Lucan Ahmad Way
@lucanway.bsky.social
Polisci Prof U Toronto. Study democracy/dictatorship & Ukraine. Books: Revolution & Dictatorship (PUP 2022); Pluralism by Default (JHUP 2015); Competitive Authoritarianism (CUP 2010)
Trump's decision to take over the police despite historically low crime and no protests etc. The President literally requires NO provocation to impose emergency measures.
August 11, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Trump's decision to take over the police despite historically low crime and no protests etc. The President literally requires NO provocation to impose emergency measures.
As a Ukr specialist, I have mixed feelings on Iran: 1 A hatred of the IRI that is totalitar and supprts Russia BUT 2 an appreciat of why a small-med sized country wld want nukes in a world where nukes virt the only deterrent to invasion. Not defeating Russia encourages nuclear proliferation.
June 19, 2025 at 10:55 PM
As a Ukr specialist, I have mixed feelings on Iran: 1 A hatred of the IRI that is totalitar and supprts Russia BUT 2 an appreciat of why a small-med sized country wld want nukes in a world where nukes virt the only deterrent to invasion. Not defeating Russia encourages nuclear proliferation.
How could a pope who was so good in so many areas have been so awful with regards to Russia? Genuine question. Does it have something to do w Latin American left?
April 22, 2025 at 2:32 PM
How could a pope who was so good in so many areas have been so awful with regards to Russia? Genuine question. Does it have something to do w Latin American left?
Reposted by Lucan Ahmad Way
The newsrooms of 21st century America exist in a parallel factual universe where questions are raised and raised again, sometimes prompting concerns, sometimes prompting further questions, but never, ever answers.
Every day it seems new conflicts arise between President Trump and the courts. Prompting another round of the question: Are we in a constitutional crisis?
Clash between Trump and the courts sparks questions of a constitutional crisis
Every day it seems new conflicts arise between President Trump and the courts. Prompting another round of the question: Are we in a constitutional crisis?
www.npr.org
April 21, 2025 at 4:12 PM
The newsrooms of 21st century America exist in a parallel factual universe where questions are raised and raised again, sometimes prompting concerns, sometimes prompting further questions, but never, ever answers.
really awful. CTV has acted in an incredibly irresponsible manner.
pressprogress.ca/ctv-cancelle...
pressprogress.ca/ctv-cancelle...
CTV Cancelled a Fact-Checking Segment in Response to Political Pressure From Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives
Audio recording shows CTV cancelled an ‘election misinformation’ segment with journalist Rachel Gilmore after online backlash from conservatives
pressprogress.ca
April 18, 2025 at 1:32 PM
really awful. CTV has acted in an incredibly irresponsible manner.
pressprogress.ca/ctv-cancelle...
pressprogress.ca/ctv-cancelle...
Reposted by Lucan Ahmad Way
Look, I have my criticisms of the Trump administration.
But when RFK Jr ends autism by September, the libs are going to look pretty foolish for having doubted him.
But when RFK Jr ends autism by September, the libs are going to look pretty foolish for having doubted him.
April 13, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Look, I have my criticisms of the Trump administration.
But when RFK Jr ends autism by September, the libs are going to look pretty foolish for having doubted him.
But when RFK Jr ends autism by September, the libs are going to look pretty foolish for having doubted him.
really hard to advise ANYONE to get educated in the States right now.
:(
One of the best non-PhD students I’ve supervised just chose a European PhD program over very good US programs—he didn’t want to face the risks of staying here as a Chinese national. The US is losing top talent due to poor leadership.
April 12, 2025 at 9:11 PM
really hard to advise ANYONE to get educated in the States right now.
Reposted by Lucan Ahmad Way
This is a very good point that I haven't seen made yet.
It's not just Trump that is undermining trust in the US. It is also the inability of US institutions to stop him.
And even if you make that "inability to stop him so far," it's already too far to maintain trust.
It's not just Trump that is undermining trust in the US. It is also the inability of US institutions to stop him.
And even if you make that "inability to stop him so far," it's already too far to maintain trust.
From what I'm seeing in Europe, the real game changer here isn't really the Trump admin itself, but how quickly American elites - political, corporate, institutional and academic - just failed to respond and resist in any meaningful way.
US prestige culture, as seen from abroad, just evaporated.
US prestige culture, as seen from abroad, just evaporated.
April 11, 2025 at 8:14 PM
This is a very good point that I haven't seen made yet.
It's not just Trump that is undermining trust in the US. It is also the inability of US institutions to stop him.
And even if you make that "inability to stop him so far," it's already too far to maintain trust.
It's not just Trump that is undermining trust in the US. It is also the inability of US institutions to stop him.
And even if you make that "inability to stop him so far," it's already too far to maintain trust.
Reposted by Lucan Ahmad Way
www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat... first overt threat to directly terrorize American citizens and control targeted opponents. We are headed to a one man authoritarian state.
Trump orders probes of two former officials who defied him
Christopher Krebs and Miles Taylor both served in Trump's first term. Krebs questioned Trump's claim that the 2020 election was stolen. Taylor criticized his conduct in office.
www.nbcnews.com
April 10, 2025 at 4:14 AM
www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat... first overt threat to directly terrorize American citizens and control targeted opponents. We are headed to a one man authoritarian state.
How many in the Trump administration do you suppose bought a bunch of stock just before Trump announced he was caving on tarriffs? The opportunities here for insider tradiing are truly astounding...
April 9, 2025 at 7:03 PM
How many in the Trump administration do you suppose bought a bunch of stock just before Trump announced he was caving on tarriffs? The opportunities here for insider tradiing are truly astounding...
Reposted by Lucan Ahmad Way
EVERY time EVERYONE stand up to Trump, he caves
Paging university presidents/chancellors
Paging university presidents/chancellors
And today, on tariffs, we see 3.
EVERY time a few strong countries or people stand up to Trump, he caves.
EVERY time a few strong countries or people stand up to Trump, he caves.
Big Bully Politics (TM) can create 3 responses:
1. The bullied give in, the Big Bully wins and pushes harder.
2. The bullied fight back alone, and are crushed, and the Big Bully wins and pushes harder.
3. The bullied fight together and defeat the Big Bully, who loses his aura of all-powerful.
1. The bullied give in, the Big Bully wins and pushes harder.
2. The bullied fight back alone, and are crushed, and the Big Bully wins and pushes harder.
3. The bullied fight together and defeat the Big Bully, who loses his aura of all-powerful.
April 9, 2025 at 5:52 PM
EVERY time EVERYONE stand up to Trump, he caves
Paging university presidents/chancellors
Paging university presidents/chancellors
a billion frozen from Cornell!!!
April 8, 2025 at 11:28 PM
a billion frozen from Cornell!!!
I know that this is the least of our concerns. But the failure of political science to in any way anticipate the breakdown of democracy in the United States is truly astounding.
April 2, 2025 at 10:03 PM
I know that this is the least of our concerns. But the failure of political science to in any way anticipate the breakdown of democracy in the United States is truly astounding.
Why is the Democratic Party having such a hard time mobilizing the tremendous grassroots anger at Trump?
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/29/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/29/u...
Spartz, Republican Lawmaker, Faces Anger at Town Halls Over Musk Cuts and Hegseth
Representative Victoria Spartz, a Republican, defended Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts to the federal government, drawing jeers from the crowd.
www.nytimes.com
March 31, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Why is the Democratic Party having such a hard time mobilizing the tremendous grassroots anger at Trump?
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/29/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/29/u...
Reposted by Lucan Ahmad Way
Read @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social on Trump's McCarthyite attack on campus activism www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/o...
Opinion | Don’t Fool Yourself Into Thinking It Will Stop With Mahmoud Khalil
Don’t fool yourself into thinking it will stop with Mahmoud Khalil.
www.nytimes.com
March 16, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Read @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social on Trump's McCarthyite attack on campus activism www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/o...
Reposted by Lucan Ahmad Way
Really feel like I’m losing my mind: government OBVIOUSLY cannot punish an individual law firm for hiring someone it disfavors! It’s ludicrously unconstitutional and I feel like without a day of law school I could argue the case. And yet the best paid lawyers in the country are folding?
March 27, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Really feel like I’m losing my mind: government OBVIOUSLY cannot punish an individual law firm for hiring someone it disfavors! It’s ludicrously unconstitutional and I feel like without a day of law school I could argue the case. And yet the best paid lawyers in the country are folding?
The easy capitulation of the powerful to Trump is perhaps the most depressing part of all of this.
March 28, 2025 at 9:16 PM
The easy capitulation of the powerful to Trump is perhaps the most depressing part of all of this.
Reposted by Lucan Ahmad Way
If Paul Weiss and Skadden don't think they can out-litigate the doofuses in Trump's DOJ willing to take these cases, why would any client stick with them? Have a spine. You're not going up against top legal minds here. You are the top legal minds.
March 27, 2025 at 11:34 PM
If Paul Weiss and Skadden don't think they can out-litigate the doofuses in Trump's DOJ willing to take these cases, why would any client stick with them? Have a spine. You're not going up against top legal minds here. You are the top legal minds.
Reposted by Lucan Ahmad Way
The most serious Nazi shit in this extremely Nazi shit executive order may be the idea, just slipped in there, that one of the "divisive narratives that distort our shared history" is that "race is not a biological reality but a social construct." www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.
www.whitehouse.gov
March 28, 2025 at 12:10 PM
The most serious Nazi shit in this extremely Nazi shit executive order may be the idea, just slipped in there, that one of the "divisive narratives that distort our shared history" is that "race is not a biological reality but a social construct." www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Reposted by Lucan Ahmad Way
The decision a lot of universities face now is whether to:
-- have their federal funding pulled because they stood on principle to protect their students and the integrity of their research, or
-- have their funding pulled anyway just because they exist, regardless of how cravenly they submit.
-- have their federal funding pulled because they stood on principle to protect their students and the integrity of their research, or
-- have their funding pulled anyway just because they exist, regardless of how cravenly they submit.
March 27, 2025 at 4:46 PM
The decision a lot of universities face now is whether to:
-- have their federal funding pulled because they stood on principle to protect their students and the integrity of their research, or
-- have their funding pulled anyway just because they exist, regardless of how cravenly they submit.
-- have their federal funding pulled because they stood on principle to protect their students and the integrity of their research, or
-- have their funding pulled anyway just because they exist, regardless of how cravenly they submit.