Derek Robertson @afternoondelete Twitter profile

Pinned Tweet

Derek Robertson

1 year

for @POLITICOMag i spent an entire day consuming news only via tiktok and found it not a CCP brainwashing machine nor an especially empowering platform for social expression, but a secret, third thing:

My Descent Into TikTok News Hell

I spent an entire day falling further and further down the app’s rabbit hole, only to find something disturbingly familiar at the bottom.

www.politico.com

8

38

160

Last Seen Profiles

@OlsiRama

@BinorRaja

@bokeplokalmalam

@cukienaknikmati

@HoneybadgerC

@pongkyubi19955

@Tumid_Lynx

@hyeonjeong76433

@stwmaniax

@stw_pdg

@BinorRaja

@natsume2080257

@AlitopXB

@sabonaif1

@khlawyer1

@CraigEGriffiths

@kimlie56739420

@0FRYUjzkWQ4Js20

@dearim9

@bokeplokalmalam

@yougyu999

@ibubohay2

@RBirthda

@ceci22k

@xxphh

@shilowj

@bntmyl12

@cukienaknikmati

@Poojamali42

@17thStatesman

@cagxtays

@stwmaniax

@sonupatel_ind

@stwmaniax

@JAt_BHEEMA01

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

1 month

kids, i’m here to tell you: this was exactly as great as you think it was, and pretty obviously superior to the college experience today. i take no pleasure in saying this!

Kylie Robison

@kyliebytes

1 month

the kids are on tiktok romanticizing MGMT and being a college student in 2006, just thought i'd let yall know

800

1K

30K

102

1K

28K

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

mccarthy

1

163

1K

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

5 months

extremely weird in retrospect that "the deadly virus came from the deadly virus factory" was seen as the xenophobic take on covid, and not "it rose as an inexplicable miasma out of the scary and gross animal market that we don't have in the west"

Nicholas Kristof

@NickKristof

5 months

I don't know what caused Covid-19, but I do think @Ayjchan makes a strong case for a lab leak in Wuhan. In retrospect, many of us in the journalistic and public health worlds were too dismissive of that possibility when she and others were making the argument in 2020.

2K

267

2K

71

177

1K

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

15

108

937

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

referring to your “early 20s” as some far-off time is the most aggressively 26-year-old thing one could possibly do

Madison Cawthorn

@CawthornforNC

2 years

I believe in some pretty aggressive government reforms. I want to change the GOP for the better, and I believe in America First. I can understand the establishment attacking those beliefs, but just digging stuff up from my early 20s to smear me is pathetic.

4K

515

4K

7

58

903

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

1 month

@michaelmiraflor i taught a class in 2021 and my sister is an undergrad

2

0

689

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

9

34

651

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

the NBA has been able to get COVID-19 under control and therefore provide a rare crumb of joy to american life because unlike our federal government, it’s, you know... actually trying — my latest for @POLITICOMag :

What the NBA Could Teach Trump About Coronavirus

How the difference between the NBA and MLB on Covid reflects our national shortcomings.

www.politico.com

23

131

489

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

10 months

i know we are “supposed” to “have” “evidence” for these assertions but this is just so obviously smartphones, i’m sorry, public life is unequivocally, immensely dumber than it was a decade ago for anyone who can remember it

Derek Thompson

@DKThomp

10 months

What is HAPPENING here? Between 2012 and 2023, it appears that average OECD reading, math and science scores have declined consistently. This is not (just) about pandemic learning loss. It’s not about one US city. It’s not even just the US. This is the entire developed world.

1K

6K

20

60

475

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

1 month

@michaelmiraflor there's just a general, palpable cultural malaise and uneasiness, but the most concrete thing i can identify is the rise of remote classes, which are seemingly universally hated. my students practically revolted when i had to switch at the last minute one week, and rightly so

2

398

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

@sonyashea3 clear to me that marnie michaels is simply a real person who "plays" "allison williams" in "real life"

1

6

374

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

7 months

sam bankman-fried? the effective altruist?

POLITICO

@politico

7 months

Fallen crypto titan Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years

12

19

50

2

8

363

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

1 year

there are four kinds of NYC subway ad: - medical study - college - broadway show - ZIRP-era app company with the most hateful, antisocial marketing campaign you could possibly imagine

12

23

357

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

1 month

i just want to take the opportunity of this viral tweet to say: it's really messed up that the times book review only had one franzen on that list

3

0

347

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

@nickusen

0

5

312

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

kind of incredible to see so much of politics media united in indignation about this biden speech that's essentially a forceful restatement of what's been bipartisan conventional wisdom for the past... decade? just complete amnesia, or willful forgetting

9

72

306

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

wrote in @POLITICOMag about the history of an ethos that is not going away anytime soon:

How ‘Owning the Libs’ Became the GOP’s Core Belief

The weird journey of a tongue-in-cheek catchphrase from conservative-mocking putdown to the defining tenet of the Republican Party’s way of life.

www.politico.com

25

68

282

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

1 month

@Passion4law it's not like that element of shyness was totally absent, it never is, but yes, this happened all the time!

2

1

287

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

rittenhouse verdict seems like the kind of golden opportunity for someone to get fired over a tweet that we haven't seen in a while

7

18

261

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

people harshly abuse the term “dystopian” these days, but

Alexandra S. Levine

@Ali_Lev

3 years

NEW: A top suicide hotline is collecting data from people's darkest moments and sharing it with a for-profit company that is using the data to build and sell customer service software. Our @POLITICO report on Crisis Text Line:

233

3K

7K

3

74

232

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

@bendreyfuss green book was a huge normie movie! made $300 million!

1

0

216

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

thank you for reading, dave

Dave Portnoy

@stoolpresidente

3 years

This man wrote an 8 gadzillion word article on me trying to explain why Ive become pop with Republicans. It included all the 1 sided lazy examples taken out of context people use to trash me. Yet in the entire essay not 1 mention of Barstool Fund.

658

400

8K

122

8

201

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

@micsolana ask him his new year’s resolution

1

189

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

i've loved steely dan since i was a teenager playing "pretzel logic" too loud on my discman backstage during tech theatre class. over the past few years i realized that suddenly everybody else did, too. so i wrote about it, for the @ringer :

How Steely Dan Became a Cult Favorite for Millennials

Even as younger generations seem to be at war with baby boomer ideals, there is one relic of the ’70s they can get behind: the soft-rock sounds of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker

www.theringer.com

35

28

179

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

very pleased and grateful to say i'm now a contributing editor with @POLITICOMag — you'll be seeing many more of my essays and features about how pop culture ruined politics, or maybe vice versa, or maybe actually made them *better*, if you really think about it, in the future

22

2

169

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

5 months

in the spirit of @jdcmedlock , if anyone wants to wager $1 million on this let me know

Jonathan Ross

@JonathanRoss321

5 months

Prediction: AI will displace social drinking within 5 years Just as alcohol is a social disinhibitor, like the Steve Martin movie Roxanne, people will use AI powered earbuds to help them socialize. At first we'll view it as creepy, but it will quickly become superior to alcohol

1K

65

545

2

3

165

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

rogan misattributing a rickie lee jones song to joni mitchell as part of his deeply earnest compliment to the latter is such a perfect example of Rogan Brain, and why so many people identify with and like him so much

6

20

165

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

5 years

for @POLITICOMag this morning i explained why, as a walking affront to their expectations of generational triumph, mayor pete infuriates left-wing voters in a manner wholly disproportionate to his standing in the national polls:

83

39

158

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

9-8, gambling for nothing, winning, still missing the playoffs — yes, this is America's Team

8

13

154

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

7 months

"we call new york city, 'the moon of america'"

Bahar Ostadan

@BaharOstadan

7 months

NEW: The NYPD is gearing up to pilot metal detectors with artificial intelligence in the subways to keep guns out. “This is our Sputnik moment. Like when Kennedy said we’re going to put a man on the moon,” Mayor Adams said just now.

228

103

451

0

18

150

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

*some personal news*: i'll soon be joining @IndyMonthly , a magazine i've admired for a long time, as their new digital editor. i can't wait to get to work, and i'm grateful to @Michael_Rubino and the team for the opportunity - meanwhile, please inundate me with tips on indy life!

22

4

144

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

nothing like some actual reporting to cut through the rhetoric:

4

34

128

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

@ne0liberal the world before the university of chicago was founded

2

3

120

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

very excited to share my first for the @ringer , about the cinematic debut from @KITHOnline that's still somehow under-appreciated 25 years after its release this week:

Kids in the Hall’s ‘Brain Candy’ and the Makings of a Cult Classic

Twenty-five years ago, the sketch-comedy troupe unveiled their surreal feature-length film, a Roger Ebert–panned comedy about depression that nearly destroyed the crew. But decades later, it stands...

www.theringer.com

14

23

122

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

@TriciaLockwood still standing in that spot, tethered to the ground by her brows as they pivoted ever further downward and hooked themselves into the briefing room floor

0

1

117

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

11 months

for today’s newsletter i interviewed @mer__edith , who sees the political economy of tech with more clarity than pretty much anyone i’ve spoken to on this beat:

5 questions for Meredith Whittaker

www.politico.com

3

31

118

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

my latest for @POLITICOMag , on how republicans came to view their cultural politics through the lens of a circa-1981 slobs-vs.-snobs comedy:

How Republicans Became the ‘Barstool’ Party

The Barstool-ification of the GOP could reconfigure its cultural politics for a generation.

www.politico.com

47

32

118

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

5 months

thinking about some greatest hits in this uncertain half-hour

1

14

116

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

22 days

incredible work from our production team choosing the photo for this one:

Newly unearthed data shows closer links to Robinson and porn, dating sites

Trump, who endorsed Robinson, has publicly remained silent about the embattled lieutenant governor.

www.politico.com

2

11

115

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

6 months

this man is practicing self-care in a legal system designed to serve the demands of capital through a culture of toxic productivity

Laura Bassett

@LEBassett

6 months

Ope

13

28

263

1

10

109

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 months

wrote in @POLITICOMag about vance’s rough start and why, all things considered, modern national politics are not quite well-suited to the kind of person who would want to be a political blogger:

JD Vance’s Old Blogs Are Boring — And Instructive

Word to aspiring pols: Just because you enjoy the world of ideas doesn’t mean you should actively participate in it.

www.politico.com

25

26

109

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

we had a whole thing last year where the far right tried to get people to stop watching football because it was too woke and feminized. very weak posting hustle on display here. get your reps in clay

Berny Belvedere

@bernybelvedere

2 years

Clay Travis claims that the left hates football because it is "hypermasculine," "violent," a "meritocracy," and "played almost exclusively by men." Where's the evidence for the claim that the left hates football?

302

23

478

1

10

107

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 months

seems hardly disputable at this point that the amount of straight up racism comfortably expressed in public has skyrocketed over the past decade

82

5

103

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

improves your credit rating, too

Olivia Nuzzi

@Olivianuzzi

4 years

If you leak to reporters you are automatically very hot and smart and everyone likes you. Just something to think about.

112

429

6K

1

4

100

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

today was my first day at @IndyMonthly , and i'm excited to get to work -- if you have any pitches, tips, or local recommendations, please DM me or reach out at drobertson (at) indianapolismonthly (dot) com!

10

6

102

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

5 years

@frimairist such a bad take that i’ve somehow come all the way around to being impressed

1

0

84

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

here’s a cultural artifact — may 2017:

6

3

92

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

me after opening a check for $5.21 from the equifax data breach settlement

6

7

89

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

i spoke with @nickroberts317 , the architect of the fake text conversation about rudy giuliani's very real "borat" scandal, about what it's like when you trick people into believing the eminently believable:

How An Indiana College Democrat Blew Up Political Twitter - Indianapolis Monthly

Every good joke has a kernel of truth.

www.indianapolismonthly.com

3

14

89

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

malarkey in the united states right now

0

11

88

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

three hours of uninterrupted writing is equivalent to 30 hours of any other form of desk labor. i will not be reading responses to this

3

5

88

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

when you refresh the page it makes them count the votes faster

3

10

83

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

"it's not my phone, it's the things i unhealthily fixate on and obsess over through my phone, which happens to be designed with precision to keep me doing exactly this"

Dan Brooks

@DangerBrooks

2 years

“It’s not my phone, it’s the sum total of world crises and news events,” a collage

13

0

65

4

7

82

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

not breaking any new ground by saying this but it’s stunning to revisit the lord of the rings films and contemplate how well they’ve aged. they look better-composed and more vital than any blockbuster from either 20 years before or after. a wild, improbable achievement

6

2

81

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

fwiw, i think the barstool fund both fits perfectly into the dynamic i describe here and was a salutary thing to do. this piece wasn’t meant to “trash” portnoy or the GOP, just to accurately describe a cultural dynamic that’s impossible to ignore. make your own judgments!

213

2

76

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

5 years

i am pro-carly rae jepsen and take no pleasure in reporting this — we have reached the tipping point where reflexive poptimism is actively making our conversations dumber. my first for @ArcDigi :

12

19

74

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

7 months

@CartoonsHateHer i am never more aware of my sick relationship with this platform than when i see this kind of thing. “yes, please show me more”

2

78

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

@tweetertation the dark side of food is when lots of different people want to make and eat it

0

73

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

earlier this year i was fascinated by the stubborn persistence of "flint still doesn't have clean water" as a rallying cry. so i went there to learn why -- and what i discovered isn't exactly promising for the rest of us. my latest in @POLITICOMag :

Flint Has Clean Water Now. Why Won’t People Drink It?

The highest-profile public-works tragedy of the past decade has triggered a bigger breakdown in trust—and carries a lesson for post-Covid America.

www.politico.com

4

40

75

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

ruthlessly owned by the guy behind me in line at the gas station who cheerfully, with zero malice or derision, exclaimed "looks like a single guy's super bowl party!" as i dumped my purchases onto the counter

6

0

76

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

1 year

it's quite annoying but undeniably funny that after selling his takeover as an effort to fight bots and spam, musk's twitter is more overrun with both than the platform ever has been

2

3

75

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

in deeply predictable media/personal news: i am moving to brooklyn next month, looking forward to seeing all friends, colleagues, and mutuals in the city and i welcome any recommendations for a first-time resident 🙏

12

0

74

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

5 years

"these are all famous cats, most of them cartoon" is gold. this kid needs an agent, not a public shaming

Alexis Pereira

@MrAlexisPereira

5 years

Teaching my first English course this semester has been rewarding but I don’t know what to do with this student

11K

119K

718K

3

9

69

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

what is happening in pittsburgh right now is an omnidirectional football atrocity. one of the most objectively terrible games i’ve ever seen, which is saying a lot considering i have been watching the lions for the better portion of my life

5

13

70

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

some news: against all prudence or reason i'm striking out on my own as a writer, which means my time will soon be coming to an end as an editor at @IndyMonthly . i'm incredibly grateful to the talented people that work hard to make this magazine great for a city that deserves it.

7

1

68

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

getting the J&J shot on thursday 🙏

0

68

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

@jdcmedlock The Oaf Keepers

0

1

64

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

has to be the most underrated, and possibly just the outright funniest, trump tweet

2

1

65

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

i'm sorry, i find the entire premise of this article just fundamentally wrong. categorizing a broad range of responses you don't like as a "textbook disinformation campaign" is just its own line of rhetoric wrapped in faux-neutral pseudo-social-science

2

7

59

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

8 months

the Imperial Planetologist has spoken

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

14 years

The Dunes here are amazing, and they're how I learned about geomorphology, which is the study of movement landforms. We've had a great trip

192

4K

17K

0

8

65

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

17 days

(guy with a david koresh avatar) it’s extremely weird that a dorky midwestern dad is excited about his local college football team

captive dreamer

@captivedreamer7

17 days

Walz is such a freak. I can't believe the Dems thought this was a good pick.

2K

276

5K

1

4

65

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

5 years

flint: the home of strangely courteous, non-property-destroying vandals opposed to mike bloomberg

3

8

55

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

1 year

robbie even stuck around long enough to contribute to one of the 21st century’s novel art forms: dunking on unfunny TV writers

1

10

59

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

8 months

marcus aurelius speaking across centuries to the twitter user

0

10

61

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

there is very little space in my life, and i suspect yours, for yet another podcast, but the first episode of @bariweiss ’ has ensured that i will make it and you should too:

3

8

53

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

what year is it

4

2

56

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

when i was an intern at politico i accidentally put the entire white house press corps on CC instead of BCC. solidarity

MaxHelp

@maxhelp

3 years

We mistakenly sent out an empty test email to a portion of our HBO Max mailing list this evening. We apologize for the inconvenience, and as the jokes pile in, yes, it was the intern. No, really. And we’re helping them through it. ❤️

5K

10K

145K

0

2

58

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

@ahardtospell "cringe... for lack of a better word... is good. cringe is right. cringe works. cringe clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit"

2

5

54

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

@lionel_trolling the anarchists, who famously love and follow cues from the democratic party and capital,

8

2

49

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

wrote in @POLITICOMag about the recent crop of Q documentaries, and what they (especially HBO’s) tell us about how these social structures develop and the futility of looking away:

3

18

54

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

1 year

one thing that blew my mind as someone who is a skeptic, to say the least, of the war on “disinformation”: the amount of just blatantly false/insane/conspiratorial news content on there. if you’re looking for the old “wild west” internet, it’s on tiktok

2

3

59

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

5 years

@karavoght it's going to be pretty funny when he gets out of the NDA, reveals the mind-splittingly boring and non-controversial work he did for them, and is then criticized for being spineless in the face of the industry's legal norms

3

0

55

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

Thomas Chatterton Williams

@thomaschattwill

3 years

Who will figure this out first? There's real political opportunity for a multiethnic conservatism that forcefully repudiates white nationalism, just as there is desire for a pro-American liberalism that builds on what's best about this society without constantly disparaging it.

160

298

3K

2

7

53

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

one of the very few things that was actually, in all likelihood, too good to be on television

.

@bestofamericans

3 years

the americans premiered 9 years ago today

16

165

1K

4

54

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

this, in my opinion, is extremely good

Allahpundit

@allahpundit

3 years

us positivity rate drops to 3.8%, the lowest of the entire pandemic

29

184

870

3

4

53

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

the party of populism

3

7

53

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

1 year

@katywinge "if you kill us, we call foul"

0

52

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

1

16

53

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

@poldiscoursebot miss

0

46

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

@HeerJeet is this a bit

1

0

51

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

5 years

"what did you do in the quar, daddy?"

1

10

53

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

1 year

don’t threaten me with a good time

Newt Gingrich

@newtgingrich

1 year

If they could the Biden Administration would force every American to drink Bud light and shop at Target.

7K

358

2K

3

5

52

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

5 years

this is a perfect @yourewrongabout case study

Patrick Ruffini

@PatrickRuffini

5 years

NET FAV/UNFAV Joe Exotic +7 Carole Baskin -32

100

224

1K

3

1

47

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

mayor pete to @adamwren : "We were on our way to acquiring a quarter share of the steer with the Glezman family when suddenly my phone blew up, thanks to you..."

Exclusive: Pete Buttigieg Readies for His Primetime Convention Slot - Indianapolis Monthly

Pete Buttigieg, now a possible cabinet pick, previews his Thursday night convention address to the Democratic National Convention.

www.indianapolismonthly.com

1

9

51

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

confirming that the AI meme generator is extremely good

1

5

51

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

3 years

@lionel_trolling i always hate to get into “do they really believe this” territory, but like... does nagle *really* believe this??

3

0

44

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

2 years

@canderaid @tolstoybb every once in a while a tweet comes along that reminds me why i use this platform

0

49

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

4 years

100% sincere lament: i would very much like to read ta-nehisi coates on what is happening in america right now (although i hardly begrudge, and in fact admire, him for how deliberate he's become in his writing)

0

2

51

Derek Robertson

@afternoondelete

1 year

my final evaluation is that tiktok is both an incredibly effective time-waster and a hilariously poor vehicle for actually informing people in any meaningful way, which given society’s current relationship with social media probably makes it a net negative for democracy

3

6

51