Yonatan Morse

Your epistemological preferences give you a truth, but not the truth.

I don't gripe much about the profession of political science, but a word of advice to reviewers - review the project on its own terms, not in terms of what you would do or what you think it should be.

Opinion | What Is Lost When We Scare Away Foreign Students The immigration crackdown has come to America’s campuses.

This speaks to the real contributions international students and faculty make every day, and the real harm we are all facing : www.nytimes.com/2025/04/19/o...

Economic Crises and the Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes Cambridge Core - Asian Studies - Economic Crises and the Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes

So. I wrote a dissertation on how economic crises can lead to the breakdown of authoritarian regimes.

Here are three key point to keep in mind as you watch the news this week 🧵

Rubio Orders U.S. Diplomats to Scour Student Visa Applicants’ Social Media (Gift Article) The order comes as President Trump expands deportation efforts, including of students who have spoken out in support of Palestinians during Israel’s war in Gaza.

Utterly disgraceful, undiplomatic, counterproductive, and potentially unconstitutional behavior from the nation's top diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The actions described in this article are a far greater threat to US foreign policy than any student op-ed.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/u...

U.S. democracy is under attack. Here are some lessons for democracy’s defenders. A global study of democratic backsliding and resilience offers ways to resist authoritarian attacks.

New op-ed out @goodauth.bsky.social based on our global research w Ken Roberts, @muratsomer-eng.bsky.social @jennifermccoy.bsky.social
Timely lessons re pressure on institutions and nature of pro-democracy coalitions

goodauthority.org/news/us-demo...

Can't talk right now, I'm editing my 'AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY IS BEING RUN BY THE DUMBEST MOTHERFUCKERS IN THE COUNTRY' hot take.

These are the kinds of strategic dilemmas foisted on oppositions in electoral autocracies all the time. It’s hard to balance short term vs long term goals, contesting the rules vs playing by the rules. Key is to move on and maintain unity.

Hey @apsa.bsky.social would it maybe be possible for the American POLITICAL SCIENCE Association to say something, anything, about the current assault on your member institutions of higher education?

The Democratic Party’s problems are not about being moderate or left. That’s a consultant and pundit red herring

The problems are in party organization, the culture of “it’s their turn” nominations, candidate recruitment, gerontocracy, inability to shape media topics, and coming off hella lame

This is not about fighting antisemitism. This is all about silencing opposing views. Today it’s pro-Palestine, tomorrow it’s pro-Ukraine, and then it’s just deporting whomever they don’t like. And then everyone is silent.

"Why doesn't somebody stop this?" A little background on the Constitution and executive power

I wrote a bit about the presidency and the Constitution

goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/why-doesnt...

Psst... Everyone Relies on the Government Some commentators believe that academia is reaping the whirlwind. Are they right?

While I'm at #ISA2025, posting will be light. But I had some thoughts about whether -- as @mcmegan.bsky.social suggested last week -- the American academy is paying the price for its political and institutional sins. danieldrezner.substack.com/p/psst-every...

I signed this letter alongside ~660 of my colleagues detailing the unlawful, troubling actions of the Trump administration's first days & expressing my concern as a political scientist. I will also be sending it to my reps. If you're in the field, you can still sign: drive.google.com/file/d/1lGk2...

The Path to American Authoritarianism What comes after democratic breakdown.

www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state... This is by far the best, clearest and most realistic analysis of what we're in for that I've seen.

Elon Musk Weaponizes the Government The billionaire is turning the U.S. government’s own strategy against itself.

Now up on @lawfare.bsky.social www.lawfaremedia.org/article/elon... "Musk is seemingly doing to the U.S. government what the U.S. government once did to the rest of the world: refashioning the plumbing ... into a political weapon against his adversaries. "

The Story That Perfectly Encapsulates Trump 2.0's Foreign Policy Carnage There has been a tsunami of awful foreign policy news. Here is the perfect story to symbolize the entirety of the shitstorm.

There's so much bad foreign policy news. But I think the CIA story is the one that perfectly encapsulates how Trump is eviscerating U.S. national security. danieldrezner.substack.com/p/the-story-...

Personal Discretion Over the Treasury's Payments System Means the End of Democracy If the Court and federal workers fail to stop Elon Musk, we are heading for authoritarianism.

The NYT asked me to write an op-ed on Musk and the Treasury and then took a pass. I hope it will still get read.

If you want to know how tariffs work, forget Google, read this: goodauthority.org/news/tariffs...

This is insane.

The Logic of Destruction And how to resist it

The logic of the coup that is going on now. And how to resist it.
snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-...

Random DOGE "personnel" are running around demanding access to classified information from government files in the latest development in the rolling quasi-coup we're facing www.cnn.com/2025/02/02/p... Illegal without proper clearance

Elon Musk’s Team Now Has Access to Treasury’s Payments System Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave Mr. Musk’s representatives at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending.

1/ Musk seeking control over nerve systems of the federal government. As someone who spent a decade studying how centralized information systems are used for coercion this is a five alarm fire. We need to name it, identify risks, and seek to mitigate their impacts.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/u...