
@radleybalko
10
46
137
RFK Jr., who claimed things have been worse for the unvaccinated in the last few years than they were for Anne Frank under the Nazis, is an antivax fanatic looking for a party that can help him with ballot access.
Enter: The Libertarian Party
22
36
116
Hugo Chávez’s real legacy is the transformation of the richest nation in Latin America into one of the poorest.
@DanielDiMartino
3
39
86
Our publication is anchored in the conviction that liberal democracy is worth defending and authoritarianism—especially new forms of it that are ascendant today—is worth opposing. That's our starting point.
If that resonates with you, help us get the word out about our project.
1
23
74
"Committed classical liberals are tempted to be too depressed. But we should reject a counsel of despair. Liberalism remains the only workable operating system for a world of peace, growth, and progress." —
@David_Boaz
1
28
57
The latest entry in our series on liberalism and religion is on Hinduism and it is by
@ShashiTharoor
, award-winning author of 25 books and current third-term member of the Indian Parliament.
3
25
53
Fascinating conversation between
@zackbeauchamp
and
@pbmehta
on India and the history of liberalism.
5
12
46
Our editor in chief,
@shikhadalmia
, along with our contributors
@jon_rauch
,
@veroderugy
,
@radleybalko
,
@tomgpalmer
,
@AndrewRCraig
, and Aaron Ross Powell remember the life and legacy of classical liberal stalwart David Boaz.
0
16
39
Musk cheered on the AGs of Texas and Missouri who opened criminal investigations into Media Matters, who had published critical but factual reports about Musk's X.
Should a "free speech absolutist" be harnessing state power to punish 1A-protected speech?
0
8
38
Much like pro-Castro leftists of yore, today’s pro-Putin rightists are fundamentally anti-American. They hate American global leadership and power. They hate American foreign policy and national security institutions.
@CathyYoung63
2
7
37
True liberals, who understand the enormous stakes in the battle against 21st century forms of illiberalism, need to set aside their existing policy disagreements and come together in a renewed defense of core liberal democratic values and institutions.
1
11
28
New
@UnPopulistMag
, an interview with
@kkdumez
on how Evangelical Christianity transformed from a wide-ranging, ideologically diverse, inclusive community into a movement for militant patriarchal nationalism.
1
10
24
In “Why I Am Not A Conservative,” F.A. Hayek notes that the right is defined, above all else, by the conviction that there are “recognizably superior persons” in society, and that they deserve more than others.
@MattPolProf
2
7
23
The completely baseless narrative that migrants are illegally voting in droves to help Democrats win is now pervasive on the right, thanks to indefatigable boosting of it by Musk, Trump, and others.
@walterolson
meticulously demolishes this claim.
3
13
21
Where you are situated on the left-right continuum matters far less than whether you stand for liberal democracy against its various illiberal alternatives.
#LibCon2024
0
9
22
Where does our current situation leave classical liberals who wish to restrain government power? Right where we’ve always been: advocating the philosophy of freedom—economic freedom, personal freedom, political freedom, and human rights.
@David_Boaz
1
9
21
If Swift had come out for MAGA, the right would've embraced her with a passion. Instead, they've convinced themselves that she will endorse Biden, lift him into a second term, and usher in a thousand years of woke socialist enslavement.
@SteveChapman13
2
2
22
The Social Security Administration Trustees found that illegal immigrants paid into Social Security billions more than they received in benefits.
@David_J_Bier
0
7
22
The Constitution doesn’t describe all the limits on the presidency because the Framers assumed the office would be held by principled leaders like Washington who put the country’s interest first. That ... turned out to be a miscalculation.
@TCBurrus
3
6
22
Ideologies aren’t just descriptions of the political lay of the land but also contain embedded visions for how society should be. They have a *world-making* and not just a *world-representing* aspect. Ideology blends the descriptive with the prescriptive.
1
8
21
Renée DiResta describes how a loose coalition of influencers mobilized on social media and targeted her for the crime of flagging lies and misinformation.
@jon_rauch
0
6
21
We are extremely excited to announce
@bernybelvedere
as our new Senior Editor!
Some personal news, or, ahem,🚨🚨 PERSONAL NEWS!! 🚨🚨
Today is my last day at
@ArcDigi
, where I’ve been EIC for the past 7 years (😢)
But what makes this a happy post, rather than an overall sad one, is that I'm thrilled to announce I'm the new Senior Editor of
@UnPopulistMag
22
16
180
0
6
21
The author of a white nationalist screed invoking the Nazi slogan “blood and soil” became operations director for the Bull Moose Project, an organization committed to permanently establishing Trumpism as the Republican Party’s future.
@jasonahart
0
11
19
"The Palestinian cause does not deserve Hamas. And the Israeli cause deserves a sober response to this outfit’s depravity." -
@akiva_malamet
&
@shikhadalmia
1
7
19
Our latest video depicts
@TuckerCarlson
's weird transformation from libertarianism into a full-blown, MAGA populist Russian propagandist.
2
7
19
In recent decades, a populist, authoritarian pandemic has been spreading across the world.
Liberal institutions, fundamental to markets, democracy, and civil society have been weakened or started to crumble.
This is worth opposing with all our might.
0
4
17
The right's reactionary spirit is its reflexive opposition to equality and its attraction to the rule of "superior persons" and "established hierarchies," as F.A. Hayek once observed.
Read
@MattPolProf
's debut in our pages.
0
11
17
Tim Scott will never be able to shake that a central part of his legacy now is this: when his supporters, his party, and the conservative movement that he is a part of needed him the most, he chose to be a Trump-enabler.
@bernybelvedere
3
5
18
Great new
@UnPopulistMag
roundtable interview with
@walterolson
. "If you're going to sacrifice perfect justice for social peace, you need to get the social peace. Trump has not taken the Nixon deal.”
1
8
17
New
#ReImaginingLIberty
with
@MattPolProf
:
"“Ultimately, the reality is that I just don't believe that there are recognizably superior persons."
3
6
18
For the last several months,
@elonmusk
has been repeatedly alleging that America has a serious noncitizen voting problem.
Elon says he's following the evidence. If that's so, he should have no problem addressing
@walterolson
's refutation of his claims.
3
5
18
The Biden administration's unfortunate decision to thwart bipartisan surveillance reforms could pave the way for a future rogue president's ability to spy on opponents, argues the Brennan Center's
@LizaGoitein
.
A must-read essay.
1
8
17
"We need to transcend stale left-right tribal entities and forge a politics based on a commitment to liberal values."
—
@shikhadalmia
at
#LibCon2024
0
12
17
Two of Europe’s worst have suffered setbacks.
Read these two short dispatches
@dmdebruijn
on Geert Wilders
@h_david_baer
on Viktor Orban
1
8
17
“The rock stars of Iran were Hannah Arendt and Karl Popper and Václav Havel—for me, personally, Czesław Miłosz, Joseph Brodsky, Szymborska, Gombrowicz, my God. We were subverting the regime by just being ourselves and by reading these texts.”—
@azarnafisi
1
10
17
Liberalism for the 21st Century, the most important conclave of liberals held within living memory, is right around the corner.
Featuring:
@shikhadalmia
,
@jtlevy
,
@samuelmoyn
,
@hbarkey
,
@azarnafisi
,
@LeonKrauze
,
@jon_rauch
,
@leedrutman
,
@evefairbanks
, and many more
2
6
17
Today, Venezuela goes to the polls.
Will the socialist populist autocrat, Maduro, rig another election?
Or will the opposition, spearheaded by the so-called Iron Lady of Venezuela, be victorious?
Read
@DanielDiMartino
on Venezuela’s election.
0
7
17
🚨🚨🚨
Bret Weinstein, the IDW all-star and former biology professor, weaves grand conspiratorial narratives, by "just asking questions," of shadowy elites plotting a totalitarian takeover.
Must read from
@mattjj89
1
4
16
Vladimir Putin is a totalitarian, not a mere authoritarian. It's important to see him clearly for what he is.
@AviezerT
0
0
16
The liberal order advances peace, prosperity, and human dignity.
Read
@FukuyamaFrancis
on the triple justification for liberalism.
3
9
16
Alabama's highest court effectively banned IVF, one of the most widely-used fertility treatments in the U.S.
When lawmakers scrambled to immunize health providers from prosecution, they left the underlying law intact.
@5DollarFeminist
explains
1
8
16
Right-wing populism is surging in Europe and realigning its politics in an illiberal direction.
@Yascha_Mounk
1
10
16
Putin’s use of the past is selectively one-dimensional: for him, history serves as a resource he can cynically draw on to justify his expansionist thirst. The past is just there to give him license to seize what he wants.
@anders_aslund
🔥
0
5
15
"It is safe to assume that the man charged with securing national security severely jeopardized it."
New at
#TheUnPopulist
by
@RosenzweigP
.
1
4
15
We should see antisemitism and Islamophobia as expressions of the same impulse: to make it dangerous to be any kind of “other" in America, and to treat ethnic, religious, and other differences as irreversibly foreign and inauthentic.
@emilyctamkin
2
3
15
While Buckley often hesitated to “punch right,” he nevertheless rendered certain ideas and people beyond the pale. Compare that with the “no enemies to the right” approach of contemporary reactionaries like Michael Anton and Christopher Rufo.
@joestieb
0
5
15
State capitalism, plagued by cronyism, short-term thinking, and political opportunism may temporarily preserve some legacy industries and jobs, but only at the cost of stunting or strangling emerging ones.
@OrrellAEI
0
5
14
Talking liberal internationalism at
@ismapolicy
’s
#LibCon2024
With
@DMiliband
,
@MaxBoot
,
@SlaughterAM
, and
@samuelmoyn
0
4
15
In Venezuela, the ruling socialist regime, first democratically elected in December of 1998, has remained in power through election fraud and centralized control of the state ever since.
@DanielDiMartino
0
4
15
So many of you told us you greatly enjoyed
@ismapolicy
's inaugural Liberalism for the 21st Century conference (
#LibCon2024
). We had a blast, too.
This is only the beginning.
2
7
14
Undocumented immigrants are less likely to be criminals than native-born Americans.
@AlexNowrasteh
0
6
14
Standard-fare political opportunism is one thing—but wholeheartedly, effusively, unreservedly backing a man who would burn down our entire political system if it meant he could stay in power is something entirely different.
@bernybelvedere
3
5
14
"The seeds have now been sown for Poland to break out of its traditional political confines, potentially opening the door for it to pursue a more dynamic, democratic, yet still fundamentally Polish future."
@Michal_Kranz
1
5
13
A roundup of reactions, curated by
@bernybelvedere
and
@landryeayres
, to the Supreme Court’s immunity decision—featuring
@alanfeuer
,
@jacklgoldsmith
,
@donmoyn
,
@AdamSerwer
,
@jaywillis
,
@DavidAFrench
,
@kimwehle
,
@walterolson
,
@IlyaSomin
, and more.
0
7
14
Republicans want to impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas over his handling of the border.
The only problem? He’s stayed within the bounds of the Constitution. Republicans, meanwhile, have not.
Read
@David_J_Bier
’s deep dive.
1
2
14
Trump constantly complains that he is singled out for abuse by the criminal justice system. But the reality is Trump's been treated far better and received more preferential treatment than just about anyone ever ensnared by the law.
@radleybalko
0
9
14
This
#LibCon2024
panel was on 🔥
@zackbeauchamp
,
@anneapplebaum
,
@azarnafisi
,
@hbarkey
The discussion centered on liberalism beyond the West. The panelists talked about Poland, Iran, Turkey, and other places. Don’t miss excellent conversation.
0
7
14
Three weeks from now, in Washington, DC,
@ismapolicy
is convening the most significant gathering of liberal thinkers in recent memory.
With
@BillGalston
,
@jadler1969
,
@BillKristol
,
@katieharbath
,
@JosephMajkut
,
@DaliborRohac
,
@MaxBoot
,
@stephen_macedo
,
@Tovawang1
, and many more
1
7
14
"It is difficult to see how Netanyahu, the great political survivor, will survive the events of October 7th. His reputation as “Mr. Security” is in tatters and it is impossible to see how it could possibly recover."
- Amichai Magen
1
9
13
“Liberalism starts with a moral and philosophical principle: that the purpose of government is to encourage or permit individuals to live life according to their own vision of what it means to be a good person—to live a meaningful life."
—
@zackbeauchamp
0
1
13
Bret Weinstein’s hour-long appearance on Tucker's show gave him an opportunity to present a master narrative about Covid, the coming age of global totalitarianism, and the heroic dissidents (like himself) risking their lives to stop it.
@mattjj89
0
3
13
The Supreme Court's immunity ruling will make it hard to punish Trump for his past lawlessness, while inviting future abuses.
New from Jacob T. Levy (
@jtlevy
):
1
8
13
Our publication exists to critically cover authoritarianism in all its forms.
If this mission resonates with you, follow us.
It's free!
2
7
13
A month ago, we discussed the Heritage-sponsored Bull Moose Project with
@jasonahart
.
You can read the interview for free here:
1
12
13
Skepticism of free markets, which has historically been the province of the political left, is increasingly embraced by thinkers and elected officials on the right.
@OrrellAEI
0
9
13
Navalny is a warning—but also a beacon. A hero like Navalny sets a standard of courage we should be ashamed not to follow—particularly because it is so much easier for us.
@Tracinski
0
3
12
New
@UnPopulistMag
by
@SteveChapman13
:
"What stands out in his public conduct are his flair for demagoguery, his supine fealty to Trump, his intellectual dishonesty, and his distrust of individual freedom – not his virtues, that is, but his vices."
0
3
12
The Biden administration recently won a legislative battle to ensure that the next president will have robust access to warrantless surveillance powers. This is very bad.
@LizaGoitein
0
4
12
It’s fair to worry about the U.S. deficit and a lack of fiscal discipline in Washington. But comparing the U.S. and Soviet economies as Niall Ferguson does in his debut Free Press essay isn’t just invidious—it’s historically illiterate.
@mattjj89
0
4
12
Trump’s brand of illiberal populism has exhibited more than a passing resemblance to Murray Rothbard’s paleolibertarianism, embodying the reactionary ethos that saw tearing down institutions as a crucial step, even if it required an unrestrained autocrat.
1
5
12
We can have free and fair elections, or we can have an election with Trump treated as a normal valid candidate, but we cannot have both.
@AndrewRCraig
0
3
12
“Dems dumped Biden but the GOP embraced Trump because they were both acting in accordance with their voters’ wishes. The only difference is that Democratic voters care about the fitness for office of their candidate.” —
@shikhadalmia
1
4
12
Hey
@jonstewart
, in the spirit of good-faith discussion, does this article convince you that you're wrong about Biden vs. Trump being "the rematch nobody wanted"?
Would love to hear your thoughts!
1
1
12
“The idea of Russia as a bulwark of traditionalism and ‘anti-woke’ resistance is an image the Putin regime deliberately cultivates—not only to appeal to its own population’s biases but to win friends among conservatives in the West.”
@CathyYoung63
🔥
0
4
12
Right-wing warriors don’t want a functioning immigration system. They want to use immigration as a renewable source of reactionary hysteria—the kind that reliably animates voters to go to the polls.
@tzimmer_history
0
3
12
We care deeply about advancing a liberalism for the 21st century.
Are you with us?
1
6
12
“In Venezuela, the only thing the people have left is hope.” —
@DanielDiMartino
A historic opposition movement, powered by extraordinary popular support and indefatigable hope, expects to win the election—that is, if Maduro doesn’t ultimately steal it.
0
2
12
"It isn’t that all the heterodox types have gone full MAGA. It’s just that they seem to loathe racial and social justice activists much more than they oppose Trump, or favor reform."
@radleybalko
🔥
1
4
11
🚨 New Video 🚨
Today, an increasing number of people around the world live in nations experiencing democratic backsliding. And yet, there are more elections than ever. That seems contradictory.
@landryeayres
explains.
0
3
10
It would be nice if the media were up-front about the uncomfortable reality that Trump is not just running for president but running to be a dictator.
0
6
10
One rationale Ron DeSantis offered for his recent decision to ban synthetic meat in Florida is that it was a necessary move to counter the WEF's “globalist agenda” to “force the world to eat fake meat and bugs."
@LukeHallam01
0
2
10
Never forget that Donald Trump, then commander-in-chief, called on military people to join him at the front of the crowd at his rally on January 6 in which he’d just claimed that “we didn’t lose” and that the election involved “theft.”
@thomasashull
0
3
11
There is an old argument that atheism is incompatible with a free society because the core ideas of liberalism are grounded in religion. So without faith, in this view, the state is our only God.
These fears are not well-grounded.
@Tracinski
1
4
10
Though Section 3 might be triggered by past wrongdoing, its premise is that past wrongdoing is predictive.
This makes its purpose prospective rather than retrospective—to protect the constitutional order going forward, not merely to punish a past action.
0
5
11
The claim that illegal voting is swaying American elections is nothing if not sensational. Those who levy sensational charges should bear the burden of proving them. But they haven't.
@walterolson
1
2
11
"Populism" has a number of different, overlapping, and sometimes conflicting, definitions. We want to help provide a clear one.
@landryeayres
2
6
11
We are thrilled to announce Liberalism for the 21st Century, an absolute game-changer of a conference convened by our publisher,
@ismapolicy
.
This is set to be the most important conclave of liberals held within living memory. You won’t want to miss it.
0
8
11
We've been running a well-received series on the compatibility of liberalism and the world's major religions, but after entries on Judaism, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, something was missing.
Enter:
@Tracinski
on atheism.
1
4
10
We’re convening the biggest gathering of liberals in living memory next month. Hope to see you there!
0
2
10
For our second video,
@landryeayres
guides us on one of the most important questions of our time:
What is populism, and why is it such a destructive force in society?
1
5
10
Day 2 of
@ismapolicy
’s
#LibCon2024
is 🔥
Amazing panel on postliberal critiques by
@jtlevy
,
@BillGalston
,
@DavidAFrench
, and Mark Lilla
0
3
10
New
@UnPopulistMag
by Emily Chamlee-Wright. "The liberal ideal that respects the dignity and autonomy of individual human beings feels like a frustratingly imperfect solution. But it’s the best one we have for ensuring a humane, albeit imperfect, world."
0
5
10
Elon Musk, a self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist," has aggressively deployed government power to kill what he calls the "woke mind virus."
0
8
10
America needs a healthy, mainstream center-right party that is committed to liberal democracy. But we will not get that back until we accept how far removed today’s Republican Party is from one.
@aselrod
1
5
10
Our publication exists to defend liberal democracy and critically cover the rise of new forms of authoritarianism all over the world.
If this project resonates with you, follow us. It's free!
0
1
10
When antisemitism and Islamophobia are pitted against each other as if they're competing interests rather than isomorphic hatreds, as if they're mutually exclusive concerns rather than reinforcing bigotries, it hurts our ability to fight each—
@emilyctamkin
1
5
10
