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Elizabeth N. Saunders

@profsaunders.bsky.social

19K followers 3.2K following 2.2K posts

Professor of Political Science & Director of the Saltzman Institute of War & Peace Studies, Columbia. New Book: The Insiders' Game: How Elites Make War and Peace https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691215808/the-insiders-game .. more

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · Feb 5

Hard to think through problems when we are in a mode where the current problem gets eaten by a bigger problem within hours.

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 19m

Here's an unrolled version: skyview.social?url=https%3A...

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 26m

Everything depends on Trump's focus. Let's hope it's enough to make this ceasefire last. 11/11

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 26m

So, yes, kudos. I was wrong to think the Trump plan was just another peace-in-two-weeks soundbite. It was extremely joyous to see the hostages come home. And to know the attacks and starvation in Gaza would stop, at least for now. But there's no USAID and little State Dept capacity. 10/

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 26m

As I argued in @foreignaffairs.com, we now have the foreign policy of a personalist regime. As @columbiasipa.bsky.social Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo and @hillaryclinton.bsky.social argue, putting so much diplomacy in the hands of one person is very dangerous. 9/ www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/o...

Opinion | The Perils of Getting Too Personal in Foreign Policy

www.nytimes.com

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 26m

Also, the reaction to the Qatar strike suggests that it was Netanyahu's overreach that finally spurred this pressure on Israel. Would Trump ever have reached this point otherwise? How much longer would it have taken? 8/

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 26m

In that sense, I stand by my prior arguments in @goodauth.bsky.social & @foreignaffairs.com that Trump has gutted US diplomacy in a way that is dramatically different from prior cuts or reforms. 7/ www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

Imperial President at Home, Emperor Abroad

American foreign policy in an age of unrestrained executive power.

www.foreignaffairs.com

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 26m

But it's notable how little role Rubio, State, or even experienced MidEast hands from other depts (DoD) played. Which will matter going forward, because when the headlines fade, those are the people who can help manage the problems likely to arise, as @pagefortna.bsky.social writes. 6/

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 27m

The masterstroke was to force Netanyahu to apologize to the Qataris. Not just the call, but releasing news of the apology, with a photo. Kudos to whoever thought of that. It was a costly signal from Bibi and showed Trump was seriously pressuring Israel. 5/
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

Photo released by the White House showing Netanyahu on the call, apologizing to the Qataris, while Trump balances the phone on his lap.

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 27m

It took skill to exploit this opening. A ceasefire was not inevitable. Kushner & Witkoff seem to have done it (notably, not Marco Rubio, the nation's top diplomat, whose role seems to have been to chair one meeting & later to hand Trump the note that it was done). 4/ www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/u...

How Fury Over Israel’s Qatar Attack Pushed Netanyahu on Gaza

www.nytimes.com

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 27m

Notably, this ep of The Daily @nytimes.com makes clear that the turning point was Israel's (failed) Sept strike on the Hamas team in Qatar, which angered Trump into finally putting pressure on Israel (of course, we should ask why mass starvation in Gaza didn't). 3/ www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/p...

How Trump Got Israel and Hamas to a Truce

www.nytimes.com

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 27m

First, as many have said, this is a genuine achievement for Trump and for his administration. Lots of things aligned that had not previously, esp. Israel's diplomatic isolation & the Arab neighbors' motivation to pressure Hamas. But it still required threading a needle and they threaded it. 2/

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 27m

🧵A thread inspired by this new @goodauth.bsky.social piece from the Dean of Ceasefire Studies, @pagefortna.bsky.social. Also, I like to admit when I'm wrong. I was wrong to doubt there would be a ceasefire, and I have written that Trump destroyed US diplomacy. 1/

goodauthority.org/news/israel-...

The Israel-Hamas ceasefire leaves important questions unanswered

Many important details must still be worked out.

goodauthority.org

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Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 17h

Nearly all the staff in the Office of Special Education have been fired as part of Trump’s sweeping layoffs.

These are the people responsible for protecting the civil rights of students with disabilities and ensuring they receive an equal education.

More needless cruelty on display.

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Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, Elizabeth Saunders, American Library Association , and 6 more Kim L. Scheppele, Elizabeth Saunders, American Library Association, Rebecca Tushnet, David R. Miller, Michael Zimmer, Rebecca M. Bratspies, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Dunlap

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 17h

BREAKING: Marco Rubio's State Department announces publicly that it is exercising unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in revoking people's visas based on comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Department of State v
@StateDept
g..
The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans.
The State Department continues to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk. Here are just a few examples of aliens who are no longer welcome in the U.S.:
5:55 PM • Oct 14, 2025 • 34.1K Views

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Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, Elizabeth Saunders, James Q. Wilson , and 5 more Kim L. Scheppele, Elizabeth Saunders, James Q. Wilson, Richard S.J. Tol, Eric Goldman, Juan Cole, Matthew Bodie, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 20h

Unless and until some kind of compelling legal and moral argument is presented as to why this is a legitimate use of deadly force, this is just…mass murder.

Amarnath Amarasingam @amaramarasingam.bsky.social · 20h

The military has now killed 27 people as if they were enemy soldiers in a war zone and not criminal suspects. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/u...

U.S. Military Kills Another 6 People in 5th Caribbean Strike, Trump Says

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Jacob T. Levy, Simon Lester

Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 21h

Given the now fifth U.S. strike in the Caribbean, reposting my recent essay in @justsecurity.org.

There’s a word for premeditated killing outside of armed conflict.

www.justsecurity.org/120568/carib...

Asserting a License to Kill: Why the Caribbean Strike is a Dangerous Departure from the “War on Terror”

An absence of credible legal basis for the Caribbean strike suggests the Trump admin is asserting a prerogative to kill outside the law.

www.justsecurity.org

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Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders

Paul Guinnessy @paulguinnessy.bsky.social · 1d

It's all triage in the DC metro area for nonprofits offering help, like meals, and thanks to Trump's cuts donations are down and also so is food bank support from the feds.

D.C. nonprofits face breaking point amid job cuts and shutdown

41% of DMV households affected by federal layoffs are food-insecure.

www.axios.com

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Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Joshua S. Weitz, David H. Kaye , and 3 more Elizabeth Saunders, Joshua S. Weitz, David H. Kaye, Janet Murray, Aaron Sojourner, Nathan P. Kalmoe

NPR @npr.org · 1d

Tom Bowman has held his Pentagon press pass for 28 years. He says the Pentagon's new media policy makes it impossible to be a journalist, which means finding out what's really going on behind the scenes and not accepting wholesale what any government or administration says. n.pr/4q87Jwb

Opinion: Why I'm handing in my Pentagon press pass

n.pr

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Reposted by Anna O. Law, Elizabeth Saunders

Michael Feola @feolski.bsky.social · 1d

This is it. This is the moment for full, industry-wide co-ordinated action. From the rarefied air of the elites to the community colleges to the regionals. One word in response: absolutely fucking no.

Trump Offers All Colleges Preferential Funding Plan Rejected by MIT

The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact — initially rejected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — that would grant preferential federal funding in re...

www.bloomberg.com

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Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 1d

Student government leaders of MIT, UVA, U of AZ, Dartmouth, UPenn, Brown, and Vanderbilt united in their opposition to the "compact" proposed by the Trump administration.

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 1d

www.instagram.com/p/DPm507ljBJ...

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Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders

s. eek smith 👻 @sesmith.lol · 2d

This special education news is really devastating and we're going to learn more in the coming days as we get more info and people figure out exactly what it means, but a reminder that disabled people are entitled to a free appropriate public education.

Amid shutdown, Trump administration guts department overseeing special education

Multiple sources tell NPR that, as part of the Trump administration's latest reduction-in-force, the U.S. Department of Education has gutted the office that handles special education.

www.npr.org

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Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 4d

The rupture “raises fresh doubts about whether Trump, operating with a hollowed-out national security team and a fragmented China strategy, is prepared for Beijing’s latest power play.”

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

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Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders

Senate Press Gallery @senatepress.bsky.social · 5d

Senate adopted by voice vote: Kaine amendment #3337 to repeal the authorizations for use of military force against Iraq.

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Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, David R. Miller

Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 5d

Just 'cause it has to be said every now and then.

GOP Senators and Representatives are obviously okay with...everything...that's happening.

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Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders

Adam Rothman enjoys a good sandwich @adamrothman.bsky.social · 6d

America needs "solidarity among groups who disagree ferociously on many questions, but who agree on the need to keep America democratic and rebuild institutions and social connections to make democracy more robust," explains @himself.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...

Opinion | Where Trump Is Vulnerable and How to Act on It

www.nytimes.com

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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 6d

This speech from @marisakabas.bsky.social is really worth reading.

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 6d

New — I was fortunate to speak in front of students and faculty at Grinnell College in Iowa tonight about the business of independent journalism, the current state of media under Trump 2.0, and billionaire control.

I published my full speech because I thought it might resonate beyond campus:

Truth, morality and independence in journalism under the second Trump regime

My full remarks to students and faculty at Grennell College.

www.thehandbasket.co

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Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Blair Fix, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 6d

Truth, morality and independence in journalism under the second Trump regime

My full remarks to students and faculty at Grennell College.

www.thehandbasket.co

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Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Justin Lewis, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

violent alien @blipstress.bsky.social · 6d

An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.

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Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, Lisa W. Fazio, Elizabeth Saunders , and 11 more Kim L. Scheppele, Lisa W. Fazio, Elizabeth Saunders, James Q. Wilson, Will Jennings, Gavin A. Schmidt, Simon Chapman, Juan Cole, Karen Benjamin Guzzo, David R. Miller, Scott A. Imberman, Brian Keegan, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Clark Gray

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 7d

The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.
On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher's little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: "No one has died" because of his government's decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: "No children are dying on my watch."
That, Taher says, "is a lie."

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Reposted by Henry Farrell

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 7d

“This battle holds bigger lessons. The greatest weapon that the forces of regime change possess is the fear of inevitability. If everyone believes that Mr. Trump will succeed in reshaping America, he will.”

A great @himself.bsky.social column in the @nytimes.com.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...

Opinion | You Beat Trumpism by Banding Together. It’s as Hard and as Simple as That.

www.nytimes.com

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