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Scott L Greer

@scottlgreer.bsky.social

3.1K followers 3.8K following 3.9K posts

Political scientist in a public health school. Health policy and politics, especially in Europe. Recent books on EU health policy, federalism and social policy, co-benefits. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Opinions personal. 🚲. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5288-0471 .. more

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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · May 19

I’ve been writing about the politics and impact of Donald Trump on the US and world, with special attention to Europe and the University of Michigan, and most of it is free to read. This thread, in order, brings it all together. I hope it’s useful as a resource on the different issues.

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Reposted by Scott L. Greer

ProPublica @propublica.org · 55m

“Public health isn’t a luxury — it’s a core function of government,” said former Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra. “This hollowing out of expertise could leave us dangerously exposed.”

From our August story:

Gutted: How Deeply Trump Has Cut Federal Health Agencies

More than 20,500 workers have left or been pushed out of federal health agencies, a ProPublica analysis found. Staffers say the cuts will leave their agencies less equipped to conduct studies, perform...

projects.propublica.org

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Reposted by Scott L. Greer

The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 55m

“I’m going to go against everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire this year my own adult children’s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district." trib.al/zTN18Tp

MTG Turns Against Republicans in Shocking Flip on Government Shutdown

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks Democrats have a point on the Obamacare fight at the center of the government shutdown.

trib.al

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Reposted by Jan W. Mueller, Brendan Nyhan, Scott L. Greer , and 6 more Jan W. Mueller, Brendan Nyhan, Scott L. Greer, Ryan Enos, Rebecca Tushnet, Alan Richardson, Brian Keegan, Brooke Harrington, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 4h

Shared courtesy of my Penn History colleague, Ben Nathans

Image: A variation on Benjamin Franklin’s “Join, or Die” engraving, originally published in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754. Each segment of the snake has the name of a university sent Trump’s “compact”: Texas, AZ, Vanderbilt, USC, Dartmouth, UVA, Brown, Penn, MIT.

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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 17h

Asimov, here

Ignition! - Rutgers University Press

A classic work in the history of science, and described as “a good book on rocket stuff…that’s a really fun one” by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, reader...

www.rutgersuniversitypress.org

Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 17h

“There are, after all, some chemicals that explode shatteringly, some that flame ravenously, some that corrode hellishly, some that poison sneakily, and some that stink stenchily. As far as I know, though, only liquid rocket fuels have all these delightful properties [in] one delectable whole.”

Reposted by Meri Koivusalo

Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 17h

That one is no surprise and I will be surprised if they are rehired

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 17h

An HHS source says admin also RIFed entire Office of Population Affairs last night.
“Not a single staff person to run our nation's family planning program or the evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention program. The Office of Adolescent Health which nested within OPA functionally ceases to exist”

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Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Timothy D. McBride, David Darmofal

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 17h

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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 17h

This is amazing

Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 23h

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 18h

…really?

Breaking News: RIFs in reverse. Some CDC workers have been brought back, in latest whiplash.

This is breaking news.

insidemedicine.substack.com

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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 18h

…really?

Breaking News: RIFs in reverse. Some CDC workers have been brought back, in latest whiplash.

This is breaking news.

insidemedicine.substack.com

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Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Smith, Alan Richardson , and 2 more Scott L. Greer, Smith, Alan Richardson, Silvia Secchi, David Darmofal

Jennifer Nuzzo, DrPH, SM @jennifernuzzo.bsky.social · 19h

Some of these people have now been fired and rehired TWICE since January. The current state of dysfunction is mind boggling.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 21h

OOOPS! UPDATE: Two HHS officials tell me that disease detectives, measles response officers, global health officials and the MMWR staff were laid off by mistake and will be reinstated. But Washington office is still RIFed

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 23h

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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 1d

Seems to me that London’s loss of status is simply another case of Brexit’s negative sum outcomes. There is no requirement that a cool, global, thriving city should exist. Lose London, nothing ensures Paris or Berlin (let alone some gulf monarchy) changes to replace it.

Dr Stylite @columnist.bsky.social · 1d

Well. Quite. Also worth noting the article is intrinsically defensive. London is a great city but its pre 2016 era of being (imv) the best city in Europe are long gone.

Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 1d

I adore London&fully agree on Dubai, but the author‘s criticism of Paris& Berlin is a joke. French political turmoil is bad is it? Have you watched UK news since 2014? German trains are slow? Thank God for the sound state of UK Infrastructure.
Love you 🇬🇧. But ditch the superiority complex. Please.

Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 1d

Almost guaranteed in human societies that minority groups know majority groups better than majority groups know minority groups or themselves.

andré carrington @andrecarrington.bsky.social · 1d

Saw a thing from the Atlantic titled "Why is Joe Rogan so popular?" The lede is "He understands men better than most," and that is not it AT ALL. People who struggle against patriarchy & cissexism understand cis men better than most, because they *have* to.

Reposted by Scott L. Greer

andré carrington @andrecarrington.bsky.social · 1d

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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 1d

I’m old enough to remember Fox and Republicans losing their minds about the threat of Ebola… in fact old enough to have written about their totally unserious response, which prefigures Trump’s COVID response, or MAHA

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Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Daniel W. Drezner, Daniel Aaron , and 8 more Scott L. Greer, Daniel W. Drezner, Daniel Aaron, Jussi T. Eronen, Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Robert C. Richards, Erol Akçay, Simon Lester, Aviel Roshwald, Timothy D. McBride, David Darmofal

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 1d

Per CDC source: At internal leadership meeting this afternoon, it was shared that 1,257 people were RIF'd at CDC. Number may not be final. Apparently, chief of staff was unaware that RIFs were going to occur so not clear who is making decisions. (Short 🧵)

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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 1d

Further implication is that a lot of crises in organizations as loyal employees/ members/ fans lose trust and mobilize. Sometimes the solution is exit (cancel subscriptions to Washington Post or NYT or LAT); sometimes it’s voice (make life hard for the managers). Either way, watch it.

Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 1d

"what costs people like us sleep at night isn’t that we aren’t doing enough. It’s that we’ve lost confidence in the people who are in positions to do more. [Don't] let people in power—people who sought power, and people who have power by dint of wealth—off the hook too easily."

How To Reverse The Tide

It's the gap between what's needed and what we have that keeps us up at night.

www.offmessage.net

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Scott L. Greer, Robert C. Richards , and 2 more Brendan Nyhan, Scott L. Greer, Robert C. Richards, David R. Miller, Jason Lyall

Emily Galvin-Almanza @galvinalmanza.bsky.social · 1d

Seriously, Judges *do no do things like this*

They don't give their opinion to the media

They don't criticize how SCOTUS works

This is them breaking the emergency glass, folks
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders

www.nytimes.com

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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 1d

How To Reverse The Tide

It's the gap between what's needed and what we have that keeps us up at night.

www.offmessage.net

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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 1d

"Join organized marches—if you’re a U.S. citizen, the incremental risk of protesting is minimal. You’re likelier to be hit by a falling object or trampled to death at a concert than you are to be targeted for carrying a sign, or being an Indivisible volunteer or anything else."

How To Reverse The Tide

It's the gap between what's needed and what we have that keeps us up at night.

www.offmessage.net

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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 1d

"The president is viewed less favorably on net than any league, including Major League Soccer (which fares awfully poorly). The only leagues with lower numbers? WWE and UFC, which are providing Trump his Education Secretary and 2026 birthday entertainment, respectively"

The glorious return of How To Read This Chart

Chapter 1 So, uh, what have you been up to? The last time anyone received an issue of "How To Read This Chart," President Trump hadn't yet deployed the military to D.C., the Mets were only a game-and...

www.howtoreadthisch.art

Reposted by Scott L. Greer

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 1d

Trump is shocked at how easy it was to turn the US into a personalist dictatorship (we're squarely on the way but not quite there) & claims to be having a lot of fun

All these actions reflect a buoyed commander-in-chief who feels emboldened to go further after feeling as though he has faced surprisingly little resistance to his ambitious agenda in the first 9 months. He has even remarked to aides that he is shocked how easy it is all proven to be.

While the war in Ukraine continues to bedevil Trump, causing him the most frustrations, he doesn't face the discontent, sniping and disagreements that characterized his first term, said David Urban, a long time ally. " This time, he's having way more fun," Urban said.

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Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Mark Rice

Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 1d

CDC has been a global leader in public health & played a key role in smallpox eradication. Health depts in red states & blue states rely on CDC expertise & support. The CDC EIS program trains the next generation of public health leaders & disease detectives.

They are burning it to the ground.

JAMA Health Forum Oct 9, 2025 by LO Gostin and P Lurie.
Abstract
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has long served as the cornerstone of the US
public health system, combining technical expertise, evidence-based policy recommendations, and high-quality health information. Yet, it is undergoing profound weakening by the Trump administration, including major funding cuts, the dismissal and resignation of experienced senior staff, and the erosion of its scientific independence. With tightening political control, public trust in
the CDC is diminishing. Undermining the agency’s reputation and capacities will reverberate for generations, making the nation less prepared for future health emergencies, including diseases of
pandemic potential. At this perilous moment, we document the current assault on the CDC that will inevitably have serious repercussion

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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 1d

De Leeuw, Evelyne. "Global and local (glocal) health: the WHO healthy cities programme." Global Change and Human Health 2, no. 1 (2001): 34-45.

Reposted by Evelyne de Leeuw

Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 1d

This article on Healthy Cities by @evdle.bsky.social might seem like ancient history but I really like it because it's so rare to find a clear articulation of the program theory, process, and outcomes of an agenda like Healthy Cities. I wish more people would do exactly this. We'd learn a lot.

d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net

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Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Robert C. Richards

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

Good piece: DOGE was the battering ram, but Russ Vought was the one enabling it, and then hiding it's impacts.

During the months when DOGE was most aggressively canceling contracts, O.M.B. was concealing how it was moving money through to agencies. Mr. Vought removed a legally required public database tracking those records. When a court forced the administration to restore it in August, the spending logs showed O.M.B. exerting unusual control over agency spending, using other documents the public can’t see.

Under a 1974 law, it’s illegal for the administration to “impound” or block money appropriated by Congress (to not spend the funds on those credit cards). But Mr. Vought has made clear he believes that law is unconstitutional and wants to test it in court.

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Reposted by Joshua S. Weitz, Scott L. Greer, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 7 more Joshua S. Weitz, Scott L. Greer, Rosemary A. Joyce, Juan Cole, Erika Franklin Fowler, Daniel Aaron, Robert C. Richards, Alan Richardson, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Timothy D. McBride

Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4

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Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Patrick Dunleavy, Scott L. Greer , and 8 more Brendan Nyhan, Patrick Dunleavy, Scott L. Greer, Steve Peers, Rosemary A. Joyce, Daniel Aaron, Laurent Pech, Robert C. Richards, David R. Miller, Ann Bartow, Nicole Guenther Discenza

Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 1d

More judges speak to the press (the NYT) about what a disaster the Supreme Court (specifically the shadow docket) has been - “incredibly demoralizing & troubling”; a “judicial crisis”; a “slap in the face to district courts.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

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Reposted by Scott L. Greer

Dr Stylite @columnist.bsky.social · 1d

Well. Quite. Also worth noting the article is intrinsically defensive. London is a great city but its pre 2016 era of being (imv) the best city in Europe are long gone.

Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 1d

Janine Gibson @janinegibson.ft.com · 1d

You definitely shouldn't move to Dubai, writes V&A director Tristram Hunt on.ft.com/46MfW1t

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