Lily Mason
Political scientist at Johns Hopkins, author of Uncivil Agreement and co-author of Radical American Partisanship
- Reposted by Lily MasonThis is an important point. Empathy—in and of itself—is anti-fascist. The arts—and the project of higher education as a whole—teach empathy, enabling you to put yourself in other people’s shoes. So to a fascist, they must be destroyed.
- The war on empathy and the war on the arts are part of the same project. www.liberalcurrents.com/none-more-wo...
- Reposted by Lily MasonIan McKellen performs “The Strangers’ Case” speech from “Sir Thomas More” on Colbert.
- Reposted by Lily MasonICE at the polls! Bannon is basically yelling “fire” in a crowded theater here. His objective is to cause chaos (and suppress votes on the left). And it’s already working. This threat works on multiple levels and doesn’t have to be “real” to serve its purpose. Let me explain & offer some advice.
- Steve Bannon says the federal government is planning to send ICE officers to patrol polling stations during the midterms. "We're going to have ICE surround the polls come November." "We're not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again." www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
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- The popularism argument would have had us counting these people out. What it misses is that people want to DO something. And if Dems are too busy reading polls to lead, people will be brave on their own and lead each other.
- ICE observers in the Twin Cities suburbs say they fear being injured or killed, but are dedicated to being on the right side of history. They say working together has brought them community and connection. And they're seeing shifts in attitudes among their neighbors. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
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- Reposted by Lily MasonTrump is now demanding One Billion Dollars from Harvard, threatening criminal punishment, and insinuating Harvard’s president was chosen because of his religion (?)
- Reposted by Lily MasonI never, ever want to hear again from certain quarters about a free speech crisis on campus. I would accept apologies for being useful idiots.
- Texas A&M ends its women's & gender studies program while hundreds of syllabi remain flagged and censored under top-down review policies. “I have never seen anything like this.” — Dr. Leonard Bright, @tamu-aaup.bsky.social President @texasaft.org @texasaaup.bsky.social @cwa-tseu.bsky.social
- Reposted by Lily Masonthe arrest of journalists in minneapolis, including don lemon, is more evidence that the only move the administration knows how to make is to use force, and does not know how to respond when that force is met with defiance and indifference.
- Reposted by Lily MasonI know we’re so far past even considering the possibility that Republicans ever actually believed in the Constitution, but it’s a useful thought experiment to read this article as if it was about Biden using technology developed by a billionaire donor to surveil anti-abortion and 2A activists.
- Reposted by Lily MasonThe Trump Adm is arresting Don Lemon and overcharging disruptive protesters at Cities Church to posture as if it’s protecting Christians. It’s not. DHS is staging disruptive ops at other churches, at least one of which has had to go online. ... 1/4
- Reposted by Lily MasonThis isn’t about convicting Don Lemon. It’s unlikely that will happen. It’s about intimidating journalists & making them censure themselves out of fear of consequences. It’s about eroding the free press because the administration can’t afford the criticism.
- Reposted by Lily MasonIt’s so heavy when you are going to get groceries and you find a car sitting with its windows broken out and it’s empty but still running and someone’s stuffed animals or pictures or papers are just laying all over the road. I have personally seen at least five of these in the last three days alone
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- Reposted by Lily MasonWe need to talk about the rise of "smol bean fascism" where you have all the guns and the immunity but the really scary people are the ones with whistles and phone cameras and they're giving you generational trauma and ptsd by filming you killing people for no reason
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- Reposted by Lily MasonWhy is Dem leadership not on the ground in MN? If the answer is “polls show Trump’s disapproval is only -15 on deportations, but -25 on prices,” thats a Bad Use Of Polling and a complete failure in their capacity as leaders to lead public opinion and fight for democracy and the rule of law
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- Reposted by Lily MasonReminder: All it would take to end the murder of American citizens by an untrained government goon squad is 16 Republicans in Congress voting with Dems to defund ICE (or 23 to impeach and remove Trump — 3 in House & 20 in Senate). That’s it. 23 Americans can vote for the public and end all of this.
- Reposted by Lily MasonWe are dealing with a Western Christian supremacist movement willing to see millions die in the name of racial purity. This is William Wolfe. A year ago he was invited with fourteen other faith leaders to the WH. Today he is praising ICE for killing peaceful observers. This is Christian fascism.
- Your reminder that MAGA is an unpopular minority movement buttressed by lies and enforced by violence and threats of violence.
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- Reposted by Lily MasonThis is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
- Remember when business spent billions of dollars over decades to undermine Democrats because they threatened to impose the most minor regulations?
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- Reposted by Lily MasonMorning
- Reposted by Lily MasonWhite supremacy explains many apparent contradictions. Conservative calls for free speech were always about freedom to use slurs without sanction. Calls for small government were always about denying Black folks rights and state protections. This is conservatives achieving their goals.
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- Reposted by Lily MasonICE recruitment is going well.
- It’s wild that this is empirically true but not part of any political narrative.
- Reposted by Lily Masonevery republican president destroys the economy
- 2025 is now, officially, the worst year for job creation outside of recession since 2003. @byheatherlong.bsky.social
- Reposted by Lily Masonit is the policy of this government to treat democratic-led states as conquered territories and the people therein as something like hostiles or even enemy combatants
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- Reposted by Lily MasonPlease share - @pewresearch.org wants to hire a data archivist who will be an advocate for data users, helping to ensure that our datasets are easy to discover and reuse by researchers, journalists, and the public. pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/CenterExtern...
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- Throughout 2024, I spoke with a number of Republicans who believed (and seriously worried) that Democrats would do the same thing if they lost in November. They didn’t, because the lunatics on the left are online weirdos, and the lunatics on the right are controlling all 3 branches of US government.
- Reposted by Lily MasonThe failure of our elites to hold Trump accountable for January 6th is as disgraceful as what happened on that awful day. Since 2010, 35 democratic leaders around the world have been criminally convicted. Only Trump went unpunished and unconstrained. Now he threatens democracy at home and abroad.
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- Reposted by Lily MasonThe destruction doesn't make for a photo-op like tearing down the East Wing of the White House or bulldozing the Rose Garden, but it's every bit as bad. Generations of American children learned to spell and count, learned the Preamble to the Constitution, from watching shows produced by the CPB.
- The unfortunate truth is that after the school years end, the media become our teachers. If they’re not educating the public about what a democracy is/requires of them, they’re abdicating an important job.
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- Reposted by Lily MasonCancer research costs too much but we have the money to run Venezuela
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- Reposted by Lily MasonThe people who profited most from the cancel culture/free speech panic were less interested in actual freedom of speech than establishing their own control over public discourse. You don't even have to take my word for it. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
- This is why I regularly teach the difference between opinion and fact.
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