@profstevensmith
Political scientist, ASU and Wash U. Congress, elections, public opinion, survey research. Husband, dad, granddad. RT ≠ endorsement. Personal views. https://stevesnotes.substack.com https://sites.wustl.edu/smith/
Was inevitable.
Everyone should watch. Needed reminders about modern Russian history. Insights on Putin. Essential thoughts about Ukraine.
We cannot do enough to demand support for Ukraine.
Yes, nicely done (but no need to bury the findings deep in the paper).
Support Ukraine!
Including video taken within the voting booth and completing mail ballots.
Talarico is inventing his own version of liberal populism: The corrupt, morally bankrupt super rich vs the rest of us. Not-so-much policy, more picking a fight.
The constitutional originalists and textualists always turn stone cold silent when it comes to making war.
Taking bets on when the administration asks for a defense supplemental
"Everything that they do is calculatedly cruel."
In the latest episode of Bulwark Takes, @sarahlongwell25.bsky.social, @timmiller.bsky.social, and @jvl.bsky.social visit the Whipple Building and interview locals standing watch:
@ninatotenberg.bsky.social's comments worth reading, as always.
Ah. To get a spot on MS NOW.
My thought about Gallego's endorsement in the Maine primary race: Why?
Absolutely. The trend is not favorable to the current majority party.
For those of you (like me) worried about talk of DT declaring an emergency and imposing election law by fiat, you might watch "Spooks" (MI5) Season 5, Episodes 1 & 2.
Larry Ellison is buying CNN. That’s a disaster www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEwy...
The first US Cabinet happened in 1789.
Smith SS, Rickert P. Just One of Those Things: Parties and Exclusive Committees in the U.S. House. Studies in American Political Development. 2025;39(1):26-43. doi:10.1017/S0898588X24000130
This happened in stages. Early 1950s: allowing more members to have two assignments. 60s-90s: regular use of 3 categories of committees. 90s onward: more waivers of assignment limitations, even "exclusive" committees became anything but. Eg., all Rules members have second major assignments.
Last night, Trump bragged about how he and Republicans "lifted" 2.4 million Americans off of food stamps.
The reality is that their Big Ugly Bill kicked 2.4 million hungry Americans, including many children, off of vital food assistance programs.
Here's what else it did.
Ukraine?
Mr President, support Ukraine.
Tomorrow everyone will be asking: when will the Russo-Ukrainian war end? The right question is: what can we do to make the Russian invasion fail?
The pressure was inevitable, the response is not. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/21/u...
Merely Kavanaugh's hunch about the administrative incompetence of this administration. Somehow Kavanaugh finds this a basis for ruling on a vital constitutional issue.
What concessions have Trump’s team got from Russia in a year of negotiations? I can’t think of one. Meanwhile the US has cut all military aid to Ukraine, weakening their position. It doesn't feel like Trump wants to negotiate a just and sustainable peace. My latest:
Daley
Applications to intern at MS NOW (f/k/a MSNBC) are due soon: jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Versant3/744...
