Joel Wolfe
joelwolfe.bsky.social
Joel Wolfe
@joelwolfe.bsky.social
Professor of History at UMass Amherst. Historian of Latin America, especially Brazil, but also of U.S. Sport History. An odd mix, but there you go. Hoya undergrad, Badger PhD, and lover of all things Philly and many things Massachusetts.
Having browser troubles where you can't get to the major US newspapers? The NYT reported on it as a lede and now the top story on the NYT.com is that Trump deleted after pressure.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...
Trump Deletes Racist Video of Obamas After Outcry
www.nytimes.com
February 6, 2026 at 5:40 PM
You have described a circle.
January 31, 2026 at 10:00 PM
I find these jokes to be very disrespectful to zucchini.
January 27, 2026 at 5:49 PM
I meant to say very much not a historian of the US or US politics. I trust you on the USSR and national security stuff, but you just don't know this stuff.
December 29, 2025 at 8:25 PM
The prop won mostly because people were squeezed by taxes tied to rising property taxes, but pretending Reagan wasn't the center of the conservative movement in the late 1970s is just plain wrong.
December 29, 2025 at 8:23 PM
You are very much not a historian. Reagan remained incredibly popular in CA. He beat Ford in the primary there. And, he was closely associated with the anti-tax movement. He gave Ford a run for the nomination because he was the emerging power in the GOP. Ford was seen as too moderate.
December 29, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Fair point in general, but civil rights sorted out the parties. The GOP steadily lost moderates and liberals, and the Dems lost the traditional southern politicians. On civil rights and sadly now on civil liberties, there is a morality play at work. It's why I suspect you're no longer a Republican.
December 27, 2025 at 11:57 PM
I get the point, but the author doesn't understand his own terms. Maybe reading a little Lewis Mumford might help. The pen did change how people wrote, more so the typewriter. The telegraph, telephone, copier machine, radio, TV all profoundly changed society in similar way. Gutenberg Bible anyone?
December 8, 2025 at 2:28 PM