David Dagan
@daviddagan.bsky.social
Director of editorial and academic affairs at Niskanen Center. Read Hypertext: hypertext.niskanencenter.org. Read The Liberal Fortress: daviddagan.substack.com. Book: http://amzn.to/29rrt90.
I spent a lot of time trying to level-set on how we reached the point of starvation in Gaza. First of several posts: daviddagan.substack.com/p/why-are-ga...
August 8, 2025 at 2:44 PM
I spent a lot of time trying to level-set on how we reached the point of starvation in Gaza. First of several posts: daviddagan.substack.com/p/why-are-ga...
The great @henrymjtonks.bsky.social cranked up his time machine and came up with really critical lessons for Democrats. But not only Democrats. 1/2 hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/lessons-fr...
July 28, 2025 at 3:43 PM
The great @henrymjtonks.bsky.social cranked up his time machine and came up with really critical lessons for Democrats. But not only Democrats. 1/2 hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/lessons-fr...
YIMBYism needs to become more party-like, @cselmendorf.bsky.social and David Schleicher argue in today's Hypertext. Here's why. Shoutout to @dbroockman.bsky.social & @jkalla.bsky.social.
July 23, 2025 at 5:14 PM
YIMBYism needs to become more party-like, @cselmendorf.bsky.social and David Schleicher argue in today's Hypertext. Here's why. Shoutout to @dbroockman.bsky.social & @jkalla.bsky.social.
The "TACO" shorthand for thinking about Trump is not just annoying as an acronym - I also think it misreads the moment. I think it grows out of confusion that comes with being in what I'm thinking of as The Warp Zone.
June 20, 2025 at 7:09 PM
The "TACO" shorthand for thinking about Trump is not just annoying as an acronym - I also think it misreads the moment. I think it grows out of confusion that comes with being in what I'm thinking of as The Warp Zone.
Today on Hypertext: the long history of American YIMBYism, and what we can learn from it. hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/yimbyism-i...
May 23, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Today on Hypertext: the long history of American YIMBYism, and what we can learn from it. hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/yimbyism-i...
In the sequel, the US president is rescued by the emir of Qatar.
May 12, 2025 at 4:03 PM
In the sequel, the US president is rescued by the emir of Qatar.
Reminder that we're still dealing with staggering tariffs. As @dolanecon.bsky.social v6explains, a myopic focus on the trade deficit will not magically reindustrialize America. To do that, you would need to invest. And guess where our investment money comes from? niskanencenter.org/why-a-war-on...
April 10, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reminder that we're still dealing with staggering tariffs. As @dolanecon.bsky.social v6explains, a myopic focus on the trade deficit will not magically reindustrialize America. To do that, you would need to invest. And guess where our investment money comes from? niskanencenter.org/why-a-war-on...
Of course, polarization has led the congressional GOP to capitulate to Trump. But that capitulation was so easy because first, polarization drove centralization of Congress, which hollowed out the oversight arms.
March 21, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Of course, polarization has led the congressional GOP to capitulate to Trump. But that capitulation was so easy because first, polarization drove centralization of Congress, which hollowed out the oversight arms.
Schumer's unconditional CR backing was unique. But on other spending bills, Dem support will come with a price. The question is whether they can still believe the GOP will hold up the bargain, @mollyereynolds.bsky.social points out today in Hypertext.
March 18, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Schumer's unconditional CR backing was unique. But on other spending bills, Dem support will come with a price. The question is whether they can still believe the GOP will hold up the bargain, @mollyereynolds.bsky.social points out today in Hypertext.
Do you want another Zelensky take? You want another Zelensky take: Yesterday's spectacle forces us to speculate on the crackup of NATO. And it makes domestic politics still more urgent. daviddagan.substack.com/p/where-does...
March 1, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Do you want another Zelensky take? You want another Zelensky take: Yesterday's spectacle forces us to speculate on the crackup of NATO. And it makes domestic politics still more urgent. daviddagan.substack.com/p/where-does...
It's important to understand how the domestic and global components of the Trump agenda hang together. Both are driven by an ethos of "might makes right," of shirking responsibility, and of undermining everything that made America a superpower. www.niskanencenter.org/from-the-new...
February 25, 2025 at 5:34 PM
It's important to understand how the domestic and global components of the Trump agenda hang together. Both are driven by an ethos of "might makes right," of shirking responsibility, and of undermining everything that made America a superpower. www.niskanencenter.org/from-the-new...
Per @jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social, we are not yet in constitutional crisis. But we are on the road to it - not to mention, as @donmoyn.bsky.social shows, a governance catastrophe. Meanwhile, DOGE is making the administrative state's legitimacy problem - explained here by Sid Milkis - infinitely worse.
February 24, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Per @jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social, we are not yet in constitutional crisis. But we are on the road to it - not to mention, as @donmoyn.bsky.social shows, a governance catastrophe. Meanwhile, DOGE is making the administrative state's legitimacy problem - explained here by Sid Milkis - infinitely worse.
The parallels are actually uncanny. As Ira Katznelson has stressed, FDR was elected in an environment of extreme doubt about the viability of liberal democracy. Walter Lippmann was calling for Caesarism. Against that, FDR held the line. Trump is doing the opposite.
February 24, 2025 at 7:12 PM
The parallels are actually uncanny. As Ira Katznelson has stressed, FDR was elected in an environment of extreme doubt about the viability of liberal democracy. Walter Lippmann was calling for Caesarism. Against that, FDR held the line. Trump is doing the opposite.
I've been grasping for some historical reference point to make sense of this crazy moment. The one I came up with: FDR's first 100 days. But backwards. That was the New Deal. This is the Great Demolition. www.niskanencenter.org/from-the-new...
February 24, 2025 at 7:12 PM
I've been grasping for some historical reference point to make sense of this crazy moment. The one I came up with: FDR's first 100 days. But backwards. That was the New Deal. This is the Great Demolition. www.niskanencenter.org/from-the-new...
*This* from @dandrezner.bsky.social: If you are serious about stopping Trump, the best thing you can do is to welcome these people with open arms. They are your most credible messengers. Don't call them slow on the uptake. Don't mock. They're doing a hard thing - admitting error in public.
February 18, 2025 at 4:44 PM
*This* from @dandrezner.bsky.social: If you are serious about stopping Trump, the best thing you can do is to welcome these people with open arms. They are your most credible messengers. Don't call them slow on the uptake. Don't mock. They're doing a hard thing - admitting error in public.
Modern American presidents/elements of the federal gov have engaged in all of these — Palmer Raids; Teapot Dome; Japanese internment; McCarthyism; Hoover’s FBI; Watergate, etc. But I can't think of a case in which all these tactics were combined in a single centralized operation, and at such a pace.
February 17, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Modern American presidents/elements of the federal gov have engaged in all of these — Palmer Raids; Teapot Dome; Japanese internment; McCarthyism; Hoover’s FBI; Watergate, etc. But I can't think of a case in which all these tactics were combined in a single centralized operation, and at such a pace.
This is how you motivate people and recruit the best and the brightest, folks - let those hapless civil servants know that ANY job in the private sector is more productive than ANY job in the public sector. www.opm.gov/fork/faq
January 31, 2025 at 4:18 PM
This is how you motivate people and recruit the best and the brightest, folks - let those hapless civil servants know that ANY job in the private sector is more productive than ANY job in the public sector. www.opm.gov/fork/faq
This is wrong. Trump won't back police who back him. He will back police who back him AND don't accidentally get in his way. Police are as dispensable to him as any other supporter. You think the Capitol cops were thinking "this is against Trump" when they fought off the mob?
January 24, 2025 at 8:37 PM
This is wrong. Trump won't back police who back him. He will back police who back him AND don't accidentally get in his way. Police are as dispensable to him as any other supporter. You think the Capitol cops were thinking "this is against Trump" when they fought off the mob?
Even now, it's really hard for Republican pols who care about the Constitution to believe what Trump will do. Their whole ecosystem and incentive structure tells them not to believe it. But he barreled through their illusions and their norms on Day 1 - early enough to still pull an emergency brake.
January 23, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Even now, it's really hard for Republican pols who care about the Constitution to believe what Trump will do. Their whole ecosystem and incentive structure tells them not to believe it. But he barreled through their illusions and their norms on Day 1 - early enough to still pull an emergency brake.
Jimmy Carter was the last president to invest political capital in civil service reform, as @donmoyn.bsky.social explains here. It's time for another big push. Schedule F will make things worse. Here's how to make them better, per @pahlkadot.bsky.social
December 30, 2024 at 4:00 PM
Jimmy Carter was the last president to invest political capital in civil service reform, as @donmoyn.bsky.social explains here. It's time for another big push. Schedule F will make things worse. Here's how to make them better, per @pahlkadot.bsky.social
You don't solve this by cutting government staff. "Between 1997 and 2020, the number of people employed in state DOT highway divisions shrank by 40,000, or about 20 percent," Zach's paper reports.
December 12, 2024 at 8:20 PM
You don't solve this by cutting government staff. "Between 1997 and 2020, the number of people employed in state DOT highway divisions shrank by 40,000, or about 20 percent," Zach's paper reports.
HOW DID IT HAPPEN? Join us tomorrow at 3 pm for a webinar on the demographic shifts that drove the 2024 election. Register here. www.niskanencenter.org/class-race-g...
November 14, 2024 at 5:19 PM
HOW DID IT HAPPEN? Join us tomorrow at 3 pm for a webinar on the demographic shifts that drove the 2024 election. Register here. www.niskanencenter.org/class-race-g...
Brink describes the way "ordinary people" were liberated from (much) backbreaking factory work, but ushered into a society where their contributions were no longer valorized, and did not provide them with internal solidarity.
November 13, 2024 at 2:57 PM
Brink describes the way "ordinary people" were liberated from (much) backbreaking factory work, but ushered into a society where their contributions were no longer valorized, and did not provide them with internal solidarity.
This point from @juliaazari.bsky.social underscores how much we are already living in a politics of violence, where the threat of physical force is used to shape outcomes. blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...
October 16, 2024 at 7:14 PM
This point from @juliaazari.bsky.social underscores how much we are already living in a politics of violence, where the threat of physical force is used to shape outcomes. blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...
Today on Hypertext from @niskanencenter.bsky.social:
@juliaazari.bsky.social goes beyond Trump/Vance racism into the racial dynamics that split the parties internally - and how equipped they are to handle them. hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/race-divid...
@juliaazari.bsky.social goes beyond Trump/Vance racism into the racial dynamics that split the parties internally - and how equipped they are to handle them. hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/race-divid...
October 16, 2024 at 3:28 PM
Today on Hypertext from @niskanencenter.bsky.social:
@juliaazari.bsky.social goes beyond Trump/Vance racism into the racial dynamics that split the parties internally - and how equipped they are to handle them. hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/race-divid...
@juliaazari.bsky.social goes beyond Trump/Vance racism into the racial dynamics that split the parties internally - and how equipped they are to handle them. hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/race-divid...