Matthew Cooper

Trump’s Iranian Gambit: It Didn't Have to Come to This The president scuttled the Obama-era agreement to limit Iran's nuclear program, leaving us blind and with few allies.

Trump’s Iranian Gambit: It Didn't Have to Come to This washingtonmonthly.com/2026/02/28/t...

The Architect of Empathy: Suzannah Lessard (1944-2026) Our Suzannah Lessard, a celebrated author and progeny of Stanford White, had a tumultuous upbringing and a nuanced moral imagination.

My tribute to Suzannah Lessard. washingtonmonthly.com/2026/03/04/t...

The Architect of Empathy: Suzannah Lessard (1944-2026) Our Suzannah Lessard, a celebrated author and progeny of Stanford White, had a tumultuous upbringing and a nuanced moral imagination.

Suzannah Lessard, one of the first editors of the Washington Monthly, died in January at age 81.

@mattizcoop.bsky.social writes in memoriam.

Trump’s Iran Strike: What It Says About Russia—and Us If Russia were stronger, this never would have happened. If Trump weren’t so authoritarian, he might not have risked it.

Trump’s Iran Strike: What It Says About Russia—and Us washingtonmonthly.com/2026/02/28/t...

Trump’s Iranian Gambit: It Didn't Have to Come to This The president scuttled the Obama-era agreement to limit Iran's nuclear program, leaving us blind and with few allies.

NEW @mattizcoop.bsky.social in @washingtonmonthly.com

“sticking with the JCPOA … would have made sense. We’d still have our allies. We wouldn’t be alone, save for Israel.”

washingtonmonthly.com/2026/02/28/t...

Trump’s Iranian Gambit: It Didn't Have to Come to This The president scuttled the Obama-era agreement to limit Iran's nuclear program, leaving us blind and with few allies.

Me in the @washingtonmonthly.com

washingtonmonthly.com/2026/02/28/t...

Amnesty Transactional Donald Trump has stretched the pardon power beyond any precedent, turning a constitutional safeguard into a tool of personal abuse.

Terrific from @garrettepps.bsky.social in the @washingtonmonthly.com Amnesty Transactional washingtonmonthly.com/2026/01/14/a...

Venezuela and the Dawn of the Don-roe Doctrine The U.S. assault on Venezuela and ouster of its president was a military success. But now for the hard part.

"Venezuela and the Dawn of the Don-roe Doctrine." Very smart take from @markoskounalakis.com in the @washingtonmonthly.com washingtonmonthly.com/2026/01/03/t...

You should write it

He exposed the myth of the South’s ‘Lost Cause.’ His death shook Richmond. William “Bill” Martin, 71, died Sunday, Dec. 28, a day after being struck by a car near the Valentine local history museum where he had served as director more than 30 years.

Bill Martin has been one of the most beloved and influential figures in the movement to retell Richmond's story.

Over the weekend, he was struck by a vehicle and killed. His sudden loss has brought an outpouring of grief and shock from the community.

Lot in here from @justinbaragona.bsky.social including call sheets from next week’s unveiling of the new CBS Evening News.

Save Humphrey’s Executor. Save the Supreme Court (Sort Of) Overturning Humphrey’s Executor would gut independent agencies. The Supreme Court still has a principled way out.

Not that I'm expecting it, but I explain in Washington Monthly why upholding Congress's power to create independent multimember agencies could coexist with the Roberts Court's other holdings on POTUS removal power and would enhance the Court's legitimacy. washingtonmonthly.com/2026/01/02/s...

Save Humphrey’s Executor. Save the Supreme Court (Sort Of) Overturning Humphrey’s Executor would gut independent agencies. The Supreme Court still has a principled way out.

A modest proposal for how the justices can do the right thing and be true to themselves as they decide the fate of independent agencies. From @petermshane.bsky.social:

washingtonmonthly.com/2026/01/02/s...

China’s Trade Surplus Climbs Past $1 Trillion for First Time

China’s predatory economy is the problem. Uniting with our allies to fight back is the only sensible response. Instead, Trump is undermining our allies, and hence we are losing. There was an alternative. /1 www.nytimes.com/2025/12/07/b...

How Democrats Won Virginia and New Jersey The affordability message, national-security branding, and anti-Trump strategy that powered Spanberger and Sherrill to double-digit wins.

On our podcast, @mattizcoop.bsky.social and @anne-s-kim.bsky.social go behind the scenes with Angela Kuefler, the pollster who helped engineer the historic victories of governors-elect Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill.

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/12/03/h...

Notes on Your American Canto Draft I read it. Everyone deserves a good editor, even people who don’t get one. Olivia, Thank you so much for this. I’m impressed with the scope of your ambition...

Ok, however much you've thought about this Nuzzi business, I promise I've thought about it more.

newsletter.anamariecox.com/archive/note...

What It Takes to Defeat the Leaf Blowers To end the use of gas-powered blowers, advocates in one New Jersey town focused on public health and made their case directly to local elected leaders.

Great new @bloomberg.com piece by Jessica Stolzberg on ongoing struggle against stupidest and most harmful part of current 'Conspicuous Consumption' yard hygiene.

The diff this has made in DC is ... incredible.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Get yourself someone who righteously hates something as much as @jfallows.bsky.social hates leaf blowers (I’m with him! at least go electric)

The Magical Thinking Behind Graham Platner’s Rise Progressives are backing a Nazi-tattooed amateur over Gov. Janet Mills, a feminist who expanded Medicaid and made community college free.

Once again, @glastris.bsky.social does a masterful job piloting a principled magazine. Compare this to the vile “I have no view on the Nazi tattoo” stance taken by the Prospect’s editor.

Commentary: A different way to rank colleges — Elwood Watson Commentary: Washington Monthly has published rankings with the intent of avoiding what the most prestigious rankings seek to reward: an institution’s wealth, prestige, and exclusivity.

Elwood Watson of East Tennessee State takes the measure of various college rankings and finds @washingtonmonthly.com to be the best for most students. www.myjournalcourier.com/opinion/arti...

Trump Has Project 2025 But the Democrats Have No Plan and They Need to Go On the Offensive With One November 3, 2025 - Paul Glastris backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

We are joined by @glastris.bsky.social to discuss how Democrats can win back voters by creating their own response to Project 2025. We discuss this new series at The Washington Monthly, including his article, “How the Democrats Can Play Offense” soundcloud.com/user-8304426...

The Judge Standing up to Trump’s Portland Invasion A report on the Justice Department’s Orwellian arguments and how a Trump-nominated jurist is holding the line for democracy.

In Portland, our intrepid legal affairs editor @garrettepps.bsky.social braves ICE and kombucha to report on the Justice Department’s Orwellian arguments and how a Trump-nominated jurist is holding the line for democracy.

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/10/06/t...

Great reporting from @washingtonmonthly.com Contributing Editor @timothynoah.bsky.social.

The New Deal Masterpieces Threatened by Trump’s D.C. Downsizing Your great-grandparents paid Ben Shahn and Philip Guston to create gorgeous public murals. Next year they could be rubble.

This weekend is a good time to catch up on my stories about Trump’s imminent sale and likely destruction of a 1940 government building that one expert calls “the Sistine Chapel of New Deal art.”

Part one:

newrepublic.com/article/2010...

Part two:

newrepublic.com/article/2012...

Your Cheat Sheet to the 2025 General Elections - Bolts Four contests have come to largely define the 2025 elections: the elections to lead New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City, plus California’s redistricting measure. But there’s so much else... Read M...

As always, @boltsmag.org puts out a great guide to all the elections coming up.

"We’ve identified more than 180 key elections that will be decided this fall—from mayors and governors to school boards and judges—and explain why they matter."

boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...

Trump’s shutdown strategy is far more radical than you know White House budget director Russell Vought is waging war on the government, secularism, and modernity itself

The deep dive that @donmoyn.bsky.social and I did into what Russell Vought and Donald Trump are seeking in their shutdown is now published with transcript and show notes.

We also covered the history of right-wing public administration and Vought's religious extremism, and much more!

Brett Kavanaugh Hits the Street! Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh greenlit racial profiling. How the jurist sees an envision an ICE agent confronting a Hispanic Appearing Person.

Brett Kavanaugh Hits the Street! Very funny from @garrettepps.bsky.social in the @washingtonmonthly.com washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/25/b...

They are not hiding it, people who don't see it at this point are choosing not to