Patrick Iber
@patrickiber.bsky.social
Co-editor, Dissent Magazine. I teach history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Write books about Cold War culture and propaganda. Have written for the set of all publications that are not members of themselves
Among the million insulting things about this is that every time over the years in which Republicans said they were working on their health care plan to improve Obamacare or whatever they were just straight up lying, it was totally obvious they were always lying, and there were no consequences
Trump: "THE ONLY HEALTHCARE I'LL SUPPORT OR APPROVE IS SENDING MONEY DIRECTLY BACK TO THE PEOPLE W/ NOTHING GOING TO THE BIG, FAT, RICH INSURANCE COMPANIES, WHO HAVE RIPPED OFF AMERICA LONG ENOUGH. THE PEOPLE WILL BE ALLOWED TO NEGOTIATE & BUY THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, INSURANCE. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!"
November 18, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Among the million insulting things about this is that every time over the years in which Republicans said they were working on their health care plan to improve Obamacare or whatever they were just straight up lying, it was totally obvious they were always lying, and there were no consequences
Reposted by Patrick Iber
The scale and depth of the attack on our institutions means that there is no simple way for a pro-democracy coalition to flip the lights back on after Trump. We need transformative thinking.
dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...
dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...
The Case for a Third Reconstruction - Dissent Magazine
The scale and depth of the attack on our institutions means that there is no simple way for a pro-democracy coalition to flip the lights back on after Trump. We need transformative thinking.
dissentmagazine.org
November 18, 2025 at 3:41 PM
The scale and depth of the attack on our institutions means that there is no simple way for a pro-democracy coalition to flip the lights back on after Trump. We need transformative thinking.
dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...
dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...
Read Thomas, read the thread
What is really going on in this society that elected Donald Trump president a second time?
I wrote about three stubborn myths about Trump’s support – and why America has experienced a de-alignment rather than a rightward realignment.
My new piece for @zeit.de – and some thoughts in English:
I wrote about three stubborn myths about Trump’s support – and why America has experienced a de-alignment rather than a rightward realignment.
My new piece for @zeit.de – and some thoughts in English:
Unterstützung von Donald Trump: Die Irrtümer über Donald Trumps Rückhalt
Rechtsruck, multiethnische Koalition, Held einfacher Leute: Trump gilt als fest verankert. Doch diese Überzeugung beruht auf drei großen Missverständnissen.
www.zeit.de
November 17, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Read Thomas, read the thread
The funniest possible ending to all of this is Trump's unpopularity destroying the Republican Party as a vehicle for MAGA and into the smoking crater step the never-Trump neocons to reclaim it, then the cycle is repeated every twenty years forever
November 17, 2025 at 3:01 PM
The funniest possible ending to all of this is Trump's unpopularity destroying the Republican Party as a vehicle for MAGA and into the smoking crater step the never-Trump neocons to reclaim it, then the cycle is repeated every twenty years forever
My History through Satire class at the University of Wisconsin (syllabus here: patrickiber.org/2025/08/26/s...) is getting to the end, and we're finishing up by looking through the archives of @theonion.com, including from its early days as a Madison paper
November 13, 2025 at 10:51 PM
My History through Satire class at the University of Wisconsin (syllabus here: patrickiber.org/2025/08/26/s...) is getting to the end, and we're finishing up by looking through the archives of @theonion.com, including from its early days as a Madison paper
Part of the joke of this brilliant song by The Coup from ~~1994~~ is that even the other rich people find Trump detestable. 1994!!!!!!! youtu.be/z6Homo_amHQ?...
November 13, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Part of the joke of this brilliant song by The Coup from ~~1994~~ is that even the other rich people find Trump detestable. 1994!!!!!!! youtu.be/z6Homo_amHQ?...
Reposted by Patrick Iber
Fact-Checking Claims About Zohran Mamdani https://theonion.com/fact-checking-claims-about-zohran-mamdani/
November 7, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Fact-Checking Claims About Zohran Mamdani https://theonion.com/fact-checking-claims-about-zohran-mamdani/
This is what I keep saying: democratic socialism, agree with it or not, is a normal part of politics. It’s the effort to excise it that is extremist
November 7, 2025 at 3:33 PM
This is what I keep saying: democratic socialism, agree with it or not, is a normal part of politics. It’s the effort to excise it that is extremist
can we all please agree that every trillionaire is a policy failure ok thx
Something deeply fucked up when you can blindly break basic state functions and condemn millions to death and then people make you the richest man in the world instead of a pariah
November 7, 2025 at 3:24 PM
can we all please agree that every trillionaire is a policy failure ok thx
Reposted by Patrick Iber
A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.
November 7, 2025 at 3:08 AM
A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.
Reposted by Patrick Iber
New online: Nikhil Pal Singh on Zohran Mamdani. www.dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
Zohran's Promise - Dissent Magazine
The Mamdani campaign extended the arena of political participation to ordinary and unseen people of every place and pursuit. The challenge going forward will be sustaining faith in the idea that the c...
www.dissentmagazine.org
November 5, 2025 at 3:25 PM
New online: Nikhil Pal Singh on Zohran Mamdani. www.dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
Democratic socialism / social democracy is a normal part of politics and reflects the views of a not insignificant number of people in this country and if the Democratic Party is worried about its effect on national competitiveness they have two options
November 4, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Democratic socialism / social democracy is a normal part of politics and reflects the views of a not insignificant number of people in this country and if the Democratic Party is worried about its effect on national competitiveness they have two options
This is probably going to get lost because there's a lot going on today but it's important
November 4, 2025 at 3:52 PM
This is probably going to get lost because there's a lot going on today but it's important
To add to this, I would say that insofar as there has been a debate about whether Bush or Trump is “worse,” it should be replaced with an understanding of all the things Bush did that make it possible for Trump to be worse
Dick Cheney did more than anyone else to build up expansive and destructive executive branch powers in the wake of 9/11; he lived to see another president turn those same powers against his own daughter.
He should be a warning sign to the GOP today but too many of them are in the cult.
He should be a warning sign to the GOP today but too many of them are in the cult.
November 4, 2025 at 1:01 PM
To add to this, I would say that insofar as there has been a debate about whether Bush or Trump is “worse,” it should be replaced with an understanding of all the things Bush did that make it possible for Trump to be worse
Reposted by Patrick Iber
I will stop quoting sections of GANGSTERS OF CAPITALISM when they stop being relevant. us.macmillan.com/books/9781250135599/gangstersofcapitalism/
October 31, 2025 at 4:56 PM
I will stop quoting sections of GANGSTERS OF CAPITALISM when they stop being relevant. us.macmillan.com/books/9781250135599/gangstersofcapitalism/
checking in on the principled restrainers over at Tucker HQ
October 31, 2025 at 4:56 PM
checking in on the principled restrainers over at Tucker HQ
There was plenty of good stuff in Lepore’s These Truths but there was a really bad paragraph about the perniciousness of the “alt left”. I wonder what experiences she had to lead her to these conclusions that few seem to share
This is an absolutely incredible thing to say. As someone in Ivy-ish (Duke) classrooms from 2016-2022… I call bull.
Or she was saying offensive shit.
Or she was saying offensive shit.
October 31, 2025 at 12:33 PM
There was plenty of good stuff in Lepore’s These Truths but there was a really bad paragraph about the perniciousness of the “alt left”. I wonder what experiences she had to lead her to these conclusions that few seem to share
Reposted by Patrick Iber
My personal version of “men think that they could have a fistfight with a bear and win” is that I think I would come across OK in a Chotiner interview
October 30, 2025 at 2:39 PM
My personal version of “men think that they could have a fistfight with a bear and win” is that I think I would come across OK in a Chotiner interview
@maxgranger.info interviews the Salvadoran journalist Julia Gavarette about the state of the country and Bukele's methods of control www.newglobalpolitics.org/el-salvador/
‘Little by little, we’re realizing the true scale of human loss in El Salvador’ - New Global Politics
A conversation with Salvadoran journalist Julia Gavarrete on fascism, militarism, and tech-bro gentrification under Nayib Bukele’s indefinite ‘state of exception.’
www.newglobalpolitics.org
October 29, 2025 at 9:33 PM
@maxgranger.info interviews the Salvadoran journalist Julia Gavarette about the state of the country and Bukele's methods of control www.newglobalpolitics.org/el-salvador/
I agree with this thread and this point
so it's an interesting parallel, for me, in part because it helps to clarify WHEN an upbeat antifascist campaign is likely to be effective: when coupled with real grassroots organizing, a lack of intra-left conflict, and facing a scaremongering campaign that's well past its expiration date
October 29, 2025 at 7:42 PM
I agree with this thread and this point
As long as Elon Musk is making us talk about Tolkien again here is @gerrycanavan.bsky.social's sharp piece about the challenges and joys of reading and enjoying Tolkien from the left www.dissentmagazine.org/article/tolk...
October 29, 2025 at 7:11 PM
As long as Elon Musk is making us talk about Tolkien again here is @gerrycanavan.bsky.social's sharp piece about the challenges and joys of reading and enjoying Tolkien from the left www.dissentmagazine.org/article/tolk...
The spookiest thing about Spirit Halloween is that it does haunt the husks of dead retail space
October 25, 2025 at 7:52 PM
The spookiest thing about Spirit Halloween is that it does haunt the husks of dead retail space
This kind of thing is precisely why it was the CIA that sponsored modern art for US diplomatic purposes during the Cold War, the conservatives of that era complained in the same way if it was done overtly
Stephen Miller: "The scandal is how Democrats & the left scarred the landscape of our country w/grotesque so-called modern art that celebrates ugliness ... very importantly, President Trump is making sure it's in the neo-classical design around which our nation's architecture has long been directed"
October 24, 2025 at 10:18 PM
This kind of thing is precisely why it was the CIA that sponsored modern art for US diplomatic purposes during the Cold War, the conservatives of that era complained in the same way if it was done overtly
Normal building history, then a bunch of racist, transphobic trolling by awful people
Open the page. Scroll down to the timeline. Go through the timeline.
It’s… shocking
It’s… shocking
The White House Building
Every president since John Adams has occupied the White House, and the history of this building extends far beyond the construction of its walls. From the Ground Floor Corridor rooms, transformed from...
www.whitehouse.gov
October 24, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Normal building history, then a bunch of racist, transphobic trolling by awful people