Abe Silberstein
@abesilbe.bsky.social
Ph.D. Student in History and Jewish Studies at New York University. Interested in modern political history, labor, migration, diaspora, and religion.
Pinned
Abe Silberstein
@abesilbe.bsky.social
· Aug 19
After a long and productive break, I think I am ready to use social media in moderation again. Or until I delete again. Anyway, here goes.
Reposted by Abe Silberstein
The Biden theory of everything was that talking about anything from the Trump Administration would only make it harder for the country to move past it & get back to normal. It could not have failed more dramatically.
I get why the Trump DOJ would bury a letter from one convicted child molester to another describing Trump as a fellow traveler.
But Epstein’s suicide was in 2019, which means that it was Biden’s DOJ that sat on this for most of the time, while conspiracy theories raged.
But Epstein’s suicide was in 2019, which means that it was Biden’s DOJ that sat on this for most of the time, while conspiracy theories raged.
December 23, 2025 at 1:27 PM
The Biden theory of everything was that talking about anything from the Trump Administration would only make it harder for the country to move past it & get back to normal. It could not have failed more dramatically.
If Ben Rhodes had said anything like this in 2015, there would have been a full on meltdown by pro-Israelists.
US accuses Israel of ‘provoking’ Arab world after Katz’s call for Gaza settlements
* * *
www.timesofisrael.com
December 23, 2025 at 9:47 PM
If Ben Rhodes had said anything like this in 2015, there would have been a full on meltdown by pro-Israelists.
A little surprised no one has written a biography of Max Shachtman, especially given the extensive archive at NYU.
December 22, 2025 at 10:26 PM
A little surprised no one has written a biography of Max Shachtman, especially given the extensive archive at NYU.
What's remarkable about this scenario suggested by the Vice President of the United States is that it's entirely fictional. No one in the United States has had to apologize for being white. Not even Robin DiAngelo's exercises, which helped corporate America avoid a reckoning in 2020, were so crude.
I would apologize for being white, except that a lot of the people most obsessed with having to supposedly apologize for being white wouldn't actually consider me white in the first place. So do I apologize or not? This is so confusing!
JD Vance: "In the United States of America you don't have to apologize for being white anymore"
December 22, 2025 at 9:57 PM
What's remarkable about this scenario suggested by the Vice President of the United States is that it's entirely fictional. No one in the United States has had to apologize for being white. Not even Robin DiAngelo's exercises, which helped corporate America avoid a reckoning in 2020, were so crude.
Reposted by Abe Silberstein
Candace Owens is a charlatan & a conspiracist. So is Tucker Carlson. But u know what? So is Donald Trump. And bcuz of his position, Trump is a much bigger threat. So it’s not courageous for voices on the right to condemn Owens & Carlson but still support Trump. It’s cowardly. And hypocritical.
December 22, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Candace Owens is a charlatan & a conspiracist. So is Tucker Carlson. But u know what? So is Donald Trump. And bcuz of his position, Trump is a much bigger threat. So it’s not courageous for voices on the right to condemn Owens & Carlson but still support Trump. It’s cowardly. And hypocritical.
A sobering corrective of some of the more optimistic readings of Satmar's outreach to Mamdani. The Haredi street is moving further and further right—notwithstanding any pragmatism from rabbinical or community leaders.
Can Zohran Mamdani Reverse Ultra-Orthodox Jews’ Drift Towards the Far Right? | ARC: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera
If you looked at the diversity of New Yorkers present at Zohran Mamdani’s November 4 victory party, Haredi rabbis Moshe Indig and Moshe Hoffman didn’t look too out of place. Having endorsed Mamdani ju...
arcmag.org
December 22, 2025 at 8:29 PM
A sobering corrective of some of the more optimistic readings of Satmar's outreach to Mamdani. The Haredi street is moving further and further right—notwithstanding any pragmatism from rabbinical or community leaders.
Reposted by Abe Silberstein
There is perhaps no greater example of "Leopards eating faces" than all of the right-wing Jews resigning from the Heritage Foundation because they've discovered that right-wing nationalist politics is not ultimately good for the Jews. www.nationalreview.com/news/exclusi...
Exclusive: Resignations Continue at Heritage Foundation amid Frustrations with Leadership | National Review
The staffers are leaving for Advancing American Freedom, a conservative advocacy group founded by Mike Pence.
www.nationalreview.com
December 22, 2025 at 6:22 PM
There is perhaps no greater example of "Leopards eating faces" than all of the right-wing Jews resigning from the Heritage Foundation because they've discovered that right-wing nationalist politics is not ultimately good for the Jews. www.nationalreview.com/news/exclusi...
I don't care for the fixation on the Harper's letter. Some people who signed it, like Nadine Strassen and Zephyr Teachout, were sincere. Others, like Bari Weiss, were frauds. Call out the frauds.
December 22, 2025 at 4:16 PM
I don't care for the fixation on the Harper's letter. Some people who signed it, like Nadine Strassen and Zephyr Teachout, were sincere. Others, like Bari Weiss, were frauds. Call out the frauds.
One must remember that Bari does not have a minute of real journalism experience. She came up through opinion pages before founding a successful blog. Her "concerns" are professionally worthless.
CBS News EIC Bari Weiss had concerns about the CECOT piece, I’m told. The network decided to hold the segment pending, among other things, comment or an interview with White House officials next year…
An Editor’s Note from 60 Minutes
December 22, 2025 at 3:14 AM
One must remember that Bari does not have a minute of real journalism experience. She came up through opinion pages before founding a successful blog. Her "concerns" are professionally worthless.
Reposted by Abe Silberstein
There is a tremendous opportunity for a brand new generation of media outlets to rise up right now because many news outlets that spent decades painstakingly building their credibility are seeing it torched by bootlickers with incredible speed.
December 21, 2025 at 10:18 PM
There is a tremendous opportunity for a brand new generation of media outlets to rise up right now because many news outlets that spent decades painstakingly building their credibility are seeing it torched by bootlickers with incredible speed.
Reposted by Abe Silberstein
Look, there could be a perfectly innocent explanation for this. The problem is that given who is minding the CBS News store there is every reason to suspect something more nefarious.
December 21, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Look, there could be a perfectly innocent explanation for this. The problem is that given who is minding the CBS News store there is every reason to suspect something more nefarious.
I am actually almost speechless. And the illustration...
Can I Insist That My Dysfunctional Son Get a Vasectomy?
www.nytimes.com
December 21, 2025 at 10:53 PM
I am actually almost speechless. And the illustration...
I hope you are right, but I wouldn't bet on it. I am not sure why anyone would be this certain given that the GOP has a supermajority on the Supreme Court that will protect the corrupt gains of the Trump clan and deny efforts at redress, which Democrats will invariably respect.
Everyone associated with Trump will sooner or later be destroyed, including Trump himself. Most are too dumb or avaricious to grasp this.
December 21, 2025 at 5:52 PM
I hope you are right, but I wouldn't bet on it. I am not sure why anyone would be this certain given that the GOP has a supermajority on the Supreme Court that will protect the corrupt gains of the Trump clan and deny efforts at redress, which Democrats will invariably respect.
The anatomy of a BS story: No evidence Mamdani is seriously considering Bowman for schools chancellor, but somehow his posts are supposed to be Mamdani's problem.
Jamaal Bowman, the far-left former House member who is pursuing an appointment as New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s public schools chancellor, recently posted a comment on Instagram supporting remarks from neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes.
Former Rep. Jamaal Bowman, eyeing NYC school chancellor post, praised Nick Fuentes online
‘Finally getting it Nick,’ Bowman commented on a video of Fuentes saying Republicans are ‘better’ for Israel than working people
jewishinsider.com
December 21, 2025 at 12:52 AM
The anatomy of a BS story: No evidence Mamdani is seriously considering Bowman for schools chancellor, but somehow his posts are supposed to be Mamdani's problem.
It's honestly infuriating that Cat Almonte Da Costa had to resign over comments she made as a teenager.
December 19, 2025 at 3:49 AM
It's honestly infuriating that Cat Almonte Da Costa had to resign over comments she made as a teenager.
Jewish Currents should do a story about how The Free Press turned their nice liberal Reform Jewish parents into neocons. "If only we had taken them to Encampment Seders more often in their near-retirement they wouldn't believe all the lies."
December 19, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Jewish Currents should do a story about how The Free Press turned their nice liberal Reform Jewish parents into neocons. "If only we had taken them to Encampment Seders more often in their near-retirement they wouldn't believe all the lies."
I hope the ADL will show the same charity to Mamdani aides who wrote dumb tweets as teenagers as they did to Fred Malek, who as an adult compiled a list of Jews working at the Bureau of Labor Statistics for Richard Nixon.
December 18, 2025 at 8:34 PM
I hope the ADL will show the same charity to Mamdani aides who wrote dumb tweets as teenagers as they did to Fred Malek, who as an adult compiled a list of Jews working at the Bureau of Labor Statistics for Richard Nixon.
Reposted by Abe Silberstein
I would go further and say that if you have ever used "Zionism" to mean "aspirational call for Jewish self-determination" and gotten frustrated when people see Zionism as racist dispossession, you should understand why a Palestinian might feel the same about "Intifada." And vice versa.
December 18, 2025 at 8:15 PM
I would go further and say that if you have ever used "Zionism" to mean "aspirational call for Jewish self-determination" and gotten frustrated when people see Zionism as racist dispossession, you should understand why a Palestinian might feel the same about "Intifada." And vice versa.
As far as I know, no person claiming military history has been discriminated against in the academy has offered to endow a chair in military history and been turned down by a History Department.
December 18, 2025 at 7:26 PM
As far as I know, no person claiming military history has been discriminated against in the academy has offered to endow a chair in military history and been turned down by a History Department.
The Free Press, whose mission like Tablet's a decade ago is to turn liberal Jews into neoconservatives, certainly knows its audience.
In two weeks, Zohran Mamdani becomes mayor. Some families still can’t stop fighting.
The Jewish Parents Who Raised Mamdani Voters
In two weeks, Zohran Mamdani becomes mayor. Some families still can’t stop fighting.
bit.ly
December 18, 2025 at 5:01 PM
The Free Press, whose mission like Tablet's a decade ago is to turn liberal Jews into neoconservatives, certainly knows its audience.
It's good to be reminded that there is a high-status version of "the immigrants took your jobs" and it's a basic re-run of the right-wing campaign against affirmative action, despite there being no more AA. The presence of people of color in a profession is now evidence of "reverse discrimination."
December 17, 2025 at 7:26 PM
It's good to be reminded that there is a high-status version of "the immigrants took your jobs" and it's a basic re-run of the right-wing campaign against affirmative action, despite there being no more AA. The presence of people of color in a profession is now evidence of "reverse discrimination."
Reposted by Abe Silberstein
Your average liberal and leftist does not understand how much Republicananti environmentalism is orc logic. The destruction and despoliation of the commons just because they can. The destruction of beauty because they want to prove that they don’t care about it and because it hurts people they hate.
December 17, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Your average liberal and leftist does not understand how much Republicananti environmentalism is orc logic. The destruction and despoliation of the commons just because they can. The destruction of beauty because they want to prove that they don’t care about it and because it hurts people they hate.
Reposted by Abe Silberstein
I hear there's discourse about race and employment in the US
December 17, 2025 at 1:48 PM
I hear there's discourse about race and employment in the US
Reposted by Abe Silberstein
Oh, you mean TPUSA’s Andrew Kolvet who was interviewed by the NYTimes’s Ross Douthat THIS WEEK where he talked about how much he cares about fact-based, non-conspiratorial media and Ross didn’t challenge him at all on that assertion?
Brown University released a statement about a Palestinian student that's being smeared online as the shooting suspect.
Not going to share his post because it includes the student's personal info but one of those spreading this harmful rumor was the spokesperson for Turning Point USA, Andrew Kolvet.
Not going to share his post because it includes the student's personal info but one of those spreading this harmful rumor was the spokesperson for Turning Point USA, Andrew Kolvet.
December 17, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Oh, you mean TPUSA’s Andrew Kolvet who was interviewed by the NYTimes’s Ross Douthat THIS WEEK where he talked about how much he cares about fact-based, non-conspiratorial media and Ross didn’t challenge him at all on that assertion?
A lot of my Jewish friends on the left assume that Stephen Miller will obviously be hoisted on his own petard. But I'm more worried about the durability of a "Judeo-Christian" framework of belonging in the United States and what that means for us "ungrateful" Jews who reject that bargain.
Stephen Miller's cousin unloads on him:
“We’re Jewish—we grew up knowing how hated we were just for existing. Now he’s trying to take away the exact thing his own family benefited from: that ability to prosper, to build community, to live a rewarding life.”
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
“We’re Jewish—we grew up knowing how hated we were just for existing. Now he’s trying to take away the exact thing his own family benefited from: that ability to prosper, to build community, to live a rewarding life.”
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
December 17, 2025 at 3:13 AM
A lot of my Jewish friends on the left assume that Stephen Miller will obviously be hoisted on his own petard. But I'm more worried about the durability of a "Judeo-Christian" framework of belonging in the United States and what that means for us "ungrateful" Jews who reject that bargain.