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neilabrams.bsky.social
Neil Abrams
@neilabrams.bsky.social
9K followers 850 following 1.2K posts
Corruption, democracy, rule of law, Eastern Europe, Ukraine. Words in WaPo, Slate, Foreign Policy. PhD, political science. He/him.

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neilabrams.bsky.social
Get a load of the ADL's "antisemitism training" material that Northwestern University, at the Trump administration's behest, is forcing students to learn.

Nice, huh?
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
The video states that Israel was founded in 1948 “on British land”, and refers to the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria”, the biblical name controversially used for the region by the Israeli government. The original Jewish homeland comprises parts of modern-day Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, the video states.
August 3, 2025 at 5:52 AM
neilabrams.bsky.social
Today I learned that Charles Murray, the author of race pseudoscience treatise Mein Kampf (1925) – sorry, my bad, The Bell Curve (1994) – once burned a cross with his buddies.

A bit on the nose, if you ask me. 1/2
web.archive.org/web/20190714...
While there is much to admire about the industry and inquisitiveness of Murray's teen-age years, there is at least one adventure that he understandably deletes from the story -- the night he helped his friends burn a cross. They had formed a kind of good guys' gang, "the Mallows," whose very name, from marshmallows, was a play on their own softness. In the fall of 1960, during their senior year, they nailed some scrap wood into a cross, adorned it with fireworks and set it ablaze on a hill beside the police station, with marshmallows scattered as a calling card
July 26, 2025 at 3:31 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
“Last year, Ukraine turned a corner of Russia into a battlefield. It is now a place of desolation and death,” says the NYT after going on an official guided tour of Kursk. Lots of civilians killed, we’re told, and who knows who did it, but Russia sure thinks it was Ukr, and who are we to doubt it?
The New York Times previously documented two instances of indiscriminate use of lethal force against Kursk civilians early in the incursion, actions that may amount to war crimes. But reporters were unable to establish who was responsible for those deaths. One of Russia’s top law enforcement bodies, the Investigative Committee, has accused Ukrainian forces of torturing and killing a civilian in a residential building in Martynovka, and of killing two other residents of the village. Russian officials and outlets blame Ukraine for other deaths, including in the village where Ms. Lobodova’s mother died. State media has published reports describing harsh treatment of civilians, rarely providing evidence.
July 13, 2025 at 3:06 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
Here’s Spencer Ackerman with by far the best take I’ve read on the racist moral panic targeting Zohran Mamdami. zeteo.com/p/my-fellow-...
To put it bluntly, when you have a "feeling" that a politician from a different race, ethnicity or religion threatens you, and you are unable to articulate how that threat is supposed to plausibly manifest, and you ignore the avalanche of evidence – his words, his record, his associations – that no such threat exists, that feeling you have is called racism.
July 2, 2025 at 6:15 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
My latest, on the bullshit war rationales of Israel and the US. open.substack.com/pub/thedetox...
In fact, Trump's military intervention makes it more, not less, likely that Iran will develop nuclear weapons.
June 22, 2025 at 7:31 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
As checks on the president go, the legislative and judicial branches are effectively finished. Only two actors will determine the fate of the coming power struggle: (1) Trump, and the brute force he commands, and (2) civil society, which decides his legitimacy. www.readthedetox.com/p/the-daily-...
Trump's authoritarianism will be only as repressive as civil society allows it to be—no more, no less.
June 11, 2025 at 4:30 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
Trump is similar to former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. Both combine undeserved self-confidence with myopic impulsivity and reflexively meet any challenge with gratuitous brutality. Thus, when Yanukovych responded to popular demonstrations with unchecked violence in 2013-14, it backfired.🧵
When leaders break the rules with abandon, they lose their legitimacy. This opens the door for other political actors to remove them by any available means, legal or not. Such brutish impulsivity is what sealed Yanukovych’s fate. After winning election in 2010, he packed the courts, ditched the constitution, and clamped down on the press. His disproportionate and violent attack on a Kyiv protest encampment in November 2013 turned what had been a limited series of demonstrations over his foreign policy into a nationwide revolt against his regime. By the time he fled to Russia in February 2014, a full 8.5 million Ukrainians, or 20 percent of the population, had taken part in the protests to oust him.
June 8, 2025 at 5:16 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
It’s starting. Trump is overreaching and trying to crush protests with force. It will backfire, making the protests bigger. He will fail. It won’t happen now, but this is the dynamic which could bring down his regime.

From December: open.substack.com/pub/thedetox...
When faced with mass protests, Trump will undoubtedly respond with unchecked repression and brutal violence. This will only serve to undercut his legitimacy and mobilize opposition to his rule.
June 8, 2025 at 4:01 AM
neilabrams.bsky.social
I wrote this in February: www.readthedetox.com/p/elon-musk-...
It is only a matter of time before these two imbecilic, impulsive narcissists come to blows. When that happens, Musk will receive a harsh lesson in the reality of competitive authoritarianism. His immense wealth matters little when up against the guy who can wield the Justice Department as his personal bludgeon. In all likelihood, he will become the subject of multiple criminal probes and be chased out of the country. It is a lesson that will not be lost on his fellow moguls.
June 6, 2025 at 2:55 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
I wrote this back in February. The fact that these two idiots would come to blows was inevitable. It was equally obvious how vulnerable Elon was and how dangerous it would become for him as soon as Trump decided he was done. www.readthedetox.com/p/elon-musk-...
It is only a matter of time before these two imbecilic, impulsive narcissists come to blows. When that happens, Musk will receive a harsh lesson in the reality of competitive authoritarianism. His immense wealth matters little when up against the guy who can wield the Justice Department as his personal bludgeon. In all likelihood, he will become the subject of multiple criminal probes and be chased out of the country. It is a lesson that will not be lost on his fellow moguls.
June 6, 2025 at 2:46 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
Just sayin’, but I wrote this in February when everyone was convinced that Elon was the new king of America:

[Neil says, patting himself on the back]

open.substack.com/pub/thedetox...
It is only a matter of time before these two imbecilic, impulsive narcissists come to blows. When that happens, Musk will receive a harsh lesson in the reality of competitive authoritarianism. His immense wealth matters little when up against the guy who can wield the Justice Department as his personal bludgeon. In all likelihood, he will become the subject of multiple criminal probes and be chased out of the country. It is a lesson that will not be lost on his fellow moguls.
June 5, 2025 at 9:10 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
Trump lacks something every leader needs: legitimacy. Without it, he can only maintain power by dispensing rewards and deploying coercion. This leaves him vulnerable, and his opponents can exploit that.

My latest: www.readthedetox.com/p/the-daily-...
The emperor has no clothes, and his sagging, crenulated butt is flapping in the breeze. The sooner we recognize this, the sooner we can kick his ass to the curb.
June 5, 2025 at 2:39 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
Trump is trying to get Democratic lawmakers killed.
What all of this adds up to is a big flashing green light to commit violence against Democratic lawmakers.
May 30, 2025 at 3:50 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
I wrote the inversion of legality that is evident in Trump's regime. It is, in fact, a pattern inherent to all authoritarian regimes. www.readthedetox.com/p/the-daily-...
His case illustrates a dynamic that lies at the core of Trump's regime. Over and over again, people are being punished for not committing crimes.
May 29, 2025 at 3:57 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
Oh, I see you *write* for them. Explains a lot.
Headline and opening paragraph from New York Sun article: Why Trump Is Braving Critics To Welcome White South Africans to America One opponent expresses concern that the administration ‘has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations.’ By HOLLIE McKAY | 15 hours ago |politics
May 25, 2025 at 5:22 AM
neilabrams.bsky.social
Look what you made him do, Will.

In all seriousness, though, that is concerning.
Will Stancil @whstancil quote-tweeting "I’m sorry what" to a tweet by @narrenhut which states, "The DC Israeli embassy shooter had apparently been previously banned from Twitter for sending death threats to Will Stancil."
May 22, 2025 at 7:10 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
My latest: Authoritarianism is here, but most Democrats remain oblivious to the fact. Until they wake up, they are putting the country—and themselves—at risk.

www.readthedetox.com/p/the-fix-de...
In the next few years, a mass movement against Trump’s regime is almost certain to emerge. One way or another, it will gain leaders. Whether or not current Democratic incumbents end up receiving those leadership roles is largely up to them.
May 4, 2025 at 3:54 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
Re: Bezos's cave-in:

The entire edifice of Trump's rule depends on other people showing even greater cowardice than he does--because Trump himself, it turns out, evinces quite a lot of it. This carries important implications for how his regime might come to an end. My latest: shorturl.at/jtP4T
Trump’s tendency to fire off the most demented, unhinged opening salvos only to reverse course at the slightest pushback carries important implications. We should not be fooled by the shock and awe he tries to instill and should instead see him for what he is—your typical schoolyard bully who cowers the moment somebody punches back. In this way, the copious amounts of makeup he applies to conceal the pasty, ashen carcass underneath is a metaphor for how he rules—all appearance and no substance.
April 29, 2025 at 7:04 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
Emily Tamkin on how pro-Israel organizations like the ADL try to monopolize for themselves the right to define which views count as representing the Jewish “majority” and which ones don’t—opinion polls be damned.

substack.com/home/post/p-...
The second is that, per this study, when Jewish leaders, like the head of the Anti-Defamation League or the leader of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, imply or say that these policies have the support of most American Jews, they are saying something that is not true. They may be speaking their own truth, but, if you are an American Jew, odds are better than average that they are not speaking yours.
April 25, 2025 at 9:55 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
Politicians who shit on trans people—who think that, despite the daily menu of outrages served up by the GOP and which can be used against it, Dems must somehow cheer on the persecution of America’s most vulnerable community to win votes—have no place in the Democratic Party.
And in general, I would say that a good rule of thumb is that if your television one-liners could also be coming out of the mouth of one of brutal white patriarchs masterminding a fascist takeover, you may not be the hero (or the intellect) you imagine yourself to be.
April 19, 2025 at 6:38 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
White House Rapid Response: Thousands of trans woke squirrels fraudulently voted in the last election.

David Sacks: Seems legit; will retweet.
David Sacks reposted Rapid Response 47 @RapidResponse47 🚨 Valor CEO and DOGE volunteer Antonio Gracias says that they found 5 million+ non-citizens with Social Security numbers -- and that "thousands" of them were registered to vote and that "many of them had voted."
April 7, 2025 at 5:34 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
Unbelievable douche now having his own “oh shit” moment as the candidate he supported does exactly as promised. (Although in his defense, the choice between "wokeness" vs. the destruction of the global order and American democracy was super tough to make.)
Tweet from @BillAckman, part 1 of 2: The country is 100% behind the president on fixing a global system of tariffs that has disadvantaged the country. But, business is a confidence game and confidence depends on trust. President @realDonaldTrump has elevated the tariff issue to the most important geopolitical issue in the world, and he has gotten everyone’s attention. So far, so good. And yes, other nations have taken advantage of the U.S. by protecting their home industries at the expense of millions of our jobs and economic growth in our country. But, by placing massive and disproportionate tariffs on our friends and our enemies alike and thereby launching a global economic war against the whole world at once, we are in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market to invest capital. The president has an opportunity to call a 90-day time out, negotiate and resolve unfair asymmetric tariff deals, and induce trillions of dollars of new investment in our country. If, on the other hand, on April 9th we launch economic nuclear war on every country in the world, business investment will grind to a halt, consumers will close their wallets and pocket books, and we will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate. Tweet from @BillAckman, part 2 of 2: What CEO and what board of directors will be comfortable making large, long-term, economic commitments in our country in the middle of an economic nuclear war? I don’t know of one who will do so. When markets crash, new investment stops, consumers stop spending money, and businesses have no choice but to curtail investment and fire workers. And it is not just the big companies that will suffer. Small and medium size businesses and entrepreneurs will experience much greater pain. Almost no business can pass through an overnight massive increase in costs to their customers. And that’s true even if they have no debt, and, unfortunately, there is a massive amount of leverage in the system. Business is a confidence game. The president is losing the confidence of business leaders around the globe. The consequences for our country and the millions of our citizens who have supported the president — in particular low-income consumers who are already under a huge amount of economic stress — are going to be severely negative. This is not what we voted for. The President has an opportunity on Monday to call a time out and have the time to execute on fixing an unfair tariff system. Alternatively, we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down. May cooler heads prevail. Last edited 3:15 PM · Apr 6, 2025 ·
April 7, 2025 at 5:30 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
With a number of Jewish organizations suddenly having an “oh shit” moment in the face of Trump’s naked repression, they must reckon with how they, and many others in the Jewish community, helped enable it.

This is a good piece. certainthoughts.substack.com/p/we-did-thi...
Those who helped create this monster are uniquely positioned to dismantle it. Those who breathed life into these dangerous falsehoods must now speak truth with equal fervor. What kind of community stands aside and laments the misuse of a weapon they themselves forged and handed over—while refusing to break it apart?
April 7, 2025 at 3:58 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
My latest: The United States, for the first time in its history, is an authoritarian regime. This changes everything in terms of the methods and actors required to remove a president. www.readthedetox.com/p/authoritar....
In reality, Trump’s assault on democracy is proceeding far more rapidly than in other competitive authoritarian regimes. This makes it all the more important to align our conceptual frame with the evolving landscape.
March 30, 2025 at 4:26 PM
neilabrams.bsky.social
Now expanded and in post form: www.readthedetox.com/p/grayzone-r...
The Grayzone News is notorious for its refusal to disclose its own major donors. But fear not; Reed, its editor, will not tolerate such behavior from other organizations.
March 24, 2025 at 4:41 PM