Dan Cluchey
@cluchey.bsky.social
Principal at Fenway Strategies, former Senior Presidential Speechwriter to POTUS, devoted Mainer, alleged lawyer, author of THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME (St. Martin's)
A big part of the reason America is in grave danger right now is because mainstream journalists will readily signal Biden’s pardons as shady & transgressive — while failing to condemn the endless scorched-earth lies & lawlessness that made them necessary.
I really thought this idea sounded crazy when John Dean pitched it to me (though I did quote him and use it).
A tired and beaten old man stumbling on his way out the door.
A tired and beaten old man stumbling on his way out the door.
This morning's pardons by an outgoing president set a terrible precedent, justified only by unprecedented threats from an incoming president, which is precisely how things fall apart.
January 20, 2025 at 6:12 PM
A big part of the reason America is in grave danger right now is because mainstream journalists will readily signal Biden’s pardons as shady & transgressive — while failing to condemn the endless scorched-earth lies & lawlessness that made them necessary.
Joe Biden wasn't perfect; he made mistakes that at times drowned out his good intentions. With that said, his presidency was — by any common metric of progress — the most successful in at least six decades. But the press treated him like a punchline, & Trump like a comic, so here we are.
January 19, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Joe Biden wasn't perfect; he made mistakes that at times drowned out his good intentions. With that said, his presidency was — by any common metric of progress — the most successful in at least six decades. But the press treated him like a punchline, & Trump like a comic, so here we are.
On the eve of his inauguration, Donald Trump created a scam currency to bilk his followers, amass billions, and open a direct pipeline for endless untraceable bribes. And because our press is made up almost exclusively of boiled frogs and cowards, folks will barely hear about it.
January 19, 2025 at 10:50 PM
On the eve of his inauguration, Donald Trump created a scam currency to bilk his followers, amass billions, and open a direct pipeline for endless untraceable bribes. And because our press is made up almost exclusively of boiled frogs and cowards, folks will barely hear about it.
Reposted by Dan Cluchey
It doesn’t seem especially confusing what’s happening here: if the cause isn’t material, it’s social. We’ve built social structures - mass media, social media, the internet - that produce massive discontent, irrespective of empirically measurable conditions. And that discontent defines our politics
December 5, 2024 at 5:28 PM
It doesn’t seem especially confusing what’s happening here: if the cause isn’t material, it’s social. We’ve built social structures - mass media, social media, the internet - that produce massive discontent, irrespective of empirically measurable conditions. And that discontent defines our politics
Reposted by Dan Cluchey
The thing I can’t get over is how by just about any measure you can find, life in the US is better than the recent past and dramatically better than the distant past, and yet it’s taken as a given that we live in a dystopia. We simply do not, except for how we keep electing dystopian leaders
December 5, 2024 at 5:24 PM
The thing I can’t get over is how by just about any measure you can find, life in the US is better than the recent past and dramatically better than the distant past, and yet it’s taken as a given that we live in a dystopia. We simply do not, except for how we keep electing dystopian leaders
Reposted by Dan Cluchey
This only works because Trump's allies control the news information environment. It's not some permanent fixture of how politics work
But what really sucks is that this comes after four years of Biden being blamed for the mess Trump created.
Democracy is so awesome.
Democracy is so awesome.
The next four years are in large part going to be Trump taking credit for what Biden and Harris already did.
December 2, 2024 at 4:35 AM
This only works because Trump's allies control the news information environment. It's not some permanent fixture of how politics work
Reposted by Dan Cluchey
The next four years are in large part going to be Trump taking credit for what Biden and Harris already did.
Here's Trump directly claiming Mexico will begin stopping migrants "immediately," even though it's already been happening. Indeed, it's partly responsible for the drop in crossings.
As I argue in that piece, you can read entire articles about Trump/Mexico mess that don't tell you this basic fact.
As I argue in that piece, you can read entire articles about Trump/Mexico mess that don't tell you this basic fact.
December 1, 2024 at 6:33 PM
The next four years are in large part going to be Trump taking credit for what Biden and Harris already did.
Six months from now, when the first detention camps open up and Stephen Baldwin is named special envoy to the Middle East, "But Joe Biden pardoned Hunter!" is going to be a very popular meme.
December 2, 2024 at 2:42 AM
Six months from now, when the first detention camps open up and Stephen Baldwin is named special envoy to the Middle East, "But Joe Biden pardoned Hunter!" is going to be a very popular meme.
Reposted by Dan Cluchey
Trump pardoned his son-in-law's daddy, his campaign manager who lied to protect him, his NSA who lied to protect him, his Coffee Boy who lied to protect him, his rat-fucker who lied to protect him, & his former campaign manager who had just helped him launch an insurrection.
So President Biden has pardoned his son Hunter - and given Trump a precedent that certainly won't be abused.
December 2, 2024 at 12:48 AM
Trump pardoned his son-in-law's daddy, his campaign manager who lied to protect him, his NSA who lied to protect him, his Coffee Boy who lied to protect him, his rat-fucker who lied to protect him, & his former campaign manager who had just helped him launch an insurrection.
As President Biden pardons his son — a private citizen — it's worth noting that *literally yesterday* Trump appointed a convicted-felon family member whom he'd previously pardoned to a major ambassadorship. I do not expect that these two stories will garner similar coverage.
The thing about the “Biden crime family” is that Trump just appointed Charles Kushner, a literal felon and the father of Trump’s son-in-law, as ambassador to France.
December 2, 2024 at 12:59 AM
As President Biden pardons his son — a private citizen — it's worth noting that *literally yesterday* Trump appointed a convicted-felon family member whom he'd previously pardoned to a major ambassadorship. I do not expect that these two stories will garner similar coverage.
Hegseth perfectly embodies the MAGA ethos — abuse women; abandon decency; lie for sport — so it’s little wonder that Trump wants to give him one of the nation’s most critical roles.
"You are an abuser of women": The searing email that Pete Hegseth's own mother sent him in 2018 accusing him of sleeping around, cheating on his wife and debasing and belittling women. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/29/u...
Text of the Email That Pete Hegseth’s Mother Sent Him
Penelope Hegseth sent the email to her son in 2018 as he was in the middle of divorcing his wife, Samantha.
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2024 at 2:46 AM
Hegseth perfectly embodies the MAGA ethos — abuse women; abandon decency; lie for sport — so it’s little wonder that Trump wants to give him one of the nation’s most critical roles.
Not proud that for my first post on Bluesky I will be floating “more like Jared PoliOs, am I right?”
November 15, 2024 at 12:18 AM
Not proud that for my first post on Bluesky I will be floating “more like Jared PoliOs, am I right?”